The African

The African, the premier African magazine published in the United States dating back to 1994, is the

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Washington D.C., DC
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http://www.myafricanmagazine.com/

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OUR STORY

Just as John H. Johnson in November 1942 founded Negro Digest (which later became Ebony) to fill the information vacuum about Afro-Americans in the United States, Soumanou Salifou, an award-winning reporter originally from Benin who came to the United States in 1983 to pursue post-graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced Studies in Washington, founded in November 1994 the first African magazine published in the United States: The African. The pioneering, upscale magazine, in Salifou's own words, is committed to “telling the full story about Africa as objectively as humanly possible, and to fuel the laudable on-going efforts to reconnect Africans and African Americans.”

The launch took place in the beautiful evening of October 6, 1994 on the occasion of a high-profile, glamorous event in a major Washington, D.C. hotel, as seen in the above cover that shows Gen. Colin Powell, then-Virginia's governor Doug Wilder, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson (back turned to the camera) admiring the cover of the maiden issue while its founder, Soumanou Salifou, savors the moment with his eyes closed.

The African was pleasantly surprised with the laudatory review we got in the August 1999 issue of The Library Journal, a highly-regarded U.S. publication. It reads, in part: “Readers should expect the unexpected with this comprehensive bimonthly. Committed to 'building bridges' between the United States and Africa, it exposes its audience to the politics, culture and viewpoints of a continent about which many Westerners know very little.” Then, in a heartwarming letter dated May 22, 2001, the President of the United States, George W. Bush, wrote: “Dear Soumanou Salifou: Thank you for your letter and the materials you sent. I welcome information from Americans across the country, and I value your input.”