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Black Ink
Cover Story
KWANZAA:
An African-American Celebration
NGUZO
ABA
(The Seven Principles)
1. UMOJA (Unity)
To Mnvc foi ami maintain unity in the family, lummunity, nation and
lace.
2. KUJICHAGULIA (Self-determination)
To define ourselves, name ourselves, creatc foi our«Wcs and speak lot
ourselves instead of being denned, named, crcatcd fcr and spoken for
by others.
3. UJIMA (Collective Work and Responsibility)
To build and maintain our community togctttci and nuke oui Mstci's
and brother's problems our problems and to solve them together.
4. UJAMAA (Cooperative Economics)
To build and maintain out own stores, shops and other buMnessi's and
to proHt from them together.
5. NIA (Purpose)
To make our collective vocation the building and developing of oui \
community in order to restore out people to their traditional greatness \
6. KUl'MBA (Creativity)
To do always as much as we can, in the way we can. m otdcf to leave
(lui community more heautilul and hcneficial than we inheiitcd il
7. IMANMFiith)
To believe with all out heart in our people, our parents, our teachers,
our leaders and the righteousness and victory of out Mtuggle
Maulana Karenga
Kwanzaa, a seven day holiday celebrated from
December 26 to January 1, is an African-Ameri
can holiday based on African agricultural cele
brations and seven collective principles which
contribute to the unity and development of the
African community. It was created by Dr. Maulana
Ron Karenga, chairperson of Black studies at
California State University at Long Beach, in
1966.
Kwanzaa, as many people- African-American
or not- seem to believe, is not a religious holiday
or an alternative to Christmas. Rather, Kwanzaa
is a cultural statement that makes African-Ameri
cans more aware of their history, and of their
worth as great integral part of the American
society. It is a project which requires the recover
ing of lost models and memory, suppressed prin
ciples and practices of African culture, and put
ting these in the African-American struggle to
free themselves and realize their highest aspira
tions.
This holiday was also, in part, created to
address the absence of non-heroic holidays
in the national African-American commu
nity. With the possible exception of Afri
can-American History Month, which itself
is essentially organized around heroes and
heroines, there was no national holiday to
celebrate a communal event of great his
toric and cultural significance before the
creation of Kwanzaa. Thus, Kwanzaaserves
an important function as the only nationally
celebrated non-heroic African-American
holiday.
The Origins of Kwanzaa
The holiday Kwanzaa is a result of the
selection and mixture of Continental Afri
can and Diasporan culture. This means that
it is rooted in both the cultural values and
practice of Africans on the Continent and in
the U.S. with strict attention to cultural
authenticity and values for a meaningful,
principled and productive life. The values
and practices of Kwanzaa are selected from