Understanding Kwanzaa

How to Create a Modern Kwanzaa Kinara

It can be hard to find black candles at any time of the year besides Halloween. This website provides ideas for using creativity to make your own Kwanzaa materials and decorations. Besides the kinara, you’ll find instructions to make Kwanzaa corn husk vases and the Kwanzaa unity cup.

Kwanzaa Booklist

I worked with librarians to create this list of books available from the St. Joseph County Public Library about Kwanzaa and Black history, with many titles for children. This list is a great way for you to keep reading and learning more about the celebration and values of Kwanzaa.

History of Kwanzaa

Each family celebrates Kwanzaa in its own way, but celebrations often include songs and dances, African drums, storytelling, poetry reading and a large traditional meal. This article from History.com offers more background about the holiday and information about the meaning behind each of the seven symbols of Kwanzaa.

Getting Ready for Kwanzaa

In this video I sit down to talk with my neighbors Joseph and Akila Karanja about the significance of Kwanzaa and the best ways to celebrate. It also contains a beautiful violin performance by their daughter, Wambui Karanja, of the traditional African American hymn “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.”

“Dr. Maulana Karenga, Kwanzaa 2020”

This video provides more about why Kwanzaa was created and what it means. To me, Dr. Karenga is one of the great leaders of this country. He is an African American man who organized a value system based on combining different African ideas. He’s a gentle, knowledgeable and loving person who is a tremendous modern leader on the same level as W.E.B. DuBois, Carter G. Woodson, J.A. Rogers, Na’im Akbar and Frantz Fanon.

How to Celebrate Kwanzaa

Everybody can celebrate Kwanzaa, not just folks like me who have been celebrating since its founding. This wikiHow page provides short, simple instructions for how to celebrate, with explanations of each of the seven principles and seven symbols of Kwanzaa.

Black Expo of South Bend

Indiana Black Expo is a statewide movement that has been in existence for over 50 years. The beauty of Black Expo is that it exists in communities throughout the state of Indiana. One of its goals is to put young kids in colleges and universities across the country. They are a phenomenal organization that holds Kwanzaa celebrations each year, and I would love to see their membership grow.