"A great success" was the way how Conscious Lyrics Foundation (CLF) president Shujah Reiph described the 18th annual Black History Celebration lecture series.
Poet Esther Bradshaw-Gumbs accompanied by her son Karan opened the evening when the duet dramatized a poem in memory of the ancestors of Diamond Estate 26. The evening continued when Issac Ifeanyi Gbemudu a Nigerian national living and teaching in St. Martin, played on the harmonica a rendition of Nkosi Sikelel’iAfrika (God Bless Africa) the National anthem of South Africa, setting the stage for the lecture entitled Africa, Mother of Civilization.
"Talking about Africa being the mother of civilization is not just an invention by some romantic lunatic, but if one goes back 10 millions of years science shows the first human being was an African," said Dr. Dannabang Kuwabong to start his lecture. The story of Africa is a big debate in academic cycle claimed Dr. Kuwabong. He when on to elaborate on how the western world tried to refute the fact Africans built the pyramids and the great wall of Zimbabwe.
"Africa had various Empires and universities about eight hundred years before the Europeans came," said Dr. Kuwabong who was born Naville in the Upper Region of Ghana in West Africa.
The annual, Black History lecture was held at the University of St. Martin (USM) and organized by CLF and the Student Government Association of USM.