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KI BIOS
Jacob H. Carruthers, Jr.
Jacob H. Carruthers, Jr., (1930 2004) was the founding Director of
the Kemetic Institute, and a founding member of the
Temple of the African Community of Chicago (TACC), where he served as High
Priest. He was a founding director and the first President of the Association
for the Study of Classical African Civilizations (ASCAC). For thirty-two years,
he was a professor of history and education at the Center for Inner City
Studies (CICS) of Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU). The Center was
renamed the Jacob H. Carruthers Center for Inner City
Studies (CCICS) in January of 2005. Professor Carruthers
authored several important books that provided a framework for the African
centered approach to the research and study of Classical African History and
African civilization. His works include Intellectual Warfare (1999), Mdw Ntr
(1995), The Irritated Genie (1985), and Essays in Ancient Egyptian
Studies (1984). He co-edited The Preliminary Challenge (1997), Reconstructing
Kemetic Culture (1990), and Kemet
and the African Worldview (1986).
Leon C. Harris
Leon C. Harris, (1940
2004) became the second Director of the Kemetic
Institute in 2002, ably following the giant steps of Dr. Carruthers.
Professor Harris’ directorship followed his chairing of the Kemetic
Institute’s Editorial and Publishing committee, which he had held since 1993.
After more than thirty-five years teaching in the Chicago public schools, he
retired, only to become a visiting professor at the Center for Inner City
Studies. Professor Harris helped his students and many other authors produce
their best work. Leon Harris facilitated the production of the Kemetic Voice, African or American, African
Historiography, Mdw Ntr,
Divine Speech, The Battle for Kemet, and The
Preliminary Challenge, the first volume of ASCAC’s African World History
Project, of which he was the co-editor.
Yvonne R. Jones
Yvonne R. Jones is the
Director of the Kemetic Institute, a member of the
Education committee, the Editorial and Publishing committee and has served as
the Research chair. Professor Jones is one of the facilitators of the Kemetic Institute’s Teaching about Africa and African
Foundations programs, and project coordinator and one of the authors of the
Kemetic Institute’s Language Arts Curriculum.
Her articles have appeared in The Kemetic Voice
and the Newsletter of the Midwest Region of ASCAC. Two collections of
her essays are scheduled for publication the first quarter of 2008. Professor
Jones cites her first trip to Egypt, led by Dr. Anderson Thompson in 1977, as
the foundation for her subsequent work under the tutelage of Drs. Carruthers and Thompson.
Yvonne has been an
instructor at the Jacob H. Carruthers Center for
Inner City Studies since 1998, and has taught mdw
ntr at the Center, and in the Kemetic Institute’s community classes. Professor Jones
taught in the Chicago Public Schools for 34 years. She is the High Priest of
the Temple of the African Community of Chicago and chair of ASCAC’s Spiritual
Development Commission. She has frequently lectured at ASCAC’s Midwest Regional
and National conferences. Since 2006, Professor Jones has been a commissioner
on the State of Illinois’ Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Commission.
Josef Ben-Levi
A. Josef Ben-Levi is a founding member and an
Associate Director of the Kemetic Institute. He is
the facilitator for the Research/Study Group of the Kemetic
Institute. He is a charter member of ASCAC. Ben-Levi is an instructor at
Northeastern Illinois University in the Philosophy and Educational Leadership
& Development departments and at the University’s Jacob Carruthers
Center for Inner City Studies. He has taught mdw
ntr. His areas of study include
languages such as mdw ntr,
Hebrew, Arabic, and Meroitic, the history of
Christianity and Judaism, and the history of ancient Egypt, Nubia
and, what Dr. Anderson Thompson calls the Great 19th Century. He has made
several appearances on cable television and talk radio in Chicago. Professor
Ben-Levi is a founding member of KI and since 2006, a priest of the Temple of
the African Community of Chicago.
Roosevelt Roberts
Roosevelt Roberts,
(1946-2007) was an Associate Director of the Kemetic
Institute. He was a member of ASCAC, the National Black United Front (NBUF),
and the Association of African Historians. In ASCAC, he was Treasurer, as well
as a lecturer and workshop leader. His published articles appear in KI’s
journal The Kemetic Voice, and in Reconstructing
Kemetic Culture, edited by Jacob H. Carruthers and Maulana Karenga. Other publications included the Kemetic Name Book, which he co-authored, and The
Excellent Follower. As a priest of the Temple of the African Community of
Chicago, he lectured, participated in the Temple Brotherhood, taught classes in
African Spirituality, and officiated at rites of passage, baby naming
ceremonies, unions of families, and initiations into eternity.
Roosevelt taught at the
Center for Inner City Studies, Chicago State University, and Triton College. In
the Kemetic Institute, Roosevelt was an instructor in
the Community Classes, Teaching About Africa and
African Foundations teacher training programs, as well as the Teachers’
Institute and the Theological Institute. Roosevelt was responsible for
introducing many ASCAC members to the study of the ancient Kemetic
language, Medew Netcher,
through conference workshops and was heralded by ASCAC members as “The Medew Netcher Man.” He led
classes in Detroit and in Cleveland, traveling regularly to the cities to work
with his students.
Muriel Balla
Muriel Balla is the Financial Secretary of the Kemetic
Institute, and a member since 1986. She serves on the Kemetic
Institute’s Editorial and Publishing committee, the Research committee, and
assists the Education committee with production of the “Teaching About Africa” program. She has been published in the Kemetic Voice and the Newsletter of
the Midwest Region of ASCAC, and the liturgy for special celebrations of the
Temple of the African Community of Chicago. She is the author of a volume of
memoirs and family histories, forthcoming in 2007. She has lectured at ASCAC
National and Midwest Regional conferences. She is a twenty-year member of the
Temple of the African Community of Chicago, a charter member of ASCAC and
President Emeritus of the Midwest Region of ASCAC.
Ifé Carruthers
Ifé Carruthers is the
Chair of the Education Committee of the Kemetic
Institute, a member since 1984, a lecturer and curriculum facilitator in the
“Teaching About Africa” program, the coordinator of
the “Issues in Contemporary Africa” forum series and a member of the Council of
Historians of the Kemetic Institute. A frequent
contributor to The Kemetic Voice,
she also has an essay in Kemet and the
African Worldview, edited by Maulana Karenga and Jacob Carruthers, and
is one of the authors of the Kemetic Institute’s Language
Arts Curriculum.
Ifé Carruthers retired
from the Chicago Public schools, after thirty-four years as a history teacher
and attendance coordinator. A twenty six-year member of the Temple of the
African Community of Chicago, she is also a charter member of ASCAC. She has
lectured at Temple meetings, at ASCAC National and Midwest Regional
conferences, and at various community venues in Chicago and Seattle,
Washington. As the widow of Dr. Jacob H. Carruthers
Jr., she regularly speaks and accepts awards in his honor. In 2006, she began
the project of cataloguing Dr. Carruthers’
manuscripts and unpublished papers.
Rosetta Cash
Rosetta Cash, a member since 1986, is the Chair
of the Creative Productions committee, member of the Education committee, the
Editorial and Publishing committee, and coordinator of technology for the
institute assisting with the production of all KI programs. She was the first
editor and publisher of, and has been published in The Kemetic Voice, journal of the Kemetic Institute. Rosetta is a multitalented artist
(clothing design, interior design, graphic artist, poet, songwriter, singer,
etc.) with MA degrees in Inner City Studies Education and Communication, Media,
and Theater from Northeastern Illinois University. She is an instructor at
CCICS in the Inner City Studies Education program. She is a member and the
Minister of Music of the Temple of the African Community of Chicago.
Rosetta is also a
charter member of ASCAC and an ASCAC Midwest Regional board member. She has
lectured and has frequently conducted workshops and made presentations at
ASCAC’s Midwest Regional and National conferences, at the KI’s “Issues in
Contemporary Africa” forum series, the South Shore Cultural Center, Kennedy
King College, and Malcolm X College. She also does extensive work with the
National Black United Front (NBUF) and is a board member for the Minianka African Drum and Dance Ensemble.
Larry Franklin Crowe
Larry F. Crowe joined
the Kemetic Institute in 1978, shortly after its
inception. Chair of the Committee to Commemorate Martin R. Delany, and a member
of the Research Committee of the Kemetic Institute,
his published articles about African historians, Willis N. Huggins, John Edward
Bruce and John G. Jackson have appeared in the Kemetic
Voice and the ASCAC Midwest Region’s Newsletter. In 1998, K.I.
published Baba Crowe’s Reflections on the Life of John Henrik
Clarke, portions of which appeared in Source Magazine and the ASCAC
national website. He has lectured for the Teaching About
Africa program of the Kemetic Institute, at the
Temple of the African Community of Chicago, ASCAC’s Midwest Regional and
National conferences, and numerous community venues in Chicago, and Ohio. His
work on 19th and 20th century historiography feed his general study of African
history and culture.
Since 2002, Mr. Crowe
has traveled the United States, completing over 800 interviews for the HistoryMakers national African American video oral history
project, including interviews with Dr. Jacob H. Carruthers
and Dr. Asa G. Hilliard, III. In 2006, he moved back
to his hometown, Dayton Ohio, after a three-decade sojourn in Chicago. There,
he worked for the Institute for Positive Education, Third World Press, Kuumba Theatre and the African American Arts Alliance of
Chicago.
Also known for his art
and photography, Crowe’s illustrations appear on or in over a dozen books. He
continues as oral historian for the HistoryMakers,
and is currently organizing an ASCAC study group in Dayton. His educational
agitation for Martin R. Delany was rewarded in 2006 with a new eight foot grave
monument in nearby Wilberforce. Larry served the Midwest Region of ASCAC as
Vice President and Chair of the Research Commission until the death of its
president, George Jolly in December 2006, when he took over the presidency.
Larry Crowe was elected president the Midwest Region of ASCAC in 2007.
Charles Grantham
Charles Grantham is a member of the Kemetic Institute since 1980, a member of the Research
committee and an instructor in the Kemetic
Institute’s community classes, teaching the History, Culture and Literature
of Ancient Kemet course. He is a lecturer in the Teaching
about Africa program of the Kemetic Institute. He
has been a frequent contributor to the Kemetic
Voice, and is the author of The Battle for Kemet.
He is a Certified Prosthetist, and a former Peace
Corps volunteer. He served in Niger, West Africa and Kenya, East Africa, during
his five-year tenure in the Peace Corps. Professor Grantham is a charter member
of ASCAC, and was a founding member of the Board of the Midwest Region of
ASCAC. Professor Grantham has lectured at ASCAC National conferences and at the
conferences of ASCAC’s Midwest Region. Professor Grantham is an instructor at
Olive Harvey College and at the Jacob Carruthers
Center for Inner City Studies as well as an instructor in an innovative adult
literacy program, Literacy, Employability, Self-Sufficiency (LES).
Anderson Thompson
Dr. Anderson Thompson, a
member of the Kemetic Institute. He is a member of
KI’s Council of Historians and its Council of Elders. He is also a charter
member of ASCAC and sits on the International Board as chairman of the Research
Commission. Dr. Thompson has lectured extensively throughout the world on
African history and culture. He has published several articles and essays over
the years, the most recent in the African World History Project: The Preliminary Challenge and The Best of the Kemetic Voice. He is presently working on several
historical surveys to be published in the very near future.
Through the leadership
of Dr. Anderson Thompson, the senior member of the faculty of CCICS since 1966,
who has spent a lifetime researching a multiplicity of issues related to
Africans and the African world, the Illinois Transatlantic Slave Trade
Commission was established. To that end he was selected to be the Director of
Research and Evaluation for this project. The commission has the awesome
challenge of examining the impact of slavery and the slave trade on African
people in the United States and specifically in Illinois. Additionally, under
his leadership, some of the best researchers and experts in the African world,
in a variety of disciplines, were recruited to participate as Research
Associates.
Dr. Thompson is much
sought after as a consultant on Middle Eastern Affairs. He has traveled
extensively throughout Africa, the Caribbean, and Brazil since 1977. He travels
to Africa and Brazil each summer conducting study tours. Thompson’s tours
however, are not for your typical tourist. They are for people who are truly
interested in learning the truth about African history and culture. His tours
take you directly to the people and not the usual tourist sites. The knowledge
you acquire and the people you meet as a member of Dr. Thompson’s tour group is
not only an educational experience, but, a spiritual one.
Bobbie P. Womack
Ulu Bobbie P. Womack has been a member of the Kemetic Institute since the seventies. She is also a member
of the Temple of the African Community of Chicago (TACC) and a charter member
of the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations (ASCAC).
She is a member of the Council of Elders for the Kemetic
Institute, the TACC and ASCAC. Ulu Bobbie is a
retired public school educator who worked thirty-nine years, the last twenty as
school librarian. She has been intimately involved with Kemetic
Institute endeavors including its “Teaching About
Africa” program, its publication The Kemetic
Voice, its research and other projects.
Julian Roberts
Julian T. Roberts joined
KI as a member in 2007. He is Founder and President of Innovative
Connections, a management consulting firm specializing in Information System
Development, Graphic Arts Technology and Scientific Social research. Mr.
Roberts is also Managing Director and Founder of Innovative Technology
Solutions, Ghana, Ltd.
Mr. Roberts’ firm has
been affiliated with a variety of community based business, research and arts organizations.
A few would include; ShoreBank Corporation, The
Adoption Information Center of Illinois, Ada S.
McKinley Community Services, several schools and departments of The University
of Chicago, The American Bar Association, The Harvard School of Public Health,
School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The City of Chicago’s Department of
Cultural Affairs, The Metropolitan Association of
YMCA, The YMCA of USA and YMCA International.
Mr. Roberts is a Founding Board Member of African Connections, a capacity
building organization operating in Chicago and in Ghana, West Africa. He is a
member of Patriensa Asante Akim
Advisory Board of the Asante Akim District of Ghana
West Africa; a member of Sister Cities International Accra Committee since
2000; a Board Member of The International Children’s Foundation Centre; and a
member of the research team of The Illinois Transatlantic Slave Trade
Commission.
In 2002, Mr. Roberts headed the development of a Distant Learning
Website on the history of Slavery in Ghana. The initiative was focused on the
Northern Region of Ghana. The project was co-sponsored by the City of Chicago,
USAID, UNESCO, and Ghana’s Ministry of Tourism. The curriculums are being
developed by The University of Ghana at Legon and
Chicago State University. Currently Mr. Roberts is the Technology Strategist
for all 16 ShoreBank companies. Mr. Roberts is a
health enthusiast and has trained extensively in the martial arts. He resides
in the South Shore community with his wife, Amina
Dickerson.