Called to Sankofa is a collection of Hurricane Katrina survival stories by African American education leaders in New Orleans. It draws upon the West African concept, Sankofa, which loosely translates to "return to the source and fetch." The griots, through their stories, fetch salvageable and knowledge-laden valuables linked to their resilience and rebuilding efforts. Thus, the Sankofa concept serves as a lens for examining leadership in the aftermath of disaster; it serves as an intense magnifier and illuminator of lessons considered relevant and profoundly valuable to guide one's understanding of how to lead in, through and beyond disaster. Past experiences yield teachable moments. The lessons excerpted from these moments reveal the sources from which the leaders draw the resilience to recover from trauma, the vision to guide others, the courage to challenge the status quo, the imagination to make a way where there is none and the stamina to press beyond peril toward an unpromised future.

Norman C. Francis: Foreword: Mending a City of Broken Hearts and Lost Treasures - Tammie M. Causey-Konaté: Preface - Matthew Causey: Efforts to Return to Normalcy: Lessons Learned and Value Added in the Aftermath of Katrina - Tammie M. Causey-Konaté: Sankofa Crossing: To Katrina and Back - Margaret Montgomery-Richard: Leading In, Through and Beyond Disaster: An African American Woman's Account of Leadership Pre- and Post-Katrina - Toya Barnes-Teamer: Beyond Disaster: The Journey of an African-American Woman's Leadership Experience at a Two-Year Postsecondary Institution and a Historically Black University - Torin T. Sanders: Orleans Parish School Board Politics and Policy Post-Katrina - Darlene Morgan Brown: A Community of Survivors - Elenora Mackey Cushenberry: When Absence Is Sufficient - Tammie M. Causey-Konaté: A Storm by Any Other Name - About the Editors - About the Contributors.