He was also one of the top organizers for the Harlem Welcome for Nelson Mandela which drew over 200,000 people to welcome him to Harlem in 1990.
In 2007, Elombe suffered a series of mild strokes, which were not readily detected. In January of this year, he suffered a stroke that led to hospitalization and is now in a rehab center. His insurance and monies received from his more than 30 years working in television as a graphic artist (and a unpaid Advisor for African Affairs to Gil Noble’s “Like It Is”) has just about run out. His eight months at Amsterdam House (nursing home) shows no real signs of improvement, it seems that they are just feeding and bathing him, with no plan for rehabilitation. A fundraiser is being planned to raise funds for specialized care and rehabilitation, possibly abroad.
Organizations, celebrities and individuals from around the country and around the world (Africa and the Caribbean) are seeking to take part in this fundraising tribute to this fighter for our liberation for the past 53 years.
Elombe Brath is acknowledged as one of the most well informed activists in the current history of the Pan-Africanist Movement, as a result of his long-time involvement in the cause for African Redemption and the Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey as taught by the Carlos A. Cooks a Garveyite and the first Administrator of the African Nationalist Pioneer Movement (ANPM).
Garvey’s influence set the standards for racial pride and material support for the liberation movements. Just prior to the African cultural revolution of the '60's, an event took place that actually opened the stage for the most intense period of Black consciousness since the Garvey era. On August 16, 1959, Carlos Cooks issued a call to convention by the ANPM to abrogate the term “Negro” as the official racial classification. Instead, he argued for the use of "Black" when speaking in terms of color (irrespective of complexion) and in relationship to the so-called white, yellow, brown, and red races. Likewise, and even more important, the term "African" would be used when speaking in relationship to land or origin (regardless of one’s own “native” birthplace), heritage, and culture.
That convention also gave birth to the establishment of an African standard of beauty that could be institutionalized nationwide, thereby enhancing Black consciousness worldwide and making our women proud of their own beauty.
Elombe was one of the founders, and the lifetime president of the African Jazz-Arts Society & Studios, (AJASS) a cultural group which had been founded during the summer of 1956 in the South Bronx but moved to Harlem in 1961. The group was a collective of Black artists, photographers, performers, and students (including Kwame Brathwaite, Robert Gumbs, Chris Acemendeces Hall, Frank Adu, Jimmy Abu and others) who gathered to promote Black Arts and Culture. This was the beginning of what became “The Black Arts Movement” which many believe started in 1968, twelve years later.
Influenced by the ANPM's Garvey Day celebration and their “Miss Natural Standard of Beauty” contests formed to install pride and confidence in Black women, who at the time were looked upon as less than beautiful by the mass media, the fashion world and by Black people themselves. After the 1961 contest, AJASS formed the nucleus of a group of models to explicitly promote the African standard of beauty, The Grandassa Models under the direction of Elombe. The image of darker women had been long overlooked by such magazines as Ebony, Jet, Tan, contradicting their very names.
Thus the “Naturally” series of “cultural extravaganzas designed to restore our racial pride and standards” was born, beginning with the production of “Naturally ‘62” on January, of that year.
Another critical idea that came out of the 1959 convention was the establishment of material aid committees in the Black community which would assist in the then embryonic liberation struggles in Africa to throw off the yolk of colonialism and Apartheid. In 1960, Elombe met Sam Nujoma, the President of South West African People’s Organization, (SWAPO), who came to the U.S. to petition the United Nations on behalf of the people of South West Africa (Namibia), when he was presented in Harlem by the ANPM. This drew support from the community and they formed The South West African Relief Committee, making an appeal to Black people to get involved in support work sending several tons of clothing and supplies that had been collected and sent to Namibia on a ship called the African Rainbow, initiating a material aid project that would be a prototype for others to follow. They raised money and essential material for SWAPO. Elombe also drew support for The African National Congress of South Africa, (ANC), The Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and later The Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) which combined to form today’s ZANU-PF. In 1961, The Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO), and the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). Elombe was one of the leading promoters of this effort. This type of project reached its zenith after 1972 and the founding of the national African Liberation Support Committee (ALSC). Elombe’s writings, forums and radio program “Afrikaleidoscope” on radio station WBAI (regular weekly unpaid volunteer host), was a leading source of information and support for the struggle for Africa’s liberation and a leading organizer for numerous demonstrations against the illegal regime in South Africa, and the Portuguese governments control of Mozambique and Angola. These demonstrations were successful in countering the millions of dollars a month that the Apartheid regime and the Portuguese Government spent for Public Relations in the U.S. newspapers, radio and television. This proved that even without monetary funds, if people are united for a cause, the people united can never be defeated.
There will be art auctions, music, poetry by renown poets, a wearable art fashion presentation, art exhibition and notable speakers. Come early and get it all. Get your Admission cards available starting November 4th.
Please see attachments
Now you know
For tickets call: 212.410-7892 or 646.355-6530
To send contributions: Elombe Brath
1845 Adam Clayton Powell, jr. Blvd
Apt. 6C
New York, NY 10026
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