From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

M.K. Asante, Jr. (born 1982) is a professor, author, filmmaker and activist. Born in Harare, Zimbabwe shortly after the second Chimurenga (uprising), he is the son of scholar Molefi Kete Asante and choreographer Kariamu Welsh.

Asante is a graduate of The Crefeld School in Philadelphia, which he attended after being expelled from two other schools.^[1] He studied film and literature at the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies, earned a B.A. in Africana Studies and English from Lafayette College, and an M.F.A. in Screenwriting from UCLA School of Theater Film and Television.

At 23 years-old, Asante was appointed a professorship in the Department of English and Language Arts at Morgan State University.

In 2002, Asante, Jr.,'s first collection of poems, Like Water Running Off My Back, was published and won the Academy of American Poets Jean Corrie Prize for its title poem. Pulitzer Prize Winning Playwright Charles Fuller hailed the book as "remarkable" and proclaimed Asante a leader of a new generation of African-American writers.

Also in 2002, the Skillman Library published Time, a limited edition, collaborative art book that featured a poem by Asante, paintings by Curlee Raven Holton inspired by choreographer Rennie Harris and an audio CD featuring Asante and trumpet player Jafar Barron.

In October 2005, Asante's second collection of poems, Beautiful. And Ugly Too was published to instant critical acclaim. The book takes its title from a line in a Langston Hughes essay, "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain," written for The Nation in 1926. It reads: "We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, it doesn't matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too... . We stand on top of the mountain, free within ourselves."

The Los Angeles Times called Beautiful. And Ugly Too "a thought-provoking journey down the lonely road of wisdom and whiplash," while The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that it casts "an unflinching eye on humanity through a historical kaleidoscope."

In November of 2006, Asante signed a book deal with St. Martin's Press for a book called "It's Bigger Than Hip-Hop" to be released in 2008.

Asante, Jr. wrote and produced the documentary 500 Years Later, a film, directed by Owen 'Alik Shahadah, that explores the psychocultural effects of slavery and colonialism in the African Diaspora. The film would go on to win Best Documentary at the Pan African (Los Angeles) and Bridgetown (Barbados) Film Festivals; Best Film at the International Black Cinema (Berlin) Film Festival; and Best International Documentary at the Harlem (New York) International Film Festival. In October of 2005, 500 Years Later was screened at the Millions More Movement. Philadelphia Weekly wrote, "When participants gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for the Millions More Movement rally last month, they also became one of the largest film audiences in history."

Asante is national spokesperson for the African Diaspora Medical Project.

1. ^ Filmmaker from Hill thrills Crefeld School kids, ChestnutHillLocal.com, December 15, 2005

• Staff, Philadelphia Weekly, 500 Years Later - A-list, (Nov 9th, 2005)
• Jess Rodgers, "M.K. Asante, Jr - In Full Bloom," Daily Bruin, (Sep 25th, 2005)
• Annette John-Hall, "M.K. Asante, Jr. - Artist in Progress," The Philadelphia Inquirer, H1 (Oct 30th, 2005)
• Sidney Gantt, "A heavy lunch with M.K. Asante, Jr.", Black Reader Review, p.5 (Sep 2005)
• Molefi Kete Asante and Ama Mazama (editors), "Encyclopedia of Black Studies", Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, ISBN 0-7619-2762-X (2004)

• M.K. Asante, Jr. - Official Site
• 500 YEARS LATER - Official Site