On Sunday, November 6, 2022, Bridge for Unity presented Mojuba, A Commemoration of Our African Ancestors and Intergroup Dialogue on Reparations at the Unitarian Meetinghouse, 121 North Pleasant Street from 2 to 5 p.m. The free event featured an ancestor veneration ceremony and small group discussions on Amherst’s commitment to end structural racism and achieve racial equity for Black residents. The program is sponsored by the Black Assembly of Amherst, Sankofa Gumbo, and the Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst. For more information, contact bridge4unityproject@gmail.com.
Medway Marcheswas created by community members in 2020, as racial tensions rose and Medway, MA residents came together to answer the question, “What can we do?” The peaceful event they organized received a positive response and continued support resulting in an organization being created to create “deep-rooted, continual change.” An invitation from MM activist Marques Crosby led me to talk with my house and Ursa Shabazz said let’s do it and suggested a theme for our presentation that builds on the Official Theme for Kwanzaa this year: Kwanzaa, Freedom, Justice & Peace:Principles and Practices For A New World. It goes: “Umoja: Global solidarity beats war & genocide”Medway’s first Kinara lit on the first day of Kwanzaa 2021. We will gather at Thayer House at 3:30pm and once we conclude we will go to Choate Park to light the first candle.
Our first day of Kwanzaa begins, however, at Chicopee City Hall at 11am, with Mayor Vieau. Click here for more info on Chicopee officially celebrating Kwanzaa for the “first time with proclamation and flag raising.”
KWANZAA Across the Valley from the Kwanzaa Collective
Angeline Palmer, after mother died of smallpox she grew up a ward of the town of Amherst; at 11-years old she was the servant of Mason Shaw’s daughter and son-in-law who lived in his Belchertown home. In 1840, Shaw planned to take her to Georgia where he had investments with the intention to sell her into slavery.
Institute of the Black World: One of the founding institutions at the 1960s birth of Black Studies, the IBW reignited the radical Black tradition by linking academic work with the Black Liberation Movement. The IBW Legacy Group has organized seven ZOOM seminars exploring IBW history and more (see below). You can register at this link: bit.ly/IBW50Plus
History is not only about the past. We need to use historical reflection as a guide to the future. Abdul Alkalimat, as an IBW founder, has generously opened his personal IBW archives to the people; click here: http://alkalimat.org/ibw/
SESSION#1: Tuesday, June 29 The Origins and Mission of IBW This program critically assesses IBW’s role as a think tank for black struggle, discusses the role of Dr. Vincent Harding within the Institute and explores ways in which IBW’s experiences are relevant to today’s struggles. WIlliam “Bill” Strickland is the featured presenter in this opening session.
SESSION #2: Tuesday, July 13 Understanding the New Black Poetry Dr. Stephen Henderson, an intellectual architect of the Institute, taught in the first of IBW’s Summer Symposia in 1969 and wrote and produced the book Understanding the New Black Poetry. This collection framed the seismic shift that occurred in African American arts and letters in the 1960s. This session looks at the ways in which that shift has developed and morphed over the years since.
SESSION #3: Tuesday, July 20 Remaking the Past to Make the Future: The New Black History This program explores the evolution of Black History from the late 1960s to the present and its relevance to the future of Black America.
SESSION #4: Tuesday, July 27 Education for Liberation This session will look at our goals in the struggle for a New Black Education. As an IBW Monthly Report said in August 1973, “The education of our children is our responsibility. We cannot place it in anyone else’s hands.”
SESSION #5 : Tuesday, August 3 The New Black Studies This session assesses IBW’s role in promoting, informing and supporting the development of Black Studies with an emphasis on two seminal Black Studies conferences and a variety of publications and consultancies.
SESSION #6: Tuesday, August 10 The New Black Agenda IBW drafted “The Gary Declaration….” With additions and revisions, it became the National Black Agenda of 1972. This session discusses contemporary black agendas against the backdrop of the Gary Declaration.
SESSION #7: Tuesday August 17 Following the Ancestors’ Footsteps into the Future Tribute to the Ancestors.
Abdul Alkalimat, born Gerald A. McWorter, is Professor Emeritus in the Department of African American Studies and School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Amilcar Shabazz, Professor in the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts and is the President of the National Council for Black Studies.
Abdul Alkalimat, born Gerald A. McWorter, is Professor Emeritus in the Department of African American Studies and School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Amilcar Shabazz, Professor in the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts and is the President of the National Council for Black Studies.
