Biography

Kwanzaa founder, cultural activist, and scholar Dr. Maulana Karenga was born July 14, 1941 in Parsonsburg on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. He obtained his B.A.degree from City College of Los Angeles. He went on to earn a M.A. and a Ph.D. in Political Science and then a second Ph.D. in Social Ethics from the University of California. As a student, Karenga met Malcolm X and was influenced by their discussions of black power and social change.

In 1965, Karenga formed the US Organization in Los Angeles. Between 1965 and 1966 Karenga and US introduced a theory called Kawaida, a Kiswahili term for tradition and reason. Central to this theory is the Nguzo Saba, or the Seven Principles. The Nguzo Saba is the value system basis for Kwanzaa, an African American and Pan African holiday, which was created by Karenga in 1966. In 1967 and 1968, Karenga worked with Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. to hold the historic Black Power Conferences. In 1978, Karenga authored a comprehensive Black Studies textbook and in 1984, co-hosted the first Annual Ancient Kemetic Studies Conference in Los Angeles with Dr. Jacob Carruthers. Out of this conference grew the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations. Karenga has extensively studied the philosophy and ethics of the Yoruba Ifa. In 1995, he authored the Mission Statement of the Million Man March and sat on the National Organizing Committee.

Karenga is Chair of the Department of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach, where he also chairs the President's Task Force on Multicultural Education and Campus Diversity. Karenga has served as a Visiting Professor in Black Studies at Stanford University and at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He is director of the Institute for Pan African Studies and the National Organization of Kawaida Organizations.

Selected Bibliography
The Quotable Karenga (1966)
Kwanzaa: Origin, Concept and Practice (1978)
Introduction To Black Studies (3rd Edition 2001)
Selections from the Husia: Sacred Wisdom of Ancient Egypt (1984)
The Book of Coming Forth By Day (1988)