Story of One of Africa’s Great Female Leaders Illustrates Africa’s Influence on American History

PR Log (Press Release) – Nov 02, 2009 – Tulsa, OK — Our knowledge of African and African-American history includes few female leaders. “The Black Hand of God” (http://www.theblackhandofgod.com), a new novel published by an independent literary press in Tulsa, Oklahoma, hopes to help change that. “The Black Hand of God” offers documents the life of Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita, a strong African woman who led a religious reform movement some 300 years ago.  Often known as the African “Joan of Arc,” Kimpa Vita’s achievements were belittled by the Church but her influence could be discerned in slave uprisings in the United States. While most accounts of her life are Euro-centric, “The Black Hand of God” uses academic accounts of her life drawn from eyewitness journals and posits a more African version of events.

“To interpret African history,” explained R.S. Basi, the Book’s author, “we are at the mercy of European eyewitnesses who clearly had their own biases and agendas.”  People and institutions from Nelson Mandela to UNESCO have lamented the Eurocentric nature of African history.  Basi wrote “The Black Hand of God” to both offer a different perspective and to show Americans that we will discover many things about Africa if we only make the effort.  “Most people don’t realize, for instance, how many great African leaders influenced the world we now live in,” says Basi.  “Or that Christianity spread in Africa before Europe.”  

Basi wrote “The Black Hand of God” (The Marked, LLC, October 2009, $15.95) as a starting point for individuals who want to interpret and discover African history for themselves.  It also puts Kimpa Vita’s story in context with history, religion, and more modern African events.  It offers a view of a sophisticated, complex society in ancient African kingdoms that counters what we learned in history books.  

Author Bio
R.S. Basi is an environmental attorney who has worked and traveled extensively in Africa, including crossing the Congo by pirogue, or dugout canoe.  He argues that African oral history is mistakenly overlooked in favor of obviously biased Eurocentric narratives and hopes that we will one day catalog and investigate more oral traditions.

CONTACT: 

David Wagoner
The Marked, LLC
650-380-6823
Dwagoner@themarkedproductions.com
http://www.theblackhandofgod.com