When Patrick Woodtor came from Liberia to study at Northwestern University, he was shocked to find that the U.S. had such high levels of poverty and discrimination. “I didn’t expect to see people living in worse conditions than some parts of Africa,” he says. “I saw people eating from garbage cans. I didn’t expect that in America.”
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After Woodtor earned a degree in transportation planning, he headed back to Liberia with his American wife. In 1982 rising political problems there sent him and his family back to the U.S. The failing economy here made it difficult to find a job, so he started selling clothes and artifacts he’d brought from home.
This year vendors from Senegal, Cameroon, the Gambia, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Morocco, and Egypt will attend the four-day event. The festival includes an exhibit featuring the work of 15 Chicago-based African, Caribbean, and African-American artists, films from Senegal, Nigeria, and the U.S., and workshops and seminars on black culture. The musical highlights are Zairean Afro-pop legend Tabu Ley Rochereau and L’Orchestre Afrisa International on Friday and reggae greats Black Uhuru on Monday.
