AAI’s 40th Annual Awards

AAI bridges Africa and its diaspora to catalyze a more sustainable and equitable world.

The legacies of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, Slavery, and Colonialism have far-reaching and enduring consequences across continents. AAI believes one of the most pernicious consequences was the distortion of our global education system by teaching a false ideology of human hierarchy and inaccurate understandings about how the modern world was created. We build long-term strategies that repair these legacies.

AAI believes that accurate, unbiased, and accessible education will create a more equitable world - eliminating racist norms, assumptions, and frameworks. Fundamental to our work is liberatory education - centering scholarly and unbiased information about the world’s journey to the creation of the modern world. We believe that supporting scholarship devoid of bias is a long-term solution to addressing these consequences and legacies.

This is why, at the Africa-America Institute, we take a transcontinental, multifaceted approach. Our programs span across four impact pillars: Liberatory Education; Repair and Healing; Economic Sovereignty; and Community Building.

Since its founding in 1953, over 23,000 Africans have received scholarships and fellowships from AAI. Championing a more sustainable and equitable world, these Africans are now an esteemed network of alumni, many of whom are leaders and influencers across public, private, and governmental sectors in Africa and globally. Included in this network are H.E. Cyril Ramaphosa, President of the Republic of South Africa; H.E. Alassane Ouattara, President of the Republic of Côte; the late Dr. Wangari Maathai; Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, former United Nations Under-Secretary- General and Executive Director of UN Women; Strive Masiyiwa, Founder & Executive Chairman, Econet Wireless; and thousands more.