Written Footprint

Today, I am stepping into the unknown as I enter the world of blogging. Reflecting back on my community and ancestors, I remember how I have been told that my African American ancestors did not made a major contribution or left a written history of their footprints in the annals of the Americas. However, when I went back home to Tuskegee, Alabama after the death of my parents and brother who lived in the family’s home I found a treasure trove of written history. I realized that much of our history is not published in the public sphere but is stored in homes, community organizations and houses of worship.

Ok, I will work on writing some books that my friends, academic colleagues, family and students are clamming for me to publish; my autobiography, travel and academic research. I hope my blogs will satisfy their requests for some written work until I product a “book”.

Retired after working for many, many years, makes it possible for me to be able to choose how I wish to use my valuable time. Managing my health has priority over competing requests for my precious time. I am intentional about my diet, rest, and medical care.

Well, I am planning my next adventure with a group of women who are traveling to West Africa with me in August for the first time. I feel like Harriet Tubman as I help them plan to make the trip to find their identity. This is not the first time that I have introduced women to the Mother Land. This time is special because this year marks 400 year since the first Africans were taken from the continent and enslaved in the Americas. The last seven years, I have stayed in Akropong, Akuapem, Ghana for at least one or two months. During this period, I also traveled to Ethiopia, Senegal, Nigeria, Benin and Togo.

My first experience was organized and facilitated by Rev. Dr. Danial Nyante who lives bi-continental in Brooklyn, New York and Akropong, Akuapem. Ghana, West Africa. I met Dr. Nyante at New York Theological Seminary. He took me to Akropong in 2011 and introduced me to Traditional Leaders, leaders of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, the academic community and people in the village. It was a life changing experience. I found my center, identity and my homeland.

I did not forget to mention that I had traveled to North Africa as early as 1992 and 1997. Those trips were important to me in historical and academic ways. Make no mistake, when I arrived in Egypt my body knew I was in Africa. These trips helped to prepare me for the return to the areas in West Africa where my ancestors left their lands through the ”door of no return” 400 hundred years ago.

Please travel with me and my fellow travelers to Ghana, West Africa. We plan to make some interesting footprints!