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“On the Shoulders of Giants” may very well be the quintessential Newark Black Film Festival movie. Mixing music, history, sports and the artistry of filmmaking, this documentary pulls together elements that make the Newark Black Film Festival unique. “We try to look at sisters behind the camera, brothers behind the camera, diaspora, historical,” said Pat …
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It was a secret known to few Cincinnatians and to virtually no one outside of the Cincinnati Art Museum. For decades, a spectacular trove of more than 800 antique musical instruments languished – untouched, neglected and forgotten – in storage throughout the museum’s meandering undercroft. The discovery means that Cincinnati could possess one of the …
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Visitors to Chicago’s DuSable Museum of African American History will be inspired by the stories and artistic experiences they find. The artistic emphasis found in much of the museum is no accident. The museum’s primary founder was the late art teacher and art historian Margaret Burroughs. The museum opened in 1961 in her South Side …
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Over the years, The John Birch Society — the organization of which The New American is an organ — has been besmirched by its ideological rivals for all manner of evil, most prominently of which is the sin of “racism.” More specifically, given that its membership has always been and remains predominantly white, it is …
Continue reading “A Forgotten Black Conservative: A Closer Look at George S. Schuyler”
“Sunshine” Joe Mallard participates in an exciting arts/education project that is about to take place at the Louisville Central Community Centers, Inc.. Kids Art Academy afterschool arts program. The project called H.A.R.L.E.M. (How Arts Reflected the Lifestyle and Experiences of the Movement) will be facilitated by local professional arts educators in the community who have …
With a fife and drum band playing Yankee Doodle and civil war re-enactors sweltering in the summer sun, a museum honoring the contribution of African Americans in the US Civil War moved into its new home in Washington Monday. “It is finally finished, a great new 5,000 square foot (465 square meters) African American Civil …
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From the recognizable sounds of the O’Jays to the lesser-known art of Thornton Dial, the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta offers a little bit of everything. There is a magic to almost any arts festival. You can feel the joy and affection flowing through the eager crowds of like-minded people who have come together …
Continue reading “It’s the Mother of All Black Arts Festivals”
Between 1900 and 1940, some 2 million black Americans left their native South to escape racial oppression and seek opportunities in the North. It was called the Great Migration. Now many blacks are coming back – not only because of Sun Belt opportunities, but also because our region has become a better place. New laws, …
Dr. Donna Hollie will discuss the efforts of the African American community both enslaved and free to improve the economic, religious, educational and political climate in one of Baltimore’s oldest neighborhoods. Visitors may bring lunch or purchase lunch from the museum cafe. For more information, or to register, call 443-263-1816. Cost is $5, includes museum …
Continue reading ““Material Girls: Contemporary Black Women Artists,””
Hyde Park native Turtel Onli said the comic book industry has come a long way since he decided to self publish “NOG” in the early 1980s. He said companies then were surprised to learn that he was black at face-to-face meetings. “I can remember when I went to a mainstream comic company is the 1970s, …
Continue reading “Black artists show African-inspired comics can sell”
“Unexpected Encounters” is the theme of the 2011 National Black Arts Festival, and, indeed, there are many acquaintances worth making (or renewing) as the popular event hits full stride this week. Centered in downtown and Midtown Atlanta, especially next weekend when Centennial Olympic Park becomes the festival’s nexus, the NBAF continues through July 17. Here’s …
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Now that Fanizani is no more, the most intriguing question we need to ask ourselves is what did we learn from him? Surely, 50 years in any art genre carries with it some experience, wisdom and direction and whenever possible we should benefit from that. Before we talk about that let’s quickly talk about vultures. …
Continue reading “Fanizani Akuda – an Artist Par Excellence”
The Fowler Museum at UCLA presents “Transcultural Pilgrim: Three Decades of Work by José Bedia,” an exhibition that brings together 28 large-scale figurative paintings and drawings and a newly commissioned, site-specific installation to offer a comprehensive retrospective on this acclaimed member of Cuba’s “Generation of the ’80s,” the pioneering young artists who incorporated Cuban vernacular …
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From outside the deserted Wilmington building, passersby would have no idea that an authentic, nearly 70-year-old Aaron Douglas painting dominates the living room inside. Douglas, the forefather of African-American art and a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance, painted the mural in the home of Dr. William Goens in 1942. The scene, with its shades …
Paying homage seems so reasonable, so modest, such an honorable thing to do. But like the long-winded toast that becomes an aria to me, me, me, or the oversized introduction that leaves the reader with little appetite to read the book itself, the homage can be perilously self-reflexive and solipsistic. Perhaps that’s why artists today …