MICHAEL JOHN FRANKLIN, OAA PRESIDENT

OAA President Michael Franklin is a Jamaican-born US Citizen. He is the founder of the Organization of Africans in the Americas. His passion is helping to develop and to give a voice to the Black communities of Latin America. He is an international community organizer and a development expert and planner who speaks English, Spanish and Portuguese. He has helped develop Black community organizations throughout Latin America. He obtained his Bachelor degree in economics and international studies from American University. He received a Master’s degree from Harvard University in Education, specializing in administration, planning and social policy.

ERNEST McD. SKINNER, OAA VICE-PRESIDENT

OAA Vice-President Ernest Skinner is a native of Trinidad and Tobago. He lives in Washington, D.C. USA, where he is vice-president and community development director of Citibank, F.S.B., Mid-Atlantic region. He serves on numerous boards and commissions including the Washington, D.C Chamber of Commerce, the Metro Washington Bankers Group, and the Latino Civil Rights Task Force. He holds degrees from Howard University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Business.

JAMEELAH S. MUHAMMAD, OAA SECRETARY

OAA Secretary Jameelah Muhammad is a native of Chicago. She lives in Washington, D.C. where she teaches Spanish in the DC Public Schools. Her principal social interest is promoting the growth of the African diaspora throughout the world, focusing particularly on educating African Americans on the existence of other Blacks in Spanish-speaking America. She wrote one of the articles in the book Afro-Latin Americans Today(Pub:Minority Rights Group, London) about Blacks in Mexico. She has written other articles about Blacks and racism in Mexico, where she lived for five years. She has a Bachelors degree from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa and did graduate studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico(UNAM) in Mexico City.