Omowale Akintunde facts for kids
Omowale Achebe Akintunde is an African-American professor, film director, and author. He is interested in topics like education, race, and how different groups of people live together. He used to lead the Department of Black Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He also won a regional Emmy award for his short film called An Inaugural Ride to Freedom.
Early Life and Education
Omowale Akintunde was originally named Darrell Lewis. He grew up in Mobile, Alabama. He received a special scholarship to attend Alabama State University. There, he studied music education and played in the famous Marching Hornets band. He finished his first degree in 1979.
After teaching music in schools and serving in the United States Army, Akintunde went back to Alabama State University in 1992. He earned a master's degree in music education. He then received another scholarship, called the Gus T. Ridgel fellowship, to study for his doctorate at the University of Missouri in Columbia. In 1996, he earned his Ph.D. His studies focused on teaching methods and African American history. His special project was about using rapping to teach music to middle school students. While at the University of Missouri, he was inspired by a scholar named Sunidata Chajua to change his name to Omowale Achebe Akintunde.
In 2007, he also studied directing at the New York Film Academy.
Academic Career
Akintunde's first job at a university was as a professor at the University of Wyoming. In 1996, he helped start an annual event called the Shepard Symposium on Social Justice. This event focuses on fairness and equality for everyone. In 2003, he became a professor at the University of Southern Indiana.
Later, he moved to the University of Nebraska at Omaha. From 2008, he was the head of the Department of Black Studies there. He also helped edit the Journal of the National Association of Multicultural Education. He later retired from the university. After that, he started working full-time as a consultant, helping groups understand diversity, and as a filmmaker.
Film Career
Akintunde has made several films. Some of his early works include Communion and Mama 'n 'Em. Mama 'n 'Em was even shown at the Hollywood Black Filmmaker Festival. In 2009, he remade his student film, Wigger, into a longer movie. This film explores racism in America. It tells the story of a white teenage boy whose best friend is Black. The boy loves Black culture and wants to be an R&B singer. Wigger was first shown in Omaha in April 2010.
His short film An Inaugural Ride to Freedom is a documentary. It shares the thoughts and experiences of a group from the University of Nebraska. They took a bus trip to see the inauguration of Barack Obama in January 2009. Barack Obama was America's first Black president. This film came out in 2010 and won a regional Emmy Award for Best Documentary. In 2013, Akintunde made another film about Obama's second inauguration. His first film was also shown again on PBS to celebrate the event.
In 2019, he wrote, produced, directed, and acted in a TV show pilot called It Takes a Village.
Writing Career
Omowale Akintunde has also written books for children. His book The Adventures of Darrell and the Invincible Man was published in 2007. It was nominated for an award for outstanding multicultural children's books. He also wrote The Trouble With 'Normal' and The Trouble With Different for young readers.
Filmography
- Holy Smoke (2007) – Writer/Director
- Hollywood and Vying (2007) – Writer/Director
- Black and Blue (2007) – Writer/Director
- Switch Swap (2007) – Writer/Director
- Communion (2007) – Writer/Director
- Wigger, a Short Film (2008) – Writer/Director
- Mama 'n' Em (2008) – Director
- An Inaugural Ride to Freedom (2009) – Producer/Director
- Wigger (2010) – Writer/Director
- An Inaugural Ride to Freedom: The Journey Continues (2013) – Director/Producer
- It Takes A Village (2019) – Writer/Producer/Director
