1958 was the year Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah first visit the the united states. He wore Kente Cloth, which I happen to have seen at a recent wedding I happened to be present at.
Kente also known as nwentoma, is the traditional and ceremonial clothing of the Ashanti tribe of central Ghana.
Kente is one of the world’s best-known and most widely revered textiles. It is produced in greater quantity, exported to more places and incorporated into a greater variety of forms than any other African fabric. Kente is a hand-woven, narrow strip cloth — often in bright, primary colors with richly patterned motifs at regular intervals. Long strips are pieced together to create the large toga-sized textile that has long been a part of traditional Ghanaian society and ritual culture.”
I was familiar with the colors, the colors combinations which I had always associated to be part of all of Sub-Saharan West Africa, is actually not West African rather Ghanaian, and it grew in popularity post colonialism.
Few years back I went to an African American Baptism church ceremony on a Sunday morning and the Paster, who is African American, was wearing.
I never thought about it then but I now assume it was a symbol for him, a symbol of history pre move to the new world. I assume!
In 1992, I owned and wore necklace, fake leather with Africa on it. I don’t know what it was called but it was worn by several characters in Spike Lee’s ‘Do the right thing.’ Radio Raheem walked around with his necklace and a boombox blasting Public Enemies ‘Fight the power.’
Consequently, after some checking I found out the Spike Lee also directed the music video. Like the film, the colors remind me the Kente cloth.
You will see that some of the rappers are wearing the Africa Necklace, which again I assume is a symbol of the ‘fighting the power.’ Black Pantherism, Black Nationalism, Intercommunalism.
1992
1992 was the year of the LA riots, the same year another Spike joint ‘Malcom X‘ was realized, the same year that all the rappers were singing about killing cops. John Gotti was considered hero. Everyone was wearing Malcom X tshirts, and claiming to read his bio…
I was recently a bookstore and I saw the cover of the Stokely Carmichael latest ‘ Stokely Speaks: From Black Power to Pan-Africanism‘ and sure enough and as any Black Panther the colors brought me closer. Did I say that 1992 was the year that he republished his first book which coincidently was titled ‘Black Power.’
At the pinnacle of the civil right movement, African American reached back to Africa in search of historical meaning, 1958 the first president of post colonial Ghana wearing is Kente came to the US
Over time, for African Americans as well as for Americans of other cultures, kente has developed multiple meanings beyond its original uses in Ghanaian society. Today kente is prominent in African American society, often embraced as a symbol of black identity. Its inspiration can be found in visual art forms as diverse as greeting cards, book covers, clothing…”
Call it irony, call it whatever you want, but it’s interesting how the tradition and culture within historic Africa impact sociological environment throughout the world.
Published by September 3rd, 2007 in Design and History.
I am sensing a connection between ‘Project Roots’ and ‘Kente’. This is like a treasure hunt….nice read!
Actually this had nothing to do with the roots tee, literally…
other than roots is history, and origin
Hey Nolawi,
this is so interesting isn’t it, a wonderful read, kinda reminds me of the Rastafarian effect on Jamaican.
Hey I just wanted to say that you are so interesting and very smart and very creative. And you are such a hottie. Hubba hubba hubba.
Bicha the girl that gets you is luckky!
and i think the real irony is how African cultural and traditional expressions such as the Kente Cloth are often co-opted by non Africans as soon as they become popular. Don’t be surprised if u find Kente cloth at a Walmart store that was made in China.
Corrections, Stokely Carmichael and Charles Hamilton wrote “Black Power” in 1967, not 1992. Also it is significant to point out that he abandoned the name Stokely Carmichael and died in 1998 baring Kwame Ture. He choose that to honor two of his favorite pan-africanists, Kwame Nukruma of Ghana and Seku Ture of Guinea.
Thanks for the correction Nyalasmoke:-)
Oh shuttup dawit,
Black power was republished in 1992,check the link
Mariamawit……you could be the ‘lucky ‘ one if you want to….i can arrange that for you….Nol is still available and on the market until the end of this year.
Hey, hope u r not one of those who wait for ‘SALE’…..he is available at an affordable price right now
[quote comment="74216"]Mariamawit……you could be the ‘lucky ‘ one if you want to….i can arrange that for you….Nol is still available and on the market until the end of this year.
[/quote]
Hey, hope u r not one of those who wait for ‘SALE’…..he is available at an affordable price right now
hahahahhaha
mari, thanks girl.. arif compliment nuew… i will let it get to my head
[quote comment="74187"]i think the real irony is how African cultural and traditional expressions such as the Kente Cloth are often co-opted by non Africans as soon as they become popular. Don’t be surprised if u find Kente cloth at a Walmart store that was made in China.[/quote]
the magic of globalization.
[quote comment="74648"][quote comment="74187"]i think the real irony is how African cultural and traditional expressions such as the Kente Cloth are often co-opted by non Africans as soon as they become popular. Don’t be surprised if u find Kente cloth at a Walmart store that was made in China.[/quote]
the magic of globalization.[/quote]
isn’t that a good thing endE?
[quote comment="74761"][quote comment="74648"][quote comment="74187"]i think the real irony is how African cultural and traditional expressions such as the Kente Cloth are often co-opted by non Africans as soon as they become popular. Don’t be surprised if u find Kente cloth at a Walmart store that was made in China.[/quote]
the magic of globalization.[/quote]
isn’t that a good thing endE?[/quote]
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lets take this specific scenario, assuming how it’s gonna play out by example of other such occurances all over the world.
the kente cloth is from west africa, many folks make a living by it. there is also the traditional ART of making a kente cloth, passed down from generation to generation, a very respected element of west African culture. Let say the chinese garment industry gets smart to the potential profit they can reap from producing kente cloth, in view of it’s growing popularity world-wide. so the chinese companies decide to produce it or have some sort of agreement with the African nations to open manufacturing factories on African soil with Chinese workers. so you take the jobs away from the Africans who invented it to begin with and allocate it to the Chinese, who have less experiance with it but have the man power, money and machinery to churn out millions of kente cloth at cheaper quality and cost. Then giant retail chains like Wal-Mart take the cloth and sell it at low price so that Melissa and Tod in Omaha, Nebraska can feel international. that same chinese company floods the African market with the cheap kente destroying any competition from local producers.
so who is the loser in this equation? the african, of course. they loss the income (GDP)and of course african business owners can’t compete with the china’s capacity to produce at such a low cost and quality and eventually they start to dwindle and close down. and most probably the traditional ART of making kente cloth will suffer a painful death.
this type of scenario is playing out all over africa. it’s the story of the past and the present. Is it a good thing? depends on who’s side you’re on. from my view, it’s an abhorrence. antithesis to Africa’s best interest.
Interesting read indeed…
thanks nolawi i got several emails from my ghanian friends
Mari–youre right the girl that gets Nolawi will be lucky
Nolawi-please don’t let anything else go to your head
Nice article and this part surprised me more than anything
Mariamawit AMEN! You better hop to it while the getting is good.
Its not uncommon to see bits and peaces of African cultures and traditions spread out in the African American Community, it was even more prevalent in the 1950’s and 60’s, but even today its still visible from the kente to the agbada. (Mens Robe unique to the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria) Nice read.
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