In Touch With Chief Condra Ridley
By Betty Miller Buttram
FWIS Contributing Writer
The African village chief’s leadership varies across Africa’s diverse cultures from the regal Ashanti kings of Ghana to the village headsmen of smaller communities. The chiefs have a wide range of responsibilities and power. What unites them in their roles is maintaining social order and representing their people. It is about responsibility and a commitment to preserving their cultural heritage. In some cultures, women have the leadership role of a village chief with significant political and spiritual power. In other cultures, they exert influence through queen mothers or other prominent positions within the community. Their contributions to social, economic, and political life are essential for the well-being of the community.
In August 2008, King Adetunji David Ajayi of Ekiti, Nigeria, honored Condra Ridley and four other community servants with the title of Chief for their contributions toward building better relations between cultures in Fort Wayne and abroad. On February 22, 2025, Sharon L. Tucker, Mayor of Fort Wayne issued a Proclamation designating February 22, 2025, as CHIEF CONDRA RIDLEY DAY. Also, on that same day, the Fort Wayne Urban League honored her by dedicating a welcoming space within their building by naming it the Chief Condra Ridley Library. The dedication ceremony began with two drummers welcoming the spirit of the community into the room for all who came to honor Chief Condra. It was standing room only and friends and family greeted each other with smiles and reminiscences.
Aisha R. Arrington, President & CEO, Fort Wayne Urban League, shared her story on how she met Chief Condra. She was a 10-year-old girl living in a white foster home and the judge handling her case insisted that the white family take her around other Black people and encouraged them to sign her up for some kind of Black history so that she could learn about who she was. She attended a Black History session series at the Pontiac Library taught by Mrs. Condra Ridley. It was the first time that she saw someone who she could see herself in and who inspired her to be more and to dream bigger dreams for herself. Arrington stated that the Condra Ridley Library is dedicated to fostering a love of reading and lifelong learning. The library features a diverse collection of books that are inspirational, educational, and empowering.
Chief Condra greeted the audience with love proclaiming the day was God’s blessing. She asked the audience to join their voices in singing the hymn, “God Has Smiled On Me.” She stated that there is no better way of showing joy and unity by blending our voices together in harmony.
As a little girl, Chief Condra was always reading books. She had a book satchel that was given to her by her grandfather that she loved getting more than anything else. She gave testament to her grandmother, her father’s mother, who taught children to read in a one room school in Florence, Alabama her whole life. She honored her mother, her 95-year-old father, and gave respectful honors to other members of her family. Chief Condra stated that it was important that we honored those who had gone before us and made efforts to learn to read when reading was against the law for our ancestors who were enslaved. We should treasure the reading of words. Every opportunity that we have to share a good word, the truth, and the wisdom that we need to help us to grow and move into a powerful future. Let us honor those words and the wisdom that has been left behind by our parents and ancestors. Let the truth be told and let us be the ones to tell the truth.
Chief Condra also shared that this is a library that can grow. The Urban League needs to grow. A lot of great things have happened in our community because of the Urban League striving for education, opportunities, and rights. We know that we need to ban together. There is nothing we cannot do if we get together. In the name of the ancestors, let us make a commitment to them to pull together, to promote this place and all places including the African /African American Historical Society Museum which houses information about the Urban League’s earlier years. We have a lot of work that is before us and let us prepare.
She went on to announce that she is working as part of a team with the Urban League at the African/African American Historical Society Museum in planning a family reading program beginning in February 2025 to February 2026 which will mark the one hundredth anniversary of Negro History Week started by our great historian Carter G. Woodson. She hopes that by next year, we will be encouraging lots of families to read. We are glad to call our program, “Families that Read Together, Succeed Together.”
After Chief Condra’s words of wisdom, the ceremony concluded, and the audience was invited to tour the Chief Condra Ridley Library. There were refreshments and an abundance of fellowship.
Chief Condra Ridley is a leader who inspires her community to come together to learn more about their ancestral heritage and reading books is a way to gather that knowledge as to who we are as a people.