ABOUT COCOJAMS

WELCOME TO COCOJAMS.COM!

Cocojams is a mult-page website of children's playground rhymes & cheers, civil rights songs, fraternity & sorority cheers, military cadences, links to YouTube videos of Gospel songs, and so much more.

Click on the headings to the right to view the page that you want to read. When you click on the "Children's Rhymes & Cheers" heading, a sub-list will appear for pages of a number of different types of childrens' rhymes.

Cocojams differs from most other websites that provide examples of children's rhymes because of its folkloric approach to this material. By "folkloric approach" I mean that Cocojams.com is interested in providing multiple versions of selected rhymes, cheers, game songs, chants, and cadences. It also means that along with their examples, contributors are encouraged to provide as much demographical information that they can. Read more information about the folkloric approach to rhymes & other cultural material on Cocojams' FAQ page.

Much of the material on Cocojams are from readers' submission. Cocojams primarily focuses on African American oral traditions. However we welcome submission of material from non-African American cultures.

As Founder/Editor of Cocojams, it is my hope that Cocojams continues to be a website that people from all part of the world visit again and again. Although the majority of the pages focus on African American cultures, Cocojams does not favor contributors of examples or comments from any particular race, ethnicity, religion, gender, nationality, or sexual orientation.

It appears from the comments that are included with examples sent in for possible posting on this webite that a large percentage of Cocojams' visitors are children and pre-teens. For this reason, and because it meets my aesthetic preferences, Cocojams is a child friendly, family friendly website. This means that i will not approve any examples or comments that contain profanity, excessive violence, racist references or other language that does not meet Cocojams' standards. Click Cocojams's Posting Policy link to read about these policies.

The newly upgraded Cocojams has an internal Search Engine, This Search Engine will help you find material on this site such as titles of childeren's rhymes and titles of civil rights songs. Use Cocojams' search or advanced search feature for words or phrases found on this website. Usually the "page" selection on that feature will be the best selection to check for searches.

Special thanks to http://www.youtube.com/ for providing the wherewithal to embed videos.
The links to these featured videos may not remain viable. The links to these featured videos may not remain viable. Please notify me if any of these videos have been removed by emailing me at cocojams17@yahoo.com/ .

Also, be sure you check out the newest edition to my website family- http://www.jambalayah.com/ .

Jambalayah.com is a blog which showcases YouTube music & dance video gems. Most of these videos are from African American cultures. However, music & dance videos from other cultures in the United States and throughout the rest of the world are also showcased. Jambalayah is just a baby as it was conceptualized and launched on December 20, 2009.

I hope that the content on Cocojams.com and on Jambalayah.com will spark your interest, provide information, inspire you, and add something positive to your day.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Both Cocojams.com and Jambalayah.coms are volunteer efforts. Ms. Azizi Powell (me) is the Founder/Editor for both of these sites. I'm an African American mother, grandmother, African Storyteller, free lance artist, and community folkorist who resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

I started Cocojams.com in late 2000 thanks to a generous grant from the Multicultural Arts Initiative, jointly funded by The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Howard Heinz Endowment. I also received a grant for research & writing from The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and The Pennslyvania Humanities Council. My sincerest thanks to all of these organizations and departments.

Cocojams.com is not affiliated with any organization, although it used to be a project of the non-profit organization that I founded, Alafia Cultural Services. That organization is no longer active.

My purpose for starting Cocojams was to provide an online forum that would help gather, preserve, and disseminate African American children's playground rhymes. As you can see, while children's rhymes are still a large portion of Cocojams, the scope of this website has grown beyond that material.

I receive volunteer technical assistance for Cocojams and for Jambalayah from Lucas Onyango.Musewe, and Greg Simkins. Without the technical assistance from Lucas and Greg, these websites would not exist. Thank you, Lucas & Greg!

I'm also thankful to my daughter Tazi M. Powell for her support and feedback.

Special thanks to all those who have sent in examples and comments of children's rhymes & cheers and other material for possible posting on Cocojams.com. Without visitor content, this website wouldn't be as rich an experience and a resource as it is. Please keep the examples, comments, questions, and name inquiries coming!

**
Please let me know what you think of this website. The Cocojams readers comment page has been renamed to "What I Say", Comments, questions, examples of rhymes, cheers, chants, game songs, civil rights songs etc can be sent to cocojams17@yahoo.com.

I welcome examples, comments, and questions about the material on this site regardless of your race, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, nationality, or sexual orientation

Also, if you are a member of Facebook, join my Cocojams Jambalayah page.

Share! Learn! Enjoy!

Cocojams Jambalayah