Ejike steps into new grounds with Icon Mag

Ejike steps into new grounds with Icon Mag

Omiko Awa

HAVING featured in almost all the genres of the art, Prof. Bob Ejike, a multi-talented artiste that made his début in acting in the rested TV drama, Basi and Company and has over 40 home movies aside six albums to his credit, is currently working on a new project — The Icon, a society and life magazine. The prolific writer who at 13 shared column with veteranBen Okri, a Commonwealth Literature prize-winner, in the defunct Drum Magazine, presently frequents Uganda promoting Nigerian and African movies. He speaks on his latest enterprise.

PRIOR to 1982 when his presence in the entertaining industry was established with the making of the award-winning filmEcho of Wrath, the movie that contributed to the establishment of Nollywood, Prof. Bob Ejike had been featuring in a TV drama, Basi and company. And after the debut, he moved into teaching, as a way to augment his earnings from the theatre. He says, “ I was in Nollywood for many years. I made the first Nollywood film Echo of Wrathin 1982.  The film started the evolution called Nollywood in the Nigerian film industry.”

   Because of poor pecuniary rewards in the movie industry then, Ejike combined acting with teaching.  

  “I am a restless soul. I like moving and discovering new things and places. I spent 22 years teaching in a University in Italy and now, I live in Kampala, Uganda, where I run a number of recording studios and try to help indigent artistes in the country.”

  But what transpired within the period you left the stage. “Nothing really, for even while I was acting, I was teaching; I have always been a teacher. When we startedNollywood, the industry was not financially rewarding or strong enough to sustained anybody, as it is today with artistes making millions of Naira in it.”

   “Though, I have found new challenges in Uganda, mentoring upcoming artistes, promoting Nigerian culture and serving as a bridge between Nigerian and East African countries, he continues,  ‘I can still play active roles in Nollywood, if I’m called upon to do so. However, I have contributed my quota in the industry by doing about 40 films and worked in the various aspect of the industry. I ‘m one of the very few people that engineered the revolution and have also gone the extra lenght to advertise it abroad. Though, not much of that is talked about, because you don’t see the person from the country; I must say, for our films to go international a lot of public relations were done to make the Europeans to watch them. It was not an accident, efforts were put into the conviction.”

   But why go to Uganda when you can be at home to help Nigerian artistes? “We are the richest country in Africa. We have the capabilities to do things by ourselves, but the revise is the case in Uganda.  I have more work to do there than in Nigeria, where you make a five-minute recording for N1.5 million,” he says amidst laughs.

  Knowing the complex nature of film industries across the globe, Ejike who has dealt so well with the industry will not waste his time to compare one country’s film industry to the other, not even when a particular country’s film industry is still at its infancy.

  “Firstly, I will never compare any nation’s film industry with another because each nation has its distinct history, cultural backgrounds, traditions and others. I wonder why people do it; some even compare Nigeria with America and Nollywood to Hollywood without thinking of the billions of Dollars pumped in Hollywood every year. They just run down Nollywood as not good enough without knowing the industry is striving on self-effort — no sponsorship.  Though, the industry may have its bad sides, for we can’t throw away the bath water with the baby.”

  

 “I must say, for our films to go international a lot of public relations were done to make the Europeans to watch them. It was not an accident, efforts were put into the conviction.”

HOW is the country’s entertainment scene like?

     “Uganda has a booming music industry, which is supported by the people’s tradition of visiting places and spending fun time outside their homes. Besides, the security situation encourages people to move at night. Artistes work every night including Sunday; in fact, there is an incredible merriment in the country.  There is an active nightlife with many clubs in operation. Clubs have a performer and there are usually live bands every where.”

  “At weekends, there are always big shows with popular artistes coming together to performer.  It’s difficult to find a show of one or two artistes, as the system allows 20 or more of them to be on stage in a show. The people have a tradition that sustains large concerts,” he enthuses.

    However, in the midst of this pleasant situation, Ejike notes, “their recording studios are not developed because of the activities of pirates. They don’t even know it’s a crime! Pirates put out adverts and dub any music openly. If you bring your music to a shop, they put it in the computer and dub it for sale. Artistes don’t target record sales as a way to stardom because of pirates, but depend on stage performance, which give them more money.”

   Ejike whose latest work Bright Eyes is enjoying massive airplay in the Nigerian airwaves states, “artistes even give their works to pirates as a way of advertising them.”

    But pirates go for popular music. “Yes, in Nigeria; but in Uganda, they popularise artistes’ work. In fact, artistes depend on concerts to make money; that’s how the industry works there. However, it’s working for them because there are many artistes and events; it’s not like Nigeria where things don’t work … our country is difficult.”

 Ejike whose stay in Uganda has facilitated some popular Nigerian artistes to perform in the country says, “I’m culturally the bridge between East and West Africa. I’m Emeka Ike, Ramasey Nouah, Pete Edochie and others. I’m Nollywood; they call me Nigerian film. They refer to me as, ‘Chi Nigeria’, which means Nigerian film. My presence in the country has made artistes such as 2Face Idibia, PSquare, Adim Williams, Genevieve Nnaji and others to visit Uganda. I’m, in fact, the most popular public relation officer of Nigeria; I even do more PR jobs than the embassies.”

 

    DO you also promote movies?

  “Yes, of course. I’m involved in a project called the Ugawood, which is aimed at extending the Nigerian successes of Nollywood to Uganda aside incorporating local filmmakers. With the project, I do not only promote Nigerian films, but African films across the globe.”

   The Bright Eyes crooner, aside serving as a bridge between Nigeria and East Africa countries, is planning of venturing into another area of entertainment, publishing  Icon magazine, a society and  celebrity magazine.

  “We intend to start publishing the Icon, a magazine that publicises the achievements of Nigerians. We have spent so much time, criticising ourselves, but now, we want to peep into those things that make the nation thick and the people behind them.”

   “Nigerian is one of the greatest nations in the world and we want to highlight those things that make us great and not the death traps on our roads, erratic power supply, unemployed youths or untapped resources; we don’t want to publish those things you would remember and you would want to cry, but to look at the positive side of the country and its people. We shall be focusing on achievements and people behind them and not necessarily famous people. It’s going to be a general read magazine”

  Would this not be a digression of what you are noted for? No, I have been a writer right from my childhood days. I started my career as a poet and then child writer. I shared a column with Ben Okri in the Drum Magazine, now rested, as far back as when I was 13 years. And ever since I have written for several newspapers, including The Guardianand a number of international tabloid and magazines. I publish books; besides, I studied Literature and Communication, so, I’m still within my field. The digression, in the real sense of it, is music and not writing or journalism; though people know me more with acting and music than with other genres of the art.”

    

OUTSIDE from promoting local artistes, Ejike who still makes out time to perform on stage in Uganda says, “I’m one of the most famous artistes in the Uganda and East Africa; so, I’m always on stage. There are stages for artistes to work over there, but I don’t know where our artistes work in Nigeria. I have been going around in the country to find a stage, but I haven’t seen any; I wonder where Nigerian artistes work, may be in Alaba market!”

   Your expectations of the magazine. “I want to keep it standing, give information and entertain.”

HINDSIGHT. Nollywood and Matters Arising: Bob Ejike Replies Ola Balogun

Nollywood and Matters Arising: Bob Ejike Replies Ola Balogun

Bob Ejike

Dr Ola Balogun’s recent acrimonious attack on the Nigerian film industry came as a rude shock to most of the country’s moving picture practitioners. Majority of Nollywood film makers murmured their indignation because of the pioneering role Dr Balogun played in the creation of the Nigerian film tradition. But it is my considered opinion that by publicly disowning Nigerian film and acidly castigating the professionals, Dr Ola Balogun has nullified the hallowed consideration accorded him as one of the pioneers of Nigerian film. The doomsday undertone of the doctor’s tirades are to say the least repugnant and reminiscent of the ‘market woman’ criticism that Nigerian film has faced from disgruntled seminal columnists, misguided elites, former specialists, former this, former that, seeking relevance where they have invested no effort.

Since Nigerian film broke out of the chains of NTA hegemony about a decade ago, the high living and low thinking elites have sought to prove their social pre-eminence by advertising their DSTV patronage. The Nigerian media which, in any event thrives on negativity, initially wrote off the film revolution as an exercise in mediocrity, while the often racist western press dismissed Nollywood as ‘how not to make a film’. Admittedly, it is how not to make a Western film, but it works!

The dominant theme in these destructive critiques questioned the logic behind the very existence of a Nigerian film culture, the major complaint targeted the overemphasised theme of witchery and sorcery. Indeed this is the first time that the theme, rather than the acting, directing, storyline, of films would be subject to mass critical rejection. Hollywood has its recurrent theme of James Bond-style detective thriller, Indians emphasize their peculiar brand of romance and Hong Kong repetitively features kung fu. What then is wrong with Nigeria being known for horror films? What makes it alright for the horror film to come from Hollywood, and fetish if is it comes from Nollywood?

The form of Nigerian films as shot with digital video camera format and packaged in VHS video and VCD was and still is maligned by theoretical critics and most of the less cerebral critics unfairly compare low budget Nollywood films with mega sponsored Hollywood productions. Much of this criticism is academic and idealistic rather than practical, their tone often rude and abusive. The tragedy is that beside irritating and occasionally distracting the film practitioners, they have alienated many Nigerians and Westerners from appreciating the original film genre that is uniquely Nigerian, from sponsorship, acting, directing, production, concept designs, packaging, advertising, publicity, promotion, marketing, distribution, to, in most parts consumption. These mercenary critics who begrudge Nigerians the freedom to express their cultures on their own terms, thereby denying them their, history, customs, dance and oral tradition, and personality, are not fit to be called Nigerians.

At this juncture, may I crave your indulgence to examine some of the gibberish from Dr Ola Balogun, towards re-educating the obviously senile doctor of films: Hear him: ‘the poorly put-together contraptions that are inappropriately called films in Nigeria are generally considered with scorn by people who are knowledgeable about films’ ‘the current crop of Nigeria video productions, some of which are even shot on VHS video format, and most of which are lamentable in quality at every level of production, whether it be scripting, acting, directing, or editing...’. ‘The jumbled productions that pass for film in Nigeria are of extremely poor quality, no matter from what angle they are considered. Most of the scripts are childishly conceived, amateurishly written, and thoroughly predictable within three or four minutes of the commencement of action. The acting is mostly of the "market woman" variety, and generally consists of untutored actors gesticulating wildly and shouting at each other at the tops of their voices. When it comes to photography, sound, directing and editing, what we see presented as Nigerian movies are most often deeply embarrassing exercises that illustrate deep ignorance of essential film values’. Dr Balogun does not spare the practitioners, ‘all one finds these days are folks who are so busy boasting all over the place about the non-existent achievements of the so-called Nollywood film industry’

Let us face it, the film of reference in Dr Ola Balogun’s critique Yesterday, cannot be rationally classified as an African film in the same sense that all Nigerian films are African, because even though the actors are Africans, the movie was sponsored and directed by non-Africans. In his blind fury, Dr Balogun fails to acknowledge the existence of any Nollywood achievement, just because Nigerian films are shot on practical DVC rather than the very expensive and elusive celluloid format that he knows Nigerian producers can ill afford. Many Hollywood films are shot on DV, but no one uses that as an excuse to deprive them of deserving awards, or tag them home videos rather than films as is often the case with Nigerian movies.

Dr Balogun refuses to appreciate the simple fact that Nigerians have been able to organise themselves into sponsors, producers, directors, special effects and lighting personnel, actors etc, and launch a 50 billion Naira annual industry from the ashes of his own films which were almost all commercial failures. No one in his right mind dismisses a 50 billion Naira annual industry with the wave of a hand. Whatever it is that brings in this great fortune is what the Nigerian film consumers want and not the hazy and impractical intellectual idealism of the Ola Baloguns. Nor does the learned doctor recognise the positive effects of the films in tackling the endemic unemployment situation which floored even The Federal Government, its impact on the Nigerian video culture in general, leading to the explosion of tributary industries like the video shops and video clubs, repair, importation, production, editing, training etc. which have provided entertainment, jobs and businesses for families across the nation, and beyond, thus making the film industry the greatest boost to the nation’s economy since the discovery of oil. Whether Balogun and the other area boy critics of Nigerian film like it or not, Nigeria currently has the most exuberant video culture worldwide. His wrathful declaration that he is, ‘hardly ever able to sit through even five minutes of what currently passes for the output of the Nigerian home video industry’, is unpatriotic if irresponsible. How can he see Nigerian films when he is perpetually glued to DSTV, relishing in the splendour of South African lavishly sponsored productions, where money and high-tech make up for talent.

It is of course true that due to poor sponsorship, many of our films are amateurish, yet it is unfair and dishonest to write off all the actors, directors, producers, executive producers and an entire national industry as riff-raff, simply because the operators did not have the opportunity to be schooled like Balogun. The hard but obvious truth which I think is the real reason behind Dr Ola Baloguns onslaught is that these ‘illiterate traders’ succeeded where he failed. He failed because he was not and still is not pragmatic and imaginative. Dr Balogun was aping Hollywood producers and shooting very expensive flicks in celluloid for a country that has very few film theatres, that people are afraid to venture to, because of the menace of armed robbery, so he made beautiful films that nobody saw and was internationally acclaimed and honoured with several worthless plaques and trophies from Western countries, while taking nothing worthwhile to the bank. The highly creative and target-oriented Nollywood executive producers, being video merchants, understood their market and knew that there was no point wasting millions of hard-earned Naira to hire celluloid equipment where a simple DV camera will give almost the same output. The average film watcher does not recognise the format in which a film is shot, and does not care , as long as it is interesting, therefore from a pragmatic perspective, the overemphasis of celluloid production is as irrelevant as it is an unwanted distraction. They went ahead to package their product in the video and VCD formats that their customers were demanding for, which they can watch several times with their families in the safety of their homes. They made the films primarily for their immediate audience who were firsthand customers of their shops, known personally to them and whose entertainment needs they were intimate with. This is why the ‘illiterate traders’ succeeded where the erudite academic doctor failed woefully. It is not that I expect the elitist Dr Balogun to become a cheering fan of a popular underclass artistic revolution, yet pouring out his frustration on the pages of the newspaper only further alienates him from what has become the mainstream African film expression.

The major tragic after-effect of the unusually cruel criticism that bedevils Nollywood is that the practitioners became afraid to venture into the Western market because they have been erroneously convinced that their products can not compete internationally. This is gradually being disproved as Nigerian films gain recognition globally. Another of its negative effects is that many distinguished filmmakers abandoned Nollywood to less able practitioners. Notable among these experts are Taiwo Ajayi-Lycett, Funso Alabi, Larry Williams, and Dr Ola Balogun. Lycett chose to invest her late husband’s fortune in an acting school in the obscure Ejigbo suburb, Alabi escaped to the English Department of University of Lagos, Larry Williams chose to run a mushroom cultural dance troupe, until Lagos State University, Ojo, offered him a place in their theatre, while Balogun opted for an unsuccessful highlife band. I remember passionately appealing to some of them to contribute their quota to the building of a formidable Nigerian film industry and they would not have anything to do with the ‘untutored’ producers. Nobody begrudges them their choice of course, but whenever occasion permits they never lose the chance to insult the less skilled or talented people who zealously occupied the place they abdicated. I once rose to the occasion in defence of Taiwo-Ajayi Lycett, after boobster Cossy Orjiakor responded to her insult by charging that Lycett was a nonentity in Nigerian film. I chastised Cossy in my Sunday Sun column Klieglights, for responding to a woman old enough to be her grandmother, but I was not lost to the fact that at least within the contest of this generation, Cossy was right, Ajayi-Lycett is irrelevant. If you have wilfully chosen the path of obscurity, stop abusing those who chose to weather the storm and give the nation a buoyant film culture.

In his illusive grandeur from past glory, Dr Balogun feverishly imagines that the world is still where he left off in the 1970s, when human success was the straight jacketed exclusive preserve of the dull student who was considered brilliant because he listened to the wisdom of his teachers and reproduced it verbatim to earn honours degrees. Today all that wisdom has been compressed into computer programmes and digital cameras, you no longer need to be academically clever to be a genius. Bill Gates was a college dropout. You just need to know which button to press, and Nollywood is pressing the right buttons and churning out billions of dollars. How can Ola Balogun see this if he is glued to DSTV, dazzled by programmes made in South Africa, a country where the 13 percent white population still disproportionately control all the means of production, occasionally featuring some black performers in their productions to give the false impression of equity. That is not the kind of African film we desire in Nigeria.

I watched OJ transform from an Idumota video marketer to a respectable director with a multifaceted studio that would intrigue any filmmaker anywhere. Inspite of the epistles of Dr Ola Balogun and other armchair critics, Nollywood did attract many intellectuals like Professor Laz Ekwueme, Sola Fosudo, Onyeka Onwenu, Pete Edochie, Olu Jacobs, Justus Esiri, Chief Eddy Ugbomah, Dr Balogun’s contemporary) to mention but a few. Many of the Nollywood critics are often appalled by what they see as ‘arrogance’ in Nigerian film stars. This is mainly because they expect them to wear the cloak of inferiority and kowtow before their Western counterparts. Luckily this is not the case, because Nigerian actors are mostly university graduates who realize that they are trailblazers in a very difficult renaissance. What Dr Ola Balogun refers to as ‘boasting’ is called ‘promotion’ in entertainment parlance. Something his own films unfortunately lacked, which is why nobody remembers them. Most of the ad-hoc measures taken so far in producing and disseminating Nigerian films, may be unconventional, but the fact that they have worked and bequeathed upon the beleaguered nation an honest means of livelihood, which even The President acknowledged as the best public relations initiative of the nation imposes on all Nigerians the affirmative imperative to encouraged, not destroy it. As Balogun has already been told, Nigerian films have been recognised by many authoritative international journals and Western film festivals, but he should understand that his mindset, which craves the accumulation of useless plaques and trophies from Europe and America is not the foundation under which the Nigerian film industry was built. Nollywood will surely evolve to the point where even the mighty Hollywood will doff its cap.

How art the mighty fallen! Haba! For the great Ola Balogun to withdraw into the cocoon of an obscure dance band, making absolutely no impact for over a decade and condescending as low as a bolekaja critic smacks of senility. Nollywood provided a great opportunity for Ola Balogun to finally benefit from his efforts but he was blinded by his superiority complex, and did not see it. Yet it is not too late for him to get on board and make the kind of movies he believes Nigerians deserve. Sir, prove me wrong, not by the all-so-easy abusive rejoinders that Nigerians have become notorious for, but by shooting some quality films in whatever format, to show the world that you are really better than these Nollywood ‘mediocre’.

Source: Fakafiki, 2005

And Ola Balogun's Reaction to another rejoinder:

Ola Balogun

Dear Ms. Nwabuikwu, 

It is a pity that folks like you insist on trivializing a very serious debate about how best to create a film industry in Nigeria by mischievously depicting the whole issue as a conflict between two different generations of film makers. This is absolutely ridiculous. For the benefit of your readers, I would like to make the following comments about your column entitled 'Ola Balogun's Nollywood phobia', which appeared in ThisDay of August 6, 2005. 

First of all, although you are perfectly entitled to dislike Ola Balogun and his views as much as you wish, you would have done better to try and enlighten the public on the issues that were debated on the Funmi Iyanda programme in which I participated regarding the present state of film making in Nigeria, rather than engage in sly ad-hominem attacks by going out of your way to state that Ola Balogun might deserve to be called a 'jack of all trades' (and master of none?). 

I owe no apologies to anyone for taking up any pursuits that I am inspired to involve myself in, the more so as I am perfectly certain that I have had a reasonably productive career as a film maker, a musician and a writer. Speaking about writing, it might interest you to know that my first paid professional employment was as a trainee journalist in 1961, shortly after I left secondary school. Even though so much time has now elapsed, I do recall that one of the first things I was taught about attempting to work as a journalist was to have a healthy respect for FACTS.

Source: NaijaRules, 2005

US mayor resigns after calling Michelle Obama ‘ape in heels’

US mayor resigns after calling Michelle Obama ‘ape in heels’
November 16, 2016
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Michelle Obama
A mayor from West Virginia has resigned amid a furor over a racist Facebook post that described First Lady Michelle Obama as an “ape in heels,” US media said.

Beverly Whaling, the mayor of the tiny town of Clay, had appeared to applaud the incendiary comment and stepped down Tuesday amid the ensuing firestorm.

Local television news channel WSAZ confirmed that Whaling had resigned.

According to WSAZ, Clay County Development Corp. director Pamela Ramsey Taylor had posted after Donald Trump’s election: “It will be refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified First Lady in the White House. I’m tired of seeing a Ape in heels.”

Whaling responded: “Just made my day Pam.”

The comments were later deleted and both women’s Facebook pages were eventually taken offline, The Washington Post reported citing local media.

Staffers at the Clay County Development Corp. told WSAZ that Taylor had been removed from her position.

Barack Obama’s eight years in office have been marred by racial slurs against the nation’s first African American president and his family.

Clay has a population of less than 500, according to the 2010 census, and is the seat of Clay County in West Virginia.

The furor over the racist comment, and the mayor’s seemingly agreeable response, prompted an online petition drive to have the two women ousted.

The text on www.thepetitionsite.com gathered nearly 160,000 signatures from across the country.

Whaling had apologized in a statement Monday to The Washington Post, writing: “My comment was not intended to be racist at all.”

Michelle Obama emerged as a hugely popular surrogate for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail.

Trump, a billionaire businessman, won West Virginia’s five electoral votes, helping him to his unexpected triumph over Clinton.

White Supremacists Threaten War Against Black Americans If Donald Trump Loses 2016 U.S. Presidential Election

• Published on October 24, 2016

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Horace Columbus Neal II

HERU BAR-CHANAN, Author & Publisher at The Enchanted Jubalee Book Company

BY HERU BAR-CHANAN

Over the course of the Obama Presidency, and during this U.S. Presidential election cycle, we have seen the rise of a population of white racist fanatics that includes a league of American white supremacist's who call themselves the "Alt-Right."

With the rise of Donald Trump, as a racial demagogue, and champion of their backward cause, this league of ideologically-driven racial hate groups, and their mindless minions, have become more bold, more bitter, and more violent, with each passing week. This former fringe movement, which has now taken center stage in the Republican Party, has also sparked a massive rejuvenation of the Ku Klux Klan, and the formal unification of white supremacist organizations, throwing their support, along with the Fraternal Order of Police, behind Donald Trump's Presidential candidacy. Their public, and too often violent, support of Donald Trump's falsehood-ridden campaign suggests that the people in the Alt-Right movement have lost their perspective on reality...if they ever actually had one. This is unfortunate. Also unfortunate is their cult loyalty to Donald Trump.

American White supremacists, also known as white nationalists, are now openly threatening to attack Black Americans if Donald Trump loses this Presidential election. This sentiment is exemplified by a Donald Trump supporter and suspected white supremacist from Greenville, South Carolina named Jim Moseley, who recently posted threats against Black citizens on his Facebook page.

“Liberals will have targets on their backs, as their behaviors are pretty much evident. Race wars will begin as well, as your skin color will be your uniform!”

This threat is apparently an attempt to frighten Black People, especially Black Women, into voting for Trump or into staying home and not voting at all. If Donald Trump loses this election (and indications in the polls suggest that he will), the white supremacists who are threatening to attack Black Americans would be well-advised to think twice about attacking us; for GOD IS WITH US. Attacking us would not be a very wise move because the spirit of Nat Turner has been awakened in this Generation of Black Americans.

Black Americans are the Survivors of American Chattel Slavery. Chattel Slavery was a system of forced labor, and bondage, in which People of African Descent in America were classified as Animal Property by European Americans, and by the Government, in order to facilitate the accumulation of White Wealth from unpaid Black Labor. The white slave owner exercised absolute authority over the poor Chattel Slave's life, liberty, labor, and offspring. America's captive laborers were callously subjected to physical--and mental--trauma, and gross sexual abuse, as an everyday norm. It was not always this way in America. Beginning in 1619, Africans were brought to the British Colony of Jamestown, Virginia. The first Africans were Indentured Servants, much like the poor laborers from Europe. But through treachery, greed, violence, and unjust legal manipulation, the Africans in America were reduced to Chattel Slaves by the end of the 17th century.

The Europeans in the American Colonies over-committed their economy, culture, and society, to Chattel Slavery, and invented "whiteness" and racism to facilitate the process. It is now admitted by some Historians that the American Colonies actually declared their independence from Britain in 1776 in order to protect the institution of Chattel Slavery.

By 1808, the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was virtually shut down; and, the American economy could no longer depend on enslaving captives who were brought to America from Africa on slave ships. So, white plantation owners began to breed Black People like animals, even going as far as to keep pedigrees for animal husbandry purposes. In order to facilitate this abomination with a clear conscience, some whites denied their Black captives the rite, and the right, of Christian Baptism. This was spiritually traumatic to the captives, especially to the females. For, as far as they knew, being denied Christian Baptism meant that the sexual sins that they were compelled to commit were not forgiven by God. Contrary to traditional stereotypes about the sexuality of "slave women" in America, our captive female Ancestors valued their chastity. This is borne out in the Slave Narratives. Southampton, Virginia was one such area where slave-breeding was prevalent. There, a brilliant slave preacher, and family Ancestor of mine, named Nat Turner, was forbidden by the white slave owners, the local government, and their Church, to Baptize the captives.

On August 21, 1831, in Southampton, Virginia, Nat Turner, a plantation preacher, and mystic, who was known to the captive Africans as The Prophet, led the most devastating slave revolt in American History. Turner, inspired by a vision from God, led this revolt in response to the impact of slave-breeding on the captives, especially on the Women and girls. The revolt lasted for three days, in which Nat Turner's Men killed fifty-five whites--men, women, and children--before the insurrection was put down by the U.S. Military and local armed white vigilantes.

Turner himself was not captured until October 30, 1831. He was tried, and hanged on November 11, 1831. Before his execution, Nat Turner gave his confession to a lawyer named Thomas R. Gray on November 5, 1831. In his confession, Nat Turner intimated that the Holy Spirit taught him about the movements of the heavenly bodies. He also prophesied of a battle between Blacks and Whites at the time of a Total Solar Eclipse. Read The Nat Turner Prophecy below:

THE NAT TURNER PROPHECY

"And about this time I had a vision--and I saw white spirits and black spirits engaged in battle, and the sun was darkened--the thunder rolled in the heaven, and blood flowed in the streams--and I heard a voice saying, 'Such is your luck, such you are called to see, and let it come rough or smooth, you must surely bare it.'"

Dictated to William Gray on November 5, 1831.

The Confessions of Nat Turner. Gray, Thomas R. Lucas & Deaver, Print Baltimore: 1831, p. 10.

Ponder the meaning of Nat Turner's Prophecy given in the document below titled, The Cosmic & Qur'anic Mystery of The Nat Turner Revolt. You will understand why The Holy Spirit specifically directed Prophet Nat to rise up and revolt on the date of August 21, 1831, and write a prophecy in the oppressor's blood.