ANKH, UJDA, SENEB (LIFE, STRENGTH, HEALTH): “LET FOOD BE THY MEDICINE,” AN EPISTEMIC EXAMINATION ON THE GENEALOGY OF THE AFRICANA HOLISTIC HEALTH TRADITION, WITH PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS IN THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, 1967 TO THE PRESENT A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR of PHILOSOPHY by Heru Setepenra Heq-m-Ta Department of African American Studies December 2016 Examining Committee Members: Dr. Nathaniel Norment, Jr., Advisory Chair, African American Studies, Temple University Dr. Greg Kimathi Carr, Afro-American Studies, Howard University Dr. Abu Shardow Abarry, African American Studies, Temple University Dr. Wilbert Jenkins, History, Temple University Dr. Mario Hollis Beatty, External Member, Afro-American Studies, Howard University © Copyright 2016 by Heru Setepenra Heq-m-Ta All Rights Reserved ii ABSTRACT The utilization of natural elements of the earth to remedy corporeal maladies dates back to the medical systems of ancient Nile Valley culture. Given the continuity and intergenerational transmission of knowledge evident in African expressions of culture, these olden naturalistic health techniques, throughout time, have continuously been used as therapeutic modalities by posterior African cultures—both continental and Diasporic. Due to its tripartite approach to healing—of mind, body and spirit— this age-old African healing tradition has gained popularity in contemporary times and is commonly known today as the locution: holistic health. The principal objective of this intellectual project is to reveal an unbroken genealogy of a thriving Africana holistic health tradition upheld by both advocates and practitioners in the field. Notwithstanding the current state of health of Africans residing in the United States, the praxis of these ancient healing customs is extant within communities which the population is predominately African. Through considering the publication of How to Eat to Live in 1967, this study articulates a resurgence among contemporary African healers of an olden healing tradition once customary on the banks of the Nile. The proposed outlook of this work to highlight the various means of alternative health available by and for African descendants that ultimately serves as a catalyst to take matters of health into our own hands. iii DEDICATION To Emille Alexander, Chalesia D’Sean and D’Antre Marquise—my 1st, 2nd and 3rd born and the triumvirate foundation of my existence! To Maude Evelyn Willis, my mother’s mother (“grandma”) who saw and heard forces from which we lacked the ability and whose constant display of Mer (Love) and nurturing will always be with me. — Much Mer! iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The following is an ancestral and extant roll call, which serves as testament to those individuals (the transitioned and the living), institutions, organizations, and periodicals, who have reared, inspired, enlightened, molded my development, supported, and left an indelible mark on my Spirit—either through familial ties, divine intervention, direct correspondence, or me being educated by means of, in the words of Greg Carr, those “ancestral whispers on a printed page:” the Ancetors, the Netcheru—most notably Sekhmet, Seshat and Djehuti—, Aha (Narmer), Djoser, Imhotep, Peseshat, Seneferu, Khufu, Khafre, Isesi, Ptahhotep, Merikare, Mentuhotep II, Amenemhat I, Kheperkara Senwosret I, Seqenenre Tao; Aahotep, Wadjkheperre Kamose, Nebpehtire Ahmose; Ahmose Nefertari, Tiy, Maatkare Hatsepshut, Djehewtymose III, Shabaka, Piankhi, Taharqa, Hattie Brown, Mickey Brown, Minnie Brown-Torres, Maude Evelyn (Brown) Willis, Melvin Willis, Augustus “Uncle Gus” Wilson, Jr., Dolores Theresa Donaldson, Tonya (Willis) Thomas, Eric Samuel Willis, Stephanie (Willlis) King, Santanino “Nino” Torres, Papito “Pete” Torres, Christopher Winters, Anthony “Amp Dog” Person, Robert Taylor II, Dawud Rahmah, Michelle Thornton, Elon Diallo Bomani, Raufu Bey, “Mama” Nia Barnes, Juanita Marie Nicole Simmons Thomas, Morene Abdullah, Ausar Ari Ankh, Lisa Simmons, Jerry Simmons, Nastassja Kajean Whitman, Pat “Mama Pat” Washington, Elizabeth Clarke, Lisa Jenkins-Carter, Rashida Jenkins, Carol Blissfur, Shelly Johnson Payne, Mark Anthony Garth, Alex Asare, Souily Wan N'Tani, Patrick Seyon, Michelle Howard-Harrell, Randolph Bromery, Brenda Mercomes, Askia Muhammad Touré, Tony Menelik Van Der Meer, Yolanda “Candy” Adams, Greg Kimathi Carr, Mario Hollis v Beatty, Valethia A. Watkins, Walter B. Hill, Jr., Russell Adams, Nastassja Kajean Whitman, James E. Turner, Robert L. Harris, Jr., Mwalimu Abdul Gulu Nanji, Carole Boyce Davis, Keisha Hicks, Luqman Abdullah, Eric Kofi Acree, Marion J. Paskins, Rose “Mama Rose” Norment, Nathaniel “Pop” Norment, Jr., Abu Shardow Abarry, Wilbert L, Jenkins, Amy Oppong Yeboah, Aaron “Anyabwile” B. Love, Joshua Maurice Myers, Tamica Oglesby, Jacqueline “Jakki” D. Johnson, Addis Drewery, Trina Slaffey, Soniah Trinette Scott, Ngola Mbondi, Nzingha, Gaspar Yanga, Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, Richard Allen, Bookman Duty, Jean Jacques Dessalines, Nana Yaa Asantewa, James McCune Smith, John Rock, Callie House, James Theodore Holly, Hosea Easton, William Henry Brown, John Russwurn, Samuel Cornish, Gabriel Prosser, David Walker, Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey, Maria Stewart, David Ruggles, Sojourner Truth, William Wells Brown, Harriet Wilson, Martin Robison Delany, William C. Nell, Araminta Ross (Harriet Tubman), Henry McNeal Turner, Alexander Crummell, Ida Bell Wells-Barnett, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, William Leo Hansberry, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, Shirley Graham-Du Bois Carter Godwin Woodson, Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, William Monroe Trotter, Timothy Thomas Fortune, Drusilla Dunjee Houston, Hubert Henry Harrison, Amy Jacques Garvey, Marcus Garvey, Cyril Briggs, Richard Benjamin Moore, Oscar Micheaux, Willis Nathaniel, Huggins, John Glover Jackson, Charles Seifert, William Montague Cobb, Cheikh Anta Diop, Chancellor Williams, John Henrik Clarke, Yosef Alfredo Antonio Ben-Jochannan, Eslanda Robeson, Paul Robeson, Joseph DeGraft-Johnson, George Granville Monah James, Cyril Lionel Robert James, Charshee Mcintyre, Jacob Hudson Carruthers, Jr. (Djedi Shemsu Djehuty), Asa Grant Hilliard III (Nana Baffour Amankwatia II), Ankh Mi Ra, Nzingha Ratibisha Heru, Bobby Wright, vi Theophile Obenga, Rkhty Amen, Amos Wilson, Walter Rodney, Robert Franklin Williams, Lorenzo Dow Turner, Elijah Muhammad, Noble Drew Ali, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Ella “Fundi” Baker, Queen Mother Audley Moore, Fannie Lou Hamer, Fred Hampton, Sr., Kwame Ture, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Ishakamusa Barashango, Ayi Kwei Armah, Kimbwandende Kia Bunseki Fu-Kiau, Chinweizu, A. Hampâté Bâ, Chukwunyere Kamalu, Kwame Agyei Akoto, Anderson Thompson, Conrad Worrill, Vincent Gordon Harding, Larry Obadele Williams, Cedric J. Robinson, Acklyn Lynch, Neely Fuller, Ivan Van Sertima, Frances Cress Welsing, James Small, Linda James Myers, Marimba Ani, Richard King, Timothy Owens Moore, Shawna Maglangbayan, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Mfundishi Jhutyms Ka N Heru Hassan K. Salim, Gerald Horne, Alvenia Fulton, Paul Goss, Alfredo Bowman (aka Dr. Sebi), Llaila Olea Afrika, Queen Afua, Jewel Pookrum, Suzar, Clovis E. Semmes, Queen Vida, Keith Wright, Sam Greenlee, Ivan Dixon, William James “Count” Basie, Herman Poole Blount (“Sun-Ra”), Billie Holiday, Thelonius Monk, John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie, Charles “Bird” Parker, Jr., John William Coltrane, Miles Davis, Abbey Lincoln, Max Roach, Larry Neal, Nina Simone, Oscar Brown, Jr., X-Clan, Poor Righteous Teachers, Dead Prez, The American Negro Academy, The African Grove Theatre, The Philadelphia Vigilence Committee, Freedom's Journal, The Liberty League, The Voice, Negro World, Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, The African Blood Brotherhood for African Liberation and Redemption, The Krigwa Players, The Harlem History Club, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations (ASCAC), Kemetic Voice, Compass, The Republic of New Afrika, The Deacons for Defense and Justice, DuSable Museum of vii African American History, S.T.U.D.Y. Group, The Bennu Group in Atlanta, Third Eye Study Group in Dallas, The Afrikan Center in Columbus, Eye of Heru in Detroit, Afrikan Echoes in Newark, The East, The First World Alliance, West Side High School, Roxbury Community College, The Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University, The Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University, and The Department of African American Studies at Temple University— Medase Pa! viii TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………….. iii DEDICATION………………………………………………………………………........... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………... v-viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction. ………….…..…………………………………………………… 1 1.2 Statement of Problem…………….………………………………………….... 5 1.3 Purpose of the Study…………………………..………………………………. 7 1.4 Significance of the Study..……………………………………………………. 12 1.5 Research Questions…………………………………………………………… 14 1.6 Chapter Summaries …………………………………………………………... 15 1.7 Definition of Key Terms ……………………………………………………... 17 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF SELECTED LITERATURE 2.1 General Review of Selected Literature……………………………………….. 23 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH APPROACH (METHODOLOGY) 3.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………................ 44 3.2 Research Methods…………………..………………………………………… 53 3.3 Procedures…………………..………………………………………................ 54 3.4 Limitations of Study…………………….……………………………............