Described as a “gifted community builder,” Jeannine Osayande grew up in the Historically Black Neighborhood of Swarthmore. She graduated from Swarthmore High School in 1979, where she played field hockey and ran track.
When she turned 18, she went to Leslie College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she grew involved in West African drum and dance traditions that then expanded to the African diaspora.
Osayande is currently a senior lecturer at Swarthmore College, where she teaches African dance and African diaspora dance. She also describes herself as a culturalist because she works within communities.
“I’m a folklorist more recently, because of the work that I do in my research work and community sharing that has to do with the historically black neighborhood of Swarthmore, but also African diaspora drum and dance traditions and the work that I do to preserve that,” Osayande said.
Victoria Shelter, a retired teacher at Westtown Elementary School and a current preschool teacher with the Little Panthers preschool, knows Osayande through her teaching of African Dance at Swarthmore Rutledge School and a residency program at Westtown.
Shelter describes Osayande as a big-hearted woman who brings joy, knowledge, and spirituality to everyone, and depicts working with Osayande as magical.
“We arranged for her to come into the classroom to meet the third graders,” Shelter said. “There were two classes of third graders she was going to work with, and she walked into my classroom and the kids, without any prompting, stood up and started clapping.”
Senior John-Paul Redmond, who is Osayande’s grandson, describes her as a kind and hardworking person.
“She’s always on the move. She’s always doing stuff for other people. She has helped me get through a lot,” Redmond said.
According to Osayande, learning about African diaspora drum and dance oral history helps to preserve and talk about people’s lives and what’s important to them.
“In addition to these cultures and these black cultural traditions, you’re able to learn things about who you are with your classmates in that relationship,” Osayande said.
Osayande has performed at WXPN World Cafe Live, the Lincoln Center, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music during the dance festival called Dance Africa. She became a dancer for the festival after seeing the festival with her friend from New York.
“When I saw those dancers on stage, something just came through me and I had this realization that if I kept studying, I could be one of those dancers on stage,” Osayande said.
Running track in high school helped Osayande believe in herself and to have confidence in who she is and her abilities.
“Mr. [Bob] Mudrick was the track coach and he never gave up on us, but pushed us beyond what we thought our limits were to show us how great we can be if we stay focused, trained, and disciplined,” Osayande said.
Osayande faced the challenge of balancing being a mom, wife, and artist while holding a corporate job at the same time.
“I can remember finishing the laundry at 4 a.m. because I’d have 21 loads of clothes to do, go home around four o’clock, sleep till 6:00 or 6:30, and get up to get everybody ready, and then go to work. That was regular,” Osayande said.
Osayande had a calling to African dance and drum traditions when she was pushed into a live drum and dance performance while attending Leslie College when she was eighteen. Later, she found out the woman who pushed her did it because she was tired.
“So her weariness was my inner calling. And 45 years later, this is exactly what I’ve done with my life, no regrets, but it’s not always been easy,” Osayande said.
