ancestors with an A

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With help from a staff member and a cane, an elder walked to the podium. In a voice rich with confidence and experience, she introduced herself as a founder of the Umoja Community Education Foundation. Next, she described the cultural grounding activity and invited the room of higher education practitioners to close their eyes.  

I sat on the carpeted floor, crossed my legs, and listened as the elder established the importance of remembering and honoring Ancestors.

We opened our eyes, and she instructed us to write down the names of an Ancestor responsible for bringing us to the Summer Learning Institute (SLI). The event drew 245 diversity advocates from college and university campuses to San Marcos, California.

I glanced around the room of circular tables with diverse participants, opened a blank page in my journal, and wrote:

The name of one Ancestor that I’m bringing with me on this journey is Leo. I’m thinking about how his love for running, kindness, and compassion guides my actions. I will run with an awareness of him in the hills before the sessions tomorrow. I am grateful for this exercise. This is the cultural grounding activity. I am grounded in the spirits of my Ancestors. In the names of Vernon, Aretha, Willie, Velma, Ernie, Nowanna, and Ramona I am also here today cultivating my gifts of writing, creating video, taking pictures, and editing content. All praise is due to The Most High God for this moment to reflect.

I honored my Uncle Leo, grandparents, in-laws, and wife’s maternal grandmother. Each of these beautiful spirits played a role in my life.

At my Uncle Leo’s funeral, I learned about his passion for running, his humility, and his compassion. I left his services in April with a determination to honor his legacy.

As other participants shared about their Ancestors, placed their names on an altar, and engaged in other meaningful activities, I took pictures. From the floor, I gained a different perspective on the conference and the attendees. When I reviewed images after the event, I spotted glimpses of souls and smiles.

The SLI event occurred in June; I have no valid excuses for withholding these reflections from you. The delay in this post may have happened due to a collaborative article I had submitted for publication. After several rejections, it found a home with the Academe Blog.

Solitude and clarity...

The morning after the cultural grounding activity, I remembered my goals and jogged before sunrise along the nearby Double Peak trails. I pictured my Uncle Leo as I traversed the dark paths. The solitude helped me to prepare for a presentation.

Using Umoja’s Practices for guidance, my colleague and I shared instructional tools for lessons that stick to the cranium and live inside the limbs of Black and other diverse groups of students. We organized the session with a clear agenda and three specific learning objectives. When we discussed verve or entertainment, I backflipped and demonstrated capoeira for the attendees.

Unlike my appearance on HGTV, the moment did not become a meme.

I linked capoeira’s movements and music to the importance of bringing energy into college classrooms to encourage learning and excitement about topics.

Later that afternoon, we returned to the location where the cultural grounding activity requested blessings from the Ancestors. We shared lunch, listened to speeches, and experienced entertainment from an African dance and drum troupe. The event cultivated relationships and ideas. 

ancestors with a Big A

I capitalized the A in Ancestor throughout this blog post to show reverence and respect for the lives lost and souls gained in eternal resting places.

What will Umoja’s Annual Conference, November 6-8, 2025, at the San Jose Convention Center inspire you to do? Join us, submit a proposal to present, and subscribe to this blog.