The Family-Lore Project is a literary, historical, cultural and - in many ways - spiritual journey. Its goal is to heal family and cultural alienation and to improve academic performance, while making students socially responsible to our families, our communities and our people - first. One student discovered his family’s Ghanaian roots; another was shocked to discover her mother was a part of an R&B singing group. One traveled back before his birth to see his mother on stage sending a message to him. Identifying with a family elder, Black unity becomes more than a slogan when family members over 5 states orchestrate a plan to hide you away from racist authorities after you killed a white man in self- defense. We bring to you - uncut - the voices of students 10-17 years old.

  Our world, and the world are still upside down, so we are not done. Pain comes through this portal too. Knotted relationships, severed relationships, and even fantasized relationships require difficult dialogue. Unresolved fears, sadness and anger ask for resolution. This is a healing project. The Family-Lore Project is a multi-year journey of AYA’s middle and high school students and families gathering to dialogue about oral and written family literature. Discussion, reflection, and analysis of this lore becomes a basis for their writing, critical thinking, and academic instruction.

When Afrikan students initiate dialogue between themselves and their family elders, a time portal opens, and both youth and elders travel the cultural circle of life called the Dikenga. Maintaining the dialogue between Afrikans, our descendants, and our ancestors is crucial and transformational for tellers and listeners. When the listeners reflect and become the tellers, the circle is unbroken. While others lament the fabled loss of Afrikan culture, we celebrate its life and seek to create a portal for it to fulfill its mission. As Gabriel Peoples has said: “Persistence of African culture is persistence of the sun. We rise when we’re born and we set when we’re done.”  .

What happens to student attention, retention, knowledge acquisition, and skill building when they are reflecting, writing, and analyzing their family and cultural lore? What happens to the family and community when their education heals familial and Afrikan cultural alienation?  This is discovery. Inside you’ll find student discoveries and their reflections.  Join us by reading, supporting and duplicating the project in your families, schools, rites of passage programs, after- school programs, and in your social and religious organizations.