Saturday, June 21, 2008

Still Not Up From Slavery: A Comprehensive, Yet Concise, Review of Our American Odyssey


THIS LESSON REVIEWS THE HISTORY OF AFRIKANS IN AMERICA FROM SLAVERY TIMES, THROUGH JIM CROW, CIVIL RIGHT UP TO THE PRESENT.
THE POSTER ABOVE IS HOT-LINKED TO AN EXTENSION THAT INCLUDES WHO WE WERE (Ancient Afrikan History) PRIOR TO OUR HOLOCAUST.

MY THESIS IS" WE, THE MASSES OF AFRIKANS IN AMERICA, ARE STILL NOT UP FROM SLAVERY", BUT AT THE SAME TIME MANY ARE FIGHTING FIERCE BATTLES ON MANY FRONTS FOR OUR COLLECTIVE SOCIAL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL FREEDOM--RBG EDUCATION IS A PART OF THAT NEVER ENDING BATTLE.

The title of this presentation is a play on "Up From Slavery".
This was the title of the 1901 autobiography of Booker T. Washington detailing his slow and steady rise from a slave child during the Civil War, to the difficulties and obstac
les he overcame to get an education at the new Hampton University, to his work establishing vocational schools—most notably the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama—to help black people and other disadvantaged minorities learn useful, marketable skills and work to pull themselves, as a race, up by the bootstraps.
However many Blacks/ New Afrikans, myself included, believe, "Booker T. Washington was not an activist for African-Americans, but a person who gave credence to the subjugation of African-Americans. Washington's collaborationist philosophy became so popular that he was a confidant of presidents (T. Roosevelt, Taft) and a darling of rich philanthropists."
See Washington And DuBois: Difference Or Dialectic


"Learning Series Featured Assets"

http://www.lulu.tv/wp-content/themes/default/images/lulutv2.0/LuluTV_Logo_TopNav.png

RBGz VOICES OF SLAVERY:

OUR ANCESTORS TELL THEIR STORIES

RBGz Still Not Up From Slavery Photo-Story/ The Series Theme Video

The Black Studies Movement





We offer RBG Street Scholars Think Tank in the spirit of Sankofa


The MAAFA is a Kiswahili term for "Disaster" or "Terrible Occurrence". This is the word that best describe the more than 500 hundred years of suffering of people of African descent through Slavery, Imperialism, Colonialism, Invasions and Exploitation. In this lesson you see pictures, here audio and watch videos that tell some of the story of our suffering.



The story of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and slavery in the New World is a story of European cruelty and African suffering. The barbarity of the slave trade is attested by the slavers themselves. For example, a Dutch slave trader on the West African cost in the 18th century wrote: “’The Invalides and the Maimed being thrown out . . . the remainder are numbred. . . . In the mean while a burning Iron, with the Arms or Name of the Companies, lyes in the Fire; with which ours are marked on the Breast. . . . I doubt not but this Trade seems very barbarous to you, but since it is followed by meer necessity it must go on; but we yet take all possible care that they are not burned too hard, especially the Women’" (qtd. in MacPherson).

Students new to the study of the Black Diaspora may be surprised to learn that "[w]hen slavery ended in the United States in 1865, this country contained 30 percent of the Western Hemisphere's population of African descent. Yet fewer than 5 percent of the Africans who reached the New World came to the region that became the United States. The 10 million brought to the West Indies and Latin America did not even reproduce themselves under slavery, while the 427,000 brought to North America became 4,500,000 by 1865. The principal reason for this startling contrast was not the greater humanity of North American slaveholders. The causes included the healthier climate of North America, the lesser physical demands of cotton and tobacco cultivation compared with sugar and coffee, and the legal abolition of the African slave trade by the United States in 1808, at the beginning of the cotton boom, which led Old South planters to increase their labor force by the reproduction of slaves rather than by their importation. In Brazil and the Caribbean, by contrast, the slave trade remained open during the heyday of sugar and coffee, and it was cheaper to import slaves from Africa than to raise them from birth" (Segal qtd. in MacPherson).

Segal believes the "soul" of the Black Diaspora is "freedom. . . . It was in slavery that the diaspora was born, together with the longing and struggle for freedom"; this past is "one of victimization and suffering, but also one of courage and resilience and creativity" (qtd. in MacPherson). "While abroad, individuals maintain their social identity by living in communities which trace their origins to the homeland": "Diaspora" has meaning only so long as the "idea of an ancestral home" is kept alive (Lovejoy). African slaves and their descendants carried skills and communitarian values, rich cultural traditions, resiliency, and an ethos of resistance that transformed and enriched the cultures they entered around the world. Thus, as African peoples were globally dispersed, they carried their traditions of cultural creativity and oral arts with them, such as "common musical rhythms, exploration of multicolors…and diverse textures, play on repetition, and call-and-response modes of verbal activity" (Asante and Abarry 111). African folktales, often featuring the tortoise, hare, and spider, widespread on the African continent, were carried from Africa to the Caribbean, Latin America, and the United States. Though enslaved and uprooted, Diasporic blacks of African descent used their lives and experiences to preserve and reshape their cultures and institutions in new lands, forging new sources of strength, resistance, and hope.


Adapted and modified from a course outline:



Reference Resource Link Out for Further Study:




RBG Photo-Story Mini-Lecture-Strange Fruit,
"The Ancestors Are Watching"

When chattel slavery ended with the Emancipation Proclamation & Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution southern white world terror domination continued unabated under the de facto rule of "Lynching Laws"


Strange Fruit
Lyrics by Billie Holiday and Abel Meeropol (1937)/ Sung in the photo-story above by Cassanda Wilson

Southern trees bear strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. Pastoral scene of the gallant south, The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth, Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh, Then the sudden smell of burning flesh. Here is fruit for the crows to pluck, For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop, Here is a strange and bitter crop.

“The United States has a brutal history of domestic violence/ "terrorism against Afrikans". It is the most ugly episode in United States history; and its relevance and relationship to current day police brutality is dutifully neglected in our public school system. Of the several varieties of American violence against people of Afrikan descent, one type stands out as one of the most inhuman chapters in the history of the world—lynching.

"In 1919, the NAACP reported 3,386 incidents of lynching between 1882-1918.
In a controversial 1992 revision, sociologists Stewart E. Tolnay and E.M. Beck, argue that duplication of reporting produced an over count.
They claim only 2,805 lynchings (nearly 2500 of which were Blacks) can be documented between 1882 and 1930, in ten southern states."

From: NAACP, Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States: 1889-1918 (New York: Arno Press, 1919), p. 29 and Stewart E. Tolnay and E.M. Beck, Festival of Violence: An Analysis of Southern Lynching, 1882-1930 (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois)..



For 246 years, enslaved African-Americans endured inhuman living conditions, torture and rape, legally enforced servitude, and other horrendous crimes against humanity. Meanwhile, countless American corporations sponsored or benefited from the uncompensated labor and exploitation of these slaves.
In 1863, President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation began the process of freeing the more than 4 million slaves of African descent in the United States. But while slavery was abolished, sharecropping, "black codes", and Jim Crow laws perpetuated restrictions upon the freed Negroes. Dozens of corporations continued to benefit from unpaid labor, allowing these companies to flourish.
Citing the persisting legacy of slavery, four descendants of these slaves filed class action lawsuits seeking reparations and reconciliation on behalf of the approximately 35 million living descendants of slaves. These lawsuits—filed on March 26th and May 1st, 2002—name six major American corporations that profited from the slave trade and the institution of slavery.
The plaintiffs are seeking access to documents revealing corporate slavery connections and compensation for unpaid labor that is long overdue.



For further study of Our Holocaust and the issue of Reparations link out to (see links above also):

The Negro Holocaust: Lynching and Race Riots in the United States,1880-1950 by Robert A. Gibson ,



Runaway Slave -
Stic.Man (Dead Prez) & Young Noble (Outlawz)



Friday, June 20, 2008

Re-Locating to the Motherland: An Afrikan's Adivce & West African Village Life # 1: African Women





Re-Locating...Back Home An Afrikan's Adivce
(A 6 Clip Series)






West African Village Life # 1: African Women



Without knowing precise figures, I venture to guess that upwards of 80% of the population of West Africa still lives in villages. Yet there is very little online information about life in these villages.

African Women Djembefola






West African Women


In the villages, women are the most important people. They are the backbone of village life. There are many reasons for this (in addition to their strength of character). Men must often work in nearby cities or towns so women tend to comprise a large proportion of adult village populations. Secondly, women do almost everything. I don’t mean that men don’t work, only that women do most of the work men do and many other things beside. In addition to seasonal farming and marketing, women are also responsible for the day-to-day management of their households and all the chores associated with child-rearing and food preparation. For these reasons, I begin this description of African village life with some photographs of village women and girls. Their beauty and dignity speak for themselves.



















All the above photos were taken in 1995 in the villages of Njoben and Sinchu Jatali on the north bank of the River Gambia. The photo below was taken in 1986 in the Hoss Valley, Plateau State, Nigeria. All over Africa traditional thatch roofs are being replaced by galvanized iron roofing sheets (light colored roofs visible on some houses in the background.) These, while they are more practical and durable, are less environmentally friendly and certainly nowhere near so appealing to the eye.






Text and images from:
Under the Lemon Tree
Articles and stories about West Africa

Reference Resource Link Out:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Africa





RBGz New Afrikan Education Course Link Table:

RBG: SDL (Self Directed Learning) Black Studies Outline for Advanced Learners

The Master Keys to the Study of Ancient Kemet/Dr. Asa G. Hilliard, III

DR. YOSEF BEN-JOCHANNAN ON IMHOTEP... & more

Dr. Ben, Dr. Clarke and Dr. Van Sertima on Our Holocaust and A Maafa Timeline

Dr. Molefi Kete Asante: Foundations of Afrikan Pedagogy

Afrikan History and Culture Lessons: Our Scholars, Historians and Educators Teach

Dr. Marimba Ani On Yurugu and Afrikan Rebirth

Tony Brown's Afrocentric Education Conference...more

Dr. Chancellor Williams On "The Destruction of Black Civilization"

Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop On the Origins of Civilization

Oyotunji Village: "A Spiritual and Cultural Re-Awakening"

Dr. Carter G. Woodson On Education and Mis-Education..more

The American Indian Holocaust

Professor John Glover Jackson, "One of Our Greatest Cultural Historians"

The Science of the Moors, Dr. Ivan Sertima Lecture...and more

Racism: A History (3 Part Video and RBG Notes)

Dr. Leonard Jefferies on the Afrikan Mind and 10 Areas of conflicts with White Supremacy

Dr. Amiri Baraka On Dr. Du Bois's Double Consciousness Precept and more

A People's History Of The United States / by Howard Zinn : RBGz Audio and History Is A Weapon e-Books

Robert F. Williams: The Man They Don't Want You To Know About

"From Jim Crow to Civil Rights to Black Liberation?"

Malcolm X / Make It Plain: The Classic Documentary and A Timeline

The Foundation of Knowledge is Knowing Definitions of Words, Featuring Dr. Amos Wilson on Afrikan Liberation

Some things to consider:

1. "African Centered" is a thought (philosophy) not continent or appearance.
2. African Centered is a "how process."
3. Cultural heritage provides the lenses by which we view and the foundation on which we interpret the world.




right click>open in new tab>to read




BEST DEFINITION OF AFRICAN CENTERED EDUCATION MY RESEARCH HAS TURNED UP:

external image alexander.gif

African Centered Education is a system of sequentially planned educational opportunities provided for African heritage children, youth and young adults to develop the necessary and required skills to participate in the global marketplace with specific interest on the upliftment and empowerment of their African-American communities and the total development and growth of the African continent. -
Dr. E. Curtis Alexander


*African Centered/ Afrocentric/ Africentric/ Afrocentricity/ Africentricity

Wade W. Nobles

external image defNobles2.jpg
"Afrocentric, Africentric, or Afirican Centered" are interchangeable terms representing the concept which categorizes a quality of thought and practice which is rooted in the cultural image and interest of African people and which represents and reflects the life experiences, history and traditions of African people as the center of analyses. It is therein, the intellectual and philosophical foundation which African people should create their own scientific criterion for authenticating human reality."

Steve Biko (1978)


external image defSteve-Biko.jpgObviously the African culture has had to sustain severe blows and many have been battered nearly out of shape by the belligerent cultures it collided with, yet in essence even today one can easily find the fundamental aspects of the pure African culture in the present day African One of the most fundamental aspects of our culture is the importance we attach to Man A man-centered society The capacity we have for talking to each other-not for the sake of arriving at a particular conclusion but merely to enjoy the communication for its own sake We regard our living together not as an unfortunate mishap warranting endless competition among us but as a deliberate act of God to make us a community of brothers and sisters jointly involved in the quest for a composite answer to the varied problems of life Any suffering we experience was made much more real by song and rhythm. There is no doubt that the so called 'Negro Spirituals' sung by black slaves in the States as they tiled under oppression were indicative of their African heritage African society had the village community as its basis This obviously was a requirement to suite the needs of a community-based and man-centered society. Africans do not recognize any cleavage between the natural and supernatural. They experience a situation rather than face a problem More as a response of the total personality to the situation that the result of some mental exercise We thanked God through our ancestors before we drank beer, married, worked etc. We would obviously find it artificial to create special occasions for worship. God was always in communication with us and therefore merited attention everywhere and anywhere ( p. 41-45)."

Molefi Asante (1987)

external image defMolefi-Asante-300.jpg Afrocentricity [African centered] as the placing of African ideals at the center of any analysis that involves African culture and behavior. (p. 6)

I suggest three fundamental Afrocentric themes of transcendent discourse: (1) human relations, (2) humans' relationship to the supernatural, and (3) humans' relationships to their own being. (p. 168)


Paul Hill Jr.'s interpretations

external image defhill.jpg Currently there are many misconceptions about the African Centered Paradigm. Most of its critics have not read the literature. It is primarily an orientation on how one views data, involving location, place and perspective (Asante, 1993). On a more personal level it provides the African American a window to view the world by becoming a transforming agent affording new attitudes, behaviors, beliefs and values. This transforming agent is the only reality for African people (Asante, 1989). African Centeredness is nothing more than what is congruent to the interpretive life of an African person. It is his richly "textured
standing place" (Asante, 1993).

African Centered study is not a matter of color. It looks at any information involving African people and raises questions that allows Africans to be subjects of historical experiences rather than objects on the fringes of another's experience. For example, an Afrocentric view of African conditions during enslavement would view the people not as "slaves" but as "Africans." This view assures a different mental orientation providing a new perspective and attitude closer to the reality of the people (Asante, 1993).

When we center each ethnic group in their own historical and cultural experiences, we expand our knowledge of and appreciation of the human experience. Afrocentric education and its advancement enrich and humanize our world. It is not about cultural separation or racial chauvinism. The African Centered
scholar recognizes that an Afrocentric view is not the only view. This perspective seeks no advantage, no self-aggrandizement, no hegemony in its relation to others (Asante,1993), thus it humanizes our world by fostering mutual dignity and respect.

Maulana Karenga (1994)

external image karengacolor4.jpg Afrocentricity can be defined as a quality of thought and practice rooted in the cultural image and human interest of African people [and their descendants]. To be rooted in the cultural image of African people is to be anchored in the views and values of African people as well as in the practice which emanates from and gives rise to these views and values. (p. 36)


A. Wade Boykin (1986)

external image defboykin.jpg
Traditional West African culture is centered around: 1) Spirituality, 2) Harmony, 3) Movement, 4) Energy, 5) Affect, 6) Communalism, 7) Expressive Individualism, 8) Oral Tradition, and 9) Social Time Perspective.


Lathardus Goggins II (1996)

external image defGoggins.gif To be African centered is to construct and use frames of reference, cultural filters and behaviors that are consistent with the philosophies and heritage of African cultures in order to advance the interest of people of African descent. (p. 18)






Kean College Africana Studies

The African centered perspective rests on the premise that it is valid to position Africa as a geographical and cultural starting base in the study of peoples of
African descent (Keto 1989). The objective therefore is to view the world from the perspective of the people studied. The Afro-centric comprehensive model for the teaching and learning of knowledge about African peoples makes possible an understanding of, and appreciation for the social, institutional, cultural and intellectual patterns of African people.


Pan Africanism

Kwame Anthony Appiah

external image defappiah_265x343.jpg In its most straightforward version, Pan-Africanism is the political project calling for the unification of all Africans into a single African state, to which those in the African diaspora can return. In its vaguer, more cultural, forms, Pan-Africanism has pursued literary and artistic projects that bring together people in Africa and her diaspora.







Black Nationalism

James Clyde Sellman

Black Nationalism, also known as black separatism, is a complex set of beliefs emphasizing the need for the cultural, political, and economic separation of African Americans from white society. Comparatively few African Americans have embraced thoroughgoing separatist philosophies. In his classic study Negro Thought in America, 1880-1915, August Meier noted that the general black attitude has been one of "essential ambivalence." On the other hand, nationalist assumptions inform the daily actions and choices of many African Americans.

Over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, Black Nationalists have agreed upon two defining principles: black pride and racial separatism. Black Nationalism calls for black pride and seeks a unity that is racially based rather than one grounded in a specific African culture or ethnicity. Those espousing nationalist or separatist philosophies have envisioned nationalism in quite different ways. For some, Black Nationalism demanded a territorial base; for others, it required only separate institutions within American society. Some have perceived nationalism in strictly secular terms; others, as an extension of their religious beliefs. Black Nationalists also differ in the degree to which they identify with Africa and African culture.



political and social movement prominent in the 1960s and early '70s in the United States among some African Americans. The movement, which can be traced back to Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association of the 1920s, sought to acquire economic power and to infuse among blacks a sense of community and group feeling. Many adherents to black nationalism assumed the eventual creation of a separate black nation by African Americans. As an alternative to being assimilated by the American nation, which is predominantly white, black nationalists sought to maintain and promote their separate identity as a people of black ancestry. With such slogans as "black power" and "black is beautiful," they also sought to inculcate a sense of pride among blacks.


RBGz New Afrikan Education Course Link Table:

RBG: SDL (Self Directed Learning) Black Studies Outline for Advanced Learners

The Master Keys to the Study of Ancient Kemet/Dr. Asa G. Hilliard, III

DR. YOSEF BEN-JOCHANNAN ON IMHOTEP... & more

Dr. Ben, Dr. Clarke and Dr. Van Sertima on Our Holocaust and A Maafa Timeline

Dr. Molefi Kete Asante: Foundations of Afrikan Pedagogy

Afrikan History and Culture Lessons: Our Scholars, Historians and Educators Teach

Dr. Marimba Ani On Yurugu and Afrikan Rebirth

Tony Brown's Afrocentric Education Conference...more

Dr. Chancellor Williams On "The Destruction of Black Civilization"

Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop On the Origins of Civilization

Oyotunji Village: "A Spiritual and Cultural Re-Awakening"

Dr. Carter G. Woodson On Education and Mis-Education..more

The American Indian Holocaust

Professor John Glover Jackson, "One of Our Greatest Cultural Historians"

The Science of the Moors, Dr. Ivan Sertima Lecture...and more

Racism: A History (3 Part Video and RBG Notes)

Dr. Leonard Jefferies on the Afrikan Mind and 10 Areas of conflicts with White Supremacy

Dr. Amiri Baraka On Dr. Du Bois's Double Consciousness Precept and more

A People's History Of The United States / by Howard Zinn : RBGz Audio and History Is A Weapon e-Books

Robert F. Williams: The Man They Don't Want You To Know About

"From Jim Crow to Civil Rights to Black Liberation?"

Malcolm X / Make It Plain: The Classic Documentary and A Timeline



Thursday, June 19, 2008

RBG Communiversity: Some Audio and Video Introductory Remarks by RBGStreetScholar

[2008-HRM-Oti-Boateng.jpg]











The image “http://api.ning.com/files/8jaWdEjMiLWJirq*1kHZzazzD06GADnxVuAzSxhcTPkueUk8b-O2w*FsxkpFuVK9yHGpAWsWt04XV1ATKL7UEk1zF*KIC*LR/rbg_bandana.jpg?width=183&height=183&crop=1%3A1” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

Our First UStream TV Broadcast
(a test of the technology)

Streaming Video by Ustream.TV





Link to the Station
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/rbg4lif-report

RBG Street Scholars Think Tank is
Dedicated to the Memory of Dr. Khallid Abdul Muhammad Click this Poster Collage to Enter His Page


Slide1-41.jpg updated large picture by RBGStreetScholar


RBG Street Scholars Think Tank's Purpose: This Educational Program and Research Project is Dedicated to Further Building the Hip Hop--Black Liberation Movement Connection by Integrating Conscious Digital Edutainment with A Scholarly Self Directed Learning Environment.


The image “http://api.ning.com/files/0N5sGJeeuDh*oP9r50xGaKNrQRjJAYRskSMCjK--HmwIRKcuZTSPx*Z0DlPYI4Tt28xtx0L*VAU2pp4CRZmuZ4rdgk0Qu3gE/doc092.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

"Closer To My Dreams, ie. Our Own College"

This CommuniVersity Is Curated By:

RBGStreetScholar








Physician and Healer, Afri-Centered Education Consultant, EduTainer / Productions, Computer Training, Lecturer and RBG 4Lif Organizer If you have been looking for a scholarly, well organized, comprehensive and user friendly Afrikan-Centered educational resource then RBG Street Scholars Think Tank is for you... Welcome to RBG: Scholarly Revolutionary Higher Education Presented Using An Interactive EduTaining Teaching Methodology.




Our educational mission is to develop in each learner a Luv of learning by providing an Afri-Centered interactive learning environment that fosters problem solving, critical & creative thinking, artistic expression and positive character development (through the principles of Nguzo Saba & MA'AT ) -- combined with a rigorous basic education skills development program that includes the language arts, math, science, and technology (computers & I.T.C.) domains.

Check Out Black Tube :
http://rbghumanrightsradio.blogspot.com/


RBG4Lif Studies in 100 Easy Lessons: Video EduTainment

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket


Tuesday, June 17, 2008

RBG Street Scholars Think Tank Professors Teaching Clinic


"MEET, LEARN FROM & LINK TO YOUR RBG PROFESSORS"


http://www.marimbaani.com/



Click Dr. Karenga to view slides/sideshows etc.

Amos Wilson - Education & Genetic Criminality





Nana Kuntu (RIU) Brings The Fire From The Front Lines.

http://www.whattheproblemis.com/

Del Jones aka Nana Kuntu

"The enemy has always propagated that we had no history, no philosophy and no culture. Why such an unreasonable statement about anyone? They were hiding their theft. So caught up in their racist construction, they actually begin to act on their propaganda as if it were truth. Consequently, they under estimated our scholars and thought we would never find our path home because of the layers of lies. Silly bastards. We are the children of those who came before us and we are connected through our Genes, DNA and Melanin. Obviously anything they have done, we can recreate and that which is hidden can be resurrected for our scrutiny. We needed to know these things to build on top of yesterday's scholarship. No matter how many white 'Cleopatras' they invent in Hollywood, no matter how many 'Mummy' and 'Star Gate' motion pictures and television shows they propagate, our truth survives and outta the ashes we will rise to stop the Afrikan Holocaust. It is understood that in exposing our people to such information, our enemies consider it an attack on their hold on reality. Only those who wish to keep us enslaved, Black or white, would be disturbed that the truth has again risen, understanding clearly 'that the truth shall set us free.' Another aspect of all of this is the fact that Europeans must face the painful reality that everything their lives are based upon is a lie.

Nana Kuntu (Del Jones)

Black Holocaust 2000

In classical Afrikan (kemetic) phiolosophy the human being and human reality were governed by the basic divine law of “to be a spirit”. the moral mandate of afrikan humanity was “to become and in becoming”---the pursuit of such divine law and moral mandate was reflective of ones pursuit of godliness. education was key to this process-to become and in becoming a more perfect being. For our Afrikan ancestors education and schooling was ultimately about a person being transformed from a lesser material being to a greater spiritual being.


Dr. E. Curtis Alexander defines African Centered education as a system of sequentially planned educational opportunities provided for African heritage children, youth and young adults to develop the necessary and required skills to participate in the global marketplace with specific interest on the upliftment and empowerment of their African-American communities and the total development and growth of the African continent. Thus, RBG Street Scholars Think Tank is about using history and the medium of Afrikan and Afrikan American culture to facilitate a forward-looking and futuristic education and New Afrikan peoples development.


VIRTUES OF MAáT

See RBGz Virtues of Maat Video driven Learning Series
for family/children/parent eduTainment

(Includes Nguzo Saba Studies)

MAáT: The symbolic representation of Maát as a human figure with outreached hands and wings, is the Netcher of the weighing of the soul in ancient Kemet. The heart of the deceased was believed to be the seat of the soul and it was where ones virtues resided. This symbolic weighing of the heart against the feather of truth (Maát) was performed to established the righteousness of the deceased. The scale of Maát was balanced after the recitation of the "42" Declarations of Innocence or Admonitions of Maát. pg. 91, NVCTC.

The Neophyte or students ultimate aim in Kemet was for a person to become "One with God" or to "become like God." The path to the development of godlike qualities was through the development of virtue, but virtue could only be achieved through special study and effort. According to George G. M. James in his timeless work Stolen Legacy writes: The following of the 10 virtues were sought by the Neophyte in ancient Kemet. In the final analysis, the ancient Kemites sought Maát or to be more correct they sought to become one with Maát, the cosmic order.

(1). Control of thoughts
(2). Control of actions
(3). Devotion of purpose
(4). Have faith in the ability of [your] [teacher] to teach [you] the truth.
(5). Have faith in [yourself] to assimilate the truth
(6). Have faith in [themselves] to wield the truth
(7). Be free from resentment under the experience of persecution.
(8). Be free from resentment under the experience of wrong.
(9). Cultivate the ability to distinguish between right and wrong and
(10). Cultivate the ability to distinguish