{"id":2269,"date":"2023-07-10T09:28:22","date_gmt":"2023-07-10T09:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sankofakids.org\/?page_id=2269"},"modified":"2023-07-10T09:33:41","modified_gmt":"2023-07-10T09:33:41","slug":"founder-esther-armstrong","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.sankofakids.org\/?page_id=2269","title":{"rendered":"Founder \u2013 Esther Armstrong"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"2269\" class=\"elementor elementor-2269\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-17c8cbf elementor-section-stretched elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"17c8cbf\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;stretch_section&quot;:&quot;section-stretched&quot;,&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;gradient&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-background-overlay\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-custom\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-1e7de17\" data-id=\"1e7de17\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-37e7a52 elementor-align-center elementor-widget elementor-widget-etheme_advanced_headline\" data-id=\"37e7a52\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"etheme_advanced_headline.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t        \r\n        <div class=\"etheme-a-h-wrapper\">\r\n        \r\n            \r\n        <h2 class=\"etheme-advanced-headline\">\r\n\r\n             Esther Armstrong<span class=\"etheme-a-h-text\"> - Founder <\/span>\r\n                \r\n        <\/h2>\r\n\t\t\r\n                    \r\n        <\/div>\r\n        \r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a381c27 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"a381c27\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.19.0 - 07-02-2024 *\/\n.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:#69727d;color:#fff}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap{color:#69727d;border:3px solid;background-color:transparent}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap{margin-top:8px}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap-letter{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap{float:left;text-align:center;line-height:1;font-size:50px}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap-letter{display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\t<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2258 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sankofakids.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Esther-Amstrong-235x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"235\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sankofakids.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Esther-Amstrong-235x300.jpg 235w, https:\/\/www.sankofakids.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Esther-Amstrong-600x764.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.sankofakids.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Esther-Amstrong-1x1.jpg 1w, https:\/\/www.sankofakids.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Esther-Amstrong-8x10.jpg 8w, https:\/\/www.sankofakids.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Esther-Amstrong.jpg 690w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 235px) 100vw, 235px\" \/>This unique children\u2019s museum was the vision of Esther K. Armstrong, a Ghanaian-born citizen of the United States. A graduate of the University of Ghana at Legon, she has lived and worked in the Maryland area for over 30 years. Esther has always believed deeply in Marcus Garvey\u2019s quote, \u201cA people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.\u201d Respectfully known as \u201cMama Kiki,\u201d in the cultural community, she and her husband Jim Clemmer are owners of Sankofa African &amp; World Bazaar, a cultural shop previously located in Charles Village. Together they have been providing the community a brilliant collection of colorful African artifacts, jewelry, accessories, traditional and contemporary clothing for over twenty years. The store is now the Sankofa Museum Gift Shop. As reports of African-American school dropouts and violent juvenile crime increased, Esther became convinced that a children\u2019s museum focused on African history and cultures would help turn the statistics around. She realized most city youth do not see themselves connected to the great achievements of their ancestors, who are seldom included in their history books. Mama Kiki noted a correlation between young peoples\u2019 lack of education, poor self-esteem, disinterest in education and the ensuing cycle of despair, crime, arrest and hopelessness. She formed SCMAC and assembled a Board of Directors comprised of innovative thinkers. They believe that the culturally competent education of our children will result in less crime and a desire for further education. Mama Kiki then hired the dynamic and proficient Deborah Mason as Museum Director. Mrs Mason\u2019s mission is to design and implement meaningful programing and exhibits that will educate, engage and entertain young people<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Esther Armstrong &#8211; Founder This unique children\u2019s museum was the vision of Esther K. Armstrong, a Ghanaian-born citizen of the United States. A graduate of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2269","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sankofakids.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sankofakids.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sankofakids.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sankofakids.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sankofakids.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2269"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.sankofakids.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2865,"href":"https:\/\/www.sankofakids.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2269\/revisions\/2865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sankofakids.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}