Kwanzaa Culinarians

Recipes and Food Stories from the African Diaspora

West African Chicken by BlackHealthMatters.com

African Americans have poor health outcomes on nearly every disease index; we’re either at higher risk for developing an illness or we die from it in greater numbers. While access … Continue reading →

December 16, 2012
Christa Shelton of Veggin' Out with Christa

My Reflections on Ujima by Christa Shelton

Ujima (oo-JEE-mah): Collective work and responsibility: Helping others within the community. As I was reflecting on the principles of Kwanzaa, the one that stands out to me the most is Ujima. While I … Continue reading →

December 18, 2011 · 2 Comments

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Learn more about Kwanzaa

The word "Kwanzaa" comes from the phrase, "matunda ya kwanza" which means "first-fruits." Kwanzaa's extra "a" evolved as a result of a particular history of the Organization Us. It was clone as an expression of African values in order to inspire the creativity of our children. In the early days of Us, there were seven children who each wanted to represent a letter of Kwanzaa. Since kwanza (first) has only six letters, we added an extra "a" to make it seven, thus creating "Kwanzaa." To learn more about Kwanzaa, visit the Official Kwanzaa Website.