Ethiopia, thou Land of Our Fathers

Blogger's Note:
This is a reprint from Miyazia (April-May) page of Ethiopian Calendar with primary source materials 2005 E.C. edition. It featured the poem 'Ethiopia, thou Land of Our Fathers' written by Rabbi Arnold Josiah Ford & E. Burrell which was adopted by Marcus Garvey’s organization, The United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) as the universal anthem of the Black race. It also contained brief biographical sketches of Rabbi Ford and of his wife Ms. Mignon Inniss Ford, the founder of Princess Zenebeworq coeducational boarding school in Ethiopia. Bonne lecture (enjoy reading).


I
Ethiopia, thou land of our fathers,
Thou land where the gods loved to be,
As storm cloud at night suddenly gathers
Our armies come rushing to thee.
We must in the fight be victorious
When swords are thrust outward to gleam;
For us will the victory be glorious
When led by the Red, Black and Green.
CHORUS - Advance, advance to victory,
Let Africa be free;
Advance to meet the foe
With the might
Of the Red, the Black and the Green.

II
Ethiopia, the tyrant's falling,
Who smote thee upon thy knees,
And thy children are lustily calling
From over the distant seas.
Jehovah, the Great One has heard us,
Has noted our sighs and our tears,
With His spirit of Love he has stirred us
To be One through the coming years.
CHORUS—Advance, advance, etc.

III
O Jehovah, thou God of the ages
Grant unto our sons that lead
The wisdom Thou gave to Thy sages
When Israel was sore in need.
Thy voice thro' the dim past has spoken,
Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hand,
By Thee shall all fetters be broken,
And Heav'n bless our dear fatherland.
CHORUS-Advance, advance to victory,

Arnold Josiah Ford (23 Apr. 1877-16 Sept. 1935) one of the writers of this poem & music composer of the Anthem was a Barbados-born Black nationalist who studied Music in England & took a job teaching music in Harlem New York city before immigrating to Ethiopia in the 1930s . He also studied Hebrew and the Talmud and Arabic and the Quran under Egyptian teachers. He founded the Beth B’Nai Abraham Synagogue for Aethiopian (Orthodox) Jews in America in 1924 and served as Rabbi for six years. He was also chief musician & organizer of the Marcus Garvey led United Negro Improvement Association. He met & developed close ties with Ethiopian delegates & luminaries such as Kentiba Ge-bru and Blaten Geta Hiruy. Responding to the Ethiopian call for assistance led by Dr. Melaku Beyan and Hakim Worqneh (a.k.a Dr. Martin) Rabbi Ford immigrated to Ethiopia in 1930. He married Mignon Ford, one of the educators he recruited to immigratie to Ethi-opia and died five years after settling in Ethiopia
Mignon Inniss Ford (19 Nov. 1905-15 Jan. 1995) was a Barbados-born educator liv-ing in New York city before she was recruited to emigrate to Ethiopia in the 1930s. Soon after her arrival in Ethiopia she married Arnold Ford. In 1935 when Fascist Italian forces were about to take over Ethiopia she promised her dying husband that she would not abandon Ethiopia and she cast her destiny with her Ethiopian brothers & sisters. When Ital-ian occupying forces left defeated and Ethiopia gained her independence in 1941, Mrs. Ford opened the first coeducational boarding school in the country, the Beit Aurieal School which was later renamed Princess Zenebe Worq School. The school underwent several name changes over the years and is now named after its founder “The Mignon Inniss Ford Memorial Kindergarten and Elementary Public School.” She successfully provided leader-ship to the school for many years until her retirement a few years before her death in 1995.
The Ford legacy of bridge building between African-Americans, Afro-Caribbeans and Ethiopians still exists and is being kept alive through the activities of The Mignon Inniss Ford Foundation.  
G. Adugna /T. Vestal