I was never a hippie.

But from 1967 to mid 1969, I was a member of a secular Black cultural nationalist group-the Committee for Unified Newark {CFUN}. The most prominent leader of that group during that time was poet/playwright/activist Amiri Baraka {LeRoi Jones}. This Black nationalist "movement" was not a cult-though admittedly, in retrospect, my opinion is that it was quite close to a cult. However, it was absolutely NOT a Black separatist or "kill the honky" group. CFUN emphasized the importance of African culture, Black self esteem, and Black group esteem. Since we could never really know which African ethnic group we belonged to, we took bits and pieces from several traditional African cultures and reshaped them into our own Africanized African-American images. For instance, we mixed standard English with Black street lingo, and snatches of Swahili and Zulu words. CFUN was also the first Eastern USA "community" to celebrate "Kwanzaa", itself a hodgepodged Africanized African-American holiday that was created by Oakland California activist Maulana Ron Karenga. Indeed, it is my opinion that the Kwanzaa holiday "caught on" in African American communities in large measure due to the support & promotion of Amiri Baraka.

Men and women in this group {as well as other Afro-centric African Americans during that time} sported big, wide afros. "Afros" were also known as "naturals" because the hair isn't straightened with chemicals or heat. Nowadays, most Black women and Black men wear their naturals much closer to the scalp. But back in the day, the bigger the afro, the better. BTW, it was very rare {and still is very rare} for girls younger than teenagers to wear "afros".

Although I never liked this style for myself, some women and girls also styled their hair in braids with or without beads attached. Other times, some women and girls would also wear their hair plaited in "cornrows". This was before the days of "extensions" {artificial hair added to women's hair for length} or "locks" {Rastafarian "dredlocks"}for women or men. This was also before the days when many Black men wore their hair in cornbraids-though some may recall Stevie Wonder wearing his hair in braids with beads on the end.

Instead of tie dyed clothes, the men in our group usually wore regular American clothing, or for special occassions dashikis with American style pants, and sometimes a kufi {Muslim type small hat}. In the summer months, the women wore material wrapped around as a ankle length dress. Most often we wore wear material wrapped around as a long skirt along with a tee shirt or sweat shirt. Women would also wear geles {material that was tied on the head. For special occassions, those who were lucky wore wear traditional Yoruba {Nigeria} buba {blouse}, lapa {skirt}, shawl, and gele {head wraps} or Senegalese dresses or two/three piece outfits.

Afrocentric Black women wore necklaces made of small beads and multiple silver or gold bracelets. We'd also wear Egyptian ankh necklaces. Black cultural nationalist men wore big wooden "tiki" necklaces or Egyptian ankh necklaces instead of beads. Some Black nationalist women got their ears pierced and wore two or three earrings in their ears at the same time. Often these were large hoop earrings but not "the door knocker" earrings with an initial that became "ghetto vogue" in the 1980s. Some Afrocentric Black women got their nose pierced. And some women got their lips pierced and wore small hoops or studs in their lip {this was before the time when women got their tongue pierced and wore stud earrings in their tongue}. But I was happy with one earring in an ear at a time and no nose ring, lip ring or tongue ring...I'm much too squeamish for any of that}.

Alot of members of the group {including me} thought we were poets. There was also music {conga drums those days instead of the West African djembe drums which since the 1990s have been omnipresent at Black cultural events}. And alot of women-more than the men-were in to African dancing. CFUN also had boot dancing men-and fine, fine brothers they were too!

For nutritional reasons, most members of CFUN stopped eating pork. Many became "pseudo-vegetarians"-we ate cooked chicken, and turkey, and some {but not me}also ate fish. When I think back on those days, I realize that there was little talk about religion. In the early days Amiri and Zayd and Mfundishi and other leaders of the group were Sunni Muslims. But that was the very very early days. At one point there was talk about "Unkulunkulu"-a Zulu name for the Supreme God. There were moral teachings but there no theology or metaphysical studies, teachings or ceremonies. I'm not sure why this was, but that's how I remember it.

And members of this group {and other Afrocentric Black folks in the USA and elsewhere} took on Arabic, or Yoruba, or Akan, or Swahili, or other traditional African first names. CFUN was the first Eastern United States "community" to celebrate the Kwanzaa holiday that Maulana Ron Karenga created in Oakland, California.

For a sense of the culture of Committee for Unified Newark {CFUN}, read this article about the Sprithouse , a meeting place that I remember being called the Hekalu {Swahili for "headquarters"}.

My experience in CFUN serves as a bases for my informal study of African cultures and other African Diaspora cultures. These cultures are my primary areas of interest, and {I feel} rightly so. Yet, it is a pleasure for me to learn about other cultures and find out similar cultures throughout the world were and are now, and probably will always be.


Azizi Powell