In Memoriam
Keith "Kamu" Jennings, Ph.D.
Dr. Keith Jennings was an internationally recognized human rights and democratic development specialist. He served as President and CEO of the African American Center for Global Politics and Human Rights (CHR) based in Atlanta, Georgia. In that capacity, he set the overall direction and strategy for the organization and was responsible for guiding and coordinating the implementation of CHR’s Strategic Plan, and for measuring success against its goals. He was also the senior strategist responsible for developing programs and campaigns aligned with CHR’s mission, which addresses domestic and international concerns.
Dr. Jennings possessed over three decades of international experience in promoting democratic development and respect for international human rights standards. He traveled extensively, to more than 70 countries on five continents, and he worked in 40. He also participated in and addressed international forums and conferences sponsored by the African Union (AU), the Organization of American States (OAS), and the United Nations (UN).
Dr. Jennings was a former Sr. Associate and Regional Director for Southern and East Africa at the National Democratic Institute (NDI). While with NDI he also served as the Institute’s Director of Citizen Participation and as an NDI Country Director in Indonesia, Liberia, Mozambique, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Africa and Zambia. Dr. Jennings was also a Regional Director for Amnesty International mid-Atlantic region (the organization’s first African American director) and Deputy Regional Director for its Southern Region. Dr. Jennings also coordinated Amnesty’s cultural diversification program and served as the National Coordinator for the World Council of Churches’ Human Rights Campaign on Racism in the United States and was a consultant with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Carter Center, the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF), the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the AFL-CIO and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU).
Dr. Jennings earned his Ph.D. and Master’s degrees in Political Science from Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia, a Certificate in Quantitative Social Science from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and a Certificate in International Human Rights from the Canadian Human Rights Foundation in Montreal, Canada. He was an honors graduate of Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he earned his Bachelors of Arts degree in Public Administration and also served on the University’s Board of Trustees for three years following his graduation.
Dr. Jennings served as an adjunct professor at Howard University, American University, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Clark Atlanta University, where he taught graduate courses on U.S. Foreign Policy, Health and Human Rights, Theories of International Relations, International Relations of African States, Pan-Africanism, African Americans and Human Rights, and Black Politics. He also lectured at the University of Addis Ababa, University of Ibadan, the University of Indonesia, the University of Ghana, the University of Nairobi and the University of South Africa. He was the author of numerous scholarly and popular articles and book chapters on Black Politics, the Challenges of Nation Building, Democratic Development, Gentrification, Human Rights, and Youth Unemployment among others. Dr. Jennings testified before the United States Congress’ House Sub-Committee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights. He was also a frequent media commentator on international affairs.