The People Behind the Journey

This project is led and inspired by the tireless efforts of historians who have dedicated their lives to the restoration of African history. We hope that participation in this project will help inspire the next generation’s of leaders.Who is Asa G. Hilliard?

Who is Asa G. Hilliard?

Dr. Hilliard was an Educator, Educational Psychologist and Historian. He achieved international recognition for excellence in all three disciplines. He was the Fuller E. Callaway Professor of Urban Education at Georgia State University, with joint appointments in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education. Dr. Hilliard wrote numerous technical papers, articles, and books on testing, Ancient African History, teaching strategies, public policy, cultural styles, and child growth and development. He consulted with many of the leading school districts, universities, government agencies, and private corporations on valid assessment, curriculum equity and teacher training. Dr. Hilliard was the co-developer (along with Listervelt Middleton) of the popular historical and educational television series, Free Your Mind, Return To The Source: African Origins. Dr. Hilliard and Mr. Middleton produced many videotapes and educational materials on African History through their production company, Waset Education Productions. Dr. Hilliard was a founding member of the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations (ASCAC) and passed in Egypt during ASCAC’s international conference on August 13, 2007. The ASA Restoration Project was established in 2008 to honor the educational and historical legacy Dr. Hilliard and preserve his memory.

Who is Dr. Elena?

Dr. Elena Pischikova

While in Egypt in 2008, Anthony Browder met a Russian born Egyptologist named Dr. Elena Pischikova who had recently discovered three Kushite tombs. Those who work with her affectingly refer to Dr. Pischikova as “Dr. Elena.” She was working as an art historian in a Russian museum when she met Bernard Bothmer, an American Egyptologist who was touring the country. Dr. Bothmer was one of the foremost experts in Egyptian and Kushite Art of the Late Period. He was impressed with Elena’s interest in Egyptian history and secured a scholarship for her to travel to the United States where he trained her in Egyptian Art. As an Egyptologist, Dr. Elena worked for the Metropolitan Museum in NYC and directed several restoration projects in Egypt. In her spare time, Elena searched for several lost Kushite tombs in an area known as South Asasif. These tombs had been written about in the 19th century but disappeared in the late 20th century. Her search paid off when she re-discovered three tombs in 2006, in the village of Ahmed el-Rassul, a descendant of the most infamous tomb robbing family in Egypt. For almost 200 years, the Rassul family stole thousands of tomb artifacts and sold them to Egyptologist, collectors and tourists from all over the world. The Rassul’s used these ancient tombs as their personal ATM’s with no regard for the people who were buried in them. The Rassul’s had already looted the tombs that Dr. Elena re-discovered. But despite the loss of their contents, these tombs are important because they connect Kushite History to Kemetic History; this association is critical to the intellectual development of African Americans. This was Dr. Elena’s motivation for reaching out to the African American community and this is what has endured her to us. In 2008, Browder established the ASA Restoration Project to raise funds for the South Asasif Conservation Project and to honor the life of Dr. Hilliard who passed in 2007. In addition to fundraising, the ASA Restoration Project has donated computers, supplies and equipment for the excavation and has sponsored three excavation missions. We represent the first African Americans to fund and participate in an Egyptian excavation.

Who is Anthony Browder?

Who is Anthony T. Browder ?

Anthony T. Browder is an artist, author, researcher, publisher, cultural historian, and an educational consultant. He has lectured extensively throughout the United States, Mexico, Africa, Japan, Belize, the Caribbean and Europe, on topics pertaining to African and African American History and Culture. Mr. Browder is the founder and director of IKG, a culturally oriented organization that is dedicated to the dissemination of “ancient Egyptian history and wisdom.” He is also the director of the IKG Cultural Resource Center in Washington, D.C. Through these two institutions Mr. Browder sponsors lectures, seminars and publishes his research. Mr. Browder has personally escorted over 40 study tours to Egypt since 1987 and has participated in excavations in Luxor, Egypt since 2009. He is the author of From The Browder File, Volumes I and II, Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization, Egypt on the Potomac, and Avatar Revisited. He has also co-authored My First Trip to Africa and Africa on My Mind, with his daughter Atlantis. All of Mr. Browder’s publications are currently being used in classrooms throughout the United States and Africa, the Caribbean, Japan and England. Browder has written, produced and directed documentaries for his publications Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization and Egypt on the Potomac. He is also a consultant for numerous historical documentaries including Malcolm’s Echo, Nubian Spirit and Motherland. Browder is also the director of the ASA Restoration Project and is the first African American to finance excavations in Egypt and lead archeological missions in the Nile Valley. “Tony” describes himself as a chronicler of facts and information relative to the positive portrayal of the worldwide African experience.