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MANSA MUSA, THE TENTH MANSA OF THE MALI EMPIRE

Musa I (circa 1280 – 1337), or Mansa Musa, was the tenth Mansa (a military title meaning "conqueror" or "emperor “) of the Mali Empire, an Islamic West African state.

At the time of Musa's ascension to the throne, Mali in large part consisted of the territory of the former Ghana Empire, which Mali had conquered.

During his reign, Musa held many titles, such as "Emir of Melle", "Lord of the Mines of Wangara", and "Conqueror of Ghanata".

Musa conquered 24 cities. During Musa's reign, Mali may have been the largest producer of gold in the world, and Musa has been considered one of the wealthiest historical figures.

Musa is generally referred to as "Mansa Musa" in Western manuscripts and literature. Other names used for Musa include "Mali-Koy Kankan Musa", "Gonga Musa", and "the Lion of Mali".

LINEAGE AND ACCESSION TO THE THRONE

Mansa Musa's grandfather was Abu-Bakr Keita, a nephew of Sundiata Keita, the founder of the Malian Empire as recorded through oral histories.

Abu-Bakr did not ascend the throne, and his son, Musa's father, Faga Laye, has no significance in the History of Mali.

Mansa Musa came to the throne through a practice of appointing a deputy when a king goes on his pilgrimage to Mecca or some other endeavour, and later naming the deputy as heir.

Musa was appointed deputy of Abubakari Keita II, the king before him, who had reportedly embarked on an expedition to explore the limits of the Atlantic Ocean, and never returned.

ISLAM AND PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA

Musa was a devout Muslim, and his pilgrimage to Mecca, also known as Makkah, made him well known across Northern Africa and the Middle East.

To Musa, Islam was "an entry into the cultured world of the Eastern Mediterranean". He would have spent much time fostering the growth of the religion within his empire.

Musa made his pilgrimage between 1324 and 1325 spanning 2,700 miles. His procession reportedly included 60,000 men. Musa feed the entire company of men and animals.

Those animals included 80 camels which each carried 23–136 kg (50–300 pounds) of gold dust. Musa gave the gold to the poor he met along his route.

Musa not only gave to the cities he passed on the way to Mecca, including Cairo and Medina, but also traded gold for souvenirs. It was reported that he built a mosque every Friday.

Because of his nature of giving, Musa's massive spending and generous donations created a massive ten year gold recession.

LATER REIGN

During his long return journey from Mecca in 1325, Musa heard news that his army had recaptured Gao. The city was at the time an important trading center.

Musa made a detour and visited the city. When he returned to Niani, where he used to live, brought back many Arabian scholars and architects.

Musa embarked on a large building program, raising mosques and madrasas in Timbuktu and Gao.  Most notably, the ancient center of learning Sankore Madrasah was constructed during his reign.

In Niani, Musa built the Hall of Audience, a building communicating by an interior door to the royal palace. During this period, there was an advanced level of urban living in the major centres of Mali.

The University of Sankore in Timbuktu was staffed under Musa's reign with jurists, astronomers, and mathematicians. The university became a center of learning and culture.

By the end of Mansa Musa's reign, the Sankoré University had been converted into a fully staffed University with the largest collections of books in Africa since the Library of Alexandria.

The death date of Mansa Musa is highly debated among modern historians and the Arab scholars who recorded the history of Mali.

When compared to the reigns of his successors, son Mansa Maghan and older brother Mansa Suleyman, and Musa's recorded 25 years of rule, the calculated date of death is 1337.

Narrated by Timbuktu.

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BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for April 9.

Juanita Hall became the first African American to win a Tony Award for Best Supporting Actress.

She was an American musical theatre and film actress, remembered for her roles in the original stage and screen versions of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals "South Pacific" as Bloody Mary and "Flower Drum Song" as Madame Liang.

Prior to her acting roles, she assembled her own chorus group and kept busy with performances in concert, on records, in films, and on the air.  

Hall’s television appearances in the 1950s and early 1960s included The Ed Sullivan Show, The Coca-Cola Hour, The Perry Como Show.

She also performed on radio in the soap opera The Story of Ruby Valentine on the National Negro Network. The serial was broadcast on 35 stations.

Hall is remembered as a consummate professional and a thoughtful colleague.  

"I think everyone who had anything to do with her loved her," wrote Richard Rodgers.

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On March 31, Toni Morrison wins the Pulitzer.

She was an American novelist, essayist, book editor, and college professor.

In the late 1960s, Morrison became the first Black female editor in fiction at Random House in New York City. She became noted for her examination of the Black experience within the Black community. 

In 1988, Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for "Beloved"; she gained worldwide recognition when she was awarded

the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993, becoming the first African American woman to win this award.

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Because Black History is 365 Days a Year, and Black Facts Matter!

On March 30, The 15th Amendment was ratified and gave blacks the right to vote. 

In the final years of the American Civil War and the Reconstruction Era that followed, Congress repeatedly debated the rights of the millions who had been enslaved. 

After surviving a difficult ratification fight, the amendment was certified as duly ratified and part of the Constitution. 

Women would not receive that right until the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920.

BlackFacts.com is the Internet's longest running Black History Encyclopedia. Our podcast summarizes the vast stories of Black history in daily episodes known as Black Facts Of The Day™.

Since 1997, BlackFacts.com has been serving up Black History Facts on a daily basis to millions of users and followers on the web and via social media.

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Wilma Rudolph was an American sprinter, who became a world-record-holding Olympic champion and international icon in track and field. 

Rudolph was born prematurely at 4.5 pounds (2.0 kg) on June 23, 1940, in Saint Bethlehem, Tennessee. 

She was able to overcome several early childhood illnesses, including pneumonia, scarlet fever and polio. She enrolled at Tennessee State University in Nashville in 1958.  

She won a bronze medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. She also won three gold medals, at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy.  

Rudolph was known as the fastest woman in the world in the 1960s and became the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympic Games.

BlackFacts.com is the Internet's longest running Black History Encyclopedia. Our podcast summarizes the vast stories of Black history in daily episodes known as Black Facts Of The Day™.

Since 1997, BlackFacts.com has been serving up Black History Facts on a daily basis to millions of users and followers on the web and via social media.

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March 29 is the birthday of Pearl Bailey. 

She was an American entertainer notable for her sultry singing and mischievous humor. A nightclub performer, Bailey shared the stage with entertainers such as Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington.

Bailey also had a television career and even hosted her own show, “The Pearl Bailey Show.”

BlackFacts.com is the Internet's longest running Black History Encyclopedia. Our podcast summarizes the vast stories of Black history in daily episodes known as Black Facts Of The Day™.

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Diane Judith Nash is an American civil rights activist, and a leader and strategist of the student wing of the Civil Rights Movement.

Nash was born in 1938 and raised in Chicago. After finishing Hyde Park High School in Chicago, Diane Nash went to Washington, D.C., to attend Howard University. She then went on to major in English at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. 

Nash's campaigns included the first successful civil rights action to integrate lunch counters in Nashville.

She is co-founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

BlackFacts.com is the Internet's longest running Black History Encyclopedia. Our podcast summarizes the vast stories of Black history in daily episodes known as Black Facts Of The Day™.

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Because Black History is 365 Days a Year, and Black Facts Matter!

On March 28, Bill Russell became the first African American to coach an NBA team. 

During his career, Russell supported the American civil rights movement, and spoke out against the Vietnam War.  He won 11 NBA titles in the 13 seasons that he played with the Boston Celtics, and then he was named the player-coach of the Celtics in 1966. 

In 2011, Barack Obama awarded Russell the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his accomplishments on the court and in the Civil Rights Movement.

BlackFacts.com is the Internet's longest running Black History Encyclopedia. Our podcast summarizes the vast stories of Black history in daily episodes known as Black Facts Of The Day™.

Since 1997, BlackFacts.com has been serving up Black History Facts on a daily basis to millions of users and followers on the web and via social media.

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Because Black History is 365 Days a Year, and Black Facts Matter!