THE GLOBAL AFRICAN COMMUNITY
H I S T O R Y N O T E S
|
HARUN KOFI WANGARA
AND THE VOYAGES OF THE MANDINGA
| DEDICATED TO BROTHER JAMAL ALI |
THE GLOBAL AFRICAN COMMUNITY
H I S T O R Y N O T E S
Photo courtesy of Wayne B. ChandlerHARUN KOFI WANGARA
AND THE VOYAGES OF THE MANDINGA
DEDICATED TO BROTHER JAMAL ALI
"Black seamen, who can be specifically identified as Mandinga, brought the West African gold trade to the Americas. This is established through African designations for gold, the West African method of alloying gold, its ceremonial as well as trade value and, more important, the identity of the Blacks who trafficked in it." --Harun Kofi Wangara
Harun Kofi Wangara, formerly known as Harold Glyn Lawrence, was born December 4, 1928 in Detroit, Michigan. He is probably best known as the author of a pioneering article "African Explorers of the New World," published under the name of Harold Glyn Lawrence in the Crisis magazine in 1962. The Aquarian Spiritual Center of Los Angeles, California published the article in the same year. Lawrence developed an interest in African migrations to the Western Hemisphere while selling the books of historian J.A. Rogers as a student at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. At the time of the article's publication Lawrence was chairman of the research and education committee of the Detroit, Michigan branch of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History.
In "African Explorers of the New World" Lawrence noted that:
"We can now positively state that the Mandingoes of the Mali and Songhay Empires, and possibly other Africans, crossed the Atlantic to carry on trade with the Western Hemisphere Indians and further succeeded in establishing colonies through the Americas."
After receiving his B.A. in Linguistics and a Masters degree in Education, he departed for Ghana in 1964. Lawrence received the African name Kofi Wangara from the students of the Institute of African Studies in Legon, Ghana. He received a Masters degree from the Institute and left Ghana for Nigeria. In 1965, Professor Wangara returned to the United States. From 1969 to 1983 he made several extended study and research trips to Senegal, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mali, Ivory Coast, Dahomey and Togo. In 1973 Wangara interviewed Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Senegal.
In 1986 Dr. Ivan Van Sertima produced and edited the African Presence in Early America--a major anthology featuring a comprehensive chapter from Wangara entitled "Mandinga Voyages Across the Atlantic." At the time of Professor Wangara's death on December 14, 1989, he was working on a comprehensive text entitled Mandinga Voyages to America. Wangara was survived by two children.
SOURCES:
African Presence in Early America, edited by Ivan Van Sertima
Copyright © 1998 Runoko Rashidi. All rights reserved.
Revised: November 04, 2000.
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