“Our entire experience is an African experience … there is a distinct African character that admonishes us to shun hypocrisy born of egocentrism and greed and the lust for power and control, that encourages us to move forward together so that in harmony with the world around us, with creating itself, we can perfect and enjoy a more perfect society.”
— Lloyd Weaver, Yemonja: Tranquil Seas Turbulent Tides (Second Edition, 2017)
On December 19th, a dear friend shared that CHIEF BABA LLOYD WEAVER had made his transition. I’ve been reflecting on my friendship with him ever since.
It 2017 when I first had the honor of meeting this giant of a man. I’d heard of him for decades prior. By the time we met, he had just returned home to the United States (in 2015) after living in Nigeria for about three decades. Also, by the time we met, I had long heard people sharing their ideas about how mutually beneficial it would be if the two of us would meet. Our mutual friends felt that Baba Lloyd could use my help with his many media and book projects. Because I’m an “old soul” who never tires of sitting at the feet of my elders, I could see their point. Whenever the topic came up I let it be known that I’m open, that I’d be honored and blessed to meet with the legendary Baba Lloyd Weaver.
I don’t remember precisely when or how the phone conversation came about but it was a lovely one. It was lovely AND (!) I was not prepared for what he ended up telling me about his family lineage. Just as casually as the day is long, Baba Lloyd shared that he was the great-great-grandson of Frederick Douglass. For a moment, I stopped breathing. I heard the words he said but it felt otherworldly. In my brain, those syllables registered as the sounds of padlocked doors being opened. Wide. Everything in my physical space was vibrating.
WHAAAAT??????
Frederick Douglass? Bloodline? On my phone? In my ear? WHAAAAT?
“… great-great-grandson of Frederick Douglass…” I was speechless. My ears were ringing. I didn’t cry but tears were flowing. I did my best to fully pay attention because he was ‘going in’ sharing stories about his family. Somehow, I managed to stay focused, but my spirit was charged, unleashed, and soaring.
Intellectually, yes, I understood the conversation and I was listening, fully fascinated. In awe, I listened to him talk nonchalantly about his lineage: the annual family trips that he remembered from childhood when his family would go to the White House as the special guest descendants of Frederick Douglass; the newspaper articles that recorded his family tree; the family lore that was treasured by the Weavers, the Douglass, and the Sragues. And he spoke, rather passionately, about Anna Murray Douglass, the unheralded backbone of the great abolitionist’s work. In fact, Baba Lloyd was a bit more interested in talking about Mrs. Douglass than anything else. He clearly longed for people to understand just how vital she was to the abolitionist movement.
At some point in the conversation, I summonsed enough nerve to ask if I could present a public program featuring his family story. The bicentennial of Mr. Douglass’ birth was fast approaching and the president trump had already made his ignorant statement about Douglass, which catapulted the iconic Black leader back into the spotlight more than a century after his death in 1895.
Everything in me wanted to escort Baba Lloyd’s story to the world. Deep down in my bones, I knew this was my work to do. Baba Lloyd, Frederick Douglass, and Anna Murry Douglass would be THE IDEAL focus for Black History Month 2018. There are as many ancestral stories to retell as there are leaves to pick from every tree, shrub, or flower on planet earth but THIS story unfolded in my lap and I couldn’t wait to help escort it to a great audience.
Months later, on February 26, 2018, at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, I organized and presented a public program celebrating the life and legacy of Frederick Douglass as told via his great-great-grandson. I asked the Center for Black Literature to sponsor the event on campus (because: storytelling is oral literature is Black literature). Dr. Brenda M. Greene (founder and executive director) then tapped a mutual friend, the legendary best-selling author and historian Herb Boyd, to give opening remarks and historical context. I asked Dr. Greene to interview Mr. Weaver and I gave welcoming remarks.
Baba Lloyd went on to talk about little-known anecdotal gems from the Douglass family and about traditional African spirituality and Orisa. Baba Lloyd was an internationally renowned Orisa initiate of Yemoja and is the forefather of one of the largest African American Orisa houses in the United States. He also talked about living in Nigeria for nearly 30 years as a film producer. True to form, he also talked intelligently about social and racial justice imperatives. He was always focused on what we can do to build a more perfect society.
All of this commentary was wrapped up in his addressing the life and legacy of Anna Murry Douglass and Frederick Douglass. Baba Lloyd revealed that Frederick Douglass was more pro-African than most knew. More illuminating than that was the moment when Baba Lloyd discussed how Douglass protected himself and the ‘tools’ he relied upon in his escape to freedom. Isese Lagba!
It was a transcendent, awe-inspiring experience.
Baba Oloye, may you live well in the ancestral realm. The honorable things you have done while you were here are plenty. You left behind words of deep inspiration, books on African spirituality, as well as cautionary tales designed to push us forward. For that, we are eternally grateful. Omi ooo. A dupe ooo.
May we never be separated from the wisdom you shared with us.
. . . . . . .
Oloye (Chief) Baba Lloyd Weaver was a journalist, film director and producer, and media activist. Born in Washington, DC but raised in Harlem, New York, he studied journalism at Kent State University and Columbia University and worked at WCBS News and CBS News as a researcher and eventually as a producer. He worked on such prestigious programs as the CBS Evening News, The Morning News, Sunday Morning, 60 Minutes, and other television programs. He also taught at the New York Institute of Technology. In February 1982, taking a leave of absence from CBS, Lloyd joined a group of television specialists to create a training program for their professional counterparts at the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). In 1984 Nigerian advertising agencies contracted Lloyd to produce TV commercials and other promotional materials leading to the formation of one of Nigeria’s first independent television production companies. Between 1985 and 2000, Lloyd produced and directed more than 400 television spot commercials, many winning significant awards for himself and for his clients.
SELECT RESOURCE LINKS
• https://bkreader.com/2018/02/23/legacy-frederick-douglass-conversation-douglasss-great-great-grandson-lloyd-weaver/
• https://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/05/obituaries/frederick-s-weaver-did-public-relations-and-wrote-column.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Black_America