Sankofa Camping Club of Michigan

Club History

The History of The Sankofa

 Camping Club of Michigan

Recreational Vehicle Association Camp Rally held at the Buena Vista Camping Park in New Jersey, in

August of 1997. During this time NAARVA decided to start the concept of chartered chapters that were

divided into regions, a concept borrowed from the Family Motor Coach Association. At that same Annual

Camp Rally the members in attendance voted to adopt the name Sankofa which was suggested by one

of our members Melvin Hooten. He stated that the word Sankofa comes from the name of a “Mythical

African Bird which walks forward but looks backwards so as not to make the same mistakes in the future.”

The following members were chosen as officers to get our organization started: President Al Robinson,

Vice President William Lassiter, Secretary Dinah Davenport, and Treasurer Charles Powell. Upon

returning to Detroit the officers gathered at the home of Lamar and Dinah Davenport and put together

our objectives, adopted the creative version of the Sankofa Bird, designed by William Lassiter, and

decided to open a checking account with First Independence National Bank an African-American full

service bank.

The officers and organizers of Sankofa set in place an Annual Rally to be held the second week-end of

June. This rally and time was set to inform the membership of what was on the agenda and appoint

voting Delegates for NAARVA’s Annual Camp Rally. The other was an opportunity for the club to give

back to its members each year in some way from the club’s treasure. Lastly, it was determined that any

other camp outings were when members wanted to get together and camp. Immediately Sankofa

become the largest camping club in the Northern Region.

On June, 1998 the Sankofa Camping Club of Michigan held its’ first annual camp outing. At this camp

outing the membership chose its official colors, approved the logo created by William Lassiter as well as

the embroidery company that would produce the club’s merchandise.

Our goals and objectives have always been to further the development of NAARVA and to spread the

word to other black RVer’s that there is an organization offering African-Americans the opportunity to form