Since the transition of our beloved Dr. Jacob H. Carruthers, Jr., several significant events have taken place to keep his contributions and his memory alive. The first occurred on November 18, 2004, when, upon the recommendation of Northeastern Illinois University President, Salme Harju Steinberg, the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to rename the Center for Inner City Studies in honor of our great intellectual warrior, the Jacob H. Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies. The community came together on January 18, 2005 to publicly acknowledge this renaming project at a community tribute and ribbon cutting ceremony.

The second event took place on December 2, 2005 at the Carruthers Center, located at 700 East Oakwood Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, when a monument, created by Master Artist, Professor Ausbra Ford, was unveiled. This beautiful monument entitled, “Maa Kherew,” which means, “True of Voice,” was created in honor of Dr. Carruthers. It is a four sided structures that stands over 10 feet tall with a pyramid at its crown. Each side reflects those ideas and concepts that Baba Jake promoted and by which he lived. The unveiling ceremony was hosted by the Kemetic Institute and the Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies. Members of the Dr. Carruthers’ family were in attendance at this historic event along with some 250 members of the community. It was an occasion that was truly reflective of the man, his ideas, and his works.

The third and fourth events will compliment each other and will occur in February, around Dr. Carruthers’ birthday. The Chicago Council on Black Studies hosts a lecture in commemoration of Baba Jake’s birthday each year on his birthday, February 15th. This year, the lecture will take place on a Friday, February, 2008 in the Kemetic Institute Suite at the Jacob H. Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies, 700 East Oakwood Boulevard from 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. The keynote speaker for this event will be Mrs. Ifé Carruthers.

On Saturday, February 16th from 8:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. the Kemetic Institute will host its Third Annual Dr. Jacob H. Carruthers Conference at CCICS in the Kemetic Institute Suite. The theme for this year’s conference is, “Intellectual Warfare: Building on the Tradition.” Presentations will be made by such scholars as Dr. Anderson Thompson of CCICS, Dr. Mario Beatty from Chicago State University, Larry F. Crowe from the HistoryMakers, and others who are continuing the work and ideas of Dr. Carruthers. Admission to both events is free and lunch will be available for purchase.

The weekend of events will culminate on Sunday, February 17, 2008 from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. with a special annual gravesite ritual at Oak Woods Cemetery in remembrance and celebration of the life of Dr. Jacob H. Carruthers, Jr.

It was on Sunday, January 4, 2004 at 9:55 a.m. the African World Community lost one of its greatest scholars, educator, activist, and “Deep Thinker,” Dr. Jacob Hudson Carruthers, Jr. In memory of, in honor of, and in tribute to Baba Jake, I encourage all those who loved and appreciated his outstanding contributions to the African world to read or reread his classic work, Intellectual Welfare.

We are still challenged today to create an educational climate that inspires African youth in America to understand that the purpose of education is to develop the skills and historical understanding of the past, as it relates to the present and future, in preparation for working for self and the liberation of African people. Our challenge of the twenty-first-century is to defeat the one hundred year tradition established by white educational leaders, who created curricula for Africans in America, designed to prepare them to work for white folks.

We should all read or reread Dr. Carruthers’ profound book, Intellectual Welfare, especially as African American History Month approaches. African American History Month is a very important continuing effort for us, as African people in America, to educate and re-educate ourselves about our history and its relationship to the important ideas that shape how we see the world.

For over thirty-five-years, Dr. Carruthers played a leading role as a scholar and intellectual activist in the development of the African Centered Education Movement.

Dr. Carruthers was a tenured professor in the College of Education’s Inner City Studies Education undergraduate and graduate programs at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, Illinois and retired as Professor Emeritus. Along with Dr. Anderson Thompson, Dr. Carruthers helped shape both the undergraduate and graduate curricula that have become known throughout the country for providing a theoretical and practical understanding of the impact of the political, economic, social, and cultural forces on people who live in the inner cities throughout the world. Of course, one of the largest groups to live in the inner cities is African people.

Therefore, a great deal of Dr. Carruthers’ writings and lectures concentrated on the white supremacy intellectual assault on African people and the world. Dr. Carruthers has been magnificent in exposing European intellectual tyranny and its impact on the education of African people.

It was through his association with the late, great Senegalese scholar, Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop and the late, great scholar / teacher, Dr. John Henrik Clarke that helped propel the genius of Dr. Carruthers’ insight into the “Deep Well” of the African Worldview.

As the founding President of the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations (ASCAC), Dr. Carruthers helped shape an organizational format for African Centered scholars, teachers, students, and the overall African Community in order to have a collective vehicle in which to pursue the building of the African Centered Education Movement. His leadership, in this regard, has been monumental and inspiring to hundreds of scholars, teachers, and students throughout the African World Community.

In this connection, Dr. Carruthers’ book, Intellectual Welfare, prepares us to function in the twenty-first-century with a sharper understanding of our challenges as an African people. The book is organized into five sections:

In the preface of Intellectual Welfare, Dr. Carruthers explains, “These essays reflect the thought of the ‘Chicago group’ and the ‘African Community of Chicago.’ I was simply a vehicle through whom ideas flowed. Even the mistakes are our mistakes rather than mine alone. The conceptualization of our work as Intellectual Welfare emerged out of the actual battles in which we were engaged.”

In the first chapter, Dr. Carruthers instructs us by pointing out, “Thus, those who have been waging the long war to liberate African history and culture have been fighting the following two battles:

Those who believe in the just cause of the long war to liberate African history and culture must read, reread and study Dr. Carruthers’ most insightful observations, wisdom, and his “Deep Well” of understanding that is shared in Intellectual Welfare.

As fondly remember Baba Jake, let us read and reread his writings. Make plans to attend the weekend of events in his honor beginning Friday, February 15th with the commemoration lecture, the conference on Saturday, February 16th both at CCICS, and the gravesite ritual on Sunday, February 17th at Oak Woods Cemetery. Let us follow his teachings and discuss his ideas. And most important of all, let us follow his wise instruction and continue the great work in which Baba Jake was engaged during his lifetime.

Res em hotep, Baba Jake! Awake in peace, Baba Jake!

BlackCommentator.com columnist Conrad W. Worrill, PhD, is the National Chairman of the National Black United Front (NBUF). Click here to contact Dr. Worrill.