Here are some details. Here’s his bio and some links.

4:45 P.M. UPDATE: Here’s a full bio on our new Ancestor:

DR. ASA G. HILLIARD, III [Baffour Amankwatia, II]
Biographical Sketch

By RUNOKO RASHIDI

Dr. Asa G. Hilliard, III, is the Fuller E. Callaway
Professor of Urban Education at Georgia State
University, with joint appointments in the Department
of Educational Policy Studies and the Department of
Educational Psychology/Special Education. A teacher,
psychologist, and historian, he began his career in
the Denver Public Schools, teaching psychology,
mathematics and American History. He earned a B.A. in Psychology, M.A. in Counseling, and Ed.D. in
Educational Psychology from the University of Denver,
where he also taught in the College of Education, and
in the College of Arts and Sciences in the Honors
Program in philosophy. Dr. Hilliard served on the
faculty at San Francisco State University for 18
years. During that time he was a Department Chair for
2 years, Dean of Education for 8 years, and was
consultant to the Peace Corps and Superintendent of
Schools in Monrovia, and school psychologist, during
his six years in Liberia, West Africa.

He has helped to develop several national assessment
systems, such as proficiency assessment of
professional educators, and developmental assessments of young children and infants. He is a Board Certified Forensic Examiner and Diplomate of both the American Board of Forensic Examiners and the American Board of Forensic Medicine. He served as lead expert witness in several landmark federal cases on test validity and bias, including Larry P v. Wilson Riles in California, Mattie T. v. Holliday in Mississippi, Deborah P. V. Turlington in Florida, and also in two Supreme Court cases, Ayers v. Fordice in Mississippi, and Marino v. Ortiz in New York City.

Dr. Hilliard is a founding member and First Vice
President of the Association for the Study of
Classical African Civilizations. He has conducted
Ancient African History study tours to Egypt for 15
years, is the co-developer of an educational
television series on Ancient Kemetic (Egyptian
history). He has produced videotapes and educational
materials on African history through his production
company, Waset Educational Productions. He is
Co-Founder, with his daughter, Nefertari Patricia
Hilliard-Nunn, of Makare Publishing.

Dr. Hilliard has written more than four hundred
research reports, articles and books on testing,
Ancient African History, teaching strategies, African
culture, and child growth and development. He served
with Dr. Barbara Sizemore as Chief Consultant on the
Every Child Can Succeed television series, produced by
the Agency for Instructional Technology.

Dr. Hilliard has consulted with many of the leading
school districts, publishers, public advocacy
organizations, universities, government agencies and
private corporations on valid assessment, African
content in curriculum, teacher training, and public
policy. Several of his programs in curriculum,
assessment, and valid teaching have become national
models. He has worked on projects with the National
Academy of Sciences, and has spoken at the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the
Smithsonian Institution, and the National Geographic
Society. He has been visiting professor at many
Universities, including Oakland University, Stanford
University, University of New Mexico, and Harvard
University.

Dr. Hilliard has served on such boards as the Agency
for Instructional Technology, Zero to Three, The
Public Education Fund Network, American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, The Far West Regional Laboratory for Educational Research and Development, and The Center for Applied Linguistics.

His most recent books are:

• The Maroon Within Us: Selected Essays on African American Community Socialization, Baltimore: Black Classics Press;
• SBA: The Reawakening of the African Mind, Gainesville, Florida: Makare Publishing;
• African Power, Gainesville, Florida: Makare
  Publishing;
• Co-author of Young, Gifted and Black, Boston [Winner of American Education Research Association Award for Excellence], Beacon Press
• Co-Author with Nefertari Hilliard-Nunn of True of Voice: The Poetry of Listervelt Middleton, Makare Publishing.

Selected Awards

Morehouse College “Candle in the Dark Award in
Education”

National Alliance of Black School Educators
“Distinguished Educator Award”

American Evaluation Association, President’s Award

Republic of Liberia Award as Knight Commander of the
Humane Order of African Redemption

New York Society of Clinical Psychologists Award for
Outstanding Research, Scholarly Achievement, and
Humanitarian Service.

Association of Black Psychologists Distinguished
Psychologist Award

Association of Teacher Educators Distinguished
Leadership Award

Honorary Degree, DePaul University Doctor of Humane
Letters

Honorary Degree, Wheelock College Doctor of Education

American Psychological Association, Fellow

Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society Laureate Chapter

American Educational Research Association Committee on
the Role & Status of Minorities in Education, Research
& Development Distinguished Career Contribution Award

American Association of Higher Education Black Caucus,
Harold Delaney Exemplary Educational Leadership Award

American Association of Colleges for Teacher, one time
only Thurgood Marshall Award for Excellence, on the
occasion of the 50th anniversary observance of the
Brown versus Board of Education Topeka Decision

Copyright © 1998 Runoko Rashidi. All rights reserved.
Posted/Revised: December 14, 2006.
Webpage design: Kenneth Ritchards

5:35 P.M. UPDATE: From the 100 Black Men of Atlanta:

ATLANTA, Aug. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The following is being issued by 100 Black Men of Atlanta, Inc.:

“100 Black Men of Atlanta, Inc. and its members are deeply saddened by the loss of its member, Asa G. Hilliard, Ph.D.

“A teacher,historian,psychologist, activist and leader, Dr. Hilliard served as a formidable catalyst for social change as well as a beacon for the preservation and
advocacy of African cultures throughout the world.

“Dr. Hilliard served as the chairman of 100 Black Men of Atlanta’s Programs Committee and was a leading contributor to the ongoing development of Project Success, the organization’s flagship program, which provides tutoring, academic support, cultural enrichment and scholarships to students attending Atlanta Public Schools from challenged communities. His impact upon our organization, its members and the communities we serve has been immeasurable.

“We also would like to offer our sincerest sympathies to the Hilliard family, our thoughts and prayers are with you. The nation has experienced a significant loss today. Dr. Hilliard was truly an American hero and we pay homage to his legacy.”

AUGUST 14 UPDATE: Just got this today. This sister always does a good job heralding a New Ancestor.

AfricaWithin.com
PRESS RELEASE
August 13, 2007
For Immediate Release

Contact:

WebMaster@AfricaWithin.com
www.AfricaWithin.com

Amankwatia Baffour II [Dr. Asa Grant Hilliard III]
22 August 1933 – 12 August 2007

By Kwaku Person-Lynn, Ph.D.

CAIRO, KEMET (Egypt) – August 2007 – One of the giants in the academic world left us this past weekend in the most appropriate place it could happen, in Cairo, Kemet (Egypt), where he studied, wrote about, lectured, researched, conducted tour groups and redeemed his soul. He was attending the ASCAC (Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations) Conference, an organization he co-founded, and giving lectures to the Pastor Jeremiah Wright tour group.

Early reports state that he passed due to complications of contracting malaria. More details are yet to come and funeral arrangements have not been made thus far.

Those of us who knew Baba Baffour, and/or were familiar with him, knew him as one of the premier scholars/researchers/educators/authors this world has ever seen. He was supremely dedicated to the total liberation and education of Afrikan peoples specifically, but humanity in general. It was his efforts that primarily started the Curriculum of Inclusion Movement, balancing school curriculums by adding information and lessons on Afrikan people. He was an educational psychologist, but dedicated his life to improving teaching/learning methods for children, and educating Afrikan people about our history. Family was the highest point of his consciousness.

In an interview I conducted with Baba Baffour, seeing parents as the first teachers, he stated, “What kids get from us most of the time are instructions: ‘do this,’ ‘don’t do that,’ ‘watch out for this,’ ‘watch out for that.’ That’s a monologue. What has to happen, if you want to activate the child’s intelligence, and release that intelligence, that child has to be invited to engage in questioning, in critique, all of those kinds of things. Parents have to organize their communication with children. All we have to do is remember to do it. We know how to do it, but we slip into some awfully bad habits.

“I’m not quite sure what the reasons are for those bad habits, but they are very prominent among our people. You know: ‘shut up,’ ‘be quiet,’ ‘sit down.’ That may give you control over the child’s behavior, but doesn’t give the child’s mind anything. The child has, if the mind is going to grow, it’s got to chew on something. It’s got to turn it over, try it out and not be directed from moment to moment. Nurturing that independent critical orientation is a part of what a parent has to do for a child.”

In the land he loved so much, Baba Baffour wanted to go beyond just admiring our ancient past, where the foundation of civilization existed. Being pro-active he did the following. “Somewhere in the late sixties, mid sixties to late sixties, I became acquainted with people who enhanced my information about Afrika, especially classical Afrikan civilizations. I knew that at some point I had to do more work to share this information. I tried to figure out a way to do that, mainly through slide presentations and lectures and so forth. But it occurred to me, that it would be much more powerful to be able to examine concretely whatever is left of that civilization, where it is right now.

The way to do that would be through a study tour. So my wife and I designed a study tour and tried to locate people who were really serious about study. We’re not interested in folk who want to collect ashtrays and float on the Nile and do all that. It’s a very hard working tour. We were up early and we go to bed late. We felt by being on the site, by visiting the museums, by visiting the monuments, by getting some sense of the space, geography, time perspective, that would help to make more real what this thing was in the past.”

In his parting statement, which applies even today, he leaves us with, “Let me say the thing that’s of course on my mind. We require a massive mobilization of Afrikan people around the world. We need to see what the future looks like for us in the next thirty to forty years. We need to take a long view. In fact, we need to think about the next two hundred years. To be real conservative, where do we want Afrikan people to be in the world twenty years from now? If you get an answer to that question that’s anywhere near correct, it tells you what you got to do now to get ready for that.

“I’m concerned because we are not now doing what we need to do to get ready for the world I think we would like to have, if we thought about it. I just would really hope we begin to mobilize our thoughts and ultimately our resources toward creating a new future for Afrikan people. That we revise and revitalize the continent so we will be safe wherever we live, anywhere in the world.

“And for the young, there was an old Bible verse that my mother emphasized when I was growing up, I still live by it and think of it all the time. One of the few I can remember completely. It was II Timothy 2:15 which says, ‘Study to show yourself approved unto God, not unto man, a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.'”

Amankwatia Baffour II [Dr. Asa Grant Hilliard III]

# # #

by Dr. Kwaku Person-Lynn