Library of Afru-ika

Black Roots Science, Chapter 1

2011-07-13T21:05:00.000-07:00

Summary

1. Our earth and solar system were created 78 trillion years ago. As soon as the earth was ready, 144,000 ancestors came from another star system, the star called Sirius that was worshipped by the ancient Egyptians. They inhabited the earth after preparing it by seeding it with plant and animal life. After about 7,000 years since their arrival, their population increased from 144,000 to one billion eight million (1b8m).

2. This number, 1b8m, is the most sacred number in creation. It is the total number of original people who inhabited the first earth of our universe countless trillions of years ago. Thus every earth inhabited thereafter keeps this number as their final and stable population. It was determined to be the ideal number of people that can inhabit a planet the size of earth in complete comfort, without imposing on each other or on the natural resources, as well as on the animals and plants. That enables complete freedom of movement for all life on the planet, and this is essential for peace, prosperity, and spiritual growth (the gaining of knowledge).

3. The reason why the number is specifically 1b8m is described in the mathematics section of BlackRoots Science.

4. The first earth mentioned above, was created by the b8m original Gods from the stars of the previous universe. They had existed in that previous universe, toward its end, along with trillions upon countless trillions of other people, in a state of mind called divine unity, or the oneness of God. It is a state of mind where all the people in the universe unite as one. This One is God in truth, not the 'spirit' God of modern religions.

5. When the trillions upon trillions of people at the end of the previous universe were united as one, they experienced an indescribable expansion of their minds, which were as one mind. It expanded to such an extent that it not only circumscribed their entire universe, but exceeded its boundaries by an immeasurable extent. The One Mind, or God, became so large that the previous universe could no longer contain him/her. He/she felt a need for a larger universe in which the experience of life would continue. The trillions upon trillions of people, still united as one, then decided to abandon that universe. They consciously left their perfected bodies and rose in mind far above the universe. They then looked down on it and saw it as a small sphere, the way our earth looks when seen from high above in space.

6. Now, the mind is always attached to the body. There is no such thing as a mind without a body, as so-called 'spiritualists' would like us to believe. The mind can extend beyond the outer reaches of space, even expand infinitely, but a magnetic attraction always attaches it to the physical body. The magnetic attraction dissipates at death, and the mind and individual

personality, or soul, then ascends. I will discuss ascension at a later time.

7. The unified mind of the people, who were as One Person, was so immense that the stars appeared to be the size of atoms. As this Person was contemplating the universal sphere, he/she saw that it was adequate for habitation as a new earth, with all the stars being its atoms. He/she made one billion eight million new bodies corresponding to the size of the new earth, using some of its substance (the stars/atoms). Then he/she disconnected the magnetic connection to the old bodies and left them in the old universe. The 1b8m Gods then descended upon the new earth into the new bodies and became the first inhabitants.

8. The matter of every star and planet in the universe is created in seven forms. In modern words these are magnetism, electricity, light, ether, gases, liquids, and solids. The fourth substance, ether, is the central supporting substance of the other six. It is the womb of creation called space. It is black in color, as one can see by looking out into space at night. This absolute blackness called space not only supports the other substances, but it also gives individual color to all objects because the color black contains all other colors in itself. Hence when the b8m original Gods made themselves new bodies, they covered them in skin whose color is black, getting it directly from the ether. Because the Gods create all plants and animals from their own bodies, they need to have all colors stored in a single color in their creative germ, which is called the dark dominant germ or gene, the source of what

modern people call melanin.

9. Upon arriving on the first earth, the One Mind of God incarnated instantly in 1b8m bodies, as already said. Half of them (504,000,000) were female and the other half were male. Each pair of male/female Gods are called soul mates. They always create in soul mate pairs, even when in large groups, because all creation has a male/female or negative/positive principle (negative is not used in a derogatory sense, but as the complement of positive). The b8m original people then proceeded to instantly create perfect plants and animals, called the original totems, from which all evolutionary life forms evolved. They also proceeded to create new stars and planets around the first earth by condensing part of their expanded mind. After living on that first earth for more than a trillion years, they finalized the plans for the completion of a new, much larger universe. They then gave birth to their descendents, and then passed out of life (ascended). Before passing, they established the society of the Black Nation.

10. They established it by withdrawing from or leaving their divine unity, in which they had existed for over a trillion years. They did this in order to be able to bring new life into the world, new persons who had never existed before, such as you and me. At the same time, in order to ensure the continuity of eternity, these same b8m original Gods continue to incarnate in the new people. They reside in the unconscious part of the person's mind and are called the mind of God, or the divine gift of ancestral memory (or what modern people call the spirit of God). Thus every Black person, even though he or she is born brand new, is simultaneously one of the b8m original Gods. Only the personality is new. The spirit is old, even eternal.

11. The b8m original people all withdrew from the divine unity except 24 people, 12 men and 12 women. They became the Kings and Queens called the 24 Elders, who are really 12 Gods or 12 soul mate couples. The 24 Elders are called the custodians of divine unity.

12. The 12 Gods chose 12 assistants each and called them the 144 Chiefs. The Gods divided the population into 12 tribes of 84 million people. They further divided each tribe into 6 clans, and set 2 Chiefs, a man and a woman, as the heads of each clan. The Chiefs chose 1,000 people each and called them the 144,000 Judges. They sent them in soul mate pairs all over the earth to set the foundations for 72,000 cities. Each couple took about 14,000 people with them to establish their city.

13. This was the basic organization of the Black Nation established by the original Gods on the first earth. When other earths were completed and settlers sent to them, this organization was repeated and remains as the divine form of Kingdom/Queendom on every inhabited earth throughout the universe.

14. The original Gods also established 7 great rituals of initiation to be used by the leaders to elevate all new people to divine unity. God's purpose for creating universe after universe is to increase himself/herself. Every person who completes the seven great rituals becomes full God, exactly like the original people. At that moment of completion, God rediscovers himself/herself anew,as if he/she had never existed before. That is how God renews himself/herself, thus overcoming the stagnancy that would be the case in an eternally all-knowing being who never changes.

15. In addition to the 7 great rituals, the original people also established many other rituals and customs covering every area of science and life. They then initiated the leaders of their descendents into this knowledge before passing. Their initiation rituals have been faithfully transmitted from generation to generation since the beginning.

16. On our earth, this form of divine rule existed uninterrupted for 78 trillion years, until 6,000 years ago, when a certain God decided it was time for all the other Gods (you and me) to experience that part of us contained in what is called the non-creative recessive light germ. He caused the birth of new races of people, the non-Blacks, who would be the vehicles to manifest all that is in that gene.

17. All things, without exception, are contained in God. God will experience all that is contained in him/her. He/she knows all, but has not experienced all. He/she uses the creation for this purpose of experiencing all that is known, including what is called evil. Hence 6,000 years ago, a God by the name of Yahweh, called Yakub in other ancient scripts, was born here on our earth. He together with about 60,000 volunteers who are called the Elohim made the non-Blacks in our image. They made them by suppressing the dominant black gene and slowly unfolding the recessive light gene over a period of seven generations of offspring, or 200 years. This caused the appearance of the first light race, born to Black people. After another 200 years of deliberate and careful breeding, they caused the second light race to appear out of the first. Then 200 years later the third race appeared and finally, 66 years after the appearance of the 3rd race (yellow race) the 4th race (caucasians) appeared. These 60,000 people, Yahweh and the Elohim, thus initiated the modern age and the process that would eventually bring our divine Kingdom to a temporary end.

18. That in brief is the sacred history leading from the first earth to our earth, and to the present situation or cycle called evil, which was preordained to last for 6,000 years.

Black Roots Science

2011-07-13T20:42:00.000-07:00

CONTENTS

LEVEL I

1 Summary ....................................................... 5

The creation of our earth and the universe; the b8m Original People;

the society of the Black Nation; the cycle of self-forgetfulness

2 Introduction to Level 1 ....................................................... 9

3 Introduction to Physics/Astronomy ....................................................... 15

4 The Solar System and the Atom ....................................................... 17

5 The Universe ....................................................... 19

6 The Separation Distance of Stars and Atoms ....................................................... 21

7 The Size of the Earth, the Size of the Universe ....................................................... 25

8 The Creation of the Universe ....................................................... 31

9 The Society of the Black Nation ....................................................... 37

10 The Mystery of Soul Mates ....................................................... 49

11 The Lifespan of Ancient Black People ....................................................... 55

12 Introduction to Chemistry ....................................................... 77

13 The First and Second Laws of Magnetic Attraction ....................................................... 81

The creation of new stars; the seven forms of matter

14 The Expansion of God's Mind ....................................................... 85

The 'contraction' of the universe; the source of natural laws

15 Biology/Genetics ....................................................... 87

16 The Causes of Illness ....................................................... 89

17 The 10-Stage Initiation Process ....................................................... 105

18 The Final Graduation ....................................................... 109

The perfection of character; the creation of prototypes

19 Test Questions and Answers ....................................................... 127

20 The Holy Trinity ....................................................... 131

The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

The Mother, the Daughter, and the Divine Life

21 The True Teachings of Jesus ....................................................... 135

The seven lessons

22 Introduction to Mathematics ....................................................... 147

23 Seven (7), the Number of Completion ....................................................... 149

24 Twelve (12), the Number of Tribes ....................................................... 151

25 The Seven Fundamental Numbers ....................................................... 155

The most sacred number

26 Cosmology ....................................................... 157

27 The Creation of Time ....................................................... 161

28 The Seven Tiers of Suns ....................................................... 165

Black holes

29 The First Appearance of Light ....................................................... 169

The settling of new earths

30 Reincarnation ....................................................... 177

Spiritual and biological ancestry

31 Ascension ....................................................... 185

The ancient and modern forms of ascension; the new heavens of Yahweh

32 Questions ....................................................... 211

33 The True Israelites, the Chosen People of Yahweh ....................................................... 255

34 The True and Full Name of Yahweh ....................................................... 283

35 The Rapture ....................................................... 289

36 The Ego "...Unless They Are Born Again" ....................................................... 295

37 More Questions ....................................................... 299

LEVEL 2

38 Introduction to Level 2 ....................................................... 321

39 Curriculum ....................................................... 325

40 Invocation ....................................................... 327

41 Guidelines ....................................................... 329

42 Lesson 1 ....................................................... 331

Example of Exercise 1 ....................................................... 332

43 The Fireside Ritual ....................................................... 335

44 Recalls (Exercises 7-1) ....................................................... 337

45 The Planting, Nurturing, and Harvesting Stages ....................................................... 339

46 12 De-Programming Statements ....................................................... 341

47 Lesson 2 ....................................................... 347

48 24 De-Programming Statements ....................................................... 351

49 Visualization Using Numbers ....................................................... 357

50 Lesson 3 (Dreams) ....................................................... 361

51 Lesson 4 (Emotions) ....................................................... 363

52 Lesson 5 (Thoughts) ....................................................... 365

53 How Consciousness Works ....................................................... 367

54 Seven Years to Perfect Health ....................................................... 379

55 Seven-Year Fasting Schedule ....................................................... 383

*** UPDATES ***

56 The Reason for Number Visualization ....................................................... 393

57 Questions 1 ....................................................... 397

58 The Science of Soul Mates ....................................................... 425

59 The Seven Functions of the Pyramid ....................................................... 429

60 Questions 2 ....................................................... 435

61 The Destiny of Yakub ....................................................... 461

62 Forty Days and Forty Nights ....................................................... 471

63 The Messiah and Anti-Messiah ....................................................... 477

64 The Protocols of the Elders of Shabazz ....................................................... 485

The Black Corps of Engineers and the construction of the Alaska Highway (ALCAN)

2008-03-27T19:59:00.000-07:00

African Americans and World War II

by E. Valerie Smith

Miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles. Temperatures of sixty below zero and dropping. More snow than a southerner or northerner could ever imagine..and the people... where are the people?

So describes the welcome which greeted the black men of the 93rd, 95th, 97th (Regiments) and 388th Battalion (Separate) of the Corps of Engineers assigned to Alaska. "Their 3,695 troops accounted for slightly more than a third of the 10,607 engineers on the highway." These soldiers made a major contribution to the war effort which, until recently, was not recognized.

The building of the ALCAN has been described in the same vein as the building of the Panama Canal, a feat which most people believed couldn't be done. Faced with innumerable odds, the soldiers persevered and accomplished what no others could, build a highway in record time through some of the roughest terrain in the U.S. Known as the ALCAN (Alaska-Canada Highway), once built, this road was to become the only overland route which strategically linked the north to the remainder of the United States and facilitated the construction of airstrips for refueling planes and supply routes. Among the adverse conditions which these courageous men overcame were:

* an extremely harsh climate for many men who had only known the southern U.S. climate and others who had experienced only mildly cold weather;

* insufficient clothing and accommodations, because the men were in the cold for months dressed in warm weather clothing and living in tents. The white soldiers were usually housed in the sturdier quonset huts and on the air bases;

* gross personal insult because of the pervasive belief that African Americans were inferior; the fear of many top Army personnel that the soldiers would harm the civilization of the indigenous population if they had contact with it and; the outspoken offensive posture of Commanding General S.B. Buckner, who feared that African American contacts with locals would produce a "mongrel race" through interbreeding and;

* severe discriminatory policies, segregation and isolation because the facilities, supplies, etc., were inferior, and in most instances camps were established in isolated areas away from towns with cloth tents as living quarters.

Background

The Alaska Highway, evidencing something of the early American pioneer spirit as it cut through ice hills and muskeg swamps in a race against time, captured the American imagination in a way that few other projects did in the early summer of 1942 when so little else involving American forces in an aggressive role on a large scale had yet been made public.

Initially, the possibility that the Japanese might attack Alaska was believed to be unlikely; however with the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, it became clear that the northern U.S. territory was vulnerable. Thus, on December 11, 1941 the Western Defense (which included Alaska) was made a theater of operations. New construction was not to begin. However, existing projects were to be completed and planned projects remained authorized. Among those authorized projects was the construction of the Alaska Highway. The road was critical in the Allied Forces' defense strategy because of the Japanese threat to the Pacific.

On February 6, 1942, the U.S. Army Chief of Staff approved the construction of the Alaska Highway. President Roosevelt authorized the construction of the pioneer road on February 11, 1942. On March 5, Secretary of War Henry Stimson announced the decision to build the Highway, and effective March 11, General DeWitt was assigned sole responsibility for overseeing all military-related real estate and construction in the Alaskan theater of operations. In a formal exchange of notes on March 17-18, 1942, the United States and Canada agreed to cooperate in the construction, maintenance and use of the highway.

The U.S. agreed to make surveys, to build a pioneer road and to have Canadian and American contractors complete the road under the supervision of the Public Roads Administration. For six months after the end of the war the U.S. agreed to maintain the road. The Canadian government agreed to right-of-way and to permit the use of local timber, gravel and rock, to waive import taxes and to exempt Americans employed in Canada from Canadian taxes. Canada had the option of assuming maintenance of the road earlier than the six month post-war deadline. On May 1, General DeWitt made General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. entirely responsible for the execution of the military construction in Alaska. Efforts were made to recruit white civilians and enlisted men to repair and maintain the military buildings.

The War Department determined that the road was to be along the Northwest Staging Route, which consisted of existing airstrips from Edmonton, Alberta Canada to Fairbanks, Alaska. This route was used in the Russian-American Land Lease Program to transport more than 8,000 warplanes from Great Falls, Montana, to Ladd Air Force Base in Fairbanks. The planes were then flown through Nome and on to Russia.

The pioneer road, stretching 1450 miles, was carved out of a massive wilderness in the phenomenal period of eight months and twelve days. To complete the Highway, the engineers built 133 bridges and 8,000 culverts.(2) The entire length of the ALCAN is 1619 miles.(3) The cost was approximately $110 million.(4) The ALCAN Highway begins in Dawson Creek, Canada and ends at Big Delta (Delta Junction) near Fairbanks, Alaska.

Each regiment and battalion was responsible for the construction of specific sections of the ALCAN. The first military command post was established at Ft. St. John, Canada where Colonel Hoge supervised the construction of the 650 miles of road from Dawson Creek to Watson Lake. The second command post was established by Colonel Hoge at Whitehorse, which would oversee the 850 miles of road from Watson Lake to Big Delta. Because of the distance between the two command posts, they became known as the Southern Sector (Ft. St. John) and the Northern Sector (Whitehorse).

The African American Corps of Engineers

The engineering regiments assigned the task of constructing the Alaska Highway were segregated by race. The original plan of the commander was not to use African Americans to build the roads, but to have them provide services. Three of the seven regiments were black regiments: the 93rd, 95th, 97th. One battalion, the 388th (Separate), worked in Canada on the CANOL Project, and is often included in discussions of black troops in the Northern Territory. They were joined by the white regiments, 18th, 35th, 340th and 341st.

All of the black Regiments were established originally as separate battalions. Initially, Secretary Stimson declared that no black troops would be sent to the northern territory because it was believed that the troops were incapable of functioning in the bitter cold climate. In time, increased need for additional troops in the northern region and the shortage of white troops resulted in Secretary Stimson reversing his position. Many of the soldiers had no idea that they were going to the far north when they were shipped out. In fact, when the white regiments were short of supplies and equipment, those of the black regiments were reallocated to white regiments. In time, need preempted bigotry and the black troops were given assignments traditionally given to white regiments. There evolved the pairing of regiments in many regions of the northern territory in the following way: Carcoss to Whitehorse and Watson Lake - 340th and 93rd; Whitehorse to Big Delta - 18th and 97th; Ft. John to Ft. Nelson - 341 and 95th.

As was the case with the military troops worldwide during World War II, all of the commanding officers of all of the regiments were white. Twichell points out, "...the biggest problem black units faced was the same one that had beset them in World War I: the lack of black leadership and the bigotry of white leaders." He further points out that assignment to black units was an experience to be avoided if the white officers desired career advancement. Thus, if assigned, the officers devoted considerable time and energy attempting to get reassigned. Only black chaplains and doctors were commissioned officers in the Northwest Service Command.

93rd Regiment

The 93rd General Service Regiment arrived at Skagway on April 16, 1942 and worked on the pioneer road from Tagish north, to the McClintock River east, and then southeast to the Teslin River. Under the leadership of Colonel Frank Johnson, one segment of the regiment was to work back from Carcross to Whitehorse and the other cleared a new trail to Watson Lake. The 93rd's primary responsibility was to construct a trail for use by the 340th Engineer Regiment as it built segments of the highway. Because of the lack of heavy equipment, engineers of the 93rd began their work using only hand tools. Later they were able to get heavy equipment.(5)

LINEAGE and ASSIGNMENTS - 93rd REGIMENT

October 1, 1933 Constituted in Regular Army as 52nd Engineer
Battalion (Separate)
January 1, 1938 Redesignated 93rd Engineer Battalion
(Separate)
February 10, 1941 Activated at Camp Livingston, Louisiana
March 27, 1942 Expanded and redesignated as 93rd Engineer
Regiment (General Service)
April 16, 1942 Arrived in Skagway, Canada
August 1, 1942 Redesignated 93rd General Service Regiment
November 17, 1945 Inactivated at Camp Kilmer, NJ
June 30, 1947 Consolidated with 1315th Engineer
Construction Battalion and redesignated
Engineer Construction Battalion
June 11, 1954 Allocated to the Regular Army and
redesignated 93rd Engineer Battalion
July 26, 1954 Activated as 93rd Engineer Battalion
(Construction) at Ft. Bragg, NC
Source: Corp of Engineer Archives

95th Regiment

As the last of the black Regiments to arrive, the 95th, under the command of Colonel David L. Neumann, reached Dawson Creek, British Columbia, between May 29 and June 2, 1942. The 95th was originally organized as a separate battalion at the Engineer Training Center at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia. In April 1941, the original members of the 95th had completed thirteen weeks of training and worked on several construction projects at Virginia's Camp A.P. Hill before going through Carolina maneuvers and being sent to Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, in early 1942. There they were joined by additional men, and had enough to form another battalion. The Battalions were upgraded to a regiment. After ten more weeks of training, the regiment was shipped to Canada.

The troops were assigned to work on the segment of the Highway between Ft. Nelson and Fort St. John. Their task was to improve the road cut by the 341st from Ft. St. John to Ft. Nelson. The 341st bulldozed the forests to make the pioneer trail and the 95th followed, improving and maintaining the completed trail. Although the soldiers of the 95th were trained in construction, the decision to use them as the back-up force rather than the builders was based on both racism and the shortage of heavy equipment. Those few pieces of equipment which the unit had were reallocated to the 341st. The reallocation of equipment from black units to white units was rather common.

According to Twichell, "[t]he decision to beef up the 341st at the expense of the 95th was defensible, given the assignments of the two regiments."(6) The argument was made that the 341st had been in the field for a longer period of time, thus they would be more experienced with the environment. The problem with that argument, however, was that the 95th soldiers were much better trained and experienced in construction. The morale of the black troops was very low, because of this and other discriminatory decisions. The state of their morale, however was of little significance to the "top brass" who considered the implications of the alternative reallocation. After all, "How would this white regiment have reacted to the humiliation of being taken out of the lead and given a supporting role behind a black outfit?"(7)

LINEAGE and ASSIGNMENTS - 95th REGIMENT

October 1, 1933 54th redesignated as 95th Engineer
Battalion (Separate)
April 23, 1941 Activated at Ft. Belvoir
October 1, 1941 Trained in Carolina Maneuver Area
December 7, 1941 Returned to Ft. Belvoir
March 6, 1942 Training at Ft. Bragg, NC
April 26, 1942 Depart Dawson Creek
May 29-June 1, 1942 Arrived at Dawson Creek
May 1, 1943 Returned to continental U.S.; assigned to
Ft. Claiborne, LA
December 16, 1946 Deactivated at Ft. Lewis, WA
Source: Corp of Engineer Archives

The 97th Regiment

On April 29, when the 97th landed, several feet of snow covered the ground, a strange new sight for most of the regiment's 1,100 enlisted men, recently drafted African Americans from Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. Adding to their woes was the arrival of the 97th's battered fleet of dump trucks, which had been classified as unserviceable and turned in for salvage at the port of embarkation in Seattle.(8)

The northern Alaska section of the ALCAN Highway was built by the 97th General Services Regiment. Commanded by Colonel Stephen C. Whipple, the 97th disembarked at Valdez, AK, which was the southern terminus of the Richardson Highway. This Regiment was faced with the arduous task of working in the harshest conditions of any of the regiments. The Alaskan interior (northern region) has the most bitter cold, the largest amount of snow and the most drastic temperature variation (-80 F to +90 F). While other regiments/battalions were able to complete many miles in a brief period, the 97th sometimes could complete only a few miles. Without recognizing the severe difficulties caused by the climate, it was easier for the commander and top management to assess the performance of the 97th as inferior to that of white regiments.

The regiment was given the preliminary mission of opening an access road from Slana, 200 miles north of Valdez, over the Mentasta Mountain Pass and down to the vicinity of the upper Tanana Valley village of Tok. Units in the 97th operated the terminals for trucks on the "Fairbanks Freight," the truck supply line over the highway. Company C was stationed at Cathedral Rapids, and was responsible for "glacial control," chopping the glaciers away by hand. They built bypass roads to get around the glaciers when the situation warrnated such extreme measures. Company A, under Captain Walter E. Mason, built 295 miles of road from Slana, across the Tanana River and south into Canada. Eighty-five of the miles were corduroy road, sometimes five layers deep to counteract the permafrost.

According to Mason, they made about five miles a day and had to move camp every two or three days. The 97th was to meet the 18th Regiment coming up from Canada at the Alaska-Canada border. As a testimony to their commitment to the project, when the 97th reached the designated meeting point and the 18th wasn't there, they continued to build until they did meet the 18th approximately 20 miles east of the border. On October 24, 1942, the 97th and 18th Regiments met at Beaver Creek. As Colonel Mason explained, all of the men of the 97th climbed in the bulldozer and crossed over to meet with the 18th.(9) Being such a historic and personally gratifying moment, everyone wanted to experience it. The kindred spirit of a team who had worked against the odds exuded. When the bulldozers of Technician 5 Refines Sims, Jr. of the 97th and Private Alfred Jalufka, lead driver of the 18th finally broke through to close the last gap in the road on October 25, 1942, the meeting between white and black drivers symbolized a kind of unity and cooperation that was difficult to achieve in the continental United States.

The final segment which would connect the northern and southern segments was not a pioneer road but a winter trail. The winter season was quickly approaching and there was the fear that the inclement weather might prevent completion of a road. Still to be done was the building of a bridge over White River. That was completed on November 20th, and in a ceremony the ALCAN Highway from Dawson Creek to Big Delta was officially opened.

After the completion of the pioneer road, the 97th Regiment continued to build another road to connect Delta Junction with Fairbanks, and other units built spurs off of the Highway. The 97th Regiment served in Alaska until March 1944 and, after a short tour in the United States, was shipped to the Pacific Theater. It served in this theater until the end of World War II.

LINEAGE and ASSIGNMENTS - 97th REGIMENT

October 1, 1933 Organized as 56th Engineer Battalion
(Separate)
January 1, 1938 Redesignated as the 97th Engineer Battalion
June 1, 1941 Activated at Camp Blanding, FL
March 1, 1942 Battalion reorganized and redesignated the
97th Engineer Battalion (General Service)
April, 1942 Departed the continental U.S. for duty in
Alaska to work on Alaska Highway
April 29, 1942 Arrived to Valdex, AK
August 1, 1943 Redesignated as 97th Engineer General
Service Regiment
March 1944 Regiment returned to U.S. but was soon
shipped to the Pacific Theater where it
remained until the end of WW II
June 30, 1946 Reorganized and redesignated as 97th General
Service Battalion
March 15, 1948 Regiment was inactivated in Manila,
Philippine Islands
September 11, 1950 Regiment activated at Ft. Leonard, Wood, MO
November 1951 Arrived in France
December 7, 1953 Redesignated as 97th Engineer Battalion
March 1967 Battalion moved to USAREUR
December 1967 Notified of its redeployment to Ft. Riley,
KS
Source: Corp of Engineer Archives

The 388th Engineer Batallion (Separate)

The 388th Battalion (Separate) was activated on January 10, 1942 at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. It was comprised of black enlisted personnel, many who had been reassigned to this battalion from others. To help form the 388th Battalion (separate), the 93rd, for example, had to give up several dozen officers and NCOs. It followed the 93rd up to Canada to work on the CANOL Project which built pipelines needed to ensure a continuous supply of oil in the event that the Japanese blocked other supply routes. Needed for the Project were camps for troops and civilian construction of landing strips.

The 388th was responsible for improving transportation from the Waterways to Norman Wells. The regiment arrived during the first two weeks in June. Its first job was to build living quarters, unload supplies arriving from Edmonton, and cut and stock firewood for steamboats in the waterways. They lived in "pup" tents. The battalion moved to Norman Wells, Northwestern Territories, Canada, in June 1942. On January 1, 1943, the battalion was expanded into a general service regiment and redesigned as the 388th Engineer General Service Regiment. The regiment was returned to the United States at Camp Sutton, NC, and remained there in training until March 1944. It was sent from Boston to England, arriving in England on April 3, 1944. The Regiment moved to France two months later and participated in the Normandy and Northern France campaign, engaged in construction work.

The 388th is the least recognized and publicized battalion. In Lee's book (classic history of black military activities) for example, it is not mentioned in the context of the ALCAN, but only when speaking of troops in Europe.

LINEAGE and ASSIGNMENTS - 388th REGIMENT

January 10, 1942 Activated at Camp Claiborne, LA as 388th
Battalion (separate)
June 1942 Moved to Norman Wells, Northwestern
Territories, Canada to work on the CANOL
oil-producing Project
January 1, 1943 Battalion expanded to 388th Engineer General
Service Regiment
September 1943 Regiment returned to U.S. by ship and was
stationed at Camp Sutton, NC
March 1944 Departed from Boston to England
April 3, 1944 Arrived in England
July 5, 1944 Moved to France
July 24, 1945 Departed from Marseilles, France
August 31, 1945 Arrived in the Philippines Islands
December 18, 1945 Inactivated
1954 Headquarters, Headquarters and Service
Company and Companies A,B,C, redesig-
nated as the 588th Engineer Battalion
June 30, 1954 Activated at Ft. Belvoir, VA as an engineer
construction battalion
March 1963 Reorganized as engineer combat battalion
May 1963 Moved to Ft. Lee, VA and served until
October, 1965
November 2, 1965 Arrived to Vietnam
November 16, 1970 Returned to U.S. and inactivated at Ft.
Lewis, WA
June 21, 1976 Activated at Ft. Polk, Louisiana
Source: Corp of Engineer Archives

Physical Conditions

Many soldiers were experiencing their first time away from their home state, and in some instances, away from the place in which they were reared. The men in the black regiments were from the northeast and southern regions of the United States. For many it was their first time in cold weather and for all it was the first time in such severely cold weather and "strange" summer. This meant that the experiences of the black troops were even more traumatic than those for other troops.

The soldiers lived in harsh and extreme climates ranging from a winter with 80 degrees below zero to a summer with temperatures at 90 degrees and a sun that barely sets. A confidential report noted during a field inspection at 63 below [that] the clothing of Delta's Black regiment was found to be in abominable condition. The report described the "pathetically ill equipped 97th" as doing nothing else but hibernating at present and stated it was of great importance to note that those men were not freezing in unusual numbers.(10) The report further indicated that unpredictable weather resulted in the temperature soaring to 80 degrees and frozen earth turned to sticky mud very rapidly. Periodically the troops ran into patches of muskeg. When it was not deep, it was possible for the men to dig out the shallow patches and fill it with gravel; when not possible, the route was detoured around them. The deeper ones were corduroyed.

The completion of the ALCAN did not reduce the amount of work they had to do. Regiments in the southern sector had to build a number of community roads from the highway. Additionally, they had to continue to work to keep the road during the winter. Snow, ice and cold weather were the major obstacles. In the northern sector, underground springs flowed into ditches and froze into mounds of ice. A glacier blocked 1/2 mile of the road and the road had to be detoured around it. Diesel fuel solidified and gas lines froze at sub-zero temperatures. Engines had to have torches under them to prevent freezing and engines were left running all night to ensure that they would start.

The many rivers of Alaska presented problems for the construction crews. The equipment and supplies had to be moved. When possible, the truck drivers "braved the rivers" and attempted crossings. Periodically, the trucks would get stuck and extra efforts were required to dislodge them. When crossing without bridges was not possible, two Pontoon companies helped the construction crew, and equipment was forded across the rivers. If not possible, pontoon bridges were formed when equipment was sufficient; when not sufficient, pontoon rafts were formed by tying pontoons together and decking them with timbers.

The virtual 24 hour sunlight during the summer made it possible for the troops to work two or three shifts straight. The crews cleared an average of three to four miles per day.

Social Conditions

Entrenched in the Alaskan experience was the pervasive view held by military officials and the majority of the U.S. society that African Americans were intellectually inferior, physically limited, and generally incapable of being competitive and performing at the level of their counterparts. It was believed that black soldiers could not operate the equipment and could not perform tasks which required any type of technological sophistication or skills. On U.S. military bases the troops were subjected to horrible treatment by their white colleagues, as illustrated with the situation of the 94rd, based at Camp Livingston, Louisiana. "To go out the camp's gate on pass was to risk harassment, humiliation, and even physical harm in the nearby towns; individual African Americans were not much safer wandering through Camp Livingston's white cantonment areas."(11) The service club and movie theater were segregated. The discrimination and limitations of movement and access continued in Alaska.

There was no secret that the Army, and especially the commander of the Alaskan troops, did not want the black troops in the territory. On April 2, 1942, Brigadier General C.L. Sturdevant, Assistant Chief of Engineers, wrote a letter to General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., Commander of the Alaska Defense Command, empathizing with his objection to having black troops in Alaska; however, he also pointed out the urgency of the situation and the severe shortage of troops. In an apologetic tone, Sturdevant wrote,

I have heard that you object to having colored troops in Alaska and we have attempted to avoid sending them, we however have been forced to use two colored regiments and it seems unwise for diplomatic reasons to send them both in Canada since the Canadians also prefer whites. I hope, therefore that you will not protest this action since I believe it would only cause delay with no different result because the urgency of the project prevents reduction of the force and all remaining regiments are assigned to task forces.(12)

Further in the letter Sturdevant assured the General that the two regiments would be working "... in two reliefs on a 20 hour schedules in out-of the way places" and observed, "and I cannot see how they can cause any great trouble." Buckner, (the son of the Confederate General Simon Bolivar Buckner, who surrendered to Grant), responded,

I appreciate your consideration of my views concerning negro troops in Alaska. The thing which I have opposed principally has been their establishment as port troops for the unloading of transports at our docks. The very high wages offered to unskilled labor here would attract a large number of them and cause them to remain and settle after the war, with the natural result that they would be interbred with the Indians and Eskimos and produce an astonishing objectionable race of mongrels which would be a problem here from now on.(13)

He noted that he had no objections to employing them on the roads "...if they are kept far away from the settlements and kept busy and then sent home soon as possible."(14) The racist attitudes were not limited to the military personnel. Some of the locals had the same stereotypical attitudes about African Americans being incapable of anything above unskilled tasks and genetically inferior (closer to animals) with tails.(15)

It was the creativity of the soldiers coupled with the positive relationship which existed between the indigenous peoples and some locals which ensured the survival of the soldiers. The white officers in the black regiments had better accommodations than the troops, often living in quonset huts rather than tents. The black troops were requred to live in cloth tents. The soldiers discovered that the stoves in the tents produced condensation outside the tents which, when frozen, served as insulation and kept them heated.

They often had to improvise with their clothing. Winter clothing included serveral pairs of socks and plastic bags over the shoes to keep out dampness and insulate for warmth. The indigenous population taught the men a number of survival techniqes and introduced them to additional ways to make clothing and keep the tents warm. In a region where everything "looks the same" and areas were unmapped with few trails and no towns, it was not hard to lose direction and underestimate distances. In rare occasions when a few soldiers got lost, the indigenous scouts located them. There was only one soldier who froze to death.

Because of the segregation, discriminatory policies, inequitable treatment and the practice of keeping the soldiers away from populated areas, the newly built air bases were off limits. Thus, they could not enjoy the warm accommodations and conveniences of the base. In many towns, the African Americans were refused admission to shops and in some instances denied the right to walk on the streets of the town.(16)

Despite the regulations forbidding local people from interacting with the black soldiers, there were a few locals who risked the reprisals and attempted to make their stay in Alaska a bit more palatable. In Delta Junction, Mrs. Irene Mead, recalled that her parents, Bert and Mary Hansen owned, Rika's Roadhouse Restaurant. It functioned both as a restaurant and as a telephone relay station. Her parents clandestinely brought various soldiers to the Roadhouse and gave them coffee and warm food to keep them nourished and warm. Had the military officials discovered that, the telephone relay station could have been shut down and the Roadhouse declared off limits for the white soldiers. That would have resulted in the forced closure of the Roadhouse since it would not have been able to survive without the business from the base.

Despite the harsh conditions, the soldiers were expected to perform at the optimal level and they did. Relative to the conditions to which they were exposed, there were only a few instances of resistance or rebellion. One group of soldiers was court martialed for refusing to sit in the back of an open truck to ride miles in temperatures well below zero. Had they complied, they ran the risk of freezing to death or having permanent physical damage from frostbite.

The diverse backgrounds caused a variety of interactions to develop, e.g., mentor-mentee arrangements and close relationships which lasted fifty years. The social and educational background of the soldiers spanned the total range from lower class and limited education to upper class with college education. One of the admirable aspects of the experience of the soldiers was the willingness of the more educated soldiers to help the less educated by tutoring them and serving as mentors. There were some coflicts, particularly among different geographic groups. Some of the soldiers from Louisiana experienced communication problems because their accents were so different that some of the other soldiers refused to make the effort to listen closely to understand and chose, instead, to tease them.

It was not uncommon for the men to go for long periods without leave, mail or fresh food. For leisure, among other things, the men played billiards and cards, listened to music, sang popular and religious songs, told jokes and stories and adopted animals such as dogs and bears as mascots. They fished sometimes, using the rifle as the pole and telephone wire as the string.

The ALCAN assignment offered the unprecedented opportunity to earn pay and benefits equal to those of the white soldiers. As noted above, this was a particular "thorn in the side" of General Buckner, Jr.

Although there were war correspondents sent to all regions where military activities occurred, as was the case with most Negro troops, few war correspondents visited the Negro segments of the ALCAN Highway. Additionally, "for national security purposes," the mail was censored. Thus, African Americans and others at home were not aware of the achievements and hardships of the black soldiers. Some letters did filter through to people back home when carried by returning soldiers. The effect on the soldiers was a lowered morale.(17) Despite the general lack of public recognition of the contributions of the black troops to the victory in World War II, the performance of the various regiments resulted in commendations from their commanders. For example, Commander Colonel Albert L. Lane, in a letter to the Commanding General, Northwest Service Command (Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada) on April 26, 1943 writes,

For a period of four months this Regiment provided the bulk of the labor necessary to the establishment and operation of this Post and its numerous utility installations. Their effort reflected a continual efficient performance of duty and a spirit of mutual cooperation that set a high standard by which other units could pattern their own activities. They exhibited an admirable ability to adapt and to create. Good morale was abundantly in evidence.

Conclusion

At about -15 degrees at Soldiers' Summit (ten miles from Slim's River) on November 20, 1942, the ALCAN Highway was officially opened. The dedication of the men during their ordeal in Alaska was phenomenal. In effect, these men were pioneers. They had to adapt to a totally new way of life in an unfriendly and relatively isolated climate. There was no challenge which was not accepted by the soldiers. Members of the 95th at Sikanni Chief River, for example, bet that they could build a bridge in record time and offered their paychecks as the wager. They were successful and built the bridge in eighty-four hours, approximately one-half the usual time necessary to build a bridge. The respective regiments received campaign streamers for the Aleutian Islands; New Guinea; Luzon; the Asiatic-Pacific Theater and were decorated with the Meritorious Unit Streamer embroidered ALCAN Highway. When the soldiers left Alaska, many were sent to Europe, Burma and/or the South Pacific and continued to perform superbly, thus negating the argument that African Americans were unfit for battle. The 93rd and 97th Regiments were sent to the Pacific while the 95th Regiment was sent to Europe.

A surprising number of the veterans are not bitter about the systematic discriminatory and exclusionary posture assumed, until very recently, by the Army. When asked about the obvious exclusion of their contributions to World War II in literature and the awarding of honors, many expressed a sense of personal satisfaction and believed that they contributed to the subsequent integration of the military regardless of whether it is recognized or not. Quite a number of lasting friendships have evolved as a result of the camaraderie which developed.

One of the interesting aspects of the story of the men of the 93rd, 95th, 97th and 388th is what happened to them after the war. Among those veterans located thus far, there are

Bishop Edward Carroll (95th), the first black Bishop of the United Methodist Church of New England; Dr. George Owens (93rd), a former president of Jackson State University; Mr. Nehemiah Atkinson (97th), the senior circuit national tennis champion, is a tennis instructor for the New Orleans Parks Department and the namesake of a tennis scholarship, "The Nehemiah Atkinson Tennis Scholarship;" Mr. Hayward Oubre (97th), an artist with exhibits throughout the United States, was one of the first Art faculty members at Florida A&M University and was the founder of the Art Department of Alabama State University; Mr. Joseph Prejean (93rd). who, trained as a cook while in Alaska, became a renowned Louisiana chef after separating from the service.

For fifty years, no public recognition of the ALCAN veterans was given. In 1992, however, things changed. Under the leadership of Mr. James Eaton (founder and curator of the Black Archives of Florida A&M University), assisted by Dr. E. Valerie Smith, the A&M University), assisted by Dr. E. Valerie Smith, the first reunion of the Black Corps of Engineers was organized at Florida A&M University in January 1992. Thirteen veterans and members of their families attended.

Concurrent with, but independent, of the reunion, an exhibit consisting of vintage photos collected from personal collections of some veterans and various archives and contemporary reunion photos taken by Mr. White entitled "Miles and Miles," was developed jointly by Ms. Lael Morgan and Mr. Cal White of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in January 1992. During July 4th celebrations, the veterans were honored in Alaska and a number of them participated in the parade. A few days later they visited for the first time since its completion the highway they built.

As a result of the initiatives and leadership of Dr. E. Valerie Smith, the ALCAN veterans were honored at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. on June 14, 1993. The ceremony was followed by the opening of an exhibit entitled "Miles and Miles."

In 1992, throughout Alaska, the celebration of the completion of the ALCAN Highway occurred. Initial publications and publicity omitted the involvement of the African Americans. There were, however, some recognition which did occur. In more recent publications, there is varying discussion of the role, level of involvement and high quality of performance of the black soldiers. On March 26, 1993, the State of Alaska passed House Bill 98 which renamed the bridge over Gestle River the "Black Veterans Recognition Bridge. The bill was signed by Governor Hickel.

Approximately fifty years after the building of the ALCAN, members of the Black Corps of Engineers have finally been recognized.

Endnotes

(1.)Lee, The Employment of Negro Troops, p. 609.

(2.)Morgan, "Miles and Miles Brochure."

(3.)Twichell, Northwest Epic, p. 214.

(4.)Newberry, "Party Planned for Blacks Who Built Alaska Highway."

(5.)Twichell, p. 120.

(6.)Twichell, p. 131.

(7.)Ibid.

(8.)Twichell, p. 213.

(9.)Interview with Mason, 1992.

(10.)Morgan.

(11.)Twichell, p. 142.

(12.)Sturdevant, Letter of April 2, 1942.

(13.)Buckner letter.

(14.)Ibid.

(15.)Interview with Roberts, 1993.

(16.)Lee, p. 438.

(17.)Lee, p. 387.

Sources

Buckner, Simon B. Letter, no date given.

Carroll, Edward G., Bishop. Interview, January 18, 1992, Tallahassee, FL

Coates, Ken. North to Alaska. Fairbanks, AK: University of Alaska Press, 1992.

France, Albert. Interview, January 18, 1992, Tallahassee, FL; Interview, October 24, 1992, Cooksville, MD

Guiterrez, Peter. "Black Soldiers' Role in Alcan Chronicled." All Alaska Weekly,. p. 15.

Lee, Ulysses. The Employment of Negro Troops. Wash. DC: U.S. Office of the Chief of Military History, 1982 (reprinted from 1966 issue).

Lee, Ulysses. Citation from "The Alaska Highway," A Report Complied for the CG ASF (May, 1945) II. OCMH, p. 609.

Lane, Albert L., Colonel, C.E. Commanding. Letter of Commendation, Headquarters, Dawson Creek, British Columbia. April 26, 1943.

Mason, Walter E. Roundtable of veterans on June 13, 1992. Washington, DC.

Morgan, Lael. "Miles and Miles" brochure for the exhibit February 1-March 15, 1992.

Newberry, Robert C. "Party planned for blacks who built Alaska Highway." Houston Post, September 19, 1990, p. 21.

Nolan, Donald. Interviews, January 18-19, 1992, Tallahassee, FL

Oubre, Hayward. Phone Interviews, May 15-22, 1993; Interview, Roundtable of veterans on June 13-14, 1993.

Overstreet, Louis. Black on a Background of White: A Chronicle of Afro-Americans' Involvement in America's Last Frontier! Alaska. Anchorage, AK: Alaska Black Caucus, 1988.

Roberts, Henry. Interviews, April 10, 1993; July 18, 1993, Washington, DC

Smith, E., Valerie. "Background Paper." Press release paper for "Miles and Miles" Pentagon Exhibition. June 5, 1993.

Sturdevant, C.L., Letter dated April 2, 1942.

Twichell, Heath. Northwest Epic. NY: St. Martin's Press, 1992.

Special thanks to veterans H. Oubre, D. Nolan, A. France, E. Long, J. Prejean and I. Smith for providing interviews; veteran S. Land for sharing his personal documents and photos; Bishop E. Carroll and H. Roberts for the interviews and for sharing personal photos; veterans R. Beverly and L. Freeman for providing photos; and to all of the veterans of the ALCAN Highway. Thanks also to my close colleagues in this research project - Cal White, Andrew Malloy of HQDA, Dr. C. Hendricks of Archives, Corps of Engineers, and Ambassador R. Palmer for assisting this researcher in locating materials and many veterans.

Asa Hilliard

2008-01-16T20:33:00.000-08:00

I am a teacher, a psychologist and a historian. As such, I am interested in the aims, the methods and the content of the socialization processes that we ought to have in place to create wholeness among our people.—Dr. Asa G. Hilliard III

Atlanta, GA (8-14, 2007) Dr. Asa Grant Hilliard, III, world renowned Pan-Africanist educator, historian, and psychologist, passed from this life on August 13, 2007 in Cairo, Egypt. Dr. Hilliard was in Egypt to deliver a keynote lecture at the annual conference of the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilization (ASCAC), an organization he helped found. He was also lecturing for a study trip led by Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Chicago. The cause of death is attributed to complications from malaria. “Dr. Hilliard was in his favorite place, with his favorite person – our mother, when he died,” said his daughter, Robi Hilliard Herron.

Dr. Hilliard was married for nearly 50 years to the Honorable Patsy Jo Hilliard, former mayor of East Point, GA and former school board member for the South San Francisco Unified School District.

Born in Galveston, TX on August 22, 1933 to Asa G. Hilliard II and Dr. Lois O. Williams. Dr. Hilliard graduated from Manual High School (1951) in Denver, CO. He received a B.A. from the University of Denver (1955) and taught in the Denver Public Schools before joining the U.S. Army, where he served as a First Lieutenant, platoon leader, and battalion executive officer in the Third Armored Infantry (1955-1957). He later received his M.A. in Counseling (1961) and Ed.D. in Educational Psychology (1963) from the University of Denver. In pursuit of his education, Dr. Hilliard worked in many occupations including as a teacher in the Denver Public Schools, as a railroad maintenance worker, and as a bartender, waiter and cook.

The professional career of Dr. Hilliard spans the globe. He was on the faculty at San Francisco State University; consultant to the Peace Corp in Liberia, West Africa; superintendent of schools in Monrovia, Liberia; and returned to San Francisco State as department chair and Dean of Education. At the time of his death, Dr. Hilliard was the Fuller E. Calloway Professor of Urban Education at Georgia State University in Atlanta where he held joint appointments in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education.

Dr. Hilliard was a Board Certified Forensic Examiner and Diplomate of both the American Board of Forensic Examiners and the American Board of Forensic Medicine. He served as lead expert witness in several landmark federal cases on test validity and bias, including Larry P. v. Wilson Riles in California, Mattie T. v. Holliday in Mississippi, Deborah P. v. Turlington in Florida, and also in two Supreme Court cases, Ayers v. Fordice in Mississippi, and Marino v. Ortiz in New York City. Dr. Hilliard has lectured at leading universities and other institutions throughout the world, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Geographic Society.

As a distinguished consultant, Dr. Hilliard has worked with many of the leading school districts, publishers, public advocacy organizations, universities, government agencies and private corporations on valid assessment, African content in curriculum, teacher training, and public policy. Several of his programs in pluralistic curriculum, assessment, and valid teaching have become national models. Dr. Hilliard designed the approach and selected the essays that appeared in The Portland Baseline Essays (Portland, OR) which represent the first time that a comprehensive global and longitudinal view of people of African ancestry has been presented in a curriculum.

In 2001, Dr. Hilliard was enstooled as Development Chief for Mankranso, Ghana and given the name Nana Baffour Amankwatia, II, which means “generous one.” Dr. Hilliard spent more than thirty years leading study groups to Egypt and Ghana, as part of his mission of teaching the truth about the history of Africa and the African Diaspora. He co-chaired the First National Conference on the Infusion of African and African- American Content in the School Curriculum in Atlanta. Dr. Hilliard was a founding member and First Vice President of the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations and a founding member of the National Black Child Development Institute. Dr. Hilliard was also a key advisor for the African Education for Every African Child Conference, held in Mali and sponsored by the government of Mali.

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Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu

2007-08-08T03:06:00.000-07:00

Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu was born in Chicago, Illinois June 15, 1953. He was raised in a two-parent home. His father was born in Texas and gave him high expectations. His mother was born in Ohio and loved him unconditionally. Kunjufu has one sister who is an officer with a Chicago Utility company.

Dr. Kunjufu was an honor roll elementary student at Burnside and was promoted from sixth to eighth grade. He never missed a day of school. He attended Harlan H.S. and was a track star. He graduated in 1970 and attended Illinois State University majoring in Economics and Business Administration. His speaking career literally began when he joined the debate team, where he won numerous awards.

Dr. Kunjufu always wanted to attend a Black college and in 1973 during his junior year he enrolled in the exchange program and attended Morgan State University. He immersed himself in Africentricity, legally changed his name, became a vegetarian, and resided in a juvenile delinquent center where he mentored Black boys. He returned to Illinois State in 1974 and graduated. He founded Unity, a Black cultural organization.

He taught in an Africentric school from 1974-1980. Kunjufu then founded African American Images, Inc. He enrolled in Union Graduate School and earned his doctorate in 1984. He has written approximately 30 books, spoken at most universities, and has been blessed to preach in hundreds of pulpits.

Kunjufu is happily married to his best friend and business partner, has two adult sons and a wonderful grandson. He is an avid tennis player and has yet to miss a day of work. He is a born again Christian and a faithful member of Living Word Christian Center. He mentors boys in the Community of Men organization he started many years ago.

James Brown

2006-12-30T19:57:00.000-08:00

Early life

Brown was born in the small town of Barnwell in Depression-era South Carolina as James Joseph Brown, Jr. As an adult, Brown would legally change his name to remove the "Jr." designation.[2] Brown's family eventually moved to nearby Augusta, Georgia. During his childhood, Brown helped support his family by picking cotton in the nearby fields and shining shoes downtown. In his spare time, Brown variously spent time either practicing his skills in Augusta-area halls, or committing petty crimes. At the age of sixteen, he was convicted of armed robbery and sent to a juvenile detention center upstate in Toccoa from 1948.

While in prison, Brown later made the acquaintance of Bobby Byrd, whose family helped Brown secure an early release after serving only three years of his sentence, under the condition that he not return to Augusta or Richmond County and that he would try to get a job. After brief stints as a boxer and baseball pitcher (a career move ended by a leg injury) Brown turned his energy toward music.

Beginnings of the Famous Flames

Brown and Bobby Byrd's sister Sarah performed in a gospel group called "The Gospel Starlighters" from 1955. Eventually, Brown joined Bobby Byrd's group the Avons, and Byrd turned the group's sound towards secular rhythm and blues. Now called The Famous Flames, Brown and Byrd's band toured the Southern "chitlin' circuit", and eventually signed a deal with the Cincinnati, Ohio-based King Records, presided over by Syd Nathan.

The group's first recording and single, credited to "James Brown with the Famous Flames", was "Please, Please, Please" (1956). It was a #5 R&B hit and a million-selling single. However, their subsequent records failed to live up to the success of "Please, Please, Please". After nine failed singles, King was ready to drop Brown and the Flames. Nearly all of the group's releases were written or co-written by Brown, who assumed primary control of the band from Byrd and eventually began billing himself as a solo act with The Famous Flames as his backup.

Many of Brown's early recordings were fairly straightforward gospel-inspired R&B compositions, heavily inspired by the work of contemporary musicians such as Little Richard and Ray Charles. Yet the songs were already marked by a rhythmic acuity and vocal attack that would later become even more pronounced, contributing to the developing style that would eventually be called "funk". Brown, in fact, called Little Richard his idol, and credited Little Richard's saxophone-studded mid-1950s road band The Upsetters as the first to put the funk in the rock and roll beat. [3]

Little Richard continued to play a role in Brown's rise to the top. In 1957, when Little Richard bolted from pop music to become a preacher, Brown honored Richard's remaining tour dates in his place. Consequently, former members of Little Richard's backup band became Famous Flames. A year later, the group released "Try Me," which would become Brown's first No. 1 hit.[4]

Brown's arrangements and instrumentation, initially standardized, began to give way to more improvisational and rhythm-heavy tracks such as 1961's #5 R&B hit "Night Train", arguably the first single to showcase the beginnings of what today is considered the "James Brown sound". Except for declamatory ad-libs by Brown, "Night Train" is completely instrumental, featuring prominent horn charts and a fast, highly accented rhythm track.

"Papa gets a brand new bag"

While Brown's early singles were major hits in the southern United States and regularly became R&B Top Ten hits, he and the Flames were not nationally successful until his self-financed live show was captured on the LP Live at the Apollo in 1962, released without the consent of his label King Records.

Brown followed this success with a string of singles that, along with the work of Allen Toussaint in New Orleans, essentially defined funk music. 1964's "Out of Sight" was, even more than "Night Train" had been, a harbinger of the new James Brown sound. Its arrangement was raw and unornamented, the horns and the drums took center stage in the mix, and Brown's vocals had taken on an even more intensely rhythmic feel. However, Brown violated his contract with King again by recording "Out of Sight" for Smash Records; the ensuing legal battle resulted in a one year ban on the release of his vocal recordings.[5]

The mid-1960s was the period of Brown's greatest popular success. Two of his signature tunes, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" and "I Got You (I Feel Good)," both from 1965, were Brown's first Top 10 pop hits as well as major #1 R&B hits, remaining the top-selling single in black venues for over a month apiece. "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" won the Grammy for Best Rhythm & Blues Recording in 1966 (an award last given in 1968). His national profile was further boosted that year by appearances in the films Ski Party and the concert film The T.A.M.I. Show, in which he upstaged The Rolling Stones. In his concert repertoire and on record, Brown mingled his innovative rhythmic essays with ballads such as "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" (1965), and even Broadway show tunes.

Brown continued to develop the new funk idiom. "Cold Sweat" (1967), a song with only one chord change, was considered a departure even compared to Brown's other recent innovations. Critics have since come to see it as a high-water mark in the dance music of the 1960s; it is sometimes called the first "true" funk recording.

Brown would often make creative adjustments to his songs for greater appeal. He sped up the released version of "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" to make it even more intense and commercial. He also began spinning off new compositions from the grooves of earlier ones by continual revision of their arrangements. For example, the hit "There Was a Time" emerged out of the chord progression and rhythm arrangements of the 1967 song "Let Yourself Go."[6]

The late 1960s: "Ain't It Funky Now"

Brown employed musicians and arrangers who had come up through the jazz tradition. He was noted for his ability as a bandleader and songwriter to blend the simplicity and drive of R&B with the rhythmic complexity and precision of jazz. Trumpeter Lewis Hamlin and saxophonist/keyboardist Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis (the successor to previous bandleader Nat Jones) led the band; guitarist Jimmy Nolen provided percussive, deceptively simple riffs for each song; Maceo Parker's prominent saxophone solos provided a focal point for many performances. Other members of Brown's band included stalwart singer and sideman Bobby Byrd; drummers John "Jabo" Starks, Clyde Stubblefield, and Melvin Parker (Maceo's brother); saxophonist St. Clair Pinckney; trombonist Fred Wesley; guitarist Alphonso "Country" Kellum; and bassist Bernard Odum.

As the 1960s came to a close, Brown refined his funk style even further with "I Got the Feelin'" and "Licking Stick-Licking Stick" (both recorded in 1968), and "Funky Drummer" (recorded in 1969). By this time Brown's "singing" increasingly took the form of a kind of rhythmic declamation that only intermittently featured traces of pitch or melody. His vocals, not quite sung but not quite spoken, would be a major influence on the technique of rapping, which would come to maturity along with hip hop music in the coming decades. Supporting his vocals were instrumental arrangements that featured a more refined and developed version of Brown's mid-1960s style. The horn section, guitars, bass, and drums all meshed together in strong rhythms based around various repeating riffs, usually with at least one musical "break".

Brown's recordings influenced musicians across the industry, most notably Sly and his Family Stone, Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, and soul shouters like Edwin Starr, Temptations David Ruffin and Dennis Edwards, and a then-prepubescent Michael Jackson, who took Brown's shouts and dancing into the pop mainstream as the lead singer of Motown's The Jackson 5. Those same tracks would later be resurrected by countless hip-hop musicians from the 1970s on; in fact, James Brown remains the world's most sampled recording artist, and "Funky Drummer" has itself been counted as the most sampled individual piece of music. [7]

The content of Brown's songs was now developing along with their delivery. Socio-political commentary on the black person's position in society and lyrics praising motivation and ambition filled songs like "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud" (1968) and "I Don't Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing (Open Up the Door I'll Get It Myself)" (1970). However, while this change gained him an even greater position in the black community, it lost him much of his white audience who could no longer relate to his lyrics.

By 1970, most of the members of James Brown's classic 1960s band had quit his act for other opportunities. He and Bobby Byrd employed a new band that included future funk greats such as bassist Bootsy Collins, Collins' guitarist brother Phelps "Catfish" Collins, and trombonist/musical director Fred Wesley. This new backing band was dubbed "The JB's", and made their debut on Brown's 1970 single "Get Up (I Feel Like Being Like a) Sex Machine". Although it would go through several lineup changes (the first in 1971), The JB's remain Brown's most familiar backing band.

As Brown's musical empire grew (he bought radio stations in the late 1960s, including Augusta's WRDW, where he had shined shoes as a boy), his desire for financial and artistic independence grew as well. In 1971, he began recording for Polydor Records; among his first Polydor releases was the #1 R&B hit "Hot Pants (She Got To Use What She Got To Get What She Wants)". Many of his sidemen and supporting players, such as Fred Wesley & the JB's, Bobby Byrd, Lyn Collins, Myra Barnes, and Hank Ballard, released records on Brown's subsidiary label, People, which was created as part of Brown's Polydor contract. These recordings are as much a part of Brown's legacy as those released under his own name, and most are noted examples of what might be termed James Brown's "house" style. The early 1970s marked the first real awareness, outside the African-American community, of Brown's achievements. Miles Davis and other jazz musicians began to cite Brown as a major influence on their styles, and Brown provided the score for the 1973 blaxploitation film Black Caesar.

In 1974, Brown performed in Zaire as part of the build up to the The Rumble in the Jungle fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman.

His 1970s Polydor recordings were a summation of all the innovation of the last twenty years, and while some critics maintain that he declined artistically during this period, compositions like "The Payback" (1973); "Papa Don't Take No Mess" and "Stoned to the Bone" (1974); "Funky President (People It's Bad)" (1975); and "Get Up Offa That Thing" (1976) are still considered among his best.

Into the late-1970s and 1980s

By the mid-1970s, Brown's star-status was on the wane, and key musicians such as Bootsy Collins had begun to depart to form their own groups. The disco movement, which Brown anticipated, and some say originated, found relatively little room for Brown; his 1976 albums Get Up Offa That Thing and Bodyheat were his first flirtations with "disco-fied" rhythms incorporated into his funky repertoire. While 1977's Mutha's Nature and 1978's Jam 1980s generated no charted hits, 1979's The Original Disco Man LP is a notable late addition to his oeuvre. It contained the song "It's Too Funky in Here," which was his last top R&B hit of the decade. Ironically, the song was not produced by Brown himself but rather by producer Brad Shapiro.

Brown experienced something of a resurgence in the 1980s, effectively crossing over to a broader, more mainstream audience. He made cameo appearances in the feature films The Blues Brothers, Doctor Detroit, and Rocky IV, as well as being a guest star in the Miami Vice episode "Missing Hours" in 1988. He also released Gravity, a modestly popular crossover album, and the hit 1985 single "Living in America". "Living in America" won the Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance in 1987. Acknowledging his influence on modern hip-hop and R&B music, Brown collaborated with hip-hop artist Afrika Bambaataa on the single "Unity", and worked with the group Full Force on a #5 R&B hit single, 1988's "Static," from the hip-hop influenced album I'm Real. The drum break to his 1969 song "Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose" became so popular at hip hop dance parties (especially for breakdance) in the late 1970s and early 1980s that hip hop founding father Kurtis Blow calls the song "the national anthem of hip hop."[8]

In spite of his return to the limelight, by the late 1980s, Brown met with a series of legal and financial setbacks. In 1988, he was arrested following a high-speed car chase down Interstate 20 in Augusta. He was imprisoned for threatening pedestrians with firearms and abuse of PCP, as well as for the repercussions of his flight. Although he was sentenced to six years in prison, he was eventually released in 1991 after having only served three. A new album called Love Overdue was released that same year, with the new single "Move On".

During the 1990s and 2000s, Brown was repeatedly arrested for drug possession and domestic abuse. However, he continued to perform regularly and even record, and made appearances in television shows and films such as Blues Brothers 2000. The 1991 four-CD box set Star Time spanned his four-decade career. Nearly all his earlier LPs were re-released on CD, often with additional tracks and commentary by experts on Brown's music. In 1993, James Brown released a new album called Universal James, which spawned the singles "Can't Get Any Harder", "How Long" and "Georgia-Lina". In 1995, the live album Live At The Apollo 1995 was released, featuring a new track recorded in the studio called "Respect Me". It was released as a single that same year. A megamix called "Hooked on Brown" was released as a single in 1996. And in 1998, James Brown released a new studio album, I'm Back, featuring the single "Funk On Ah Roll". In 2002, James Brown released the album The Next Step, which features the single "Killing is Out, School is In." In 2003 he participated in the PBS American Masters television documentary James Brown: Soul Survivor, directed by Jeremy Marre.

In December 2004 Brown was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which was successfully treated with surgery. He appeared at Edinburgh 50,000 - The Final Push, the final Live 8 concert, on July 6, 2005, where he did a duet with British pop star Will Young on "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag." He also did a duet with another British pop star, Joss Stone, a week earlier on the UK chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. Before his death, he was scheduled to perform a duet with singer Annie Lennox on the song "Vengeance" on her new album Venus, scheduled for release in early 2007.

In 2006, Brown continued his "Seven Decades Of Funk World Tour", to be his last, performing all over the world. His latest shows were still greeted with positive reviews. One of his final concert performances was at the Irish Oxegen festival in Punchestown in 2006 to a record crowd of 80,000.

Death

Brown was admitted to the Emory Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia on December 24, 2006 after a dentist visit where he was found to have severe pneumonia.[9] Brown died the next day on December 25, 2006, Christmas Day, at around 1:45 a.m. (06:45 UTC) aged 73. [10] The cause of death was heart failure, according to his agent. [1] James was quoted saying "I'm going away tonight" sometime before he passed away. He then took three long, quiet breaths, and closed his eyes.[1] Brown's body rested on the stage of legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem, the site of his debut. A private ceremony was held in Brown's hometown of Augusta, Georgia and another public ceremony was officiated by Rev. Al Sharpton, a day later at the James Brown Arena there.

Musicianship

Despite his prowess as a musical performer, Brown never learned to read music. Like Duke Ellington, he developed his repertoire in close association with the members of his band, who were predominantly jazz-trained musicians with a working knowledge of music theory. As his former bandleader Fred Wesley recalled,

it would have been impossible for James Brown to put his show together without the assistance of someone like Pee Wee [Ellis], who understood chord changes, time signatures, scales, notes, and basic music theory. Simple things like knowing the key would be a big problem for James . . . The whole James Brown Show depended on having someone with musical knowledge remember the show, the individual parts, and the individual songs, then relay these verbally or in print to the other musicians. Brown could not do it himself. He spoke in grunts, groans, and la-di-das, and he needed musicians to translate that language into music and actual songs in order to create an actual show.[11]

Personal life

Brown was married four times. He and his last wife, Tommie Raye Hynie (also cited as Tomi Rae Hynie), were married in 2001, but whether either marriage was legal is disputed. Tommie's prior 'husband' was a polygamist and thus her 3-day marriage to him should have never counted (i.e., since he cannot legally marry someone when he is already married). Based on this reasoning, the 2001 marriage is legal and she would be Mr Brown's wife. They had one child together, but according to Brown's attorney, the two never remarried. Brown also had two children by his first wife, Velma Warren, and three more by his second, Deidre Jenkins. His eldest son Teddy died in a car crash in 1973.

Brown's personal life was marked by several brushes with the law. At the age of 16, was arrested for theft and served 3 years in prison. Adrienne Rodriegues, his third wife, had him arrested four times on charges of assault between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s. Brown also served 2 years of a 6 year jail sentence after he led police on a car chase across the Georgia-South Carolina border in 1988. He was convicted of carrying an unlicensed pistol and assaulting a police officer, along with various drug-related and driving offenses.

At the end of his life James Brown lived in a riverfront home in Beech Island, South Carolina, directly across the Savannah River from Augusta, Georgia.

Obituary

When James Brown styled himself Soul Brother Number One, for once, this was no idle show-business exaggeration. His influence on popular music was, quite simply, enormous.

He transformed gospel music into rhythm and blues, and soul music into his own creation - funk - with its driving rhythms and insistent beat.

His performances remain unsurpassed for their urgency of expression and raw physicality, influencing later white rockers like Mick Jagger and Iggy Pop.

Born James Joe Brown Junior in 1933 in a one-room shack in the backwoods of South Carolina, by the age of seven he was boarding at a brothel in Augusta, Georgia.

Delighted and outraged audiences

He helped to pay the rent by shining shoes and tap-dancing in the streets.

Nine years later he was harshly punished for trying to steal a car. Sent to prison for between eight and 16 years, he eventually served only three years and a day.

On his release, he joined a gospel group. While pursuing a promising but ultimately abortive career as a semi-professional boxer, he rose to become the leader of the James Brown Revue.

Audiences were delighted and outraged by the group's tight R&B sound, fronted by the charismatic Brown, whose stage antics caused him to shed up to seven pounds a night.

In 1956, Brown wrote the song Please, Please, Please. It sold one million copies and propelled the singer to stardom.

Other hits followed as Brown worked up to 350 nights a year, earning himself another reputation, as the hardest-working man in show-business.

Mold-breaking show

Though the financial returns were scant - Brown and his band members earned a derisory $150 each for Please Please Please - he refused to compromise on the quality of his performances.

His reason was simple: "When you're on stage, the people who paid money to get in are the boss, even if it cost them only a quarter. You're working for them."

He treated his band like an army, imposing fines for lateness, scruffy costumes and poor playing. By the early 1960s his growing reputation saw him play to packed crowds at the Mecca of black music, Harlem's Apollo Theater.

In 1961, realizing that the essence of his music could only be captured live, Brown personally financed the recording of an album at the theater.

The result, the mold-breaking James Brown Show Live at the Apollo, was a sensation. Establishing his reputation throughout the United States, it remains one of the most critically-acclaimed live albums ever recorded.

His status was enhanced by a succession of worldwide hits like Papa's Got a Brand New Bag, I Got You (I Feel Good) and Get Up (I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine).

Presidential thanks

Artistically, James Brown was breaking new ground with a whole new musical form, funk.

Songs like Cold Sweat, where the brass section and guitars drove the rhythm, exemplified the stylistic change which Brown wrought.

Success brought great wealth. James Brown owned radio stations, fast food restaurants and a private jet.

He embraced "black capitalism" even before the phrase was coined, urging his fellow country people to live the American Dream.

He gave back, too, sponsoring food stamps for the poor and giving money and land to those in need, especially in Africa.

Some radicals, though, criticized him for his patriotism and he received death threats after playing to US troops in Vietnam.

Such was James Brown's influence that when Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968, the order went out to broadcast Brown's show in Boston live across the United States.

Punctuated by his pleas for calm, the show helped to stem the tide of anger and Brown earned the personal thanks of President Lyndon Johnson.

Living in America

The 1970s were bad times for James Brown. His son Teddy died in a car accident, he himself was beset by tax problems and disco music threatened to eclipse his career.

Sheer hard work on the club circuit brought him back from the brink. A cameo role as a singing preacher in the cult 1980 film The Blues Brothers brought his music to another generation.

His song Living in America, a paean to the American Dream, was chosen as the theme music to Rocky IV and James Brown was among the first group of inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

But James Brown's capacity for self-destruction was a constant danger. In 1988 an incident with a shotgun led to a high-speed police chase and he spent two-and-a-half years in jail.

His release coincided with a huge upswell in rap and hip-hop music, both of which borrowed freely from Brown's work. His role as a pivotal musical innovator was recognized as never before.

Even with his faults, James Brown was an important role model to a whole generation of African Americans.

Triumphing over poverty and racism, his outlook is best summed up by the title of one of his greatest hits - Say it Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/entertainment/386563.stm

Published: 2006/12/25 08:19:55 GMT

Bebe Moore Campbell

2006-11-27T19:18:00.000-08:00

Bebe Moore Campbell (February 18, 1950- November 27, 2006) was the author of three New York Times bestsellers, Brothers and Sisters, Singing in the Comeback Choir, and What You Owe Me, which was also a Los Angeles Times "Best Book of 2001." Her other works include the novel Your Blues Ain't Like Mine, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and the winner of the NAACP Image Award for Literature; her memoir, Sweet Summer, Growing Up With and Without My Dad; and her first nonfiction book, Successful Women, Angry Men: Backlash in the Two-Career Marriage. Her essays, articles, and excerpts appear in many anthologies.

Ms. Campbell's interest in mental health was the catalyst for her first children's book, Sometimes My Mommy Gets Angry, which was published in September 2003. This book won the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) Outstanding Literature Award for 2003. The book tells the story of how a little girl copes with being reared by her mentally ill mother. Ms. Campbell is a member of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and a founding member of NAMI-Inglewood. Her latest book, 72 Hour Hold, also deals with mental illness.

Ms. Campbell's first play, "Even with the Madness," debuted in New York in June 2003. This work revisited the theme of mental illness and the family.

As a journalist Ms. Campbell wrote articles for The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Essence, Ebony, Black Enterprise, as well as other publications. She was a regular commentator for Morning Edition a program on National Public Radio.

Ms. Campbell was born and reared in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and received a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in elementary education from the University of Pittsburgh. She lived in Los Angeles, California with her husband, Ellis Gordon Jr. and had a son and a daughter, actress Maia Campbell. She was an honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorported.

November 28, 2006
Bebe Moore Campbell, Novelist of Black Lives, Dies at 56
By MARGALIT FOX

Bebe Moore Campbell, a best-selling novelist known for her empathetic treatment of the difficult, intertwined and occasionally surprising relationship between the races, died yesterday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 56.

The cause was complications of brain cancer, said Linda Wharton-Boyd, a longtime friend.

Along with writers like Terry McMillan, Ms. Campbell was part of the first wave of black novelists who made the lives of upwardly mobile black people a routine subject for popular fiction. Straddling the divide between literary and mass-market novels, Ms. Campbell’s work explored not only the turbulent dance between blacks and whites but also the equally fraught relationship between men and women.

Throughout her work, Ms. Campbell sought to counter prevailing stereotypes of black people as socially and economically marginal. Though critics occasionally faulted her characters as two-dimensional, her novels were known for their crossover appeal, read by blacks and whites alike.

Often called on by the news media to discuss race relations, Ms. Campbell was for years a familiar presence on television and radio. With the publication of her most recent novel, “72 Hour Hold” (Knopf, 2005), she also became a visible spokeswoman on mental-health issues. The novel, about bipolar disorder, was inspired by the experience of a family member, Ms. Campbell said.

Originally a schoolteacher and later a journalist, Ms. Campbell made her mark as a writer of fiction with her first novel, “Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine” (Putnam), published in 1992. Rooted in the story of Emmett Till, the book tells of a black Chicago youth killed by a white man in Mississippi in 1955. After the murderer is acquitted at trial, the narrative follows his increasing dissolution.

“I wanted to give racism a face,” Ms. Campbell said in an interview with The New York Times Book Review in 1992. “African-Americans know about racism, but I don’t think we really know the causes. I decided it’s first of all a family problem.”

Reviewing the novel in The Book Review, Clyde Edgerton wrote: “By showing lives lived, and not explaining ideas, Ms. Campbell does what good storytellers do — she puts in by leaving out.”

Ms. Campbell’s other novels, all published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons, are “Brothers and Sisters” (1994), written in the wake of the Los Angeles riots of 1992; “Singing in the Comeback Choir” (1998), about a black television producer feeling cut off from her roots; and “What You Owe Me” (2001), about the friendship between two women, one African-American, the other a Jewish Holocaust survivor, in the 1940’s.

Elizabeth Bebe Moore was born in Philadelphia on Feb. 18, 1950, to parents who divorced when she was very young. Bebe spent each school year in Philadelphia with her mother, grandmother and aunt — strong, upright women she collectively called “the Bosoms” — who set her on a course of study, discipline and staunch middle-class respectability.

She spent summers in North Carolina with her father, who had been paralyzed in an automobile accident. There, she was enveloped in a heady world of beer, laughter and cigar smoke. She documented her contrasting lives in her memoir, “Sweet Summer: Growing Up With and Without My Dad” (Putnam, 1989).

After earning a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the University of Pittsburgh in 1971, Ms. Campbell taught school in Atlanta for several years before embarking on a career as a freelance journalist. Her first book was a work of nonfiction, “Successful Women, Angry Men: Backlash in the Two-Career Marriage” (Random House, 1986).

She also wrote two picture books for children, “Sometimes My Mommy Gets Angry” (Putnam, 2003; illustrated by E. B. Lewis); and “Stompin’ at the Savoy” (Philomel, 2006; illustrated by Richard Yarde).

Ms. Campbell’s first marriage, to Tiko Campbell, ended in divorce. She is survived by her husband, Ellis Gordon Jr., whom she married in 1984; her mother, Doris Moore of Los Angeles; a daughter from her first marriage, Maia Campbell of Los Angeles; a stepson, Ellis Gordon III of Mitchellville, Md.; and two grandchildren.

Despite the subject matter of her books, Ms. Campbell expressed hope about the future of American race relations. In an interview with The New York Times in 1995, she described her motivation for writing “Brothers and Sisters,” the story of the friendship between a black banker and her white colleague.

“It was my attempt to bridge a racial gap,” Ms. Campbell said. “That’s the story that never gets told: how many of us really like each other, respect each other.”

You can read one of her interviews here.

Octavia Butler

2006-11-10T15:27:00.000-08:00

Octavia Estelle Butler was born June 22, 1947 in Pasadena, California. Her father died when she was still a baby, and her mother raised her on her own, working as a maid. She attended Pasadena City College, where she received an A.A. in 1968. In 1969, she went to Cal State - L.A, and also took a class from Harlan Ellison as part of the Screen Writers' Guild Open Door Program.

Her first story, "Crossover", appeared in the 1971 Clarion anthology, but she only had one other sale in the next five years. After working at a number of blue-collar jobs to support herself, she began her notable career with two in the "Patternist" SF series: Patternmaster (1976), and Mind of My Mind (1977). After standalones Survivor (1978) and Kindred (1979), she returned to the series with Wild Seed (1980). Clay's Ark (1984) was another standalone. "Xenogenesis" books Dawn (1987), Adulthood Rites (1988), and Imago (1989) came next. Much of Butler's shorter fiction was collected in Bloodchild and Other Stories (1995). She won the 1984 Hugo for short story "Speech Sounds", and 1985 Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards for novelette "Bloodchild". In 1995, she received a $295,000 MacArthur Foundation ''Genius'' award – the first SF writer to do so.

She is currently developing the "Parable" series dealing with mankind's reaching out to the stars, its origins chronicled in Parable of the Sower (1993) and Parable of the Talents (1998).

"Devil Girl From Mars is the movie that got me writing science fiction, when I was 12 years old. I had already been writing for two years. I began with horse stories, because I was crazy over horses, even though I never got near one. At 11, I was writing romances, and I'm happy to say I didn't know any more about romance than I did about horses. When I was 12, I had this big brown three-ring binder notebook that somebody had thrown away, and I was watching this godawful movie on television. (I wasn't allowed to go to the movies, because movies were wicked and sinful, but somehow when they came to the television they were OK.) It was one of those where the beautiful Martian arrives on Earth and announces that all the men on Mars have died and they need more men. None of the Earthmen want to go! And I thought, 'Geez, I can write a better story than that.' I got busy writing what I thought of as science fiction."

*

"When I was in college, I began Kindred, and that was the first [novel] that I began, knowing what I wanted to do. The others, I was really too young to think about them in terms of 'What do you have to say in this novel?' I just knew there were stories I wanted to tell. But when I did Kindred, I really had had this experience in college that I talk about all the time, of this Black guy saying, 'I wish I could kill all these old Black people that have been holding us back for so long, but I can't because I have to start with my own parents.' That was a friend of mine. And I realized that, even though he knew a lot more than I did about Black history, it was all cerebral. He wasn't feeling any of it. He was the kind that would have killed and died, as opposed to surviving and hanging on and hoping and working for change. And I thought about my mother, because she used to take me to work with her when she couldn't get a baby sitter and I was too young to be left alone, and I saw her going in the back door, and I saw people saying things to her that she didn't like but couldn't respond to. I heard people say in her hearing, 'Well, I don't really like colored people.' And she kept working, and she put me through school, she bought her house – all the stuff she did. I realized that he didn't understand what heroism was. That's what I want to write about: when you are aware of what it means to be an adult and what choices you have to make, the fact that maybe you're afraid, but you still have to act."

*

"In Xenogenesis, I bring in the aliens, but in the 'Parable' books I wanted to keep everything as realistic as I could. I didn't want any powers, any kind of magic or fantastical elements. Even the empathy is not real – it's delusional. I wanted to have human beings in that one book find their own way clear. And I used religion because it seems to me it's something we can never get away from. I've met science fiction people who say, 'Oh well, we're going to outgrow it,' and I don't believe that for one moment. It seems that religion has kept us focused and helped us to do any number of very difficult things, from building pyramids and cathedrals to holding together countries, in some instances. I'm not saying it's a force for good – it's just a force. So why not use it to get ourselves to the stars?

"It seems to me we're not going to do that for any logical reason. It's not going to happen because it's profitable – it may not be. The going certainly won't be. The people who work on it will probably not live to see whether or not they've been successful. It's not like, 'In ten years, we'll go to the moon' – which, unfortunately for us, we did. It might have been better if we had almost made it, but then the Russians did ahead of us. If we had lost the race to the Russians, we would be farther along in space travel. One of the reasons going to the moon was a big thing to do was Sputnik. The Russians were sending up their satellites, and ours were crashing and burning. I was a kid with her eyes glued to the television set back then in the '50s.

"In the 'Parable' books, we have one person who decides this is what religion should be doing, and she uses religion to get us into interstellar space. Sower and Talents were the fictional autobiography of Lauren Olamina, though Talents turned out to be a mother/daughter story. There are no more books about her, but I am working on a book (which may or may not come off, and may be called Parable of the Trickster) about people who go, who do fulfill that destiny and go to this other world."

*

"I've talked to high school kids who are thinking about trying to become a writer and asking 'What should I major in?', and I tell them, 'History. Anthropology. Something where you get to know the human species a little better, as opposed to something where you learn to arrange words.' I don't know whether that's good advice or not, but it feels right to me. You don't start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That's why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence. It's just so easy to give up!"

*

"There are a number of myths we live by. For instance, the myth of 'away,' as in 'I'll throw it away.' Where's that? There's no such place. It's going somewhere. Or the myth of 'my little bit won't hurt,' or the obvious myths of 'bigger is better' and 'more is better.' We have all these myths, and we believe in them without even recognizing that they're there. We just act on them – and that's liable to be our downfall."

*

"I don't think of religion as nasty. Religion kept some of my relatives alive, because it was all they had. If they hadn't had some hope of heaven, some companionship in Jesus, they probably would have committed suicide, their lives were so hellish. But they could go to church and have that exuberance together, and that was good, the community of it. When they were in pain, when they had to go to work even though they were in terrible pain, they had God to fall back on, and I think that's what religion does for the majority of the people. I don't think most people intellectualize about religion. They use it to keep themselves alive. I'm not talking about most Americans. We don't need it that way, most of us, now. But there was certainly a time when many of us did, maybe most of us.

"The religion in the 'Parable' books would probably change over time to make it a more comforting religion. For instance, Lauren doesn't believe in life after death, but that's one of the hopes people have. They know they're going to die, so they have to believe, a lot of them, that there's something else. An interviewer I mentioned this to said she didn't feel she needed her religion to be comforting, and I said, 'Well, that's because you're already comfortable.' It's those people who have so little, and who suffer so much, who need at least for religion to comfort them. Nothing else is. Once you grow past Mommy and Daddy coming running when you're hurt, you're really on your own. You're alone, and there's no one to help you.

"I used to despise religion. I have not become religious, but I think I've become more understanding of religion. And I'm glad I was raised as a Baptist, because I got my conscience installed early. I've been around people who don't have one, and they're damned scary. And I think a lot of them are out there running major corporations! How can you do some of the things these people do if you have a conscience? So I think it might be better if there were a little more religion, in that sense. My mother didn't just say, 'Go to church, go to Sunday school.' I did all that, but I could see her struggling to live according to the religion she believed in. My mother worked every day, sometimes on Sundays, and I didn't have a father, and she still managed to install all this."

*

"Parable of the Trickster – if that's what the next one ends up being called – will be the Seattle novel, because I have removed myself to a place that is different from where I've spent most of my life. I remember saying to Vonda McIntyre, 'Part of this move is research,' and it is – it's just that Seattle is where I've wanted to move since I visited there the first time in 1976. I really like the city, but it is not yet home. As they tell writers to do, I'll take any small example of something and build it into a larger example. I've moved to Seattle; my characters have moved to Alpha Centauri, or whatever. (That was not literal.) But they suffer and learn about the situation there a little bit because of what I learn about from my move to Seattle. Writers use everything. If it doesn't kill you, you probably wind up using it in your writing."

Gregory Hines

2006-11-10T15:18:00.000-08:00

Gregory Hines, a Tony-winning tap dancer, died on a Saturday in Los Angeles.

He was best known for his roles in films such as The Cotton Club (1984), based around the seminal 1920s New York jazz club, in which he played Sandman Williams.

He was also cast alongside Mikhail Baryshnikov in the thriller White Nights (1985), and alongside Billy Crystal in the comic cop thriller Running Scared (1986).

When I realised I was alive and these were my parents, and I could walk and talk, I could dance
Gregory Hines

Hines was an accomplished dancer whose roles in 1980s films often featured his dancing. He was also a respected choreographer.

In 1992 he won a Tony, US theatre's equivalents of the Oscars, for his part in the musical Jelly's Last Jam.

Hines began his entertainment career in the tap dancing act Hines, Hines and Dad, alongside his brother Maurice and his father.

Star at six

Born in New York in 1946, his mother had urged him to become a tap dancer as a way of getting out of poverty. He started tap as a toddler, learning the dance moves his older brother had been taught in dance class.

At the age of six, he was performing at the Apollo Theatre for two weeks with Maurice.

"I don't remember not dancing," Hines said in a 2001 interview. "When I realised I was alive and these were my parents, and I could walk and talk, I could dance."

The two brothers danced in the musical revue Eubie! in 1978. The brothers later performed together in Broadway's Sophisticated Ladies, and then in The Cotton Club. Dozens of film and TV roles followed.

He had his own TV show, The Gregory Hines Show, in 1997, and was also a regular guest star on comedy Will and Grace.

Ed Bradley

2006-11-10T14:54:00.000-08:00

"Be prepared, work hard, and hope for a little luck. Recognize that the harder you work and the better prepared you are, the more luck you might have."
- Ed Bradley

The 1999-00 season marks Co-Editor Ed Bradley's 19th on 60 Minutes. He joined the broadcast as co-editor during the 1981-82 season.

Bradley also reports for primetime specials. His report for 60 Minutes II, "Unsafe Haven" (April 1999), made headlines for exposing unsafe restraining methods and poorly trained workers inside the nation's largest chain of psychiatric hospitals. Another primetime report, "Town Under Siege" (December 1997), about a small town battling the oil industry over toxic waste, was hailed as one of the Ten Best Television Programs of 1997 by Time magazine.

Prior to joining 60 Minutes, Bradley had been a principal correspondent for CBS Reports (1978-81), after serving as CBS News White House correspondent (1976-78). He was also anchor of the CBS Sunday Night News (November 1976-May 1981) and of the CBS News magazine "Street Stories" (January 1992-August 1993).

Bradley was awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award grand prize and television first prize for "CBS Reports: In the Killing Fields of America" (January 1995), a three-hour documentary about violence in America, which he co-anchored and reported.

His 60 Minutes work has gained much recognition, including his most recent award, a George Foster Peabody last year for "Big Man, Big Voice" (November 1997), the uplifting story of a German singer who becomes successful despite his birth defects.

In 1995, he won his 11th Emmy Award for a 60 Minutes report on the cruel effects of nuclear testing in the town of Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan, a report that also won him an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award in 1994. That same year, he was honored with an Overseas Press Club Award for two 60 Minutes reports that took viewers inside sensitive military installations in Russia and the United States.

In 1985, he received an Emmy Award for "Schizophrenia," a 60 Minutes report on that misunderstood brain disorder. In 1983, two of Bradley's reports for 60 Minutes won Emmy Awards: "In the Belly of the Beast," an interview with Jack Henry Abbott, a convicted murderer and author, and "Lena," a profile of singer Lena Horne.

He received an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton and a 1991 Emmy Award for his 60 Minutes report "Made in China," a look at Chinese forced-labor camps. He received another Emmy for the report "Caitlin's Story" (November 1992), an examination of the controversy between the parents of a deaf child and a deaf association.

In addition to "In the Killing Fields," his work for CBS Reports has included: "Enter the Jury Room" (April 1997), an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award winner that revealed the jury deliberation process for the first time in front of network cameras; "The Boat People" (January 1979), which won Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University, Emmy and Overseas Press Club Awards; "The Boston Goes to China" (April 1979), a report on the historic China visit by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which won Emmy, George Foster Peabody and Ohio State Awards; "Blacks in America: With All Deliberate Speed?" (July 1979), which won Emmy and Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards; "Return of the CIA" (June 1980); "Miami: The Trial That Sparked the Riots" (August 1980); "The Saudis" (October 1980) and "Embassy" (January 1981).

Bradley's coverage of the plight of Cambodian refugees, broadcast on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite and CBS News Sunday Morning, won a George Polk Award in journalism. He also received a duPont citation for a segment on the Cambodian situation broadcast on CBS News' Magazine series.

He covered the presidential campaign of Jimmy Carter during Campaign '76 and served as a floor correspondent for CBS News' coverage of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions from 1976 through 1996.

In addition, Bradley contributed reports to two significant CBS News specials, "48 Hours on Crack Street" (1986), the broadcast from which the CBS News magazine 48 Hours evolved, and "The Soviet Union--Seven Days in May" (1987).

Bradley joined CBS News as a stringer in its Paris bureau in September 1971. A year later, he was transferred to the Saigon bureau, where he remained until he was assigned to the CBS News Washington bureau in June 1974.

He was named a CBS News correspondent in April 1973 and, shortly thereafter, was wounded while on assignment in Cambodia. In March 1975, he volunteered to return to Indochina and covered the fall of Cambodia and Vietnam.

Prior to joining CBS News, Bradley was a reporter for WCBS Radio, the CBS owned station in New York (August 1967-July 1971). He had previously been a reporter for WDAS Radio in Philadelphia (1963-67).

Bradley was born June 22, 1941 in Philadelphia. He was graduated from Cheyney (Pa.) State College in 1964 with a B.S. in education.

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Nov. 9, 2006 — Ed Bradley, one of television's most prominent African-American journalists, died of complications from leukemia Thursday. He was 65 years old.

A longtime correspondent for CBS News' "60 Minutes," Bradley's probing questions and salt-and-pepper beard distinguished him for millions of TV viewers. He died this morning at Mount Sinai hospital in New York City.

Bradley was diagnosed with leukemia two years ago but was in remission. He apparently took a turn for the worse two weeks ago, contracting pneumonia and succumbing to the disease.

Colleagues and fans remembered him fondly. "He was the equal of all the celebrities he interviewed, which is why he got so much rich material out of them … because they knew he understood them," said ABC's "Nightline" correspondent Vicki Mabrey, who worked with Bradley at CBS. "I used to call him Mr. Cool."

Bradley, who first joined "60 Minutes" in 1981, won 19 Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award, a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and the Paul White Award from the Radio and Television News Directors Association for his reports. The Philadelphia native started out as a DJ, making $1.50 an hour spinning Miles Davis and Billie Holiday records.

Bradley's last "60 Minutes" story — interviews with suspects and witnesses in the Duke rape case — made headlines. During his long career, Bradley interviewed a panoply of personalities — Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jackson. Bradley got the only TV interview that Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, granted to television.

Some of Bradley's other memorable reports included China's forced labor camps, the devastating effects of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster on a town in Kazakhstan, the impact of schizophrenia, and an unprecedented look at how juries deliberate.

While reporting for CBS in Vietnam, Bradley was once injured in a mortar attack, narrowly escaping death. "The guy who was standing 2 feet from where I had been standing was killed," he told Communicator magazine. "I got some shrapnel in my back, and it blew a hole through my arm. It just sliced through my arm, so I was lucky. I was lucky."

Although one of the first African-American reporters on national TV, Bradley refused to be pigeonholed by his race and doesn't remember letting racism intimidate him. "I probably was too naive to be afraid [when I started out]; that's because there was no one really ahead of me as a trailblazer," Bradley told USA Weekend. "I mean, I had nuns in school who always said to me, from the fourth grade on, 'You can be whatever you want to be.' I guess I believed them."

Bradley was known for his love of jazz, which first touched his heart when he heard "Teach Me Tonight" from Errol Garner's "Concert by the Sea." He frequently attended the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and often sat in with the musicians. Bradley was lured back into DJ work when he recently hosted the "Jazz at Lincoln Center" radio show.

Accordingly, Bradley has said that his most memorable interview was with jazz legend Lena Horne. The intimate portrait, in which he alternated Horne's performances with his questions, became a "textbook example of what a great television interview can be," wrote TV Guide. "Lena" earned Bradley his first Emmy.

A lifelong sports fan, Bradley was a fixture at New York Knicks basketball games and the U.S. Open tennis tournament.

Bradley was married to the artist Patricia Blanchett and had homes in Woody Creek, Colo., and New York City.

taken from Top Blacks

Willard Wigan

2006-10-09T06:31:00.000-07:00

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Willard Wigan was born in Birmingham, England in 1957 and is the creator of the smallest works of art on earth. From being a traumatised and unrecognised dyslexic child, he is now emerging as the most globally celebrated micro-miniaturist of all time and is literally capable of turning a spec of dust into a vision of true beauty.

Even he is sometimes at a loss for an explanation as to exactly how he is able to create such treasures. He just gratefully acknowledges that he's been blessed with a God-given talent.

"Peace, appreciation and gratitude are the keys to real achievement and lasting happiness"

Willard can create a masterpiece within the eye of a tiny sewing needle, on the head of a pin, the tip of an eyelash or a grain of sand. Some are many times smaller than the fullstop at the end of this sentence.

"In order to bring it into reality (the physical plane) it is necessary during creation to constantly visualise the work as being successfully completed"

Many are even smaller still, with some being completely invisible to the naked eye yet, when viewed through high power magnification, the effect on the viewer is truly mesmerising. Willard, who is completely self-taught has baffled medical science and been the subject of discussions among micro-surgeons, nano-technologists and at universities worldwide. His work is ground-breaking - partly because of the astounding beauty of vision which challenges the belief system of the mind and partly because it demonstrates that if one person can create the impossible, we all have the potential to transcend our own limiting beliefs about what we are capable of.

He works in total solitude at a quiet retreat in Jersey mainly at night when there is a greater sense of peace in the world and less static electricity to interfere with the immeasurable precision and tolerances required to create the pieces.

The smallest sculptures can only be measured in thousandths of an inch which is why they can sit, very delicately, on a human hair three thousandths of an inch thick. When working on this scale he slows his heartbeat and his breathing dramatically through meditation and attempts to harmonise his mind, body and soul with the Creator. He then sculpts or paints at the centrepoint between heartbeats for total stillness of hand. He likens this process to "trying to pass a pin through a bubble without bursting it." His concentration is intense when working like this and he feels mentally and physically drained at the end of it.

A Brief History of the Kebra Nagast

2006-08-07T06:52:00.000-07:00

The history of the departure of God and His Ark of the Covenant from Jerusalem to Ethiopia, and the establishment of the religion of the Hebrews and the Solomonic line of kings in that previously pagan country.

The exact form of the Ethiopian legend that makes the King of Ethiopia to be a decendant of Solomon, King of Israel, by Makeda, the Queen of Ethiopia, better know as the Queen of Sheba.

The KEBRA NAGAST, or the Book of the Glory of Kings of Ethiopia, has been in existence for at least a thousand years, and contains the true history of the origin of the Solomonic line of kings in Ethiopia. It is regarded as the ultimate authority on the history of the conversion of the Ethiopians from the worship of the sun, moon, and stars to that of the Lord God of Israel.

It was during the era of the European conquests and colonization of the African continent, that renewed interest by scholars in the legendary country of "Prestor John" began. Fragmentary accounts and oral reports of a remote Christian kingdom in the heart of Africa amidst a sea of pagan nations, captured the imagination of several European explorers. Both Spain and Portugal hoped to find in this kingdom a possible ally against Islam and the rising power of the Ottomans.

One of the earliest collections of documents of the country of the "Negus" (King) came through the writings of Francisco Alvarez, official envoy which Emanuel, King of Portugal, sent to David, King of Ethiopia, under Ambassador Don Roderigo De Lima. In the papers concerning this mission, Alvarez included an account of the King of Ethiopia, and a description in Portuguese of the habits of the Ethiopians, which was printed in 1533.

In the first quarter of the 16th century, PN Godinho published some traditions about King Solomon and his son Menyelek, derived from the KEBRA NAGAST. Further information about the contents of the KEBRA NAGAST was supplied by Baltazar Téllez (1595-1675), the author of the Historia General de Etiopía Alta (Coimbra, 1660). The sources of his work were the histories of Manuel Almeida, Alfonson Méndez and Jerónimo Lobo.

Among the most complete, and least known, translations of the KEBRA NAGAST, is the exhaustive work of Enrique Cornelio Agrippa (1486-1535) Historia de las cosas de Etiopía (Toledo, 1528)--a greatly amplified account. Agrippa was an alchemist, expert in magical sciences and Cabala, and physician to the King; he resided in the courts of Maximilian I and of Charles V; eventually he suffered imprisonment in Grenoble by order of Francis I, where he died.

Additional information on Arabic additions to the original narratives of the KEBRA NAGAST was included by the Jesuit priest Manuel Almeida (1580-1646) in his Historia de Etiopía which does not appear to have been published in its entirety. Manuel Almeida was sent out as a missionary to Ethiopia, and had abundant opportunity to learn about the KEBRA NAGAST at first hand, owing to his excellent command of the language. His manuscript is a valuable work. His brother, Apollinare, also went out to the country as a missionary and was, along with his two companions, stoned to death in Tigre.

It was not until the close of the eighteenth century when James Bruce of Kinnaird (1730-1794), the famous British explorer, published an account of his travels in search of the sources of the Nile, that some information as to the fabulous contents of this extraordinary book came to be known among a select circle of scholars and theologians.

When [Bruce] was leaving Gondar, Ras Michael, the powerful "Wazir" of King Takla Haymanot, gave him several most valuable Ethiopic manuscripts and among them was a copy of the KEBRA NAGAST. When the third edition of his Travels in Search of the Sources of the Nile was published, there appeared a description of the contents of the original manuscript. In due course these documents were given to the Bodleian Library at Oxford University.

None of the manuscripts of the KEBRA NAGAST give any indication as to the identity of its compilers, the time when it was written, nor the circumstances under which it was compiled. Most scholars do believe, however, that it was compiled soon after the restoration of the "Solomonic line of kings" when the throne of Ethiopia was occupied by Yekuno Arnlak who reigned from 1270 to 1285.

Black Civilizations of Ancient America (MUU-LAN), Mexico (XI)

2006-07-23T08:43:00.000-07:00

By Paul Barton

The earliest people in the Americas were people of the Negritic African race, who entered the Americas perhaps as early as 100,000 years ago, by way of the Bering Strait and about thirty thousand years ago in a worldwide maritime undertaking that included journeys from the then wet and lake filled Sahara towards the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, and from West Africa across the Atlantic Ocean towards the Americas.

According to the Gladwin Thesis, this ancient journey occurred, particularly about 75,000 years ago and included Black Pygmies, Black Negritic peoples and Black Australoids similar to the Aboriginal Black people of Australia and parts of Asia, including India.

Ancient African terracotta portraits 1000 B.C. to 500 B.C.

Recent discoveries in the field of linguistics and other methods have shown without a doubt, that the ancient Olmecs of Mexico, known as the Xi People, came originally from West Africa and were of the Mende African ethnic stock. According to Clyde A. Winters and other writers (see Clyde A. Winters website), the Mende script was discovered on some of the ancient Olmec monuments of Mexico and were found to be identical to the very same script used by the Mende people of West Africa. Although carbon-14 dating for the presence of the Black Olmecs or Xi People is about 1500 B.C., journeys to the Mexico and the Southern United States may have come from West Africa much earlier, particularly around five thousand years before Christ. That conclusion is based on the finding of an African native cotton that was discovered in North America. It's only possible manner of arriving where it was found had to have been through human hands. At that period in West African history and even before, civilization was in full bloom in the Western Sahara in what is today Mauritania. One of Africa's earliest civilizations, the Zingh Empire, existed and may have lived in what was a lake filled, wet and fertile Sahara, where ships criss-crossed from place to place.

ANCIENT AFRICAN KINGDOMS PRODUCED
OLMEC TYPE CULTURES

The ancient kingdoms of West Africa which occupied the coastal forest belt from Cameroon to Guinea had trading relationships with other Africans dating back to prehistoric times. However, by 1500 B.C., these ancient kingdoms not only traded along the Ivory Coast, but with the Phoenicians and other peoples. They expanded their trade to the Americas, where the evidence for an ancient African presence is overwhelming. The kingdoms which came to be known by Arabs and Europeans during the Middle Ages were already well established when much of Western Europe was still inhabited by Celtic tribes. By the 5th Century B.C., the Phoenicians were running commercial ships to several West African kingdoms. During that period, iron had been in use for about one thousand years and terracotta art was being produced at a great level of craftsmanship. Stone was also being carved with naturalistic perfection and later, bronze was being used to make various tools and instruments, as well as beautifully naturalistic works of art.

Large scale building projects such as monument and pyramid building was most likely carried to the Americas by the same West Africans who developed the Olmec or Xi civilization in Mexico. Such activities would have occurred particularly if there was not much of a hindrance and obstacle to massive, monumental building and construction as there was in the forest and malaria zones of West Africa. Yet, when the region of ancient Ghana and Mauritania is closely examined, evidence of large prehistoric towns such as Kukia and others as well as various monuments to a great civilization existed and continue to exist at a smaller level than Egypt and Nubia, but significant enough to show a direct connection with Mexico's Olmec civilization.

The similarities between Olmec and West African civilization includes racial, religious and pyramid building similarities, as well as the similarities in their alphabets and scripts as well as both cultures speaking the identical Mende language, which was once widespread in the Sahara and was spread as far East as Dravidian India in prehistoric times as well as the South Pacific.

During the early years of West African trade with the Americas, commercial seafarers made frequent voyages across the Atlantic. In fact, the oral history of a tradition of seafaring between the Americas and Africa is part of the history of the Washitaw people, an aboriginal Black nation, who were the original inhabitants of the Mississippi Valley region, the former Louisiana Territories and parts of the Southern United States. According to their oral traditions, their ancient ships criss-crossed the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the Americas on missions of trade and commerce.

Some of the ships used during the ancient times, perhaps earlier than 7000 B.C. (which is the date given for cave paintings of the drawings and paintings of boats in the now dried up Sahara desert) are similar to ships used in parts of Africa today. These ships were either made of papyrus or planks lashed with rope, or hollowed out tree trunks.

These ancient vessels were loaded with all type of trade goods and not only did they criss-cross the Atlantic but they traded out in the Pacific and settled there as well all the way to California. In fact, the tradition of Black seafarers crossing the Pacific back and forth to California is much older than the actual divulgence of that fact to the first Spanish explorers who were told by the American Indians that Black men with curly hair made trips from California's shores to the Pacific on missions of trade.

On the other hand, West African trade with the Americas before Columbus and way back to proto historic times (30,000 B.C. to 10,000 B.C.), is one of the most important chapters in ancient African history. Yet, this era which begun about 30,000 years ago and perhaps earlier (see the Gladwin Thesis, by C.S.Gladwin, Mc Graw Hill Books), has not been part of the History of Blacks in the Americas.

During the latter part of the Bronze Age, particularly between 1500 B.C. to 1000 B.C., when the Olmec civilization began to bloom and flourish, new conditions in the Mediterranean made it more difficult for West Africans to trade by sea with the region, although their land trade across the Sahara was flourishing. By then, Greeks, Phoenicians, Assyrians, Babylonians and others were trying to gain control of the sea routes and the trading ports of the region. Conflicts in the region may have pushed the West Africans to strengthen their trans-Atlantic trade with the Americas and to explore and settle there.

West African Trade and Settlement in the Americas Increases Due to Conflicts in the Mediterranean

The flowering of the Olmec Civilization occurred between 1500 B.C. to 1000 B.C., when over twenty-two colossal heads of basalt were carved representing the West African Negritic racial type. This flowering continued with the appearance of "Magicians," or Shamanistic Africans who observed and charted the Venus planetary complex. These "Magicians," are said to have entered Mexico from West Africa between 800 B.C. to 600 B.C., and were speakers of the Mende language as well as writers of the Mende script or the Bambara script, both which are still used in parts of West Africa and the Sahara.

These Shamans who became the priestly class at Monte Alban during the 800's to 600's B.C. ( ref. The History of the African-Olmecs and Black Civilization of the Americas From Prehistoric Times to the Present Era), had to have journeyed across the Atlantic from West Africa, for it is only in West Africa that the religious practices and astronomical and religious practices (the Dogon Sirius observation and the Venus worship of the Afro-Olmecs, the use of the ax in the worship of Shango among the Yoruba of West Africa and the use of the ax in Afro-Olmec worship, as well as the prominence of the thunder God later known as Tlalock among the Aztecs) are the same as those practiced by the Afro-Olmec Shamans. According to Clyde Ahmed Winters (see "Clyde A. Winters" webpage).

Thus, it has been proven through linguistic studies, religious similarities, racial similarities between the Afro-Olmecs and West Africans, as well as the use of the same language and writing script, that the Afro-Olmecs came from the Mende-Speaking region of West Africa, which once included the Sahara.

Sailing and ship-building in the Sahara is over twenty thousand years old. In fact, cave and wall paintings of ancient ships were displayed in National Geographic Magazine some years ago. Such ships which carried sails and masts, were among the vessels that swept across the water filled Sahara in prehistoric times. It is from that ship-building tradition that the Bambara used their knowledge to build Thor Hayerdhal's papyrus boat Ra I which made it to the West Indies from Safi in Morocco years ago. The Bambara are also one of the West African nationalities who had and still have a religious and astronomical complex similar to that of the ancient Olmecs, particularly in the area of star gazing.

A journey across the Atlantic to the Americas on a good current during clement weather would have been an easier task to West Africans of the Coastal and riverine regions than it would have been through the use of caravans criss-crossing the hot by day and extremely cold by night Sahara desert. It would have been much easier to take a well made ship and let the currents take it to the West Indies, and may have taken as long as sending goods back and forth from northern and north-eastern Africa to the interior and coasts of West Africa's ancient kingdoms. Add to that the fact that crossing the Sahara would have been no easy task when obstacles such as the hot and dusty environment, the thousands of miles of dust, sand and high winds existed. The long trek through the southern regions of West Africa through valleys, mountains and down the many rivers to the coast using beasts of burden would have been problematic particularly since malaria mosquitoes harmful to both humans and animals would have made the use of animals to carry loads unreliable.

Journeys by ship along the coast of West Africa toward the North, through the Pillars of Heracles, eastward on the Mediterranean to Ports such as Byblos in Lebanon, Tyre or Sidon would have been two to three times as lengthy as taking a ship from Cape Verde, sailing it across the Atlantic and landing in North-Eastern Brazil fifteen hundred miles away, or Meso America about 2400 miles away. The distance in itself is not what makes the trip easy. It is the fact that currents which are similar to gigantic rivers in the ocean carry ships and other vessels from West Africa to the Americas with relative ease.

West Africans during the period of 1500 B.C. to 600 B.C. up to 1492 A.D. may have looked to the Americas as a source of trade, commerce and a place to settle and build new civilizations. During the period of 1500 B.C. to 600 B.C., there were many conflicts in the Mediterranean involving the Kushites, Egyptians, Assyrians, Phoenicians, Sea Peoples, Persians, Jews and others. Any kingdom or nation of that era who wanted to conduct smooth trade without complications would have tried to find alternative trading partners. In fact, that was the very reason why the Europeans decided to sail westward in their search for India and China in 1492 A.D. They were harassed by the Arabs in the East and had to pay heavy taxes to pass through the region.

Still, most of the Black empires and kingdoms such as Kush, Mauri, Numidia, Egypt, Ethiopia and others may have had little difficulty conducting trade among their neighbors since they also were among the major powers of the region who were dominant in the Mediterranean. South of this northern region to the south-west, Mauritania (the site of the prehistoric Zingh Empire) Ghana, and many of the same nationalities who ushered in the West African renaissance of the early Middle Ages were engaged in civilizations and cultures similar to those of Nubia, Egypt and the Empires of the Afro-Olmec or Xi (Shi) People.

Nubian-Kushite King and Queen (circa 1000 B.C.)

It is believed that there was a Nubian presence in Mexico and that the West African civilizations were related to that of the Nubians, despite the distance between the two centers of Black civilization in Africa. There is no doubt that in ancient times there were commercial ties between West Africa and Egypt. In fact, about 600 B.C., Nikau, a Pharaoh of Egypt sent ships to circumnavigate Africa and later on about 450 B.C., Phoenicians did the same, landing in West Africa in the nation now called Cameroon. There they witnessed what may have been the celebration of a Kwanza-like harvest festival, where "cymbals, horns," and other instruments as well as smoke and fire from burying fields could be seen from their ships.

At that period in history, the West African cultures and civilizations, which were offshoots of much earlier southern Saharan cultures, were very old compared to civilizations such as Greece or Babylon. In fact, iron was being used by the ancient West Africans as early as 2600 years B.C. and was so common that there was no "bronze age" in West Africa, although bronze was used for ornaments and instruments or tools.

A combination of Nubians and West Africans engaged in mutual trade and commerce along the coasts of West Africa could have planned many trips to and from the Americas and could have conducted a crossing about 1500 B.C. and afterwards. Massive sculptures of the heads of typical Negritic Africans were carved in the region of South Mexico where the Olmec civilization flourished. Some of these massive heads of basalt contain the cornrow hairstyle common among West African Blacks, as well as the kinky coiled hair common among at least 70 percent of all Negritic people, (the other proportion being the Dravidian Black race of India and the Black Australoids of Australia and South Asia).

Afro-Olmecs came from the Mende Regions of West Africa

Although archeologists have used the name "Olmec," to refer to the Black builders of ancient Mexico's first civilizations, recent discoveries have proven that these Afro-Olmecs were West Africans of the Mende language and cultural group. Inscriptions found on ancient monuments in parts of Mexico show that the script used by the ancient Olmecs was identical to that used by the ancient and modern Mende-speaking peoples of West Africa. Racially, the colossal stone heads are identical in features to West Africans and the language deciphered on Olmec monuments is identical to the Mende language of West Africa, (see Clyde A. Winters) on the internet.

The term "Olmec" was first used by archeologists since the giant stone heads with the features of West African Negritic people were found in a part of Mexico with an abundance of rubber trees. The Maya word for rubber was "olli," and so the name "Olmec," was used to label the Africoid Negritic people represented in the faces of the stone heads and found on hundreds of terracotta figurines throughout the region.

Yet, due to the scientific work done by deciphers and linguists, it has been found out that the ancient Blacks of Mexico know as Olmecs, called themselves the Xi People (She People). Apart from the giant stone heads of basalt, hundreds of terracotta figurines and heads of people of Negritic African racial features have also been found over the past hundred years in Mexico and other parts of Meso-America as well as the ancient Black-owned lands of the Southern U.S. (Washitaw Proper,(Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Arkansas), South America's Saint Agustin Culture in the nation of Colombia, Costa Rica, and other areas) the "Louisiana Purchase,"
lands, the south-eastern kingdom of the Black Jamassee, and other places including Haiti, see the magazine Ancient American).

Various cultural clues and traces unique to Africa as well as the living descendants of prehistoric and ancient African migrants to the Americas continue to exist to this very day. The Washitaw Nation of Louisiana is one such group (see Hotep.org), the Garifuna or Black Caribs of the Caribbean and Central America is another, the descendants of the Jamasse who live in Georgia and the surrounding states is another group. There are also others such as the Black Californian of Queen Calafia fame (the Black Amazon Queen mentioned in the book Journey to Esplandian, by Ordonez de Montalvo during the mid 1500's).

Cultural artifacts which connect the ancient Blacks of the Americas with Africa are many. Some of these similarities can be seen in the stone and terracotta works of the ancient Blacks of the Americas. For example, the African hairline is clearly visible in some stone and terracotta works, including the use of cornrows, afro hair style, flat "mohawk" style similar to the type used in Africa, dreadlocks, braided hair and even plain kinky hair. The African hairline is clearly visible on a fine stone head from Vera Cruz Mexico, carved between 600 B.C. to 400 B.C., the Classic Period of Olmec civilization. That particular statuette is about twelve inches tall and the distance from the head to the chin is about 17 centimeters. Another head of about 12 inches, not only possesses Negroid features, but the hair design is authentically West African and is on display at the National Museum of Mexico. This terracotta Africoid head also wears the common disk type ear plugs common in parts of Africa even today among tribes such as the Dinka and Shilluk.

One of the most impressive pieces of evidence which show a direct link between the Black Olmec or Xi People of Mexico and West Africans is the presence of scarification marks on some Olmec terracotta sculpture. These scarification marks clearly indicate a West African Mandinka (Mende) presence in prehistoric and ancient Meso-America. Ritual scarification is still practiced in parts of Africa and among the Black peoples of the South Pacific, however the Olmec scarification marks are not of South Pacific or Melanesian Black origins, since the patterns used on ancient Olmec sculpture is still common in parts of Africa. This style of scarification tattooing is still used by the Nuba and other Sudanese African people. In fact, the face of a young girl with keloid scarification on here face is identical to the very same keloid tattoos on the face of an ancient Olmec terracotta head from ancient Mexico. Similar keloid tattoos also appear on the arms of some Sudanese and are identical to similar keloid scars on the arms of some clay figures from ancient Olmec terracotta figurines of Negroid peoples of ancient Mexico.

Descendants of Ancient Africans in Recent America

In many parts of the Americas today, there are still people of African Negritic racial backgrounds who continue to exist either blended into the larger African-Americas population or are parts of separate, indigenous groups living on their own lands with their own unique culture and languages.

One such example is the Washitaw Nation who owned about one million square miles of the former Louisiana Territories, (see Hotep.org), but who now own only about 70,000 acres of all their former territory. The regaining of their lands from the U.S. was a long process which concluded partially in 1991, when they won the right to their lands in a U.S. court.

The Black Californian broke up as a nation during the late 1800's after many years of war with the Spanish invaders of the South West, with Mexico and with the U.S. The blended into the Black population of California and their descendants still exist among the millions of Black Californians of today.

The Black Caribs or Garifunas of the Caribbean Islands and Central America fought with the English and Spanish from the late fifteen hundreds up to 1797, when the British sued for peace. The Garifuna were expelled from their islands but they prospered in Central America where hundreds of thousands live along the coasts today.

The Afro-Darienite is a significant group of pre-historic, pre-Columbian Blacks who existed in South America and Central America. These Blacks were the Africans that the Spanish first saw during their exploration of the narrow strip of land between Columbia and Central America and who were described as "slaves of our lord" since the Spaniards and Europeans had the intention of enslaving all Blacks they found in the newly discovered lands.

The above mentioned Blacks of pre-Columbian origins are not Blacks who mixed with the Mongoloid Indian population as occurred during the time of slavery. They were Blacks who were in some cases on their lands before the southward migrations of the Mongoloid Native Americans. In many cases, these Blacks had established civilizations in the Americas thousands of years ago.

TRADE ROUTES OF THE ANCIENT BLACKS

During the years of migrations of Africans to all parts of the world, those who crossed the Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Pacific also used the seas to make trips to the northern parts of Africa. They may have avoided the northern routes across the deserts at particular times of the year and sailed northward by sailing parallel to the coastlines on their way northward or southward, just as the Phoenicians, Nubians and Egyptians had done. Boats made of skin, logs, hollowed tree trunk, lashed canoes and skin could have been used for trading and commerce.

The reed boat is a common type of watercraft used in West Africa and other parts of the world, yet there were other boats and ships to add to those already mentioned above. Boats similar to those of Nubia and Egypt were being used in the Sahara just as long or even longer than they were being used in Egypt. In fact, civilization in the Sahara and Sudan existed before Egypt was settled by Blacks from the South and the Sahara.

The vessels which crossed the Atlantic about 1500 B.C. (during the early Afro-Olmec period) were most likely the same types of ships shown in the Sahara cave paintings of ships dating to about 7,000 B.C. or similar ships from Nubian rock carvings of 3000 B.C..

Egyptologists such as Sir Flinders Petrie believed that the ancient African drawings of ships represent papyrus boats similar to the one built by the Bambara People for Thor Hayerdhal on the shores of Lake Chad. This boat made it to Barbados, however they did not reinforce the hull with rope as the ancient Egyptians and Nubians did with their ancient ships. That lack of reinforcement made the Bambara ship weak, however another papyrus ship built by Ayamara Indians in Lake Titicaca, Bolivia was reinforced and it made it to the West Indies without difficulty.

Naval historian Bjorn Landstrom believes that some of the curved hulls shown on rock art and pottery from the Nubian civilization (circa 3000 B.C.) point to a basic three-plank idea. The planks would have been sewn together with rope. The larger version must have had some interior framing to hold them together. The hulls of some of these boats show the vertical extension of the bow and stern which may have been to keep them buoyant.

These types of boats are still in use in one of the most unlikely places. The Djuka and Saramaka Tribes of Surinam, known also as "Bush Negroes," build a style of ship and boat similar to that of the Ancient Egyptians and Nubians, with their bows and sterns curving upward and pointing vertically.

This style of boat is also a common design in parts of West Africa, particularly along the Niger River where extensive river trading occurs. They are usually carved from a single tree trunk which is used as the backbone. Planks are then fitted alongside to enlarge them. In all cases, cabins are built on top of the interior out of woven mat or other strong fibrous material. These boats are usually six to eight feet across and about fifty feet long. There is evidence that one African Emperor Abubakari of Mali used these "almadias" or longboats to make a trip to the Americas during the 1300's (see, They Came Before Columbus, Ivan Van Sertima; Random House: 1975).

Apart from the vessels used by the West Africans and south western Sahara Black Africans to sail across the Atlantic to the Americas, Nubians, Kushites, Egyptians and Ethiopians were known traders in the Mediterranean. The Canaanites, the Negroid inhabitants of the Levant who later became the Phoenicians also were master seafarers. This has caused some to speculate that the heads of the Afro-Olmecs represent the heads of servants of the Phoenicians, yet no dominant people would build such massive and colossal monuments to their servants and not to themselves.

Check for historical references and literature

ANTHROPOLOGISTS BELIEVE THERE WAS AN ANCIENT BLACK PRESENCE IN THE AMERICAS

During the International Congress of American Anthropologists held in Barcelona, Spain in 1964, a French anthropologist pointed out that all that was missing to prove a definite presence of Negritic Blacks in the Americas before Columbus was Negroid skeletons to add to the already found Negroid featured terracottas. Later on February of 1975 skeletons of Negroid people dating to the 1200's were found at a pre-Columbian grave in the Virgin Islands. Andrei Wierzinski, the Polish crainologist also concluded based on the study of skeletons found in Mexico, that a good portion of the skulls were that of Negritic Blacks.

Based on the many finds for a Black African Negroid presence in ancient Mexico, some of the most enthusiastic proponents of a pre-Columbian Black African presence in Mexico are Mexican professionals. They conclude that Africans must have established early important trading centers on the coasts along Vera Cruz, from which Middle America's first civilization grew.

In retrospect, ancient Africans did visit the Americas from as early as about 100,000 B.C. where they stayed for tens of thousands of years. By 30,000 B.C., to about 15,000 B.C., a massive migration from the Sahara towards the Indian Ocean and the Pacific in the East occurred from the Sahara. Blacks also migrated Westward across the Atlantic Ocean towards the Americas during that period until the very eve of Columbus' first journey to the Americas.

Trade, commerce and exploration as well as the search for new lands when the Sahara began to dry up later in history was the catalyst that drove the West Africans towards the Atlantic and into the Americas.

REFERENCES

Washitaw Nation

Clyde A. Winters (The Nubians and the Olmecs)

Blacks of India

Blacks of the Pacific and Melanesia:
www.cwo.com/~lucumi/pacific.html

If you ever visit the ancient Afro-Olmec monuments of Mexico, the Washitaw Nation of Louisiana, the monuments of Nubia, Egypt or West Africa you need to take great pictures: http://www.photoalley.com/

DESCENDANTS OF PRECOLUMBIAN BLACKS IN THE U.S., CARIBBEAN, CENTRAL AMERICA AND SOUTH AMERICA AND THE FIGHT FOR THE RETURN OF THEIR STOLEN OCCUPIED LANDS
IN THE MIDST OF THE REPARATIONS DEBATE THE ISSUE OF RETURNING THE LANDS OF THESE BLACKS WHO ANCESTORS WERE HERE IN THE U.S. AND AMERICAS BEFORE COLUMBUS HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE WITH ONE BLACK NATION OF THE LOUISIANA TERRITORIES

The experience of the Washitaw Nation (or Ouchita Nation) of the Southern United States is another piece of solid evidence for the fact of pre-Columbian African presence and settlement in the Americas and specifically in the United States. According to an article carried in the magazine, 'The Freedom Press Newsletter,' (Spring, 1996), reprinted from Earthways, The Newsletter of the Sojourner Truth Farm School (August, 1995), the Washitaw were (and still are) a nation of Africans who existed in the Southern U.S. and Mississippi Valley region long before the 16th century Europeans arrived and even before there were "Native Americans" on the lands the Washitaw once occupied and still occupy today.

According to the article, "the Washitaw Nation" governed three million acres of land in Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Mississippi. They were ship builders (similar to the Garifuna of the Caribbean, who are also of pre-Columbian West African Mandinka Muslim origins (according to Harold Lawrence in 'African Presence in Early America,edt. by Ivan Van Sertima).

What is even more facinating about this aspect of hidden history of Blacks in America before Columbus is that the Washitaw Nation was known and recognized as a separate, independant Black nation by the Spanish and French, who were in the Louisiana Territories and Texas areas. According to the present leader of the Washitaw Nation, "when Spain ceeded the Louisiana Territory to France, they excluded the land belonging to the Washitaw Nation. France did not include it in the "Louisiana Purchase," and according to the leader, "This land is not part of the United States of America." That point was made in the newspaper, "The Capitol Spotlight, June 1992.

In fact, the courts agreed that the land was not part of the U.S. and that in fact the Washitaw (Ouchita) Nation was on the land long before European Colonization: therefore, in legal decisions made, some of the ancient territory was returned. This historical decision was made about 1991.

This is the type of information seldom seen in the majority press, yet, the importance of that event clearly points to the incredible service small papers and magazines such as Ancient American or the Capitol Spotlight and The Freedom Press Newsletter have been making, along with internet news and information sites such as this one. So, here we see an example in the continental United States where Africans who came before slavery, before Columbus and thousands of years before Christ (over six thousand years B.C., according to the Washitaw chroniclers), were engaged in boat building, seafaring, trade and commerce in ancient times and who still exist today as a distinct Black Nation who have evidence and proof of their ownership of millions of acres of lands in the Southern U.S. and the Mississippi Valley. The Washitaw Nation held an important convention in June 1992, in Monroe, Louisiana and have held others since. (see Hotep.org) for the Washitaw's point of view on their history and culture).

Yet, the Washitaw is merely one nation of the descendants of pre-Columbian Blacks from Africa and elsewhere and possibly from right here in the Americas as the very first people to exist here, long before the development of the Mongoloid, American Indians or the Mongoloid( 15,000 B.C.) or even the Caucasian races (30,000 B.C.). Pure Black Homosapiens began to migrate from Africa and populate the entire earth about 200,000 to 150,000 years ago, according to scientists, historians and anthropologists.

Among the other Black nations who existed in the Americas before Columbus and long before Christ were the Jamassee (Yamassee), who had a large kingdom in the South eastern U.S., Their descendants were among the first Blacks of pre-Columbian American origins who fell victim to kidnapping for the purpose of enslavement. Blacks of South America, the Caribbean and Central America were also attacked and enslaved based on a Pontifax passed during the mid- 1400's by the Church hierarchy giving the Europeans the go ahead to enslave all "Children of Ham" found in the newly discovered territories. The descendants of the Jamassee are the millions of Blacks who live in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and northern Florida. They of course also have African slave ancestors, but these slaves are the relatives of the same Africans who sailed to America of their own free will, while Europe was in the Dark Ages, and long before Christ, for that matter.

In California, descendants of the fierce "Black Californians" who were a Negroid people of African racial origins and the original owners of California and the South West (BEFORE THE SPANISH INVASION...OR THE CREATION OF THE MIXED RACE "HISPANIC" ETHNIC GROUP). Many African-Americans in California are of Black Californian ancestry and their great grand parents were among the original Black Californians who were victims of Spanish California enslavement and Anglo American settler attacks. In fact, the Black Californian fought until the late 1800's to maintain control of their ancestral lands from the settlers. THAT'S A FACT.

There are aboriginal nations of Blacks in Panama such as the Afro-Darienite and the Choco people. In fact, the Afro-Darienite are the remnants of the aboriginal Black nations of South and Central America who were once hunted down to be made slaves by the Spaniards (in fact Balboa or Peter Matyr chroniclers referred to these Blacks as "slaves of our lord," ) meaning, like Blacks in Africa, the South Pacific and elsewhere, they were eligible for enslavement, being descended from Ham, the so-called "father of the Black race."

In Columbia's Choco Region, on the Western side of that country, there are hundreds of thousands of Blacks, whose ancestors have been in Columbia for thousands of years. In fact, scientists and some historians have found out that Black slaves were being kidnapped and hunted down in Columbia and parts of South and Central America, as well as the Caribbean and U.S., by the Spaniards and others long before they began to look for slaves in Africa. (an old painting in National Geographic clearly shows a black with bow and arrow and wearing a loin cloth, hunting along the coast of Columbia during the first voyage there by the Spaniards.

These Blacks today of the Choco Region of Columbia are among the most oppressed of Blacks in Latin America today (See the Final Call back issues on this topic)

Then there is the Garifuna or Kalifunami also called "Black Caribs" Being a member of the Black Carib Nation and having done historical research, the myth of the Black Caribs being escaped slaves has been debunked. It is true that the Black Caribs encouraged slaves from the West Indies Islands to join them and that the Black Caribs did ally with the Mongoloid Caribs of Dominica and other parts of the West Indies, but the fact remains, that the Black Caribs were originally Mende traders of gold and cloth, who established settlements throughout the Circum-Caribbean region, Mexico, Central America, South America and the Southern U.S.

They had been arriving in the Americas for thousands of years, even before they converted to Islam during the 900's A.D.. In fact, the Olmecs of ancient Mexico were Mende, they used the Mende script (found on monuments at Monte Alban, Mexico, and they named places from southern Mexico to South America with Mandinka names. Such names sometimes sound identical to the names of places used in West Africa.

In retrospect, while the debate for reparations increases, it is important that African-Americans know that two great injustices were committed by the Europeans. The first was slavery, the second was the taking of Black lands and destroying Black history and culture so Blacks remain totally ignorant of their rights to more than one third of north America. NOW YOU KNOW WHY THE SLAVEMASTERS DID NOT WANT BLACK FOLK TO LEARN TO READ, AND WHY PLANTS ARE PLACED IN CHATROOMS AND ON FORUMS TO ATTEMPT TO DISCREDIT ANY USEFUL HISTORY AND INFORMATION OFFERED TO BLACK PEOPLE.

Still, TRUTH SUBMERGED SHALL RISE AGAIN.

SUSU ECONOMICS

THE HISTORY OF PAN-AFRICAN TRADE, COMMERCE, WEALTH AND MONEY
(A Preview of the Fascinating History of the Development of Ancient Black Civilizations Worldwide)

One of the most important aspects of Black history worldwide is the development of Black civilization due to the early and persistent use and application of trade and commerce. Due to such early and well organized trading and commercial systems throughout the prehistoric Black world, Blacks were able to expand throughout the world and establish the world's first cultures and civilizations. Although it is said that Blacks migrated from the original homeland of mankind in Africa to settle all Asia, Europe, Australia and the Americas (see Scientific American; Sept. 2000, p. 80-87...this is a recent publication), long before the differentiation of the races from the original Negritic to Negriic, Caucasoid, Mongoloid, along with the various mixed races such as Polynesians, Native Americans, Japanese, Malays, Mediterranean whites, East Indians (the mixed Negroid/Caucasian type...not the pure Black pre Aryan Negritic Indians), Arabs, Latinos (Mestizos, Mullatoes, Zambos, Spaniards) and a number of other mixed races and regional types, the purpose of the earliest migrations of Blacks from Africa to the rest of the world was not merely following and hunting wild animals, as some theorists have claimed, but searching for commodities, like red ochre to paint the smooth, dark skin from insects and decoration. Another purpose for the early migrations of Africans to other parts of the world was to establish trading and commercial links to those of their own people, who had left previously. Hence, even if the earliest migrations were after wandering herds of animals, further migrations were in search of links with their kinsmen and women.

The migrations of Africans to all parts of the world within the past hundred thousand years or more occurred before an other races existed. Thus, Black culture and civilization was being established when no other "races" existed as we know them today. This is a fascinating historical even, because having been homosapiens for over one hundred thousand years, it is very possible that Blacks could have gone through many periods of cultural development and civilization before the beginning of the Nile Valley civilization (since about 17,000 B.C.) or the Zingh Civilization of the South-Western Sahara (15,000 B.C.), or even Atlantis (10,000 B.C.), or the building of the Sphinx (7,000 B.C.).

In fact, there is evidence from ancient East Indian chronicles (some of these pictures are on AAWR (African American Web Ring) of the great scientific advancement of the Black prehistoric inhabitants of the Indus Valley Civilization (6000 B.C. to 1700 B.C.), who built flying machines, who had flushing toilets, cities on a grid-like pattern, and many of what we may call "modern" conveniences.

About 20,000 years ago, the present-day dried up and desertified Sahara had an aquatic civilization where the Africans who lived on the edges of the giant inland sea, built large ocean-going ships. Rock paintings of these ships can still be seen in the Sahara (and some appeared on National Geographic magazine about two years ago). (For more on the Aquatic Civilizations of the prehistoric Sahara, see, "African Presence In Early Asia," by Ivan Van Sertima and Runoko Rashidi, Transaction Publications, New Brunswick, NJ).

The Africans who used these boats (which are still used today by tribes such as the Baduma of Mali, West Africa) made of papyrus straw. These same type of boats were used to travel to the Americas, the Indian Ocean, the South Pacific, India, East Asia and the Pacific, then to the Americas via the Pacific Ocean. In fact, the Fijians still consider Africa's East Coast to be their very ancient homeland and Africans in East Africa have oral as well as written histories of ancient journeys towards Asia.

In ancient times, trade between Africans in Africa and those in the Indian Ocean, East Asia and the Pacific Ocean, East Asia, the Americas, the Mediterranean, the Black Sea area and all the continents including Australia. In all these areas, evidence of prehistoric African Blacks exist. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT SUCH EVIDENCE WAS AGAIN FOUND IN SOUTH AMERICA, WHERE ABOUT FIFTY SKULLS REPRESENTING NEGROID PEOPLE WERE FOUND IN BRAZIL (see Scientific American, September 2000). However, this is no news to some Blacks, particularly those descended from the ancient prehistoric Blacks of America, such as the Wasitaw of the Louisiana area, the descendants of the Black Californians, the Jamassee and others; the Black Caribs of the Caribbean and Central America, the Choco Region Blacks of Columbia, South America and many others.

This book examines the history of Black trade and commerce. It examines how money was made in ancient times and how this legacy continued well into the colonial era to this very day.

In a time when Blacks worldwide are suffering economically, this book clearly contributes to the knowledge and helps build the confidence needed to initiate a Black world economic renaissance and Black economic, social, numerical and cultural development among Black Americans and Blacks elsewhere.

Back to Historical Views | AfricaSpeaks.com
Copyright © Paul Barton

Education - RaceandHistory.com

Dr. Mark Dean

2006-04-10T13:35:00.000-07:00

"America's High Tech "Invisible Man"
By Tyrone D. Taborn

You may not have heard of Dr. Mark Dean. And you aren't alone. But almost everything in your life has been affected by his work.

See, Dr. Mark Dean is a Ph.D. from Stanford University. He is in the National Hall of Inventors. He has more than 30 patents pending. He is a vice president with IBM. Oh, yeah. And he is also the architect of the modern-day personal computer. Dr. Dean holds three of the original nine patents on the computer that all PCs are based upon. And, Dr. Mark Dean is an African American.

So how is it that we can celebrate the 20th anniversary of the IBM personal computer without reading or hearing a single word about him? Given all of the pressure mass media are under about negative portrayals of African Americans on television and in print, you would think it would be a slam dunk to highlight someone like Dr. Dean.

Somehow, though, we have managed to miss the shot. History is cruel when it comes to telling the stories of African Americans. Dr. Dean isn't the first Black inventor to be overlooked Consider John Stanard, inventor of the refrigerator, George Sampson, creator of the clothes dryer, Alexander Miles and his elevator, Lewis Latimer and the electric lamp. All of these inventors share two things:

One, they changed the landscape of our society; and, two, society relegated them to the footnotes of history. Hopefully, Dr. Mark Dean won't go away as quietly as they did. He certainly shouldn't. Dr. Dean helped start a Digital Revolution that created people like Microsoft's Bill Gates and Dell Computer's Michael Dell. Millions of jobs in information technology can be traced back directly to Dr. Dean.

More important, stories like Dr. Mark Dean's should serve as inspiration for African-American children. Already victims of the "Digital Divide" and failing school systems, young, Black kids might embrace technology with more enthusiasm if they knew someone like Dr. Dean already was leading the way.

Although technically Dr. Dean can't be credited with creating the computer -- that is left to Alan Turing, a pioneering 20th-century English mathematician, widely considered to be the father of modern computer science -- Dr. Dean rightly deserves to take a bow for the machine we use today. The computer really wasn't practical for home or small business use until he came along, leading a team that developed the interior architecture (ISA systems bus) that enables multiple devices, such as modems and printers, to be connected to personal computers.

In other words, because of Dr. Dean, the PC became a part of our daily lives. For most of us, changing the face of society would have been enough. But not for Dr. Dean. Still in his early forties, he has a lot of inventing left in him.

He recently made history again by leading the design team responsible for creating the first 1-gigahertz processor chip.. It's just another huge step in making computers faster and smaller. As the world congratulates itself for the new Digital Age brought on by the personal computer, we need to guarantee that the African-American story is part of the hoopla surrounding the most stunning technological advance the world has ever seen.

"The Black American" by Smokey Robinson

2006-04-06T17:10:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Poetology.com

"I love being Black. I love being called Black. I love being an American. I love being a Black American, but as a Black man in this country I think it’s a shame that every few years we get a change of name.

Since those first ships arrived here from Africa that came across the sea there were already Black men in this country who were free. And as for those that came over here on those terrible boats, they were called niggah and slave and told what to do and how to behave.

And then master started trippin' and doing his midnight tippin', down to the slave shacks where he forced he and Great-Great Grandma to be together, and if Great-Great Grandpa protested, he got tarred and feathered.

And at the same time, the Black men in the country who were free, were mating with the tribes like the Apache and the Cherokee. And as a result of all that, we're a parade of every shade. And as in this late day and age, you can be sure, they ain't too many of us in this country whose bloodline is pure.

But, according to a geological, geographical, genealogy study published in Time Magazine, the Black African people were the first on the scene, so for what it's worth, the Black African people were the first on earth and through migration, our characteristics started to change, and rearrange, to adapt to whatever climate we migrated to. And that's how I became me, and you became you.

So, if we gonna go back, let's go all the way back, and if Adam was Black and Eve was Black, then that kind of makes it a natural fact that everybody in America is an African American.

Everybody in Europe is an African European; everybody in the Orient is an African Asian and so on and so on, that is, if the origin of man is what we’re gonna go on. And if one drop of Black blood makes you Black like they say, then everybody's Black anyway.

So quit trying to change my identity. I'm already who I was meant to be I'm a Black American, born and raised. And brother James Brown wrote a wonderful phrase, "Say it loud, I'm Black and I'm proud! Say it loud, I'm Black and I'm proud!"

Cause I'm proud to be Black and I ain't never lived in Africa, and ‘cause my Great-Great Granddaddy on my Daddy’s side did, don't mean I want to go back. Now I have nothing against Africa, it's where some of the most beautiful places and people in the world are found. But I've been blessed to go a lot of places in this world, and if you ask me where I choose to live, I pick America, hands down.

Now, by and by, we were called Negroes, and after while, that name has vanished. Anyway, Negro is just how you say “black” in Spanish. Then, we were called colored, but shit, everybody’s one color or another, and I think it’s a shame that we hold that against each other.

And it seems like we reverted back to a time when being called Black was an insult, even if it was another Black man who said it, a fight would result, cause we’ve been so brainwashed that Black was wrong, so that even the yellow niggahs and black niggahs couldn’t get along.

But then, came the 1960s when we struggled and died to be called equal and Black, and we walked with pride with our heads held high and our shoulders pushed back, and Black was beautiful.

But, I guess that wasn’t good enough, cause now here they come with some other stuff. Who comes up with this shit anyway? Was it one, or a group of niggahs sitting around one day?

Feelin’ a little insecure again about being called Black and decided that African American sounded a little more exotic. Well, I think you were being a little more neurotic.

It’s that same mentality that got “Amos and Andy” put off the air, cause’ they were embarrassed about the way the character’s spoke. And as a result of that action, a lot of wonderful Black actors ended up broke. When we were just laughin’ and have fun about ourselves. So I say, “fuck you if you can’t take a joke.” You didn’t see the “Beverly Hillbilly’s” being protested by white folks.

And if you think, that cause you think that being called African American set all Black people’s mind at ease… since we affectionately call each other “niggah”, I affectionately say to you, “niggah please”.

How come I didn’t get the chance to vote on who I’d like to be? Who gave you the right to make that decision for me? I ain’t under your rule or in your dominion and I am entitled to my own opinion.

Now there are some African Americans here, but they recently moved here from places like Kenya, Ethiopia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Zaire. But, now the brother who’s family has lived in the country for generations, occupying space in all the locations New York, Miami, L.A., Detroit, Chicago - even if he’s wearing a dashiki and sporting an afro.

And, if you go to Africa in search of your race, you’ll find out quick you’re not an African American, you’re just a Black American in Africa takin’ up space.

Why you keep trying to attach yourself to a continent, where if you got the chance and you went, most people there would even claim you as one of them; as a pure bread daughter or son of them. Your heritage is right here now, no matter what you call yourself or what you say and a lot of people died to make it that way. And if you think America is a leader on inequality and suffering and grievin’ how come there so many people comin’ and so few leavin’?

Rather than all this ‘find fault with America’ fuck you promotin’, if you want to change something, use your privilege, get to the polls! Commence to votin’!

God knows we’ve earned the right to be called American Americans and be free at last. And rather than you movin’ forward progress, you dwelling in the past. We’ve struggled too long; we’ve come too far. Instead of focusing on who we were, let’s be proud of who we are.

We are the only people whose name is always a trend. When is this shit gonna end? Look at all the different colors of our skin - Black is not our color. It’s our core. It’s what we been livin’ and fightin’ and dyin’ for.

But if you choose to be called African American and that’s your preference then I'll give you that reference

But I know on this issue I don’t stand alone on my own and if I do, then let me be me and I’d appreciate it if when you see me, you’d say, “there goes a man who says it loud I’m Black. I’m Black. I’m a Black American, and I’m proud

Cause I love being an American. And I love being Black. I love being called Black. Yeah, I said it, and I don’t take it back."

Smokey Robinson
Def Poets, 3rd Season
May 16, 2003 (c)

Sade

2006-03-14T12:41:00.000-08:00

When Sade first came on the recording scene in the '80s, her record company, Epic, made a point of printing "pronounced shar-day" after her name on the record labels of her releases. Soon enough the world would have no problem in correctly pronouncing her name. Born Helen Folasade Adu in a village 50 miles from Lagos, the capitol of Nigeria, she was the daughter of an African father and an English mother. After her mother returned to England, Sade grew up on the North End of London.

Developing a good singing voice in her teens, Sade worked part-time jobs in and outside of the music business. She listened to Ray Charles, Nina Simone, Al Green, Aretha Franklin, and Billie Holliday. Sade studied fashion design at St. Martin's School of Art in London while also doing some modeling on the side.

Around 1980, she started singing harmony with a Latin funk group called Arriva. One of the more popular numbers that the group would perform was a Sade original co-written with bandmember Ray St. John, "Smooth Operator," that would later become Sade's first stateside hit. The following year she joined the eight-piece funk band Pride as a background singer. The band included future Sade band members guitarist/saxophonist Stuart Matthewman (a key player in '90s urban soul singer Maxwell's success) and bassist Paul Denman. The concept of the group was that there could shoot-offs. In essence, a few members within the main group Pride formed mini-groups that would be the opening act. Pride did a lot of shows around London, stirring up record company interest. Initially, the labels wanted to only sign Sade, while the group members wanted a deal for the whole band. After a year, the other band members told Sade, Matthewman, and Denman to go ahead and sign a deal. Adding keyboardist Andrew Hale, the group signed to the U.K. division of Epic Records.

Her debut album, Diamond Life (with overall production by Robin Millar), went Top Ten in the U.K. in late 1984. January 1985 saw the album released on CBS' Portrait label and by spring it went platinum off the strength of the Top Ten singles "Smooth Operator" and "Hang on to Your Love." Her third album, Promise (November 1985), featured "Never As Good As the First Time" and arguably her signature song, "The Sweetest Taboo," which stayed on the U.S. pop charts for six months. Sade was so popular that some radio stations reinstated the '70s practice of playing album tracks, adding "Is It a Crime" and "Tar Baby" to their play lists. In 1986, Sade won a Grammy for Best New Artist.

Sade's third album was 1988's Stronger Than Pride and featured her first number one soul single "Paradise," "Nothing Can Come Between Us," and "Keep Looking." A new Sade album didn't appear for four years. 1992's Love Deluxe continued the unbroken streak of multi-platinum Sade albums, spinning off the hits "No Ordinary Love," "Feel No Pain," and "Pearls." While the album's producer Mike Pela, Matthewman, Denman, and Hale have gone on to other projects. The new millennium did spark a new scene for Sade. She issued Lovers Rock in fall 2000 and incoporated more mainstream elements than ever before. Debut single "By Your Side" was also a hit among radio and adult-contemporary listerners. The following summer, Sade embarked on her first tour in more than a decade, selling out countless dates across America. In early 2002, she celebrated the success of the tour by releasing her first ever live album and DVD, Lovers Live. ~ Ed Hogan, All Music Guide

Stephanie Mills

2006-03-14T12:32:00.000-08:00

While she never attained the crossover notoriety her immense talent deserved, over the 10 year period 1979-1989 Stephanie Mills quietly assembled an impressive collection of performances for multiple record labels and established herself as one of the most successful Soul vocalists of that period.

A prodigy, Mills was performing small roles on Broadway even as a child, but received her big break (and made the most of it) in 1975 when, at age 18, she landed the role of Dorothy in the Broadway Soul musical The Wiz. Her small frame belied the huge, powerful voice she carried, and she owned the role for several years (though was unfortunately overlooked in casting for the ill-fated movie version, which was instead given to a much older Diana Ross).

She began her recording career in the mid-70s on ABC Records with an album of Broadway covers, and was then signed by Motown and teamed with legendary pop writers Burt Bacharach and Hal David for a couple albums that attempted to position Mills as a young Dionne Warwick. Her signing by 20th Century Fox in 1978 began the uptick in her popular appeal, as she paired with hot writers/producers Mtume and Lucas for Whatcha Gonna Do With My Lovin?, a solid album of dance oriented numbers that blended fairly sophisticated arrangements with her lovely, strong voice and scored big on the Soul, Dance and Pop charts. She followed the next year with Sweet Sensation and what would become her signature song, the infectious "Never Knew Love Like This Before." She continued her success in 1980 with a self-titled album that included a great duet with Teddy Pendergrass, "Two Hearts."

In 1983, Stephanie moved to Casablanca Records, where she recorded three albums with various producers and scored moderate hits with the dance-oriented "Pilot Error" and "The Medicine Song," but appeared to be an artist caught between the end of the disco era and the emergence of the burgeoning Urban Adult Contemporary genre. She firmly moved into the latter camp with her signing by MCA in 1985, and she released her career best material over the next half decade, working with talented producers Angela Winbush and Ron Kersey. Her recordings of "I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love," "I Feel Good All Over" and a new version of her classic recording "Home" gave her three number ones and firmly established her as one of the most expressive and talented vocalists of the era.

The 1990s saw Mills releasing a number of disparate albums, including a dance-oriented disc, a Christmas disc and her first Gospel recording, but none of them fared as well as her earlier work. She stopped recording in 1994 for a full decade before self-releasing the critically acclaimed Born for This in 2004.

A Conversation with Stephanie Mills

[This piece was provided to us by Ms. Mills in Nov. 2004, author unknown]

How do you feel about where you are right now:

“I can only call it an inspired time. My son Farad and the rest of my family give me an anchor but they also act as a signpost for me about what is really important in life. That energy and realization has allowed me to put sing and create in a new, more important way for myself.”

People may call this a “comeback” since you haven’t put out a CD in thirteen years, but you have been working and creating during that time.

“You know, its funny, I guess it is a comeback as far as me not having a new CD out for awhile, but for me, in my day to day world, it just seems like a natural progression of everything that I have done for the past thirteen years. In that time, I have done lots of life stuff, like becoming a mom, but also, I did regional theater, worked with other artists and performed all over the world and really was able to view my career in a new way. Not so defined by the ‘hits’ and able to chart my own course through the entertainment business. Remember, I have been doing this since I was 11 years old, so even though I am still young, I am a veteran and have a very unique view of this amazing business.”

Do you think attitude has a lot to do with your longevity?

“Oh absolutely. When you are in your twenties and trying to make it, every little thing is so important about your career. But now, with my family intact and my life so much more settled, I believe in having as much fun with my music and my voice as possible. The approach is all about NOT taking it too seriously, being totally myself in every aspect and really just stop struggling with it and just have a great time! Instinct is everything, just putting it out there in the universe, staying connected and being yourself at all costs. This collection of songs is really an updated version of who I am and how I have grown. I am singing better, writing better and generally in better voice which allowed me to collaborate and create in a whole new way.”

So you think you have changed your way of doing things as you have matured?

“Well yes and no. No, in that I am still Stephanie and I like who that person is, but yes in that I am singing with more confidence and eagerness than I have felt in years. After the birth of my son…(I mean, if you can give birth…you can do anything!!), life gets a perspective that didn’t exist before…I just don’t sweat the small stuff anymore, I have a wider perception of the world because having a child makes you see and feel life in a bigger, more vast way. Also, I have grown so much through that experience and my life, that my relationship to my child, others and myself is richer and more rewarding. The creative process can’t help but be affected by my personal transformation. They go hand in hand and that is what has brought me to this new place. I am just so excited about everything and I cant wait for people to hear “Born For This!”

Who are your inspirations both professionally and personally?

“Well first and foremost, my son and my dad and my love of God. Also my extended family is so important to me. We all live pretty close in Charlotte and they continuously inspire me day to day.

Professionally, well, that question is interesting: When I was very young, I had the opportunity to meet Butterfly McQueen. I will never forget that, because it made me aware of how many African-American artists have shaped our business. I enjoy old movies and adore Bette Davis. Those early days of the movies were so glamorous and classy! In music, I love old R&B and we can’t even start this without mentioning Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight and Lena Horne! I also love Aerosmith and The Rolling Stones but I have to include Stevie Wonder, Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie, Anita Baker, The Temptations and of course, classic Jackson Five!! Some of the younger singers out now are so good too, like Mary J., and Alicia Keys. I just love music! Through the years, I have had the good fortune to work with so many great artists and be exposed to so many creative souls. I really have been blessed.

Who are your friends in this business?

Oh well, we all know each other …(laughing) But my real personal, family type friends include the actor/writer James Stovall and my good girlfriend, Angela Winbush… She is one of the most talented and underrated singers out there. I love her songs and have recorded them through the years.

Your performances have been called inspiring. You have the ability to touch people with the strength and depth of your voice. How do you relate to your fans?

“I just love my fans. They give me so much. People will open up to you when you are honest and real about what you do and that is so true in a live performance. From the time I was a child until now, the audience has always shown me respect and love and I give that back to them in full measure. Through my travels and performances, I have become involved in speaking with women about violence and abuse in their homes. There is nothing more upsetting to me than women who subject themselves to violence and abuse against themselves. I have spoken and performed for women who are incarcerated and I have seen what drives some of them to the edge. I have become an advocate for women and make it my business to visit with them in each of the cities that I tour in. I am currently exploring starting a foundation to raise awareness and money to help victims of abuse.”

Any last thoughts?

“My son, my family and friends and all of my collective experience has brought me to putting out Born For This! and my hope is that my fans will get the feeling behind the music— to enjoy and treasure life, laugh a lot and use whatever your God given talents are to put out that message! We all have a gift to give, my gift is song and I intend to continue to create for a long time to come!!”

Stephanie Mills has one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary music, an ultra soulful songstress whose onstage energy and power inspires standing ovations wherever she performs.

She is a legendary Grammy© and American Music Award©-winning recording artist with five best-selling albums and ten Billboard #1 singles.

The legendary singer is back and launching her new single, “Can’t Let Him Go” from the forthcoming release Born For This! in stores early in 2004. She’s recorded the project with such star songwriters and producers as Gordon Chambers, the New York-based Flavahood Productions, and BeBe Winans. Stephanie is excited about the creative freedom she is experiencing while recording Born For This!

"This collection is an updated version of what I do," she says. "I wrote some songs myself, collaborated with the producers and everything really came together for the album which will be on my own label.

For her many fans the world over, that’s welcome news: for, without a doubt, Stephanie Mills is truly back in stride again, stronger and more soulful than ever!

A CAREER HISTORY
Over the span of a 25 year illustrious career, Stephanie Mills has distinguished herself as an actress and performer who is as at home on the Broadway stage as she is in the recording studio.

Hit records such as "I Have Learned To Respect The Power Of Love," "Home" and "Whatcha Gonna Do With My Lovin’’ have become enduring classics. Stephanie’s critically acclaimed appearances in shows like the four-time Tony Award-winning "The Wiz" and "Your Arms Too Short To Box With God" have assured her of a consistently loyal following among fans, industry insiders and critics alike. The loyalty that she has inspired in her audience has seen her through a twenty-five year career filled with accomplishments and achievements.

Stephanie’s journey as an enduring performer began like that of so many of her contemporaries; singing gospel in church in her native Brooklyn. Her vocal abilities became evident early on and by the age of nine, she was mesmerizing crowds in her first Broadway musical "Maggie Flynn," sharing the stage with co-stars Shirley Jones and the late Jack Cassidy.

Other early credits included appearances in such pop culture classic, shows like "Captain Kangaroo," "Wonderama," "The Electric Company" and "String" (presented by the Negro Ensemble Company in New York City).

For six consecutive weeks, an eleven-year old Stephanie won the famous Amateur Night at the renowned Apollo Theater and a first recording, "I Knew It Was Love" landed her the much-coveted role of Dorothy in the Broadway musical "The Wiz" at the age of fifteen. For five years, Stephanie wowed packed houses with her amazing vocal gift and after making albums for ABC and Motown, she signed with 20th Century Records in 1979.

Working with producers James Mtume & Reggie Lucas, Stephanie recorded "Whatcha Gonna Do With My Lovin’’" and by 1984, she had climbed the charts with major hits: "Sweet Sensation," "Never Knew Love Like This Before" (a gold single), "Two Hearts" (a duet with Teddy Pendergrass), "Keep Away Girls," "How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore?" and "The Medicine Song." Stephanie scored three best-selling albums in a row with "Whatcha Gonna Do…With My Lovin’?", "Sweet Sensation" and "Stephanie" in the span of just two years.

The ‘80s were a golden period for the petite vocalist: signed to MCA Records, Stephanie was responsible for a string of hit singles and albums. "I Have Learned To Respect The Power of Love" (1986), "I Feel Good All Over" and "(You’re Puttin’) A Rush On Me" (both from 1987), "Something In The Way (You Make Me Feel)" and "Home" (both 1990 recordings) all topped the R&B charts. The 1987 album "If I Were Your Woman" was No. 1 on the R&B Albums chart and was a Top 30 pop best-seller; while the 1989 album "Home" was also a Top 5 R&B and Top 100 charted LP.

Returning to the stage, Stephanie toured the country in the early ‘90s with "The Wiz" and during the past decade, she has appeared in a number of highly-acclaimed roles in such shows as "Your Arms Too Short With Box" (starring with Teddy Pendergrass), "Children Of Eden," "Ragtime," "Play On" (a tribute to Duke Ellington’s music), "His Woman, His Wife" and "Black Nativity." The recipient of NAACP Image Awards, Stephanie’s multi-faceted career has also included recurring roles in popular television soap operas "Search For Tomorrow" and "One Life To Live."

In 1994, Stephanie returned to her gospel roots with "Personal Inspirations," an album that won praise with both gospel and secular audiences, netting her "Stellar Award" and "Dove Award" nominations.

Stephanie marked a return to recording in 1999 with the dance music cut "Latin Lover," produced by Masters At Work and in 2000, she did a duet with BeBe Winans for his Motown album "Love And Freedom." Stephanie’s music has frequently been sampled during the last few years and in 2001, she was a special guest on rapper DMX’s "The Great Depression" album, reprising the vocals from her first 1979 hit "Whatcha Gonna Do With My Lovin’" for the track "When I’m Nothing."

Following a dazzling performance at comedian Sinbad’s Soul Festival in Aruba, Stephanie began touring again in 2001 and has been wowing audiences on shows with artists like The O’Jays, Teddy Pendergrass, The Isley Brothers, Carl Thomas and at festivals that have included Mary J. Blige, India.Arie, Alicia Keys, Babyface and Smokey Robinson.

She says, "It’s been wonderful being back onstage and singing songs from all parts of my career. So many people have asked me when I would have a new record out and I would just say ‘soon.’ I was surprised because, so many times, people forget about you if you don’t have a new release! But then after the birth of my son Farad last year, I felt revitalized. I felt like singing and performing again”.

“I think I’m more creative musically and when I do a lot of my material now, I can relate to it more than ever. The experiences in life make you sing differently. And," she adds, "One of the results of having my child has been that it’s definitely made my voice stronger. I can sing higher and hold notes longer…"

Look for Stephanie Mills to make another mark in her wonderful career as fans begin to discover the creative energy and soulful singing that is a mainstay of her voice and more so than ever on Born for This!

Grover Washington, Jr.

2006-03-14T04:56:00.000-08:00

One of the most popular saxophonists of all time (even his off records had impressive sales), Grover Washington, Jr. was long the pacesetter in his field. His roots were in R&B and soul-jazz organ combos, but he also fared very well on the infrequent occasions when he played straight-ahead jazz. A highly influential player, Washington was sometimes blamed for the faults of his followers; Kenny G. largely based his soprano sound on Grover's tone. However, most of the time (except when relying on long hit medleys), Washington pushed himself with the spontaneity and chance taking of a masterful jazz musician.

Grover Washington, Jr., whose father also played saxophone, started playing music when he was ten and within two years was working in clubs. He picked up experience touring with the Four Clefs from 1959-1963 and freelancing during the next two years, before spending a couple years in the Army. He moved to Philadelphia in 1967, becoming closely identified with the city from then on, and worked with several organists, including Charles Earland and Johnny Hammond Smith, recording as a sideman for the Prestige label. His biggest break occurred in 1971, when Hank Crawford could not make it to a recording date; Washington was picked as his replacement, and the result was Inner City Blues, a big seller. From then on he became a major name, particularly after recording 1975's Mister Magic and 1980's Winelight; the latter included the Bill Withers hit "Just the Two of Us."

Although some of his recordings since then found him coasting a bit, Washington usually stretched himself in concert, being almost overqualified for the R&B-ish music that he performed. He developed his own personal voices on soprano, tenor, alto, and even his infrequently-used baritone. Grover Washington Jr. recorded as a leader for Kudu, Motown, Elektra, and Columbia and made notable guest appearances on dozens of records ranging from pop to straightforward jazz. He died of a sudden heart attack on December 17, 1999 while taping an appearance on CBS television's The Saturday Early Show; Washington was 56. The posthumous Aria was issued early the following year. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

Grover Washington, Jr.'s love of music began a a child growing up in Buffalo, New York; his mother (who sang in church choirs) and father (collector of jazz 78s) bought him a saxophone at age ten. "After I started playing," Grover says, "I'd sneak into clubs to watch guys like Jack McDuff, Harold Vick and Charles Lloyd. My professional life began at age twelve. I played a lot of R&B, blues, and what we used to call 'gut-bucket'."

Grover left Buffalo to play in the Midwest with a group called the Four Clefs. Soon afterward, he was drafted into the Army; during that time he made some important connections. Drummer Billie Cobham, who was in the Army band with Grover, introduced him to several prominent New York musicians, and he soon began freelancing in New York and Philadelphia. Grover also met his wife Christine (who has since acted as his business partner as well) in Philadelphia around that time; they married shortly after his discharge in 1967. The two have remained happily married since; their son, Grover III (who co-produced a Grammy-nominated song on Grover's last album) now lives in Los Angeles and their daughter, Shana attends Temple University.

After playing in organist Charles Earland's band, and recording as a sideman for the CTI and Prestige labels, Grover recorded Breakout with Johnny Hammond. The album was a bestseller, and it established Grover as a major new voice on saxophone.

So impressed was Creed Taylor, Hammond's producer and head of CTI, that he signed Grover to a contract as a leader. When his debut as a leader, Inner City Blues was released in 1971, Grover was still working at a Philadelphia record wholesaler, "I was unloading boxes of records with my own name on them," Grover recalls with a hint of irony.

Grover's soulful, sophisticated sound developed through the 1970s and the success of his next three albums--All the King's Horses, Soul Box and especially Mister Magic--landed him as a headliner in the concert halls, and opened the door to session work with the likes of Bob James, Randy Weston, Eric Gale, and Dave Grusin.

With the release of Winelight in 1980, Grover earned recognition as a leading instrumental master. The LP earned two Grammy Awards, for "Best Jazz Fusion Recording" and "Best R&B Song" for "Just the Two of Us." Down Beat Magazine crooned, "Washington plays with exquisite tone, range and dexterity, grooving always." The Boston Herald-American proclaimed the album, "A true masterpiece by an artist who has the ability to combine the better elements of pop, soul and jazz and transform them into a form uniquely his." Perhaps the greatest recognition came through record distributors, much like the one Grover had once worked in. Winelight was certified gold in 1981; to date, it has sold over two million copies.

Grover's subsequent albums extended his reputation even further. Come Morning (1981) featured Ralph MacDonald, Steve Gadd, Eric Gale, Richard Tee, Marcus Miller, and vocals by Grady Tate; it earned Grover his fourth Gold recording. The Best is Yet to Come (1982) earned a Grammy nomination for vocalist Patti Labelle on the title track. Inside Moves (1984) featured vocals from Jon Lucien. For Strawberry Moon (1987), Grover was joined by legendary blues guitarists B.B. King, as well as by jazz/r&b vocalist Jean Carne. For Then and Now (1988), Grover explored the many facets of his musical expression, aided by jazz starts Tommy Flanagan, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Marvin "Smitty" Smith. On Time Out of Mind (1990), Grover scored another hit with vocalist Phyllis Hyman with 'Sacred kind of Love.' And on Next Exit (1992), Grover explored several musical avenues, reinventing a classic Paul Desmond tune, "Take Five," as his own "Take Another Five," teaming up with The Four Tops and Lalah Hathaway, even dipping into rap.

In the early eighties, Grover played a major role in establishing the Philadelphia group Pieces of a Dream, for whom he produced three albums. These successes, and many, many more awards and credits as producer, player and composer, over two decades have today made Grover Washington, Jr. a key player in modern jazz and a familiar face on our cultural horizon. With just the mention of his first name or a note from his saxophone, audiences worldwide respond.

Grover's saxophone can be heard playing the national anthem at a Philadelphia 76'ers' game (revealing his lifelong passion for basketball); performing at Penn's Landing in Philadelphia for July 4th (with one million listeners in attendance) or at the Blue Note jazz club in New York (playing to sold-out rooms). His musical prominence recently took him to the White House for President Clinton's Inauguration (where he first met--and impressed Hank Jones).
*****

Reflecting on all that, Grover says, "I'm thankful for the people who inspired me over the years: Dexter Gordon, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Stanley Turrentine, Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Rollins, Oliver Nelson. I would like to believe that some of the reason I've been around so long is that I don't do the same thing over and over--I like to grow, to keep adding another thread to my musical tapestry," he adds. "I'm just staying true to the things that got me to play in the first place."

All My Tomorrows is true to the inspirations in its lyrical approach, its respect for a classic song, and its depth of expression. It is an intimate, personal work worth returning to again and again. Perhaps producer Todd Barkan puts it best, with a quote he and Grover heard many times from Dexter Gordon on the bandstand: "Ladies and gentlemen, I hope we give you something to put under your pillows."

For some twenty-five years, Grover Washington, Jr., who died in December 1999, was among the most beloved instrumentalists in popular music. He maintained the middle ground between jazz and rhythm-and-blues with great style and grace. Ever since Washington stepped into the national spotlight in 1971 with his reading of Marvin Gaye’s Inner City Blues, the saxophonist was in the vanguard of popular sound. He joined Sony Classical with a collection of opera arias (SK 61864), which was recorded in May 1999 and released in early 2000.

''I don’t think in terms of categories", said Washington. "My main motive is to move on. My job is to explore and express music of the heart. I want to venture forward. I want to stay in the mood of my moment."

Washington made his reputation with a series of recordings made in the 70s. He began to play sessions with the likes of Bob James, Randy Weston, Eric Gale and Dave Grusin, and in 1980 his album The Winelight won two GRAMMY Awards, vaulting him to the forefront of jazz fusion. In the early 80s, Washington played a major role in establishing the Philadelphia group Pieces of a Dream, producing three albums with them. Throughout the decade he continued to put out solo albums that, along with his work as composer and producer, reinforced his position as a key player in modern jazz.

Washington also gave a number of special live performances: he played the national anthem at a Philadelphia 76ers’ game (he had a lifelong passion for basketball), performed at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia for July 4th (with one million listeners in attendance) and played at the Blue Note jazz club in New York (in sold-out rooms). He also played at the White House for President Clinton’s Inauguration and for the President’s 50th birthday celebration at Radio City Music Hall.

Washington's love of music began as a child growing up in Buffalo, New York. His mother, a church chorister, and father, a collector of jazz 78s and an amateur C-melody saxophonist, bought him a saxophone at age ten.

"After I started playing", Grover said, "I’d sneak into clubs to watch guys like Jack McDuff, Harold Vick and Charles Lloyd. My professional life began at age twelve. I played a lot of R&B, blues, and what we used to call 'gut-bucker'." Grover left Buffalo to play in the Midwest with a group called the Four Clefs. Soon afterward, he was drafted into the Army, where he met Drummer Billy Cobham, who introduced him to several prominent New York musicians. The saxophonist soon began freelancing in New York and Philadelphia.

Stevie Wonder

2006-03-13T16:00:00.000-08:00

"Stevie Wonder’s place in history will surely reflect his enormous accomplishments in the music industry: his more than 30 records that have sold more than 70 million copies, his smash hits that place him in the company of only the Beatles and Elvis Presley on the list of the most top-ten records, his 17 Grammy Awards, and his Oscar.

But this ability to sing, write, perform, and speak are simply his tools. The measure of Stevie Wonder’s greatness is not that he possesses these tools. What makes him so extraordinary, so inspiring, so king-like, is the way in which he has chosen to utilize his talents.

Stevie Wonder has used his enormous gifts to help us move toward the promised land. He was a valiant warrior against South African Apartheid, perhaps the greatest example in our lifetime about the power of dreams and moral fortitude. He has used his gifts to work passionately against world hunger, against nuclear proliferation, and toward racial harmony. And of great significance today, it was Stevie Wonder who energized the campaign that led Congress to create a national holiday in honor of Dr. King and his life’s work."

Excerpted from the introduction made by Lawrence Marshall, Professor of Law, Northwestern University Law School. Stevie Wonder delivered the keynote address for the Martin Luther King Day Celebration at Northwestern's Law School on January 20, 2003.

Stevie Wonder was born Steveland Hardaway Judkins on May 13, 1950, in Saginaw, Michigan. He prefers to be known as Steveland Morris after his mother's married name.

What makes Stevie Wonder unique compared to other musicians is that he is blind. It is said that immediately after his birth when he was placed in an incubator, and given too much oxygen, which, in combination with his affliction with Retinopathy of Pre-maturity (R.O.P.), blinded him for life.

Born premature, blood vessels in the back of the eye had not reached the front of the eye, temporarily halted, then branched out wildly into the Vitreous of the eye. The end result caused scar tissue to pull at the retina eventually causing the retina to detach.

He learned at a young age that he had a talent for music. Despite his blindness, he began to learn the piano at the age of seven, and by the time he was nine, he had mastered the drums and harmonica.

He taught himself how to play through a Braille book because his family couldn't afford an instructor. After his family moved to Detroit in 1954, Steveland joined a church choir, the gospel leanings on his music balanced by the R & B of Ray Charles and Sam Cooke.

In 1961, he was discovered by Ronnie White of the Miracles, who arranged an audition at Motown Records. Berry Gordy immediately signed Steveland to the label. Stevie was an instant superstar and his first album went platinum. His blend of blues, African and reggae vibes was unprecedented and he attracted millions of fans. His manager said that when Stevie received word that his opening album went platinum, he fainted. He was so motivated to provide entertainment for people that he incorporated two new instruments into his act, the drums and the harmonica.

Clarence Paul came up with the 'Wonder' surname stating that 'We can't keep introducing him as the '8th Wonder Of The World'. Wonder was placed in the care of writer / producer Clarence Paul, who supervised his early recordings. These helped him develop his talents as a multi-instrumentalist, but did not indicate a clear musical direction.

In 1963, the release of the live recording 'Fingertips' established his commercial success, and Motown quickly marketed him on a series of albums as 'the 12-year-old genius' in an attempt to link him with the popularity of 'the late genius', Ray Charles.

Attempts to repeat the success of 'Fingertips' proved difficult, and Wonder's career was placed on hold during 1964 while his voice was breaking.

He re-emerged in 1965 with a sound that was much closer to the Motown mainstream, achieving a worldwide hit with 'Uptight (Everything's Alright)', which he co-wrote with Henry 'Hank' Cosby and Sylvia Moy. This began a run of U.S. Top 40 hits that continued unbroken (apart from seasonal Christmas releases) for over six years.

From 1965-70, Stevie Wonder was marketed like the other major Motown stars, recording material that was chosen for him by the label's executives, and issuing albums that mixed conventional soul compositions with pop standards.

Stevie also recorded his versions of Bob Dylan's 'Blowin ln The Wind' and Ron Miller's 'A Place In The Sun' in 1966.

He co-wrote almost all of his singles from 1967 onwards, and also began to collaborate on releases by other Motown artists, most notably co-writing Smokey Robinson And The Miracles' hit 'The Tears Of A Clown', and writing and producing the (Motown) Spinners' 'It's A Shame'.

During this time, Stevie helped with the Civil Rights Movement. He was good friends and a huge supporter of Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1980, he performed the song, "Happy Birthday," for the first time on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. He was honored at the services by the president.

His contract with Motown expired in 1971, rather than re-signing immediately, as the label expected, Wonder financed the recording of two albums of his own material, playing almost all the instruments himself, and experimenting for the first time with more ambitious musical forms.

He pioneered the use of the synthesizer in Black Music, and also broadened his lyrical concerns to encompass racial problems and spiritual questions.

Wonder then used these recordings as a lever to persuade Motown to offer a more open contract, which gave him total artistic control over his music, plus the opportunity to hold the rights to the music publishing with his own company, Black Bull Music.

The signing of the contract with the release of the solo recordings 'Where I'm Coming' From and 'Music Of My Mind', which, despite lukewarm critical reaction, quickly established him at the forefront of black music.

'Talking Book', in 1972, combined the technological advances of recent albums with major commercial success, producing hit singles from the driving 'Superstition', to the ballad standard 'You Are The Sunshine Of My Life'.

Wonder married fellow Motown artist Syreeta on 14th September 1970; he premiered many of his new production techniques on 'Syreeta' (1972) and 'Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta' (1974), for which he also wrote most of the material.

'Innervisions' (1973) consolidated the growth and success of 'Talking Book', bringing further hit singles with the socially aware 'Living For The City' and 'Higher Ground'.

Later that year, Stevie was seriously injured in a car accident.

The release of 'Fulfillingness First Finale' in 1974 epitomized a more thoughtful approach.

The double album 'Songs In The Key Of Life', in 1976, was widely greeted as his most ambitious and satisfying work to date.

It demonstrated a mastery and variety of musical forms and instruments, offering a tribute to Duke Ellington on 'Sir Duke', and paying tribute to major black figures on 'Black Man'.

Surprisingly, after this enormous success, no new recordings surfaced for over three years, as Wonder concentrated on perfecting the soundtrack music to the documentary film 'The Secret Life Of Plants'.

This primarily instrumental double album was greeted with disappointing reviews and sales.

Stevie quickly delivered the highly successful, 'Hotter Than July' in 1980, which included a tribute song to the late Dr. Martin Luther King, 'Happy Birthday', and 'All I Do'.

After compiling the retrospective double album 'Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium' in 1982, which included four new recordings (including 'Do I Do' and 'Ribbon In The Sky') alongside the cream of his post-1971 work, Stevie scheduled an album entitled 'People Move Human Play' in 1983.

This never appeared, instead, he composed the soundtrack music for the film 'The Woman In Red', which oddly included his biggest-selling single to date, the sugary ballad, 'I Just Called To Say I Loved You'.

The album on which he had been working since 1980 eventually appeared in 1985 as 'In Square Circle'.

His status as an elder statesman of bIack music, and as a champion of black rights, was boosted by his campaign in the early 80's to have the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King celebrated as a national holiday in the U.S.A.

This request was granted by the late President Reagan, and the first Martin Luther King Day was celebrated on 15th January 1986 with a concert at which Wonder topped the bill.

Like his next project, 'Characters', in 1987, the album represented a return to the accessible, melodic music of the previous decade.

Stevie was then inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1989.

Stevie has been generous in offering his services as a writer, producer, singer and musician to other performers.

His most public collaborations included work with Paul McCartney, which produced the hit, 'Ebony And Ivory', Gary Byrd, Michael Jackson and the Eurythmics, and on the benefit records by U.S.A. For Africa and Dionne Warwick & Friends.

'Conversation Peace' in 1995 was an album with good songs and had some success.

On the 3rd of December 1999 a story appeared from Reuters which read:

'American pop superstar Stevie Wonder told fellow worshippers at a church service in Detroit December 2 that he is to undergo an operation that would enable him to see again. Wonder hopes to have the operation, which involves the insertion of a microchip in his eye, at Baltimore's John Hopkins University's Wilmer Eye Institute.'

His songs can be heard on Spike Lee's movie 'Bamboozled, entitled 'Misrepresented People' and 'Some Years Ago' and represented a return to Stevie's political comment.

Stevie Wonder re-married, in 2001, to a woman named Karen.

After the September 11th disaster that year, he recorded with the group Take 6 on a version of 'Love's In Need Of Love Today', dedicated to those who passed away that day.

Stevie returned to recording in 2005 with the album 'A Time 2 Love'. A single entitled 'So What The Fuss' was released prior to the album. He also appeared at the Live 8 U.S. concert in 2005, where he paid his respect to the late Luther Vandross whose funeral he performed at.

Prince

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Few artists have created a body of work as rich and varied as Prince. During the '80s, he emerged as one of the most singular talents of the rock & roll era, capable of seamlessly tying together pop, funk, folk, and rock. Not only did he release a series of groundbreaking albums, he toured frequently, produced albums and wrote songs for many other artists, and recorded hundreds of songs that still lie unreleased in his vaults. With each album he has released, Prince has shown remarkable stylistic growth and musical diversity, constantly experimenting with different sounds, textures, and genres. Occasionally, his music can be maddeningly inconsistent because of this eclecticism, but his experiments frequently succeed; no other contemporary artist can blend so many diverse styles into a cohesive whole.

Prince's first two albums were solid, if unremarkable, late-'70s funk-pop. With 1980's Dirty Mind, he recorded his first masterpiece, a one-man tour de force of sex and music; it was hard funk, catchy Beatlesque melodies, sweet soul ballads, and rocking guitar pop, all at once. The follow-up, Controversy, was more of the same, but 1999 was brilliant. The album was a monster hit, selling over three million copies, but it was nothing compared to 1984's Purple Rain.

Purple Rain made Prince a superstar; it eventually sold over ten million copies in the U.S. and spent 24 weeks at number one. Partially recorded with his touring band the Revolution, the record featured the most pop-oriented music he has ever made. Instead of continuing in this accessible direction, he veered off into the bizarre psycho-psychedelia of Around the World in a Day (1985), which nevertheless sold over two million copies. In 1986, he released the even stranger Parade, which was in its own way was as ambitious and intricate as any art rock of the '60s; however, no art rock was ever grounded with a hit as brilliant as the spare funk of "Kiss."

By 1987, Prince's ambitions were growing by leaps and bounds, resulting in the sprawling masterpiece Sign o' the Times. Prince was set to release the hard funk of The Black Album by the end of the year, yet he withdrew it just before its release, deciding it was too dark and immoral. Instead, he released the confused Lovesexy in 1988, which was a commercial disaster. With the soundtrack to 1989's Batman he returned to the top of the charts, even if the album was essentially a recap of everything he had done before. The following year he released Graffiti Bridge, the sequel to Purple Rain, which turned out to be a considerable commercial disappointment.

In 1991, Prince formed the New Power Generation, the best and most versatile and talented band he has ever assembled. With their first album, Diamonds and Pearls, Prince reasserted his mastery of contemporary R&B; it was his biggest hit since 1985. The following year, he released his 12th album, which was titled with a cryptic symbol; in 1993, Prince legally changed his name to the symbol. In 1994, after becoming embroiled in contract disagreements with Warner Bros., he independently released the single "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," likely to illustrate what he would be capable of on his own; the song became his biggest hit in years. Later that summer, Warner released the somewhat halfhearted Come under the name of Prince; the record was a moderate success, going gold.

In November 1994, as part of a contractual obligation, Prince agreed to the official release of The Black Album. In early 1995, he immersed himself in another legal battle with Warner, proclaiming himself a slave and refusing to deliver his new record, The Gold Experience, for release. By the end of the summer, a fed-up Warner had negotiated a compromise which guaranteed the album's release, plus one final record for the label. The Gold Experience was issued in the fall; although it received good reviews and was following a smash single, it failed to catch fire commercially. In the summer of 1996, Prince released Chaos & Disorder, which freed him to become an independent artist. Setting up his own label, NPG (which was distributed by EMI), he resurfaced later that same year with the three-disc Emancipation, which was designed as a magnum opus that would spin off singles for several years and be supported with several tours. However, even his devoted cult following needed considerable time to digest such an enormous compilation of songs. Once it was clear that Emancipation wasn't the commercial blockbuster he hoped it would be, Prince assembled a long-awaited collection of outtakes and unreleased material called Crystal Ball in 1998. With Crystal Ball, Prince discovered that it's much more difficult to get records to an audience than it seems; some fans who pre-ordered their copies through Prince's website (from which a bonus fifth disc was included) didn't receive them until months after the set began appearing in stores. Prince then released a new one-man album, New Power Soul, just three months after Crystal Ball; even though it was his most straightforward album since Diamonds and Pearls, it didn't do well on the charts, partly because many listeners didn't realize it had been released.

A year later, with "1999" predictably an end-of-the-millennium anthem, Prince issued the remix collection 1999 (The New Master). A collection of Warner Bros.-era leftovers, Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale, followed that summer, and in the fall Prince returned on Arista with the all-star Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic.

In the Fall of 2001 he released the controversial Rainbow Children, a jazz-infused circus of sound trumpeting his conversion to the Jehovah's Witnesses that left many long time fans out in the cold. He further isolated himself with 2003's N.E.W.S., a four-song set of instrumental jams that sounded a lot more fun to play than to listen to. Prince re-bounded in 2003 with the chart-topping Musicology, a return to form that found the artist back in the top ten, even garnering a Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 2005. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Earth Wind & Fire

2006-03-13T10:25:00.000-08:00

From:
I'LL WRITE A SONG FOR YOU: THE MUSIC OF EARTH WIND & FIRE
By Chuck Miller

Originally published in Goldmine, January 1998

On a famous episode of Seinfeld, Elaine dances (in the kindest definition of the word) to their hit "Shining Star." You might have seen them on an episode of "Grace Under Fire" (Grace and Nadine drive all night to their concert, miss the performance, but sing "Let's Groove" with the band in a local bar). Mariah Carey and Crystal Waters have borrowed their carefully orchestrated rhythm tracks for Top 40 hits, while songs like "That's The Way Of The World" and "September" have been remade by everyone from Herb Alpert to John Tesh.

The music of Earth Wind & Fire can not be easily categorized, although many in the entertainment industry tried. They brought jazz, bebop and fusion to pop audiences; they brought progressive rock to R&B fans. They didn't need a 70's Preservation Society for their music - their classic hits have stood the test of time, every song polished and performed on an endless highway of college concerts and faith. The Grammys, the gold and platinum records, the American Music Awards - all were a by-product of Earth Wind & Fire's popularity, but the music and the message remain the key to this day.

Even as they approach their third decade of musical expertise, Earth Wind & Fire's origins can be traced back through the roots of Chicago blues and soul, through the jazz and fusion excursions, back to the beginnings of music itself.

What we know as Earth Wind & Fire today has to start with its creator and producer, Maurice White. Born in Memphis in 1941, White moved to Chicago as a teenager and found work as a session drummer for Chess Records (the story has it that Leonard Chess asked Maurice to bring a few friends over for a recording session; Maurice showed up with his entire college band). By 1967, he was the new drummer in the famed Ramsey Lewis Trio, replacing Red Holt. During the two years White performed and toured with the Trio, Ramsey Lewis showed him a Kalimba, an African thumb piano. That instrument and its unique sound became the focal point of White's musical dream.

In 1969, Maurice left the Ramsey Lewis Trio, and joined two friends in Chicago, Wade Flemons and Don Whitehead, as a songwriting team. "We started a group out of just writing songs and commercials around Chicago," said Maurice. "We were writing a lot of songs, so we decided to form a recording group. We had a recording contract with Capitol, and called ourselves the 'Salty Peppers,' and had a marginal hit in the Midwestern area called 'La La Time.' (Capitol 2433). It was only released in the Midwest, and it did fairly well for an unknown band."

The Salty Peppers' second single, "Uh Huh Yeah" (Capitol 2568) didn't fare as well, and Maurice decided it was time for a change of location - and a change in the band's name. "We never made any appearances or anything like that as the Salty Peppers," said Maurice. "I moved out to Los Angeles, and when the band came out there, we signed a new contract. Before that, I renamed the group after my astrology chart of Sagittarius. I was into astrology pretty heavy, and there were three elements in my astrological charts - earth, air and fire, and I changed air to wind."

Verdine White, Maurice's younger brother, joined the band in 1970 as their new bassist. "We grew up in Chicago, there was a lot of music on the radio at the time - a lot of Motown and jazz, both on the radio and at the Regal Theatre, where we went a lot. My father is a doctor, so he played a lot of jazz music in his office. Maurice had this idea of putting together a band like that - that could encompass all the different kinds of musicality we were exposed to. The group was pretty much in existence, and he asked me to come out, and I came out in June 1970. And the first couple of years were really those testing years of cutting records."

Earth Wind & Fire spent three years on Warner Bros., recording two studio albums and the soundtrack for Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, a box-office smash that paved the way for black-themed films throughout the 1970's. "We had done this Sweet Sweetback soundtrack," said Verdine White. "which was actually the first black soundtrack. Maurice knew Melvin Van Peebles really well, and Melvin was putting together this wayout film that was going to be real different and real revolutionary. We recorded that soundtrack over two days at Paramount Recording Studios on Santa Monica Boulevard."

At that time, Earth Wind & Fire were still finding their identity. They even signed some female vocalists - Sherry Scott (who sang on "I Think About Loving You"), who was later replaced by Jessica Cleaves. In 1971, while Earth Wind & Fire played a gig in Denver, Maurice heard about a singer with a local band - a singer with a range that could rumble the seats with his baritone, yet harmonize with the angels on every high note.

That singer, Philip Bailey, remembers that night. "Our band, 'Friends and Love,' was actually doing some of the Earth Wind & Fire songs, and we opened the show for Earth Wind & Fire when they came to Denver to play a promotional tour. We had been familiar with their music through a mutual friend of ours, Perry Jones, who later became a promotional man for Warner Bros. I moved out to Los Angeles when they began to reform their band, Maurice asked me to be in the group. I think that Maurice liked the fact that I had a very identifiable sound in terms of my range, and the timbre of my voice. Maurice and I began to do all the vocals on all the records after "Head To The Sky," and we really developed a sound together, which became the trademark "sound" of Earth, Wind & Fire. My melodic sensibility was something that was added, and Maurice had the experience of being a songwriter and producer, and was my mentor and teacher for many years."

But Warner Bros. didn't know how to promote this new combo - the only other funk band on their label was Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band. And after eighteen months, Maurice disassembled his band and formed a new Earth Wind & Fire from its ashes.

"College kids were hip to us far beyond the acknowledgment of the record industry," said Maurice. "We were on tour, we normally did a lot of college touring, and we had a manager who actually booked John Sebastian into New York City. And so what happened as a result of us opening for John Sebastian, Clive Davis was in the audience. And he saw us for the first time, and he came over and talked to us about joining CBS."

It would be a perfect match. CBS had successfully promoted another progressive rock/soul band, Sly & The Family Stone. They backed and distributed the Philadelphia International label, home of the Gamble & Huff songwriting and producing team. "We were in the middle of cutting what we thought was our third album for Warners," said Verdine White, "and Clive bought our contract from them. Clive has great insight. He put us in the right places. He gave us proper marketing, he took the time necessary to break a group like this. A group like this wouldn't be broken overnight. With us, we wanted to play concerts, we didn't want to play two sets a night, three sets a night, we wanted to do concerts which showed off our musicality."

Between 1971 and 1975, Earth Wind & Fire played the colleges, the universities, the clubs and the performance halls, and every night they would use jazz and fusion progressions to keep their songs fresh and their chops sharp. "Our whole vision," said Philip Bailey, "was creativity within a form. It was derived from the greats before us, Miles Davis and John Coltrane and all the great singers. We really were lovers of jazz and fusion. We were jazz musicians at heart playing popular music. We would take every opportunity we could, whether it meant adding a bebop horn lick or progressive chord changes to our songs. We made fusion and jazz a commercial entity."

In May 1974, "Mighty Mighty" (Columbia 46007) became Earth Wind & Fire's first hit on the pop charts, peaking at #29. "'Mighty Mighty' wasn't a big Top 40 hit," said Verdine, "because at the time Top 40 radio was scared of 'Mighty Mighty,' because they thought it was a song about Black Power." But it was a start. While "Mighty Mighty" was on the charts, Earth Wind & Fire worked with Sig Shore, the mastermind behind the motion picture Superfly, on a new film about the dark side of the recording industry. That's The Way Of The World starred Earth Wind & Fire as "The Group," a new recording act. In the film, Harvey Keitel hears "The Group" performing, and produces their first album. The film's title is repeated throughout the film as a shrug of the shoulders to the music world.

Earth Wind & Fire performed the songs in the film, and Maurice had a small speaking part as leader of "The Group." "We actually recorded one of the songs, 'Happy Feelin',' at a roller skating rink during the movie," said Philip Bailey. "We had a truck outside, we actually recorded it then, we went to the studio and tried to do it over, but the feel that we had in the roller rink was the one. So we just used that one."

"Our performance in That's The Way Of The World was us running into a van and the van driving off," said Verdine White. "There was some concert footage in the end, that was it. When we saw the film, we said this is going to be a major flop, we need to get our record out before the film comes. The music was so different, and we didn't want the film to hurt the music."

The strategy paid off. The music Earth Wind & Fire recorded during that time period - later released as the album "That's The Way Of The World" (Columbia 33280) broke through to new audiences. And when songs from the motion picture were repackaged into Earth Wind & Fire's 2-album set Gratitude (Columbia 33694), the group reached the top. Five songs from that album blasted onto pop and soul radios around the country - the tender ballad "Reasons," the inventive "Sing A Song," the sultry "Can't Hide Love," the title track from their film "That's The Way Of The World," and their first #1 hit, "Shining Star." As for the film, it bombed upon release, was re-released under the name Shining Star, and flopped again. "It was incredible, the most incredible feeling," said Maurice White. "Our song, 'Shining Star,' was the #1 song in the country. That was our dream come true, it was unbelievable."

Many of those early hits came from the long years of touring and soundchecks, the improvisation every night that generated a new guitar lick, the musical dexterity born from inspiration and dedication. Even their second song to reach the pop Top 10, "Sing A Song" (Columbia 10251), found its genesis in a soundcheck. "The creative process took place in the studio," said Maurice, "and it continued to the stage. When we were preparing for a gig, we would make up songs, and a lot of songs later became album tracks. That's how "Sing A Song" was discovered. We were on stage, just having a sound check. In the studio, there was a process too. I had so many years in the recording studio as a producer, it was very easy for me to capture a song."

Other tracks, like the complex hit "Getaway" (Columbia 10373), came from outside the group. Verdine White remembers when he heard "Getaway" for the first time. "I originally heard it from a guy named Chuck, who was producing this flute player named Bobbie Humphries. And I heard this song, and I said to him, 'That would be a great song for us.' He wanted to produce it for us, but that wasn't about to happen. So we got the tune, took it into the studio and cut it. It was a smash, too - it was totally different, it was like Yes with a little funk under the bottom. It had uptempo and breaks, and a lot of upbeats in it."

"'Getaway' was written by Beloyd Taylor and Peter Carr," said Philip Bailey. "It was really bebop, like if you sang the lick at the top. But Maurice had a real uncanny thing for just locking up those rhythms. Al McKay was just the rhythm master, it was a hook that just caught. It was like a train, all the engines were moving and running, everything was in sync. It had a repeating hook, the music and the rhythm that became very catchy. But 'Getaway' was still very, very out there. And I think only Earth Wind & Fire could have done that kind of thing right there."

Even as Earth Wind & Fire's music blended into the pop mainstream, Maurice White found time to produce other artists and groups. Ramsey Lewis asked him to produce an album, and the Lewis-EWF collaboration Sun Goddess (Columbia 33194) is still a jazz staple. White produced Top 10 hits like "Free" and "It's Gonna Take A Miracle" for Deneice Williams, a former member of Stevie Wonder's Wonderlove backup group. Another track Maurice produced, the Emotions' "Best Of My Love" (Columbia 10544), went to #1 on both the pop and R&B charts. "We were cutting rhythm section records," said Verdine. "Maurice would produce the records, him and Charles Stepney at the time, and we'd play on them and then Ramsey would play on them, or maybe Deneice Williams or the Emotions would sing on them. Our schedule was such at the time that if we were in the studio for three weeks, we would be cutting tracks - and those tracks might be for one act or another. It was one continuing musical flow."

These additional artists became part of one of the largest touring packages of the 70's. The Emotions, Deneice Williams and Ramsey Lewis would be the opening acts. A group that Verdine White produced, Pockets, also toured in the group. Then Earth Wind & Fire took the stage. Their concerts were loaded with pyrotechnics, magic, laser lights, flying pyramids and levitating guitarists, all supported by a solid musical performance every night. Magician Doug Henning directed many of their tours throughout the 1970's, and the band - including Larry Dunn (keyboards), Al McKay (guitar, sitar), Fred White (drums) and Andrew Woolfolk (sax, flute) would leviate, teleport, explode on stage - all for their audience's entertainment. "We started the massive tour around 1975," said Verdine. "We thought that for the high ticket prices at the time, the public should see something they had never seen before. Most concerts were just concerts, and we thought it was time that people would see something they never saw before."

"What I started to do," said Maurice White, "was put on the tour some of the acts that I was also producing at the time, the Emotions, and also Deneice Williams. Sometimes we would use Ramsey Lewis too, so everybody on the tour were from albums I was producing. It was like the moving circus comes to town. We had ten semis carrying equipment and instruments, and we had our own plane. But the music came first. First we were musicians, and we were very serious musicians rather than just there for the hits. Our first love was music. We were just a band. Which just happened to have a couple of hits."

Maurice also incorporated the Kalimba and its sound into Earth Wind & Fire's vision of world-wide and world-inspired music, even naming their production company Kalimba Productions. "During that period of time, I always studied metaphysics and Egyptology. It got so interesting, what I was trying to do was share with the audience what we were learning at the time. As we learned more, we went about trying to share it with the audience, bring a message to the music."

And Maurice's studies appeared not only in the music, but also on the Shusei Nagaoka-designed album covers. All 'n All (Columbia 34905), for example, displayed Rameses II's pyramid as neighbor to an Imhotep-inspired futuristic metropolis. Raise! (ARC/Columbia 37548) showed an Egyptian statue with a mechanical exoskeleton. Ankhs, crosses, statues of Shiva and Buddha and William Shakespeare - all were incorporated into the intricate album artwork of Earth Wind & Fire covers.

"Maurice always studied astrology, numerology, astronomy," said Verdine. "We introduced Trancendental Meditation to a lot of the black audience. That was very new for them. Of course, the Beatles had brought TM to the people in the 1960's, but we brought it into the 70's to an audience that was looking for something alternative. I even met the Maharishi in 1970. When you really look at the three cornerstones of religion - Judaism, Christianity, Islam - and all of the world's religions, they all bear witness to each other."

In 1978, Earth Wind & Fire appeared in another motion picture, the Beatles movie tribute Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. In the film, the band played themselves, performing "Got To Get You Into My Life" at a concert hall. The film itself was a commercial bomb (Peter Frampton recalls his experiences with the Sgt. Pepper movie in Goldmine #447), and although the soundtrack shipped triple platinum, it allegedly was returned triple platinum. Yet despite musical performances on the soundtrack from Aerosmith, Peter Frampton, the Bee Gees and Alice Cooper, Earth Wind & Fire's remake of the Beatles classic was the highest charting pop single from the soundtrack. "Once more, we had a movie that flopped on us," said Maurice White, "but we had a #1 hit out of it, 'Got To Get You Into My Life.' We actually recorded our parts on the set."

"Robert Stigwood called us and asked if we wanted to be in a movie," said Verdine. "We said okay, it could be interesting. At that particular time, you didn't see a lot of musical blacks in movies - there was The Wiz, but that was a horrible movie. We had three songs to choose from - 'Got To Get You Into My Life' and two ballads. We just did the song Chicago-style. Some people thought George Martin produced the song, but Maurice produced it."

"I remember that day, it was cold as heck," said Philip Bailey, "and it was an all-day, all-night kind of thing. That was one that really catapulted us into a whole new arena. That was an exciting move, because the Beatles - that's legendary, and the magnitude - we were honored to be asked on that, really. That was a good experience for us. We recorded the song in Colorado, in a little studio up in Boulder. We rehearsed the horns for that song in Denver, went up to Boulder in the snow, and recorded the whole song in one night."

The success of "Got To Get You Into My Life" drew more fans to Earth Wind & Fire's music, and the group responded with excursions into ice-melting ballads ("I'll Write A Song For You," "After The Love Has Gone"), booty-shaking disco ("Boogie Wonderland", "Let's Groove") and more metaphysics ("Fantasy," "Jupiter"). "We started to expand a little bit," said Verdine, "and started writing better songs. "Boogie Wonderland" really was capturing the tail end of the disco era. We didn't think of it as disco, we thought of it as a song with a 4/4 beat. Clubs always had that kind of music, they just called it disco - the industry always has to call it something."

"As an artist," said Philip Bailey, "I'm just blessed that songs like that came our way. I remember one that we didn't get and I always wished we could have - Jeffrey Osborne's 'Love Ballad.' He had a great hit with that one."

Maurice loaned Earth Wind & Fire's signature Phœnix Horns - Don Myrick on saxophone, Louis Satterfield on trombone, Rahmlee Davis and Michael Harris on trumpets - to his other production projects, the Emotions, Ramsey Lewis and Deniece Williams. Then, on a tour of Europe, somebody else took interest in the famed horn section. "We used to tour so much," said Maurice, "we used to tour Europe. Phil Collins had an opportunity to see us. He would recruit our horn section whenever we weren't using it."

Sure enough, Collins imported the Phœnix Horns into Genesis tracks like "No Reply At All" and "Paperlate," and on his solo hits like "I Missed Again," "Sussudio" and "I Cannot Believe It's True." "I sometimes had to call and make an appointment to see my own horn section," said Maurice. "They even toured with Genesis and Phil Collins for a while."

In 1983, Earth Wind & Fire released the "Electric Universe" album. It was also their last release for four years. "The whole scene was changing," said Verdine. "There was an explosion of video artists. At that time, MTV wasn't playing black artists - the only black artists they played at that time were Michael Jackson, Lionel Ritchie and Prince. There was BET to play black videos, but they didn't have the same money behind MTV. It hurt a lot of those groups, because the audience didn't know who those groups were, and they only knew about groups that had the visibility. Rick James was the first black artist to really bitch about MTV, and he was right at the time. They were playing acts that hadn't had hit records, and he had hits at the time."

"I put the group on hiatus in 1983," said Maurice, "because I just wanted to rest from touring. I had been touring for 10 years, and it was time for me to take a rest. The only things I ever saw was the road or the studio, that was my whole life for ten years. So I left the band for a while. We kind of put everything on hold, and in the process of doing that, I cut a solo record. The two hits from that album was 'Stand By Me' and another song called 'I Need You.'"

"I think that was the best thing that ever happened to us," said Verdine, "because it was time to shut down. We had made enough records to define our careers - I tried to convince Maurice to shut down after the Raise! record in 1981, because I felt we needed a break, just to live. We had slammed pretty hard for 13 years. I think people should stop, particularly in creative endeavors, to catch up and see where you are. And times were starting to change, too. We were having our own interest in things we wanted to do."

During the hiatus, Philip Bailey released a solo album, "Chinese Wall." While it was not his first solo album (Bailey recorded a series of gospel LP's for the Myrrh and Word labels), it was his most successful. The first single from that album, a duet with Phil Collins called "Easy Lover" (Columbia 04679) went gold, and the music video of Bailey and Collins rehearsing their collaboration hit #1 on MTV's video playlist. "I really didn't know that much about Phil's music until the Phœnix Horns introduced us and I went to a concert of his. It wasn't a stargazing thing - when we got together, it was mutual admiration for each other's musicianship. It definitely was a boost for me - not only domestically, but also internationally. Still, to this day, I can do that song and people will know it. Phil Collins is one of the most down to earth famous people that we ever worked with."

Meanwhile, during the hiatus, Verdine White worked behind the scenes, writing and directing videos. He produced a Level 42 album, and promoted go-go bands like Trouble Funk and E.U. "When you are known for one entity, people think that's the only thing you know. But music is music."

"Contrary to popular belief," said Verdine, "we didn't have pop radio in our pocket. For Earth Wind & Fire, we had to continue to have an R&B smash in order to even raise the eyebrows of pop radio. We never really knew if the mainstream market would like our record or not - and in some instances, maybe if the song had been played, it might have been a hit. We were always judged by what happened on R&B radio first. Even after having the countless chart hits that we did, it was still - when a record came out, it had to go R&B first, in opposed to just getting played on the radio. When you listen to 'After The Love Is Gone,' and if you listen to Earth Wind & Fire's catalog, I'm sure there was at least one song in the bunch that pop radio - if they had known about it, would have been a hit. We were always walking that fine line - was the song too R&B, or too pop? Of course, this is all hindsight. These were not things that we focused on or complained about - we were making music, and that was what we did."

In 1987, CBS Records spoke to Philip Bailey and Maurice White separately, convincing both that a reunion of Earth Wind & Fire would be beneficial for all parties. "We began to realize the real appreciation that people had for the band and what we had done. We saw that the whole Earth Wind & Fire was bigger than its parts. It made sense to continue with what we had started. So we said, let's do it album by album, one disc at a time. We knew that we couldn't go back to the old band and start over again, because it would have been a mess. I'm very glad that we were pretty mature about us understanding that - or our reunion would have lasted less than nine weeks."

Thanks to an ingenious young songwriter, the group had a comeback hit. "Philip and I was in San Francisco," said Maurice. "Going to the studio one day, we went out to the car and there was a cassette tape attached to the door handle. We got the tape and put it in the car stereo, and played it. It was 'System of Survival.' This guy, Skylark, wrote the song, and instead of disturbing us at the hotel, he taped the tape to the door handle of my car. That was a good way to get material to me. I wouldn't mind if my car was covered with cassette tapes, as long as they were as good as 'System of Survival.'"

But by 1990, Earth Wind & Fire's time with Columbia was ending. Their 1989 release Heritage did not sell well, despite cameo appearances on the disc from Sly Stone and MC Hammer. The upper echelon of CBS Records had also changed - while Earth Wind & Fire had achieved success under label presidents Clive Davis and Walter Yetnikoff, there was increasing friction between the band and new label president Tommy Mottola. "Our deal with CBS was with Yetnikoff," said Verdine, "and we had a key man clause - that meant if Yetnikoff left, we left too. Although I liked Tommy, Tommy's a really good guy, we just decided to move on. Mo Ostin at Warner Bros. had wanted us to come where he was. We had re-signed with Columbia in 1982, and Mo wanted us to come to Warner Bros. then, but Walter wouldn't let us out of the contract."

Their exodus from Columbia may have been spurred by a new hit single by their Columbia labelmate, Mariah Carey. In 1991, friends called Maurice White, telling him to listen to a new track on the radio. What Maurice heard was the Earth Wind & Fire's rhythm track for the Emotions' 70's classic "Best Of My Love," but the Emotions' voices were replaced by Mariah Carey - singing entirely different lyrics. And when the disc jockey announced the song's title had been changed to "Emotion," White hit the roof. "I don't mind if someone records a song and gives us credit for writing a tune, that's fine, that's not a problem, that's a compliment. But when somebody just rips you off, steals your song and tries to get away with taking the credit for writing it - we received no writing or publishing credit for that song. Everybody that heard the song knew it was a ripoff of 'Best Of My Love.' How close can you get? It seems to be a trend that's happening now, but I think eventually somebody's going to come along, they're going to put the creativity back into music. It's unfortunate that a lot of fans and a lot of people that received the music get it watered down, and a lot of times they don't know what the original is. That's really too bad."

In 1993, they released their new album under the Warner Bros. contract, Millennium (Reprise 45274-2), earning a Grammy nomination for the track "Sunday Morning." In fact, between 1975 and 1993, Earth Wind & Fire received 14 Grammy nominations, winning six times. "All through the Seventies, we had Grammies and gold records all over the place," said Maurice. "It's a great gesture. The first Grammy we ever won, I couldn't believe it. It was like getting our first number one single. I make sure that everybody in the band gets the gold records, which we have a lot. I could fill up the room I'm in with the gold and platinum records we've won."

But ten of those Grammy nominations were in the "Best R&B Group" or "Best R&B Instrumental" categories. "First of all," said Philip Bailey, "I could never understand that you could have a record with the kind of crossover success that Earth Wind & Fire has had, and continue to be nominated as just an 'R&B Group.' Just once I would have liked to have seen us nominated as 'Best Group,' let us compete with all the other pop and rock bands."

And when Earth Wind & Fire did win the golden gramophones, their acceptance speeches never appeared on the Grammy telecast. "I'm not dissing the Grammy people or anything like that," said Bailey, "but you know, we have seven Grammys - the band has six and I have one for my gospel work - and none of those Grammys were ever received on television. Not one. That was at a time when the Grammys were given to the R&B categories pre-telecast. How many people have seven Grammys - and we never got a chance to make a speech on television. It's kind of crazy when you think about it. I'm not bitter about it or anything, it's just that when you talk about the Grammys - and we're very proud to have them, I have the ones that didn't get broken in the Northridge earthquake - but I don't think we've ever gotten the chance to feel what that really means in the larger sense of the world. Very few people even remember that we have this many Grammys, because they never saw it on television. If you didn't catch that little part where they list all the ancillary awards - seven times - you wouldn't have known about our seven Grammys."

Meanwhile, problems were brewing over at Warner Bros. Mo Ostin, the man who recruited Earth Wind & Fire to Columbia, was himself forced out of the label. "We talked about the record for a year before we cut it," said Verdine. "He let us take our time and let us do what we wanted to do. When we started to record, he financed our upstart costs. The leveraged takeover that cost Mo Ostin his job at Warner Bros., that was one of the biggest mistakes the industry ever made. It slowed the label down, it cost a lot of talent. A lot of artists in the late 80's-middle 90's were the victims of moguls fighting over each other for positions. The moguls weren't fighting over records or movies - they were fighting over who was going to control the gatekeepers of this information. They got Mo out of the way because of the massive catalog that Warner Bros. had. But the only person who knew about Warner Bros. music was Mo."

Although there were many achievements and accomplishments throughout Earth Wind & Fire's existence, there has also been tragedy. Charles Stepney had worked with Maurice since the days of Chess Records, and had produced and arranged albums for the Dells, Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy. In 1976, after helping co-produce and arrange Earth Wind & Fire's Spirit album and Deneice Williams' This is Nicey album, Charles Stepney died of a heart attack. He was only 45.

In the summer of 1993, former Phœnix Horns member Don Myrick, whose saxophone could be heard not only on Earth Wind & Fire's albums, but also on albums from Regina Belle, the Mighty Clouds of Joy, Heaven 17 and Phil Collins (it's Myrick's emotional sax on Collins' hit "One More Night"), was shot to death in Los Angeles, under circumstances that still remain a mystery to this day.

"Don hadn't worked with us in almost ten years," said Philip Bailey, "and so we were on to other things, we had a new Earth Wind & Fire horn section. I was in Los Angeles, and somebody called me and told me what happened. I think that he had some problems that he couldn't resolve in himself - that kept putting him in situations. We were all very shocked and hurt that that had happened. He hadn't worked with the band in quite some time. He did a solo for me on one of my projects, and wasn't really feeling up to doing what I was used to hearing him do. But later I learned that he was back and playing really well and everything, so it was a real shock to us. He had been real sick one time and close to death, we were thinking he was bouncing back. It's still shocking today."

While Earth Wind & Fire continued to record and tour, Maurice White continued to produce. One of his most successful and well-received projects during that time came in 1994, when at the bequest of GRP Records Vice-President Carl Griffin, Maurice teamed up with Ramsey Lewis, Grover Washington, Jr., Victor Bailey and Omar Hakim as the "Urban Knights" (GRP 9815). White produced the sessions, and even wrote six songs for the project. "I was so happy that Carl called me to do the project," said White at the time, "especially with Ramsey being an old friend. The sessions were highly improvisational and a lot of the tunes were written as we went along. Since my original musical roots are in jazz, this was like coming full circle for me and it was a tremendous experience. My idea (of being a producer) is to allow everyone around you to contribute...you don't force them [to do that] but allow them to contribute...." The success of the Urban Knights album prompted White and Lewis to collaborate with guitarist Jonathan Butler, saxophonist Gerald Albright and drummer Sonny Emory on a second album, "Urban Knights II" (GRP 9861).

Maurice White is still Earth Wind & Fire's producer and their guiding light, but he retired from the stage in 1996. He now spends his time building a studio in Los Angeles, fielding offers to produce new bands and performers, and contemplating a less nomadic pace. "I would love to do a completely jazz/acoustic album. Sometime in the future, that's going to be possible. I was on the road for 25 years, that's a long time in itself. I paid my dues. I'm doing a lot of recording now, I stay in the studio so much - so the best thing for me to do is build my own place."

Today, Earth Wind & Fire are back on the road, touring in support of their new album In The Name Of Love (Pyramid/Rhino 72864) and their singles "Revolution" and "When Love Goes Wrong." "The first time around," said Philip Bailey, "it was going by so fast. I'm having more fun now than I ever had in my life. That's not to poo-pooh that time, but in those kind of blitz situations, everything's coming at you so fast and everything's happening around you, until you don't really have time to ever savor the experience and say, wow. It went by so fast, and there so much stuff going on - it was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

"I'm proud of the staying power," said Verdine White, "the music was always strong and we're still here. Every time we go to the concert, there's always somebody of notoriety there from today's era - Wesley Snipes was at one of our concerts, Queen Latifah was at our concert, I ran into somebody from the Martin show the other night. They get excited, and they're proud, too. We go to the airports, people still get excited when they see us. They tell us about the songs that affected their lives."

And as Earth Wind & Fire perform their blend of jazz, funk, fusion, gospel, rock and pop to a new generation of fans, perhaps we can get a glimpse of their future. In the motion picture The Fifth Element, the film mentions that the first four primary elements were earth, wind, fire and water. Not air - wind.

The rest of the film was spent searching for that elusive fifth element. Maurice White found it long ago when Ramsey Lewis told him about the kalimba.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
This article was written in conjunction with interviews with Maurice White, Phillip Bailey and Verdine White during the summer of 1997. The assistance of Earth Wind & Fire's production team, along with promotion man Rick Scott and GST Productions, is greatly appreciated.

From Wikipedia

Earth, Wind & Fire is an American funk band, formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1969. Led by Maurice White, they are best known for their hits of the 1970s, among them "After the Love Has Gone", "September", "Reasons", and "Shining Star".

Early years

Bandleader Maurice White began his recording career as a session drummer, working for Chess Records. After spending time as a member of the Ramsey Lewis Trio, he formed a band called The Salty Peppers and signed to Capitol Records, releasing a regionally successful single called "La La Time".

White moved his band to Los Angeles, California and changed its name to "Earth, Wind & Fire". This was based on the fact that White's astrological sign was Sagittarius, whose primary elemental quality is Fire, but whose seasonal qualities are Earth, and Air [1]; (hence, the omission of water). Their self-titled debut album, Earth, Wind & Fire, was released in 1970 to great critical acclaim, as was The Need of Love (1971). However, neither album was commercially successful.

In 1972, White dissolved the line-up (minus himself and brother Verdine White), and added Jessica Cleaves (vocals), Ronnie Laws (flute, saxophone), Larry Dunn (keyboard), Ralph Johnson (percussion) and Philip Bailey (vocals, formerly of Friends & Love). The new line-up was signed to CBS Records by Clive Davis and released Last Days and Time without much success. At this time, Laws and Bautista left the band, and Andrew Woolfolk, Al McKay, and Johnny Graham were added to the lineup. The Keep Your Head to the Sky album (1973) was a moderate success, but 1974's Open Our Eyes was a major hit. Cleaves, a former member of the Friends of Distinction, left after the "Head to the Sky" album. Up until this time, EWF had at least one female vocalist in the group.

Breakthrough success

Earth, Wind & Fire's true breakthrough, however, came in the form of the soundtrack to That's the Way of the World in 1975. Though the film was not a success, the song "Shining Star" became a huge mainstream hit and launched the band's career. By then drummer Fred White had joined the band and Johnson turned to vocals.

Also in 1975, Earth, Wind & Fire released Gratitude, a live album which featured performances of singles from previous albums such as "Sun Goddess" with jazz legend Ramsey Lewis, "Shining Star", and the quiet storm classic "Reasons". New studio hits such as "Sing A Song" and "Can't Hide Love" were also included.

Earth Wind & Fire released Spirit in 1976; and had hits with singles such as "Getaway" and "Imagine." During the recording of this album, producer and songwriter Charles Stepney died of a heart attack. In 1977, the group released another classic album, All 'N All, featuring songs such as "I'll Write A Song For You", "Serpentine Fire", "Love's Holiday" and the pop hit "Fantasy."

In 1979, the band performed "September" at the Music for UNICEF Concert, broadcast worldwide from the United Nations General Assembly. They donated their royalties from the song to UNICEF. Later that year, they released the critically acclaimed I Am with the mainstream ballad "After The Love Is Gone". After the releases of Faces (1980) plus Raise! (1981), and Powerlight which featured the popular singles "Let's Groove", and "Fall In Love With Me" respectively, the band's success started to wane. White disbanded Earth, Wind & Fire in 1983 after Electric Universe was released to poor sales and reviews.

Later years

In 1983, Earth, Wind & Fire contributed the song "Dance, Dance, Dance" to the soundtrack of the animated film Rock & Rule.

A 1987 Earth, Wind & Fire reunion with the album Touch the World was a mild success, but the band was never able to return to the kind of success they had achieved in the 1970s. The band continued to periodically release new albums, including 1990's Heritage and 1993's Millennium.

Beginning in the 1990s, many radio formats began stressing the classic sounds of the 1970s, and Earth, Wind & Fire's dynamic arrangements and soaring vocals became a familiar sound again on American airwaves. An example that really illustrated this effect was the song "Fantasy", which became more popular in the 1990s and 2000s than it had been originally, when it was only a minor hit.

In 1993, saxophonist Don Myrick was fatally shot by the Los Angeles Police Department in a case of mistaken identity. Five years later, Maurice White announced that he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease.

"Let's Groove" is a song that one can dance to on the popular "Dance Dance Revolution" ("Extreme" or "8th Mix" version) arcade game.

Maurice White released two new Earth, Wind & Fire albums on his own label, Kalimba Records, in 2002: Live In Rio, a live album from a 1980 tour, and The Promise, the band's first all-new studio album in six years. The Promise received good reviews upon its release, and was first issued in the United States and Japan; it was issued in Europe in early 2004.

Earth Wind & Fire were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, and into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2003.

In 2005 trombonist Louis Satterfield died.

In 2004-2005 Earth, Wind & Fire toured jointly with the band Chicago; a DVD recorded during that tour, Chicago/Earth, Wind & Fire - Live at the Greek Theatre, was certified platinum just two months after its 2005 release.

In the summer of 2004, Earth, Wind & Fire signed an exclusive record deal with Sanctuary Urban Records Group, owned by Matthew Knowles, father and manager of pop star Beyoncé. The album Illumination, the band's 23rd, was released September 20, 2005. The album's first single is "Show Me the Way", featuring Raphael Saadiq.

For the 2005 Holiday Season as part of Target Corporation's advertising, they wrote a song titled after Target's slogan, "Gather Round".

Gwendolyn Brooks

2006-03-13T10:17:00.000-08:00

The African American poet Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was born June 7, 1917, to Keziah and David Brooks in Topeka, Kansas. Later that year the Brooks family moved to Chicago, where her two siblings were born. Brooks' mother discovered Gwendolyn's gift for writing when she was seven. She promptly encouraged this talent by exposing the girl to various forms of literature. Her parents, however were very strict and she was not allowed to play with the kids in the neighborhood. As a child she lacked the sass and brass of the other girls in her class and became very isolated. As a result, she made few friends while in school. When Brooks was at home in her room she often created a world of her own by reading and writing stories and poetry. Due to her lack of social skills she became very shy and continued to be shy throughout her adult life. After graduating from high school she went on to Wilson Junior College and graduated in 1936. Her early verses appeared in the Chicago Defender, a newspaper written primarily for the black community of Chicago. In 1939 she was married to Henry Blakely and they had two children, Henry junior and Nora Blakely. In 1945 Gwendolyn Brooks' first book entitled A Street In Bronzeville was published. In 1949 Annie Allen (a loosely-connected series of poems related to a black girl's growing up in Chicago) was published and received the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1950, becoming the first African American to receive this prestigious award in poetry. In 1953 Brooks' first novel is published Maud Martha. In 1963 she published Selected Poems and secured her first teaching job at Chicago's Columbia College. In 1967 at the Fisk University Writers Conference in Nashville, Brooks met the new black revolution. She came from South Dakota State College, which was all white, where she was received with love. Now she had arrived at an all black college where she was now coldly respected. After this trip Brooks says that she is no longer asleep she is now awake. After 1967 she became aware that other blacks feel that way and are not hesitant about saying it. She appeals to her people for understanding and is more conscious of them in her writing. In 1968 she published her next major collection of poetry, In the Mecca. The effect of her awakening is noticeable in her poetry. Brooks is less concerned with poetic form, and uses mostly free verse. In 1968 she was named poet laureate for the state of Illinois and was also the first African American to receive an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in 1976. Since then, Gwendolyn Brooks has gone on to receive over fifty honorary doctorates from numerous colleges and universities. She has received two Guggenheim Fellowships and has served as Poetry Consultant to the Library of Congress. In 1990 she became professor of English at Chicago State University. Ms. Brooks died at the age of 83 Sunday December 3, 2000.

Gwendolyn Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas, in 1917 and raised in Chicago. She is the author of more than twenty books of poetry, including Children Coming Home (The David Co., 1991); Blacks (1987); To Disembark (1981); The Near-Johannesburg Boy and Other Poems (1986); Riot (1969); In the Mecca (1968); The Bean Eaters (1960); Annie Allen (1949), for which she received the Pulitzer Prize; and A Street in Bronzeville (1945). She also wrote numerous other books including a novel, Maud Martha (1953), and Report from Part One: An Autobiography (1972), and edited Jump Bad: A New Chicago Anthology (1971). In 1968 she was named Poet Laureate for the state of Illinois, and from 1985-86 she was Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. She also received an American Academy of Arts and Letters award, the Frost Medal, a National Endowment for the Arts award, the Shelley Memorial Award, and fellowships from The Academy of American Poets and the Guggenheim Foundation. She lived in Chicago until her death on December 3, 2000.

A Selected Bibliography

Poetry

A Street in Bronzeville (1945)
Aloneness (1971)
Annie Allen (1949)
Aurora (1972)
Beckonings (1975)
Black Love (1981)
Black Steel: Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali (1971)
Blacks (1987)
Bronzeville Boys and Girls (1956)
Children Coming Home (1991)
Family Pictures (1970)
In the Mecca (1968)
Riot (1970)
Selected Poems (1963)
The Bean Eaters (1960)
The Near-Johannesburg Boy and Other Poems (1986)
The Wall (1967)
The World of Gwendolyn Brooks (1971)
To Disembark (1981)
We Real Cool (1966)
Winnie (1988)

Prose

A Capsule Course in Black Poetry Writing (1975)
Primer for Blacks (1981)
Report from Part One: An Autobiography (1972)
Very Young Poets (1983)
Young Poet's Primer (1981)

Fiction

Maud Martha (1953)

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Marvin Gaye

2006-03-13T09:42:00.000-08:00

One of the most gifted, visionary, and enduring talents ever launched into orbit by the Motown hit machine, Marvin Gaye blazed the trail for the continued evolution of popular black music. Moving from lean, powerful R&B to stylish, sophisticated soul to finally arrive at an intensely political and personal form of artistic self-expression, his work not only redefined soul music as a creative force but also expanded its impact as an agent for social change.

Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. (in the style of his hero Sam Cooke, he added the "e" to his surname as an adult) was born April 2, 1939, in Washington, D.C. The second of three children born to the Reverend Marvin Gay, Sr., an ordained minister in the House of God -- a conservative Christian sect that fuses elements of orthodox Judaism and Pentecostalism, imposes strict codes of conduct, and observes no holidays -- he began singing in church at the age of three, quickly becoming a soloist in the choir. Gaye later took up piano and drums, and music became his escape from the nightmarish realities of his home life -- throughout his childhood, his father beat him on an almost daily basis.

After graduating from high school, Gaye enlisted in the U.S. Air Force; upon his discharge, he returned to Washington and began singing in a number of street-corner doo wop groups, eventually joining the Rainbows, a top local attraction. With the help of mentor Bo Diddley, the Rainbows cut "Wyatt Earp," a single for the OKeh label that brought them to the attention of singer Harvey Fuqua, who in 1958 recruited the group to become the latest edition of his backing ensemble, the Moonglows. After relocating to Chicago, the Moonglows recorded a series of singles for Chess, including 1959's "Mama Loocie." While touring the Midwest, the group performed in Detroit, where Gaye's graceful tenor and three-octave vocal range won the interest of fledgling impresario Berry Gordy, Jr., who signed him to the Motown label in 1961.

While first working at Motown as a session drummer and playing on early hits by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, he met Gordy's sister Anna, and married her in late 1961. Upon mounting a solo career, Gaye struggled to find his voice, and early singles failed. Finally, his fourth effort, "Stubborn Kind of Fellow," became a minor hit in 1962, and his next two singles -- the 1963 dance efforts "Hitch Hike" and "Can I Get a Witness" -- both reached the Top 30. With 1963's "Pride and Joy," Gaye scored his first Top Ten smash, but often found his role as a hitmaker stifling -- his desire to become a crooner of lush romantic ballads ran in direct opposition to Motown's all-important emphasis on chart success, and the ongoing battle between his artistic ambitions and the label's demands for commercial product continued throughout Gaye's long tenure with the company.

With 1964's Together, a collection of duets with Mary Wells, Gaye scored his first charting album; the duo also notched a number of hit singles together, including "Once Upon a Time" and "What's the Matter With You, Baby?" As a solo performer, Gaye continued to enjoy great success, scoring three superb Top Ten hits -- "Ain't That Peculiar," "I'll Be Doggone," and "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)" -- in 1965. In total, he scored some 39 Top 40 singles for Motown, many of which he also wrote and arranged. With Kim Weston, the second of his crucial vocal partners, he also established himself as one of the era's dominant duet singers with the stunning "It Takes Two."

However, Gaye's greatest duets were with Tammi Terrell, with whom he scored a series of massive hits penned by the team of Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, including 1967's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "Your Precious Love," followed by 1968's "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "You're All I Need to Get By." The team's success was tragically cut short in 1967 when, during a concert appearance in Virginia, Terrell collapsed into Gaye's arms on-stage, the first evidence of a brain tumor that abruptly ended her performing career and finally killed her on March 16, 1970. Her illness and eventual loss left Gaye deeply shaken, marring the chart-topping 1968 success of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," his biggest hit and arguably the pinnacle of the Motown sound.

At the same time, Gaye was forced to cope with a number of other personal problems, not the least of which was his crumbling marriage. He also found the material he recorded for Motown to be increasingly irrelevant in the face of the tremendous social changes sweeping the nation, and after scoring a pair of 1969 Top Ten hits with "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" and "That's the Way Love Is," he spent the majority of 1970 in seclusion, resurfacing early the next year with the self-produced What's Going On, a landmark effort heralding a dramatic shift in both content and style that forever altered the face of black music. A highly percussive album that incorporated jazz and classical elements to forge a remarkably sophisticated and fluid soul sound, What's Going On was a conceptual masterpiece that brought Gaye's deeply held spiritual beliefs to the fore to explore issues ranging from poverty and discrimination to the environment, drug abuse, and political corruption; chief among the record's concerns was the conflict in Vietnam, as Gaye structured the songs around the point of view of his brother Frankie, himself a soldier recently returned from combat.

The ambitions and complexity of What's Going On baffled Berry Gordy, who initially refused to release the LP; he finally relented, although he maintained that he never understood the record's full scope. Gaye was vindicated when the majestic title track reached the number two spot in 1971, and both of the follow-ups, "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" and "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)," also reached the Top Ten. The album's success guaranteed Gaye continued artistic control over his work and helped loosen the reins for other Motown artists, most notably Stevie Wonder, to also take command of their own destinies. Consequently, in 1972, Gaye changed directions again, agreeing to score the blaxploitation thriller Trouble Man; the resulting soundtrack was a primarily instrumental effort showcasing his increasing interest in jazz, although a vocal turn on the moody, minimalist title track scored another Top Ten smash.

The long-simmering eroticism implicit in much of Gaye's work reached its boiling point with 1973's Let's Get It On, one of the most sexually charged albums ever recorded; a work of intense lust and longing, it became the most commercially successful effort of his career, and the title cut became his second number one hit. Let's Get It On also marked another significant shift in Gaye's lyrical outlook, moving him from the political arena to a deeply personal, even insular stance that continued to define his subsequent work. After teaming with Diana Ross for the 1973 duet collection Marvin and Diana, he returned to work on his next solo effort, I Want You; however, the record's completion was delayed by his 1975 divorce from Anna Gordy. The dissolution of his marriage threw Gaye into a tailspin, and he spent much of the mid-'70s in divorce court. To combat Gaye's absence from the studio, Motown released the 1977 stopgap Live at the London Palladium, which spawned the single "Got to Give It Up, Pt. 1," his final number one hit.

As a result of a 1976 court settlement, Gaye was ordered to make good on missed alimony payments by recording a new album, with the intention that all royalties earned from its sales would then be awarded to his ex-wife. The 1978 record, a two-LP set sardonically titled Here, My Dear, bitterly explored the couple's relationship in such intimate detail that Anna Gordy briefly considered suing Gaye for invasion of privacy. In the interim, he had remarried and begun work on another album, Lover Man, but scrapped the project when the "Ego Tripping Out" lead single -- a telling personal commentary presented as a duet between the spiritual and sexual halves of his identity, which biographer David Ritz later dubbed the singer's "divided soul" -- failed to chart. As his drug problems increased and his marriage to new wife Janis also began to fail, he relocated to Hawaii in an attempt to sort out his personal affairs.

In 1981, longstanding tax difficulties and renewed pressures from the IRS forced Gaye to flee to Europe, where he began work on the ambitious In Our Lifetime, a deeply philosophical record that ultimately severed his longstanding relationship with Motown after he claimed the label had remixed and edited the album without his consent. Additionally, Gaye stated that the finished artwork parodied his original intent, and that even the title had been changed to drop an all-important question mark. Upon signing with Columbia in 1982, he battled stories of erratic behavior and a consuming addiction to cocaine to emerge triumphant with Midnight Love, an assured comeback highlighted by the luminous Top Three hit "Sexual Healing." The record made Gaye a star yet again, and in 1983 he made peace with Berry Gordy by appearing on a television special celebrating Motown's silver anniversary. That same year, he also sang a soulful and idiosyncratic rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the NBA All-Star Game; it instantly became one of the most controversial and legendary interpretations of the anthem ever performed. And it was to be his final public appearance.

Gaye's career resurgence brought with it an increased reliance on cocaine; finally, his personal demons forced him back to the U.S., where he moved in with his parents in an attempt to regain control of his life. Tragically, the return home only exacerbated his spiral into depression; he and his father quarrelled bitterly, and Gaye threatened suicide on a number of occasions. Finally, on the afternoon of April 1, 1984 -- one day before his 45th birthday -- Gaye was shot and killed by Marvin Sr. in the aftermath of a heated argument. In the wake of his death, Motown and Columbia teamed up to issue two 1985 collections of outtakes, Dream of a Lifetime -- a compilation of erotic funk workouts teamed with spiritual ballads -- and the big band-inspired Romantically Yours. (Vulnerable, a collection of ballads that took over 12 years to complete, finally saw release in 1996.) With Gaye's death also came a critical re-evaluation of his work, which deemed What's Going On to be one of the landmark albums in pop history, and his 1987 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame permanently enshrined him among the pantheon of musical greats. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

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Nat King Cole

2006-03-13T08:55:00.000-08:00

For a mild-mannered man whose music was always easy on the ear, Nat King Cole managed to be a figure of considerable controversy during his 30 years as a professional musician.

Nathaniel Adams Coles (he would later drop the "s" from his name) was born in Montgomery, Alabama on March 17, 1919. Cole's father, Edward Coles, was a Baptist minister who moved the family to Chicago in the 1920's and became pastor of the True Light Baptist Church. The Coles children took turns playing the organ at the church services. Cole and his three brothers and two sisters all showed musical talent, which their parents encouraged. Until the age of twelve Cole played by ear, but then his mother Perlina, arranged for him to take formal lessons and learn pieces by Bach and other classical composers. His mother thought Cole would become a classical pianist.

Cole grew up in Chicago, surrounded by the exciting jazz sounds of the 1920s and 1930s. His most important influence was the jazz pianist Earl "Fatha" Hines. While still in high school, Cole formed his own twelve-piece band and also gave up the idea of becoming a classical pianist. He was about sixteen at the time, and although his father wasn't too pleased, his mother made the uniform Cossack shirts so they could look more professional. Nat King Cole was the group's pianist, and they played at school and club dances for whatever payment they could get. Payment was usually in the form of only hot dogs and hamburgers. Occasionally Cole's group played at the Savoy for real money. As this group became better known, Cole's brother Eddie, who had been playing with an orchestra, came home and formed a sextet with Cole and four others. They began to play professionally.

In 1936, the year Cole graduated from high school, his group joined a company that was doing a revival of "Shuffle Along," a black musical revue. Cole's girlfriend, dancer Nadine Robinson (whom he married the following year), joined the revue too. They went on tour with the show. All went well until the company reached Long Beach, California, where the show closed, putting the newlyweds out of work. Stranded, Cole managed to bring in a little money by playing in bars and clubs around Los Angeles. His luck changed when club owner Bob Lewis asked him to form a quartet to play at his club. It is said to be Lewis who gave Nat Coles the nickname "King" and persuaded him to drop the "s" from his name. The group was called the "King Cole Swingsters." Cole hired guitarist Oscar Moore and bass player Wesley Prince, but the drummer he chose failed to show up on opening night, so the quartet became a trio.

The trio featured no vocals at first. One night a drunken customer demanded that Cole sing "Sweet Lorraine." From then on Nat King Cole sang from time to time to provide a bit of variety. Gradually the "King Cole Trio" became well known in the Los Angeles area. They also made recordings and appeared on radio.

In 1942 Nat King Cole signed a contract with Capitol Records, and the following year the trio recorded its first hit, "Straighten Up and Fly Right," which was based on a sermon Cole's father once delivered. This song became a major hit in 1944, selling more than a million copies. This hit launched Cole's career as a vocalist.

From the late '40s to the mid-'60s, he was a massively successful pop singer who ranked with such contemporaries as Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, and Dean Martin. He shared with those peers a career that encompassed hit records, international touring, radio and television shows, and appearances in films. But unlike them, he had not emerged from a background as a band singer in the swing era. Instead, he had spent a decade as a celebrated jazz pianist, leading his own small group. Oddly, that was one source of controversy. For some reason, there seem to be more jazz critics than fans of traditional pop among music journalists, and Cole's transition from jazz to pop during a period when jazz itself was becoming less popular was seen by them as a betrayal.

At the same time, as a prominent African-American entertainer during an era of tumultuous change in social relations among the races in the U.S., he sometimes found himself out of favor with different warring sides. His efforts at integration, which included suing hotels that refused to admit him and moving into a previously all-white neighborhood in Los Angeles, earned the enmity of racists; once, he was even physically attacked on-stage in Alabama. But civil rights activists sometimes criticized him for not doing enough for the cause.

Such controversies do not obscure his real talent as a performer, however. The dismay of jazz fans at his abandonment of jazz must be measured against his accomplishments as a jazz musician. An heir of Earl Hines, whom he studied closely as a child in Chicago, Cole was an influence on such followers as Oscar Peterson. And his trio, emerging in the dying days of the swing era, helped lead the way in small-band jazz. The rage felt by jazz fans as he moved primarily to pop singing is not unlike the anger folk music fans felt when Bob Dylan turned to rock in the mid-'60s; in both cases, it was all the more acute because fans felt one of their leaders, not just another musician, was going over to the enemy. Less well remembered, however, are Cole's accomplishments during and after the transition. His rich, husky voice and careful enunciation, and the warmth, intimacy, and good humor of his approach to singing, allowed him to succeed with both ballads and novelties such that he scored over 100 pop chart singles and more than two dozen chart albums over a period of 20 years, enough to rank him behind only Sinatra as the most successful pop singer of his generation.

Nat King Cole was born Nathaniel Adams Coles on Montgomery, AL, on March 17, 1919. (In his early years of music-making, he dispensed with the "s" at the end of his name.) As a black child born to a poor family in the American South at that time, he did not have a birth certificate. His March 17 birthday was recalled because it was also St. Patrick's Day. He listed conflicting years of birth on legal documents during his life; most sources give the year as 1917. But biographer Daniel Mark Epstein, for his 1999 book Nat King Cole, consulted the 1920 census to determine that the Coles household had a male infant at that time and confirm the birth year as 1919. Cole's father was a butcher who aspired to the Baptist ministry, and when Cole was four the family moved to Chicago, where his father eventually succeeded in becoming a preacher.

Like his older brother Eddie, who became a bass player, Cole showed an early interest in music. He was taught piano by his mother as a child and later took lessons. Also like his brother, he turned professional early; by his teens, he was leading a band, called either the Royal Dukes or the Rogues of Rhythm, and he dropped out of high school at 15 to go into music full-time. The following year, Eddie, who had been touring with Noble Sissle's band, returned to Chicago and the brothers organized their own sextet. On July 28, 1936, as Eddie Cole's Swingsters, they recorded two singles for Decca Records, Nat King Cole's recording debut. That fall, they were hired to perform in a revival of the all-black Broadway musical revue Shuffle Along. Unlike his brother, Cole remained with the show when it went on tour, in part because his girlfriend, dancer Nadine Robinson, stayed with it as well. The two married in Michigan on January 27, 1937, even though Cole was only 17 years old. The tour made its way around the country, finally closing in Los Angeles in May. Cole and his wife remained there, living at first with her aunt, while Cole sought employment as a musician. He briefly led a big band, then played solo piano in clubs.

While performing at the Café Century during the summer of 1937, Cole was approached by the manager of the Swanee Inn, who invited him to put together a small band to play in the club. With guitarist Oscar Moore and bassist Wesley Prince, the act debuted that fall, drawing upon the children's nursery rhyme ("Old King Cole was a merry old soul...") for the name the King Cole Swingsters, later simply the King Cole Trio. The group gradually built up a following, with Cole emerging as a singer as well as a pianist. By September 1938, they had begun making radio transcriptions, originally not intended for commercial release, though they have since been issued. In 1939 and 1940, they made occasional recordings for small labels while expanding their live performing to include appearances across the country and radio work. In late 1940 they were contracted by Decca. Their 1941 recording of Cole's composition "That Ain't Right" hit number one on Billboard magazine's Harlem Hit Parade (i.e., R&B) chart on January 30, 1943, Cole's first successful record. By that time, Prince had left the group to work for the war effort, replaced by Johnny Miller.

The King Cole Trio's contract with Decca expired before "That Ain't Right" became a hit. Their next single, "All for You," was recorded for the tiny Excelsior label in October 1942. After its initial release, it was purchased by Capitol Records and reissued. On November 20, 1943, it became the group's second number one hit on the Harlem Hit Parade. It also crossed over to the pop chart. With that, Capitol signed Cole directly. The trio's first Capitol session produced both the Cole composition "Straighten Up and Fly Right," which topped the black chart for the first of ten weeks on April 29, 1944, spent six weeks at the top of the folk (i.e., country) chart, and reached the Top Ten of the pop chart, and "Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You," which topped the black chart on October 21 and also crossed over to the pop chart.

The trio placed another four titles in the black chart during 1944, and Capitol released its debut album, The King Cole Trio (catalog number BD-8) that fall. The collection of four 78 rpm discs contained eight tracks, only three of them featuring Cole vocals. When Billboard instituted its first album chart on March 24, 1945, The King Cole Trio was ranked at number one, a position it held for 12 weeks. At the same time, big-band swing music was declining in popularity, and many jazz fans were beginning to turn to the emerging style of bebop, a development that, whatever its artistic significance, spelled the end of jazz as a broadly popular style of music.

The King Cole Trio -- and particularly the singer/pianist then known as "King Cole" -- on the other hand, was going in exactly the opposite direction, as its success on records and at clubs and theaters around the country led to appearances in films and on radio. After numerous guest-star stints on Bing Crosby's Kraft Music Hall radio series, the trio, along with pianist Eddy Duchin, was hired to host the show's summer replacement program for 13 weeks beginning May 16, 1946. During that run, on August 17, The King Cole Trio, Vol. 2 (Capitol BD-29), another set of four 78s, hit number one. Over the next five days, the trio recorded two songs that would add to their pop success. Mel Tormé and Robert Wells' "The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)" (better known by its opening line, "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire"), recorded August 19, was Cole's first disc to feature strings. "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons," though it only featured the trio, demonstrated that Cole was more than capable of handling a straight romantic ballad, not just the uptempo novelties with which he and the group had succeeded up until this point.

"(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons" became Cole's first number one pop single on December 28, 1946; "The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)" peaked at number three, going on to become a holiday perennial and million seller. While these hits were developing, the trio went from its summer replacement berth to its own network radio series, King Cole Trio Time, a 15-minute Saturday afternoon program that debuted on October 19, 1946, and ran until April 1948. The group's recording schedule during the first half of 1947 was relatively light, but the pace picked up considerably starting in August, in anticipation of the musicians' strike called for January 1, 1948. On August 22, 1947, with an orchestral backing, Cole recorded "Nature Boy," an unusual philosophical ballad. Released March 29, 1948, and credited to "King Cole," it hit number one for the first of eight weeks on May 8, becoming a gold record.

Oscar Moore, the trio's original guitarist, left the group in October 1947 after ten years and was replaced by Irving Ashby. In March 1948, Cole divorced his wife and married singer Marie Ellington. Among the couple's children was Natalie Cole, who became a singer. Bass player Johnny Miller quit the trio in August 1948 and was replaced by Joe Comfort. In February 1949, Cole added percussionist Jack Costanzo to the group, which thereafter was billed as "Nat 'King' Cole & the Trio." As of the spring of 1950, Cole's recordings were being credited simply to "Nat 'King' Cole." On July 8 of that year, his recording of the wistful movie theme "Mona Lisa," featuring a string chart arranged by Nelson Riddle, became Cole's third number one pop hit and gold record.

That September, he traveled to Europe for his first international tour, beginning a pattern that would find him giving concerts almost continually in a combination of top nightclubs in major cities and concert halls around the U.S., with occasional trips to Europe, the Far East, and Latin America and extended stays at Las Vegas casinos. In these appearances, he stood for most of the show, only occasional sitting down to play a number or two at the piano. Ashby and Comfort left in 1951, and an announcement was made that the trio was officially dissolved, but that simply meant that Cole henceforth would be billed as a solo act. In practice, he continued to carry a guitarist, John Collins, and a bassist, Charles Harris, along with Costanzo (until he left in 1953 and was replaced by drummer Lee Young), while often augmenting them with an orchestra.

Cole scored his fourth number one pop hit and gold record with "Too Young," which topped the charts on June 23, 1951. His recording of "Unforgettable" peaked at only number 12 on February 2, 1952, but it went on to become one of his better remembered recordings; in 1991, a version of the song by Natalie Cole with the Nat King Cole recording dubbed onto it became a gold record and won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. With his 1952 LP Penthouse Serenade, Cole showed that he was not yet ready to dispense with his jazz chops entirely. The disc was an instrumental collection that spent one week at number ten in the album chart in October. Meanwhile, he was also looking for new challenges, taking on small acting roles in the films The Blue Gardenia and Small Town Girl and the television drama Song for a Banjo in 1953. His 1953 album Nat King Cole Sings for Two in Love, arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle, was a Top Ten hit in early 1954 that predated similar "concept" albums by Frank Sinatra.

Although Cole did not score a number one hit in 1953 ("Pretend" peaked at number two), his seven chart entries were enough to rank him among the ten most successful singles artists of the year. His five chart singles in 1954, among them the gold-selling Top Ten hit "Answer Me, My Love," allowed him to repeat this ranking the following year, and he did the same thing in 1955 with another eight chart entries, including the Top Ten hits "Darling Je Vous Aime Beaucoup," "A Blossom Fell," and "If I May." Nine more chart entries allowed him to stay among the most successful singles artists in 1956, even though none of them reached the Top Ten, and he maintained his rank for the fifth straight year in 1957, reaching the Top Ten (and the top of the R&B chart) with "Send for Me." Though he managed one more Top Ten hit, "Looking Back," in 1958, the rise of rock & roll diminished his success on the singles chart. Meanwhile, he returned to a jazz approach on his 1957 LP After Midnight, which paired his backup group with jazz musicians Harry "Sweets" Edison, Stuff Smith, Willie Smith, and Juan Tizol. It was a modest commercial success, quickly followed by the ballad album Love Is the Thing, arranged and conducted by Gordon Jenkins, which hit number one for the first of eight weeks on May 27, 1957, and eventually was certified platinum.

Meanwhile, in the fall of 1956, Cole became the first African-American host of a network television series when The Nat "King" Cole Show debuted as a 15-minute weekly program on November 5. The show was expanded to a half-hour in July 1957 and ran until December of that year, though it never attracted a national sponsor that might have made it an ongoing success. Cole attributed advertisers' reticence to racism. He returned to his acting career during 1957, appearing in Istanbul and China Gate, and got his most substantial role in 1958 playing blues musician W.C. Handy in a film biography, St. Louis Blues. His last acting role came in Night of the Quarter Moon in 1959. In 1960, he turned his attention to the theater, putting together a musical revue intended for Broadway. The songs were by Dotty Wayne and Ray Rasch, and the album Cole made of them, Wild Is Love, became his first Top Ten LP in three years. The corresponding stage show, I'm With You, was not as successful, opening what was intended to be a pre-Broadway tour in Denver on October 17, 1960, but closing in Detroit on November 26. Cole, however, salvaged the concept of the show for a stage production he called Sights and Sounds: The Merry World of Nat King Cole, featuring a group of dancers and singers, with which he toured regularly from 1961 to 1964.

Cole returned to the Top Ten of the singles chart for the first time in four years with the country-tinged "Ramblin' Rose" in 1962; his album of the same name also reached the Top Ten and eventually was certified platinum. "Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer" became his last Top Ten hit in the summer of 1963. In December 1964, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. Two months later, he died of it at the age of 48.

After his death, Cole continued to appeal to the two almost mutually exclusive audiences that had appreciated him during his life. Jazz fans continued to treasure his recordings of the 1930s and 1940s and to dismiss the non-jazz recordings he had made later. (In 1994, German discographer Klaus Teubig compiled Straighten Up and Fly Right: A Chronology and Discography of Nat "King" Cole, which pointedly cut off in the early '50s.) Pop fans clamored for reissues of Cole's 1950s and '60s music, awarding gold record status to compilations that Capitol continued to assemble, without much worrying about the singer's talent as a piano player. (And, as his recordings fell into the public domain in Europe, where there is a 50-year copyright limit, a spate of low-quality reissues assumed flood levels.) But the ongoing debate was only testament to Cole's ongoing attraction for music lovers, which, in the decades following his untimely end, showed no signs of abating. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

Donny Hathaway

2006-03-13T08:36:00.000-08:00

Donny Hathaway was one of the brightest new voices in soul music at the dawn of the '70s, possessed of a smooth, gospel-inflected romantic croon that was also at home on fiery protest material.

Hathaway achieved his greatest commercial success as Roberta Flack's duet partner of choice, but sadly he's equally remembered for the tragic circumstances of his death -- an apparent suicide at age 33. Hathaway was born October 1, 1945, in Chicago, but moved to St. Louis when he was very young, and began singing in church with his grandmother at the scant age of three. Donny's grandmother, Martha Cromwell, was a respected Gospel singer in her own right. Donny grew up, as did many of his contemporaries, with Gospel roots. He began playing piano at a young age, and by high school, he was impressive enough to win a full-ride fine arts scholarship to Howard University to study music in 1964.

He studied music at Howard University in Washington during 1964, where his room mate was Leroy Hutson. The pair were later to pen the song 'The Ghetto', together. Donny majored in musical theory before performing in a cocktail jazz group called the Ric Powell Trio, and wound up leaving school after three years to pursue job opportunities he was already being offered in the record industry.

Hathaway first worked behind the scenes as a producer, arranger, songwriter, and session pianist/keyboardist. He supported the likes of Aretha Franklin, Jerry Butler, and the Staple Singers, among many others, and joined the Mayfield Singers, a studio backing group that supported Curtis Mayfield's Impressions. Hathaway soon became a house producer at Mayfield's Curtom label, and in 1969 cut his first single, a duet with June Conquest called "I Thank You Baby." From there he signed with Atco as a solo artist, and released his debut single, the inner-city lament "The Ghetto, Pt. 1," toward the end of the year. While it failed to reach the Top 20 on the R&B charts, "The Ghetto" still ranks as a classic soul message track, and has been sampled by numerous hip-hop artists. "The Ghetto" set the stage for Hathaway's acclaimed debut LP, Everything Is Everything, which was released in early 1970. In 1971, he released his eponymous second album and recorded a duet with former Howard classmate Roberta Flack, covering James Taylor's "You've Got a Friend." It was a significant hit, reaching the Top Ten on the R&B charts, and sparked a full album of duets, Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway, which was released in 1972. The soft, romantic ballad "Where Is the Love?" topped the R&B charts, went Top Five on the pop side, and won a Grammy, and the accompanying album went gold.

Also in 1972, Hathaway branched out into soundtrack work, recording the theme song for the TV series Maude and scoring the film Come Back Charleston Blue. However, in the midst of his blossoming success, he was also battling severe bouts of depression, which occasionally required him to be hospitalized. His mood swings also affected his partnership with Flack, which began to crumble in 1973. Hathaway released one more album that year, the ambitious Extension of a Man, and then retreated from the spotlight; over the next few years, he performed only in small clubs. In 1977, Hathaway patched things up with Flack and temporarily left the hospital to record another duet, "The Closer I Get to You," for her Blue Lights in the Basement album. The song was a smash, becoming the pair's second R&B number one in 1978, and also climbing to number two on the pop charts. Sessions for a second album of duets were underway when, on January 13, 1979, Hathaway was found dead on the sidewalk below the 15th-floor window of his room in New York's Essex House. The glass had been neatly removed from the window, and there were no signs of struggle, leading investigators to rule Hathaway's death a suicide; his friends were mystified, considering that his career had just started to pick up again, and Flack was devastated. Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway was released in 1980, and both of the completed duets -- "Back Together Again" and "You Are My Heaven" -- became posthumous hits. In 1990, Hathaway's daughter Lalah launched a solo career. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide

According to Steven Leventhal:

"... it is claimed that he threw hiumself out of a 15th floor New York City hotel window for unexplained reasons. The reason was not "unexplained". He was with Roberta Flack in that hotel room (actually, I was told by Roberta Flack's son that it was the Plaza Hotel, rather than the Essex House), with whom he has co-performed various hit songs with over the years, and (having heard this from Roberta Flack's son, whom I met at Temple University in Philadelphia . . . perhaps in 1986 or 1987, if I recall accurately), Donny Hathaway was in love with Roberta Flack and wished she could be his but she was already married to someone else. Distraught over not being able to have her as his own, he threw himself out the window (with Roberta Flack in the room at the time). And this story was reported as well in the media at the time of his death. When I'd met Roberta Flack's son and learned that he was her son, I asked him if it was true about what I had read (which is that Donny Hathaway had killed himself over his mother). He said this is true and told me the story, saying his mother was right there when it happened."

Covenant Curriculum: A Study of Black Democratic Action

2006-03-05T09:14:00.000-08:00

From Covenant Curriculum: A Study of Black Democratic Action
State of the Black Union 2006: Defining the African American Agenda, Part II

Cornel West
Eddie S. Glaude, Jr.

[I]t was the rise and growth among the slaves of a determination to be free and an active part of American democracy that forced American democracy continually to look into the depths. . . . One cannot think then of democracy in America or in the modern world without reference to the American Negro.

―W.E.B. Du Bois, The Gift of Black Folk (1924)

Course Description

The struggle for black freedom has been and continues to be the highest form of democratic action in American history. In other words, the black freedom struggle―from abolitionism to contemporary black quests for justice―has been and is the moral and civic conscience of a fragile democratic experiment whose limitations are shaped, in part, by white supremacy. Without the black freedom struggle, American democracy lacks integrity and maturity. To travel the road of black democratic action, then, is to pursue a path of courageous efforts to achieve our country.

The aim of this course is to introduce the student to the complex array of black democratic practices from slavery to our contemporary moment. This will be done by close readings of books, speeches, and images that, in our view, best capture the dynamics of black democratic action―action, we believe, called for in The Covenant.

Topics and Readings

Week 1: The Grand Scholar of Black Democratic Action
• W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk

Week 2: Historical Background: The Original Hypocrisy
• “The Declaration of Independence”
• Thomas Jefferson, “Notes on the State of Virginia,” Wilson Jeremiah Moses (ed.), Classical Black Nationalism: From the American Revolution to Marcus Garvey, pp. 45–47
• David Walker, Appeal in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World, but in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States
• Deborah Gray White, “Let My People Go: 1804–1860,” Robin D.G. Kelley and Earl Lewis (eds.), To Make Our World Anew: Volume I: A History of African Americans to 1880, pp. 169–226

Week 3: Slavery: Exploited Labor, Degraded Bodies, and Resilient People
• Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Week 4: Slavery and the American Imagination
• Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Week 5: Prelude to War
• John Hope Franklin, From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans (eighth edition), pp. 192–219
• “First Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Ottawa, Illinois,” Andrew Delbanco (ed.), The Portable Abraham Lincoln, pp. 97–140
• Frederick Douglass, “July 5th Oration,” William L. Andrews (ed.), The Oxford Frederick Douglass Reader, pp. 108–130

Week 6: The Civil War: Hypocrisy Explodes
• John Hope Franklin, “Civil War,” From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans (eighth edition), pp. 220–244
• Abraham Lincoln, “The Second Inaugural,” Andrew Delbanco (ed.), The Portable Abraham Lincoln, pp. 320–321
• Henry Highland Garnet, “Let the Monster Perish,” Philip S. Foner (ed.), Lift Every Voice: African American Oratory, 1787–1900, pp. 459–497
• Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d,” Whitman: Poetry and Prose (The Library of America), pp. 459–467

Assignment #1: Black Democratic Action requires personal integrity and historical memory. Therefore all of our work must be informed by moral vision and the power of history. You are charged to write an historical timeline of the black presence in America from the American Revolution to the end of American slavery. Use dates, images, and music to tell heroic stories.

Week 7: Reconstruction: A Failed Experiment in Multiracial Democracy
• Noralee Frankel, “Breaking the Chains, 1860–1880,” Robin D.G. Kelley and Earl Lewis (eds.), To Make Our World Anew: Volume I: A History of African Americans to 1880, pp. 227–280

Week 8: The Rise of Jim Crow: American Terrorism Run Amok
• The Birth of a Nation (1915 movie)
• Ida B. Wells, A Red Record
• C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow, pp. 3–96
 James Allen (ed.), Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America

Week 9: New Organizations and Courageous Leadership: Black Democratic Responses to American Terrorism
• James R. Grossman, “A Chance to Make Good: 1900–1929,” Robin D.G. Kelley and Earl Lewis (eds.), To Make Our World Anew: Volume II: A History of African Americans Since 1880, pp. 67–130
• T. Thomas Fortune, “It is Time to Call a Halt,” Philip S. Foner (ed.), Lift Every Voice: African American Oratory, 1787–1900, pp. 713–727
• Mary Church Terrell, “In Union There is Strength,” Philip S. Foner (ed.), Lift Every Voice: African American Oratory, 1787–1900, pp. 840–845
• Richard Wright, 12 Million Black Voices

Week 10: Black Democratic Dreams and Global Realities
• Robin D.G. Kelley, “The Negro Question: Red Dreams of Black Liberation,” Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Tradition, pp. 36–59

Week 11: White Supremacy and the American Imagination
• James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time

Assignment #2: Black Democratic Action requires individual courage and collective organization. Therefore all of our work for human dignity and freedom must be informed by the extraordinary efforts of ordinary men and women who served and sacrificed for the precious ideals of democracy. You are charged to find and interview a person in your family or community who was a part of the black freedom movements of the 1960s and 1970s.

Week 12: Black Social Movements: Hypocrisy Exposed
• Manning Marable, Race, Reform, and Rebellion: The Second Reconstruction in Black America, 1945–1990, pp. 40–85
• Martin Luther King, Jr. “A Testament of Hope” James Melvin Washington (ed.), A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., pp. 313–328
• Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years/Bridge to Freedom 1965 (1987 documentary)

Week 13: Courage, Conviction, and Compassion: Black Youth and Democratic Action
• Melba Pattillo Beals, Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High

Week 14: Black Social Movements II: Hypocrisy Exposed
• Manning Marable, Race, Reform, and Rebellion: The Second Reconstruction in Black America, 1945–1990, pp. 86–113
• Malcolm X, “Not just an American problem, but a world problem,” Bruce Perry (ed.), Malcolm X: The Last Speeches, pp. 151–181
• Eyes on the Prize II: America at the Racial Crossroads (1990 documentary)

Week 15: Black Democratic Action: The Age of the American Empire
• Robin D.G. Kelley, “Into the Fire: 1970 to the Present,” Robin D. G. Kelley and Earl Lewis (eds.), To Make Our World Anew: Volume II: A History of African Americans Since 1880, pp. 265–341
• Imani Perry, “Bling Bling . . . Going Pop,” Prophets in the Hood, pp. 191–203
• Tavis Smiley, The Covenant

Assignment #3: Black Democratic Action requires unshakable determination and creative imagination. Therefore all of our work should not only build on the best of freedom struggles but also envision new ways of challenging and changing the powers that be. You are charged to identify and analyze three towering Hip Hop artists in light of the principles of black democratic action you have learned in this course.

Additional Web Resources

African American History (University of Washington Library)

African American History and Culture

African American History Digital Library

Library of Congress

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Schomburg Collection (Images from/of Harlem)

Schomburg Collection (Images of African Americans in the 19th Century)

Buck O'Neil

2006-02-28T19:06:00.000-08:00

From The Story of the Game

What has a lifetime of baseball taught you?

"It is a religion. For me. You understand? If you go by the rules, it is a right. The things that you can do. The things that you can't do, that you aren't supposed to do. And if these are carried out, it makes a beautiful picture overall. It's a very beautiful thing because it taught me and it teaches everyone else to live by the rules, to abide by the rules. I think sports in general teach a guy humility. I can see a guy hit the ball out of the ballpark, or a grand slam home run to win a baseball game, and that same guy can come up tomorrow in that situation and miss the ball and lose the ball game. It can bring you up here but don't get too damn cocky because tomorrow it can bring you down there. See? But one thing about it though, you know there always will be a tomorrow. You got me today, but I'm coming back."

For more information, click here

Askia the Great

2006-02-26T12:32:00.000-08:00

Askia Mohammed I (Askia the Great)
(d. 1538)

Mohammed Ben Abu Bekr, also known as Askia the Great made Timbuctoo one of the world's great centers of learning and commerce. The brilliance of the city was such that it still shines in the imagination after three centuries like a star which, though dead, continues to send its light toward us. Such was its splendor that in spite of its many vicissitudes after the death of Askia, the vitality of Timbuctoo is not extinguished.

—Félix Dubois, Tombouctou, la mystérieuse

Mohammed Ben Abu Bekr, was considered the favored general of Sunni Ali, and believed that he was entitled to the throne after Sunni Ali's death, rather than Ali's son, Abu Kebr.

Claiming that the power was his by right of achievement, Mohammed attacked the new ruler a year later and defeated him (1493) in one of the bloodiest battles in history, a coup d'etat. When one of Sunni Ali's daughters heard the news, she cried out "Askia," which means "forceful one." This title was taken by Mohammed as his new name.

Askia immediately embarked on the consolidation of the empire left by Sunni Ali Ber. More astute and farsighted than Sunni Ali Ber, he identified Islam's potential to usurp traditional Songhai religion. Askia decidedly courted his Muslim subjects, particularly in Timbuktu, where the clerics and scholars who fled from Sunni Ali Ber had returned. Askia orchestrated a program of expansion and consolidation, ultimately extending the empire from Taghaza in the north to the borders of Yatenga in the south; and from Air in the northeast to Futa Toro in Senegambia. Askia was also setting the stage for the Askia dynasty, systematically removing the surviving members of the preceding dynasties.

Within three years, he solidified his position to the extent that he could leave the country for two years. For political and pious reasons, he made the hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca. In Cairo, he consulted with scholars and examined legal and administrative methods. In addition, an ambassador to Songhai was appointed and Askia was made caliph, thus becoming the head of the Islamic community in the Western Sudan. He returned to Songhai where he embarked on a program to reinforce and refine Islam.

Askia was an efficient and astute administrator. Instead of organizing the empire along Islamic lines, he improved on the traditional model. He instituted a system of government which was unparalleled in Songhai in particular and the Western Sudan in general. He divided the empire into defined provinces, each with its own governor. Special governors were appointed for the towns of Timbuktu, Jenne, Masina and Taghaza. The provinces were then grouped into regions, which were administered by regional governors. An advisory board of ministers supported each regional governor. The nucleus of the bureaucracy was Askia himself, assisted by a council of advisers. Islamic law prevailed in the larger districts in an effort to dispense with traditional law. It is worth noting that Islam was practiced in the urban areas, whereas the traditional Songhai religion continued in other areas. He also maintained a standing army, essentially for expansion of the empire

Soon after his return from Mecca, Askia embarked on his expansionist enterprise, where he ultimately extended the empire on all borders. He waged a successful jihad against the Mossi of Yatenga; captured Mali; defeated the Fulani and extended the borders farther north than any other Sudanic empire to Taghaza, famous for its salt mines. Years later, he conquered Hausaland and, in a subsequent campaign, seized Agades and Air.

Askia encouraged learning and literacy. Under Askia, Timbuktu, also known as "The Center of Learning," "The Mecca of the Sudan," and "The Queen of the Sudan," experienced a cultural revival and flourished as a center of learning. The University of Sankore produced distinguished scholars, many of whom published significant books. The eminent scholar Ahmed Baba produced many books on Islamic law, some of which are still in use today. Mahmoud Kati published Tarik al-Fattah and Abdul-Rahman as-Sadi published Tarik as-Sudan (Chronicle of the Sudan), two history books which are indispensable to present-day scholars reconstructing African history in the Middle Ages.

Askia fostered trade and commerce. State revenues were derived from estates founded throughout the nation, tributes exacted from vassal states, taxes, and custom duties. Timbuktu, Jenne and Gao were the commercial centers of the empire, and the trade routes were policed by the army to maintain their safety. In addition, he standardized weights and measures throughout the empire.

Askia's final years were filled with humiliation and suffering. In 1528, Askia Mohammed, now almost ninety years old and blind, was deposed by his son, Musa. Later, another son, Ismail, brought him back to the palace, where he died in 1538. The most illustrious reign in the history of the Western Sudan ended. Askia Mohammmed, regarded as the greatest of the Songhai kings, continued the work of Sunni Ali Ber and built the largest and wealthiest of the kingdoms of the Western Sudan.

Reply to My Critics by Ivan Van Sertima

2006-02-26T12:09:00.000-08:00

From Journal of African Civilizations

An attack on my thesis that Africans made contact with America before Columbus in two major pre-Christian periods (circa 1200 b.c. and circa 800 b.c.) in addition to the Mandingo contact period (1310/1311 A.D.) has been circulated in advance to hundreds of subscribers to a journal, Current Anthropology. Copies of this attack by Bernard de Montellano, Warren Barbour and Gabriel Haslip-Viera were also sent out to African-American scholars, some of whom were cited in the attack, dishonestly titled "Van Sertima's Afrocentricity and the Olmecs." The title's emphasis is meant to suggest that all revisions of African history by so-called "Blacks" belong to a common school, radiate from a common brain, and are cast in the same "racialist" hue and mode. This circular, which precedes my new book, REPLY TO MY CRITICS (scheduled to appear in Sept), seeks to highlight the brazen and malicious lies, slanders and misrepresentations that characterize this attack. Let it be noted that I was invited to respond to this attack but was forced to withdraw. The editor, after verbally agreeing that I could reprint my commentary, after the issue of the Journal appeared, did a dramatic about-turn when pressed to sign a written agreement to back up his word. He wrote that I could only reprint my "commentary" (15 pages) if I also reprinted the attack on me (50 pages) since "they form a unit." To feel the full absurdity of this, just imagine the Jewish Defense League being forced to republish an extended Nazi-type attack on their positions in order to republish a brief response to such a slanderous attack.

LIE ONE: - "Van Sertima's expedition allegedly sailed or drifted westward to the Gulf of Mexico where it came in contact with inferior Olmecs. These individuals created Olmec civilization." - De Montellano, Barbour and Haslip-Viera.

THE TRUTH: As far back as 1976, I made my position on this matter very clear. I never said that Africans created or founded American civilization. I said they made contact and all significant contact between two peoples lead to influences. "I think it is necessary to make it clear - since partisan and ethnocentric scholarship seems to be the order of the day - that the emergence of the Negroid face, which the archeological and cultural data overwhelmingly confirm, in no way presupposes the lack of a native originality, the absence of other influences or the automatic eclipse of other faces"-p. 147 of "They Came Before Columbus." See also Journal of African Civilizations, Vol 8, No. 2, 1986 "I cannot subscribe to the notion that civilization suddenly dropped onto the American earth from the Egyptian heaven."

LIE TWO: None of the early Egyptians and Nubians looked like Negroes. "They have long, narrow noses..." "Short, flat noses are confined to the West African ancestors of African-Americans." Again, "there is no evidence that ancient Nubians ever braided their hair. This style comes from colonial and modern Ethiopia."

THE TRUTH: Narrow noses have been found among millions of pure-blooded Africans. We can see this among the Elongated and Nilotic types. My critics know nothing about the variants of Africa, ancient or modern. All the six main variants of the African have been found in the Egyptian and Nubian graves. For examples of ancient braided Nubian hair, see Frank Snowden's "Before Color Prejudice," As for Egypto-Nubians only having narrow noses, see Egyptian pharaohs in Vol 10 and 12 of the JAC and major Nubian pharaohs in Peggy Bertram's essay (JAC, Vol.12) -Ushanaru, Plate 8, p 173; Taharka as the god Amun from Kawa Temples, Plate 9, p. 173; Shabaka, Plate 12, p. 176. Tanwetamani, Plate 16, p. 180. To say that these are narrow noses is to exhibit a colossal ignorance of African types in ancient Egypt and Nubia. The agenda behind this is to bolster their case that they could not have been models for any of the Olmec stone heads.

LIE THREE: Modern Egyptians look exactly as they did thousands of years ago. The composition of the Egyptian has not changed over the last 5000 years. Invasions by the Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Arabs and Romans left them looking the same today as in the dawn of history.

THE TRUTH: This is a hasty misreading of the work of scholars like A.C. Berry, R. J. Berry and Ucko who point out that there is a remarkable degree of homogeneity in this area for 5000 years. What a superficial reading of this fails to note is that the period ends with the close of the native dynasties BEFORE the invasions of the Assyrian, Persian, Greek, Roman and Arab foreigners

LIE FOUR: Faced with the startlingly Negroid features of some of the Olmec stone heads, my critics try 4 ways out: (a) They are "spitting images of the native;" (b) they appear dark because some of them were carved out of dark volcanic stone; (c) some were made of white basalt which turned dark over time; (d) ancient Egyptians and Nubians were remote in physiognomy from sub-Saharan Negroes and none of them could have been models for any of the "Negro-looking" heads. Having said all that, they then claim that "races are not linked to specific physiognomic traits."

THE TRUTH: No need to shoot them down on this. They turned the gun on themselves.

LIE FIVE: Nothing African has been found in any archeological excavation in the New World.

THE TRUTH: In the drier centers of the Olmec world - at Tlatilco, Cerro de las Mesas and Monte Alban - the Polish craniologist, Andrez Wiercinski, found indisputable evidence of an African presence. The many traits analyzed in these Olmec sites indicated individuals with Negroid traits predominating but with an admixture of other racial traits. This is what I have said. The work of A. Vargas Guadarrama is an important reinforcement of Wiercinski's study. He found that the skulls he examined at Tlatilco, which Wiercinski had classified as Negroid, were "radically different" from other skulls on the site, bearing indisputable similarities to skulls in West Africa and Egypt.

LIE SIX: Van Sertima presents no evidence that a New World cotton (gossypium hirsutum var. punctatum) was transferred from Guinea to the Cape Verde in 1462 by the Portuguese and there is no hard proof that West Africans made a round trip to America before Columbus.

THE TRUTH: I cited evidence in 12 categories to establish Mandingo voyages to the New World circa1310/1311 A.D. This included eyewitness reports from nearly a dozen Europeans, even Columbus himself, metallurgical, linguistic, botanical, navigational, oceanographic, skeletal, epigraphic, cartographic, oral, documented and iconographic evidence. With regard to New World cotton in Africa before 1462, Stephens spoke in two tongues to pacify isolationist colleagues.

LIE SEVEN: My critics claim that I said the bottle gourd came in with Old World voyagers.

THE TRUTH: I was at pains to point out that this is ONE PLANT THAT COULD DRIFT TO AMERICA WITHOUT THE LOSS OF SEED VIABILITY. "Bottle gourds got caught in the pull of currents from the African coast and drifted to America across the Atlantic. Thomas Whitaker and G.F. Carter showed that these gourds are capable of floating in seawater for 7 months without loss of seed viability" - "They Came Before Columbus," 204. They indulge in an even more vicious dishonesty with regard to cotton, claiming that I said "Old World cottons came into America with a fleet of Nubians circa 700 B.C." I never linked cotton transfer to Nubian contact.

LIE EIGHT: My critics admit "we cannot unequivocally date the heads" but they single out one which they say Ann Cyphers confidently dated about 1011 B.C. Note the date! This is 200 years AFTER the Egyptian contact period c. 1200 B.C. Yet they claim that the dating of this one head proves "Negro-looking heads" were being carved, mutilated, and buried prior to 1200 B.C.

THE TRUTH: The stone heads could not have been buried before they were carved.

LIE NINE: Egyptians stopped building pyramids "thousands of years" before 1200 B.C. No relationship whatever exists between Old World/New World pyramids.

THE TRUTH: Enormous obelisks, calling for the same complex engineering skills of the pyramid age were built at Karnak as late as 1295 B.C. A pyramid was also built as Dashur circa 1700 B.C. Bart Jordan, the mathematical child prodigy, to whom Einstein granted special audience, established startling coincidences between Old World and New World pyramids. He agrees with me that "The overwhelming incidence of coincidence argues overwhelmingly against a mere coincidence."

LIE TEN: My critics claim that I have trampled upon the self-respect and self-esteem of native Americans and they have come forward to champion their cause.

THE TRUTH: My people (for I am part Macusi and part African) would be horrified to have, as champions of our cause, De Montellano, Barbour, and Haslip-Viera, who disgrace us with the charge that "native Americans would have sacrificed and eaten the Africans if they came."

Book List

2006-02-26T10:31:00.000-08:00

The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley.

Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements by Malcolm X.

Soul on Ice by Eldridge Cleaver.

Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude Brown.

The Essential Gandhi : An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, Work, and Ideas (Vintage Spiritual Classics) by Mahatma Ghandi.

The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Spook Who Sat By the Door by Sam Greenlee.

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.

Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social & Political Black Art & Literature by Tony Medina (Editor), et al.

Black Men: Single, Obsolete, Dangerous? The Afrikan American Family in Transition by Haki Madhubuti.

Ben-Jochannan, Yosef A.A., and John Henrik Clarke. New Dimensions in African History: The London Lectures of Dr. Yosef ben-Jochannan and Dr. John Henrik Clarke. Edited with an Introduction by John Henrik Clarke. Trenton: Africa World Press, 1991.

Clarke, John Henrik. Notes for an African World Revolution: Africans at the Crossroads. Trenton: Africa World Press, 1991.

Clarke, John Henrik. African People in World History. Baltimore: Black Classic Press, 1993.

Diop, Cheikh Anta. The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality. Translated from the French and edited by Mercer Cook. Translator's Preface by Mercer Cook. Westport: Lawrence Hill, 1974.

Diop, Cheikh Anta. Black Africa: The Economic and Cultural Basis for a Federated State. Westport: Lawrence Hill, 1976.

Diop, Cheikh Anta. The Cultural Unity of Black Africa: The Domains of Patriarchy and of Matriarchy in Classical Antiquity. Introduction by John Henrik Clarke. Afterword by James G. Spady. Chicago: Third World Press, 1978.

Diop, Cheikh Anta. Precolonial Black Africa: A Comparative Study of the Political and Social Systems of Europe and Black Africa, from Antiquity to the Formation of Modern States. Translated from the French by Harold J. Salemson. Westport: Lawrence Hill, 1987.

Diop, Cheikh Anta. Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic Anthropology. Translated from the French by Yaa-Lengi Meema Ngemi. Edited by Harold J. Salemson and Marjolijn de Jager. Foreword by John Henrik Clarke. Westport: Lawrence Hill, 1991.

Finch, Charles S. III. The African Background to Medical Science: Essays on African History, Science and Civilizations. Preface by Ivan Van Sertima. London: Karnak House, 1990.

Finch, Charles S. III. Africa and the Birth of Science and Technology: A Brief Overview. Decatur: Khenti, 1992.

Hansberry, William Leo. Pillars in Ethiopian History: The William Leo Hansberry African History Notebook, Vol. 1. Preface by Joseph E. Harris. Edited by Joseph E. Harris. Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press, 1974.

Hansberry, William Leo. Africa and Africans as Seen by Classical Writers: The William Leo Hansberry African History Notebook, Vol. 2. Preface by Joseph E. Harris. Edited by Joseph E. Harris. Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press, 1977.

Hilliard, Asa G. III. The Maroon Within Us. Baltimore: Black Classic Press, 1994.

Houston, Drusilla Dunjee. The Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire. Book 1, Nations of the Cushite Empire. Marvelous Facts from Authentic Records. Oklahoma City: Universal Publishing, 1926; rpt. Introduction by W. Paul Coates. Afterword by Asa G. Hilliard III. Commentary by James G. Spady. Baltimore: Black Classic Press, 1985.

Jackson, John G. Introduction to African Civilizations. Introduction and Additional Bibliographical Notes by John Henrik Clarke. Secaucus: Citadel, 1970.

Jackson, John G. Ages of Gold and Silver and Other Short Sketches of Human History. Foreword by Madalyn O'Hair. Austin: American Atheist Press, 1990.

James, George G.M. Stolen Legacy: The Greeks Were Not the Authors of Greek Philosophy, But the People of North Africa, Commonly Called the Egyptians. 1954; rpt. San Francisco: Julian Richardson Associates, 1985.

Parker, George Wells. The Children of the Sun. Omaha: The Hamitic League of the World, 1918; rpt. Baltimore: Black Classic Press, 1978.

Rashidi, Runoko, and Ivan Van Sertima, eds. African Presence in Early Asia. Tenth Anniversary Edition. New Brunswick: Journal of African Civilizations, 1996.

Rogers, Joel Augustus. World's Great Men of Color, 2 Vols. Edited with an Introduction, Commentary, and New Bibliographical Notes by John Henrik Clarke. New York: Collier, 1972.

Van Sertima, Ivan. They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America. New York: Random House, 1977.

Van Sertima, Ivan, ed. Blacks in Science: Ancient and Modern. New Brunswick: Journal of African Civilizations, 1983.

Van Sertima, Ivan, ed. African Presence in Early Europe. New Brunswick: Journal of African Civilizations, 1985.

Van Sertima, Ivan, ed. Black Women in Antiquity. New Brunswick: Journal of African Civilizations, 1987.

Van Sertima, Ivan, ed. Great Black Leaders: Ancient and Modern. New Brunswick: Journal of Civilizations, 1988.

Van Sertima, Ivan, ed. Egypt Revisited. Rev. ed. New Brunswick: Journal of African Civilizations, 1989.

Van Sertima, Ivan, ed. African Presence in Early America. Rev. ed. New Brunswick: Journal of African Civilizations, 1992.

Van Sertima, Ivan, ed. Golden Age of the Moor. New Brunswick: Journal of African Civilizations, 1992.

Van Sertima, Ivan, ed. Egypt: Child of Africa. New Brunswick: Journal of African Civilizations, 1994.

Van Sertima, Ivan, and Larry Williams, eds. Great African Thinkers. Vol. 1, Cheikh Anta Diop. New Brunswick: Journal of African Civilizations, 1986.

Williams, Chancellor. The Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues of a Race from 4500 B.C. to 2000 A.D. Rev. ed. Chicago: Third World Press, 1974.

African Glory, J. C. Degraft-Johnson. Black Classic Press, 1986.

Africans and Their History, Joseph E. Harris. Penguin USA, second revised edition, 1998.

Ancient African Kingdoms, Margaret Shinnie. E. Arnold.

General History of Africa, Vol. IV: Africa from the Twelfth to Sixteenth Century, UNESCO. University of California Press, 1986.

The Western Sudan: Ghana, Mali, Songhay, Kenny Mann. Dillon Press.

A Glorious Age in Africa: The Story of Three Great African Empires, Daniel Chu and Elliott P. Skinner. Africa World Press, 1990.

Cambridge History of Africa, Vol. 2, J.D. Fage (ed.). Cambridge University Press, 1979.

The Lost Cities of Africa, Basil Davidson. Little, Brown & Co., 1959.

The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa, Patricia and Fredrick McKissack. Henry Holt, 1995.

Topics in West African History, A. Adu Boahen, Jacob F. Ade Ajayi, and Michael Tidy. Addison-Wesley, 1987.

Black Shogun

2006-02-26T10:29:00.000-08:00

"For a Samurai to be brave, he must have a bit of Black blood."
--Japanese Proverb

In 1994 I was invited to Japan to lecture at two United States military bases. It was to be my initial trip to east Asia and my second travel experience in Asia overall. I visited India for the first time in 1987. Japan turned out to be an exceptionally important trip for me and the lectures themselves went very well. I gained a great deal of information and for the first time I had the opportunity to interact with the Ainu--some of Japan's most ancient residents. I also attended a really excellent exhibit on women in ancient Egypt while it was on tour in Tokyo.

Now I have always thought of Japan as a fascinating country and felt extremely fortunate to be able to travel there. But I felt like I knew quite a bit about the Black presence in early Japan even before I first touched down on Japanese soil.

THE BLACK PRESENCE IN EARLY JAPAN

Although the island nation of Japan, occupying the extreme eastern extensions of Asia, is assumed by many to have been historically composed of an essentially homogeneous population and culture, the accumulated evidence (much of which has been quietly ignored) places the matter in a vastly different light, and though far more study needs to be done on the subject, it seems indisputable that Black people in Japan played an important role from the most remote phases of antiquity into at least the ninth century.

Meaningful indications of an African presence in ancient Japan have been unearthed from the most remote ages of the Japanese past. To begin with, and as a significant example, a February 15, 1986 report carried by the Associated Press, chronicled that:

"The oldest Stone Age hut in Japan has been unearthed near Osaka....Archeologists date the hut to about 22,000 years ago and say it resembles the dugouts of African bushmen, according to Wazuo Hirose of Osaka Prefectural of Education's cultural division. `Other homes, almost as old, have been found before, but this discovery is significant because the shape is cleaner, better preserved' and is similar to the Africans' dugouts."

In 1923, anthropologist Roland B. Dixon wrote that "this earliest population of Japan were in the main a blend of Proto-Australoid and Proto-Negroid types, and thus similar in the ancient underlying stratum of the population, southward along the whole coast and throughout Indo-China, and beyond to India itself." Dixon pointed out that, "In Japan, the ancient Negrito element may still be discerned by characteristics which are at the same time exterior and osteologic."

In his last major text, Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic Anthropology (published posthumously in English in 1991), the brilliant Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop (1923-1986) pointed out that:

"In the first edition of the Nations negres et culture (1954), I posited the hypothesis that the Yellow race must be the result of an interbreeding of Black and White in a cold climate, perhaps around the end of he Upper Paleolithic period. This idea is widely shared today by Japanese scholars and researchers. One Japanese scientist, Nobuo Takano, M.D., chief of dermatology at the Hammatsu Red Cross Hospital, has just developed this idea in Japanese that appeared in 1977, of which he was kind enough to give me a copy in 1979, when, passing through Dakar, he visited my laboratory with a group of Japanese scientists.

Takano maintains, in substance, that the first human being was Black; then Blacks gave birth to Whites, and the interbreeding of these two gave rise to the Yellow race; these three stages are in fact the title of his book in Japanese, as he explained it to me."

As to linguistics, in 1987 former Senegalese president Leopold Sedar Senghor noted that, "The people who populate the island of Japan today are descendants from Blacks....Let us not forget that the first population of Japan was Black...and gave to Japan their first language."

SAKANOUYE NO TAMURAMARO: SEI-I TAI-SHOGUN OF EARLY JAPAN

Of the Black people of early Japan, the most picturesque single figure was Sakanouye no Tamuramaro, a warrior symbolized in Japanese history as a "paragon of military virtues," and a man who has captured the attention of some of the most distinguished scholars of twentieth century America. Perhaps the first such scholar to make note of Tamuramaro was Alexander Francis Chamberlain (1865-1914). An anthropologist, Chamberlain was born in Kenninghall, Norfolk, England, and was brought to America as a child. In April 1911 the Journal of Race Development published an essay by Chamberlain entitled "The Contribution of the Negro to Human Civilization." While discussing the African presence in early Asia, Chamberlain stated in an exceptionally frank and matter of fact manner:

"And we can cross the whole of Asia and find the Negro again, for when, in far-off Japan, the ancestors of the modern Japanese were making their way northward against the Ainu, the aborigines of that country, the leader of their armies was Sakanouye Tamuramaro, a famous general and a Negro."

Dr. W.E.B. DuBois (1868-1963), perhaps the greatest scholar in American history, in his book, The Negro (first published in 1915), placed Sakanouye Tamuramaro within a list of some of the most distinguished Black rulers and warriors in antiquity. In 1922, Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) and Charles Harris Wesley (1891-1987) in a chapter called "Africans in History with Others," in their book The Negro in Our History, quoted Chamberlain on Tamuramaro verbatim. In the November 1940 issue of the Negro History Bulletin (founded by Dr. Woodson), artist and illustrator Lois Maillou Jones (1905-1998) contributed a brief article entitled "Sakanouye Tamura Maro." In the article Jones pointed out that:

"The probable number of Negroes who reached the shores of Asia my be estimated somewhat by the wide area over which they were found on that continent. Historians tell us that at one time Negroes were found in all of the countries of southern Asia bordering the Indian Ocean and along the east coast as far as Japan. There are many interesting stories told by those who reached that distant land which at that time they called `Cipango.'

One of the most prominent characters in Japanese history was a Negro warrior called Sakanouye Tamura Maro."

Very similar themes were expressed in 1946 "In the Orient," the first section in Distinguished Negroes Abroad, a book by Beatrice J. Fleming and Marion J. Pryde in which was contained a small chapter dedicated to "The Negro General of Japan--Sakanouye Tamurarmaro."

In 1940 the great Joel Augustus Rogers (1883-1966), who probably did more to popularize African history than any scholar of the twentieth century, devoted several pages of the first volume of his Sex and Race to the Black presence in early Japan. He cites the studies of a number of accomplished scholars and anthropologists, and even goes as far as to raise the question of "were the first Japanese Negroes?" In the words of Rogers:

"There is a very evident Negro strain in a certain element of the Japanese population, particularly those in the south. Imbert says, "The Negro element in Japan is recognizable by the Negroid aspect of certain inhabitants with dark and often blackish skin, frizzly or curly hair....The Negritos are the oldest race of the Far East. It has been proved that they once lived in Eastern and Southern China as well as in Japan where the Negrito element is recognizable still in the population."

Rogers mentioned Tamuramaro briefly in the first volume of World's Great Men of Color, also published in 1946. Regrettably, Rogers was forced to confess that "I have come across certain names in China and Japan such as Sakonouye Tamuramaro, the first shogun of Japan but I did not follow them up."

Sakanouye Tamuramaro was a warrior symbolized in early Japanese history as a "paragon of military virtues." Could it be that this was what Dr. Diop was alluding to in his first major book, Nations negres et culture, when he directed our attention to the tantalizing and yet profound Japanese proverb: "For a Samurai to be brave he must have a bit of Black blood."

Adwoa Asantewaa B. Munroe referenced Tamuramaro in the 1981 publication What We Should Know About African Religion, History and Culture, and wrote that "He was an African warrior. He was prominent during the rule of the Japanese Emperor Kwammu, who reigned from 782- 806 A.D." In 1989 Dr. Mark Hyman authored a booklet entitled Black Shogun of Japan in which he stated that "The fact remains that Sakanouye Tamuramaro was an African. He was Japanese. He was a great fighting general. He was a Japanese Shogun."

However the most comprehensive assessment to date of the Black presence in early Japan and the life of Sakanouye no Tamuramaro is the work of art historian and long-time friend and colleague Dr. James E. Brunson. Brunson is the author of Black Jade: The African Presence in the Ancient East and several other important texts. In a 1991 publication entitled The World of Sakanouye No Tamuramaro Brunson accurately noted that "In order to fully understand the world of Sakanouye Tamuramaro we must focus on all aspects of the African presence in the Far East."

Sakanouye no Tamuramaro is regarded as an outstanding military commander of the early Heian royal court. The Heian Period (794-1185 C.E.) derives its name from Heian-Kyo, which means "the Capital of Peace and Tranquility," and was the original name for Japan's early capital city--Kyoto. It was during the Heian Period that the term Samurai was first used. According to Papinot, the "word comes from the very word samuaru, or better saburau, which signifies: to be on one's guard, to guard; it applied especially to the soldiers who were on guard at the Imperial palace."

The samurai have been called the knights or warrior class of Medieval Japan and the history of the samurai is very much the history of Japan itself. For hundreds of years, to the restoration of the Meiji emperor in 1868, the samurai were the flower of Japan and are still idolized by many Japanese. The samurai received a pension from their feudal lord, and had the privilege of wearing two swords. They intermarried in their own caste and the privilege of samurai was transmitted to all the children, although the heir alone received a pension.

The "paragon of military virtues," Sakanouye no Tamuramaro (758-811) was, in the words of James Murdoch:

"In as sense the originator of what was subsequently to develop into the renowned samurai class, he provided in his own person a worthy model for the professional warrior on which to fashion himself and his character. In battle, a veritable war-god; in peace the gentlest of manly gentlemen, and the simplest and unassuming of men."

Throughout his career, Tamuramaro was rewarded for his services with high civil as well as military positions. In 797 he was named "barbarian-subduing generalissimo" (Sei-i Tai-Shogun), and in 801-802 he again campaigned in northern Japan, establishing fortresses at Izawa and Shiwa and effectively subjugating the Ainu.

In 810 he helped to suppress an attempt to restore the retired emperor Heizei to the throne. In 811, the year of his death, he was appointed great counselor (dainagon) and minister of war (hyobukyo).

Sakanouye no Tamuramaro "was buried in the village of Kurisu, near Kyoto and it is believed that it is his tomb which is known under the name of Shogun-zuka. Tamuramaro is the founder of the famous temple Kiyomizu-dera. He is the ancestor of the Tamura daimyo of Mutsu." Tamuramaro "was not only the first to bear the title of Sei-i-tai-Shogun, but he was also the first of the warrior statesmen of Japan."

In later ages he was revered by military men as a model commander and as the first recipient of the title shogun--the highest rank to which a warrior could aspire."

Source: African Presence in Early Asia, edited by Runoko Rashidi and Ivan Van Sertima

For more information, go to: The Global African Presence

Willie Lynch Letter

2006-02-26T10:28:00.000-08:00

Gentlemen:

I greet you here on the bank of the James River in the year of our lord, one thousand seven hundred and twelve. First , I shall thank you, the gentlemen of the of the colony of Virginia, for bringing me here. I am here to help you solve some of your problems with slaves. Your invitation reached me in my modest plantation in the West Indies where I have experimented with some of the newest and still the oldest method for control of slaves. Ancient Rome would envy us if my program is implemented. As our boat sailed south on the James River, named for our illustrious KING JAMES, whose BIBLE we CHERISH, I saw enough to know that our problem is not unique. While Rome used cords or wood as crosses for standing human bodies along the old highways in great numbers, you are here using the tree and the rope on occasion.

I caught the whiff of a dead slave hanging from a tree a couple of miles back. You are losing valuable stock by hangings, you are having uprisings, slaves are running away, your crops are sometimes left in the fields too long for maximum profit, you suffer occasional fires, your animals are killed, Gentleman,...You know what your problems are; I do not need to elaborate. I am not here to enumerate your problems, I am here to introduce you to a method of solving them.

In my bag, I have a fool proof method for controlling your slaves. I guarantee everyone of you that if installed it will control the slaves for at least three hundred years. My method is simple, any member of your family or any OVERSEER can use it.

I have outlined a number of differences among the slaves, and I take these differences and make them bigger. I use FEAR, DISTRUST, and ENVY for control purposes. These methods have worked on my modest plantation in the West Indies, and it will work throughout the SOUTH. Take this simple little list of differences and think about them. On the top of my list is "AGE" but it is only there because it starts with an "A"; The second is"COLOR" or shade; there is INTELLIGENCE, SIZE, SEX, SIZE OF PLANTATION, ATTITUDE of owner, whether the slaves live in the valley, on a hill, east or west, north, south, have fine or coarse hair, or is tall or short. Now that you have a list of differences, I shall give you an outline of action- but before that, I shall assure you that DISTRUST IS STRONGER THAN TRUST, AND ENVY IS STRONGER THAN ADULATION, RESPECT OR ADMIRATION.

The black slave, after receiving this indoctrination, shall carry on and will become self-refueling and self-generating for hundreds of years, maybe thousands.

Don't forget you must pitch the old black VS. the young black males, and the young black male against the old black male. You must use the dark skinned slaves VS. the light skin slaves. You must use the female VS the male, and the male VS, the female. You must always have your servants and OVERSEERS distrust all blacks, but it is necessary that your slaves trust and depend on us.

Gentlemen, these kits are your keys to control, use them. Never miss an opportunity. My plan is guaranteed, and the good thing about this plan is that if used intensely for one year the slave will remain perpetually distrustful.

-WILLIAM LYNCH-1772

The Sermon on the Warpland

2006-02-26T10:26:00.000-08:00

And several strengths from drowsiness campaigned
but spoke in Single Sermon on the warpland.

And went about the warpland saying No.
"My people, black and black, revile the River.
Say that the River turns, and turn the River.

Say that our Something in doublepod contains
seeds for the coming hell and health together.
Prepare to meet
(sisters, brothers) the brash and terrible weather;
the pains;
the bruising; the collapse of bestials, idols.
But then oh then!?the stuffing of the hulls!
the seasoning of the perilously sweet!
the health! the heralding of the clear obscure!

Build now your Church, my brothers, sisters. Build
never with brick nor Corten nor with granite.
Build with lithe love. With love like lion-eyes.
With love like morningrise.
With love like black, our black?
luminously indiscreet;
complete; continuous."

- Gwendolyn Brooks