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Books by Peter Adotey Addo
How
the Spider Became Bald: Folktales and Legends from West Africa
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Talking Drums An Anthology of Poetry
Ghana Folk Tales Ananse Stories from Africa
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Remembering the Home Spirits
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P E Adotey Addo
was announced as a promising poet and a story teller
in a 1957 symposium of Ghanaian writing called Voices
of Ghana. He has traveled and experienced much
since his poem about the founding father of Pan
Africanism was published in that publication. Most of his career
had been as a College teacher of Religion and Science . He is a poet, a
storyteller and writer, a folklorist, a theologian, and a
biologist. more
bio
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Table
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An Ode To
My Granddaughter, Charlotte
By P . E Adotey Addo
This poem is for you Sweetheart.
An Ode written for you from my heart
On Valentine Day, only for you.
With a well deserved thank you
To help brighten your day.
Sending lots of smiles your way
In a big big Red heart
To say I love you in a big way.
This Poem is for you Sweetheart
A Very Happy Valentine to you .
Dedicated
to all Grand Daughters, Feb 14 , 2009 |
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Then there is this problem: recently I helped
some 50 black American students to prepare for a summer visit to
Africa. On their return I was shocked to find that most of them
were much more fascinated with what they called "primitive
Africa" than with the big cities and towns, the industrial
part of Africa. this is understandable, but the African does not
really want American blacks to return home full of ideas and
impressions of "primitive people" running around naked
in the rude villages. Not all Africans live in villages and not
all Africans walk around naked or barefoot. What I am saying is
that the black American who goes to Africa tends to find there
the things and places that affirm his own subconscious negative
impression of Africa. perhaps this is due to brainwashing.
The African is a well mannered person, and
there are certain things he will not do in public. Let us name
just one thing that created a problem for a group of visiting
students. The Africans were shocked to see them holding hands
and even kissing in public may be all right in the United
States, but it is wholly unacceptable in Africa, especially if
students do it. The African student tends to be a little more
secretive about displaying his affections. Education is a great
privilege in Africa, and it is taken seriously.
I could cite many more reasons why the black
American is not embraced as a brother immediately. I do believe,
however, that when the two get to know each other and understand
the problems inherent in each culture, they will finally
appreciate each other and be able to live together.
How a Black
African Views
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The desecration of Africa in the past by the
Western European powers seriously and adversely affected the
traditional cultures of the indigenous African people and in
consequence many traditional beliefs, social values, customs,
and rituals were demeaned or disvalued as “pagan” or
“superstitious.” True culture is the what and the how of a
peoples’ creative survival, and the introduction of European
Christianity separated the indigenous Africans from the ancient
roots of their traditions and their identity.
Traditional African religion is centered
around the existence of one Supreme High God. However, the
Europeans who spread Christianity in Africa never understood or
properly appreciated the African’s own conception of the Great
Creator. They saw no similarity between the God they preached
and the African’s own belief in the One Supreme God and
creator who was king, Omnipotent, Omniscient, the Great Judge,
Compassionate, Holy and Invisible, Immortal and
Transcendent. Origins
Of African American Spiritualism
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In Ghana, there are those who believe
that when it comes to the game of football there are
other forces at play other than the players, which
influence the result of the games. The pundits refer to
teams consulting witchdoctors who perform special spells
and magic to ensure a specific outcome of the games.
Magic or “Juju” is an age-old belief passed on from
generation to generation and has been central, according
to the pundits, to football in Ghana for a very long
time. I have heard many of these stories whether true
or false from the pundits for years about football and
most of them have been outrageous to say the least. The
place of magic or “Juju” according to some pundits is
central in Ghana football but usually is never discussed
publicly and it includes special ceremonies to ensure
the success of the games.
Football is so deeply entrenched in
the body politic and soul of Ghana that it runs through
our daily lives. In fact, football is perhaps the only
issue one can find universal agreement on among
Ghanaians from all occupations. Until recently, some
pundits laughed about those who played football
barefooted and without uniforms or protective equipment
in the past. In my boarding school, we played
barefooted, but as we played, we dreamed of the time in
the future when we would have the proper equipment and
protective gear as we saw in the movies. It turned out
to be just a dream. The scariest thing about the stories
told by the pundits were subtle suggestions that the
supernatural often affected the destiny of our football
teams and therefore the results of the games were
dependent on how strong was the “Juju” or witchcraft
consulted. In our boarding school, our teachers insisted
that we prayed hard to win the games.
Looking at Ourselves in Africa
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How the Spider Became Bald
By
Peter Eric Adotey Addo
In a world where children are more apt to
watch the pathos of Jerry Springer, Addo's "How the Spider
Became Bald" adds to the treasury of works parents can turn
to for their childrens' need to have positive reading. Spider has the ring of an Alex Haley folktale
as heard on his grandmother's porch...where Haley pieced
together threads of his family's tales: leading to Roots. Addo's decades as a cleric show through as
does his keen sensitivity to linking West African folklore to
the Faulkner and Twain genres of American South folklore. This little book
is indeed a tour de force. Should be in homes & school
libraries, especially for parents and teachers who search for
Afrocentric treasrues. This one's a gem.—William H. Turner, PhD, Winston-Salem, NC
May 23, 1998 |
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Blacks in Hispanic Literature: Critical Essays
Edited by
Miriam DeCosta-Willis
Blacks in Hispanic Literature is a
collection of fourteen essays by scholars and
creative writers from Africa and the Americas.
Called one of two significant critical works on
Afro-Hispanic literature to appear in the late
1970s, it includes the pioneering studies of
Carter G. Woodson and
Valaurez B. Spratlin, published in the 1930s, as
well as the essays of scholars whose interpretations
were shaped by the Black aesthetic. The early
essays, primarily of the Black-as-subject in Spanish
medieval and Golden Age literature, provide an
historical context for understanding 20th-century
creative works by African-descended, Hispanophone
writers, such as Cuban
Nicolás Guillén and Ecuadorean poet, novelist,
and scholar
Adalberto Ortiz, whose essay analyzes the
significance of Negritude in Latin America. This
collaborative text set the tone for later
conferences in which writers and scholars worked
together to promote, disseminate, and critique the
literature of Spanish-speaking people of African
descent. . . .
Cited by a
literary critic in 2004 as "the seminal study in the
field of Afro-Hispanic Literature . . . on which
most scholars in the field 'cut their teeth'."
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Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in
America
By Melissa V.
Harris-Perry
According to the
author, this society has historically exerted
considerable pressure on black females to fit into one
of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the
Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless
Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to
white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of
those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the
relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable
temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as
an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the
characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television
shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry
points out how the propagation of these harmful myths
have served the mainstream culture well. For instance,
the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for
black females to feel a maternal instinct towards
Caucasian babies.
As for the source
of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their
own bodies during slavery given that they were being
auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless,
it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate
the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate
indiscriminately.
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
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January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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update
4 February 2012
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