Articles by Toward Freedom Editor

Inside the Vatican: Praying with Our Feet
A Personal Account of African Reparatory Justice

Toward Freedom Editor July 24, 2025 Toward Freedom Editor
A bust of Antonio Negrita, who was the predecessor of Lourenço da Silva Mendouça and a cousin of Álvaro II, King of Kongo (1587-1614). In 1602, King Álvaro II sent Negrita as an ambassador to the Vatican to advocate for the freedom of the Kongolese people and for West Central Africa as a whole.

By Kim Poole | Founder, Teaching Artist Institute

When I stepped through the gates of the Pontifical Urbaniana University this past May, I carried more doubt than certainty in my bag.  For three days, during African Liberation Weekend, I watched a global circle of scholars, seminarians, artists, prophets, priests, and everyday people do something rarely done within these ancient Vatican halls; we told the truth out loud about Reparatory Justice for Africa and the African Diaspora.  We demanded that the Church help deliver it. read more

Farewell

Toward Freedom Editor July 20, 2023 Toward Freedom Editor
Image from Toward Freedom’s 60th anniversary celebration in Burlington, VT

Dear TF readers and supporters – 

In the aftermath of World War II, anti-colonial movements spread throughout the world giving rise to the non-aligned movement. At the end of 1952 Bill Lloyd started a newsletter to inform readers in the US about independence movements in Africa and the non-aligned movement in general.  

William B. LLoyd, Jr.
William B. LLoyd, Jr. circa 1990

Called Toward Freedom, Lloyd’s newsletter would evolve over the next 70 years into a print magazine and then a website with the mission to publish international reporting from a grassroots perspective and incisive analysis that exposed government and corporate abuses of power, while supporting movements for universal peace, justice, freedom, the environment, and human rights. read more

VIDEO: Breaking the Colonial Grip on African Journalism

Toward Freedom Editor May 24, 2023 Toward Freedom Editor

Toward Freedom’s online panel discussion, “Breaking the Colonial Grip on African Journalism,” launched the Africa Reporting Fund. The fund is designed to enable Toward Freedom to publish more reports from and about Africa. The discussion took place on May 24—the day of Eritrea’s 32nd independence anniversary and one day before African Liberation Day—to hear from African journalists about how they best see to break the colonial grip on African journalism.

Activists from across the United States joined together for the African Peoples' Summit held December 11 in Washington, D.C. / credit: Julie Varughese

Role Media Plays in U.S.-Africa Relations: Third Panel of African Peoples’ Forum

Toward Freedom Editor December 21, 2022 Toward Freedom Editor

Sean Blackmon, activist, organizer and broadcaster, currently serving as co-host of Radio Sputnik's "By Any Means Necessary"; Jacqueline Luqman, Black Alliance for Peace Mid-Atlantic Region Co-Coordinator, co-host of Radio Sputnik's "By Any Means Necessary" and host of "Luqman Nation" on the Black Power Media YouTube channel; Kamau Franklin, former practicing attorney, first program director of New York City Police-Watch and co-founder of Black Power Media; executive director of Community Movement Builders and co-founder and host at Black Power Media; and Karanja Gaçuça, a U.S.-based Kenyan journalist, publisher of thebriefscoop.com and executive editor of panafricmedia.org; discussed the power of story at the first-ever African Peoples’ Forum.