The Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) was founded in 2006 in response to an invitation from the African Union (AU) to the African Diaspora (people of African descent around the world) to become involved in the AU’s work toward uniting and lifting African people in the Continent and throughout the world.
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The Ancestors’ Call: Baba Oscar Brathwaite, SRDC-Toronto, Canada
Baba Oscar Brathwaite
On Monday, May 8, 2023, we were shocked and saddened to learn of the passing to the Honored Ancestors of our dear Elder and comrade, Baba Oscar Brathwaite of Toronto, Canada. A facilitator in the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) since its founding in 2006, Baba Oscar had been fighting a number of health issues that had limited his activities over the last few years, but we were nonetheless shocked to learn of his passing.
Baba Oscar was known as a consummate educator, dedicated to the restoration and promotion of Afrikan-centered educational institutions, principles and practices. We will share more information on Baba Oscar in the near future.
His family writes on Facebook:
We are very sad to share that our father E. Oscar Brathwaite has passed on. Though we, and so many others, will miss him dearly, we are thankful for his life, love and all of his contributions both here and abroad. We celebrate him through good memories and recognition of his vision and his legacy. He is now with our ancestors and the Creator, and for that we are grateful.
Dr. Barryl Biekman of the African Union African Diaspora Sixth Region Facilitators’ Working Group and Tiye International in The Netherlands, writes in tribute:
May his soul rest in Peace & Power.
For those who do not know. Oscar is well known as one of our pioneers of PASEN on the development of African Centered Education methodology; active family member of the AUADS 6th Region developments; A Canadian authentic Pan Africanist; Human Rights Activist. Leader of the Canadian HR clinic and deeply involved in the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA) mission on the aspect of Reparatory Justice.
My heart cries Oscar but I’m happy too knowing too that you are now in good everlasting company with the Ancestors on whose shoulders you lived.
I’m thankful that I have learned much from you as my Grand Master Teacher, Elder on how to become a real dedicated passionate Pan Africanist.
I remember the lessons from you and Dr Khazriel about the difference between education and dedication. Like Dr. Tumenta and Professor Horne about the difference between PHD & PH-Do.
A big Applause for you Oscar
You won’t be dead until we’ve forgotten you. (And we shall not forget.)
Sister Barryl Biekman
SRDC and Sehwah-Liberia Inc. Announce the Maisha Washington Education Foundation Scholarship Fund
Sehwah-Liberia, Inc. and the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) are announcing the Maisha Washington Education Foundation Scholarship for high school students in Liberia.
The Scholarship Program represents part of SRDC’s continuing efforts to build bridges between the Pan-African Diaspora and the African Community on the Continent, and Sehwah-Liberia’s continuing commitment to lift up the people of Liberia as the country continues to rise up from decades of civil war.
The Scholarship Program is named after Mama Maisha Washington, who as a member of the Maryland SRDC Organization and the Maryland Council of Elders (MCOE) had led efforts to launch a successful 2020 Pan African Summer Camp in Liberia, administered and taught by teachers in Liberia and the United States. Mama Maisha was also one of the leaders of the Pan-African Library Project, which will build the first-ever public library in Monrovia, Liberia, and which will primarily serve the countries of Liberia, Guinea-Conakry, Siera Leone and Cote D’Ivoire.
Mama Maisha transitioned to the Honored Ancestors in October 2020.
The initial goal of the Maisha Washington Education Foundation Scholarship is to grant educational scholarships to 150 high school students (9th, 10th, 11th and 12th graders) in Liberia during 2022, and to expand the Scholarship Program from there. Also, in support of the Pan-African Library Project, Liberian college-age students will be trained in Library Science to equip them to manage and operate the library once it is completed.
At the 2021 SRDC International Summit, the Government of the Republic of Liberia and the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus agreed and signed a Memorandum of Agreement to proceed with the fundraising, design and construction phases of the library, with land allocated by the Republic of Liberia in Monrovia, the country’s capital city.
Another objective of the Scholarship Program will be to build relationships between Scholarship donors and students in Liberia who will benefit from the Scholarship Program. We have included a Scholarship Program Donor Form, which we request Donors to complete below:
To make a donation to the Maisha Washington Education Foundation Scholarship Program using PayPal, please click the button below:
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared on August 7, 2018 as “Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus Liberia Library Book Donation Project”. This is an update of that article and a continuation of the Library Project.
Among the projects being developed by the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC), a Pan-Afrikan Diaspora organization dedicated to organizing the voice of the grassroots Pan-Afrikan Diaspora at the local level and merging them to take that voice to the World Stage through the African Union, United Nations and independent Afrikan Diaspora organizations, are a number of initiatives working toward the development of concrete institutions and services on the Afrikan Continent. One of these is the Liberian Library Book Donation Project, being led by the South Carolina SRDC Organization and its State Facilitator, Mr. Joseph “Kumasi” Palmer.
As of this writing, there are no Public Libraries in Liberia, according to Mr. Palmer. This comes as a surprise to many of us, partly because of our assumptions in the United States that a Library is so routine that we often ignore them, as well as the documented progress that Liberia has made since the removal of Charles Taylor as President in 2003 and the election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as Afrika’s first woman head of state in 2006. Mr. Palmer and several associates from South Carolina have met with Liberian officials to advance work on the development and supply of the first Public Library in Liberia.
How to Support the Liberia Library Project
Financial donations are graciously accepted to help with the cost of building the first public library in Liberia. Arrangements are being made to establish the library’s location and groundbreaking. Next, the hard part begins. Architectural and engineering firms in Liberia and the United States are being consulted. Plans and architectural drawings must be completed, books to stock the library must be accumulated through purchase and donations and actual construction of the library must begin. Thus, fund-raising will be critical. To support this project, please visit our PayPal page by clicking the Donate Button below:
Bridging the Gap Between Ourselves (Our African Connection)
by Kumasi Palmer, SRDC-South Carolina Facilitator
EDITOR’S NOTE: The 2021 SRDC International Summit will be held November 8-13 in Monrovia, Liberia. We will be advancing our outreach to the Mother Continent through concrete projects and programs with grassroots organizations on the ground there, starting with the effort to build Liberia’s first public library and sponsoring the 2021 Summit in cooperation with the Liberian grassroots organization Sehwah-Liberia. The official announcement of the 2021 International Summit, with Registration Page and information regarding travel and accommodations for the Summit, will be made in the next week. Meanwhile, we invite our readers to enjoy this brief history of some of the connections between Africa and the Diaspora, specifically as they relate to the Republic of Liberia, from Baba Kumasi Palmer, SRDC-South Carolina Facilitator.
Daniel Coker
Lott Cary
The Republic of Liberia was established as an independent nation state off the coast of West Africa in 1847 by freedmen from the United States. The first set of freedmen from the U.S. settled on Sherbo Island in modern day Sierra Leone in 1820. After a year of hardship at Sherbo Island the returnees moved on further along the coast landing at Providence Island in 1821 which is today known as Liberia. Lott Cary (1780-1828) and Daniel Coker (1780-1846) were the first group of pioneers that arrived in the newly formed colonies of Sierra Leone and Liberia, Coker being one of the founding members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church founded in Philadelphia in the year 1816.
It was through the aid and support of the American Colonization Society (formed in 1817) to send freed Blacks to the colony of Liberia. During this same period Freetown, Sierra Leone was established by the British (1808) as a colony that served as a refuge for enslaved Africans. Paul Cuffee (1759-1819), a freedman and owner of his own shipping vessel, was one of the earliest pioneers with the vision to repatriate freed Blacks from the United States to a new home in Sierra Leone. But it was Liberia that eventually became the new home for Repatriated Blacks from the US. This migration started by ship in 1820 and continued into the 1880’s.
The search for political, economic and physical security by Africans in the southern United States at the ending of Reconstruction created the condition for many Black families to seek refuge to Africa. Liberia was at the center of this migration and reconnection.
Edward Wilmot Blyden
Henry McNeal Turner
Edward Wilmot Blyden (1832-1912), Henry McNeal Turner (1834-1915) and Martin R Delany (1812-1883) were three prominent 19th century Black leaders at the forefront to reconnect the Diaspora to Africa by way of Liberia during and after the Emancipation Proclamation in the United States. Blyden was the foremost intellectual thinker and activist to advocate Diasporan Blacks to repatriate to Liberia. Blyden, the originator of the concept called “The African Personality”, was born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands but migrated to Liberia in 1850. Turner, who made numerous trips to Africa, was born in Newberry, South Carolina and became the 12th bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (A.M.E) in 1880. Delany was born in West Virginia and served in the Civil War, and was commissioned as a medical doctor with the rank of major.
Martin R Delany
The early repatriates to Liberia also emigrated from the West Indies islands of Barbados, the Virgin Islands and Jamaica. From the United States they came from the states of Virginia, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas and Ohio.
We find cities in Liberia named after the states and towns where the early repatriates came and settled. Greenville, (Greenville-SC) and Maryland County (Maryland) are some of the names similar to names of US cities and states. Then there are cities named after families that emigrated from the Caribbean such as Barclayville, (president Barclay-born-Barbados-West Indies), Bensonville-(president Benson-born in Maryland-U.S.).
Joseph Jenkins Roberts
William R Tolbert Jr
All elected presidents of Liberia from 1848 until 1980 were born in the Diaspora or were the children of those born in the Diaspora. The first ten (10) presidents of Liberia were born in the Diaspora. Liberia’s first president, Joseph Jenkins Roberts (1848-1856), was born in Virginia. The grandfather of William Richard Tolbert Jr., the 20th president of Liberia (1975-1980), was born in Charleston, South Carolina.
Bridging the gap between Liberia and the Diaspora is a continued legacy established in the 19th Century by men and women who built the bridges for our Pan African connections. Many of those who left the United States for Liberia during the 19th Century embarked on ships docked at the Charleston Harbor located in South Carolina. Join us as we continue the journey of our pioneering ancestors who reconnected us over 200 years ago.
Our organization, The Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC), is presently working with our partner organization in Liberia (SEHWAH) to construct a public library in the capital city of Monrovia, Liberia. Books for nation building are welcome. Contact us at panafricanlibrary@gmail.com or our website: https://srdcinternational.org.