Akua Weekes is an activist, Black Nationalist, freelance journalist, and writing professor at Touro College. Her activism dates to her undergraduate years at American University in Washington, D. C. Weekes participated in the student take-over of...
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Akua Weekes is an activist, Black Nationalist, freelance journalist, and writing professor at Touro College. Her activism dates to her undergraduate years at American University in Washington, D. C. Weekes participated in the student take-over of a building at Howard University in 1968; at American University, she organized residents of the Capital View Community, where she lived, to publish
The People's Voice, a community newsletter. In 1977, while a graduate student at Howard University, Weekes was recruited by the All-African People's Revolutionary Party (AAPRP), a socialist political party founded in 1972 that strove for Pan-Africanism and the freedom and unification of Africa; according to its brochure, the AAPRP organized students on the campus to "organize the masses of African people scattered all over the world". Weekes became the lead organizer of the press for African Liberation Day, which was organized by the AAPRP. In 1982, she moved to New York City and worked with the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, the Afrikan Nationalist Pioneer Movement, Women for Justice, the Amadou Diallo Coalition, and the Grassroots Leadership Council of the Amadou Diallo Coalition. More recently, she has written for such publications as
Emerge Magazine and
New York Amsterdam News. Currently, she is a member of the Louis Reyes Rivera Writers Workshop and a writing professor at Touro College. The Akua Weekes collection reflects her involvement with various activist organizations. There is a very small personal file on Weekes; it consists of a few pieces of correspondence, a resume, notes and briefs for a case on which she served as a juror, and some memorabilia. The bulk of the material is concerned with the All-African People's Revolutionary Party (AAPRP). Files for this organization include committee memos and minutes; recruiting files; and program files for workshops and seminars on political education, Pan-Africanism, liberation, the land question, and Democratic capitalism. Additionally, there is a file for the Media Task Force, which Weekes managed. There are also files related to other organizations with which she worked, including
The People's Voice, Afrikan Nationalist Federation, Pan Africanist Congress of Azania and Basadi Ba Azania, African Women's Alliance, Women for Justice, the Amadou Diallo Coalition, and the Grassroots Leadership Council of the Amadou Diallo Coalition. These files consist of newsletters and other printed matter (clippings and publications), correspondence and memos, flyers, bylaws and mission statements, and press releases. The final part of the collection, Subject files, contains printed matter on various organizations (such as the Empire of Nubia), individuals (such as Al Sharpton), and topics (such as South Africa and apartheid). Additionally, there is a file of event flyers and programs, mostly for plays and other performances in New York City.
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