AYA AFRICA

There is a saying in a well known circle that before entering upon any important undertaking, one should first invoke a blessing from the throne of the Creator.  The author seeks these blessings and also the great efforts of many other authors who work in African history and also who went unknown in the academic circle.

The purpose of this book is to tell an old story as a well known Episcopal priest once put it “our salvation is in our story.”  Most of us African have come to accept whatever is written or told to us as gospel truth.  At times, we even failed to search for the truth all because we are afraid of what we may find.

Having accomplished most of my education beyond high school in the United States, I was privileged to be exposed to an educational system that is one of the best in the world in terms of its collection of materials and institutions.  This exposure has a two edge sword.  On the one side while this is a good thing, on the other, it makes one to become what is termed in an old saying, “radical.”

Most African students experienced cultural shock on their first exposure to the American system of education in terms of the manner in which students and teachers interact with each other.  I remembered in Monrovia College (a high school), I was physical struck by the then principal in public because of what he ‘called’ a discipline measure.  Even in the elementary schools your mere presence was a ‘cart blanc’ from your parents to the teachers to discipline you.

I have always had a love for ancient history since my younger days.  However, knowing that an undergraduate degree in history would take me nowhere, I decided to pursue the sciences.  After a degree in Respiratory science, from SUNY, Upstate Medical College, and a BS in biology from Lehman College, and having a stable job, I decided to embark on the Major of my dreams, History.

Since I had an undergraduate degree from Lehman, it would be much easier to continue at Lehman for a graduate degree in history. At first, I thought it was the best decision.  After the preliminary subjects, unfortunately for me the only professor who knew anything about ancient history and also my advisor died.  The entire institution had no one who knew anything about African history not even the Black Studies Department.  I was assigned to someone who taught Greek literature, and then finally, the dean of the dept. agreed to review my thesis which was at the end rejected because the subject was unfamiliar to him. What a shock!!  This was my second educational shock.

The first cultural and educational shock had come much earlier while a student in Syracuse, New York.  You see in Africa, only poor students went bare footed to school or wore torn jeans. In America, I found the opposite. It was the rich kids that wore torn clothes.  During the period of adjusting to this change, I also experienced the debate about making Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday a holiday and Black History Month.

Another setback experienced by African students is the language or accent in their speech. Most would like to teach, however, this is one of the many barriers which hindered them. I know by my own experience when I applied for a teaching position.  I had passed the basic requirements and even the exam. To my surprise, I was faced by three white men and an old female black for what they termed an interview.  Being so anxious to teach, I was later informed that I failed the interview.  That was the end of wanting to teach.

One of the fascinating experiences in America concerning Blacks was the issue of how the month of February should be called. Prior to this issue, there were many debates in America how to call ‘people of Color.’  Many suggestions were placed on the table for discussion. Among these were African American, Black American, African, Colored, Negro, and finally Black History was the term agreed upon. As a matter of fact, the celebration went from a mere week to a month.

It is this debate over how Blacks should be called that has prompted the writing of ‘Aya Africa.” It should be stressed here that the information contained here is nothing new, but to bring awareness to the mountain of research out there done by prominent Africanists such as John G. Jackson, John Henry Clarke, and Anta Diop, just to named a few, that the main stream of educators and institutions refused to place as references.