I'd like to watch some lectures on African history. I know that's a pretty general topic, but I don't know enough to ask about specific countries. I looked it up on youtube but what comes up is just a bunch of documentaries and I'm not confident that they're good sources.
I’m glad you asked! I happen to have one I recently watched:
Michael Gomez, author of 2018’s “African Dominion” gave a lecture series last November at Harvard. It’s essentially a synopsis and lecture covering the book, which is one of the most important contributions to Malian/West Sudanic history for, well, decades
It’s a three part series and they’re all pretty long, but believe me it’s a lot easier to watch and listen than read the book. I loved the book, of course, but it’s far from a quick and easy read. If you’re interested in learning more about medieval Ghana and Mali after the lectures I’d suggest starting with Levtzion’s “Ancient Ghana and Mali” it’s much quicker and provides a pretty solid narrative of these two empires, which Gomez builds off of significantly in African Dominion.
Anyways, here’s the links to the lecture series, it’s all on YouTube:
Part One: Focusing on the famous Mansa of Mali, Musa https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcmwua6wkPw
Part Two: Race and slavery. Goes into the Songhay period as well (16th century) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KYSLq1e7gMc
Part Three: Gendered power and privilege https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iAcFwRPu8J4
Is there any particular period or theme of African history you’re interested in?
I’d be happy to do a little research and find something good for you, since my graduate research deals with African history in the 19th century.