Saturday, May 16, 2015 the family and close friends of the late great Baba Herman Ferguson gathered to commemorate his legacy
On September 25, 2014, Herman Ferguson, a pillar in the African struggle left physically, but nearly six months later he is still missed by those who knew and loved him most; his family and dearest comrades. His wife, Iyaluua and a long line of children and grandchildren, were all present on May 16 at Rev. Daughtry‘s House of the Lord Pentecostal Church in Brooklyn, New York to commemorate their gone, but never forgotten patriarch.
Those who carry on his legacy gathered under one roof in remembrance of this highly respected elder in the Black liberation struggle, with a primary mission to educate his people about who they are and about their African roots. Among those present were recently released Political Prisoner Sekou Odinga, activist Pam Afrika, owner of North Star Media Publishing Group/The Source Magazine L. Londell McMillan, along with other activists and a collective of Herman Ferguson’s closest colleagues who performed his favorite poem “The Black Brigade” for his wife and family.
Herman Ferguson born in Fayetteville, North Carolina on December 31, 1920, was an educator and leading figure in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville struggle for community control of NYC public schools. He was Assistant Principal at P.S. 40 in Queens and P.S. 21 in Brooklyn and served as a judge as well as District Representative of the Republic of New Afrika, was a member and Chairman of the Education Committee of brother Malcolm X’s Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU), and was present February 21, 1965 at the Audubon Ballroom when Malcolm was assassinated. He vowed to carry on Malcolm’s teachings as best he could, organizing the Black Brotherhood Improvement Association in Jamaica, Queens.
In 1967, Herman chose exile rather than go to prison on the false charges he was convicted of. He, along with his life partner Iyaluua Ferguson, spent nineteen years in Guyana, South America, where he participated in Guyana’s nation-building, rising to the rank of Assistant Director General in it National Service, joined the Guyana Defense Force (GDF), and retired with the rank of Lt. Colonel.
In 1989, Herman voluntarily returned to the united states and was immediately sent to prison. Upon his release, he immediately stepped back into work in the nationalist community, co-founding the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee (now Chairman Emeritus), the National Jericho Movement for Amnesty & Recognition of u.s. held P/POWs, publishing NATION TIME, serving as Administrator of the New Afrikan Liberation Front and co-chairing the Queens chapter of NCOBRA (National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America).
In 2009, Herman and Iyaluua relocated to North Carolina, where they collaborated on his bio/memoir, “Herman Ferguson: An Unlikely Warrior, Evolution of a Black Revolutionary Nationalist.”
MANY OF US THAT THEY CLAIM “THINK THEY KNOW EVERYTHING” DRAW FROM HERMAN FOR OUR CONFIDENCE AND STYLE OF WORK. LESSONS TAUGHT TO US THROUGH THE CLENCHED TEETH AND THE TOOTHPICK WAS SOME THE MOST INTENSE LESSONS EVER LEARNED ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS TAUGHT TO US WAS TO KNOW WHAT YOU WANT AND KNOW HOW TO SAY IT.”
-DR. MUTULU SHAKUR {MAY 16,2015}
