Back to Africa: Lessons from the Motherland

Africa is the cradle of civilization, yet its rich history and culture is undertaught—especially in elementary P-5 classrooms. In this article, we share Adinkra symbols from West Africa which can be used for interdisciplinary instruction and classroom management. We offer Adinkra symbols as an organizing theme for teaching in the spirit of not only learning about Africa, but also learning from Africa as well. We discuss the origin and purpose of Adinkra symbols. Next, we share classroom examples provided by four teachers. We also present examples from Drs. Diaspora curriculum created by two of the authors who are teacher educators. We invite educators to use Adinkra principles across all grade levels and ethnic and cultural groups to go back to Africa in substantive, non-stereotypical and relevant ways.