Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.

caramelblackness:

In case you didn’t know…..

(Source: whatwhiteswillneverknow, via djcagedbird)

(Source: goldenstories, via not-here-for-it)

soulbrotherv2:

Babylon Girls: Black Women Performers and the Shaping of the Modern

Babylon Girls is a groundbreaking cultural history of the African American women who performed in variety shows—chorus lines, burlesque revues, cabaret acts, and the like—between 1890 and 1945. Through a consideration of the gestures, costuming, vocal techniques, and stagecraft developed by African American singers and dancers, Jayna Brown explains how these women shaped the movement and style of an emerging urban popular culture. In an era of U.S. and British imperialism, these women challenged and played with constructions of race, gender, and the body as they moved across stages and geographic space. They pioneered dance movements including the cakewalk, the shimmy, and the Charleston—black dances by which the “New Woman” defined herself. These early-twentieth-century performers brought these dances with them as they toured across the United States and around the world, becoming cosmopolitan subjects more widely traveled than many of their audiences.

Investigating both well-known performers such as Ada Overton Walker and Josephine Baker and lesser-known artists such as Belle Davis and Valaida Snow, Brown weaves the histories of specific singers and dancers together with incisive theoretical insights. She describes the strange phenomenon of blackface performances by women, both black and white, and she considers how black expressive artists navigated racial segregation. Fronting the “picaninny choruses” of African American child performers who toured Britain and the Continent in the early 1900s, and singing and dancing in The Creole Show (1890), Darktown Follies (1913), and Shuffle Along (1921), black women variety-show performers of the early twentieth century paved the way for later generations of African American performers. Brown shows not only how these artists influenced transnational ideas of the modern woman but also how their artistry was an essential element in the development of jazz.

(via not-here-for-it)

fairytalemood:

photos by Gustavo Papaleo for John Lewis magazine

(via not-here-for-it)

(Source: fuguist, via not-here-for-it)

basednigel:

white america gets so salty about nigerian e-mail scanners cuz the juxtaposition of africans that r supposed to be living in huts but then convincing u to give them ur social security # and bank account info doesnt make sense and is infuriating for them

Truth.

adavism:

me avoiding people.

(Source: 4gifs, via kyssthis16)

thempress:

lacquerandcandy:

geekscoutcookies:

If you dont do anything else tonight. Press Play. I was laughing, singing and cheering. 

PRESS PLAY.

YOU WILL NOT REGRET THIS

OMG!!!!! Thank you for posting this, it is glorious!!!

Amazing. Black love at it’s finest. They were amazing!!!

scienceyoucanlove:

“I developed the pot-in-pot to help the rural poor in a cost-effective, participatory and sustainable way.”

Northern Nigeria is an impoverished region where people in rural communities eke out a living from subsistence farming. With no electricity, and therefore no refrigeration, perishable foods spoil within days. Such spoilage causes disease and loss of income for needy farmers, who are forced to sell their produce daily. Nigerian teacher Mohammed Bah Abba was motivated by his concern for the rural poor and by his interest in indigenous African technology to seek a practical, local solution to these problems. His extremely simple and inexpensive earthenware “pot-in-pot” cooling device, based on a principle of physics already known in ancient Egypt, has revolutionized lives in this semi-desert area.

read more about his AMAZING project and HEY he’s Nigerian!! :) Aren’t we innovative? ;) Source! 

(via dynamicafrica)

islamic-art-and-quotes:

The Three Quls

سورة الإخلاص

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ (1) اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ (2) لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ (3) وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ (4)

سورة الفلق

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ الْفَلَقِ (1) مِنْ شَرِّ مَا خَلَقَ (2) وَمِنْ شَرِّ غَاسِقٍ إِذَا وَقَبَ (3) وَمِنْ شَرِّ النَّفَّاثَاتِ فِي الْعُقَدِ (4) وَمِنْ شَرِّ حَاسِدٍ إِذَا حَسَدَ (5)

سورة الناس

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ النَّاسِ (1) مَلِكِ النَّاسِ (2) إِلَهِ النَّاسِ (3) مِنْ شَرِّ الْوَسْوَاسِ الْخَنَّاسِ (4) الَّذِي يُوَسْوِسُ فِي صُدُورِ النَّاسِ (5) مِنَ الْجِنَّةِ وَالنَّاسِ (6)

Surat al-Ikhlas

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Majestic: Say, ‘He is God, the One, Allah, Who is in need of none and of Whom all are in need; He begets not, and neither is He begotten; and there is nothing that could be compared with Him.

Surat al-Falaq

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Majestic: Say, ‘I seek refuge in the Lord of the daybreak against the evil of whatever He has created, against the evil of night’s darkness when it spreads around; and from the evil of all human beings bent on occult endeavours, “and from the evil of the envious when he envies.

Surat an-Nas

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Majestic: Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind, the King of mankind, the God of mankind, from the evil of the one who instills evil thoughts in the hearts – and stays hidden, who whispers into the hearts of people, from all [temptation to evil by] invisible forces as well as men.

From the Collection: Surat an-Nas

Originally found on: thkr

(via seekiinggrace)

nigerianostalgia:

dynamicafrica:

Excerpt from the documentary: “Adire - Indigo Textiles amongst the Yoruba”

The documentatry was produced in Nigeria and deals with the production of Adire, hand painted or knotted cloths, dyed with Indigo. The artistic creation of these cloths has long tradition in Yoruba culture. Adire: history and stories on webs of cloth.

The main part of this film deals with the complicated and time-consuming production of these cloths which, just few decades ago, were daily commodity, mainly as clothing, but nowadays are barely produced. The important steps of Adire production and its varying techniques are shown as well as the social environment in which it takes place.

Originally, Adire was strictly female handicraft, whereas nowadays also men can learn the Adire production.Possibly the most famous Nigerian Adire artist, Nike Olaniyi Davies, has been trying for years to revive this old handcraft. She founded a centre in Oshogbo in which Adire is taught. The film was investigated and shot from June to September 1995.

femminista:

Lauren Conrad answering mystery sack questions on SiriusXM (video)

Q: What’s your favorite position?

A: CEO

(via kyssthis16)

bana05:

Tryna make that “fuck you” paper farreal.

(Source: deductioneers, via kyssthis16)

dynamicafrica:

Currently on the press tour for her latest novel Americanah, Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie stops by Nigerian local station Channels TV to talk about the inspiration behind her book and the multifaceted themes that it navigates through.

In this segment, she talks about her decade-long relationship with her natural hair, the politics of black women’s hair and ‘mainstream’ beauty standards, and the concerning approach that people have to natural hair in Nigeria - one that I wholeheartedly agree with her on.

Adichie then goes on to discuss the culture of reading in Nigeria.

dreabeingdrea:

heisaexplosiveimplosion:

 

This right here….

(Source: blvckasthepit, via rickonstarkss)