#National Museum of African American Music

[backshotsandwafflehouse]

[redcarpetview]

NEW MUSIC: Tamar Braxton “You Bring the Love” Lifted From WE SOUND CRAZY PODCAST

Photo Credit: Kaylee Steffel

We Sound Crazy, the critically acclaimed podcast and radio show, premiered “You Bring the Love” featuring Grammy-nominated superstar Tamar Braxton on all major digital streaming platforms. Written and produced by We Sound Crazy co-hosts Claude Kelly and Chuck Harmony, the holiday track is the first original song released under We Sound Crazy in partnership with Tamar Braxton Productions and MNRK.

With the debut of “You Bring the Love,” We Sound Crazy enters its latest era of expansion as the first and only podcast to create and distribute original music featuring some of the most talented artists of today. Listeners can expect additional tracks to accompany future episodes throughout the season.

Hosted by industry vets Claude Kelly, Chuck Harmony, Tamone Bacon and Phil Thornton, We Sound Crazy is a go-to destination for authentic and transparent conversation with a ‘who’s who’ in music, television and film. This week’s episode features rising R&B trio The Shindellas. Past guests include Usher, Mary J. Blige, Kim Burrell, Jennifer Hudson, SWV, Kirk Franklin, Tevin Campbell, Raphael Saadiq & Tony! Toni! Toné!, Tamar Braxton, Erica Campbell, Donald Lawrence, Durand Bernarr, Mignon Francois, and more. 

The SiriusXM broadcast of We Sound Crazy is made possible by strategic partnerships with the National Museum of African American Music, Visit Music City, Miles Ahead Broadcasting and distributor Mocha Podcasts Network. The show can be found on HUR Voices Channel 141 on SiriusXM and Atlanta’s Peachtree TV (WPCH), Monday’s at 7PM EST.

"You Bring the Love" is available on all major digital streaming platforms: HERE. Subscribe to We Sound Crazy on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube and all major podcast platforms.

Follow We Sound Crazy:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wesoundcrazy/

Facebook: http://facebook.com/wesoundcrazy

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wesoundcrazy

Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wesoundcrazy

Official Website: https://www.wesoundcrazy.com

[luxebeat]

Experience the sights, sounds and flavors of Nashville

Experience the sights, sounds and flavors of Nashville

If you’re a first timer to Nashville, you’re in for a treat. Expect to have ample opportunities to hear quality music, both in hallowed halls, as well as in the numerous bars and honky-tonks. After all, this is Music City! But you might be surprised to discover that museums also take center stage in Nashville. You can delve into the lives of well-known musicians and producers, learn about Civil…

[paulpingminho]

[keepersofnostalgia]

Big Band legend Erskine Hawkins photographed for Bluebird Records (an RCA Victor sub-label) sometime in the late 1930s or early 1940s.

Hawkins and his Orchestra are quite popular on WINE-DOWN SUNDAYS - listen to previous episodes here: https://buff.ly/3tmMM7P

[NMAAHC - Digital Collections]

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

Ritchie Valens - La Bamba 1958

"La Bamba" is a Mexican folk song, originally from the state of Veracruz, also known as "La Bomba". The song is best known from a 1958 adaptation by rock and roll pioneer and forefather of the Chicano rock movement Ritchie Valens, which became a Top 40 hit on the US charts. Valens's version is ranked number 345 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. "La Bamba" has been covered by numerous artists, notably by Los Lobos whose version was the title track of the 1987 film La Bamba, a bio-pic about Valens; their version reached number 1 on many charts in the same year. Their music video won the 1988 MTV Video Music Award for Best Video from a Film.

"La Bamba" is a classic example of the son jarocho musical style, which originated in the Mexican state of Veracruz, and combines Spanish, indigenous, and African musical elements. "La Bamba" likely originated in the last years of the 17th century. The oldest known historical references come from the town of Alvarado, Mexico, where it apparently was performed with an atypically lively rhythm. The oldest recorded version known is that of Alvaro Hernández Ortiz, who recorded the song with the name of "El Jarocho". His recording was released by Victor Records in Mexico in 1938 or 1939, and was reissued on a 1997 compilation by Yazoo Records, The Secret Museum of Mankind Vol. 4.

Ritchie Valens learned the song in his youth. In 1958 he recorded a rock and roll flavored version of "La Bamba", originally released as the B-side of his number-two hit "Donna". His recording of the song was inducted into the Latin Grammy Hall of Fame and the Grammy Hall of Fame. On February 3, 1959, on what has become known as "The Day the Music Died", Valens died in a plane crash in Iowa, an accident that also claimed the lives of fellow musicians Buddy Holly and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, as well as their pilot. Valens was 17 years old at the time of his death. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, the Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame, the California Hall of Fame, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2018, his version of "La Bamba" was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

"La Bamba" received a total of 92,2% yes votes!

[newyorkthegoldenage]

One of the artists commissioned to create a new work for the 1939-40 World's Fair was the sculptor Augusta Savage. A leading member of the Harlem Renaissance, she was the only black woman to be so honored.

Her piece, intended to celebrate African-Americans’ contributions to music, showed a kneeling black man holding a bar of music and 12 black chorus singers representing strings on a harp, the sounding board of which was no less than the hand of God. She called it Lift Every Voice and Sing, a nod to a poem by her friend James Weldon Johnson that was later set to music and adopted as the black "national anthem" by the NAACP.

The work stood 16 feet tall and was made of plaster that had been lacquered to look like black basalt. She was paid $360 for it (around $8,000 in today's dollars) and it was placed in the courtyard of the Contemporary Arts Building, near one of the Fair’s gates. Fair officials renamed it The Harp, which Savage reportedly hated. Small metal replicas were sold as souvenirs, and images of it were reproduced on postcards.

When the Fair ended, Savage had no money to remove and store her sculpture, or to cast the large piece in bronze, as she had with other, smaller works. So, like all the other "temporary" artwork created for the Fair, it was destroyed by a bulldozer.

In 2017, a NY Times op-ed piece by the filmmaker Aviva Kempner proposed that a full-size replica of the sculpture be created and placed in front of the National Museum of African-American History & Culture in Washington. So far, there has been no movement towards carrying that idea out.

Photos: top and center, NYPL. Bottom, illustration from the book Harlem: Negro Metropolis (E.P. Dutton 1940) via The Wolfsonian–FIU.

[blackexcellence]

#BlackHistory365 Art Round-Up ⬇️

Elsa Soares via @rodrigoincolors

"This is Elsa Soares. She's one of the biggest names in Brazilian music and considered a matriarch of Brazilian black artistry. BBC named her the voice of the millenium and she was one of the most important and loudest voice against racism, LGBTQIA+ and women rights, among other social causes. She's died yesterday at age 91. This is a very simple, but sincere tribute to her. May you rest in power!

Please, listen to her music and search more about this great woman."

2. Portrait of Sarah Forbes Bonetta by Hannah Uzor via @fyblackwomenart

Portrait of   Sarah Forbes Bonetta by  Hannah Uzor

Sarah Forbes Bonetta  was an Egbado princess of the Yoruba people in West Africa who was orphaned during a war with the nearby Kingdom of Dahomey and later became the slave of King Ghezo of Dahomey. In a remarkable twist of events, she was liberated from slavery by Captain Frederick E. Forbes of the British Royal Navy and became a goddaughter to Queen Victoria. She was married to Captain James Pinson Labulo Davies, a wealthy Lagos philanthropist.

3. Marian Anderson by @novva

I’ve always wanted to do a series on black classical singers for BHM, so here’s a sketch I squeezed in this week—a tribute to the great Marian Anderson!

Marian Anderson (February 27, 1897 – April 8, 1993) was an African-American opera singer and contralto. In 1939, after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow Anderson to sing to an integrated audience in Washington, D.C, then First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt arranged for Anderson to perform an open-air concert on the Lincoln Memorial steps on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939. She was able to deliver a critically acclaimed performance before an integrated crowd of more than 75,000 people, and a radio audience in the millions.

Read more about her accomplishments here, and donate to the National Marian Anderson Museum here.

Remember: tag your history & trailblazers art with #BlackExcellence365 for a chance to be featured!

And keep your eyes out for next month's theme... 👀

[cinamun]

I have chills, and I'll tell you why:

I ended up not using this picture because the music template was too small and I didn't want to do it over again

I ended up just removing the template and using the pic without edits. But the whole reason why I wanted to give you guys the song Jackson was listening to was because of the CC vinyl on the bottom right which is of course, the imcomparable Lady Day aka Billie Holiday.

I was googling something just now and found out its her birthday!! And then I kept reading...

She was a tormented soul for most of her life and, according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture,

"Holiday was open about her bisexuality despite not being socially acceptable at the time. After years of substance abuse, Holiday's body had grown weary and she died from heart failure on July 17, 1959, at age 44."

Heartbreaking....

Here's the song:

And here she is with her dog Mister. Truly an icon.

[ausetkmt]

February is Black History Month, a time dedicated to honoring and celebrating the essential contributions of Black people in the story of America. National and local events and online celebrations will take place throughout the month to focus attention on Black people's achievements and history. 

Since 1976, the US has marked the contributions of Black people and celebrated the history and culture of the Black experience in America every February. Read on to learn more about Black History Month and the ways in which you can participate.

The story of Black History Month

Born as a sharecropper in 1875, Carter G. Woodson went on to become a teacher and the second African American to earn a doctorate from Harvard. He founded the Association for the Study of African American Life and History in 1915 and eventually became known as the "father of Black history."

On Feb. 7, 1926, Woodson announced the creation of "Negro History Week" to encourage and expand the teaching of Black history in schools. He selected February because the month marks the birthday of the two most famous abolitionists of the time -- Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Feb. 1 is also National Freedom Day, a celebration of the ratification of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in the US.

By the 1940s, schools in Woodson's home state of West Virginia had begun expanding the celebration to a month, and by the 1960s, demands for proper Black history education spread across the country. Kent State's Black United Students proposed the idea of a Black History month in 1969 and celebrated the first event in February 1970. President Gerald Ford officially recognized Black History Month in 1976 during the US bicentennial. 

The excellent history site BlackPast has a full biography of Carter Woodson and the origins of Black History Month. 

Visit a Black or African American history museum

Almost every state in the US has a Black history museum or African American heritage site. The country's first and oldest is the Hampton University Museum in Hampton, Virginia. Like many other museums, it offers a virtual tour and online exhibits.

One of the most famous of these museums is the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The museum, which is located steps away from where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, allows you to sit with Rosa Parks on the bus that inspired the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955, among many other powerful exhibits.

African-American heritage sites include historic parks and other significant locations and monuments in Black history. Some of the most popular include Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas, the epicenter of US school desegregation. You could also consider visiting the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park in Atlanta.

If there's no museum or heritage site near you, keep an eye out for the Black History Mobile Museum, which traverses the country all month and through the summer. Throughout February you can find the mobile museum in several states, starting in New Jersey on Feb. 1 and making its way through 12 other states. See the full list of 2023 tour dates here. 

Learn about Black music history by listening online

Marley Marl and Mr. Magic were superstar rap DJs for WBLS FM in the 1980s. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

From spirituals and blues to the rise of jazz, R&B and hip hop, Black music has been entwined with American culture for centuries. 

There are lots of ways to learn about and experience the power of Black American music online. One of the most extensive and free resources is the Black Music History Library, created by Jenzia Burgos. The compendium includes an array of Black music sources, with links to music samples, full recordings and interviews, as well as books and articles.

Another remarkable Black music website is the #312 Soul project. Originally launched as a month-long series on Chicago's Black music from 1955 to 1990, the site publishes original stories from Chicago residents about their personal experiences creating and enjoying Black music.

For snapshots of Black music between 1982 and 1999, check out the Hip Hop Radio Archive, a collection of radio show recordings from commercial, college and independent hip-hop stations. Of particular note are classic radio shows from New York City's WBLS, featuring Rap Attack with Marley Marl and Mr. Magic.

Online streaming music services also curate collections for Black History Month -- Spotify has an extensive collection of Black music in its Black History is Now collection. Tidal and Amazon Music also include special Black music collections on their services.

Support Black-owned businesses and restaurants

Becoming a customer of local Black businesses helps protect livelihoods and supports Black entrepreneurs.

If you aren't sure which businesses in your area are owned and operated by your Black neighbors, several resources can help. Start off by learning how to find Black-owned restaurants where you live. 

Several directories have now been created to highlight and promote Black businesses. Official Black Wall Street is one of the original services that list businesses owned by members of the Black community.

Support Black Owned uses a simple search tool to help you find Black businesses, Shop Black Owned is an open-source tool operating in eight US cities, and EatOkra specifically helps people find Black-owned restaurants. Also, We Buy Black offers an online marketplace for Black businesses.

The online boutique Etsy highlights Black-owned vendors on its website -- many of these shop owners are women selling jewelry and unique art pieces. And if you're searching for make-up or hair products, check CNET's own list of Black-owned beauty brands.

Donate to Black organizations and charities

Donating money to a charity is an important way to support a movement or group, and your monetary contribution can help fund programs and pay for legal costs and salaries that keep an organization afloat. Your employer may agree to match employee donations, which would double the size of your contribution -- ask your HR department.

Nonprofit organizations require reliable, year-round funding to do their work. Rather than a lump sum, consider a monthly donation. Even if the amount seems small, your donation combined with others can help provide a steady stream of funds that allows programs to operate.

Here are some non-profit organizations advancing Black rights and equal justice and supporting Black youth:

Black Lives Matter 

NAACP 

Thurgood Marshall College Fund 

Color of Change 

Black Girls Code 

The Black Youth Project

Attend local Black History Month events

Many cities, schools, and local organizations will host events celebrating Black History Month in February 2022. Check your local newspaper or city website to see what events are happening in your area -- for example, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Baltimore and Louisville, Kentucky, have extensive events planned this month.

If you can't find anything in your area or don't want to attend events in person, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, is offering a handful of online Black History Month events throughout February.

Watch Black history documentaries and movies

Black is King is an elaborately staged musical directed, written and produced by Beyoncé. Disney

You can find movies and documentaries exploring the Black experience right now on Netflix, Disney Plus and other streaming services. 

The CNET staff has compiled a selection of feature films and documentaries for Black History Month 2023, including the wonderful Summer of Soul and Black is King. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu all have special collections of streaming movies and shows for Black History Month.

PBS also offers several free video documentary collections, which include smaller chunks of Black history for all ages. The collections include subjects like the Freedom Riders, the 1963 March on Washington and the Rise and Fall of Jim Crow.

Find Black authors and stories for yourself and your children

There are so many great books written by Black authors you should read -- not only during Black History Month but all year round. So, where do we start? Try your local library. Many will have Black History Month collections for both adults and kids.

Libraries will also often have Black History Month book recommendations by age. The San Diego Public Library, the Detroit Public Library and DC Public Library, for example, have programs and collections to browse for adults and children.

Next, try Black booksellers. The Noname Book Club, dedicated to amplifying diverse voices, has compiled a list of Black-owned bookshops across the US. The club also highlights two books a month by writers of color.

Dive deeper into Black history with online resources

The National Archives includes many primary resources from Black history in America. Rowland Sherman/National Archives

You can find remarkable Black history collections on government, educational and media sites. One of the best is the aforementioned BlackPast, which hosts a large collection of primary documents from African American history, dating back to 1724.

The National Archives also hosts a large collection of records, photos, news articles and videos documenting Black heritage in America. The expansive National Museum of African American History & Culture's Black History Month collection is likewise full of unique articles, videos and learning materials.

The New York Times' 1619 Project tracks the history of Black Americans from the first arrival of enslaved people in Virginia. The Pulitzer Center hosts the full issue of The 1619 Project as a PDF file on its 1619 Education site, which also offers reading guides, activity lessons and reporting related to the project.

You can buy The 1619 Project and the children's picture book version -- The 1619 Project: Born on the Water -- as printed books.

[samueldelany]

For Ytasha Womack, the Afrofuture Is Now

The writer and filmmaker discusses the blend of theoretical cosmology and Black culture in Chicago’s newest planetarium show.

Ytasha Womack, a screenwriter on “Niyah and the Multiverse,” currently playing at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, is the author of numerous works including “Black Panther: A Cultural Exploration."

By Katrina Miller, New York Times, March 16, 2024.

On Feb. 17, the Adler Planetarium in Chicago unveiled a new sky show called “Niyah and the Multiverse,” a blend of theoretical cosmology, Black culture and imagination. And as with many things Afrofuturistic, Ytasha Womack’s fingerprints are all over it.

Ms. Womack, who writes both about the genre and from within it, has curated Afrofuturism events across the country — including Carnegie Hall’s citywide festival — and her work is currently featured in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Afrofuturism is perhaps most popularly on display in the “Black Panther” films, which immerse viewers in an alternate reality of diverse, technologically advanced African tribes untouched by the forces of colonialism. (In 2023, Ms. Womack published “Black Panther: A Cultural Exploration,” Marvel’s reference book examining the films’ influences.)

But examples of the genre include the science fiction writer Octavia Butler, the Star Trek character Nyota Uhura and the cyborgian songs of Janelle Monáe. Some even envision the immortality of Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman whose cells were taken without consent for what became revolutionary breakthroughs in medicine, as an Afrofuturist parable.

Ms. Womack was one of the scriptwriters for “Niyah and the Multiverse.” She spoke with The New York Times about what Afrofuturism means to her, the process of weaving the genre’s themes with core concepts in physics and how the show aims to inspire. This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

How do you define Afrofuturism?

Afrofuturism is a way of thinking about the future, with alternate realities based on perspectives of the African diaspora. It integrates imagination, liberation, technology and mysticism.

Imagination is important because it is liberating. People have used imagination to transform their circumstances, to move from one reality to another. They’ve used it as a way to escape. When you are in challenging environments, you’re not socialized to imagine. And so to claim your imagination — to embrace it — can be a way of elevating your consciousness.

What makes Afrofuturism different from other futuristic takes is that it has a nonlinear perspective of time. So the future, past and present can very much be one. And that’s a concept expressed in quantum physics, when you think about these other kinds of realities.

Those alternate realities could be philosophical cosmologies, or they could be scientifically explained worlds. How we explain them runs the gamut, depending on what your basis for knowledge is.

Which Afrofuturist works have influenced you?

I think about Parliament-Funkadelic, a popular music collective of the 1970s. As a kid, their album covers were in my basement. A lot of artists during that era — Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, Earth, Wind & Fire, Labelle — had these very epic, Afrofuturistic album covers, but Parliament-Funkadelic sticks out. There’s one depicting Star Child, the alter ego of George Clinton, the lead musical artist, emerging from a spaceship. That sort of space-tastic imagery was abounding for me as a kid.

“The Wiz,” a reimagining of “The Wizard of Oz,” was on all the time in my house growing up. It had this fabulosity to it — a heightened dream world that reflected 1970s New York. You had the Twin Towers in Emerald City, the empty lots Dorothy walked through with all the trash, the Wicked Witch running a fashion sweatshop, representing the garment district. The film took an urban landscape and made it fabulous, tying in this theme of Dorothy coming into her own through her journey.

Those are images that had a very strong impact on me. As I matured, I got into house music and dance, and began to see relationships between rhythm, movement, space and time. It’s not always something I can give language to, but it’s certainly become a basis for how I talk about metaphysics, in a physical kind of way.

What inspired your team to create “Niyah and the Multiverse”?

We wanted to tell a story about a young girl named Niyah, who wants to be a scientist and who is figuring out who she is — not just on Earth, but also in the universe.

Niyah looks for insight from her grandparents, who explain some of the symbolism of the African artwork in her home. She thinks about concepts she has learned from her science teacher. And she even meets her future self, who is a theoretical astrophysicist. Together, the two explore some of the more popular multiverse theories that scientists are looking at today.

Which theories are those?

Niyah learns about the many-worlds theory, which is this idea that all of your choices evolve into different universes. The choices you make create new paths, essentially creating multiple existences of yourself.

She learns about bubble theory, which says that after our Big Bang, more universes sort of bubbled off, each with their own laws of physics. Niyah also explores the idea of shadow matter, in which particles get reassembled as similar entities in mirror universes.

So there’s this parallel between Niyah learning about the multiverse and also exploring her own identity through her ancestral heritage.

Right. Because both of these are paths of meaning, different ways of understanding who we are. Afrofuturists tend to think in a way that is accepting of a lot of different realities anyway, so it was a pretty seamless experience to weave the physics and other aspects of the genre together. There’s already this intergenerational, or interdimensional, element to the conversation and the art that comes out of it.

The show is presented in the planetarium dome, which has a 360-degree screen, so it’s very immersive. Stepping into the space and watching the show feels like an interdimensional experience of its own.

The first audience to see it had a very emotional response. Some people were crying. There were Black women in the audience saying they always wanted to see this kind of imagery, that they had wanted to be scientists at one point in time. Others were deeply touched by the vibrancy of the show, of how it was able to bring these multiverse theories to life.

It’s impressive that these physics concepts, which can be difficult for people to understand or relate to, are made so accessible with examples that are not only imaginative but very rooted in Black culture.

Right. And it wasn’t difficult for us to do that, because as Afrofuturists, we operate in that space. It’s just about mirroring a way of being that we have always been immersed in.

I think “Niyah and the Multiverse” expresses that we all have different relationships to space and time. We are all looking to understand who we are, where we come from and where we can go in this broader space-time trajectory.

And maybe for some, the show normalizes the idea that there are kids who are Black who dream and are curious about the world. That curiosity can take them in the direction of becoming an artist, or becoming a scientist.

What challenges did you face in tackling the multiverse?

In trying to write some elements of the story, we had to push our own imagination to come up with what a universe might look like if you’re not using the laws of physics that exist in this one. Like, what does it mean to have your particles reassembled into something else? Sometimes we’d come up with ideas for different worlds, and our science consultants would say that already exists.

For me, this shows the beauty of bridging art and science. Artists can give visuals and narratives to ideas that scientists come up with. Or it could happen the other way around: Artists imagine something, and scientists think about what might be needed to support a universe that looks that way.

Image

[lboogie1906]

On October 25, 1997, an estimated 750,000 African American women gathered together to march on the Ben Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia to focus on their trials, circumstances, and successes. The day-long march and program of prayer, music, and inspirational speeches, which began at the Liberty Bell and ended on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, sought to bring together African American women to address the pressing issues of interest to them and African American families. The issues included the economic deterioration of African American communities, the importance of nurturing young children in a positive environment, finding a collective voice in politics and the civil rights movement, and strengthening African American families. The march was designed to inspire African American women across the nation to work for their improvement as well as that of their communities.

The march organized by Phile Chionesu and Asia Coney was a huge success despite short notice and few preparations. The organizers bypassed traditional leaders such as Rev. Jesse Jackson and organizations such as the NAACP and the Nation of Islam. Using a network of women’s organizations and relying on fliers, leaflets, Black-run media, the Internet, and “word-of-mouth�� to spread the word, the organizers brought women from across the country to Philadelphia via plane, train, bus, and other means of transportation. An estimated 125,000 women arrived from Chicago and New York.

Although the march was portrayed as a gathering of African American women, other groups were represented as well. Their common goal was the rebuilding of African American communities. They hoped the march would counteract negative images of African American women in popular culture and the media.

The Million Woman March did not rely on big names or the celebrities of the civil rights movement to fuel attendance. Several influential African American women attended and spoke including Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Congresswoman Maxine Waters. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[pettyshippen]

Hey I’m Toasted Watching Libertys Kids. Here are my comments

Boston Tea Party

First I’m so happy that every episode is available on YouTube! That makes things so much easier.

The theme song has NO RIGHT to hit this hard. Why isn’t this our national anthem? 🥹

For real though, the premise of this show overall has potential for an Outlander quality show for us big kids.

The opening montage? Cinema.

Walter Cronkite as Ben Franklin is A+ casting because his name ends in kite.

I love how Sarah’s so calm even though she’s trapped in a stormy ship. Maybe it’s because she’s hyper focused when she’s writing. I was on a cruise once and panicked when the ship got to swayey for me.

I love how Sarah adores her father. Leaving London for a new land unsupervised as a teenage girl sounds wild.

Moses is done with James already

Moses doesn’t end up having kids because he basically already had kids and said that’s enough for me.

“It’s addressed to Moses! You look like James!”😆 He’s so cute.

THAT TRANSITION

Omg it’s the beer guy. Beer overthrew tea.

It’s pretty hardcore that they have a picture of the redcoats murdering them hanging on the tavern wall.

Imagine walking out to the deck of a ship to see strange and unfamiliar land. Also where is the captain??? Why is she the only person on the ship when they break in to it?

The sons of liberty look like they’re going to coachella.

“Mom? How did you and dad meet?” “I hit him with a pillow stuffed with books and insulted his grammar.”

When she cute but conservative af

“You’re Sarah Phillips!?”

“Dr. Franklin sent YOU?”

Why didn’t Moses go below deck first?

Bro straight up tore her locket off on purpose. He always wanted to do that to a woman.

Moses calling them big ugly hogs 😂😂

If James and Henri stink that bad, poor Sarah must have been suffocating under that blanket.

Omg Sarah we don’t just ask people if they’re slaves.

Ok real talk though, how many of you have been to an African American history museum with a slave ship hallway? Because that was horrific.

Phylis Wheatley should have written the Declaration, not Jefferson.

Sarah dropping the mic more than Hamilton tbh

Sarahs doing pretty well for a rich girl sleeping in a barn for the first time

Bro that is not sanity, throw that fish away

Look at all the wigs!

OMG you guys the tea party is totes Bens fault. Ben looks so done with them.

The Intolerable Acts

Dear mom, this is not the airbnb that I wanted

“English Henri!” “I’m counting the English!”

WIGS! WIGS!?

Ben literally said suck my dick at Parliament.

James not noticing the redcoats in the barn for five minutes

The redcoats act like Karens.

Sarah don’t have time for your shit James

That captain is such a piece of shit. Henris backstory is lowkey fucked up.

I’d like to have more of a backstory on James’ parents.

*heavenly music*

He just put Sarah on the spot like that and she outwitted him beautifully.

When a man gives you his outerwear, he’s at your service forever.

Dear mom I’m finally in the right airbnb

Bro just straight up gave up his ring so she could have a locket omg 🥺

[reasoningdaily]

Online Exhibits

National Museum of African American History and Culture: Afrofuturism: A History of Black FuturesAfrofuturism: A History of Black Futures explores the past, present, and future of this dynamic concept in an exhibition that features the various people, unique themes and radical artistry that have given voice to it. Featuring hundreds of objects and images with several multimedia displays, this exhibition explores the history of Afrofuturist expression and culture through literature, music, art, film, fashion, activism and more.

U.S. National Archives: Black Arts Movement (1965-1975) The Black Arts Movement was a Black nationalism movement that focused on music, literature, drama, and the visual arts made up of Black artists and intellectuals. This was the cultural section of the Black Power movement, in that its participants shared many of the ideologies of Black self-determination, political beliefs, and African American culture. The Black Arts Movement started in 1965 when poet Amiri Baraka [LeRoi Jones] established the Black Arts Repertory Theater in Harlem, New York, as a place for artistic expression. Artists associated with this movement include Audre Lorde, Ntozake Shange, James Baldwin, Gil Scott-Heron, and Thelonious Monk. Records at the National Archives related to the Black Arts Movement primarily focus on individual artists and their interaction with various Federal agencies.

Google Arts & Culture: African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era and Beyond presents works dating from the early 1920s through the 2000s by Black artists who participated in the multivalent dialogues about art, identity, and the rights of the individual that engaged American society throughout the twentieth century.

National Gallery of Art: Black Art & Artists in Our Collection Explore works from Black artists across centuries, mediums, and geographies, ranging from 19th century still life painter Robert Seldon Duncanson to modern and contemporary pieces by Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Alma Thomas, Sam Gilliam, Kara Walker, Hank Willis Thomas, and more.

Smithsonian American Art Museum: African American Art SAAM is home to one of the most significant collections of works by African American artists in the world. These artworks span three centuries of creative expression in various media, including painting, sculpture, textiles, and photography, and represent numerous artistic styles, from realism to neoclassicism, abstract expressionism, modernism, and folk art. From a rare group of photographs by early African American studios to an important group of works by self-taught artist Bill Traylor to William H. Johnson’s vibrant portrayals of faith and family, to Mickalene Thomas’s contemporary exploration of Black female identity, the museum’s holdings reflect its long-standing commitment to Black artists and the acquisition, preservation, and display of their work.

NYPL: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Art and Artifacts Division The Art and Artifacts Division collects, documents, preserves, and interprets art and artifacts by and about peoples of African heritage throughout the world. Fine and applied art and material culture objects from the seventeenth century to the present are collected, with emphasis on the visual arts of the twentieth century in the United States and Africa.

Google Arts & Culture: Beat by Beat This interactive online exhibit was created as a celebration of 50 years of hip hop in collaboration with The Kennedy Center, The Bronx County Historical Society, The Museum at FIT, The National Museum of African American History and Culture, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, The Baltimore Museum of Art, The Hip Hop Education Center, and HipHop2020 Archive.

Streaming Videos from the MCPHS Libraries

The Amazing Nina Simone She was left out of Civil Rights history, erased by jazz critics, and forgotten by most Americans because no one knew how to categorize her greatness. But throughout the 1960s, Nina Simone was both loved and feared for her outspoken vision of Black Freedom. Her musical proclamations like "Mississippi Goddam", and her iconic style created an alternative voice that continues to empower with its unrelenting appeal for justice. Now, a new documentary reveals the real Nina Simone through over 50 intimate interviews with those who best knew the artistry and intentions of one America's true musical geniuses. With new insights into her journey from Classical Music and the segregated American South, Nina's legacy is chartered all the way to the South of France where she finally found freedom.

JazzJazz has been called the purest expression of American democracy; a music built on individualism and compromise, independence and cooperation. Ken Burns follows the growth and development of jazz music from the gritty streets of New Orleans to Chicago's south side, the speakeasies of Kansas city and to Times Square.

Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child Director Tamra Davis pays homage to her friend in this definitive documentary but also delves into Basquiat as an iconoclast. His dense, bebop-influenced neoexpressionist work emerged while minimalist, conceptual art was the fad; as a successful Black artist, he was constantly confronted by racism and misconceptions. Much can be gleaned from insider interviews and archival footage, but it is Basquiat's own words and work that powerfully convey the mystique and allure of both the artist and the man.

Videos to Check Out from Your Local Library

Summer of Soul (...or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) In his acclaimed debut as a filmmaker, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson presents a powerful and transporting documentary, part music film, part historical record, created around an epic event that celebrated Black history, culture, and fashion. Over the course of six weeks in the summer of 1969, just one hundred miles south of Woodstock, The Harlem Cultural Festival was filmed in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park). The footage was largely forgotten, until now. This documentary shines a light on the importance of history to our spiritual well-being and stands as a testament to the healing power of music during times of unrest, both past, and present. The feature includes concert performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly & the Family Stone, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, The 5th Dimension, and more.

Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People The first documentary to explore the role of photography in shaping the identity, aspirations and social emergence of African Americans from slavery to the present, Through a Lens Darkly probes the recesses of American history by discovering images that have been suppressed, forgotten and lost. Bringing to light the hidden and unknown photos shot by both professional and vernacular African American photographers, the film opens a window into lives, experiences and perspectives of Black families that is absent from the traditional historical canon. These images show a much more complex and nuanced view of American culture and society and its founding ideals. Inspired by Deborah Willis's book Reflections in Black and featuring the works of Carrie Mae Weems, Lorna Simpson, Anthony Barboza, Hank Willis Thomas, Coco Fusco, Clarissa Sligh and many others, Through a Lens Darkly introduces the viewer to a diverse yet focused community of storytellers who transform singular experiences into a communal journey of discovery – and a call to action.

Black Art: In the Absence of Light At the heart of this feature documentary is the groundbreaking "Two Centuries of Black American Art" exhibition curated by the late African American artist and scholar David Driskell in 1976. Held at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, this pioneering exhibit featured more than 200 works of art by 63 artists and cemented the essential contributions of Black artists in America in the 19th and 20th centuries. The exhibit would eventually travel to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and the Brooklyn Museum. The film shines a light on the exhibition's extraordinary impact on generations of African American artists who have staked a claim on their rightful place within the 21st-century art world.

[ghostonly]

So I was grabbed hold of by my music hyperfixation today and it turned out, today's the day I learn more about the history of American music as made by African Americans. Since, you know, they did most of it.

I've known for a long time that American music has deep roots in Black experiences and culture, but it was always such a behemoth of genres and artists that I didn't know what exactly I liked or where to start.

So, today, I figured I'd do what I do best and start with all of it at once.

Okay, not exactly. I'm doing it in chronological order. But in order to accurately order the shitload of playlists and folders I was making on Spotify, I needed to know what order those genres were discovered in.

I am not in school for this, I'm not educated on this and, as a white person, I don't feel like I have the nuance, experience, or understanding to properly write a massive post about this topic, but I did want to share a few articles I've read today, because they were extremely well-written (as far as I can tell), informative, and moving.

Reasons to Read These

African Americans have been the driving force in just about every music genre that's come out of America. If you don't already know that, or want to know more, you should read these.

Do you find music and musical evolution fascinating? You should read these.

Are you queer? Disco is part of queer culture as well and the overlap between Black and queer culture in that time period leans heavily on disco, which is fascinating and part of your own history. You should read these.

If you care about racial tensions in the US, the article that talks about Earth, Wind, & Fire goes into the ways disco impacted racial tensions in the US in the late 70s. It's good knowledge to have under your belt. You should read these.

Bonus shout out to The Get Down on Netflix. I watched this a year or two ago and was obsessed with it for a few days until the fixation passed. This is part of the driving inspiration for me looking into the history of disco and hip-hop so extensively today, because the vibes in the show were just... enrapturing. And, looking at the Wikipedia page for it to double check how it was received by people who know more than me, it does seem to have good reception. I especially like that they involved historical pioneers in its creation (DJ Grandmaster Flash, who invented modern use of turntables for hip-hop, DJ Kool Herc, and Kurtis Blow, all in their 60s and part of the original hip-hop scene in the Bronx). So if you want to watch something that will get you hyped about disco and hip-hop, I can just about promise you that'll do it. Needless to say, I will be rewatching it very soon.

Long but detailed and very well written. Has many artist suggestions:

A shorter summary for someone who wants a quick read:

I hope some of you will click through and learn something with me today c:

[jazzynook]

Wanderlust: road trip stopover in Tennessee

Me and Paige kicked off our Dirty South road trip with a stay at The Hopestead, a historic bed & breakfast that felt like a hidden gem. Nestled deep in the Tennessee woods, about 90 minutes from Nashville, this charming place sprawls over 47 acres of rolling hills. We arrived late in the evening, the sky draped in a starry blanket, and were greeted by the cutest welcoming committee—two delightful dogs, a pair of darling cats, and a playful litter of kittens.

Vanessa and Michael, our warm-hearted hosts, welcomed us and despite our late arrival, they gave us a cozy tour of the house. We spent the rest of the evening lounging on the backyard deck with a glass of prosecco while our new feline friends weaved around our legs and even nibbled on my toes 😅 The starry sky offered a breathtaking glimpse of the Milky Way.

The next morning, the heat of the sultry air and thick humidity greeted me like an old uncle with a slap on the back. Before breakfast was served, I perched on the porch's rocking chair, and listened to the sound of the cicadas. I meandered through the farmhouse's grounds, where horses nibbled at the dewy grass and when I walked back inside the house, I was so charmed by the vintage tunes Vanessa played while cooking. Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me,” filled the entire first floor with a nostalgic warmth.

At breakfast, we shared stories with Michael and Vanessa, learning about their journey of restoring the house and their new life as empty nesters. They also recommended we attend a live radio show at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, and I've added it to the list for next time! Of course I couldn't visit Nashville for the first time and not visit the National Museum of African American Music. But more on that later…

After savoring Vanessa's homemade breakfast, I nestled under the generous shade of the lush magnolia tree to call my mom and share our safe arrival at this peaceful haven I was grateful to have found.

Our furry friends continued to shower us with affection and charmed us from our arrival to our final morning, though they seemed less enamored with the couple who arrived the day after us 🤷🏾‍♀️

The Hopestead, with its blend of comfort, nature, and warm hospitality, left an unforgettable mark on our hearts.

c. August 2024