Who: African Americans, Africans, anyone who celebrates African heritage
What: Kente Cloths, strips of fabric woven by hand in the colors that
represent Africa.
Red - Life and Blood
Blue - Innocence
Green -Mother Africa, Mother Earth
Black - People and Unity
Gold - Strength and Fortune
Strips are sewn together to make cloth. Always woven from cotton threads.
When: Celebrations: Weddings, Births, Graduations, Ceremonies to
bring in new leaders; Whenever you want to respectfully show your African
heritage.
Why: To symbolize African culture
Where: Most examples from Ghana, worn in Africa, America, and wherever
people show African heritage.
Discuss the difference between geometric and organic shapes and lines.
Direct students to design geometric patterns of stripes, squares,
diamonds, triangles, etc. on the paper strips.
Pass out trays of paint, brushes, water cups, and paper towels. Remind
students that the colors are very important in Kente cloth, so they should
do their best to keep the colors clean and not muddied.
When the strips are dry, it is sometimes very effective to use a black marker to outline
the shapes and stripes. It gives the paper an embroidered look. This is
your choice.
I display these strips on a black paper covered bulletin board with
posters informing the viewer of the history of Kente cloth. Students often
make these types of posters or writings in Social Studies during Black
History Month.
*Note: This project looks really cool using pieces of colored yarn and glue
instead of paint! Just substitute tagboard for the white paper.
Kente Colors
by Deborah M. Newton Chocolate, John Ward
In brilliant poster colors, this picture book celebrates the kente cloth made by the Ashante people of Ghana and the Ewe of Ghana and Togo.