DR. MAMA NOBANTU ANDITO ANKOANDA
“Mother of Humanity
Sleepless Until the Battle is Won”
Dr. Mama Nobantu Ankoanda was born in Oakland, California and grew up in San Francisco. Mama Nobantu is the mother of five adult children who reside in Georgia, California, Texas and Oklahoma. She is the grandmother of eight. She has mothered over 300 students from her school she ran in California and is still in contact with many of them through social media. Her oldest child is diagnosed with Downs Syndrome. He has taught her the patience and calm nature she is well known for. Mama Ankoanda holds a doctoral degree in Education Leadership from Nova Southeastern University, a Master of Arts in Elementary Education from San Francisco State University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from the University of California at Berkeley.
​
She became an educator in 1972 as a teacher in East Palo Alto (aka “Little Nairobi”), California. She has nearly 50 years of experience as an educator, teacher, former principal and founder of Afrikan Centered Community Based institutions in Nairobi, CA. Mama Nobantu holds a doctoral degree in Education Leadership from Nova Southeastern University, a Master of Arts in Elementary Education from San Francisco State University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from the University of California at Berkeley. In 1968, while a student at UCB, Mama Nobantu became a Pan Afrikan Socialist after she was recruited to become a citizen of the Republic of New Afrika. She participated and studied the Poor People’s Campaign in Washington, D.C. as a sociology student shortly after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
After 10 years teaching in the East Palo Alto, CA (aka “Little Nairobi, CA”) public schools, Mama Nobantu retired at the age of 34. She co-founded Shule Ya Taifa in 1981, Shule Nyansa Sua in 1982, and Shule Mandela Academy in 1983. In 1998 she transformed Shule Mandela Academy into a charter school and renamed it the School of Wisdom and Knowledge College Preparatory Academy.
​
She was the Northern California convener for the Council of Independent Institutions (CIBI) from 1998-2003. Mama Nobantu also co-founded the Rites of Passage for girls, a grassroots organization called Sisters of Tomorrow (SOT) in 1984. Presently, there is an Atlanta SOT chapter where she works with the organization as an elder.
Mama Nobantu has traveled throughout the African Continent. She was the youngest of 185 educators (including Betty Shabazz, C. Eric Lincoln) to travel to Accra, Ghana in 1969 upon her graduation from University of California. It was there that she received an Afrikan history and Culture Certificate. In 1982, she returned to Ghana with her five children. She wanted to expose them at an early age to the true positive images of Africa and its people. In 2001, she attended the World Conference Against Racism, in Durban, South Africa. In 2010, she traveled to Kemet with her uncle, Professor Earl Grant, (who was one of Malcolm X’s lieutenants) where she received a different perspective on ancient Kemet due to his engineering degree. In 2018 she traveled to Ghana for the PAFM (Pan African Federalist Movement) Pre-Congress and later the same year traveled to East Nigeria with Dr. Uwa Osimiri, CEO of AWEC (African Women’s Economic Coalition) where she was the first woman to be crowned with the chieftaincy title “Nwanne Di Na Mba” in Abia State (Eastern Nigeria). In 2019, she traveled to Ghana with 14 of her family members including her children and grandchildren. In 2022, she traveled to Tanzania.
​
In her dissertation, “A Case Study of Afrikan Centered Schools”, she focused on the critical factors of success and failure that are associated with the academic achievement of students in African Centered Schools as measured by public high school graduation rates. An analysis of the data indicated that students’ high school graduation rate in African Centered Schools was significantly higher than students' graduation rate in public high schools.
In 2006, Mama Nobantu moved to Decatur, GA to become closer to two of her daughters and grandchildren. She developed a new skill as a tax professional with ComproTax. It was in 2010 she brought the Collard Greens Cultural Festival to the Metro Atlanta Region that originated from East Palo Alto, CA as a fundraiser for Shule Mandela Academy in 1998.
​
Mama Nobantu’s activism includes co-chair of the Metro-Atlanta Council of African Elders; member of CIBI (Council of Black Independent Institutions), a LifeTime member of N’COBRA (National Coalition of Reparations in America) and member of the Atlanta N’COBRA chapter, Board member of Kilombo Academic and Cultural Institute, member of the Seasoned Women of First Afrikan Church, Ifa/Lakumi practitioner. She is the Secretary General for the North America Region of PAFM (Pan African Federalist Movement). Mama Nobantu is the co-founder of Black Sustainability Summit and presently sits on the Black Sustainability Network Board. In 1984,Mama Nobantu co-founded SOT (Sisters of Tomorrow), a Rites of Passage for girls. She is presently an elder with the SOT Atlanta Chapter. She is the co-chair of the reparations committee with the Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights in the City of Decatur. She is currently the co-chair of the Kwanzaa Metro Atlanta Regional Association, she is a Member of Georgia Black Women Farmers and finally, she sits on the ULU (Us Lifting Us) Board.
​
Mama Nobantu has received numerous awards and proclamations for her work in California and Georgia.
She believes it is the responsibility of teachers, parents, preachers, and leaders to bring out the genius of African/Black Children.
