Runoko Rashidi
Runoko Rashidi
Global African Presence Website
"History is a light that illuminates the past,
and a key that unlocks the door to the future."
Runoko Rashidi is a historian, research specialist, writer, world traveler, and public lecturer focusing
on the African presence globally and the African foundations of world civilizations.
He is particularly drawn to the African presence in Asia, Australia, and the Pacific
Islands. In March 1999, he coordinated a historic tour to India called Looking at India through African Eyes. In
March 2000, he toured Viti Levu, Fiji, while in July 2000, he coordinated an educational
tour to Aboriginal Australia titled Looking at
Australia through African Eyes.
In regards to the mass media,
Runoko is much sought out for radio, television, and newspaper interviews, having now been
interviewed on more than 100 radio broadcasts and more than fifty television programs.
As a public lecturer, during the past twenty years he has made major presentations
at more than 110 colleges and universities and scores of public and private schools,
libraries and book stores, churches and community centers. On the international circuit,
he has lectured in Australia, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Curacao, Egypt,
England, France, Guyana, India, Japan, Namibia, the Netherlands, Russia, Thailand,
Trinidad, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. Rashidi's presentations are customized and
suitable for all audiences and ages, and are lively, engaging, and vividly illustrated.
Runoko is the author of Introduction to the Study of African Classical
Civilizations (published by Karnak House in London in 1993), the editor, along with
Dr. Ivan Van Sertima of Rutgers University, of the African
Presence in Early Asia, considered "the most comprehensive volume on the subject
yet produced" (published by Transaction Press, and now in its third edition), and a
major pamphlet titled the Global African Community:
The African Presence in Asia, Australia and the South Pacific (published by the
Institute of Independent Education in 1994). In 1995, he completed editing Unchained African Voices, a collection of poetry
and prose by Death Row inmates at California's San Quentin maximum-security prison.
Runoko Rashidi is a prolific
writer and essayist. s an essayist and contributing writer, Runoko's articles have
appeared in more than seventy-five publications. His historical essays have been
prominently featured in virtually all of the critically acclaimed Journal of Civilizations anthologies edited by Dr.
Ivan Van Sertima, and cover the broad spectrum of the African presence globally.
Rashidi's Journal of African Civilizations
essays include: "African Goddesses: Mothers of Civilization," "Ancient and
Modern Britons," "The African Presence in Prehistoric America," "A
Tribute to Dr. Chancellor James Williams," "Ramses the Great: The Life and Times
of a Bold Black Egyptian King," "The Moors in Antiquity," "The Royal
Ships of the Pharaohs," and the "Nile Valley Presence in Asian Antiquity."
Included among the notable
African scholars that Runoko has worked with and been influenced by are: Dr. John Henrik
Clarke, John G. Jackson, Yosef ben-Jochannan, Dr. Chancellor James Williams, Dr. Charles
B. Copher, Dr. Edward Vivian Scobie, Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, Dr. Asa G. Hilliard III,
Charles S. Finch, M.D., Dr. James E. Brunson, Legrand H. Clegg II, and Dr. Jan Carew.
He believes that his principle missions in life are to help make Africans proud of
themselves, to help change the way Africa is viewed in the world, and to help reunite a
family of people that has been separated far too long.
As a scholar, Runoko Rashidi has
been called the world's leading authority on the African presence in Asia. Since
1986, he has worked actively with the Dalits (India's Black Untouchables). In 1987,
he was a keynote speaker at the first All-India Dalits Writer's Conference, held in
Hyderabad, India, and spoke on the "Global Unity of African People." In
1998, he returned to India to lecture, study and sojourn with the Dalits and Adivasis "(the
indigenous people of India). In 1999, he led a group of seventeen African-Americans
to India, and became the first ever non-Indian recipient of the prestigious Dr. B.R.
Ambedkar Memorial Award. For the past twelve years, he has served as United States
representative of Dalit Voice: The Voice of the Persecuted Nationalities Denied Human
Rights, published fortnightly from Bangalore, India.
Runoko Rashidi has dedicated his
entire adult life to African people, and is presently pursuing several major projects,
including a travel book called People and Places
that I Have Seen: Off the Beaten Path with Runoko Rashidi, and a video series titled African History for a New Generation.
He is currently working on educational tours to Kenya and Tanzania scheduled for April
2001 and Southeast Asia, including Thailand and Cambodia, in November 2001.
For additional information on
educational tours, to schedule lectures, purchase audio and video tapes Runoko Rashidi can
be easily reached via the Internet at RRashidi@swbell.net, or call Runoko at (210)
648-5178. You may write Runoko at Runoko Rashidi, Box 201662, San Antonio, Texas
78220
Runoko Rashidi is very active
online. His most comprehensive and popular web site, The Global African Presence.
Copyright © 1998 Runoko Rashidi. All rights reserved.
Education 2000 Raceandhistory.com
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