Kente Cloth Worn By African Slave Traders – IOTW Report

Kente Cloth Worn By African Slave Traders

USA Today

The origin of kente cloth

Kente cloth comes from the Asante, or Ashanti, peoples of Ghana and Ewe peoples of Ghana and Togo.

A popular legend claims creators of kente cloth presented the cloth to Asantehene Osei Tutu, the Asante kingdom’s first leader. Tutu named the cloth “kente,” meaning basket, and adopted the fabric as a royal cloth for special occasions.

The Asante and slave trade

Tutu, who lived from 1660 to 1712 or 1717, unified several small Asante kingdoms to create the Asante empire. He is credited with expanding the Asante throughout most of Ghana and introducing his subjects to the gold and slave trades along the West African coast.

The Asante supplied British and Dutch traders with slaves in exchange for firearms, which they used to expand their empire. Slaves were often acquired as tributes from smaller states or captured during war. Some slaves were brought across the Atlantic whiles others stayed in Africa to work in gold fields.

According to the BBC, by the end of the 18th century, the region exported an estimated 6,000-7,000 slaves per year. More

18 Comments on Kente Cloth Worn By African Slave Traders

  1. If kente cloth was worn only by people who demanded total obedience from their subjects and who claimed ownership of men, women, and children, then the wearing of kente drapery by congressional Dems is historically and culturally totally appropriate.

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  2. There are 52 black Congress people and not one of these intellectually superior folks was aware of the Ashanti slave empire? Hilarious

    I knew about these people 30 years ago. Because, like the simpleton that I am, I try to see all sides of a story

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  3. RadioMattM
    JUNE 18, 2020 AT 11:53 AM
    “…Just as blacks can kill blacks with impunity, blacks can be in the slave trade…”

    …and still are…

    “Africa just recorded the highest rate of modern-day enslavement in the world.

    Armed conflict, state-sponsored forced labor, and forced marriages were the main causes behind the estimated 9.2 million Africans who live in servitude without the choice to do so, according to the 2018 Global Slavery Index. And despite these practices being widespread, slavery has remained a largely invisible issue, in part, because it disproportionately affects the most marginalized members of society, such as minorities, women, and children.

    Slavery was especially prevalent in Eritrea and Mauritania, where slavery has even been, at times, an institutionalized practice.”
    https://qz.com/africa/1333946/global-slavery-index-africa-has-the-highest-rate-of-modern-day-slavery-in-the-world/

    …and not a White person or Confederate flag in sight…

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  4. Callmelennie
    JUNE 18, 2020 AT 12:51 PM
    “There are 52 black Congress people and not one of these intellectually superior folks was aware of the Ashanti slave empire?”

    …pretty common in my generation…whenI was growing up, all the Black kids were big into “Back to Africa”, but never bothered to actually research anything…this is why Swahili became regarded as THE African language, because it ‘sounded’ the most Afican and was even popularized as the language backstory and name for Star Trek’s Uhura, even though not even she seemed to realize that it was an EAST African language and would not have been spoken by anyone’s American slave ancestors…

    7
  5. Oh noes! What next!? Are Democrats the real racists!? Will somebody come up with a list? That proves to all the smaht people how smaht they are!? That Democrats the real racists? That’ll fix all them haters.

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  6. @SNS ~ I call bullshit on that story … China is the biggest slave empire on the planet

    always was, always is, always will be
    …. & not a white person (except for the Microsoft, Apple, Google, Nike, etc. executives), or a Confederate flag in sight

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