Ja Arthur Jahannes: Renaissance Man

​This is the last blog article exploring some of the intellectual capital that Savannah State University has offered Savannah. Ja Arthur Jahannes was born August 25, 1942. He was raised in Baltimore and earned a bachelor’s degree from Lincoln University, two masters degrees from Hampton University, and a doctorate from the University of Delaware. In 1981 he became the dean of the School of Humanities at Savannah State University.

He became a force in the intellectual community of Savannah and the world. He wrote plays, poems, essays, composed music (wrote two oratorios, two symphony librettos, two opera librettos, a song cycle and lyrics for more than 100 song), acted as a theater director, and lectured internationally. In his spare time he was an accomplished academic.  As a psychologist he was one of the early pioneers of black psychology, a scientific field that focuses on how people of African descent know and experience the world. His work can be found in the Journal of Ethnic Studies, Vital Speeches, the Journal of the National Medical Association, Upscale, and Ebony. He taught and led the departments of Haile Selassie University, (now The University of Ethiopia) Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Chair of the Departments of Professional Studies and Chair of the Department of Liberal Studies, Kyambogo University, Kampala, Uganda; Dean of the School of Education at Hampton University.

As if this did not already keep him too busy he was also the pastor of the Abyssinia Missionary Baptist Church in Savannah.

He was still creating unto his death. His last work ‘I Thought My Soul Would Rise and Fly’ premiered at the Jewish Education Alliance. The tickets were sold at his Celebration of Life Ceremony.
A phrase that explained his philosophy was ‘Unless we learn to know ourselves, we run the danger of destroying ourselves.” I close with a poem he wrote to show the brilliance of the man.

My children have never known peace
(Dedicated to Keorapetse Kgositsile)

my children have never known peace
my children have never been to sleep without fear
my children have no vision of kingdoms of joy
steeped too early in the harsh brine of truth
my children are given no time for dreams
steeled too early in forced hard emotions
- they cough too many bitter soliloquies

if I could give them one gift
it would be a news report that peace had broken out and claimed them
-so I could watch them hug each other as they yearn to do
it would be an answer to their anger
-something to make sweet poetry fall from their tongues
it would be an equation to end the self-doubt that disturbs their youth
-a storehouse to feast from in the glorious freshness of their age
it would be pages in a treasure book to write their hopes
to dedicate the lyrics which will season their songs
my gift would be a village surrounded by even chances
to nourish their unrealized genius
it would be the luxury to play games without penalties

my children have never known peace
my children have never been to sleep without fear
my children have no vision of kingdoms of joy

it saddens my soul that they are captives
quartered between justice denied and wanton greed
where they stand weaponless
I would make them a pledge
not to sleep until peace comes
not to smile until peace comes
not to sit down until peace comes
not to bargain with anybody who stands in the way of their peace
not to give refuge to my own brother and sister if they are enemies of the peace
not to regret any action I must take as long as peace is ducking and dodging
not to let any man rest who steals the peace

My children have never known peace
and I will die trying to help them find it in their own backyards
– July 5, 2015

Abyssinian Missionary Baptist Chuirch