Books by Peggy Brooks-Bertram

Uncrowned Queens:  African American Community Builders  /  Wonderful Ethiopians of the Cushite Empire (Book II)

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Books by Asa G. Hilliard, III

Teachings of Ptahhotep: The Oldest Book in the World /  The Maroon Within Us  / SBA: The Reawakening of the African Mind

African Power  / Young Gifted and Black: Promoting High Achievement

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The Exhilarating Generosity of Asa Hilliard

Yes, Asa G. Hilliard was a force.  He was a gentle but powerful force.  He was soft spoken but his words and the substance of his words were forceful.  I had thought that the loss of this great man was so great for me that I could not even begin to write about what I thought about him for sometime.  However, I want to share these few words for now as your early morning musings have touched me. 

I met Asa G. Hilliard on November 11, 1988 and I shall never forget that evening.  For days, people who knew me in Buffalo had left messages on my phone and had slipped notices under my door.  They were telling me that Asa G. Hilliard was going to be speaking at the St. John Baptist Church and that I would want to be there.  I ignored them all until one flyer was pushed under the door and it was from a man who knew me from my work with the Buffalo Board of Education.  This final note was from a George Lewis who wrote in large writing.  "Dr. Bertram, Asa G. Hilliard is in town and I know you will want to be there.  Be there! " 

So I went,  and 19 years later I remember that night vividly even the clothes I wore—the little  black, size 8,  pinwhale corduroy dress with the mutton leg sleeves and ruffles around the cuff, (I am a bit larger now)—and the seat I sat in at the St. John Baptist Church.  On that night a lot of other people thought that Hilliard was a force as well.  There was so much excitement to hear him speak that a voice came over the microphone stating that several people had left their car lights on with the doors open and the keys in the ignition.  I was bracing for a force. 

I was sitting in the sixth pew on the right hand side and I could see a large screen that had been set up and when the lights were dimmed just a bit the title of the lecture appeared:  STOLEN LEGACY followed by a wave of black faces I had never seen.  Most were the faces of the statues, drawings and mummies of the long dead and unknown black rulers of dynasties in ancient Kmet known as Egypt. 

Hilliard put a story to these faces and for two hours he walked us through the rise and fall of black african civilizations explaining what happened to our public school and university curriculum that would deprive African/African American people of the story of their early existence and their contributions to culture and civilization.  I was close enough to see the rise and fall of his chest as he became exhilarated once he saw the excitement of the audience. 

And, when the audience would gasp at some of the photos, a broad smile came across his face and he added, "yep, you can believe it, that's us."  I was not the only one who was breathless at the end as the masses lined up to just shake his hand and to ask questions.  I waited patiently for the line to disappear and the only words I could muster were, 'What do I do now and where do I start?"  With a gentle laugh, I asked if he had a card.  He said no but he had a stamp.  He took out a strange looking stamp. 

I had no paper so I extended my hand and in the palm he placed that stamp with his home address and phone number and said, "that is the best I can do."  Give me a call and I will tell you where to start.  I phoned the next day and he answered the phone.  I told him who I was, he remembered me—I had never seen myself as memorable—and he told me to read George G. M. James book, Stolen Legacy and call him when I finished. 

I did that.  I called again and he told me to read Chancellor Williams, Destruction of African Civilizations.  I called again and he said read John G. Jackson, Ages of Gold and Silver.  I did that and called again. He told me to read Cheik Anta Diop. I called again and he told me to read Ivan Van Sertima, They Came Before Columbus.  That is where I met the "last of the great sun kings, the ancient Cushites and I was hooked.  I called again and he told me to read, Drusilla Dunjee Houston, Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empires which set me on the path I am currently on of discovering the impact of the ancient Cushites on the origins of civilization and culture.

 For nearly two decades a major force like Asa G. Hilliard kept in touch with the people he influenced. I was only one of them.   In all of us he tried to find a light that could move us forward.  It was nothing to receive a book in the mail from Asa G. Hilliard from anywhere in the country with a brief note saying, "You need to read this, tell me what you think."  It was Asa G. Hilliard who encouraged me to continue to search for the life and works of Drusilla Dunjee Houston.

Each time I discovered something new I would drop him a line and he would respond, sometimes with a single word that kept me going, "Awesome."  Some scholars are notoriously stingy with their time and their work.  Not so with Asa G. Hilliard.  It was nothing for him to send a CD with hundreds of photos he had taken throughout the Nile valley asking only that you use them and share them with everyone. 

It was nothing to get a phone call from airports around the country and other parts of the world with Asa G. Hilliard on the line saying, "I'm running but how is that work on Drusilla coming along."  I was not the only one. He did this with thousands of people and somehow most of us got connected with one another and when we did we shared our Asa G. Hilliard stories and it was glorious, each of us beaming because we were in touch with "the force." 

And there were the older brothers who knew and worked with him.  And if you knew Asa, you could be connected with them as well.  My world was widened further with the friendship and association with those who knew and loved him and included people I will never forget such as Larry Obadeli Williams, Ivan Van Sertima, Anderson Thompson in Chicago, Jacob Carruthers of the Kmetic Institute in Chicago, Hunter Adams, III, and Rosalyn Jeffries,  Runoko Rashidi, Charle Finch, and I could go on. 

In April of this year, Asa G. Hilliard wrote the Commentary for my book on the lost manuscript of Drusilla Dunjee Houston, Origin of Civilization from the Cushites.  At his urging mostly by short phone messages and emails, he expressed his delight that the world would finally see Houston's second contribution to the Wonderful Ethiopian series.  His actual words were, "Awesome."  I have to stop now but only because there is so much more to tell like the travel stories in Egypt for those of us who traveled on his study tours to Egypt, England, France and elsewhere where he shared all he knew.  We were privileged to see his presentations move from thousands of slides on slide projectors that had a mind of their own to amazing powerful presentations with lap tops and powerful projectors. 

I have to go now but perhaps I can continue. 

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Uncrowned Queens:  African American Women  Community Builders of Western New York, Volume I  Written and Edited by  Peggy Brooks-Bertram, Dr. P.H., Ph.D. and Barbara Seals Nevergold, Ph.D.  Uncrowned Queens: African American Women Book Review

Drusilla Dunjee-Houston's Wonderful Ethiopians of the Cushite Empire, Book II Edited and Introduction by Peggy Brooks-Bertram Origin of Civilization from the Cushites Unearthed!! (Review)