[Ads-l] Antedating of "Kwanzaa"

[Shapiro, Fred]

Kwanzaa (OED 1970)

1967 Harambee (Los Angeles newspaper) 28 Dec. 8 (Underground Newspaper Collection microfilm)

KWANZA [sic] means first.  It is a traditional celebration that takes place in Africa on January 1. ... To celebrate this old African tradition, the Black community of Watts [is having] a BLACK CULTURAL BAZAAR from December 26 to January 2.

NOTE: Harambee was a newspaper published by an organization headed by Maulana Karenga.  Karenga, the founder of the modern Kwanzaa holiday, has said that the earliest coverage of the holiday was in Harambee.  The citation above occurred in volume II, no. 2 of the newspaper.  The Kwanzaa holiday may have been mentioned in earlier issues of the paper, but there appear to be no earlier issues preserved in any library.

Fred Shapiro

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