Dr. Maulana Karenga (born July 14, 1941), also known as Ron Everett, is an African American author and political activist. He is best known as the founder of Kwanzaa, a week-long Pan-African celebration observed each year from December 26 to January 1, initiated in California in 1967.

Dr. Karenga is professor of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach.  He received his B.A. and M.A. in  political science from UCLA, a Ph.D. in political science from United States International University and a second Ph.D. in social ethics from the University of Southern California.  An activist-scholar, he is chair of The Organization Us, National Association of Kawaida Organizations and executive director of the Kawaida Institute of Pan-African Studies.  He is also creator of the pan-African holiday Kwanzaa and author of numerous scholarly articles and books, including Introduction to Black Studies, Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture; Kawaida: A Communitarian African Philosophy; Odu Ifa: The Ethical Teachings; Selections From The Husia: Sacred Wisdom of Ancient Egypt; and Maat, The Moral Ideal in Ancient Egypt: A Study in Classical African Ethics. A leading scholar in the development of the discipline of Black Studies, his fields of teaching and research are: Black Studies theory and history, Africana (continental and diasporan) philosophy; ancient Egyptian (Maatian) ethics; ancient Yoruba (Ifa) ethics; African American intellectual history; ethnic relations and the socio-ethical thought of Malcolm X.  He is currently writing a book on Malcolm X and the Critique of Domination: An Ethics of Liberation.

 

Any Means Necessary - Malcolm X: Real, Not Reinvented
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Edited by Herb Boyd, Ron Daniels, Maulana Karenga and Haki R. Madhubuti, critical conversations on Manning Marable's biography of Malcolm X

Paperback: 280 pages
Publisher: Third World Press (January 1, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0883783363
ISBN-13: 978-0883783368
Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches

Compiled as a response to Manning Marable’s controversial new biography of Malcolm X, more than 30 noted scholars from the African American community offer their opinions on Marable’s portrayal of the man whose short life still inspires speculation of what might have been.

Contributors include: Imam Al-Hajj Talib Abdur-Rashid, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Abdul Alkalimat, Molefi Kete Asante, Rick Ayers, Bryonn Bain, Amiri Baraka, Aslaku Ber­hanu, Amir Bey, Todd Steven Burroughs, Ta-Nehisi Coates, William Jelani Cobb, Karl Evanzz, Iyaluua and Herman Ferguson, Bill Flectcher, Jr., Glen Ford, Rhone Fraser, Wil Haygood, Kelly Harris, Errol A. Henderson, Fred Hord, Peter James Hudson, Ezra Hyland, Regina Jennings, Peniel E. Joseph, Clyde Ledbetter Jr., Fred Logan, Kevin McGruder, Starla Muhammad, Nell Irvin Painter, Imani Perry, Gregory J. Reed, Sonia Sanchez, Diane D. Turner, Ilyasah Shabazz

 

Handbook of Black Studies
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by Dr. Molefi Kete Asante and Dr. Maulana Karenga

Hardcover: 472 pages
Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc (November 10, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0761928405

The Handbook of Black Studies is the first resource to bring together research and scholarship in the field of African-American studies in one volume. Editors Molefi Kete Asante and Maulana Karenga, along with a pre-eminent group of contributors, examine various aspects of the field of Black Studies. Organized into three parts, this Handbook explores historical and cultural foundations, philosophical and conceptual bases, and critical and analytical concepts.

	Presents Historical and Cultural Foundations: More than a chronicle of black culture or black people, this volume examines the emergence and maturity of the Black Studies field. Designed to be the principal reference work for the state of the field in African American Studies, this handbook covers the intent, function, and scope of the field with some suggestions about its future directions.
	Explores Philosophical and Conceptual Bases: Numerous theoretical and methodological adventures are examined, as well as research practices among scholars. A comprehensive, Pan-African approach to the field is provided as the contributions to this volume are not limited to discussing one area of the African world.
	Addresses Critical and Analytical Concepts: Researchers demonstrating intellectual rigor through unique and interesting projects are contributors to this volume. Black Studies is portrayed in a world context, not an "ethnic" volume, but a resource dealing with an important modern discipline whose practitioners and interests cross many borders.

Intended Audience: Perfect resource for any academic library; as well as graduate students and researchers seeking to ascertain the current state of the research in African American Studies

 

Maat, The Moral Ideal in Ancient Egypt (African Studies: History, Politics, Economics and Culture)
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Hardcover: 480 pages
Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (December 1, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0415947537

This work is a critical examination of Maat, the moral ideal in ancient Egypt. It seeks to present Maat in the language of modern moral discourse while at the same time preserving and building on its distinctiveness as a moral ideal capable of inspiring and maintaining ethical philosophic reflection. The effort here is one of both interpretation and transmission of an ethical tradition, a project in which tradition is seen not simply as a precondition and process in which one comes, but also as an ongoing product of one's efforts to understand it. Locating himself within the tradition, the author seeks to test the conceptual elasticity of its major categories and contentions and to establish its capacity for critical moral discourse.

 

Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture
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Hardcover: 143 pages
Publisher: University of Sankore Press; Cmv Sub edition (October 1997)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0943412218
ISBN-13: 978-0943412214

The complete Kwanzaa book that educators and parents have been waiting for has arrived. Written by the creator of the holiday, this book presents the continental African and African-American origins of the celebration, a chapter on each of the Seven Principles, explanations of the meaning of related symbols, suggested activities, and a wrap-up section in which Karenga answers frequently asked questions. The beginning chapter provides a concise overview of the holiday, with subsequent chapters providing in-depth information on the "first-fruits" or harvest festivals that provided the basis for Kwanzaa. The attractive layout features plenty of white space with text blocks broken up by both full-color and black-and-white photographs (from the author's very first Kwanzaa celebration) and illustrations. This book belongs in every library, both as a reference book and for general circulation. A chapter on Swahili terminology and Kwanzaa greetings is included and a bibliography provides extensive references for those interested in further research.
Copyright 1998 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

 

Million Man March/Day of Absence: A Commemorative Anthology : Speeches, Commentary, Photography, Poetry, Illustrations, Documents
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by Haki R. Madhubuti (Editor), Maulana Karenga (Editor)

Paperback: 172 pages
Publisher: Third World Press; 1 edition (January 1996)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0883781883

Gathers speeches, photographs, and poetry commemorating the historic Million Man March.

 

The Black Candle: A Kwanzaa Celebration
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Unrated
Actors: Maya Angelou, Chuck D
Directors: M.K. Asante Jr.
Producers: M.K. Asante Jr., Ben Haaz
Format: NTSC, Color, Widescreen
Region: All Regions
Studio: Asante Filmworx
Run Time: 71 minutes

Read an AALBC.com DVD Review

The Black Candle is a landmark, vibrant documentary that uses Kwanzaa as a vehicle to celebrate the African-American experience. Narrated by renowned poet Maya Angelou and directed by award-winning author and filmmaker M.K. Asante, Jr., The Black Candle is an extraordinary, inspirational story about the struggle and triumph of African-American family, community, and culture. Filmed across the United States, Africa, Europe and the Caribbean, The Black Candle is a timely illumination on why the seven principles of Kwanzaa are so important to African-Americans today. The first feature film on Kwanzaa, The Black Candle traces the holiday's growth out of the Black Power Movement in the 1960s to its present-day reality as a global, pan-African holiday embraced by over 40 million celebrants. With vivid cinematography and an all star cast that features the best and brightest from the hip-hop and the civil rights generations, The Black Candle is more than a film about a holiday: it's a celebration of a people!

 

Related Links

Us Organization
http://www.us-organization.org