12/11/2024
Next on the Gullah House Show we sit down for a conversation with Chief Togbui Kpogo Afenya I!
You don't want to miss this episode!!
_____________________BIO_______________________
Togbui Kpogo Afenya I, Deputy to the Regent & Chief of Youth in the Frankadua Regency of
Eastern Region, Ghana, was born Earnest L. Hudson, Jr. in Michigan, USA, and has worked as a
professional actor/producer under the name Ernie Hudson, Jr. He is the son of actor Ernie Hudson &
Dr. Jeannie L. Hudson, Ph.D., lectures on Ancestral Reunification and Organizational Leadership,
and has enjoyed a successful career in corporate Training & Development. He currently serves as
President of the Akrobortu Center, a non-profit which facilitates familial reunification
between African DNA carriers and their Continental DNA matches.
Togbui’s earliest creative influence was Detroit’s famed “Concept East,” of which his father was a
contributing playwright/actor. Togbui’s own formal training began at Los Angeles’
InnerCity Cultural Center (ICCC), as a founding participant in their Children’s Repertory Company.
As a young adult, he was a featured performer in the 1984 Summer Olympics Closing Ceremonies,
then continued to pursue performance excellence by earning the 1989 National Collegiate Gold
Medal Champion title in Oral Forensics, attaining the rank of 5th Degree Black Belt, and obtaining a
M.Sc. in Exercise Science. Today, Togbui continues to professionally perform and produce, having expanded his skills-set as a television series regular on HBO’s, “OZ,” releasing the contemplative book, “Freestyle Prophecies & Sacred Ciphers,” producing the feature film, “The Karma Club,” and contributing as an author in Craig Duswalt’s 2021 released “1001 Ways to Rock Your Life.” His 15+ year corporate career in Talent Management has allowed him to perfect his skills of organizational leadership and corporate training.
Inspired by his mother’s work as an African Studies Professor at Cal State Long Beach under Dr.
Maulana Karenga, Togbui began a serious study of genealogy when members of his family matched
DNA with specific individuals from Nigeria and Ghana who most likely shared a common Ancestor
enslaved during Europe’s colonization of the African Continent. As much of the world’s common social perception is that it would be near-impossible to find such distant family, or to learn anything specific about one’s Continental origins beyond cultural generalities, Togbui immediately recognized the opportunity to shatter a social myth, and committed to reconnecting, reconciling, and reuniting with as many of his Continental DNA matched families as possible.
In 2021, Togbui made an Ancestral Return to Ghana, meeting with 3 branches of his paternal DNA tree. Arriving in Ghana as Earnest, his Ewe family performed traditional divination on his behalf and learned that he was the reincarnation of his Ancestral Great Grandfather, Regent Kpogo Akrobortu I of Frankadua, Eastern Region Ghana. The current Regent of Frankadua, Nana Asempa Akrobortu, together with the Queen Mother, and the Paramount Chief of Akwamu, H.R.H. Odeneho Kwafo Akoto III, affirmed Earnest as “Kpogo Afenya I,” and honored him by bestowing the title “Togbui” (Grandpa/King) upon him.
Today, Togbui operates the non-profit Akrobortu Leadership Project to revitalize the town of
Frankadua, Ghana, and to educate about DNA testing, particularly among those who carry African DNA. Togbui is a Lifetime Member of the high I.Q. group American Mensa, active in various charitable organizations, and continues to train corporate executives. He currently resides in New York.
