Saturday, April 18, 2009
MOVIE:: John Henrik Clarke: "A Great and Mighty Walk" (1996)
"This video chronicles the life and times of the noted African-American historian, scholar and Pan-African activist John Henrik Clarke (1915-1998). Both a biography of Clarke himself and an overview of 5,000 years of African history, the film offers a provocative look at the past through the eyes of a leading proponent of an Afrocentric view of history. From ancient Egypt and Africa’s other great empires, Clarke moves through Mediterranean borrowings, the Atlantic slave trade, European colonization, the development of the Pan-African movement, and present-day African-American history."
Just watched this tonight... it's a really important movie. A very personal life story of a man who lived through The Great Depression, the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights movement, and was a good personal friend of people like Kwame Nkrumah and Malcolm X. The pieces of History woven into his personal history are crucial. And the quotes... maaaan... he just made so much sense...
"If you are the child of God and God is a part of you, then in your imagination God is suppose to look like you. And when you accept a picture of the deity assigned to you by another people, you become the spiritual prisoner of that other people." - John Henrik Clarke
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I note the kind of reverence that many Afrikans express about the late scholar and I suspect this should motivate them to want to explore more deeply his contributions, his research, and his ideas.
If you forgive the modesty (this is something Dr. Clarke would have said), there is a new study on the late scholar titled John Henrik Clarke and the Power of Africana History: Africalogical Quest for Decolonization and Sovereignty (Africa World Press, 2009). ISBN: 1-59221-627-7.
It's my study. And it is the first book-length academic study of the late scholar.
Rather than primarily a biography of the great sage, this fascinating read explores Dr. Clarke's intellectual contribution to U.S. and global African thought and culture, including African and African American history, Black Studies, liberation, and the concept of Afrocentricity.
Adorned with a magnificently attractive cover design, this book is ideal for those who are interested in learning more about Africana intellectualism and cultural thought in the 19th and 20th centuries.
It explores Dr. Clarke's academic training in Harlem, his role as one of the major architects of Black Studies, and his contribution to African thought and culture in the United States, Africa, and the world.
I would welcome your review of the work.
Ahati N. N. Toure, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Africana History and Black Studies
Department of History, Political Science, and Philosophy
1200 N. DuPont Highway
Dover, DE 19901-2277
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