This video recording, dated March 31, 1995, consists of two presentations at the 1995 African Heritage Studies Association Convention. The first presentation is by Dr. Theophile Obenga of Temple University. Dr. Obenga's presentation focuses on an excerpt from a Greek text by Plato, which makes clear that Thales of Miletus, the first known Greek philosopher, was taught by Egyptian priests in Memphis and Thebes. The slides used by Dr. Obenga were developed by Cheikh Anta Diop in the months before his death. The second presentation is by Dr. Maulana Kerenga, a professor at California State University and the founder of the Kwanzaa holiday, who urges his audience to use their knowledge of classical African civilizations (such as Ancient Egypt, Yoruba, and others) to build a "living culture." He argues that Africans need to create a new language for a new consciousness of liberation and that they need to "decolonize" their minds from the ways "the oppressors" think.
