Art for Sale Page 2

When Herbert Temple decided to pursue a career in commercial art in the 1950s, few positions were available for African-American men in corporate America, his daughter said.

But Mr. Temple was determined to use his creativity and eye for aesthetic beauty to make a better life for himself, Janel Temple said.

“His mother and father were both ministers, and they instilled in him a desire to rise above his station in life,” she said. “He had been drawing his whole life and he didn’t want to go work in the steel mills or slaughterhouses. He envisioned a different future for himself.”

Mr. Temple went on to become a celebrated executive art director at Johnson Publishing Co., company officials said. He worked at the nation’s premier African-American publications, Ebony and Jet, and became well-known because of his long tenure.

Mr. Temple, 91, died of heart complications Wednesday, April 13, at Franciscan St. Margaret Health in Hammond, his daughter said.

Mr. Temple was born in Gary and grew up in Evanston. He lived on the South Side of Chicago for most of his life but moved to South Holland five years ago, she said.

As a young man, he loved to sketch and draw and was captivated by comics, she said. He graduated from Evanston Township High School and enlisted in the Army.

Returning from his service during World War II, he decided to aggressively pursue a career in the arts, she said.

“He attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago using the GI Bill,” she said. “He was heavily involved with the South Side Community Arts Center. That was where he got a lot of connections and leads.”

Mr. Temple took his first job at Container Corporation of America, designing cartons and packaging items, his daughter said.

In February 1953, he was hired by media mogul John H. Johnson as an artist for Ebony and Jet magazines. He was promoted to art director in 1967 and spent 54 years working for the company.

“Herbert was instrumental in lending his artistic and creative insight to bring life to the pages of our publications, which ultimately inspired and informed millions of black Americans throughout his tenure,” said Linda Johnson Rice, chairman of Johnson Publications, in a statement. “Herbert will be deeply missed.”

In addition to his work at Johnson, Mr. Temple was an avid entrepreneur, his daughter said. He started JanTemp Greetings, a card company that made products featuring Afro-centric themes, and was one of the founders of Brief Reflections Nightclub, a South Loop lounge and dance club in the 1980s.

He also designed album covers, illustrated children’s books and produced a series of drawings of African-American leaders that was eventually archived at a library in California, his daughter said.

“He met almost every famous person and dignitary of our times,” she said, “from John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to Michael Jackson and John Lennon.”
Besides his daughter, Mr. Temple is survived by a sister, Velma Darden.
A wake will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, with a funeral at 11 a.m., at Leak & Sons Funeral Home, 7838 S. Cottage Grove Ave., Chicago.
lbowean@tribune.com

Around a hundred students and fans gathered in the African American Culture Center in the University of Connecticut’s Student Union Monday night to hear hip-hop artist Prodigy of the duo Mobb Deep talk about the music industry, hip-hop music and his new autobiographical book My Infamous Life.

While waiting for Prodigy to arrive, the audience got a music history lesson from Dr. Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar, Associate Dean for the Humanities at UConn. Ogbar, born in Chicago and raised in Los Angeles, has developed courses, lectured and published articles on such subjects as black nationalism and hip-hop and is the author of novels such as Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap and The Harlem Renaissance Revisited: Politics, Arts and Letters.

Waiting for Prodigy was just as entertaining and compelling as the core presentation. Ogbar engaged the audience with his research on the emergence of rap music as being a creative outlet and alternative to violence in the Bronx and Brooklyn in 1970s. He discussed the four pillars of rap music: the deejay, the emcee, the break dancers and graffiti art. He explained that graffiti art was once a means to paint over the violence, poverty and dysfunction of the Bronx with positive images of enjoyment.

Ogbar even had a few in attendance singing along as he held up an audience member’s phone to his mic and played a track from Mobb Deep’s second studio album The Infamous (1995).
Prodigy, 36, was born Albert Johnson in Hempstead, NY to a family of dancers and singers. Being immersed in show business at such an early age, Johnson said he felt an inclination to become involved in the music industry.

Johnson focused on the keys to being successful in the industry stressing the need to stay focused and healthy. Having been diagnosed with sickle cell anemia, Johnson said he could physically feel less pain from the disease when he refrained from drugs and alcohol. He also maintained that keeping active and having a healthy diet combined with ceasing substance abuse all contribute to a clear, focused mind. Without complete focus and organization, Johnson said his career would suffer.

Another key to success is actually learning the rules of the industry said Johnson who, at 17 years of age, was signed to a record label but then shortly dropped to dismal record sales. Johnson attributed the flopped record to his focus on short term gains instead of longevity or quality music. It was at this point Johnson said he thought, “We’ve got to get back to the lab; we’ve got to try again.”

It was in the lab that Johnson and Kejuan Muchita, a.k.a. Havoc, Mobb Deep MC record producer, created their successful studio album The Infamous, which debuted at number three on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart in 1995. The album’s style is categorized under the “hardcore hip-hop” sub-genre.

Johnson discussed what he called a growing “paranoia” that resulted from an incident in which he was pulled over by the police and, thinking he might get dismissed faster, showed the officer his album. It was then that Johnson said the officer pulled out a list from his back pocket and started reading off names, asking Johnson if he knew any of them.

Concerned by these events, Johnson asked a former FBI agent and acquaintance to investigate on his behalf. He said that the agent uncovered Derrick Parker, a detective instructed to establish a a unit with a team and budget with the purpose of surveying various artists in the hip-hop industry.

Johnson said his paranoia was validated all the more when, in 2006, he and DJ/Producer Alchemist (Alan Daniel Maman) were pulled over in Johnson’s car by the police. Johnson said he was arrested and brought to jail because he had a gun in his car. During interrogation, however, Johnson said the police agreed to “forget about the gun” if he would provide them with information on rapper Curtis Jackson a.k.a. 50 Cent. Johnson said he was told by the police to plant drugs or a gun in Jackson’s car and then give them a call.

Community Day at the Gibbes Museum of Art includes art-making activities and special performances by the Three Dudes and Mt. Pleasant Presbyterian Children’s Choir. Join in on the Great American Cleanup to beautify Park Circle Butterfly Garden, Quarterman Park, and the KCB Office Educational Garden. Katie Crouch will sign her young adult book, The Magnolia League, while John R. Young signs his guidebook, A Walk in the Parks. North Charleston continues to celebrate our planet with its rescheduled Earth Day Festival with live performances and hands-on activities.

On April 16, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the D.C. Compensated Emancipation Act abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia. The Act, which passed nine months before the Emancipation Proclamation, made 3,100 District residents the “First Freed” by the federal government.

Well, last Saturday in commemoration of the historic event that took place nearly 150 years ago, the National Geographic Museum located in Washington, D.C. held an Emancipation Day Celebration. The event entitled “DC I AM: An Emancipation Day Celebration” was in conjunction with the exhibitAmerica I AM: The African American Imprint.

The family festival, sponsored by Wal-Mart, was free to the public and many attendees paid to see the exhibit. The four-year touring museum exhibit celebrates nearly 500 years of African American contributions to this country. Covering history from the arrival of Africans to the present day, the exhibition presents a collection of pivotal moments of courage, conviction, and creativity that have shaped the culture and society in which we live today in this nation and around the world. The exhibition examines four themes in particular: economic, socio-political, cultural, and spiritual impact on America. These themes serve as recurring touch points throughout the galleries, as visitors discover how our experience as Americans has been shaped by African Americans throughout history.

The 15,000 square-foot exhibition is divided into twelve galleries, leading visitors through time on a journey from struggle to triumph. Featuring more than 200 artifacts culled from every period of U.S. history, the exhibition includes objects, texts, religion, music, narration, and media. An interactive component of the exhibition allows visitors to leave their own video “imprints,” and this collection will grow throughout the life of the exhibition with the potential to become the largest recorded oral history project in U.S. history

Last Saturday’s events were highly interactive and included a panel discussion entitled “Exploring Emancipation,” live music, dance performances and poetry readings, art and writing activities based on true stories of freed slaves and past Emancipation Day parades, and family workshops from the Pearl Coalition and the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site.
For more information visit, http://www.americaiam.org/ .

The National Geographic museum is the fifth stop on the exhibition’s 10-city, four-year tour. The exhibition was developed in partnership with Tavis Smiley and is organized by Cincinnati Museum Center and Arts and Exhibitions International, a division of AEG Live. The exhibition is made possible by presenting sponsor Walmart Stores Inc. The exhibition’s educational partner is Northern Trust. Local sponsors include GEICO; The Madison, the museum’s Official Hotel Partner; and Amtrak.

The Birmingham Museum of Art says it will use a $300,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to hire curators for its growing collection of African-American art.

Museum director Gail Andrews says the grant is one of the largest in the museum’s history.

The four-year Mellon grant covers two 2-year fellowships for new curators who will work in the Modern and Contemporary collection and the American Art collection. The museum has three curators who focus on American, Modern and Contemporary art.

Two years ago, the museum dedicated a gallery to African-American art, and the Mellon fellows will work with the curators to develop new exhibits for the space.

By SHEILA WICKOUSKI
FOR THE FREE LANCE-STAR

A statue of Haitian leader Touissaint Louverture stands at the entrance of the National Museum of African Art’s “African Mosaic: Celebrating a Decade of Collecting.”

This iconic work by Senegalese sculptor Ousmane Sow is the starting point for viewing an exceptional exhibit.

Made of mud and straw, and meant to invoke the spirit of liberation and mercy, the towering Touissaint has his hand on the head of a crouching figure of a woman slave.

The visible face of the strong leader, and the hidden face of a powerless elderly slave, are united in one work that captures the spirit of the African diaspora.

Nothing speaks to identity like the human face. Focusing on a few key elements such as the composition of a work, its media and its intended purpose is useful in appreciating the art of a foreign culture.

The portrayal of the human face is what communicates emotion–from which a truer understanding might emerge.

Through the 100 works on display, the universal image of the human face appears in many ways–including on traditional carved wooden masks intended for rituals and dance.

Wooden statues abound, while finely defined figures in gold work are rarer, the artistry hiding the hardships of mining and trading behind such a precious material.

And the faces bring out different emotions and thoughts in the viewer. Encoded in meaning and suggesting several interpretations, for instance, is Farhi Hassan’s “Glance Toward the Unknown,” which shows two heads–one a photographic still, the other a silhouette.

A contemporary photograph of a Malian family shows cosmopolitan society after the colonial era.
Factory-printed cloth is the medium for a portrait of a prime minister in Ghana.

As varied as the media and timelines are here, what emerges in these faces takes the exhibit beyond an assembly of objects.

Even an aluminum briefcase is covered with comic-strip pictures of faces. One can look in the faces and literally see the spirit of the culture underneath.

While the Touissaint Louverture statue serves as an icon of freedom, as well as a work of art, it coincidentally serves as a connection to another African-American exhibit at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

The Kinsey Collection focuses on documents of the grim reality of slavery.

Starting with rare books from the 1630s, the written trail of heartbreaking events of a race of people enslaved has been carefully assembled.

Slaveholder records of the 18th and 19th centuries are chilling. Artwork of modern African-Americans is part of the collection.

Both exhibits are well worth the time to explore the relationships of art, history and social culture.

Together they form a rich body of several hundred works that show connecting relationships of African and African-American experiences.

Sheila Wickouski, a former Fredericksburg resident, is a writer living in Washington.

For all her works in Southampton and the greater area, resident Brenda Simmons received the Woman of Distinction Award from Suffolk County Legislator Jay Schneiderman on March 28 at the sign unveiling of the East End African American Museum and Center for Excellence, where she is a founding member and museum curator.

Not only is she a co-founder of this community museum in Southampton Village, which demands much of her time, she is the assistant to the village Mayor Mark Epley, has her own show on LTV called “Voices of Wisdom,” is a life coach for young woman in need and a mentor for inmates at the Riverhead Correctional Facility.

In 2005, Simmons, Bonnie Cannon and Gloria Cannon co-founded the museum which showcases historical events and people in a variety of locations around town. Simmons said Gloria Cannon came up with the idea and “Bonnie and I took the ball and ran with it.” They went to Southampton Town and asked what steps they needed to take to startup a museum.

Since at that time they did not have a building, they created a virtual museum, meaning exhibits were set up in different places around Southampton Town. They have had exhibits in Southampton Village Hall, Southampton Town Hall and have collaborated with the Parrish Art Museum on The Hamptons Black International Film Festival.

The exhibitions Simmons curates feature various events, such as Black History Month and have collaborated with the Southampton public schools for essays and artwork from students.
Now, this virtual museum has a home at the old barber shop located at 245 North Sea Road. The building still needs massive renovation before the museum can move in. Simmons went through the process of getting the site historically designated by the Southampton Village Board of Historic Preservation and Architectural Review and by the town of Southampton. With the designation, they are moving forward to restore the building.

Even with all that on her plate Simmons has managed to keep up with all the other activities in her life.

She has her show “Voices of Wisdom” that talks about “Realationships” on LTV and now on Cablevision’s channel 20. The show is meant to be “informational, education and controversial,” Simmons said. For her first show she brought on her best friends and interviewed them to show the audience what real life-long relationships are about. “My whole thing is based on real relationships,” she said.

She has had her 14-year-old granddaughter on the show to talk about sexting and bullying, she has read her own poetry on the show and for her next segment she is interviewing a woman who is a self-esteem expert.

Over the last 10 years Simmons has also been a mentor at the Riverhead Correctional Facility where she “renews inmates minds and makes sure their butts don’t get back in there.”
“It’s been very different,” she said. “You get in there and there is a whole different world behind the bars. They have their own communications. There are some really talented and educated people in the jail.”

“If I hadn’t changed my life then I might have been part of that system,” she went on to say. “I guess that’s where my compassion comes from.”

She said she’s been involved with the community forever. One more thing she does to contribute is being a life counseling coach with LIFE, Living In Full Empowerment.

She teachers young women how to be good mothers and how to get their lives back on track.
The people closest to her have much to say about her character and community involvement.
“She represents me, the village, the office in a very professional and courteous manner,” Epley said. “She has an incredible way with people. [I admire] her initiative on starting the museum. It’s been a difficult process and she’s continued to follow through with it.”

“She has raised two phenomenal daughters and she just really is a role model for a lot people,” he added.

Nancy Stevens, who has been a lifetime friend of Simmons said, “She is a person who has great character. She is a giving person and she gives without personal motive. She has a genuine concern for people and she is a hard working young lady.”

The Smithsonian Institution will see a $1.8 million cut in its 2011 budget under the spending deal approved by Congress.

Details of the budget released Monday include a $759.6 million appropriation from Congress, down from $761.4 million last year. Most Smithsonian funding remains intact with a small reduction for salaries and expenses.

Last year, Republican leaders in Congress complained the Smithsonian was misusing taxpayer funds with a National Portrait Gallery exhibit that explored gay themes in art history. A video in the exhibit drew complaints from a Catholic group, and the Smithsonian removed the piece.
Smithsonian spokeswoman Linda St. Thomas said there were no cuts to major programs in the appropriation from Congress.

For 2011, there is $125 million for construction and revitalization projects. That includes $20 million for planning and design of the National Museum of African American History and Culture and $10.6 million for revitalization at the National Museum of Natural History and National Zoo. The Natural History Museum also will receive $16.6 million to replace its mechanical systems and windows.

The National Museum of American History will receive $18 million to convert its parking garage into space for collections storage.

Major construction funding for a new museum devoted to black history is still pending in the 2012 budget.

Black in Latin America, a new four–part series on the influence of African descent on Latin America, is the 11th and latest documentary film from renowned Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. presenter and writer of the acclaimed PBS series African American Lives (2006), Oprah’s Roots (2007), African American Lives 2 (2008), Looking for Lincoln (2009) and Faces of America (2010).

Black in Latin America is the third of a trilogy that began in 1999 with the broadcast of Professor Gates’ first series for public television, Wonders of the African World, an exploration of the relationship between Africa and the New World, a story he continued in 2004 with America Beyond the Color Line, a report on the lives of modern-day African Americans. Black In Latin America, premiering nationally Tuesdays April 19, 26 and May 3, 10, 2011, at 8 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check local listings), examines how Africa and Europe came together to create the rich cultures of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Latin America is often associated with music, monuments and sun, but each of the six countries featured in Black in Latin America including Brazil, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico and Peru, has a secret history. On his journey, Professor Gates discovers, behind a shared legacy of colonialism and slavery, vivid stories and people marked by African roots.

12.5 million Africans were shipped to the New World during the Middle Passage. While just over 11.0 million survived the arduous journey, only about 450,000 of them arrived in the United States. The rest—over ten and a half million—were taken to the Caribbean and Latin America and kept in bondage far longer than the slaves in the United States. This astonishing fact changes the entire picture of the history of slavery in the Western hemisphere, and of its lasting cultural impact. These millions of Africans created new and vibrant cultures, magnificently compelling syntheses of various African, English, French, Portuguese and Spanish influences.
Despite their great numbers, the cultural and social worlds that they created remain largely unknown to most Americans, except for certain popular, cross-over musical forms. In his new series, Professor Gates sets out on a quest to discover how Latin Americans of African descent live now, and how the countries acknowledge—or deny—their African past; how the fact of race and African ancestry play themselves out in the multicultural worlds of the Caribbean and Latin America. Starting with the slave experience and extending to the present, Professor Gates unveils the history of the African presence in six Latin American countries through art, music, cuisine, dance, politics and religion, but also the very palpable presence of anti-black racism that has sometimes sought to keep the black cultural presence from view.

Episode One: Haiti & the Dominican Republic: An Island Divided

In Haiti, Professor Gates tells the story of the birth of the first-ever black republic, and finds out how the slaves’ hard fought liberation over Napoleon Bonaparte’s French Empire became a double-edged sword. In the Dominican Republic, Professor Gates explores how race has been socially constructed in a society whose people reflect centuries of inter-marriage, and how the country’s troubled history with Haiti informs notions about racial classification.
Episode Two: Cuba: The Next Revolution

In Cuba, Professor Gates finds out how the culture, religion, politics and music of this Island are inextricably linked to the huge amount of slave labor imported to produce its enormously profitable 19th century sugar industry, and how race and racism have fared since Fidel Castro’s Communist revolution in 1959.

Episode Three: Brazil: A Racial Paradise?

In Brazil, Professor Gates delves behind the facade of Carnival to discover how this ‘rainbow nation’ is waking up to its legacy as the world’s largest slave economy.

Episode Four: Mexico & Peru: The Black Grandma in the Closet

In Mexico and Peru, Professor Gates explores the almost unknown history of the significant numbers of black people—the two countries together received far more slaves than did the United States —brought to these countries as early as the 16th and 17th centuries, and the worlds of culture that their descendants have created in Vera Cruz on the Gulf of Mexico, the Costa Chica region on the Pacific, and in and around Lima, Peru.

In Black in Latin America, Professor Gates’ journey becomes ours as viewers are introduced to the faces and voices of the descendants of the Africans who created these worlds. He shows the similarities and distinctions between these cultures, and how the New World manifestations are rooted in, but distinct from, their African antecedents. A quest he began 12 years ago with Wonders of the African World comes full-circle in Black in Latin America, an effort to discover how Africa and Europe combined to create the vibrant cultures of Latin America, with a rich legacy of thoughtful, articulate subjects whose stories are astonishingly moving and irresistibly compelling.

The companion website for Black in Latin America, launching March 22, will feature video of the entire series, interactive timelines for each of the countries focused on in the films, as well as commentary from the series’ executive producer, writer and presenter Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

The website (http://www.pbs.org/black-in-latin-america/) will offer resources that viewers can use to learn more about the history of race in the featured countries, essays by academics who contributed to the series and an extensive glossary of people, places and terms referenced in the films.

A Spanish SAP track for Black in Latin America will be available on the broadcast version and on the home video available on Blu-ray and DVD through PBS Home Video beginning June 2011 at ShopPBS.org, 800-531-4727.

The companion book, Black in Latin America, written by Professor Gates, will be published in 2011 by NYU Press.

Black in Latin America is a production of Inkwell Films, Wall to Wall Media Limited and THIRTEEN in association with WNET. Written and presented by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Executive producers are Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Jonathan Hewes and William R. Grant. Series producer is Ricardo Pollack. Directors are Ricardo Pollack (Haiti & the Dominican Republic: An Island Divided and Brazil: A Racial Paradise?), Diene Petterle (Cuba: The Next Revolution) and Ilana Trachtman (Mexico & Peru: The Black Grandma in the Closet).

Funding for Black in Latin America is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Public Television Stations and Viewers Like You. Additional funding is provided by the Ford Foundation, Richard Gilder and Alphonse Fletcher.

Text by Peter Allison, Adam Lindemann and interviews with David Adjaye, with principal photography by Robert Polidori and Lyndon Douglas.

David Adjaye: A House for an Art Collector reads more like architectural plans than a book, a result that was most likely exactly what the progressive architect and the writers Adam Lindemann and Peter Allison – the latter has written two other books on Adjaye-intended. Adjaye is most well known for designing the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, the Noble Peace Center in Oslo and the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. 77E77 was an entirely different animal. Over the course of five years of designing and construction, the abandoned 1897 Lenox Hill carriage house was crafted into both a home and an art gallery, full of interlocking living spaces, dark grandeur and sophisticated design. The 128-page House for an Art Collector opens with construction shots, elevation diagrams and blueprint-like plans: not your ordinary coffe table book. It gradually guides readers through the process of transforming the classic Upper East Side carriage house into an innovative home replete with idea spaces to showcase a rotating art collection alongside room for an expanding family. Some high points: textured black concrete, a glass staircase that also operates as an intercom and a glass elevator. A glass bridge connecting the living room to the floating library is another showstopper, but in a house such as 77E77, it’s simply impossible to name them all. The multiple pages of blueprints and floor plans can be a bit much to take, but just as the mind begins to wonder, the focus is intuitively shifted, with the reader being rewarded with a detailed photo of some textured surface within the house. This seems par for the course in A House for an Art Collector – intermixing more tedious diagrams with sexier, textured photos.

Perhaps the most interesting point within the volume was the preface by Lindemann, which told the tale behind the townhouse-his current home with wife Amalia, their five children and their extensive art collection. Their collection includes works such as The Undesirables by Tim Noble and Sue Webster, which sat in storage for years prior to the construction of the home; Urs Fischer’s Paris 1919; and Franz West’s White, Blue, Yellow. In fact, it was the art collection that spawned the creation of 77E77, not a burgeoning family. In it, Lindemann acknowledges that this labyrinth of a home may not do it for everyone: “Undoubtedly this building and décor will not appeal to everyone; however, it was specifically designed not to.”

Preservationists from all over the country will experience a half-day’s worth of Buffalo’s rich African-American history when they convene here for a conference in the fall.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has approved a joint submission from two local groups that will be included on the group’s official conference agenda in October.

“This is important. I really do believe we can do some good things for arts organizations of color,” said Glendora Johnson-Cooper, chairwoman of The Collective Buffalo.

The collective consists of six cultural arts organizations: Colored Musicians Club, El Museo, Locust Street Art, African Americancq Cultural Center, Buffalo City Ballet and Nash House Museum.

Partnered with Michigan Street Baptist Church, the collective will present a living history project based on a 2005 program that commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Niagara Movement. Various members of the collective will have roles in the presentation.

“Sanctuary to Speakeasy” will take visitors back in time to Buffalo circa 1905. Actors dressed in period clothing will portray important figures of the era, including the Rev. Jesse Nash and Mary Talbert, who opened her home in 1905 to Dr. W.E.B. DuBois and other organizers of the Niagara Movement, forerunner of the NAACP. Talbert became a board member of the NAACP, which honored her in 1922 with the Spingarn Medal for distinguished merit and achievement. She was the first black woman to receive the honor.

Nash, the son of a freed slave, was pastor of Michigan Street Baptist Church from 1892 to 1953 and became one of Buffalo’s most prominent black leaders during the first half of the 20th century.

As the name suggests, the “Sanctuary to Speakeasy” program will start at the church, where the actress portraying Talbert will host a meeting to discuss issues of the time period. “It was a tense time, the early 1900s,” said Johnson-Cooper. “It was the first wave of mass awareness that [African-Americans] were full citizens, and we wanted to exercise our full citizenship. It was during a time period many African-Americans were being lynched. African-Americans were demanding rights.”

After the discussion, half the audience will proceed to the church’s basement, where its caretakers say runaway slaves hid while waiting to cross the Niagara River to freedom in Canada. The other half of the visiting historians will be escorted by the actor portraying Nash to the nearby Nash House Museum, where tour guides will take them through the historic site. Then the two groups will switch.

In the church basement, the preservationists will experience what it was like to hide out on the Underground Railroad, and an actor portraying church founder Samuel Davis will discuss the significance of the site.

Finally, all of the participants will meet up at the Colored Musicians Club on Broadway, where musicians will put on a show for guests as an emcee talks about some of the famous people who have performed at the club.

Club President George W. Scott said he hopes a museum now being constructed will be up and running by then. It will showcase the evolution of jazz and the history of the club, which was founded in 1935 for African-American musicians who were prevented from socializing with their white colleagues after performances.

The museum will have a new stage area, a renovated lobby and reception area and a new museum shop. It also will have interactive displays that will let visitors simulate experience what it’s like to play an instrument in a jazz band, Scott said.

Many groups within the collective will have a role in “Sanctuary to Speakeasy.” The African American Cultural Center will provide choir members, performers, cast and direction. During the speakeasy segment, the Colored Musicians Club will provide musicians. The Buffalo City Ballet will provide choreography.

In addition to the re-enactments in Buffalo, a “Niagara Day” proposal for a day’s worth of activities featuring Niagara County’s black history also was submitted to the National Trust.

Conference-goers would arrive in Niagara Falls at about 10 a.m. and return to Buffalo at about 11 p.m., said Kevin Cottrell, a member of the Underground Railroad Commission and coordinator for the North Star Project, which is creating the Interpretive Center on the Underground Railroad in the U.S. Customs House on Whirlpool Street.

“Niagara Day” organizers have not yet heard back from the National Trust on whether their submission was approved.

The Ball State University Museum of Art has achieved accreditation from the American Association of Museums (AAM), the highest national recognition for a museum.

Accreditation signifies that the museum operates on all levels according to the highest and most current professional standards and practices, managing its collections responsibly and providing quality service to the public, according to a press release.

Of the nation’s estimated 17,500 museums, 775 (about 4 percent) are currently accredited. Ball State University Museum of Art is one of only nine art museums accredited in Indiana.

“We are gratified to have achieved the fourth consecutive accreditation with increasingly stringent standards set by the American Association of Museums,” Peter F. Blume, director of the BSU museum, stated in a press release. “Notification comes at the moment we are about to celebrate our 75th year of operation at Ball State in the Fine Arts Building with a gala dinner/dance for the community on April 30.”

The accreditation process includes a yearlong self-study of nearly every aspect of museum operations plus an on-site review by a team of experienced museum professionals.

During a visit to the museum in April 2010, the accreditation team reported: “While the facilities are first-rate, and the collections appropriately reflect the mission, what matters here, and what is so noticeable, is the professionalism and energy of the museum staff and volunteers that support the mission. (They) are committed, invested, motivated and dedicated to re-earning AAM accreditation and to establishing one of the most notable art collections in the Midwest.”

Ball State’s art museum opened in 1936 and boasts a permanent collection of nearly 11,000 works valued at more than $40 million. These include a wide range of American, European, Asian, African, Oceanic and pre-Columbian art, from paintings and prints to sculpture, ancient glass and other decorative arts.

Admission to the Ball State Museum of Art is free. Hours are 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1:30-4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The Pan-African Studies Department held its annual Research-in-Progress Presentations on April 12. This event served as a platform for eight students enrolled in the capstone course, to present their works-in-progress and receive suggestions as well as feedback. Professor of History and African-American/African Studies Lillie Edwards said that the presentations served as “a tribute to the students at Drew and the students within the major and minors as well as a great example of their [the students’] commitment to scholarship.”

All students provided thorough, detailed work in progress with invigorating topics ranging from monochromatic friendships, stereotypical ethnic comedy, education, media perceptions and misconceptions to the construction of multiculturalism, the African American church and African American Literature.

The first presenter, Julian Wamble (’11), wrote “Monochromatic Camaraderie: An Analysis of Black and White Friendships” which focused on the concept, or rather pattern, of friendships presented within the media. This interested Wamble for the simple fact that in television shows, the topic of race is not blatantly mentioned. It is as if the construction of race ceases to exist within this realm of media—for example, in cartoons—and the only thing that matters most importantly is shared interests. Julian is interested in looking at the dynamics of friendships between blacks and whites and how these interactions influence their perception and actions within the world. Most importantly, he wanted to examine how these friendships affect how one views affirmative action. Using statisical models and theories, Wamble concluded, “Whites who have black friends are much more inclined to have more positive attitudes about affirmative action than whites without black friends.”

Next, The Acorn’s retired Editor in Chief Sheryl McCabe (’11) presented “Blindly Laughing: Analyzing Stereotypes in Comedy” in which she examined the fine line between humor and blatant misconceptions of race within the works of famous comedians. For her presentation, she interviewed three different Drew students to see how these jokes affect them.

One joke that McCabe examined was from George Lopez, who spoke about women beating their kids. Within the joke, the Hispanic mother is racialized as the professional, where the white mother is an amateur because she gets caught. McCabe found out that in 2003, according to the U.S. Department of Health, percentage-wise the abuse of children is pretty much the same, yet the misconceptions are skewed. McCabe attempted to debunk the stereotypical myths and explain why these notions exist using statistics and surveys.

Presenting “Integrating the Curriculum: A History of the New Jersey Amistad Curriculum”, Samuel Bryson- Brockman (’11) explored the New Jersey implementation of the Amistad Commission which educates students about African American contributions to history. He declared that “our education system continues the cycle of oppression, telling students, at times indirectly, that their history, the history of the United States, has shown that they will not amount to much more than their ancestors were often portrayed in subservient roles.” Brockman argues that the slave narrative is just as important as the master and should be taught to present a clear depiction of history. He revealed that in 2002 the State of New Jersey noticed this problem and how it affected the students, primarily students of color, and implemented the Amistad Curriculum. Nicole McClear (’11) incorporated elements of poetry and dance into her presentation of “Behind the Veil: Cultural Perceptions of Black Women in the Media,” where she examines how the media shapes the perceptions of the identity of the black woman. For her research, she talked to family members and adolescent girls. She looked at the misconceptions of black women represented through music videos and how television shows depicted the black woman, as well as her complexity.

McClear added a dash of artistic expression when she recited her own poem, “Black Woman” and dances to Four Women, written by Nina Simone, performed by singers Kelly Price, Marsha Ambrious, Lesidi and Jill Scott. Erin Hennessey (’12) presented “From a Positive Conception to the Modern Day Nightmare: Post Civil Rights Construction of Multiculturalism and Colorblindness” and examined the Civil Rights Era and its affect on contemporary America. She argued that the reason why racism is continued is because it can be repeated, and she examined negative dialogue that reflects new racism.

Arvolyn Hill (’11) wrote, “Whose Story is it Anyway? Portrayals of Black Women in Tyler Perry and Spike Lee Movies” which examines the ethnic notions of black women represented in the works of Spike Lee and Tyler Perry, despite their different aesthetics.