The Wednesday, March 8 edition of Africa 500 features a lecture from one of our prominent Afrikan American educators from the Ancestral Realm, Dr. Barbara Sizemore (1927 – 2004).
The Web page Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Sizemore) had this to say in their article about Ancestor Barbara Sizemore:
In 1973, she became the first African American woman to head the public school system in a major city, when she was elected superintendent of District of Columbia Public Schools. …
Sizemore began her career in Chicago public schools, teaching English and reading in elementary and high schools from 1950 to 1963, and serving as principal of elementary and high schools from 1963 to 1967. In 1969 she was named district superintendent of the Woodlawn Experimental Schools. She was also a member of the adjunct faculty at Northeastern Illinois University from 1965 to 1971. Sizemore taught at the University of Pittsburgh from 1975 to 1992. It was there that she began her research on low-income African American students and standardized tests, which she continued as dean of the School of Education at DePaul University in 1992. Sizemore’s first book, a version of her doctoral thesis titled The Ruptured Diamond: The Politics of the Decentralization of the District of Columbia Public Schools, was published in 1981. Her second book, Walking in Circles: The Black Struggle for School Reform was published posthumously in 2008.
From a bio provided by Africa 500:
Pioneering educator and school administrator Barbara Sizemore was born in Chicago, Illinois to Sylvester and Delila Lafoon. Her father died in a car accident when she was eight years old. Her mother remarried and the family moved to Evanston. Growing up in the 1930’s in the Midwest, Sizemore experienced Jim Crow whose laws were adopted and enforced. Although her elementary and middle schools were segregated, she had highly educated African-American teachers and received an excellent education.
In 1944, Sizemore enrolled in Northwestern University and graduated with a degree in classical languages in 1947. She dreamed of being a translator for the United Nations but because there were few professional opportunities for black women at that time, she began teaching in Chicago public schools that led her to her life’s calling.
In 1954, Sizemore earned an M.A. in elementary education from Northwestern. She left teaching in 1963 to become the first black female to be appointed principal of a Chicago school. In 1965, she became principal of Forrestville High School and initiated efforts to turn the school from a haven for gangs into an innovative educational experiment. By 1969, she was named director and district superintendent for the Woodlawn Experimental Schools Project and instructor at Northwestern’s Center for Inner City Studies, an innovative multi-disciplinary, multi-ethnic graduate school program in Chicago’s South Side.
In 1973, Sizemore was elected as superintendent of the District of Columbia Public School System. This was the first time an African-American woman had been chosen to head a public school system in a major U.S. city. During her tenure, Sizemore tackled highly controversial and polarizing issues such as the abolishment of standardized testing whose “Anglo-Saxon bias” she believed put African American students at a disadvantage. Sizemore’s educational views challenged the more traditional views of the school system and she was fired in 1975. Her book, The Ruptured Diamond (1981), chronicles her experiences in Washington.
After leaving Washington, Sizemore taught at the University of Pittsburgh where she conducted research on schools that served low-income African-American children. In 1992, she assumed a professorship at DePaul University in Chicago. As dean of the School of Education, she created her School Achievement Structure (SAS) program. SAS was designed to enable black students to compete successfully on any standardized exam. This was a radical departure from her earlier belief in abandoning the tests. Sizemore now argued that integrating SAS into a school’s curriculum would help low-achieving schools in Chicago become high performers. The program is used in many school districts around the country.
Sizemore served as Professor Emerita at DePaul University. She earned a Ph.D. in educational administration from the University of Chicago as well as four honorary doctorate degrees. She was a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the Urban League, NAACP and Phi Delta Kappa. In the last years of her life, she advised the Chicago public school system and continued to write and speak on educational issues.
Ms. Sizemore died from cancer in June of 2004. She was the mother of six children and had seven grandchildren.
https://www.visionaryproject.org/sizemorebarbara/
Africa 500 is broadcast every Wednesday at 3:00 PM (Eastern Time, United States) on HANDRadio (https://handradio.org). After the broadcast, the show can be listened to by clicking below or by visiting the Audio-Visual Media pages of KUUMBAReport (https://kuumbareport.com), KUUMBAEvents (https://kuumbaevents.com) or the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (https://srdcinternational.org).
Listen to the Wednesday, March 8, 2023 show here:
The February 22, 2023 edition of Africa 500 discusses The Return: African American Families and Mother Africa. Show hosts Sis. Tomiko and Bro. Ty welcome special guests Imhotep Simba and Ras Tre Subira.
Imhotep Simba
Ras Tre Subira is an award-winning documentary filmmaker with over 7 years of teaching and producing social justice films in several international locations. Ras Tre is the Co-Founder of African Youth Alchemy (AYA Inc.), a community-based nonprofit organization that develops youth as cultural ambassadors who utilize expeditionary learning, media and arts to educate themselves and their community. Mr. Subira facilitates I AM (Independent Afrikan Minds), a youth leadership program that cultivates youth leadership 
through community service projects, including an “educultural” study-tour to Ghana, West Africa. In 2009, Ras Tre established the Griot’s Eye program which equips youth with the technical and creative skills to produce dynamic film and photography projects that address issues of immediate relevance in the lives of Baltimore city youth.
An important theme in Ras Tre’s films is the exploration of identity issues among youth of the African Diaspora with a strong emphasis on the intersection between traditional culture and urban arts. He is particularly interested in giving voice to marginalized communities through participative media projects that empower residents to tell their own stories. His work reflects a strong commitment to social justice, youth development, and international development.
With a B.A. in African Diasporan Studies, M.A. in International Development, and MFA in Documentary Film, he has a wealth of experience in using media technology to support community development projects. This includes promoting trade and investment in Liberia with the Ministry of Commerce and producing teacher-training videos in Ethiopia with the Ministry of Education. As an award-winning filmmaker and educator, his documentary films have been featured internationally and 
domestically on CNN, PBS and local cable channels.
broadcast, the show can be listened to on this post as well as on the Audio-Visual Media Pages of 
AFRICA 500
murdering a Baltimore City police officer and seriously injuring another. Despite Baba Eddie’s protestation of innocence and a lack of any physical evidence linking him to the case, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. It was in prison, at the Maryland House of Correction in Jessup, Maryland, not-so-affectionately known as “The Cut”, that I met Baba Eddie. I had talked with him over the phone a couple of times, and I was at “The Cut” specifically to meet him and be introduced to the Writers’ Club, a group of inmates who used prose, poetry and other literary pursuits to help them heal their psyches and, for those who could look forward to release one day, prepare them to better cope with the world outside. I was impressed with the calm that Baba Eddie exuded, and I wrote about my encounter with him in the newsletter I was writing at the time (
known as Jericho, which advocated for the hundreds of Political Prisoners being held in penitentiaries, prisons and jails in the US, from Mumia Abu-Jamal and MOVE in Philadelphia, to Indigenous First Nations Political Prisoner Leonard Peltier and the American Indian Movement (AIM), to White Political Prisoners such as Thomas Manning and Marilyn Buck, to Panthers imprisoned across the country that included Dr. Mutulu Shakur, Sundiata Acoli, Romaine “Chip” Fitzgerald, Veronza Bowers, Hugo “Yogi” Pinnell, Wopashitwe Mondo Eyen we Langa and Ed Poindexter, to exiles such as Assata Shakur, and of course to Baba Eddie.
revolutionary activism of his youth, but he continued to work on behalf of the rights of the people and the truth. He began working at The Real News in Baltimore (
Below are several links to just a few of the articles, videos and podcasts that have been produced to pay tribute to Baba Eddie:
The Wednesday, February 15, 2023 edition of Africa 500 features African Women Entrepreneurs who are helping to drive the Continent’s “Green Revolution”. Show hosts Sis. Tomiko and Bro. Ty welcome African Women “agripreneurs” Lindiwe Ntombikazulu Somo, Kudirat “Ayo” Ayomide Tijani and Joyce Apoasaan Jambeidu.
Lindiwe Ntombikazulu Magubane Somo lives in South Africa. She is the founder and CEO of Ntombi and Rano Trading, which is an umbrella which holds few other companies beneath it. Three Sister’s Poultry deals in farming, poultry and vegetables. She has Diploma in Marketing Management at Stanford College, Advanced 
Diploma in Agriculture, Certificate in Supply Chain Management with Cape Peninsula University, Certificate with Nosa in Health and Safety Management, Advanced Diploma in Media Studies from an Institute in Ireland.
In the year 2021 she was nominated amongst 1500 applicants around Africa as a leader for the program called Ignite by Guzakuza in Ghana partnered with London Academy in the UK. Lindiwe is also a Woman in Agriculture Award Nominee for the year 2022. Lindz Nature’s Lick manufactures organic skin care products and also deals in clothing.
Kudirat Ayomide Tijani aka Ayo lives in Kwara State in Nigeria but was born in Lagos. She graduated in Agricultural Economics from Obafemi Awolowo University Osun state.
learned the importance of Organic Agriculture and its impact on the world. Organic Agriculture in Nigeria is just gaining ground and to fast-track its growth it’s important to leverage technology in order to make it attractive to the youth. Ayo is an evangelist when it comes to organic Agriculture because of its effect on the well-being of humans. If food is going to be medicine for mankind then it must be healthy.
She is a Social Media Manager & Marketer, and Creative Director of Cityoftayhairhub a hair care brand. City Of Tayhairhub is a hair care brand totally focused on helping Men and Women of the curly & kinky hair type embrace their curl patterns through informational materials and effective organic hair care products thus making them confident through their hair and passing the baton to the incoming generation. Her products can be found at IG @cityoftayhairhub
Joyce Apoasaan Jambeidu is Ghanaian from Garu in the Upper East Region. Her dream is to inspire women to make an impact in their chosen fields, to reduce poverty among women through creation of decent jobs.
She has a BA in Integrated Development Studies, an MBA in Project Management and awaiting her thesis Defense for Mphil in Community Health and Development. She is also pursuing a PHD in Project Management with Taxila American University. Joyce currently works as a Governance Lead with USAID RING II, before joining RING II she worked with USAID 
Advancing Nutrition as an Early Childhood Development Specialist, she has also worked with Lively Minds Project, ActionAid – Global Platforms, USAID SPRING – Ghana and World Vision Ghana.
worker, she had the privilege to work in many rural communities with women groups with the aim to reduce malnutrition among children and women in reproductive age. She is also the Executive Director of Tieltaab Ghana – an NGO operating in the area of Food and Nutrition Security, Early Childhood Development, Gender and Social Inclusion, WASH and Environmental Protection. Tieltaab Ghana operates The Empowered Woman Hub with the aim to ignite and inspire women to make an impact in society through various initiatives.
Wellam’s Shea was formed to economically empower girls, women and entire communities which will contribute to improved nutritional status of children under 5 and women of reproductive age through decent job creation in the shea value chain. Her hair and beauty products can be found at IG @wellamshea and FB Wellam’s Shea
The police apologists will once again insist that “these are just a few bad apples” and that “99.9 percent of police do their jobs honorably and with respect for citizens.” How is it, then, that people of Afrikan descent seem to so often encounter that 0.1 percent of police who are violent, corrupt and racist? How was Oscar Grant killed while he was handcuffed, face down, on a Bay Area Rapid Transit platform as he was telling his friends to comply with police? How was Philando Castille gunned down in his own car, in front of his lady and their child, for politely informing the officer that he was in legal possession of a firearm according to Minnesota’s gun laws? How do we wind up with cases such as those of Abner Louima (who survived being sodomized in 1997 by four New York police officers in a precinct bathroom), Amadou Diallo (who was shot 19 times and killed February 4, 1999 — 24 years ago practically to the day — by plainclothes police for entering the apartment building where he lived), Breonna Taylor (killed in her sleep in a hail of bullets), Sandra Bland (killed in a jail cell after a bogus traffic stop), Tamir Rice (killed for playing with a toy gun alone in a park), John Crawford III (killed for shopping in the gun aisle at an Ohio Walmart), Elijah McClain (injected with ketamine and killed by officers who accosted him for Walking While Black) — and these are just some of the victims who never posed any threat to police and were not even breaking the law — and so many others? How was Ronald Madison, a 45-year-old developmentally disabled man, shot multiple times in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina by a police unit that then tried to cover up their crime by claiming he was a violent drug dealer who shot at them first? How was Rayshard Brooks shot in the back as he was running from police in an Atlanta, Georgia fast-food drive-thru? How was Walter Scott shot in the back in North Charleston, South Carolina as he was running from a police officer? How did we end up with Eric Garner being strangled with an illegal chokehold on a New York City street by Daniel Pantaleo and over half a dozen other police as he cried “I can’t breathe” and George Floyd’s throat being crushed by Derek Chauvin and three other Minneapolis police as he begged for his life? How did Freddie Gray end up dying from a broken neck for simply running from Baltimore City police when they stared at him? And now, how did five Memphis police get it into their heads to beat Tyre Nichols literally to death? No, these are not just a few bad apples. To paraphrase a 1990 commentary about racist right-wing politicians by Dr. Julianne Malveaux, this is five rotten apples that have not fallen far from a rotting tree.
The February 8, 2023 edition of Africa 500 spotlights African women trailblazers in business. Show hosts Sis. Tomiko and Bro. Ty welcome African business woman Florence Torson-Hart.
Florence Torson-Hart is the current President of the US-Ghana Chamber of Commerce headquartered in Philadelphia PA. The Chamber is dedicated to the facilitation and promotion of trade & investment, economic growth, increasing business opportunities and advocacy on behalf of its membership in both countries.
She also leads a Wealth Management Team at Merrill Lynch and is a Certified Financial Planner. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Florence was the CEO and Founder of a successful multi-media company. She has extensive experience in Advertising, Public Relations, 
Marketing, Publishing and TV Content Programming. She is a graduate of Drexel University with a Dual MBA concentration in Financial Management and Accounting and holds a BA in Publishing with a Marketing and Editing specialization.
The February 1, 2023 edition of Africa 500 features guests DeShuna Spencer of KweliTV and Stephen Selaise Asuo of Young Africa Media Center and YALI TV.
As a former journalist & radio host, DeShuna’s work focuses on the intersection of media images and implicit bias. She speaks frequently on media representation, diversity in the streaming & the OTT space, social entrepreneurship, the effects of Black trauma content, challenges & opportunities in the media landscape, starting a media tech venture, women in media & tech, and her journey as a Black founder.
Being a niche streaming player is never easy, and the list of failed ventures is long. But as major streaming services become more expensive, bloated, and cumbersome to navigate, it may create an opportunity for smaller companies with a more specific point of view–KweliTV among them.
Currently he is the founder/CEO of Young Africa Media Center and general manager of YALI TV, a fast-growing online television channel dedicated to tell the stories and impacts of YALI Alumni and young leaders across Africa. He leads over a 100 YALI TV Correspondents and associates across Africa, and the channel has covered major events on the continent in English, Portuguese and French. He is also the coordinator of the Black History Festivals which began in 2022. The 2023 Black History Festival will take place in Columbus Ohio. 
As he continues to develop content best in value-based leadership, Stephen aspires to be a renowned Media Entrepreneur and Development Communication Consultant in Ghana. Steven hopes to transform the socioeconomic fortunes of the continent through a renewed media vision for Africa through leadership, storytelling and peer partnerships.
Be sure to tune in to Africa 500 on HANDRadio (
Starting on February 1, Africa 500 will launch a series of discussions in recognition of Pan-African Heritage Month (or, as some refer to it, “Black History Month”) by welcoming Sis. DeShuna Spencer, founder and CEO of KweliTV, and Stephen Selaise Asuo, founder of the Young Africa Media Center and coordinator of the Black History Festival.
The January 11, 2023 edition of Africa 500 will feature the words of the Rev. Dr. Ishakamusa Barsashango.
Rev. Dr. Ishakamusa Barashango, affectionately known as “Baba”, began his journey to Nsamando, the land of the Ancestors on January 14, 2004. He apparently succumbed to a heart attack during his morning walk. The dynamic minister, author, historian, educator and motivational speaker was born April 27, 1938 in Philadelphia, PA.
As well as releasing a series of audio lecture compact disks, Dr Barashango was the author of several books including: Afrikan People And European Holidays: A Mental Genocide Book One; Afrikan People And European Holidays: A Mental Genocide Book Two; God, the Bible and the Black Man’s Destiny; Afrikan Woman: The Original Guardian Angel; and Afrikan Genesis: Amazing Stories of Man’s Beginnings. Dr Barashango was completely dedicated to the physical, mental, and spiritual liberation of New Afrikan people – he dedicated his life to this cause!
the covenant he swore with an oath to our ancestor Abraham.