"The History of Black Africa will remain suspended in air and cannot be written correctly until African historians dare to connect it with the History of Egypt. In Particular, the study of languages, institutions, and so forth, cannot be treated properly; in a word, it will be impossible to build African humanities, a body of African human sciences, so long as that relationship does not appear legitimate. The African historian who evades the problem of Egypt is neither modest nor objective, nor unruffled; he is ignorant, cowardly, and neurotic. Imagine, if you can, the uncomfortable position of a western historian who was to write the history of Europe without referring to Greco-Latin Antiquity and try to pass that off as a scientific approach" (xiv).
~ Cheikh Anta Diop, The African Origins of Civilization: Myth or Reality, 1974
This weekend, Memories of the Little Elephant was featured at the 20th Annual Cheikh Anta Diop Conference, The largest assembly of African scholars gathers each year at the Cheikh Anta Diop International Conference in Philadelphia for the latest research and presentations on African agency. The most prestigious awards in the field are given for the best articles, books, and initiatives in Afrocentric research. The Cheikh Anta Diop International Conference is recognized for its outstanding scholarship in all theoretical, methodological, analytical and critical subjects. (www.diopconference.com) Memories of the Little Elephant had a very successful weekend as it moved into the hands of scholars, school leaders, educators, and community activist whom are dedicated to the upliftment of African peoples. As Dr. Maulana Karenga, guest lecturer, spoke he discussed the urgent need for African people to not only research, lecture and educate but to also produce "paradigm driven works." Capturing the history, language, spirituality and thought of African peoples, Memories of the Little Elephant was present as wonderful example of such a work! Author Nehprii Amenii, visibly pleased by the embrace of the work, expressed "It is so much more than a children's picture book. It supplies our children, our people, and our world, with a consciousness of the African origins of all of civilization and is displayed through imagery based on the same aesthetic values that were used to fashion temple walls and all of creation, and thus provides the African world with an authentic mirror of self."
With recent collaboration with books for Africa, this weekend’s customers purchased books to be donated to their African nation of choice. We are proud to share that customers enthusiastically purchased copies of Memories of the little elephant to be shipped to Ethiopia, Liberia, South Africa, Guinea Bissau, and Sierra Leone! Memories of the Little Elephant is truly a book on its way to having global impact!
~KP
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