Imagine an African-centered high school with a 100% graduation rate, a 100% college acceptance rate, and a 100% scholarship receipt rate. It exists. In Philadelphia. Imhotep Institute Charter High School is led by Mama Christine Wiggins and was the location for the Philadelphia stop on the We Are Africa Road Tour.
Philadelphia was a special stop for many reasons. First, my family is from there. So we had four generations of the Paige family celebrating our Nigerian roots.
Second, we revealed the ancestries of Former Mayor Wilson Goode, the first African American mayor of Philadelphia and Stanley Straughter, Chairman of the Mayor’s Commission on African and Caribbean Immigrant Affairs. Mr. Straughter is a devout Pan-Africanist and so it took some arm-twisting to get him to find his maternal roots. I promised to let what is revealed at Imhotep, stay at Imhotep! Mayor Goode was kind enough to join us during his 50th wedding anniversary weeklong celebration. And, for good reason. We revealed that his maternal roots are in Guinea-Bissau and his paternal roots are Yoruba, from Nigeria!
Gina and Stan Straughter
Mayor Goode
Plus, we had some serious African Ancestry family members in the house! One of our elders walked through the door ready to share her story. As she tells it, when she opened her results envelope, she was so happy that she “went beserk”.
Telling Her Story
Muhammad Aliyu doesn’t leave home without his African Ancestry Certificate of Ancestry! How’s that for showing your pride?
Wallet Size!
Click here for more photos from the Philadelphia scrapbook! Do You Know?
