Nashville, TN (TN Tribune)–The Fisk University Board of Trustees has gifted a whopping $150,000 to send students from the University (mostly from the W. E. B. Du Bois Honors Program) to Ghana, West Africa during May 2022.
The $150,000 will cover program costs for students as they travel to the W. E. B Du Bois Memorial Centre for Pan-African Culture in Ghana, and other sites. Students will trace William Edward Burghardt (W. E. B.) Du Bois’s journey from Fisk University—his undergraduate institution—to Ghana, his eventual homeland and final scholarly point of interest. This nearly two-week study tour coincides with Du Bois’s 154th birthday and the inauguration of an annual “Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois Day” at Fisk University each February 23, beginning in 2022.
The Program is Designed to: Facilitate the exploration of the history and culture of Ghana with visits to Accra, its bustling capital; Kumasi, the center of the Ashanti Empire; and Cape Coast. Students will visit the University of Ghana, a sustainability company, a fair-trade organization, and a cocoa farm to see how local businesses are reinventing the economy and empowering themselves. The Fisk team will learn ancient weaving techniques from entrepreneurial artisan families. They will explore sobering historic sites to understand trans-Atlantic impacts. And, they will visit the Du Bois Memorial Center to explore the famous Fiskite’s final philosophies and pedagogies. As part of an intercultural exchange, Fisk students will join classes and meet with Ghanian University students to foster bi-continental alliances, economic partnerships, and academic collaborations.
