Beginning in 1881, European nations raced to colonize Africa, until almost all of the continent was under the rule of various faraway countries. In 1935, as tensions that led to World War II were building, Italy invaded Ethiopia.
The continent’s only remaining nation to avoid colonization in Europe’s Scramble for Africa, has just been invaded by Benito Mussolini. And more than seven thousand miles away, in a historic display of Pan-Africanism and Black Nationalism that took place across the United States, this was the Black American community drafting itself to defend the Empire of Ethiopia when no one else would. Today’s forgotten chapter of history connects to a number of fascinating stories about America’s first Black aviators, taking us from the streets of Harlem to Africa, with an unexpected stop in the English countryside following the little-known footsteps of the last Emperor of Ethiopia (who just so happens to be regarded as the incarnation of God by the Rastafarian religion).
Because Ethiopia was not an official ally of the US, the government prevented most volunteers from going off to fight. But those who managed to get there left a mark. Read about the volunteers who fought for Ethiopia and the legacy the conflict left at Messy Nessy Chic.