Alice Walker: The Influence of Constance R. Nabwire from Uganda, at Spelman College

Social worker and home economist Constance R. Nabwire is best known for her heavily illustrated books on African cooking and recipes and the cultural connections. During the early 1960's, after her high school education in her native Uganda, Nabwire traveled to Spelman College in Georgia where she would eventually earn a bachelor's degree in sociology and psychology. Her studies and upkeep were funded by the  African Student Program for American Universities. Thereafter she moved on to the University of Minnesota where she graduated with a master's degree in social work.

By chance, Constance Nabwire was placed to room with future Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (1983) and National Book Award winner (1983) Alice Malsenior Walker at the black historically prestigious Spelman College in Atlanta. The two would become very close friends, would become so intrigued and impressed with each other, and they would forever change each other. Evelyn C. White writes on their relationship and academic interaction.

"That Alice could craft a commanding essay on Russia's literary giants did not surprise...Nabwire. Born in Uganda and educated at...her country's prestigious...schools, Nabwire...among...talented African students...in the early 1960's offered scholarships...by...Negro College Fund. Nabwire said...unlike most..students at Spelman who...have few interests 'beyond...Friday night dates,' Alice made...efforts to befriend Africa students and was well versed in foreign affairs. 'Alice was informed, politically...had an international perspective rare at Spelman,' remembered Nabwire. '...we were thrown together...made...difference...to room with someone...intellectually stimulating...engaged with the world.'" (White: 73-74).

Walker and Nabwire were so close that they shared items like clothing, and they together went to intriguing places and other settings to practically experience for themselves. An incident illustrative of racism and discrimination in the white church, shocked Nabwire to tears and to other forms of psychological restlessness. White airs Walker's view on the whites who attended church in Eatonton in Georgia where she was born in 1944, and on Nabwire's reaction when the two were denied entrance to a white church in Atlanta.

"...the 'faithful' whites in Eatonton...kept each (segregated) Sabbath with the Lord. ...during...Spelman...Alice (wearing the vaunted pink faille dress [purchased by Nabwire]) ventured with...Nabwire to services at a church in Atlanta. 'The white...missionaries had come to Uganda and taught..it was important to worship God...read bible...pray,' Nabwire said. 'When Alice and I tried to enter...church...door was slammed in our faces. I didn't understand. ...months, I did nothing but cry'" (White: 161) .

Nabwire and Walker shared the pink dress, which Walker described as "divine" (White: 76).

Walker, together with all of her women's council and Nabwire would intimately and emotionally venture to pay respect and to take flowers the newly grave of an ancestral Walker. Nabwire's impact on Walker was so profound, that she would visit Uganda. Alice also recounted the incident of the grave as she spoke at the Organization of African Writers, a conference held at New York University in 2004.

"...I went because...someone in Georgia just discovered the grave of my great, great grandmother, Sally Montgomery Walker. ...born in 1861...died in 1900. ...I went back to pay...respects...take flowers...I was lucky...to be able to get my...roommate...wonderful woman from Uganda who made me care deeply about Africans and African women. ...I went to Uganda...to understand how Constance had been...produced by...country which before Idi Amin was very beautiful...tranquil...green. ...Constance and I and my...women’s council...went to visit this grave. ...We sat there...Constance...friend Belvee...so many of us with...histories...so painful. ...a long time of crying.... We watered those graves with our tears. ...happy to do it" (Goodman 2004).

Intrigued by Nabwire, Walker would venture more into understanding African culture and society, and to read more into the writings of renowned African writers. Passages on her website offers her opinions, reactions, and readings on Africa; and also comparisons with black America. The passages are part Walker's speech of September 13th 2010 delivered as the 11th Annual Steve Biko Lecture at the University of Cape Town.

"It...propelled me into...curiosities about who Africans might...be. ...in the deeply racist...States of the Forties and Fifties...Africa was shrouded in...profound mists of distortion, racially motivated misperceptions, gross exploitation, and lies" (Walker 2014).

"Africans...cheerfully despised. Considered...savages. Certainly. ...When I...went...to college...that song, "Nkosi Sikeleli’Afrika”...that sound of so much humility, love, devotion and trust...led me to the most important friendship...during my student years...with...Nabwire...."  (Walker 2014).

"...that friendship...understanding that Constance and I were sisters, developed my deep interest...concern for Africa...its peoples...animals...rainforests...diverse cultures. Through the writing of Africans...I began to encounter an intellectual and moral thoughtfulness that bordered on...often embodied the most astonishing profundity. I remember reading The Concubine by Elechi Amadi and The Radiance of the King by Camara Laye...and just being stunned. I would...read Ama Ata Aidoo, Buchi Emecheta...Bessie Head...Okot p’ Bitek...Ngugi wa Thiong’o...Two Thousand Seasons [by] Ayi Kwei Armah...."  (Walker 2014).

Melanie L. Harris also mentions the depth and influence of the friendship between Nabwire and Walker that continued after Walker had transferred from Spelman to the more mainstream Saint Lawrence College in New York.

"...the deep admiration of compassion...care expressed by...people of Uganda...drew Walker to Africa. ...witnessed...this depth of caring through...Nabwire whom she kept in touch with while at Sarah Lawrence.... However, the depths of poverty and impact of colonialism made Walker's pilgrimage...[to Africa] hard to endure" (Harris 2010: 34)

It was in 1974, during the early years of the dictatorial regime of General Idi Amin that young Alice Walker fulfilled her dream of visiting the land of Constance Nabwire.

"...not...surprising that as soon as I found a way...[at] twenty, I made my way to...land of...Nabwire...to discover...what made her...a wonderful person...wise and gentle beyond her years and...of most of the other girls at...school. I...encountered a Uganda that bears little resemblance to the one we see today" (Walker 2014).

"Uganda...referred to by Winston Churchill as...'Japan' of Africa, because of...people’s courtesy...kindliness. This...a colonialist view, but...it was also a land of...greenest hills and valleys...there...a palpable feeling of peace and patience with the stranger" (Walker 2014).

The names of the people in the Uganda family where Alice Walker lodged are not mentioned, but they lived near Kampala the capital.

"I was taken in...by a Ugandan family who sheltered...cared for me...dispelling...any sense I...had that I would not be recognized as one of Africa’s children" (Walker 2014).

The renowned and academically debated short story, "Everyday Use," is part of the collection of short stories written by Walker. The collection entitled "In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women" was first  published in 1973. "Everyday Use" references the Deep South of the United States, the black family and the societal transformation, and Uganda.

In the story, the beautiful Dee who is older than her bodily disfigured and shy sister Maggie who has remained in the deep southern tradition with their mother Mama Johnson visits home after a lengthy stay in an urban setting. The introverted and audacious Dee views herself as a transformed woman now embracing modernism and black radicalism. At the beginning of her visit home with a stocky fellow Hakim, Dee utters the greeting, "Wa.su.zo.Tean.o!" This is apparently Walker adapting to writing the "Wasuz'otya nno/ Wasuze otya nno?" which in Luganda means "How did you sleep?" In Buganda it is the most commonly used morning phrase that equates to, "How did you sleep," "How was your night," or "Good morning." Sometimes the greeting is shortened to "Wasuz'otya/ Wasuze otya?" While in Uganda, Alice Walker must often have encountered the native morning greeting. Also, the greeting carries a question mark, other than the exclamation mark that is attached to it in the short story.

In "Everyday Use," Dee also declares that she is no longer Dee, and has Africanized her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo. In Luganda, "Wangero" can be a personal or place name, and it means "the one (or the place) of stories." In some of Walker's recounts, her friend Constance Nabwire is referred to as Constance Wangero. Is this an error or was Nabwire also known as "Wangero?"

The closest African name to "Leewanika," is Lubosi Lewanika who was the king or paramount chief of Barotseland which is the western part of present-day Zambia. Lewanika reigned from 1878 to 1916, and he was deceived in 1890 by Cecil Rhodes into ceding the land to British protection through the British South Africa Company. Still, Lewanika would visit London in 1902 where he was embraced and attended the coronation of King Edward the 7th.

"Kemanjo" may well be an African name, or adaptation of one.

Works Cited

Goodman, Amy. "Alice Walker on the 'Toxic Culture' of Globalization." Democracy Now! October 2004.

Harris, Melanie L. Gifts of Virtue, Alice Walker, and Womanist Ethics. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

Walker, Alice. "Coming to See You Since I Was Five Years Old: An American Poet’s Connection to the South African Soul;" 11th Annual Steve Biko Lecture. September 2010: http://alicewalkersgarden.com/

White, Evelyn, C. Alice Walker: A Life. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2004.

Jonathan Musere

Alice Walker's Everyday Use: the Role of Constance Wangero in Dee Johnson

Readers and writers have, for four decades, wondered and debated about the origin of the name "Wangero," which name is prominent in Alice Walker's renowned short story "Everyday Use" that bears a mid-20th Century flavor. Wangero is the African name that the youngster Dee Johnson adopts after she leaves USA's rural Deep South for college and urbanism where she becomes modernized and radicalized. When she pays her bucolic mother "Mama Johnson" and scruffy and disfigured uneducated sister Maggie a visit, she declares to them that she has foregone the name Dee Johnson for her new African name, "Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo."

A lecture that Alice Walker delivered on September 13th 2010 at the University of Capetown in South Africa, apparently puts a lot of questions regarding the name "Wangero" to rest. On this date, at the Eleventh Annual Steve Biko Lecture, in the lecture titled, "Coming to See You Since I was 5 Years Old: A Poets Connection to the South African Soul," Walker credits her college undergraduate Ugandan friend Constance Wangero for her inquisitiveness and fascination with Africa and her peoples:

"...the most important friendship I encountered during my student years...an African woman named Constance Wangero...from Uganda. ...Constance and I were sisters...developed my...interest...and concern for Africa and its peoples. ...I was still 19 or 20...made my way to the land of Constance Wangero...to discover...what made her...a wonderful person, wise and gentle beyond her years and...those of any of the other girls at our school. Uganda...people’s gentle courtesy and kindness. ...a land of the greenest valleys and hills. ...a...feeling of peace and patience with a stranger. I was taken in...by a Ugandan family...sheltered and cared for...dispelling...any sense...that I would not be recognized as one of Africa’s children."

Alice Walker transferred from Spelman College (Atlanta, Georgia) to Sarah Lawrence College (Bronxville, NY) in 1963. At Spelman, Constance Wangero became Walker's room-mate and closest friend. In 1964, after her junior tenure in college, Walker journeyed to Uganda as a summer exchange student. Amy Goodman interviewed Walker during the Organization of Women Writers of Africa conference at New York University in 2004. Walker says, without mentioning the name "Wangero":

"...at Spelman my roommate...wonderful woman from Uganda who made me care deeply about Africans and African women. ...I went to Uganda trying to understand how Constance had been created and produced by this country which...was very beautiful...tranquil...green."

It therefore turns out that Wangero is an African personal name. There is a place in Uganda named Wangero. In Luganda, one of the main languages of Uganda, the root '-ngero' means "stories" or "proverbs." Wangero can therefore mean, "place of stories" or "person of stories." The character Dee is re-named Wangero, in honor of Alice Walker's early African friend Constance Wangero.

Works Cited

Walker, Alice. "Coming to See You Since I was 5 Years Old: A Poets Connection to the South African Soul," 11th Annual Steve Biko Lecture, University of Capetown, South Africa, September 13, 2010.

Walker, Alice. In an interview with Amy Goodman, Organization of Women Writers of Africa Conference, New York University, 2004.

Jonathan Musere

"Everyday Use" and Alice Walker: "Wa-su-zo-Tean-o, Wangero, Leewanika, Kemanjo"

The central character in Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," the beautiful Dee Johnson, breaks away from her Deep Southern American roots to become the heavily educated, urbanized, modernized young woman who despises her cultural setting. She later visits her bucolic dirty southern family of her mother Mama Johnson and unattractive scruffy and scarred sister Maggie. Dee signifies her transformation after stepping out of the car, by uttering to the two, "Wa-su-zo-Tean-o," and declaring that her new name is African: Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo. Debate and dissection continues about the inspiration and significance behind these African terms in Walker's famous short story.

"Wa-su-zo-Tean-o," is pre-noon daytime Luganda language greeting used by the Baganda of Uganda. It directly means, "How did you sleep?" but is a way of saying "Good morning" or "I hope you slept well." The correct wording is, "Wasuze otya nno?" But how would this greeting phrase that is so specific to a Ugandan ethnic group end up in one of Walker's most memorable works? It is worthy to note that Walker an excellent full-scholarship student at prestigious Spellman College in Atlanta (Georgia), transferred to distinguished Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville (New York) in 1963. Some of the reasons cited for her transferring are that Spellman was too conservative and puritanical for her liking.

Walker's roommate and dear friend at Spellman College, which she left in 1963 for Sarah Lawrence, happened to be a Ugandan named Constance. In 1964, after her junior year, Walker traveled to Uganda as a summer exchange student. Interviewed by Amy Goodman during the Organization of Women Writers of Africa conference at New York University in 2004, Alice Walker recounts about her Ugandan roommate as well as her painful journey to discovering her great-great-grandmother's grave:

"So, I went back to pay my respects and to take flowers, ...I was lucky enough to be able to get my Ugandan roommate--when I was at Spellman my roommate was this wonderful woman from Uganda who made me care deeply about Africans and African women. In fact I went to Uganda trying to understand how Constance had been created and produced by this country which before Idi Amin was very beautiful, very tranquil and green. So anyway Constance and I and my entire women’s council--I belonged to a women’s council--went to visit this grave. We sat there--my Constance from Uganda, my friend Belvee from--I mean, so many of us with so many histories that are so painful. Belvee’s mother had been actually beaten to death. So, we had a long time of crying there. We watered those graves with our tears. We were happy to do it."

Further, there is a small place in Uganda that happens to be uniquely named Wangero. The root word "ngero' means "stories" or "proverbs." Wangero can hence mean, "the place of stories" or "the person of stories." Local Ugandan friends may have given Walker the nickname "Wangero" or alluded to it, or Walker may have picked it out from the people of the first area he visited in Africa. Alice Walker, from early in her life, has certainly been a person of "many stories." Some, like Helga Hoel (a Norwegian scholar on Kenya literature), have speculated that "Wangero" is a mispronunciation and misspelling of the common Kenyan Kikuyu name Wanjiru. That theory does not hold water---the two have distinctly different spellings, the Kikuyu live hundreds of miles away east of Buganda, and the "Wa-" prefix is quite common in many personal names of east and central Africa.

The Leewanika is apparently a misspelling or an Alice Walker variant of the name Lewanika who was a powerful king in a region (Barotse Land) of present day Zambia. Under Lewanika, the region became a British Protectorate after colonial enforcement negotiations with Cecil Rhodes. In African terms, the "Le" in Lewanika is pronounced "leh" rather than "liih."

The name Kemanjo is apparently of African structure, but it is hard to prove that it is an African name. Helga Hoel speculates that it is a misspelling of the Kenyan Kikuyu name "Kamenjo" (White: 2001).

References

Goodman, Amy. "Alice Walker on the 'Toxic Culture" of Globalization," in Democracy Now!---The War and Peace Report. 2004.

Hoel, Helga. "Personal Names and Heritage: Alice Walker’s 'Everyday Use'." 2000. Trondheim Cathedral School, Trondheim, Norway. 30 Jan. 2000.

White, David. “'Everyday Use': Defining African-American Heritage," Portals--Purdue North Central Literary Journal, 2001.

Jonathan Musere