Leonard Jeffries was
born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, educated in Newark Public Schools,
graduated from Sussex Avenue School in 1951, after completing Roseville Avenue
School which he attended up to the 6th grade.(Taken from the "Meet the NEWARKERS" article from The NEWARKERS publication)
Leonard Jeffries was
born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, educated in Newark Public Schools,
graduated from Sussex Avenue School in 1951, after completing Roseville Avenue
School which he attended up to the 6th grade.
He was born on January 19, 1937 at the Women and Children's Hospital on Central Avenue and 10th Street.
They say, "It takes a whole village to raise a child." And Newark provided that experience. Newark was made up of many African villages or sections of our city. His special village was the 14th Street neighborhood in the Roseville Section. All of the families took care of one another.
He lived on 14th Street across from the Spelmans (the late Rev. Dr. Harry Spelman, his son and Dr. Robert Spelman), The Fosters (the late Dr. Albert Foster), the Olivers, the Chrenshaws, and many others. His mother's family lived on 13th Street and his father's family lived on 12th Street.
Most of the families and youth went to the church down the block—Mount
Sinai
Baptist Church. All
children developed a sense of self-worth and race pride. As a teenager, Lenny
sensed he was on a mission. He was interested in the formation of our young men
and women. His formal education came from the Newark Public School system were
he became President of his graduation class at Sussex Avenue School, January
1951. His later schooling was at McKinley Jr. High School and Barringer High
School where he graduated with honors.
Jeffries had heard
about the [Crossroads] program a few years early, but listening to Dr. Robinson
that day in the chapel of Lafayette College (in Easton, Pennsylvania he was a
student) he was "transformed." "Listening to this man talking
about the need to work with Africa…tears came to my eyes. It was as if he was
talking to me!", remembers Jeffries.
The following summer, Jeffries took his first trip to
Africa with Crossroads. His
apparent leadership abilities and proficiency in French made him as asset to the
program. He was brought on the Crossroads staff, and by the summer of 1962, was
the group leader of a trip to Senegal. By 1964, he had traveled to Africa a
dozen times. To date (though he has stopped counting) he has traveled to Africa
more than 40 times—usually leading groups of young people whose lives might be
as touch by Africa as his was.
His experiences in Africa shaped his academic ambition and, ultimately, his career. He switched from a budding lawyer to a political scientist, left law school and sought a master's degree in international affairs.
Later, he worked on his Ph.D. in the Ivory Coast. Studying economics and
politics. He was struck by the extent to which African studies, as taught in the
educational institutions, was from the imperialistic view.
It was not long before he began challenging the "authorities" on Africa in intellectual circles.
His lectures, writings, and the single class he was teaching at City College (prior to a Black Studies Department) put him in contact with his peers at the time; and in 1969, he and historian John Henrik Clarke established the African Heritage Studies Association. That same year, his friend James Turner was called to Cornell University, and Jeffries to San Hose State University in California, to set up their first Black Studies programs.
Thus, Jeffries began to build on firm ground his own vision of a curriculum based on the "African world focus." His program objectives were:
He was to break with previously structured master and Ph.D. programs—his goal being to link academic activities to the community, and root Black history to its existence prior to slavery.
Dr. Jeffries has stated, "Africaness is not something that limits you to a corner of humanity…it expands you universally."
 Left to Right: Percy Sutton, Prof. James Smalls, Mr. & Mrs. Cordell Cooper (former Mayor of East Orange, NJ) |
 At an installment ceremony in a Ghanaian village near Cape Coast. Shown with Ken Travitt, former principal of Adult Education at Newark's West Side High School. |
 Installment of Dr. Jeffries at El Mina Castle and Chief Priest of the El Mina traditional area in Ghana. |
 Dr. Jeffries installed as Division Chief in Agogo, Ghana |
 Alex Haley & Dr. Jeffries |
 Dr. Jeffries and his wife in Juiffre The Gambia |
 Dr. Jeffries holding a First Edition of Roots, the Alex Haley classic, on which he and his wife did research. |
 Alex Haley thank you note in the margin of a Reader's Digest article entitled "My Search for Roots: A Black American's Story." In the note dated 3/26/74 Alex Haley writes:
With Love, Alex Big pleasure will be to give you the full book in 1975. |