#for once in the history of papacy the Pope was the true owner of his territories

[ducavalentinos]

[...]La historia ha emitido juicios bien opuestos, igualmente exagerados, sobre los Borgias y Julio II. A los primeros se les ha culpado de todos los vicios y de todos los errores; al segundo se le han perdonado los vicios, y los errores han sido interpretados como actos gloriosos. Hay muchas razones que justifican el uso de este doble rasero. Por un lado, los Borgia nunca dejaron de ser vistos como extranjeros, unos advenedizos en tierras italianas, que osaron además descabezar el poder local con una virulencia y una eficacia absolutas. Las grandes familias romanas, los señores que gobernaban los territorios pontificios y los que estaban al frente de los estados independientes vieron con horror el avance de las tropas papales, e , impotentes para frenar a los Borgia en el campo de batalla, fueron madurando su venganza calumniadora. La revancha propagandística de todos los enemigos de los Borgias fue estimulada desde el Vaticano, porque Julio II abrió la veda a todas las injurias y mentiras, profiriendo él mismo, con toda su autoridad papal, los juicios más duros contra César y contra su predecesor. A pesar de sus esfuerzos, el papa Alejandro y el duque Valentino no pudieron consolidar su obra en la política internacional. Su programa hubiera dado a Italia, probablemente, la oportunidad de un desarrollo similar al que tuvieron las otras naciones de Europa, pero los distintos estados italianos se ocuparon de labrar su propria ruina.

El Príncipe del Renacimiento: Vida y Leyenda de César Borgia - José Catalán Deus

[music-research-strategies]

BLACK FIGHTING FORMATIONS: Simultaneous Multi-Dimensionality Part 1

(graphics version here)

“We all are Americans. But the thing is, to the extent that national oppression has been lifted on all of us - that’s not true. Now if they can raise up people, just like that could raise up Chiang Kai-Shek or somebody, who's’ a straight-out comprador, no connection to you at all - they can come out of the ghetto, they can come out of the suburbs, but they have no connection to the people whom they feign to represent. We've always had those folks. But now it's building up into a class. You can actually see that we have a comprador class, a comprador bourgeoisie, a comprador petty bourgeoisie - people who represent imperialism. They might look like us, they might look like whatever they want to look like. They can be anything.” “Home Rules: An Interview with Amiri Baraka: by Van Gosse “Radical History Review: Transnational Black Studies,” Fall 2003.

ALKEBULAN

The history of Black people, of African people, is an ancient one. Meticulous has been the work of Senegalese historian Cheikh Anta Diop. (“Cheikh” was his title, as in elder, noble, or knight, in the British since. Remember that the knights of Europe took their inspiration and skills from the Moorish sheiks.) Cheikh Anta Diop, born in 1923, was meticulous in his explication of the Negro origins of the formations of civilization in Alkebulan, or the Land of the Blacks, in the original indigenous Arabic language. Here is great video on Dr. Diop’s expertise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xl7FKb4NPiI

The African Origin of Civilization: Myth Or Reality is not only a document that I believe everyone should own, as well as comparable literature, but it is the grounding reference necessary for my discussion on Music, black fighting formations, and the interpretations of signs I designate as simultaneous multi-dimensionality. In the Preface to my dog-eared version, Cheikh Diop writes, a year to the month after my birth, that he “felt that Africa should mobilize all its energy to help the movement turn the tide of repression.” Starting his research in 1946, he, for the English translation in 1973, declares that what interests him most in the meaning of his work is to “see the formation of teams, not of passive readers, but of honest, bold research workers allergic to complacency and busy substantiating and exploring ideas expressed in (this) our work. He, then, weaponizes a body of knowledge with ten bullet points of historical armament to protect the treasure of Africa’s past, present & future and broadcast revolutionary action. He declared:

Ancient Egypt was a Negro civilization.

Anthropologically and culturally speaking, the Semitic world was born during protohistoric times form the mixture of white-skinned and black-skinned people in western Asia. 

The triumph of monogenetic (or, descendent of a single origin) thesis of humanity compels one to admit that all races descended from the Black race. 

(1) The necessity to demonstrate possibility of writing a history of Black Africa free of mere chronology of events; and, (2) define the laws governing the evolution of African sociopolitical structures, in order to explain the direction that historical evolution has taken in Black Africa, therefore, to try to dominate and master that historical process by knowledge, rather than submit to it.

The necessity to define the image of a modern Africa reconciled with its past and preparing for its future.

That once the perspective accepted by official science have been reversed the history of humanity will become clear and the history of Africa can be written. (O)nly a loyal, determined struggle to destroy cultural aggression and bring out the truth, whatever it may be, is revolutionary and consonant with real progress; it is the only approach which opens on the universal. Humanitarian declarations are not called for and add nothing to real progress. 

(In 1955, the time of publishing) How does it happen that all modern Black literature has remained minor, in the sense that no Negro African author artist, to my knowledge, has yet posed the problem of man’s fate, the major theme in human letters?

In The Cultural Unity of Black Africa: The Domains of Patriarchy and of Matriarchy in Classical Antiquity, (he and his colleagues) tried to pinpoint the features common to Negro African civilization. (I have just obtained this book and am tempted to read it through before for finishing this essay, instead I will offer but a glimpse. The work argues that “the profound cultural unity of Africa is the history of African matriarchy….The result is a blueprint for a comprehensive African social history.” I have seen this book priced from $850 to $2000. I have electronic copy of this book, available upon request.)

In the second part of Nations Nègres et Culture, we demonstrated that African languages could express philosophic and scientific thought (mathematics, physics, and so forth) and that African culture will not be taken seriously until their utilization in education becomes a reality. (In Nations Nègres , Dr Diop translates a page of Einstein's Theory of Relativity in to Wolof, the principal language of Senegal.)

I am delighted to learn that one idea proposed in Afrique Noire Precoloniale -  the possibilities of pre-Colombian relations between Africa and America - has been taken up by an American scholar(s).

European Fighting Formations: An Origin of Bullshit!

“Origin of Negro Slavery,” Capitalism & Slavery by Eric Williams

“When in 1492 Columbus, representing the Spanish monarchy, discovered the New Word, he set in train the long and bitter international rivalry over colonial possession from which, after four and a half centuries, no solution has yet been found. Portugal, which had initiated the movement of international expansion, claimed the new territories on the ground that they fell within the scope of a papal bull (charter) of 1455 authorizing her to reduce to servitude all infidel peoples. The two powers, to avoid,controversy, sought arbitration and, as Catholics, turned to the Pope - a natural and logical step in an age when the universal claims of the Papacy were still unchallenged by individuals and governments. After carefully sifting the rival claims, the Pope issued in 1493 a series of papal bulls which established a line of demarcation between the colonial possession of the two states:  the EAst went to Portugal and the West to Spain. The partition, however, failed to satisfy Portuguese aspirations and the in the subsequent year the contending parties reached a more satisfactory compromise in the Treaty of Tordesillas, which rectified the papal judgement to permit Portuguese ownership of Brazil.”

Underground Railroad Terminology

The fugitive slave escape network of pre-Civil War times existed for many years before people began calling it the Underground Railroad. By the year 1804, long before any railroads were built in America, there were people in the Philadelphia area as well as in other parts of the North who were actively helping fugitive slaves escape from their Southern masters. By the 1830s , when railroads began to appear in the United States, the complex system for helping fugitive slaves was so well developed the unhappy slave owners talked bou thow slave disappeared as if they had taken a ride on an underground railroad (the railroad bing the newest technical marvel of the day).

Those helping slaves escape to freedom quickly adopted the term as their own and began referring themselves and the roles they played in helping slaves escape by using railroad terms such as:

Station - any place where a fugitive slave could spend the night, find a meal, or get instructions, advice, and help for the next part of the journey.

Station Master - anyone who ran a station, often called a safe house.

Ticket Agent - the person who made first contact with a fugitive and brought him into the system.

Conductor - could refer to someone who organized a link of the Underground Railroad or to someone who accompanied an escaped slave or group of escapees along a stretch of the escape route.

Passengers - the fugitive slave who bought a ride on the Underground Railroad.

Tracks - trails and routes followed by escaping slaves.

An underground is only possible if (1) there is a segment of the population that sympathizes with those who want to flee and, among that group, a few who are willing to risk their property and lives to help others find freedom; (2) the general population must have a degree of freedom that makes it possible to evade the law with some hope of success; and, (3) those who will be passengers must either have avoided capture, or have succeeded in escaping from capture.

Visual Culture of the Underground Railroad

Tactical media refers to the use arts practices and temporary forms of cultural and political intervention, such as culture jamming and guerrilla communication. Historians believe quilts were made visible by station masters or other alles by being hung out to “dry.” The images themselves have were apart of the visual culture of everyday life and, thus, inconspicuous. Ticket agents, conductors, or passenger-turned-conductors would often sneak back “behind enemy lines” to educate would-be passengers on the visual nomenclature of this self-emancipatory project. They might carry something with looks like this image to your right.

Monkey Wrench: Prepare the tools you’ll need for the long journey, including mental and spiritual tools.

Wagon Wheel: Load the wagon or prepare to board the wagon to begin the escape.

Bear’s Paw: Take a mountain trail, out of view. Follow the path made by bear tracks; they can lead you to water and food.

Crossroads: Refers to Cleveland, Ohio, a destination offering several routes to freedom. It also signifies reaching a point where a person’s life will change, so one must be willing to go on.

Log Cabin: A secret symbol that could be drawn on the ground indicating that a person is safe to talk to. It also advises seeking shelter.

Shoo Fly: Possibly identifies a friendly guide who is nearby and can help.

Bow Tied: Dress in disguise, or put on a change of clothes. Fugitives could be easily identified by their tattered attire by slave catchers.

Flying Geese: Points to a direction to follow, such as where geese would fly during spring migration.

Drunkard’s Path: Create a zigzag path, do not walk in a straight line, to avoid pursuers in the area.

Tumbling Boxes: A symbol indicating it was time for slaves to pack up and go, that a conductor was in the area.

Star: Follow the North Star. Worked in conjunction with the popular song, “Follow the Drinking Gourd,” a reference to the Big Dipper constellation.

To quote quilt historian Xenia Cord, "Quilt research and quilt history often rely heavily on the oral anecdotes and oral memories of quilters, stories that link women with common interests to a body of shared information. This information, strongly buttressed by written memoirs, documented sources, pictures, tangible artifacts, and previously published research allows the historian to contribute to the body of knowledge that is American quilt history."

Thank you for reading. Part 2 is forthcoming. 

Marshall R. Trammell/Music Research Strategies, May 12, 2017 ©.