The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from native Africans or people from Africa, predominantly in the Americas. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the West and Central Africans who were enslaved and shipped to the Americas via the Atlantic slave trade between the 16th and 19th centuries, with their largest populations in Brazil, the United States, and Haiti. However, the term can also be used to refer to the descendants of North Africans who immigrated to other parts of the world. Some scholars identify "four circulatory phases" of this migration out of Africa. The phrase African diaspora gradually entered common usage at the turn of the 21st century. The term diaspora originates from the Greek διασπορά which gained popularity in English in reference to the Jewish diaspora before being more broadly applied to other populations.
Djanet Sears is a Canadian playwright, actor and director, nationally recognized for her work in African-Canadian theatre. Sears has many credits in writing and editing highly acclaimed dramas such as Afrika Solo, the first stage play to be written by a Canadian woman of African descent; its sequel Harlem Duet; and The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God. The complexities of intersecting identities of race, and gender are central themes in her works, as well as inclusion of songs, rhythm, and choruses shaped from West-African traditions. She is also passionate about "the preservation of Black theatre history," and involved the creation of organizations like Obsidian Theatre, and AfriCanadian Playwrights Festival.
TransAfrica is an advocacy organization in Washington, D.C. that seeks to influence the foreign policy of the United States concerning African and Caribbean countries and all African diaspora groups. They are a research, education, and advocacy center for activism focusing on social, economic and political conditions in Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America and other parts of the African Diaspora. They are the largest and oldest social justice organization in the United States that focuses on the African world. They have served as a major research, educational, and organizing institution for the African and African Descendant communities and the U.S. public in general.
500 Years Later is a 2005 independent documentary film directed by Owen 'Alik Shahadah and written by M. K. Asante, Jr. It has won five international film festival awards in the category of Best Documentary, including the UNESCO "Breaking the Chains" award. It has won other awards including Best Documentary at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, Best Documentary at the Bridgetown Film Festival in Barbados, Best Film at the International Black Cinema Film Festival in Berlin, and Best International Documentary at the Harlem International Film Festival in New York.
The Dublin International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Dublin, Ireland, since 2003.
The World Festival of Black Arts, also known as FESMAN, is a month-long culture and arts festival that takes place in Africa. The festival features poetry, sculpture, painting, music, cinema, theatre, fashion, architecture, design and dance from artists and performers from around the African Diaspora.
The San Diego Black Film Festival is one of the largest black film festivals in the United States. It was founded in 2002 as the Noir Film Festival and takes place annually in San Diego County, California, to recognize African American movies and production. The festival's motto is "Spotlight on African American and African Diaspora Cinema".
The Kidflix Film Fest of Bed-Stuy is a free annual film festival for children and their families presented by the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA). With the exception of the 2020 season, it has been held every Friday night in August since 2000.
African American Californians, or Black Californians are residents of the state of California who are of African ancestry. According to 2019 United States Census Bureau estimates, those identified solely as African American or black constituted 5.8% or 2,282,144 residents in California. Including an additional 1.2% who identified as having partial African ancestry, the figure was 7.0%. As of 2021, California has the largest multiracial African American population by number in the United States.
The history of African Americans in Ghana goes back to individuals such as American civil rights activist and writer W. E. B. Du Bois, who settled in Ghana in the last years of his life and is buried in the capital, Accra. Since then, other African Americans who are descended from slaves imported from areas within the present-day jurisdiction of Ghana and neighboring states have applied for permanent resident status in Ghana. As of 2015, the number of African-American residents has been estimated at around 3,000 people, a large portion of whom live in Accra.
Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present is a compilation of orature and literature by more than 200 women from Africa and the African diaspora, edited and introduced by Margaret Busby, who compared the process of assembling the volume to "trying to catch a flowing river in a calabash".
Rubaiyat Hossain is a Bangladeshi film director, writer, and producer. She made the films Meherjaan (2011), Under Construction (2015) and Made in Bangladesh (2019).
Salome Mulugeta is an Ethiopian and Eritrean-American filmmaker, actor and journalist educated in England. She is the recipient of the Ambassador Award 2019 and a Mayor Muriel Bowser proclamation honoree. Salome is best known for her first feature film, Woven, and for winning the Audience Narrative Award for Film Directed by Women of Color at the African Diaspora International Film Festival in New York. Mulugeta and Nagwa Ibrahim co-directed Woven which premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival.
Sabrina Schmidt Gordon is an American documentary filmmaker. She is known for producing and editing films on cultural and social issues. In 2018, she was invited to become a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).
The Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival & Lecture Series is an annual film festival founded by African Voices magazine and Long Island University's Media Arts Department, Brooklyn Campus. Established in 1997, Reel Sisters is dedicated to providing opportunities for women of color filmmakers to advance their careers in the film industry.
Adama Delphine Fawundu is a Sierra Leonean-American multi-disciplinary photographer and visual artist promoting African culture and heritage, a co-founder and author of MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora – a journal and book representing female photographers of African descent. Her works have been presented in numerous exhibitions worldwide. She uses multiple mediums to create works with themes about identity, utopia, decolonization, and stories of the past, present and future. She is a Professor of Visual Arts at Columbia University.
Oshosheni Hiveluah was a Namibian writer, producer, and director. She is best known for the films Tjitji the Himba Girl and 100 Bucks.
No Time To Die is a 2006 Ghanaian comic and romantic movie produced by Wolfgang Panzer, a German, writer and director and co-produced by King Ampaw, an award-winning Ghanaian director and actor. The movie was directed by King Ampaw. The music was composed by Ben Michael Mankhamba a Malawian guitarist, singer, songwriter, composer. The costumes were designed by Lisa Meier. It was produced in 2006 in Ghana and Germany. It is an English speaking movie which lasts for 95 minutes. It was selected in December 2016 at the African Diaspora International Film Festival (ADIFF) in New York.
100 Bucks is a 2012 Namibian short film directed by Oshosheni Hiveluah and co–produced by Cecil Moller and Mutaleni Nadimi. The film focused an urban story of the journey of a 100-Namibia Dollar-note that passes from hands of wealth to hands of need and through thieving hands.
Darine Hotait is an American film director and writer of Lebanese descent. She is best known for her short films, I Say Dust, Like Salt, Tallahassee, and Sherman.
