Tchaiko Kwayana
{{Infobox person
| name = Tchaiko Kwayana
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name = Ann Cook
| birth_date = 24 June 1937
| birth_place = Georgia, United States
| death_date = {{death date and age|2017|05|24|1937|06|24|df=y}}
| death_place =
| nationality =
| other_names =
| education =
| occupation = Educator, pan-Africanist and civil rights activist
| spouse = {{marriage|Eusi Kwayana|1971}}
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| website =
}}
Tchaiko Ruramai Kwayana, born Ann Cook (24 June 1937 – 6 May 2017),{{Cite web|date=2017-05-15|title=Elder, sister, mother, aunty, teacher, cultural ambassador: Three tributes for Tchaiko Kwayana, 24 June 1937 – 6 May 2017|url=https://www.stabroeknews.com/2017/05/15/features/elder-sister-mother-aunty-teacher-cultural-ambassador-three-tributes-tchaiko-kwayana-24-june-1937-6-may-2017/|access-date=2021-02-16|website=Stabroek News|language=en-US}} was an educator, pan-Africanist, and civil rights activist from Georgia, US. She was married to Eusi Kwayana, Guyanese politician.
Biography
Born in segregated Georgia in 1937, she taught in segregated schools of the American south, until moving to Oakland, California. With the view that international travel was an important part of education, she taught in Nigeria, where she acquired elements of Yoruba culture. She also traveled to Mexico, Panama, and back in the US, sought places where she could find “African survivals” among the African diaspora of New York.
While abroad, she met Eusi Kwayana (then known as Sydney King) in Guyana, 1968. She was a key organizer of the seminar of "Pan-Africanists and Black Revolutionists" held in Guyana in 1970. They both changed their names, and married by Yoruba rites in 1971 in Georgetown. She was a member of ASCRIA, WPA,{{Cite web|date=2017-05-12|title=President expresses condolences on passing of Mrs Kwayana|url=https://www.stabroeknews.com/2017/05/12/news/guyana/president-expresses-condolences-passing-mrs-kwayana/|access-date=2021-02-16|website=Stabroek News|language=en-US}} and eventually the Women Against Terror organisation fighting the Guyana dictatorship at the time.{{Cite web|date=2017-05-11|title=Eusi Kwayana's wife passes away|url=https://www.stabroeknews.com/2017/05/11/news/guyana/eusi-kwayanas-wife-passes-away/|access-date=2021-02-16|website=Stabroek News|language=en-US}} Her husband founded a private school in his hometown of Buxton, and she was a teacher there for 13 years.{{Cite book|last=Oginga|first=Kwesi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n1VXQ3lsKEEC&q=%22Tchaiko+Kwayana%22&pg=PA90|title=Send Me My Eve|date=April 2012|publisher=Strategic Book Publishing|isbn=978-1-60976-569-9|pages=90|language=en}}
Kwayana remained in Guyana until 1982, when she returned to the US for economic reasons as well as political victimization.{{Cite book|last=Gabriehu|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=56HmBwAAQBAJ&q=%22Tchaiko+Kwayana%22&pg=PT159|title=Dangerous Times: The Assassination of Dr. Walter Rodney|date=2019-08-23|publisher=Ghebbi Books|isbn=978-0-9722245-3-6|language=en}} She continued teaching, while involving herself in organisations such as LAD (a leadership training organization in San Diego). In Atlanta she co-founded Helping Uplift Guyanese and co-founded the Sankofa Bird project, a "communities based Humanities program" that also assisted AIDS patients. She was awarded the title of "Queen Mother" by the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations. Both Kwayana and her husband were members of the Langston Hughes Poetry circle.
Eusi joined her in the US in 2002.
Kwayana died from cancer, aged 79, in 2017, and was survived by three children.{{Cite web|date=2017-05-11|title=Mrs Tchaiko Kwayana dies|url=https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2017/05/11/mrs-tchaiko-kwayana-dies/|access-date=2021-02-16|website=Kaieteur News|language=en-US |author1=Knews }}
The Tchaiko Kwayana Scholarship was established for studies in science at the University of Guyana.{{Cite web|date=2018-02-14|title=Four Buxtonians awarded Tchaiko Kwayana scholarships for science studies at UG|url=https://www.stabroeknews.com/2018/02/14/news/guyana/four-buxtonians-awarded-tchaiko-kwayana-scholarships-for-science-studies-at-ug/|access-date=2021-02-16|website=Stabroek News|language=en-US}}
Works
- "Black Pride? Some Contradictions" in The Black Woman 1968 as Ann Cook ({{ISBN|0743476972}})
- Scars of Bondage, Free Press 1973, Eusi and Tchaiko Kwayana ({{ISBN|9789768178015}})
- "The Identity Paper: Parents Join with Students to Write Family History", 1996 English Journal (https://doi.org/10.2307/821125)
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwayana, Tchaiko}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Educators from Georgia (U.S. state)
Category:20th-century American educators
Category:20th-century African-American educators