Rabbi Gbaba's Acknowledgments from His "Golden Jubilee Address" to His Benefactors and People of Liberia

I thank Almighty God and all those who in the past and present have helped me along this tough and tedious cultural journey for fifty years. Furthermore, I should like to thank my mother, Princess Martha Gbeh-Nyennonh-Garh Gaye,

my father, Prince Jack Tomah Yeleyon Gbaba, my aunts Princess Kowoo Toweh, Voor-nyennonh Wilkins, Zulu Lassanah, Mama Solo, Alice Jarbah Wiles, General Wilmot D. and Amanda Stubblefield, Sam and Viola Davies-Johnson, Matthew and Beatrice Tweh, General Joseph Boima and Ruth Mooney-Barclay, General George Solah and Amelia Cummings Wiles, Archbishop Francis J. Carroll, Archbishop Michael Kpakala Francis, S.M.A. Catholic priests, the School Sisters of Nortre Dame, and the Christian Brothers of the Order of the Blessed Edmund Rice, for their blessings and spiritual guidance over the span of fifty years.

Also, I would be careless if I did not posthumously thank His Excellency William Richard Tolbert, Jr., 19th President of Liberia, and his Foreign Minister, C. Cecil Dennis, Jr., for their support and recognition during the formative years of my vocation. President Tolbert warmly embraced and recognized me as his “Precious Jewel”, as a Liberian playwright and theatre director, and both he and Honorable Cecil Dennis promoted me internationally.

Thanks go to my colleagues at the University of Liberia who co-founded Dehkontee Artists Theatre with me. They include but are not limited to Joshua Howard, Bill N. Ross, III, Claude Langley, Henrique Zobon Scott, Kathy Lokko, Mona Bedell, Alicia Murray, Melvin Smith, Christopher Diggs, etc. Special thanks and appreciation are in place for Dr. McKinley A. Deshield, Jr., and his younger brother Fredrick Russell Deshield, Sr., my two big brothers who helped to promote my talents during two different intervals of my vocation.

Dr. Deshield was there for me when I founded Dehkontee Artists Theatre forty-seven years ago at the University of Liberia where he was Dean of the College of Agriculture and Forestry. He served as DATI’s first Chief Sponsor and he laid the groundwork for me to attend UNC-Greensboro School of Theatre in the United States after I earned a B.A. degree in English Literature from Liberia College.

Honorable J. Jenkins Peal, Dr. Edward Binyan Kesselly, Jr., Ministers of information, and Deputy Minister for Culture and Tourism, Honorable Bai T. Moore and Congresswoman Melinda Jackson Parker, supported and ushered me into the Culture Bureau to study under and work with my artistic father, the renowned Liberian ethnographer, Honorable Bai T. Moore.? As a father, he blessed me and passed the baton unto me. He once told me, “I want you to continue the work I have begun when I can no longer do it.” His word being his bond, , Bai T. Moore recommended me to The University of North Carolina at Greensboro School of Theatre, from where I earned the Master of Fine Arts degree in Drama in 1983.?

Thank You, United States of America for Providing a Haven for Us!

Finally, I would like to thank the government and people of the United States of America that granted my wife, five children and me political asylum over two decades ago during the peak of the political strife in Liberia. Regarding my asylum status, the United States government did not only provide a haven when we needed one, but the government also provided us plenty of opportunities to educate our children and ourselves.

In addition, the U.S. government also funded my graduate and post-graduate studies, to enable me to pursue my second master’s degree in Elementary and Special Education and my Doctorate in Educational Leadership, with specialization in Afrocentric Curriculum Design and Textbook Production, at a Jesuit institution called St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Thanks to Secretary of Education Erne Duncan and President Obama for their empathy and timely assistance.

In conclusion, I am fully extremely thankful to the governments of the Republic of Liberia and the Federal Republic of the United States for providing me the privilege to further my education. Thanks to all who made it possible for me to reach this Golden Milestone, my 50th Anniversary as a playwright, theatre director, actor, and scholar/artist.

Rabbi Prince Joseph Tomoonh-Garlodeyh Gbaba, Sr., Ed. D.

Published January 9, 2024

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