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Learn about Kwanzaa at www.melanet.com
KWANZAA, the African-American cultural holiday conceived and developed by Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga, was first celebrated on December 26, 1966. Kwanzaa is traditionally celebrated from December 26 through January 1, with each day focused on Nguzo Saba, or the seven principles. Derived from the Swahili phrase "matunda ya kwanza" which means "first fruits", Kwanzaa is rooted in the first harvest celebrations practiced in various cultures in Africa. Kwanzaa seeks to enforce a connectedness to African cultural identity, provide a focal point for the gathering of African peoples, and to reflect upon the Nguzo Saba, or the seven principles, that have sustained Africans. Africans and African-Americans of all religious faiths and backgrounds practice Kwanzaa.
Kwanzaa was born out of the whirlwind of social and political changes of the sixties decade. The sixties represent one of many eras during which the African and African-American struggle for freedom and self-identity reached its historical peak, spawning multiple revolutionary movements.
By creating Kwanzaa, African-Americans sought to rectify the cultural and economic exploitation perpetrated against us during the months of October, November, and December (the Christmas season). During this season, corporate America typically ignored the quality of life concerns of African-Americans, yet encouraged participation in the commercialism of Christmas. Additionally, African-Americans did not observe a holiday that was specific to our needs. A review of the major holidays celebrated in the United States would reveal that not one related specifically to the growth and development of African-Americans. The development of Kwanzaa assumed a reassessment, reclaiming, recommitment, remembrance, retrieval, resumption, resurrection, and rejuvenation of the "Way of Life" principles recognized by African-Americans. These principles have strengthened African-Americans during our worldwide sojourn.
Today, Kwanzaa is recognized by millions throughout America and the world. It is celebrated often in community settings provided by homes, churches, mosques, temples, community centers, schools, and places of work. Kwanzaa allows us to celebrate the season without shame or fear of embracing our history, our culture, and ourselves.
Kwanzaa is a spiritual, festive and joyous celebration of the oneness and goodness of life, which claims no ties with any religion.
The focus of Kwanzaa is centered around the seven principles (Nguzo Saba) with particular emphasis on the unity of our Black families. It is a time for gathering of our families, and for a rededication to manifesting the principles of Kwanzaa (Nguzo Saba) as a way of life for Black Americans.
Kwanzaa has definite principles, practices and symbols which are geared to the social and spiritual needs of African-Americans. The reinforcing gestures are designed to strengthen our collective self-concept as a people, honor our past, critically evaluate our present and commit ourselves to a fuller, more productive future.
Kwanzaa is a way of life; not just a celebration. As a living social practice, it is a week of actual remembering, reassessing, recommitting, rewarding and rejoicing. For evaluation of ourselves and our history, we relate to our past, reassess our thoughts and practices, and recommit ourselves to the achievement of Black liberation and the betterment of life for all Black Americans.
Finally, the concept of Kwanzaa, the African-American holiday, is to help Black Americans relate to the past in order to understand the present and deal with the future.
This is on-line Kwanzaa Information Center is designed to provide you with vital information to help in your understanding of the concept of Kwanzaa.
Why Celebrate Kwanzaa?
Whenever new information is presented to an individual or a group of people, the information must be accurate, clear and have a specific meaning for that particular individual or particular group. Therefore, the information should be presented in a specific format and should include certain factors. These factors are:
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Focus The center of an activity or the area of attention. It is important to relate to the past in order to understand the present and deal with the future. A people will never look forward to posterity who never looked backward to their ancestors. |
Sense of Direction The way and manner in which the event will take form. To practice the principles in our lives that helped our ancestors to endure oppression, slavery and racism. Emphasize Unity of the Black family. |
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Purpose The plan, intention or reason for an activity or event. To maintain a history. History is Knowledge, Identity and Power. |
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A NEW DOCUMENTARY TITLED "PAPER CLIPS"
The Children's Holocaust Project in Whitwell, TN is the subject of a new documentary titled "Paper Clips"
Roberts and Assistant Principal David Smith started the project as a way to study tolerance and diversity by looking at the systematic murder of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. That was important to the educators because there is not much ethnic or religious diversity at Whitwell Middle School. Nearly all the students are white; nearly everyone is a Baptist or Methodist.
"It basically has given them a chance to see cultures outside the Sequatchie Valley," Smith said. "I know no Jews or Catholics here."
After learning that some Norwegians wore paper clips on their clothing during World War II in defiance of the Nazis and in solidarity with Jews, the Whitwell students began bringing in paper clips from home and from friends.
They eventually set up a Web site asking people to send in paper clips and share their feelings about the Holocaust. The letters began trickling in one from a woman in Tyler, Texas, another from New Zealand. Roberts said she started counting paper clips at 5:30 a.m. some days. By the end of the first year, they had 700,000.
The project got a boost when German journalists Dagmar Schroeder-Hildebrand and Peter Schroeder featured it in their syndicated column and later in a book. Suddenly the paper clips were arriving from everywhere, millions of them.
The Schroeders traveled to Germany to find a wooden rail car used by the Nazis to transport Jews to concentration camps. The car, built in 1917, now sits at Whitwell Middle School as a memorial and place to hold millions of paper clips.
Roberts said the project generated a sense of pride and awareness among the students.
"It does change the way we look at humans," Roberts said. "If I teach you about life and the world in which you live and make you a better human being, then I have been successful."
Holocaust survivor Sam Sitko recently visited the school, and spoke to students about being beaten by Nazi soldiers and seeing his father starve to death in concentration camps.
"Beatings were the order of the day," Sitko said of the six years after Nazis hauled him away as a 16-year-old boy with his family in a railroad car. "Every day I woke up during those six years trembling for my life."
Eighth-grader Hailey Yeargan wiped away tears during Sitko's speech and hugged him afterward.
"It's just not right," she said.
You can purchase this movie on DVD…
2005 is Einstein’s 100th Anniversary
In October 1, 1940 Einstein became a citizen of the United States. Einstein moved to the United States in 1933, after fleeing Nazi Germany. At the time he commented, "As long as I have any choice in the matter, I will live only in a country where civil liberty, tolerance and equality of all citizens before the law are the rule." He became an American citizen seven years later. Hailed as the most renowned scientific mind of the 20th century, Albert Einstein is being celebrated throughout the world in 2005.
The Provincials - A Personal History of Jews in the South
by Eli N. Evans - chosen by the University of North Carolina Press
to mark the 350th anniversary of Jewish life in America.
In this classic portrait of Jews in the South, Eli N. Evans takes readers inside the nexus of southern and Jewish histories, from the earliest immigrants to the present day. Evoking the rhythms and heartbeat of Jewish life in the Bible belt, Evans weaves together chapters of recollections from his youth and early years in North Carolina with chapters that explore the experiences of Jews in many cities and small towns across the South. He presents the stories of communities, individuals, and events in this quintessential American landscape that reveal the deeply intertwined strands of what he calls a unique "Southern Jewish consciousness."
First published in 1973 and updated in 1997, The Provincials was the first book to take readers on a journey into the soul of the Jewish South, using autobiography, storytelling, and interpretive history to create a complete portrait of Jewish contributions to the history of the region. No other book on this subject combines elements of memoir and history in such a compelling way. This new edition includes a gallery of more than two dozen family and historical photographs as well as a new introduction by the author.
Read a conversation with the author.
The Living Jewish History Project
Kids Across the Country Document Jewish Life in America Today
BabagaNewz.com- the web site for Jewish middle school students, their parents and teachers - is having a year-long celebration of 350 years of Jewish American history. As we look back at Jewish American history to date, it’s also important to take a look at what our lives are like today. That’s why we’ve created the Living Jewish History Project. Kids are invited to become a part of Jewish history by posting their thoughts on what it's like to be Jewish in their home state today. Visit the Living Jewish History Project at http://www.babaganewz.com/games/livingJewishHistory/to learn about the Jewish history of each state, read posts from kids all over the country and add your own message to the project. Help BabagaNewz document Jewish American life!
Contemporary Jewry
Special Edition
The current edition of Contemporary Jewry (www.assj.org)v. 24 is a special edition dedicated to the commemorating of the 350th anniversary. Edited by Hillel Kieval, it includes articles by Leonard Fein, Marc Dollinger, Hasia Diner, Samuel Heilman, David Teutsch, Jessica Greenebaum, Alex Pomson, Shaul Kelner, Jonathan Sarna & Riv-Ellen Prell. Members of the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry receive a free copy automatically. Others may obtain a copy ($36) by contacting the journal at contemporaryjewry@yahoo.com