MAMA C FOR NAIROBI’S BLACK HISTORY MONTH EXHIBITION

 

This year Paa Ya Paa Art Centre will continue the Black History month theme exhibition dubbed Walk Through Black History (WTBH). This is a PYP theme initiated two years ago, it featured paintings, pictures, books, memorabilia, and artifacts.

The guest performance for the February event is Charlotte Hill O'Neal aka Mama C who is an internationally known visual artist, musician and poet of more than two decades of experience. Born in Kansas City, Kansas, she is co-director of the United African Alliance Community Centre in Arusha.  

There will also be a panel discussion featuring the new book by Susan Wakhungu-Githuku, Life Journeys: Seeking Destiny.  Before the panel discussion, Footprints Press, the publishers of the book will lead a writer's workshop. 

Born in 1951, in Kansas City, Kansas, Mama C became the youngest member of the Kansas City School of Human Dignity at age 17. The next year, she joined the Kansas City Chapter of the Black Panther Party and began working with Pete O’Neal, chapter founder and Chairman. Later that year, Pete and Charlotte were married at the Panther national headquarters in Oakland, California.

Pete and Charlotte were forced to leave America in 1970 after Pete was framed on firearms charges by the FBI COINTELPRO operation. They traveled to Algeria where they spent two years working with Eldridge and Kathleen Cleaver to develop the International Black Panther Party.

In 1972 they relocated to Tanzania, where they began farming using traditional and sustainable methods. In 1991 Pete and Charlotte founded the United African American Community Center (UAACC). The name was later changed to the United African Alliance Community Center. UAACC is a non-profit community based organization devoted to developing programs to support the Arusha community, and to promote cultural ties to communities in America, emphasizing African American communities.