Link to Zamani Refuge, our 501(c)3 Mother Organization

Zamani Refuge African Culture Center 501(c)3

Want information on our credentials? Click on the link below for our CV.

Link to our curriculum vitae

Our ancestry, philosophy and experience of intolerance.

How ancestry shaped the way we were born and raised.

This is a page about us; our ancestry, our cultural heritage, our experience of racism and our meeting through the melting pot of integration in the United States. The watch word of the 60's was 'overcoming.' However, we still struggle as human beings over differences in ancestry. Our family philosophies about racism and integration evolve over time in order for us to live in a better world.

Valeria was born in segregation. Her early years spent in segregated Lake Como, which was the 'colored' section of Ft. Worth, Texas. One bright side of segregation was that black communities were self-sufficient. Children where insulated in the segregated communities, from the virulent racism of the south through family and church and school.

Being a bit of a brat, she playfully challenged the status quo by sneaking drinks from the “Whites Only” water fountain thereby giving her grandmother a panic attack. African ancestry was not a valued at this time in America. Racism was rampant and it would be many years before her ancestry was appreciated.

My African-American mother and father; Helen and Vernell Watson at their wedding at my grandparents house in Lake Como, Fort Worth, Texas.

To read more about our ancestry, click here!

To read about our marriage and finding Orisa in Nigeria click here!

Link About our work in Mexico!