This is the second part of a special three-part series highlighting the input of African-Americans in our collective history that oftentimes is overlooked in traditional classes and showcases important African-Americans in the fields of: Art, Literature, Music, Photography, Sports, and Politics.
Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3
Essay on African-American Literature
After 18 years of going to school, I was handed my first book written about the slave experience last week in U.S. History. This points to both the fact that we are beginning to value other points of view in our
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Frederick Douglass escaped slavery to become the most influential African American leader of his time.
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history, and that we have for years been ignoring the black contribution in every facet of our collective culture. There are a surprising number of first hand accounts of slavery written by African Americans considering most weren’t allowed to write, let alone learn how to read.
The publication of “slave narratives,” as they are commonly called now, showed that African Americans could write literature and poetry just as good as white writers, and in early cases many wrote about religion and ignored the plight of black slaves. The first known poem composed by an African American, Lucy Terry in 1756, was titled “Bars Fight” and was about a battle between Native Americans and whites. Others poets like Phillis Wheatly published religious poetry around 1773.
It wasn’t until around 1840 when Fredrick Douglas began using literature to oppose slavery and inequality did African American writing find its calling. There are volumes of fiction available about slave narratives, which are now read as important glimpses into daily life before the emanation of slaves.
There were many important periods in African American literature including the Harlem Renaissance and the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s. Even today, poets like Maya Angelou, who recited poetry at President Clinton’s Inauguration in 1992, continue that tradition.
Although Fredrick Douglas is known for his political life and anti-slavery campaign, he was one of the first African-American writers to publish an autobiography. He also started the first all black newspaper.
Douglas was born into slavery in 1817 and was taught to read the Bible by his master’s wife (the master ended the lessons once he learned of them). The seeds of learning were planted in Douglas, and he secretly borrowed a book and taught himself to read. He purchased his first book when he was 13. It was the Columbian Orator. This would prove to be useful, and Douglas soon became one of the greatest speakers of his lifetime.
Douglas was sent to a “slave breaker” at one point because of his opposition to slavery and was beaten often, but his will couldn’t be shattered. After escaping, Douglas made his way to New York to the house of David Ruggles, an abolitionist, and began to read an anti-slavery weekly publication, The Liberator. In 1841, Douglas attended the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society convention and was asked to speak about his experiences in slavery. This performance proved to be a pivotal point in his life He was offered a staff position to travel, speak at meetings and give public lectures, which were frequently broken up by angry whites.
His contribution to literature came in 1845, when he wrote one of the most powerful autobiographies, The Life of Fredrick Douglas in response to many people’s disbelief that he was ever a slave. This book detailed the daily life of his slavery, although omitted his escape, so others could use the same tactic without drawing too much attention to it. Douglas later wrote two more versions of his life story in 1855 and 1881.
Douglas’ book drew so much attention to him he was in fear of re-capture and fled to Europe for two years. After friends in England bought his freedom, he was able to travel to America and begin his second chapter in his writing life, this time as a journalist.
In 1847, Douglas started a newspaper in Rochester, NY, that was staffed and published only by blacks. His North Star was published in many different forms until 1863. Douglas used his newspaper to show the country that African Americans could do the same quality of work that whites could. Douglas also used his newspaper to call for the equal rights of women and attended the first women’s rights convention in 1848.
Douglas went on to campaign for President Lincoln and fight for the end of slavery. He organized the first black regiments for the Union Army, in which two of his sons fought in. He was also appointed to many government positions after the Civil War, including U.S. Minister to Haiti and U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia.
Douglas died in 1895, and was known as one of the first African Americans to accomplish such a diverse range of tasks to help all people.
The Harlem Renaissance saw the emergence of many African-American artists, but is most associated with writers. The largest and most famous
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Langston Hughes is commonly `reffered to as the poet lauriet of harlem.
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of all of these artists during the 1920s was poet Langston Hughes, who was born 1902 in Joplin, Miss. Hughes was educated at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and published his first poem while studying at Columbia University in 1921.
After a short time in Paris, Hughes worked as a busboy in a Washington D.C. where he left three poems by the plate of poet Vachel Lindsey, who was influential in publishing Hugh’s early work. During the Harlem Renaissance, wealthy white people helped find financial support for the number of other African-American writers.
Hughes developed a unique writing style using poetry to mimic the sounds of black musical rhythms instead of other classical forms of poetry. He was commonly known as Poet Laureate of Harlem, and soon began to focus his poetry on social issues. In a poem titled Harlem, Hughes writes, “What Happens to a Dream Deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore-And then run?” He began to be the voice of the black community and like Fredrick Douglas, took his talents into the field of journalism.
After writing a play that was preformed on Broadway, Hughes began to write columns for the Chicago Defender, one of the most important black newspapers in the country. He also wrote for The New York Post in the 1940s. Hughes wrote in the voice of a young black American called Jesse B. Semple, who used humor and a simple speech to express his common sence wisdom. Semple became an important character in Hughes’short stories, later on.
Langston Hughes had written more than 50 books before his death in 1967. Although he is most commonly known for his poetry during the Harlem Renaissance, his influence can be seen in later black poets like Amiri Baraka, who wrote poetry that reminds one of John Coltrane playing an improvisational jazz solo.
One of the first modern novels to depict the struggle for identity within black culture from the first person viewpoint is a novel by Ralph Ellison titled “Invisible Man.” In the novel, Ellison presents a black man's frustrating search for identity in an American society that ignores blacks as functioning members of society.
Ralph Ellison was born in 1914 in Oklahoma City, Okla. He went to college at the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, now known as Tuskegee University. He only completed three years of studying music before he left to pursue a longtime dream of becoming a writer. In 1939, he joined the Federal Writers' Project, and began to write short stories, reviews and essays for various periodicals in and around New York. Following Service in the WWII he returned to produce his only novel, Invisible Man in 1952. The book instantly became a classic.
“Invisible Man” tells of the travels of a young, nameless black man, as he journeys through American intolerance and cultural blindness, searching for an identity that he can call his own. In the opening chapters of the novel, he states "When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination-- indeed, everything and anything except me." The book begins when the narrator is expelled from a Southern Negro college after sharing his experience with a white trustee. Jaded, he moves to New York City only to find things there are no better. The book deals with the narrator’s struggle to find out what the truth really is, after being accepted into groups and factions that tricked him into believing their version of the truth.
Invisible Man is truly a book about America and our injustice on the basis of race; sadly, it points out sore points that still exist in this country. Ralph Ellison is truly one of the most important writers of the 20th century and his work will remain a classic, simply because the elegant telling of a story that helps us keep the injustice fresh in our minds, will prevent us from denying it.
Essay on African-American Music
There is an old saying that behind every cloud there is a silver lining. Could the same argument be made for slavery? Did anything good come out of this horrible act? Some would argue that American Music benefited greatly from the African and Caribbean musical influences brought here when people were forced to move to this new continent.
Many African musical traditions have been co-opted and melted down into many different kinds of music enjoyed by people of all backgrounds. The banjo was an instrument brought over from Africa and now associated with country and bluegrass music. The banjo can even be heard in bands today that play more roots style, like the popular band, the Squirrel Nut Zippers.
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Leadbelly was one of the most important influences on American music but can be directly seen in the folk explosion of the 1960’s
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Black influence doesn't stop with the instrument; many early rock pioneers, like Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley, were listening to the Grand Old Opry on the radio and singing black gospels in church. Carl Perkins learned to play blues guitar and sing work songs in the cotton patch. He took these influences and began playing country songs to a boogie blues beat. Even the first commercial song that Elvis ever released was a blues song, "That's All Right Mamma," and on the other side was the Bill Monroe bluegrass standard, Blue Moon of Kentucky." He could adapt both styles into something truly new, and music has never been the same. Sam Phillips, the founder of Sun records and the man who discovered Elvis, even said, "I knew if I found a white kid who could sing like a Negro we would sell a million records."
The rural blues and gospel went on to influence bands like the Rolling Stones, soul and Motown singers in the 60s and 70s. We wish to talk about three important African American Musicians who changed the face of music forever.
Blues and folk music is distinctly a southern experience. The songs grew out of the cotton fields. Many young musicians used these songs to get them through the hard labor. Leadbelly was one of America's legends that influenced many musicians. He had a great guitar style and knew more than 500 songs that he could pull out and play. His music helped him through hard times in prison and even got him a pardon. His southern folk style was never popular in his lifetime, and neither was he.
Huddie William Leadbetter was born on a plantation in Mooringsport, Louisiana around January 1885 to a sharecropper family who went on to own their own farm in Texas. Given the nickname "Leadbelly" in prison, he used this name for the rest of his life.
Leadbelly was taught to play the accordion and guitar by his uncle and left home after fathering two children by age 16 after being a sensation at local "sukey-jump" parties. Leadbelly began wandering around Dallas playing with bluesman Blind Lemon Jefferson, who would go on to sell more than a million "race" records in the 1920s. Southern blues was a strong influence on his folksy style.
Leadbelly was forced to part ways with Jefferson in 1917, when he was jailed for assault. He would soon escape, but land back into prison after a brawl that left a man dead. Leadbelly wrote a song for the governor and was granted a full pardon in 1925. Again in 1930, Leadbelly was back in prison for assault with intent to murder.
Prison proved to be a good place for Leadbelly because this was where he was discovered by John Lomax a Texan folklorist who was
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Louis Armstrong
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recording in the prisons for the Library of Congress. Lomax would return a second time and Leadbelly would record his signature song, "Goodnight Irene." With his commanding voice and his great talent on the 12 string guitar Lomax moved Leadbelly to New York in 1934.
Leadbelly was a sensation in the high society of New York; people were fascinated with his convict past, his wide reptoire of old songs and his ability to play many different instruments. Lomax secured a recording contract with American Record Company, but marketed his material to whites. The pop market was mostly big band and jazz at this time and his records sold poorly.
It wasn't until 1939, the Leadbelly found a market in New York. He made friends with a circle of leftists and those in the union movement. Leadbelly adapted "protest" songs to his sets. He also began to speak out in songs against racism and the Jim Crow laws. By 1940 there were many newcomers surrounding Leadbelly, looking to learn from him. American legends like Sonny Terry, Pete Seeger, Burl Ives, and Woody Guthrie.
Leadbelly continued to record for the rest of his life until he succumbed to ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease in 1949. Weeks after his death a folk band the Weavers took Leadbellys staple song, "Goodnight Irene" to a number one hit and sold 2 million copies. The Weavers Pete Seeger spoke at Leadbelly's introduction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and said, "It's one more case of black music being made famous by white people. It's pure tragedy he didn't live another six months, because all of his dreams as a performer would have come true."
Leadbelly's influences can be seen directly in the huge folk explosion of the 1960s. Musicians like Bob Dylan, whose music was centered on pushing for change. Nirvana recorded a Leadbelly song, "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" on their Unplugged album.
One of the most innovative and influential musicians of the twentieth century, Louis Armstrong has had a profound impact on American music. His ability to improvise on jazz themes has been studied and imitated by countless future musicians, and because of his influence, some of this century’s most legendary acts were formed. Armstrong was not only a renowned trumpet and coronet player but also a greatly admired singer, bandleader and all around entertainer. He is also credited for bringing pop influences to jazz and vice versa.
Born somewhere around 1898, (the facts about the actual date are somewhat shaky, Armstrong claimed in his biography that he was born in 1900 but historians have said that’s very unlikely.) as David Louis Armstrong to separated parents in New Orleans., His mother was very poor, and Louis never managed to make it past the fifth grade in school.
On New Year’s Eve 1913, Louis found a pistol inside his home and fired it into the air as a celebration, Armstrong was arrested and sentenced to attend the Colored Waifs' home for boys in new Orleans. While he was at the Home, he took vocal training courses with the chorus and was encouraged to learn the coronet for the Center’s band. Almost right off the bat Armstrong took a liking to the instrument.
He began playing in the honky tonks and bars around New Orleans copying the style of a local player name King Oliver whom he later replaced in Kid Ory's New Orleans jazz band. The two remained friends, and in 1922, Armstrong followed Oliver to Chicago where he recorded with the King Oliver Creole jazz band. This event is a milestone in music history because up until this time, Armstrong and Oliver's band was the first black act to record jazz.
In 1924, Armstrong moved to New York where he played with various bands and secured himself as a formidable force in the jazz world. In 1925 Louis Armstrong began recording with a group of his own, the Hot Fives, and Hot Sevens were a pioneering group in the style of Dixieland or Hot jazz. The Hot Fives and Sevens influenced many later American artists including Roy Eldridge and Billie Holiday.
In the thirties and forties Armstrong began an extremely popular Big Band orchestra. The band toured Europe and all over America, as well as being featured in several Hollywood movies including Pennies from Heaven, Cabin in the Sky, and New Orleans. Armstrong became the first African American to regularly appear in feature films.
After the decline in popularity for big band music Armstrong went on to form a band called the All Stars that showcased his own talents for singing as well as playing, Armstrong was one of the first artists to record scat singing, (singing improvised sounds rather than lyrics). Armstrong's voice became one of the most recognizable of the 20th century. In the middle to late 1960s Armstrong recorded several hits that made the Billboard charts, most notably "Hello Dolly" in 1964 and "What a Wonderful World" in 1967. Armstrong's recording of "Hello Dolly" even unseated the Beatles hit "I Want to Hold Your Hand" as Billboards No. 1 hit. That same year "Hello Dolly" won a Grammy Award for best song.
In 1971, Armstrong suffered a heart attack and a week later died in his Corona New York home. In the last decades of his life, Armstrong had fallen out of the graces of the jazz community because of his commercial success, but even his critics couldn't deny his influences on the jazz world and music for generations after his death. In 1972, he was posthumously awarded a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement, as well as two Hall of fame Grammy Awards, one in 1974 and the second in 1993.
Essay on African-American Cinema
By Mike Costa
Correspondent
“Birth of a Nation” is a masterpiece. Director D.W. Griffith sealed his legacy as the Grandfather of film while the industry was still at the tender age of 17, basically inventing suspenseful editing as we know it, and filming one of the most visually complex and majestically rousing spectacles in the history of silent film. And the heroes of the film were members of the Ku Klux Klan.
The early days of cinema were not kind to African Americans. In fact, they were downright brutal and racist in their depiction of the African-American man and woman. In the movies, more than any other artistic medium, they were exploited and despicably slandered by bigoted characterizations and absurdly racist plot developments. Black actors were used mostly as second-tier comedy relief, with zero opportunity to emote anything beyond slapstick absurdity. Griffith himself actually employed white actors in black make-up for his “lead” African-American characters. “The Jazz Singer,” the first sound film, featured Al Jolson, known prominently for smearing his face with shoe-polish and singing for his “Mammy.”
Luckily for African-Americans and the cinematic canon as a whole, those days of segregated films and movie houses have passed.
In 1919, Oscar Micheaux became the first African American to produce, direct, and adapt (from his own novel) a motion picture. “The Homesteader” was not a major commercial success, and it is not readily available on video (in fact, I wish you luck in finding it), but it was just the kind of quiet milestone that heralds major change.
During his 30 years as a filmmaker, Micheaux wrote, produced, and directed nearly 40 films, making him not only the first, but also one of the most prolific African-American filmmakers of all-time. Micheaux, never one to shy away from controversy, created such powerful films as his 1920 lynching-from-a-non-white-perspective "Within Our Gates." Sadly, Oscar Micheaux's name is not mentioned in the Film Aesthetics text encouraged by Columbia or Andrew Sarris' famed Film Directors Encyclopedia, and very few people know him or his work by name. He almost became another faceless martyr of his own revolution.
Almost, but not quite. Micheaux's sinuous thrillers -- with their nearly implacable atmospheres of menace and oppression -- lived on to inspire another one of the most influential African-American directors of all time, Melvin Van Peebles. In 1971, native Chicagoan Van Peebles directed “Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss Song,” a film that, I would argue, is the most influential independent film ever made. In a time when the old Hollywood studios were as close to decay as they ever came, when even such acclaimed anti-journeyman directors as Arthur Penn and Francis Ford Coppola could not help but betray their “independent” slant by making romanticized and glitzy films from classic Hollywood formulas, “Sweet Sweetback” was ugly, disorganized, brilliant filmmaking. It was pain recorded onto celluloid. It was the birth-scream of a new kind of cinema.
“Sweet Sweetback” and Melvin Van Peebles leave their fingerprints on nearly every “independent” picture that has come thereafter, from every “blaxploitation” film, good or bad, which followed in the 10 years after it was made, all the way up to the work of Quentin Tarantino.
Micheaux and Van Peebles' work also influenced a young NYU grad by the name of Shelton Jackson Lee (now known as Spike), whose first feature film, “She’s Gotta Have It,” helped inspire and raise awareness of the “independent film” explosion of the 80s and 90s. Lee showed that films by African-American filmmakers did not need to be about and strictly for African-Americans. They can be about and for all people. From "Malcolm X" to "Summer of Sam," Lee continues to be one of America’s premier filmmakers to this day, one of the few directors who has something to say, rather than just something to show.
So this month, while you pay homage to George Washington Carver, or Benjamin Banniker, or Harriet Tubman, see if you can make that oh-so-long trek down to the video store to pick up “Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss Song.” I really think that many of you will be surprised by how different and great a film it truly is. Also, take a look at "Coffee," in which Pam Grier outwits a den of thieves 20 years before Tarantino's “Jackie Brown," or watch Jim Kelly exude more confidence and cool than even Bruce Lee in “Enter the Dragon,” or cheer on Fred Williamson in "Three the Hard Way" as he defines the modern action hero a decade before “Rambo."
Most importantly, try to find a copy of the documentary "Midnight Ramble" (there's one in our library) to learn more about African-American film pioneers such as Oscar Micheaux. For once, skip “Birth of a Nation" and seek out the cinematic pioneers that time forgets.
Photos courtesy of:
http://www.foppejohnson.com/armstrong
http://www.mdl.com/ClassisFilms
http://www.images.amazon.com
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