The Afrakaltural Symposium



Afrakans at Work


This page is dedicated to those possessing the essential rectitude to develop the Afrakan ethos. Those who maintain and advance traditional cultural mores while mindful of their contemporary applications. The visionaries and builders of institutions and communities... who persevere.

The Oyotunji African Village and Orisa-Vodou Spiritual Lineage was founded in 1970 by Oba Oseijeman Adefunmi 1. He and just a hand full of Cultural Nationalist, left their urban temples of New York, Chicago and Indiana and ventured into the South Carolina lowcountry. It was there they built the Kingdom of Oyotunji, and thus reclaimed the Culture and Traditions of the Yoruba ancestors and deities. More than forty years later, North America’s oldest, authentic African village still stands. The large temples, museum style tour and monthly festivals were designed to inspire and display the Culture and Religion of the African descendants in North America. The village residents live in a group of simple structures, wear colorful West Africa garments and provide spiritual counseling and religious training for individuals seeking to rediscover the culture of their ancestors.

The Ankobea Abusua Society was formaly established by a group of 21 men during the weekend of May 19, 1989, following approximately nine months of dialogue beginning in August 1988. The women’s component was established in the spring of 1991. The mission and structure of Ankobea Abusua Society was inspired and informed by the Ankobea unit of the Asante political-military established in 1717 by Asantehene Opuku Ware. An Nyansa passport is required to leave the United States of America and enter the liberated zone of Nyansakrom. Commerce conducted in Ankobea currency (currency exchange available.) for use in the Afrikan marketplace and food concessions.

The Ausar Auset Society is a Pan-African religious organization founded in 1973 by His Excellency, Shekhem Ur Shekhem (King) and Ashem Ur Ashemu (High Priest), Ra Un Nefer Amen 1. The Ausar Auset Society is based on the indigenous traditional African cultures dating from the earliest documentable periods of Kemet (ancient Egypt prior to Greek, Roman or Arab invasions), Kush (Ethiopia /Sudan) and Indu Kush (pre-Aryan Vedantic India). The teachings revolve around the oldest religion known – the Ausarian religion of ancient Kamit and The Kamitic Tree of Life (Paut Neteru) which forms the basis of the cosmogony (philosophy) of this ancient system. This organizes the society’s members into a community in which the ageless wisdom of ancient African cultures can be lived in an on-going daily basis. The Ausar Auset Society has based its government on the traditional African Kingship structure which has been officially recognized by the Asantehene (King of the Asante people) of Ghana. The Ausar Auset Society functions as an international body that teaches Kemetic philosophy (cosmology), meditation and ritual, oracle consultation, yoga, nutrition, herbalism, homeopathy, astrology, African history/culture, and other disciplines to students/initiates. The Ausar Auset Society is headquartered in New York City with branches in Orlando, Atlanta as well as in London, Toronto, Trinidad and Bermuda.

The Mami Wata Healers Society of North America was founded in 1995 by Mama Zogbé. It is an ancestral, African-religious organization committed to the resurrection, establishment, dissemination and maintenance of the Mami Wata and Yeveh Vodoun spiritual and ritual traditions, brought to the North American shores by enslaved Africans and their descendants. The Mami Wata Healers Society main focus is targeting those in the Diaspora, who are beckoning the call to serve the deities of their ancestors. The MWHS is also committed to the promotion of community awareness through religious tolerance, education and the right to open ceremonial and ritual expression as is accorded all religions.

The African People's Socialist Party (APSP) founded in May of 1972 by its Chairman, Omali Yeshitela. Omali Yeshitela has understood the fact that African people, dispersed around the world, are one people and that the future of all African people is in the unification and liberation of Africa. The APSP provides the African Liberation movement from its various political-geographical fronts, with an international division of labor for African communities. The APSP is a worldwide revolutionary party that has its base in the African working class communities within the various imperialist-created and dominated territories, as well as from those African territories that have achieved nominal independence. The Main Resolution from the APSP Congress reads: The African People's Socialist Party calls on all African revolutionaries in all countries to unite with us into one all-African international socialist association which would assume the tasks of: 1.Liberating and uniting Africa under a single, all African socialist state. 2.Uniting, coordinating and giving general assistance and direction for the revolutionary struggles of all African people wherever they occur and whenever the aims of such struggles are consistent with the aims of the international socialist association. 3.Achieving the objective consolidation of African nationality for all African people wherever we are oppressed and exploited throughout the world due to the machinations of imperialism.

The All-African People's Revolutionary Party is a permanent, independent, socialist, revolutionary, Pan-African political party based in Africa, the just homeland of African people all over the world. The primary focus of the A-APRP's work is politically educating and recruiting an initial cadre from amongst the revolutionary African intelligentsia. This work began to take concrete expression and form with the creation of the first A-APRP work-study cells in Guinea Conakry in 1968 and then the U.S. in 1972. The immediate task is to organize A-APRP work-study cells on college campuses in the African world thereby, creating an initial base from which to launch a worldwide campaign to politically educate and organize the masses of Africans. The A-APRP has recruited Africans born in over 33 countries including Africa, the Caribbean, North, Central and South America and Europe. In addition the A-APRP has developed a worldwide support base.

The All- African Committee for Political Coordination (A-ACPC) is the brain child of Kwame Nkrumah who was concerned with the inability of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which he founded, to bring about genuine African unity. The All African Committee for Political Coordination was Nkrumah's vehicle to bring about true unity. The A-ACPC, unlike the OAU, is not dependant on the governments to unite, but would instead unite the genuine African revolutionary political parties and movements under the direction and guidance of the A-APRP to bring about continental unification. The A-APRP, in its efforts to build the A-ACPC, has developed strong principled brother/sister relationships with the Democratic Party of Guinea, Pan-African Union of Sierra Leone, African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau, Azanian People's Organization of Azania/South Africa, and Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania, all of which consider themselves A-ACPC members.

The Molefi Kete Asante Institute for Afrocentric Studies (The Premier International African Think-Tank) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy organization based in Philadelphia. The Institute conducts social science and cultural studies research in education, economics, municipal governance, African American quality of life indices, African policy, language policy, and cultural development domestically and internationally. The aim is to provide practical, innovative, and agency-centered analyses, critiques and reports to encourage and support a more secure, safe, and productive national society as well as to positively impact the ordinary lives of African people. There are three principal research themes of the Institute: (1) Combating all forms of oppression, (2) establishing the basis for an African Renaissance on the African continent and in the African diaspora, and (3) promoting efforts for national and international peace and harmony. In addition to these themes the Institute’s experts are committed to analyzing collateral forms of prejudice and hegemony such as colorism and privilege in the American society and economic and environmental conditions in the African communities in the United States and elsewhere. The Molefi Kete Asante Institute regularly conducts thinking and debating sessions on issues of concern and interests to the African community. A strong list of Ph.D. scholars, intellectuals, and culuralists are associated with the Institute.

The Organization Us was founded by Dr. Maulana Karenga and several advocates on September 7, 1965. The Organization Us have established and maintain the African American Cultural Center, the Limbiko Tembo Kawaida School of African American Culture , the Kawaida Institute of Pan-African Studies and the University of Sankore Press. They sponsor regular forums on family and male/female relations, current news analysis and lecture-series on critical issues on the local, national and international levels. In addition The Organization Us has its Senut Society (Sisterhood of the New African Woman), the Senu Society (Brotherhood of the New African Man)and a monthly Timbuktu Book Circle. They also hold annual African Liberation Day celebrations and forums which contribute to the maintenance of the Goree Island Holocaust Monument.

The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) founded on August 1, 1914 by Marcus Garvey is a provisional government lead by a spiritual ruling governing body that is established for the purpose of the general uplift of the Black race. In keeping with this purpose our goals involve activities aimed at relieving the sufferings of the Black race and include the following: Education and Training Nutrition and Healthcare, Housing, Arts and Humanities, Agronomy and Applied Sciences, Building and Trade, Manufacturing and Economic Development.

The Earth Center was founded and is directed by Master Naba Lamoussa Morodenibig. Master Naba was a Dogon High Priest in the traditional priesthood of Kemet. The purpose of The Earth Center is to inspire and support education and research into the original, ancestral culture of humanity, for the health and well-being of all people. The Earth Center is unique in the fact that it is connected to the initiation systems (Mystery Schools) of ethnic groups of Merita (traditional Africa) that have maintained the same initiation process as was done in Kemet during the times of the Pharaohs.The Earth Center is an international organization made up of three smaller international organizations, each one disseminating the knowledge of the M'TAM education:•The M'TAM School of Kemetic Philosophy & Spirituality - classes available at locations below.•Firefly Productions - products and publications available through the online store.•Ankhkasta Natural Healing - health consultations and authentic traditional African herbs available.

NationHouse was founded in July 1974 in Washington, D. C. NationHouse grew out of the student activism of Howard University community in the late 1960s.We are one of the oldest independent Afrikan centered schools in the United States and in the DC metropolitan area serving the specific needs of children of Afrikan heritage from pre-school to twelfth grade. Today, NationHouse continues to serve families in the development and enculturation of responsible youth who are committed to their families, their community and their Afrikan culture/heritage.

The Republic of New Africa founded in 1968 by Imari Abubakari Obadele and brother Gaidi Obadele. They and 100 fellow conference members signed a Declaration of Independence, elected a provisional government, advocated cooperative economics through the building of new communities and formed local people's militias and an aboveground standing army called the Black Legion. The RNA's stated aim was to carve Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina out of the United States and given to Africans in Americans.

The Sema Institute Temple of Aset was founded in 1995 by Sebai Muata Ashby. The primary goal of the of the organization is to assist in the dissemination and correct understanding of the teachings of Kemetic Spirituality and the rediscovery of the culture and spiritual philosophy and disciplines of Ancient Africa.

The African Studies Association encourages the production and dissemination of knowledge about Africa, past and present. Based in the United States, the ASA supports understanding of an entire continent in each facet of its political, economic, social, cultural, artistic, scientific, and environmental landscape. Our members include scholars, students, teachers, activists, development professionals, policymakers and donors.

Afuraka/Afuraitkait Nanasom Nhoma Ntontan is a network for Afurakanu/Afuraitkaitnut (Africans~Black People) only. All Black People, wherever we are found in the world - past, present and future - are Afurakanu/Afuraitkaitnut (Africans). We are here to exchange information about NANASOM - Afurakani/Afuraitkaitnit (African) Ancestral Religion in its various forms, including but not limited to: Akan, Yoruba, Ewe, Igbo, Bakongo, Dogon, Fang, Azande, Maasai, Chokwe, Wolof, Ovambo, and more. In addition, the religious expressions founded in Keneset/Khanit (Nubia) and Kamit (Egypt) are the root of our Afurakani/Afuraitkaitnit (African) Ancestral Religious inheritance. Afurakani/Afuraitkaitnit (African) Ancestral Religion is the only Religion that has ever existed and ever will exist.

Third World Press is one of the nations oldest and well-respected independent publishers of black thought and literature. In 1967, Haki R. Madhubuti along with the help of Johari Amini (Jewel C. Latimore) and Carolyn Rodgers planted the roots of Third World Press. For over thirty-five years, Third World Press has stayed committed to local and national Black arts empowerment movements that mobilized the African American community’s economic and cultural awareness across the country. Over the years, Third World Press has served as advisor for the publishing branch of the Institute of Positive Education.

The Institute of Positive Education (IPE), a community resource and research center specializing in education and communications that began in 1969. IPE also runs the New Concept School (est. 1971), a fully accredited preschool, the Bethune Teacher’s Training Program and the Betty Shabazz International Charter School (1998).

Betty Shabazz International Charter School (Shabazz School), established in 1998, is an African-centered network of charter schools comprised of three Chicago campuses: Betty Shabazz Academy (grades K-8), Barbara A. Sizemore Academy (grades K-7) and DuSable Leadership Academy (grades 9-12). Our mission is to provide every student with a safe and nurturing learning environment, and an academically rigorous and culturally relevant educational program that graduates students who excel in reading, oral and written language, mathematics, science, technology, social studies, and the arts and humanities. From inception, our school has consistently produced exemplary, high achieving students who have self-confidence, a strong sense of cultural identity, and a commitment to make positive contributions to their community and the world.

Egbé Ijoba is a Maroon Kilombo (community) that exists to secure a victorious future for generations of Maroons yet unborn. Unapologetically and unashamedly Afrakan, Egbé Ijoba works daily for sovereignty and righteous living and embraces the tenets of Ìsèse Olúwa and the divine charge to “bring more good into the world and let none be lost.”

African Unification Front is a historic and global organization that is working to consolidate Africa into a unified political, social, and economic entity, by, among other things, promoting high standards within the governance structures of the African Union, compliance monitoring, and engaging the broad masses of Africans in the process of integration and renascence.

The AUF was formed in August 1996. The Front has millions of supporters in the African Union and around the world who work hard to advance the cause of African sovereignty, freedom and unity. The AUF works to promote and protect the primacy, integrity and authority of the Pan African Parliament. The PAP is the embodiment of Africa's sovereingty and the highest representative government of the African Union.

South West African People Organization (SWAPO Party) of Namibia is a mass political movement formed on 19 April 1960 that engaged in armed struggle resulting in the liberation Namibia in 1990 from colonial and apartheid oppression which were imposed by the South African regime. SWAPO serves as the ruling Party in Namibia committed to peace justice and democracy.

SWAPO works to ensure that Namibia works, in close cooperation with other African states, to advance the cause of African unity and to promote world peace and security, through the elimination poverty, illiteracy and disease.

Temple of Anu, originally called Het Kheper (the House of Transformation) was founded in September of 1996 and reborn as its current incarnation in 1999. It was developed as an extension of introductory cultural and spiritual concepts taught at the Ka Kheper Ra Shule of Afrikan Warrior Arts.  

The Temple of Anu is an Afra-Kemetic based spiritual house Kemmitted to Akhuut (spiritual matters). Akhuut is an outward cultural expression of internal spiritual goals and objectives.

  The Kera (shrine) within the Het (house) is dedicated to the Ntru Ra which is sometimes associated with the earthly manifestation of the Ra principle, or Heru. Ra/Heru is understood to represent higher, cosmic, and/or universal consciousness.  

Through Kemmitting ourselves to these principles we learn to transcend the tendency of living life based on our narrow and negative traumas, complexes and issues. We teach and do research in Ari Kheperu (Kemetic yoga and meditation system), Afrikan Warrior Arts, and other spiritual sciences. Our curriculum is designed to develop one's character and personal power which results in heightened awareness.

Africa Must Unite was founded in 2008 by Samia Yaba Nkrumah.Inspired by the ideas of her father the great African leader Kwame Nkrumah who conceived the pan-African movement that promotes political unity and the sense of a common identity among African countries (particularly those of Black Africa) the Association Africa Must Unite intends to continue his endeavours by setting up institutions that make this sentiment of unity an effective reality.

RBG Tube is the premier black consciousness video site on the Internet - self sufficient, independent, innovative, All Afrikan and focused. RBG Tube seeks to record and make readily available our history and struggle utilizing cutting age technology. RBG Tube removes the biased censorship currently found on other media outlets seeking to undermine our intrinsic, historical confidence. Dr. Leonard Jefferies teaches us, "Whoever controls the images controls your self-esteem, self-respect and self-development. Whoever controls the history controls the vision."

Council of Independent Black Institutions was founded in 1972 with several generations of collective experience in educating Afrikan (Black) youth to be of service to the Creator, our Ancestors, our families and our people. The Council of Independent Black Institutions (CIBI) is the global and national membership and accrediting organization for member families, villages, individuals and independent Afrikan (Black) educational institutions which advocate and implement Afrikan-centered education in Afrika, Europe, and North America.

Future membership is anticipated among Afrikan people in Central and South America, the Caribbean, Australia, Asia, and the Pacific Islands. CIBI members are characterized by their unwavering commitment to, and record of, developing among our people an increasing number of children and adults who possess the spiritual-moral direction, academic-intellectual fervor, cultural-political intelligence, psycho-emotional-physical wellness, collectivity, and commitment necessary to bring about our people's return to righteous living and sovereignty.

Co-founded by Dr. Ama Mazama and Dr. Molefi Kete Asante, Afrocentricity International supports the cultural, educational, and economic elevation of African people in an endeavor to create cultural and historical consciousness. Its method is Afrocentric and Pan African, Participating at the national and international levels in the development of African women, men, and children Whose aim is to bring into existence an African renaissance. Its members pledge to do all Themselves In Their power to bolster the movement Toward a rise of Afrocentric consciousness and the establishment of a United States of Africa, and to restore Africa and her people to a status of nobility and sacredness. The motto of the organization is "Unity is our Aim, Victory is our Destiny!" Therefore, let freedom from oppression and freedom to exist on one's terms be the lot of all humankind, for if A Few oppress the majorité, seeking icts suppression and disenfranchisement, insanity and violence Will Be ever present in the world. Afrocentrists, in the spirit of Maat, seek peace, harmony, justice, order, morality, balance and truth.