African kente cloth exhibit will stay two months

Man's cloth made by Asante peoples.

The brightly colored, geometrically shaped, patterned cloth called kente, made by the Asante peoples of Ghana and the Ewe peoples of Ghana and Togo, will be featured in a traveling exhibit and lecture series at SUNY Fredonia from April 8 to June 9.

“Wrapped in Pride: Ghanaian Kente and the African American Identity” has been circulating the United States through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Fredonia History Professor Jennifer Hildebrand, who teaches American history and is a specialist in African American history, is organizing the exhibit’s two-month sojourn in Fredonia’s Reed Library. "I am very interested in the influence that Africa has had on America," she said.

The exhibit explores the art of how kente is made, what the designs symbolize in the cultures of Africa, and how kente became an expression of identity to American citizens.

Campus sponsors are the Carnahan-Jackson Humanities Fund of the Fredonia College Foundation, Reed Library, International Studies Office, Student Affairs Office, the College of Arts and Humanities, History Department, Black Student Union, Faculty Student Association, Rockefeller Arts Center, African American Studies Program, and the College of Education.  

Lectures & Events

Detail of  Women's Cloth, Ewe peoples.  “Wrapped in Pride: Ghanaian Kente and the African American Identity” has been made possible through NEH on the Road, a special initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities. It is brought to you by Mid-America Arts Alliance. This version of the exhibition was developed by the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, Los Angeles, California, based on an earlier exhibition co-organized with the Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey.

• Friday, April 7, Williams Center S104, 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
  Joseph Adjaye, professor of Africana studies at the University of Pittsburgh,
  will present a talk on kente cloth in its relation to African aesthetic.
  Lecture will be given twice.

 

• Opening Ceremony Saturday, April 8, 4 p.m., McEwen 209. 
  An Introduction to African Drumming demonstration by
  Fredonia School of Music Professor Bernard Woma and students. 
  Professor Joseph Adjaye will present the talk,
   “Kente Cloth and Black Identity.”   
   
• Family Day and a Teachers’ In-Service Saturday, April 22,  11 a.m. in Reed Library
  Four sessions will run concurrently, offering hands-on learning opportunities for adolescents and young adults, and stories for children.
  In "How to Incorporate Kente Cloth into Classroom Lessons;" teachers can earn hours toward professional development in multicultural education. Also open to all.    
   
• Friday, April 28, Williams Center S104, 11 a.m. & 2 p.m.
  “Contesting Traditions: Subverting Agendas in the History of Kente,” by
  Doran Ross, co-curator of the exhibit. Mr. Ross is the former executive director
  of the Fowler Museum of Cultural History at UCLA, and editor of the paperback series,
  Textile: the Journal of Cloth and Culture, published by Palgrave Macmillan. The lecture will be given twice.   
   
• Saturday, April 29, 4 p.m., McEwen 209
  “Ghanaian Kente & African American Identity: A Transatlantic Dialogue,”
  Presented by Doran Ross (see above).