Strength & Genius

Learn about the resilience, brilliance, strength, genius, and creativity of Africans and African descendants through a nearly 90-page full color curriculum guide. ​Inspired by the arrival of the first Africans in Virginia four centuries ago in 1619, ​composer and musician Dr. Mark Lomax II highlights African history and reasserts African humanity through "400: An Afrikan Epic," a twelve-album cycle released in 2019. To accompany this ambitious music project, the "400: An Afrikan Epic Curriculum Guide" brings together socio-political and spiritual aspects of art, music, and race to encourage high school and college students to think critically about identity, systemic oppression, and culture. ​

The guide is divided into thirds exploring thousands of years of history including pre-colonial Africa, the trauma of African people’s nadir experience in the diaspora, and ways we can conceptualize a forthcoming African experience beyond the present. With historical overviews, definitions, discussion questions, and over 100 scholarly references, this guide helps you contemplate the complexities of an enduring history of Africans before and during their presence in the Americas.