Across the nation, students graduating from historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) like those at Howard University pictured above, don a cap and gown—and often accessorize them with stoles made of kente cloth:
Since at least the 1980s, many African American graduates -particularly university graduates- wear a kente cloth stole over their graduation robes. The kente cloth stole represents the graduates' pride in their African heritage, and their pride in their accomplishment of graduating. If they are members of a historically Black Greek lettered fraternity or sorority, the stole will be in the two colors of their organization.
The ceremonial use of kente cloth is familiar to many of us in the black community—not just for graduations, but also in other settings like churches and social events.
As such, I was surprised to see this story, and I posted it to twitter:
Black teen 'escorted out of high school graduation' for wearing African cloth
The student, Nyree Holmes, told the Black Star he wore the decorative cloth atop his graduation robes in order to wear something that represented his culture during the ceremony.
“I wanted to wear my kente cloth as a representation of my pride in my ancestors, to display my cultural and religious heritage,” he said. “My particular cloth was made by Christians in Ghana, where the kente cloth has been worn by royalty and during important ceremonies for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.”
Holmes, 18, who described the incident on Twitter, said the school’s student activities director told him he was violating graduation dress requirements.
Holmes said he tried to talk to the director, but he would not engage and instead tried to prevent him from walking onstage and called authorities. When Holmes got off stage, he said, three sheriff’s deputies were waiting to escort him out.
The school district statement said: “The student was allowed to walk across the stage to be recognized and took a formal picture with the principal wearing the kente cloth. Later, the student was allowed to return to the area where students received their diplomas. The student was given his diploma.”
Holmes said the school principal met his parents and apologized for the incident.
The school district statement added: “The district’s approved graduation uniform is a cap and gown … Unfortunately, prior to the COHS graduation ceremony, school officials were not given the opportunity to discuss with the family the student’s desire to wear the cloth.”
It was gratifying to see that an apology was issued to Nyree Holmes and his family. However, after reading comments (both supportive and negative) on various articles about the incident, it became apparent that there are quite a few people who don’t know much about kente, its history, and why it has a symbolic meaning for many African Americans.
This recent incident is not the first time that the wearing of kente cloth has been in the news. It goes back to a story that attracted quite a bit of attention In 1992. Black attorney John T. Harvey III was removed from a case by a white judge in Washington because he wore a kente cloth stole into the courtroom.
An objection from a judge about a lawyer's choice of attire has become the talk of legal circles in Washington, raising questions about where a lawyer's personal freedom collides with court procedures and whether clothing can influence a jury.
The questions arose after a lawyer, John T. Harvey 3d, was removed from a case last week by a judge after a dispute over Mr. Harvey's wearing of a striped stole made out of a colorful African fabric known as kente cloth. The judge, Robert M. Scott of the District of Columbia Superior Court, had said that the stole might unduly influence jurors' cultural sensitivities. Neither the prosecutor nor Mr. Harvey's client raised objections about the cloth.
Mr. Harvey has asked the District of Columbia Court of Appeals to reverse the order and to remove the judge from the case, and he vowed to appeal to Federal court if the ruling is not reversed. He cited not only his right to wear what he pleased, but also his right to wear a garment that holds religious significance for him. "An Orthodox Jew wears a yarmulke, an Indian wears a turban, and according to the case law they can appear before this judge," Mr. Harvey said in a recent interview. "What is the difference between a yarmulke or a turban and my stole?"
So just what is kente cloth, and what is its meaning?
Kente has a long history:
Kente cloth is deeply intertwined with the history of the Ashanti nation. The Ashanti Empire or Confederacy, which was located in what is today Ghana, first emerged in West Africa during the seventeenth century. The Ashanti are members of the Akan people who speak the Akan or Ashanti dialect. The word “Kente” which means basket comes from the Akan or Ashanti dialect. Akans also refer to Kente as nwentoma, which means woven cloth.
Kente cloth designs vary, with the different designs, colors, and patterns each having their own special meanings and stories. But Kente cloth also reflects the history of the Ashanti people, from the emergence of the various Ashanti kingdoms to the development of the slave trade up to and including contemporary life in Ghana.
According to Ashanti legend, two farmers, Krugu Amoaya and Watah Kraban, from the village of Bonwire, came across a spider, Ananse, spinning a web. Amazed by the web’s beauty, the farmers returned to their homes eager to try and recreate the web. They wove a cloth first from white, and then black and white, fibers from a raffia tree. They then presented their cloth to the Ashanti Asantehene, or king, Nana Osei Tutu (who reigned from 1701 to 1717).
Here are the meanings of the colors in Ashanti kente cloth:
- black—maturation, intensified spiritual energy
- blue—peacefulness, harmony and love
- green—vegetation, planting, harvesting, growth, spiritual renewal
- gold—royalty, wealth, high status, glory, spiritual purity
- grey—healing and cleansing rituals; associated with ash
- maroon—the color of mother earth; associated with healing
- pink—assoc. with the female essence of life; a mild, gentle aspect of red
- purple—assoc. with feminine aspects of life; usually worn by women
- red—political and spiritual moods; bloodshed; sacrificial rites and death.
- silver—serenity, purity, joy; assoc. with the moon
- white—purification, sanctification rites and festive occasions
- yellow—preciousness, royalty, wealth, fertility, beauty
World leaders like President Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela as well as celebrities like Michael Jackson and Muhammad Ali donned kente on visits to Ghana.
Wrapped in Pride: Ghanaian Kente and African American Identity, by Doran H. Ross, explores the history of kente in Ghana and its place in African-American culture.
Kente is not only the best known of all African textiles, it is also one of the most admired of all fabrics worldwide. Originating among the Asante peoples of Ghana and the Ewe peoples of Ghana and Togo, this brilliantly colored and intricately patterned strip-woven cloth was traditionally associated with royalty. Over time, however, it has come to be worn and used in many different contexts. In Wrapped in Pride, seven distinguished scholars present an exhaustive examination of the history of kente from its earliest use in Ghana to its present-day impact in the African Diaspora. Doran H. Ross is the former director of the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History.
The Wrapped in Pride exhibit traveled from the Fowler to many museums across the U.S.
Kente reminds us that the world is larger than where you are. The world is larger than what you have suffered, what you have experienced. The world is large enough to step across the Atlantic, the Pacific, and to join people as people. So the significance to me is that it’s a bridge joining worlds together. Kente cloth means
dignity, freedom, liberation, joining hands, love.
— Reverend Cecil L. Murray, First A.M.E. Church, Los Angeles, 1997
The legend of the creation of kente has been captured in a wonderful children’s book titled The Spider Weaver: A Legend of Kente Cloth. It was written by Margaret Musgrove and illustrated by Julia Cairns.
The book was reviewed by Louise Meyer:
I was charmed by this beautifully illustrated picture book and highly recommend it for use in elementary schools. It re-tells the folk tale of Kente cloth woven by the Asante from Bonwire, a village in Ghana. The book begins by introducing Nana Koragu and Nana Ameyaw, two men who weave nwen-ntoma, a simple cloth that everyone in the village wears. Each page has painted scenes from village life poetically presented with lush vegetation and all human forms shown in silhouettes. The legend is told in the third person with quotes to indicate words spoken by the two weavers. The process of Kente cloth weaving is not explained nor are the illustrations of weavers at the loom painted in detail. The author's intention is to show how the discovery of a spider's beautiful web affected the two weavers. Both men feel that they have seen "a small miracle". They are inspired to weave a new cloth, one that reflects the elaborate patterns in the spider's web. The exquisitely painted illustrations of the Kente cloth, village life, and the surrounding forest will catch the imagination of young readers and could be used to stimulate art projects in the classroom. Teachers will be able to use the story in additional ways: to discuss history, family relationships, man's respect for nature and to stimulate interest in nature's impact on human creativity.
The legend corresponds to recent research published by UCLA's Fowler Museum of Cultural History for the "Wrapped in Pride" exhibition on Ghanaian Kente cloth (1999-2002), where: "...the Asante say that during the time of Oti Akenten in the middle of the 17th century, two brothers named Nana Koragu and Nana Ameyaw were in the forest hunting when they came across the spider Ananse weaving a web. After observing the spider for some time, they returned to their home village and introduced weaving". Margaret Musgrove's tale elaborates on this theme by showing that the intricate structure the weavers saw in the spider's web inspired them to create more complex woven patterns. Nana Koragu and Nana Ameyaw decided to redesign their looms to better imitate the "weaving dance" they saw while watching the spider spin her web. They copied the spider's patterns with their threads, and this led to more and more elaborate patterning in the Kente cloth they wove. The new Kente was called kente-nwen-ntoma. It was so intricate and elegant that only the King of the Asante was allowed to wear it at first.
Here in the United States we now see kente cloth as part of black worship services, documented by Azizi Powell in an article titled “Kente Cloth Worn By American Gospel Choirs.” Here is one of the videos he featured, from the Harlem Gospel Choir:
Kente is used both in black churches and in non-African American church settings. When African-American priest and civil rights activist Barbara Clementine Harris became the first female bishop of the Episcopal Church in the U.S., she wore kente vestments (see photo at link) designed by the National Altar Guild Association:
Bishop Harris asked us to design vestments for the occasion. We started the design process but couldn’t begin stitching until the consents came in. Some standing committees voted yes, then no, then yes, or vice versa. Bishops kept their finger in the wind until the last minute to see in what direction the Spirit, or at least their windy college, was blowing. With the consent deadline nearing, one evening just before dinner, the phone rang. It as Barbara. Her first words were, “Get out the needles, boys.” It was a go.
The vestments were a full-cut, off-white silk but what made them special was a rose-colored, women’s weave Kente cloth from Ghana we found in a display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. At the consecration itself, perhaps more than in anything else, it was Bishop Barbara’s donning of the miter and the joyous cacophony that followed that proclaimed for the first time in history, “She is a bishop.” How much this meant became evident when, for a good time afterwards, women preparing for ordination would ask if we had even a small remnant of the fabrics used for the Harris vestments that might be incorporated into their own.
Perhaps if more of the population could be informed and understand why kente cloth has been embraced here in the U.S. as a symbol of pride and dignity in our rich African tradition and heritage, we will eliminate the shaming of young people for wearing it at a time when their family members are gathered to celebrate an achievement like a graduation.