Mahmoud El-Kati
*Mahmoud El-Kati was born on this date in 1935. He is a Black educator, activist, lecturer, writer, and commentator on the African American experience.
He is the son of Rufus Williams and Razzie Garvan Williams, both of whom were from Savannah, Georgia. El-Kati is one of three siblings and graduated from Booker T. Washington H. S. in Miami, Florida. He also graduated from Wilberforce University, majoring in contemporary African American history.
His many articles, essays, and reviews have appeared in the New York Times, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Star Tribune, Insight News, The Spokesman, and The Nigerian Times and cover the "myth of race," Ebonics, gang activity, African Americans and sports and other issues. El-Kati taught courses on the history of blacks in the United States, American social movements, sports, and the African American community, the social history of jazz, and Afro American folklore at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. He also taught a course on sports and African Americans at Metro State University and an introduction to the African American experience class at North High School in Minneapolis.
He is co-founder and director of the annual Pan-African Conference at Minnesota State University Mankato, which, over 24 years, featured discussions on African thought throughout the Black Diaspora. El-Kati is actively involved in community organizations, such as March, a Twin Cities group that formed following the Million Man March, the Minneapolis-based Stairstep Foundation, and KMOJ, a community radio station in Minneapolis.
He is the recipient of the National Association of Black Storytellers' Zora Neale Hurston Award, given to people whose scholarly historical writings preserve African and African American culture and tradition in America. He also recently received a Sankofa Award from the Stairstep Foundation for his longtime and unwavering commitment and work with the Twin Cities African American community.
In 2022, Dr. Mahmoud El-Kati received an honorary doctorate from Macalester College.
African American Registry
Voices That Guide Us interview
