Ernie Hudson Jr. | |
---|---|
Born | Earnest Lee Hudson Jr. [1] September 16, 1965 Benton Harbor, Michigan, U.S. |
Alma mater | C.W. Post-Long Island University (B.A.) California University of Pennsylvania (M.S.) |
Occupation(s) | Film, television actor |
Years active | 1984–present |
Father | Ernie Hudson |
Earnest Lee Hudson Jr. (born September 16, 1965) is an American actor, author, poet, and film producer.
In October 2021, he was affirmed as Togbui Kpogo Afenya I, an Ewe Chief in Frankadua, in the Eastern Region of Ghana, near the Volta. He currently serves as President of the Center for Ewe Culture, a non-profit which facilitates family reunification between African DNA carriers and their Continental DNA matches.
Togbui's (Earnest's) earliest creative influence was Detroit’s famed “Concept East,” of which his father was a contributing playwright/actor, with Togbui’s own formal training beginning at Los Angeles’ InnerCity Cultural Center (ICCC), as one of the founding participants in their Children’s Repertory Company. As a young adult, he was a featured performer in the 1984 Summer Olympics Closing Ceremonies, and continued to pursue performance excellence by earning the 1989 National Collegiate Gold Medal Champion title in Oral Forensics, attaining the rank of 5th Degree Black Belt, and obtaining a M.Sc. in Exercise Science. In true artistic fashion, Togbui continues to professionally perform and produce, expanding his skills-set as a television series regular on the HBO's "Oz", the release of the contemplative book, “Freestyle Prophecies & Sacred Ciphers,” the feature film, “The Karma Club,” and is a contributing author in Craig Duswalt’s 2021 released “1001 Ways to Rock Your Life.” His 15+ year corporate career in Talent Management has allowed him to perfect his skills of organizational leadership and corporate training.
Inspired by his mother’s work as an African Studies Professor at Cal State Long Beach under Dr. Maulana Karenga, Togbui began a serious study of genealogy when members of his family successfully matched DNA with persons from Nigeria and Ghana, who shared a common Ancestor most likely enslaved during Europe’s colonization of the African Continent. As much of the world’s common social perception is that it would be near-impossible to find such family, or to learn anything specific about one’s Continental origins beyond cultural generalities, Togbui immediately recognized the opportunity to shatter a social myth, and committed to reconnecting, reconciling, and reuniting with as many of his Continental DNA matched families as possible. In 2021, Togbui made an Ancestral Return to Ghana, meeting with 3 branches of his paternal DNA tree. Arriving in Ghana as Earnest, his Ewe family performed traditional divination on his behalf and learned that he was the reincarnation of his Ancestral Great Grandfather, Regent Kpogo I of Frankadua, Eastern Region Ghana. The current Regent of Frankadua, together with Frankadua’s Queen Mother and the Paramount Chief of Akwamu, H.R.H. Odeneho Kwafo Akoto III, affirmed Earnest as “Kpogo Afenya I,” later honoring him as a leader among his people by bestowing the title “Togbui” (Grandpa or King) upon him. Today, Togbui operates the non-profit Center for Ewe Culture to revitalize the town of Frankadua, Ghana, and to educate everyone about the importance of DNA testing, particularly among those who carry African DNA.
Togbui is a Lifetime Member of the high I.Q. group American Mensa, active in various charitable organizations, and continues to train corporate executives. He currently resides in New York.
In addition to his acting, Hudson is a published author of poetry.
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1997 | Butter | Marcus | |
1998 | Candyman: Day of the Dead | Jamal Matthews | |
1999 | Corrupt | Miles | |
Urban Menace | No-Dice | ||
2000 | The Wrecking Crew | Hakeim | |
Swordfish | Unnamed Character | ||
Our Lips Are Sealed | Agent Bruce Banner / Hulk | ||
2006 | Double Down | Officer Rico | Co-Producer |
2016 | The Karma Club | Tank Parker | Also Associate Producer |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1984 | TJ Hooker | Breakdancer | Episode "The Two Faces of Betsy Morgan" |
1998 | Soldier of Fortune, Inc. | Soldier | Episode "Hired Guns" |
1998 | Martial Law | Floyd Cross | Episode "How Sammo Got His Groove Back" |
1999 | The Practice | Testifying Officer | Episode "Legacy" |
1999-2000 | Oz | Hamid Khan | Recurring role |
2000 | Touched by an Angel | Joe Hicks | Episode "The Whole Truth and Nothing But..." |
The Norm Show | Clerk | Episode "Norm vs the Boxer" | |
JAG | Master Chief | Episode "Hero Worship" | |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2004 | BMW | ||
2002 | Johnson & Johnson | ||
2000 | Squirt Soda | ||
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
2016 | Freestyle Prophecies & Sacred Ciphers | Self Published |
William Still was an African-American abolitionist based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a conductor of the Underground Railroad and was responsible for aiding and assisting at least 649 slaves to freedom towards North. Still was also a businessman, writer, historian and civil rights activist. Before the American Civil War, Still was chairman of the Vigilance Committee of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, named the Vigilant Association of Philadelphia. He directly aided fugitive slaves and also kept records of the people served in order to help families reunite.
Kofi Awoonor was a Ghanaian poet, author and diplomat. His work combined the poetic traditions of his native Ewe people with contemporary and religious symbolism to depict Africa during decolonization. He started writing under the name George Awoonor-Williams, and was also published as Kofi Nyidevu Awoonor. He taught African literature at the University of Ghana. Professor Awoonor was among those who were killed in the September 2013 attack at Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, where he was a participant at the Storymoja Hay Festival.
Ewe is a language spoken by approximately 5 million people in West Africa, mainly in Ghana and Togo. Ewe is part of a group of related languages commonly called the Gbe languages. The other major Gbe language is Fon, which is mainly spoken in Benin. Like many African languages, Ewe is tonal as well as a possible member of the Niger-Congo family.
Ghana is a country of 33.48 million people and many native groups, such as:
Earnest Lee Hudson is an American actor. He is known for his role as Winston Zeddemore in the Ghostbusters franchise. Hudson has also acted in the films Leviathan (1989), The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992), The Crow (1994), Airheads (1994), The Basketball Diaries (1995), Congo (1995), Miss Congeniality (2000), and The Ron Clark Story (2006).
The Aja or Adja are an ethnic group native to south-western Benin and south-eastern Togo. According to oral tradition, the Aja migrated to southern Benin in the 12th or 13th century from Tado on the Mono River, and c. 1600, three brothers, Kokpon, Do-Aklin, and Te-Agbanlin, split the ruling of the region then occupied by the Aja amongst themselves: Kokpon took the capital city of Great Ardra, reigning over the Allada kingdom; Do-Aklin founded Abomey, which would become capital of the Kingdom of Dahomey; and Te-Agbanlin founded Little Ardra, also known as Ajatche, later called Porto Novo by Portuguese traders and the current capital city of Benin.
The Anlo Ewe are a sub-group of the Ewe people of approximately 6 million people, inhabiting southern Togo, southern Benin, southwest Nigeria, and south-eastern parts of the Volta Region of Ghana; meanwhile, a majority of Ewe are located in the entire southern half of Togo and southwest Benin. They are a patrilineal society governed by a hierarchal, centralized authority. Their language is a dialect of the Ewe language, itself part of the Gbe language cluster. The Ewe religion is centered on the Supreme God, Mawu and several intermediate divinities. Christianity has been accepted in every part of Anlo Ewe land, with a minority of people still practicing traditional Vodun beliefs. The Vodu religion is slowly becoming a previous religion among the Anlo Ewes, with the youth of the community today practicing Christianity much more. However, those who still practice the Vodu religion also believe their tradition is a factor that keeps integrity and probit, while Christianity stands to pave way for integrity, honesty and probity to be washed away as years go by. It is for this reason that some Anlo Ewe people do away with Christianity when it comes to issues of accountability.
The Ewe people are a Gbe-speaking ethnic group. The largest population of Ewe people is in Ghana, and the second largest population is in Togo. They speak the Ewe language which belongs to the Gbe family of languages. They are related to other speakers of Gbe languages such as the Fon, Gen, Phla /Phera, Ogun/Gun, Maxi, and the Aja people of Togo and Benin.
A genealogical DNA test is a DNA-based genetic test used in genetic genealogy that looks at specific locations of a person's genome in order to find or verify ancestral genealogical relationships, or to estimate the ethnic mixture of an individual. Since different testing companies use different ethnic reference groups and different matching algorithms, ethnicity estimates for an individual vary between tests, sometimes dramatically.
Kofi Anyidoho is a Ghanaian poet and academic who comes from a family tradition of Ewe poets and oral artists. He is currently Professor of Literature at the University of Ghana.
Padmore Enyonam Agbemabiese is a Ghanaian poet, scholar and lecturer in the Department of African American and African Studies at Ohio State University.
The Ghana Empire, also known as simply Ghana, Ghanata, or Wagadu, was a West African classical to post-classical era western-Sahelian empire based in the modern-day southeast of Mauritania and western Mali.
Togbe Ngoryifia Céphas Kosi Bansah, also known as Céphas Bansah, is the Ngoryifia of the Gbi Traditional area of Hohoe, Ghana.
West African mythology is the body of myths of the people of West Africa. It consists of tales of various deities, beings, legendary creatures, heroes and folktales from various ethnic groups. Some of these myths traveled across the Atlantic during the period of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade to become part of Caribbean, African-American and Brazilian mythology.
All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes, published in 1986, is the fifth book in African-American writer and poet Maya Angelou's seven-volume autobiography series. Set between 1962 and 1965, the book begins when Angelou is 33 years old, and recounts the years she lived in Accra, Ghana. The book, deriving its title from a Negro spiritual, begins where Angelou's previous memoir, The Heart of a Woman, ends — with the traumatic car accident involving her son Guy — and closes with Angelou returning to America.
The Avenor Ewe are a sub-tribe of the Ewe people of Ghana. The origin of the name Avenor is not known. Avenor could be loosely translated as forest dwellers.
The 1963 Togolese coup d'état was a military coup that occurred in the West African country of Togo on 13 January 1963. The coup leaders — notably Emmanuel Bodjollé, Étienne Eyadéma and Kléber Dadjo — took over government buildings, arrested most of the cabinet, and assassinated Togo's first president, Sylvanus Olympio, outside the American embassy in Lomé. The coup leaders quickly brought Nicolas Grunitzky and Antoine Meatchi, both of whom were exiled political opponents of Olympio, together to form a new government.
The North German Missionary Society or North German Mission is a Presbyterian Christian organisation based in Bremen formed on 19 April 1836 to unify missionary work in North Germany. The society has also been active among the Ewes in southeastern Gold Coast, now Ghana. The mission was engaged in New Zealand and India prior to concentrating its activities in Ghana from 1847.
Alexander Kwabena Baidooh Djiku is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Süper Lig club Fenerbahçe. Born in France, he plays for the Ghana national team.
Daniel Ahmling Chapman Nyaho was a Ghanaian statesman, diplomat and academic. He was the first African appointee at the United Nations. He served as the Secretary to the cabinet in the first Convention People's Party government which shared the colony's administration with the colonial government. He also served as Ghana's ambassador to the United States of America and Ghana's permanent representative to the United Nations. In 1958, he became the first Ghanaian headmaster of Achimota College.