Sankofa
The memoir of one of the most accomplished figures in African American public life
Sankofa is the anthropologist and educator Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole’s memoir of nearly nine decades spent building institutions, communities, and a more just world. Drawing on her childhood in Jacksonville, Florida, and the historic Black community of American Beach, through her landmark presidencies of Spelman and Bennett Colleges, to her directorship of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Cole organizes her book around seven essential lessons: on the nature of change, the necessity of self-confrontation, the power of community, the work of friendship across difference, the possibility of democratic marriage, the necessity of the arts, and the meaning carried in the stories we tell.
Rooted in the Akan principle of Sankofa—to go back and retrieve what is useful from the past—the book moves fluidly between personal narrative and broader reflection, weaving together family history, professional memory, and contemporary analysis. Cole writes candidly about triumph and heartbreak alike, offering both a record of a singular American life and a roadmap for readers seeking to understand what sustained, collective social change actually requires. Sankofa is more than a memoir. It is a call to action.
- President Joe Biden, Remarks on Presenting the National Humanities Medal, March 21, 2023An anthropologist, the first Black woman president of Spelman College, and the director of the National Museum of African Art, Johnetta Cole takes the study of Black history and culture to new heights. She has strengthened American education, advanced American scholarship, and enriched the lives of students of all ages and the future of our Nation.
- From the foreword by Tiffany Galvin Green, Ph.D.Drawing from nine decades of life, marked by fullness, challenge, brilliance, and joy, Dr. Cole offers a masterclass in purposeful living. In these pages, she invites us to walk with her as she models what it means to learn continually, lead with compassion, and stay rooted in the values that guide us toward a more just and thriving future.
Johnnetta Betsch Cole served as President of both historically Black colleges for women in the United States, Spelman College and Bennett College, a distinction she alone holds. She also served as Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art and as a Senior Consulting Fellow at the Mellon Foundation. She has also served in the voluntary position of Chair of the Board and Seventh President of the National Council of Negro Women. She currently serves as a Presidential Scholar of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). She has authored, co-authored, and edited several books and numerous articles for scholarly and general audiences, including Speechifying: The Words and Legacy of Johnnetta Betsch Cole (Duke University Press, 2023), Racism in American Public Life: A Call to Action (UVA Press, 2021), and Gender Talk: The Struggle For Women's Equality in African American Communities (co-authored with Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall; Random House, 2003).
