NOBANTU
ANKOANDA, Ed.D
I was born in Oakland, California in 1947 and raised in a two parent home with my three siblings in San Francisco. I have five adult children whom I raised as a single parent in East Palo Alto, California. I am the grandmother of four granddaughters and four grandsons. I joined the Black Power movement while attending UC Berkeley (67-69) as an undergrad student in social work. It was there I became a Citizen of the Republic of New Africa (RNA) and experienced cointelpro infiltration in the Bay Area during the aftermath of the RNA 11 in Jackson, Mississippi.
In a sociology class at UC Berkeley (1967), I was among 20 students who traveled to Washington D. C. to study the Poor Peoples Campaign where I witnessed civil rights activists attempting to force the government to meet the demands Martin Luther King had proposed before his assassination. While attending UCB, I was employed as the administrative assistant of the Ethnic Studies program at the University of San Francisco. In my last semester UCB, I joined demonstrations with students, community residents and members of RNA to fight against Western Civilization Curriculum at UC Berkeley for an Ethnic Studies department. I managed to graduate but was denied graduate school due to my involvement in this fight for “Third World Studies.”
After walking out of my graduation (received BA degree in Social Work) in support of the students who were incarcerated due to the demonstrations, I later traveled to Ghana as the youngest of 175 Afrikan American educators in 1969. Educators included noted scholars Drs. Eric Lincoln and Betty Shabazz. I received a certification in Afrikan Culture and History at the University of Accra. I returned to the states and moved to D.C. from the Bay Area where I was inspired to become an educator. I returned to California and received my masters in elementary education at San Francisco State University (1972).
I moved to East Palo Alto and taught in their public schools for 10 years. In the summer of 1982, I traveled to Ghana and Nigeria with my five children (ages 2-7 at the time). I wanted them to have a different vision of Africa then what most people were experiencing on television. Shortly after returning, I retired from the public schools in 1983 and became the founder and co-founder of several independent Afrikan Centered schools, most notably Shule Mandela Academy. I became a member of the Council of Independent Institutions (CIBI) and the CIBI Northern California Convener for several years. After attending the State of the Black Race in Los Angeles in 1983, I returned to co-found a Rites of Passage Group for girls called the Sisters of Tomorrow (SOT). I presently work with the SOT Atlanta chapter as an elder. In an attempt to raise money for the Shule Mandela Academy, I started the Collard Greens Cultural Festival in 1998 which continues to this day in EPA. In 2001, I attended the World Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa.
I became a resident the City of Decatur, Georgia in 2006 with my disabled son. Three of my daughters received their BA from Howard University and one continued to receive her masters at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2007, I completed a doctoral program at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. My dissertation was entitled, “A case study of African Centered Schools”. In Georgia, my community activism continued. In 2010, I started the CGCF festival (www.collardgreensculturalfestival.com) in the Metro-Atlanta area; I am presently the co-chair of the Metro-Atlanta Council of Elders Support Team; I am a member of Afrikan Community Centers and Us Lifting Us; I co-founded the Sustainable Afrikan Communities (www.blacksustainabilitysummit.com); I am an Elder member of the Atlanta chapter of Sisters of Tomorrow; a member of the Atlanta N’COBRA chapter; an at-large board member of the National N’COBRA; an Elder on the Advisory Board of Nsoromma School; a member of AWEC; on the board of directors to build an International Center for dialogue between Afrikan American women and continental Afrikan women; and presently I am an administrator consultant with Kilombo Academic and Cultural Institute located in Decatur, Georgia. Presently I am the Chair of the Metro-Atlanta Pan African Federalist Movement as well as the Secretary General of the Regional PAFM North America.
