December second, Kwanzaa first celebrated (1966). Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga, Kwanzaa's founder, received some of the money needed to develop and publicize Kwanzaa through a Unitarian Universalist fund set up to support black empowerment. Drawing from traditional West African harvest celebrations Kwanzaa was to strengthen the community, nurture people's positive African-American identity, and inspire wider pan-African solidarity.