By Sam P.K. Collins
Earlier this year, Necilia Jones’ youngest son, DeAngelo Kwabena Jones-Sharpe, wrapped up his studies at the independent African-centered school NationHouse with a graduation ceremony where he and another classmate wowed teachers, parents and community members with essays they wrote about the youths’ role in “nationbuilding.”
Decades ago, late NationHouse co-founder Nana Kwame Agyei Akoto defined nationbuilding (intentionally one word) as the liberation of African people through the dedication of resources and development of customs, values and institutions that explain their history, protect them in the present day, and help them shape a national identity outside of a hegemonic European paradigm.
Jones said those values compelled her to enroll her daughter, Destiny Nyala Sharpe, in NationHouse at the turn of the century.
“I was always in Sankofa Books, Blue Nile and supporting other African-centered organizations,” Jones said. “Because my children are Jamaican, they grew up with Rastafari. They know who they are and what they should be doing. You have that reinforcement at NationHouse with the intergenerational transmission and then your own self-determination and willpower.”
Destiny Nyala spent her preschool, elementary and middle school years at NationHouse before graduating in 2011, paving the way for her younger siblings DeAngelo Kwabena and Dennis Kwame Jones-Sharpe.
Dennis Kwame graduated from NationHouse in 2020, at the height of the pandemic. Like their older sister, he and DeAngelo Kwabena embraced their West African middle names, wore African garb, spoke Kiswahili, and immersed themselves in daily customs and curricula that centered on figures, culture, and history of the African Diaspora.
Jones said such an experience further anchored her in D.C.’s African-centered community as she continued to attend events, design jewelry, adopt ancient African customs, and form bonds with like-minded parents.
“I just felt even more empowered as a parent,” Jones told The Informer. “Seeing all the beautiful children wearing color in an educational space. It was everything I had ever hoped for.”
When DeAngelo Kwabena matriculates to a Prince George’s County public high school next year, he will be following in the footsteps of his older siblings, both of whom went on to graduate high school with flying colors.
Dennis Kwame will start his freshman year this fall at Morgan State University in Baltimore while his older sister continues her graduate studies at American University in Northwest. Those outcomes, their mother said, serve as a testament to NationHouse’s significance throughout the generations.
“Our children do have these distractions, but there are institutions that reinforce what they want for you,” Jones said. “That’s what I wanted — reinforcement. I’m just happy that they have that foundation. My children want to come back to serve the school even after they’ve graduated.”
Looking Back: NationHouse Celebrates 50 Years
On June 8, Jones’ family counted among those who attended a gala in celebration of NationHouse’s 50th anniversary.
The gala, which took place at the Silver Spring Civic Center at Veterans Plaza in Silver Spring, Maryland, attracted four generations of NationHouse students, parents, teachers, alumni and other community members who traveled from different parts of the country to attend the festivities. It also culminated an academic year that included NationHouse’s annual Kwanzaa program, the 35th annual Ankobea Sankofa Conference, and NationHouse’s participation in a chess tournament that commemorated the Bolling v. Sharpe Supreme Court decision.
The program opened with pouring of libation and a singing of the Black National Anthem by NationHouse students and Akua Allrich, a soul singer who’s also a NationHouse instructor-administrator and 1996 high school graduate. Yaa-Asantewa Akoto, NationHouse’s second-generation senior director and 1984 middle school graduate, later acknowledged NationHouse co-founders Akua Akoto, Kehembe Eichelberger, and Akili Ron Anderson.
Other special guests that evening included Roots Public Charter School founder Dr. Bernida L. Thompson and principal Rashiki Kuykendall, and Dr. El Senzengakulu Zulu, founder of Ujamaa Shule, each of whom listened intently as Nkechi Taifa, an attorney, reparations advocate and former NationHouse teacher, gave the keynote address.
Allrich, accompanied by her band, The Tribe, later performed a few musical numbers of her own as guests enjoyed a Diasporic African cuisine catered by Down to Mama’s Backyard BBQ, based in Clinton, Maryland.
Meanwhile, her husband, DJ Baba Asukile Allrich, kept the sounds of the African Diaspora emanating through the space as a montage of throwback photos and videos played on a projector.
For Anderson, as a co-founder, the occasion evoked thoughts of a legacy that must be preserved and built upon by future generations.
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