About
The Katawud™ Story
Katawud Enterprises, LLC, is a global edutainment company based in Atlanta, GA. We create apparel, accessories, home & living items, films, music, exhibits, and other products inspired by World History and cultures, with a focus on Black History, cultures, economics, and lived experiences. Given the diverse makeup and international experience of our team, our products embrace and represent cultures and experiences across the globe. The Katawud brand celebrates independence, prosperity, and sustainable living that fosters mutual understanding among all peoples. Our products are produced and distributed worldwide from facilities in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Katawud is another name for the Cimarrones or Maroons or Jamaica - formerly enslaved indigenous and African people who escaped from Spanish and British slavery on the island’s coastal plantations hundreds of years ago. They carved out a new, independent life for themselves and their people in the rugged and remote mountains of the country and have lived there continuously from the 16th century until today. Over the centuries, the Maroon people also established their own economic system, and their most famous leader, the 18th century figure Queen Nanny, appears on a current Jamaican $500 bill.
The company’s founder, Dr. Harcourt Fuller, is a Maroon descendant. Dr. Fuller is a Fulbright Global Scholar and history professor who specializes in Word History, as well as African & African Diaspora History. He is also a numismatist (a coin and currency collector) who founded and is director of Black Money: World Currencies Featuring African and African Diasporic History and Cultures. The Black Money Exhibit is an online and travelling exhibition featuring currencies and related objects from more than 80 countries in Africa, Europe, and the Americas, which illustrates 10,000 years of Black History.
The Katawud™ logos
Katawud has not one, but two logos. One is a word logo with the “K” designed in the form of an Abeng - a side-blown cow’s horn that is a Maroon cultural symbol. Such animal horns are used as cultural symbols and musical instruments among other cultures throughout the world. The other Katawud logo is a gold coin featuring a central image of a Black Star beside a Black man and a Black woman positioned back-to-back. Gold is widely recognized as the ultimate form of currency and gold coins have been used for millennia as tangible, stable money in a variety of world cultures. Like the Sankofa bird symbol in West Africa, as well as the ancient Roman deity Janus, the figures on the Katawud gold coin logo are looking backward and forward, representing the duality, connections, and importance of both history and the future.
The Katawud clothing line™
Katawud produces history, culture, and wealth-inspired clothing, featuring comfortable, high quality graphic T-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, caps, hats, and face masks. We are excited to introduce the Katawud Black Money™ Collection, the Gold Coin Collection™, and the Black Icons Collection™. These collections are inspired by Black History, cultures, experiences, wealth, and prosperity, as represented by money from Africa and the African Diaspora. They feature graphic designs of Africans and people of African descent who have appeared on money – whether coins or banknotes – in different countries. These iconic figures include:
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Queen Nefertiti (Egypt)
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Marcus Garvey (Jamaica)
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Queen Nanny of the Maroons (Jamaica)
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Queen-Mother Nana Yaa Asantewaa (Ghana)
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Nelson Mandela (South Africa)
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Booker T. Washington (USA)
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Fredrick Douglas (USA)
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Other historical individuals such as Harriet Tubman who have been designated to appear on money in the future are also featured in our designs. Our collections also represent the people and cultures that are symbolic of Black wealth, power and economic prosperity, such as Osei Tutu I, founder of the Asante “Kingdom of Gold” in Ghana, and Mansa Musa, the 14th century king of the Mali Empire in West Africa, who is widely regarded as the wealthiest person in history! Please continue to check our website and subscribe to our social media platforms for information about current and new designs, which we will release periodically.
