Dr. David Childs, D.D., Ph.D.
Northern Kentucky University
Introduction
In our last post we wrote about cultural diversity during the holiday season in an article entitled Lesson Planning for Diversity in Holiday Celebrations. In this article we would like to expand upon the theme of diversity during the holidays and discuss Kwanzaa, briefly focusing on the history and cultural background of the holiday.
Sue Barr/Getty Images
History of Kwanzaa
Kwanzaa is an African American seven-day cultural festival celebrated after Christmas every December 26 to January 1. The holiday began in the US and is now a global, pan African phenomenon. Kwanzaa was created in 1966 by Maulana Karenga, a major figure in the Black power movement in the US. Karenga developed the holiday subsequent to the tumultuous Watts riots in California, triggered by rising tensions between Blacks and White authorities due to racial discrimination in the Los Angeles area. As a revolutionary, Karenga established Kwanzaa as a sort of cultural revolution for African Americans, which he argued was needed before a physical revolution could take place. That is, a violent revolution needed an ideological foundation on which to build upon. Karenga saw Kwanzaa as helping to fulfill that goal.
The holiday was originally designed, in Karenga’s own words– to “give blacks an alternative to the existing holiday and give blacks an opportunity to celebrate themselves and history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society.” Initially, Karenga had viewed Kwanzaa as a counter to Christmas, viewing Christianity as a “White” religion that should be abandoned by African Americans. But as the holiday grew in popularity he changed his position, arguing that Kwanzaa was inclusive and could be practiced by Christians or persons of any faith or holiday tradition.
Historical/Cultural Origins of Kwanzaa
The name Kwanzaa was taken from the phrase “matunda ya kwanza”, which means “first fruits” in Swahili. The idea for the holiday was inspired by the first fruits festivals that exist in Southern Africa, celebrated in December/January with the southern solstice. Specifically, Karenga drew ideas for the holiday from the Zulu festival Umkhosi Wokweshwama, a popular festival that celebrates the December solstice. The holiday’s name is spelled with an additional “a” so that it would have a symbolic seven letters in accordance with the seven principles of Kwanzaa.
Dr. Maulana Karenga
https://blackprwire.com/profiler/dr-maulana-karenga
The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa
The holiday highlights the seven principles of Kwanzaa (or Nguzo Saba). This was originally called Nguzu Saba – the seven principles of African Heritage. The seven principles are all Swahili words that collectively make up the concept Kawaida or “common” philosophy. Kwaida (Also developed by Karenga) is a mixture of nationalist, pan-Africanist, and socialist values. Each of the seven days of Kwanzaa correspond with one of the seven principles. The principles are as follows:
Day One- Umoja (Unity): This is a call for the Black community to strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.
Day Two- Kujichagulia (Self-determination): This is a call for the Black community to “define and name” themselves, “as well as to create and speak” for themselves. Kujichagulia represents the ability to have control over one’s choices and destiny.
Day Three- Ujima (Collective work and responsibility): This principle has to do with togetherness and interdependence in the black community. To build and maintain the Black “community together and make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems and to solve them together.”
Day Four- Ujamaa (Cooperative economics): Jim Clingman uses the term Blackonomics to describe this phenomenon. The idea is “to build and maintain” African American owned “stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.” This is not to create a separatist society but to counteract the fact that many African Americans have been shut out of the American dream.
Day Five- Nia (Purpose): This tenet calls for the Black community to make their “collective vocation the building and developing of their community” in order to restore Black “people to their traditional greatness.”
Day Six- Kuumba (Creativity): This is a call for people of African descent to always do as much as they can, in the way they can, “in order to leave the community more beautiful and beneficial than when it was inherited.” Kuumba is the celebration and advancement of arts in the Black community, including the visual and performing arts as well as the humanities.
Day Seven- Imani (Faith): Imani is the seventh and final day of Kwanza. It calls for people of African descent to “believe with all their hearts in their people, their parents, their teachers, their leaders, and the righteousness and victory of the struggle.” The African American Registry’s website says the following about Imani: “The seventh day focuses on Imani or faith. This principle focuses on honoring the best of our traditions, draws upon the best in ourselves, and helps us strive for a higher level of life for humankind. Imani affirms our self-worth and confidence in our ability to succeed and triumph in righteous struggle.”
Conclusion
As the United States moves towards a more socially just society and continues to work to diversify the curriculum, teachers can integrate lessons about kwanzaa and its seven principles into their classrooms. Here are some resources and lesson ideas to assist teachers in this effort.
Resources and Lesson Plans
Click here to learn more from this article, Understanding Kwanzaa.
Cincinnati Public Radio’s Classics for Kids has published information here about the musical aspects of Kwanzaa.
Illinois Public Radio published an informative article about Kwanzaa in 2020 entitled The history and traditions of Kwanzaa that serves as good further reading on the topic.
Here is the official Kwanzaa website for more information.
Lesson Plans/Units on teaching Kwanzaa
7 Kwanzaa Activities for Elementary Students
Celebrate Kwanzaa in the United States by Scholastic
Kwanzaa Teacher Resources
Kwanzaa Lesson Plans
Kwanzaa Lesson Plan: Habari Gani (What’s the News)?
Kwanzaa Homeschool Activities
This is great information. I never knew that Kwanzaa is something that was created as a revolution. I didn’t know that it was created for black people to understand culture and have a celebration of being. I like that all of the principles are principles that are common to other religions. Some of them or things that people thing we should do every day.
I have always heard of Kwanzaa, but never knew the background till just now. Creating the holiday was a great part on Karenga’s part to revolt at the time to give the revolution as is said “an ideological foundation on which to build upon.” It is nice that Karenga changed his position and stated that Kwanzaa can be practiced by persons of any faith or holiday tradition so that it can give it the opportunity to continue to grow.
I’ve heard about Kwanzaa before but was unaware about the great history of it before this article. I was surprised to hear that it originated in the United States because when you hear the name of the holiday, one would assume it would have originated somewhere foreign. One thing I enjoyed learning were that the seven days of Kwanzaa all have different ways of uplifting the black community such as shopping at black-owned businesses on day four.
I’m a christian but love to learn about different religions. I believe that it should be taught more in public schools as long as it is not pushed onto the students to change their belief
It was really interesting learning about Kwanza. I had no idea it was originated in the U.S. I think it is important for this to be taught because it is a part of our surrounding culturesk.
I knew very little about Kwanza or where it came from, but I really enjoyed reading about it and what it means exactly. I like how this article offers you a lesson plan to teach others what Kwanza is and what it means to some people. I enjoyed learning about the seven different principles there is to Kwanza.
I believe that teachers need to be more inclusive when it comes to holidays besides the normal Christian holidays. I know that there are students from different religions who feel left out because it isn’t the “norm” to celebrate their holidays. I think that starting with Kwanzaa could be a good steppingstone for other religions. I get that the Christian religion is probably the most known and practiced religion in the world, but why do we get a break off for it but no days off for other religious holidays?
prior to reading this article i didnt know the true origin of Kwanzaa, finding out Kwanzaa is a seven-day cultural festival celebrated after Christmas every December 26 to January 1 was interesting to me because i didnt know it was seven days. as well as The holidays origin began in the US in 1966 by Maulana Karenga.
Kwanzaa is a holiday that I’ve never even heard of before reading this article. After reading this I find it very interesting that the black community celebrates from December 26th to January 1st just being appreciative for being free people, and that is honestly very interesting. I always like finding about new culture celebrations, and learning about Kwanzaa was very interesting.
I never knew the true origins of Kwanzaa and always assumed it was an old traditional holiday’ so finding out it’s not even 100 years old was surprising. I also found it interesting how the founder originally made this holiday for African-Americans to abandon Christmas and make this their own “non-white” holiday.