BY SOUMANOU SALIFOU

A twelve-member U.S. congressional delegation led by the Democratic leader of the House, Hakeem Jeffries, is currently in Ghana, West Africa, their only stop in Africa on a trip that will also take them to Israel. While in Ghana, the lawmakers visited several historic landmarks, including the office of the Diaspora African Forum, an organization started by a visionary African American, Ambassador Erieka Bennett, and headquartered in a place full of history.

Ghana carries a special weight in the relations between Africa and the African diaspora in the United States. A vestige of the notorious slave trade, with its Elmina castle which, like Goree Island in Senegal and Ouidah in Dahomey (now Benin) and their ill-famed “Doors of No Return,” Ghana played a special role, in the post slavery world, to strengthen the bonds with the African diaspora.

In 1961, the first president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, extended an invitation to William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, a brilliant Afro-American sociologist, historian, author, civil rights activist, and Pan-Africanist best-known as W.E.B. Du Bois, to come reside in Ghana to manage a major project for the black family: the Encyclopedia Africana. Dubois had resurrected the project initiated by another Afro-American pioneer who could not bring it to fruition because of the lack of funding.

With the funding now secured by the government of Ghana, the American civil rights activist, then 93 years old, and his wife arrived in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, in 1961 and started working on the project. Dubois’ health declined over the following two years. He became a Ghanaian citizen in 1963 after the U.S. government refused to renew his passport and died the same year in Accra on August 27 at the age of 95. The Ghanaian government gave him a state funeral and buried him near the seat of the Ghanaian government in those days.

The house where Du Bois and his wife lived in Accra was dedicated the W.E.B. Dubois Memorial Center in his memory by the government. A testament to the power of history: the center, where Du Bois’ body was later interred, now serves as the headquarters of the Diaspora African Forum, DAF, an African Union-endorsed non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the Pan-African organization in the representation of the African Diaspora and their strategic involvement in the ongoing development of Africa. A die-hard bridge-builder between Africa and the United States for decades, Bennett has been involved in Africa for decades.

Clearly, congressman Jeffries and the delegation he led to Ghana walked into history when they stepped into the chancery of the Diaspora African Forum where Ambassador Bennett, flanked by DAF’s board members, gave the legislators a befitting welcome. In-keeping with the deep-rooted African tradition, Rabi Kohain Helevi, Head of the Diaspora Coalition, opened the gathering with a blessing.

The many highlights of the warm reception, which had an air of a family reunion, included the presentation of original, Made-in-Ghana chocolates customized with a picture of Congressman Hakeem Jeffries and presented to him by Ambassador Bennett. Besides the chocolates that all the members of the delegation received, the female members received a perfume, Erieka bday perfume, that will be launched in the near future. The ambassador used the occasion to present to her guests her third book, “Just Be: Aging Gracefully,”  in which she shares the wisdom she has gained in living life fully, unapologetically and magically for seven decades, throughout her international career encompassing corporate communications and diplomacy. The book presents a broad view of what it took its author to step into “senior” status feeling healthy and optimistic about the years ahead.

In the family-reunion atmosphere, Ambassador Bennett earned from her guests a new name, Auntie. She later told The African magazine: “We were delighted and honored to have them to visit DAF. We had an opportunity to encourage them to keep engaging with both segments of the African diaspora, the historic diasporans who are descendants of slaves, and the continental diasporans.”

The congressional delegation comprises:

• Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Leader, U.S. House of Representatives
• Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, Ranking Member, Foreign Affairs Committee; Member, Committee on Financial Services
• Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Member, Committee on Appropriations; Member, Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government
• Rep. Yvette D. Clarke, Member, Committee on Energy and Commerce; Member, Committee on Homeland Security
• Rep. Stacey Plaskett, Ranking Member, Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government; Member, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
• Rep. Nanette Barragán, Chair, Congressional Hispanic Caucus; Member, Committee on Energy and Commerce
• Rep. Josh Gottheimer, Member, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; Member, Financial Services Committee
• Rep. Steven Horsford, Chair, Congressional Black Caucus; Member, Financial Services Committee; Member, Armed Services Committee
• Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, Member, Committee on Energy and Commerce
• Rep. Joe Neguse, Chair, Democratic Policy and Communications Committee; Member, Judiciary Committee; Member, Rules Committee; Member, Natural Resources Committee
• Rep. Dean Phillips, Co-Chair, Democratic Policy and Communications Committee; Member, Foreign Affairs Committee; Member, Committee on Small Business
• Rep. Sara Jacobs, Caucus Leadership Representative; Member, Foreign Affairs Committee; Member, Armed Services Committee