I visited the Grave of Princess Laura Adorka Koffey in Jacksonville, Florida — the unusual mausoleum of a remarkable Pan-African religious leader whose rapidly growing movement came to a violent turning point with her assassination in 1928.
Laura Adorkor Kofey, whose surname appears historically as Kofi, Kofey, and Koffey, became widely known as Mother Kofi and Princess Laura. Born in what is now Ghana, she traveled throughout the United States preaching Christianity while promoting African unity, self-reliance, economic independence, and stronger connections between African Americans and their ancestral homeland.
Her extraordinary story eventually became closely connected with Jacksonville, where she established the headquarters of her own organization…