“Stand Tall” - A beautiful grove of Giant Sequoia being hit by sunlight on a warm July 2024 morning out at Nelder Grove in Sierra National Forest. Me-wuk, Miwok, & Nüümü Ancestral Homeland.

“We cannot trample upon the humanity of others without devaluing our own. The Igbo, always practical, put it concretely in their proverb ‘Onye ji onye n’ani ji onwe ya:’ ‘He who will hold another down in the mud must stay in the mud to keep him down.’” — Chinua Achebe, The Education of a British-Protected Child: Essays.

The outstanding novelist, poet, and critic Chinua Achebe was born in Ogidi, British Nigeria, on November 16, 1930. He passed at age 82 on March 21, 2013, in Boston, Massachusetts (USA) - but was buried in Ogidi, Nigeria. He is prominent in African literature, and his first novel, Things Fall Apart (1958), is the most studied and translated African novel. Other books in that trilogy: No Longer at Ease (1960) and Arrow of God (1964). He rejected being called the “Father of African Literature.” 

Both Igbo traditional culture and post-colonial Christianity influenced him. He attended (what is now) the University of Ibadan, where he became very critical of how Africans were depicted in European literature. He worked at the Nigerian Broadcasting Service after college, where he became famous for his first novel. Heinemann published him, and Achebe helped start the Heinemann African Writers Series. This series helped launch other African literature careers, like Flora Nwapa and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. 

Some people criticized his use of English in his novels, but he wanted his words to have a broader audience and help break stereotypes. As a result, he gave a controversial lecture in 1975 that was published in The Massachusetts Review. It was titled: “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.” 

He was tenured at Bard College (NY) as a Professor of Languages and Literature for 19 years. He won the 2007 Man Booker International Prize. He also was a Professor of African Studies at Brown from 2009-2013. In addition, the Chinua Achebe Literary Festival is put on every year to help commemorate his legacy. He also holds 30 honorary degrees from various universities. He won the first Commonwealth Poetry Prize (1972), Nigerian National Order of Merit, Honorary Fellowship of the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1982), and Alfred A. Knopf chose him to be the first living writer to represent Everyman’s Library collection. In 1999, he became a Goodwill Ambassador to the UN Population Fund. And much more.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinua_Achebe & https://www.britannica.com/biography/Chinua-Achebe.

Photo: “Stand Tall” - A beautiful grove of Giant Sequoia being hit by sunlight on a warm July 2024 morning out at Nelder Grove in Sierra National Forest. It is the largest grove of Giant Sequoias in the Sierra National Forest. Before colonialists arrived, there were >400 of these gorgeous Sequoia Trees, but due to logging, >70% are gone. And fires have been threatening them as well. Me-wuk, Miwok, & Nüümü Ancestral Homeland. Photo taken with my Nikon D850 and Nikon 24-70 lens while at the California Forest Soils Council Field Trip.