Molefi Kete Asante

Dr. Molefi Kete Asante is a professor in the Department of African American Studies at Temple University. Considered by his peers to be one of the most distinguished contemporary scholars, Asante has published 70 books, most notably African American History: Journey of Liberation, which is used in more than 400 schools throughout North America. His most recent book, Maulana Karenga: An Intellectual Portrait, is an intimate look into the mind of the renowned cultural thinker and creator of Kwanzaa.

Dr. Asante has been recognized as one of the ten most widely cited African Americans. In the 1990s, Black Issues in Higher Education recognized him as one of the most influential leaders in the decade. He has written more than 400 articles and essays for journals, books and magazines and is the founder of the theory of Afrocentricity.

Dr. Asante graduated from Oklahoma Christian College in l964. He entered Pepperdine soon afterwards, completed his MA, and went on to receive his PhD from UCLA at the age of 26. He was appointed a full professor at the age of 30 at the State University of New York at Buffalo, and later became chair of the school's Communication Department from 1973-1980. Dr. Asante then worked for two years in Zimbabwe as a trainer of journalists, after which he became chair of the African American Studies Program at Temple University, where he created the first PhD Program in African American Studies in 1987.

A poet, dramatist and painter, Dr. Asante was born in Valdosta, Georgia, one of sixteen children. His work on African culture and philosophy and African American education has been cited by journals such as the Matices, Journal of Black Studies, Journal of Communication, American Scholar, Daedalus, Western Journal of Black Studies and Africaological Perspectives. The Utne Reader called him one of the "100 Leading Thinkers" in America. Transition Magazine wrote in 2001, "Asante may be the most important professor in Black America." A visible media presence, Dr. Asante has appeared on Nightline, NightTalk, BET, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, The Today Show, The Tony Brown Show, Nightwatch, Like It Is, 60 Minutes and more than one hundred local and international television shows. He has appeared in several movies, including 500 Years Later, The Faces of Evil and The Black Candle.

Dr. Asante's awards and recognitions include the distinguished Douglas Ehninger Award for Rhetorical Scholarship from the National Communication Association, and induction into the Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent at the Gwendolyn Brooks Center at Chicago State University. Dr. Asante holds more than 100 awards for scholarship and teaching in total, including the Fulbright, honorary doctorates from three universities, and a guest professorship at Zhejiang University.

Dr. Asante received the honor of being made a traditional king, Nana Okru Asante Peasah, Kyidomhene (Chee dom heni) of Akyem-Tafo, Ghana, in 1995. A dedicated academic, he has been or is presently a consultant for a dozen school districts. He is the Chair of the United States Commission for FESMAN III, to be held in Dakar, Senegal in 2011, and was elected by the Council of African Intellectuals as the Chair for the Diaspora Intellectuals in support of the United States of Africa. He believes it is not enough to simply "know." One must act to humanize the world.