MAULANA KARENGA

Maulana Ndabezitha Karenga, born on July 14, 1941, is professor and chair of the Department of Africana Studies, California State University, Long Beach. An activist scholar, Dr. Karenga was a major figure in the Black Power Movement of the 1960s and 1970s and founded the Black nationalist cultural and social change organization, Us, which he still chairs. He is best known as the creator of the pan-African and African American holiday Kwanzaa and the Nguzo Saba, developed out of his philosophy Kawaida which has had a significant impact on Black intellectual and political culture. A senior scholar in Black Studies, he is the recipient of many awards for scholarship, leadership and service and is the author of numerous scholarly articles and books including Maat, The Moral Ideal in Ancient Egypt; Kawaida and Questions of Life and Struggle; and Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture. http://www.maulanakarenga.org/