black history month

Book Review: Looking For Lorraine

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I recently read Imani Perry’s new book, Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry.  This is the first book in a long time that gives a comprehensive look into the life of the black playwright.  It is packed with essays, photos, and letters that have been never seen publicly before.

Although her life was cut short by cancer at the age of 34, her play, A Raisin in the Sun, has left a lasting impression in black history, and in particular black theater.  A lot of her theater work was informed by her social activism, starting with her brief time in Mexico, where she immersed herself in the intersection of the arts and activism.  This was followed by her time in Harlem writing for Freedom, a social justice newspaper founded by actor Paul Robeson.  During her tenure there, she wrote about the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya, women’s rights, and how racism, classism, and imperialism negatively affect people of color around the world.  I think it is also important to note that there were other great women reporters working at Freedom during Hansberry’s tenure, including Vicki Garvin and Alice Childress.

On a separate note, according to this book, Nina Simone, one of Hansberry’s close friends, was a lesbian apparently.  It is news to me, but I guess this was common knowledge?  The book also delves into Hansberry’s homosexuality based on some of her incognito writings for The Ladder, a 1950s  lesbian magazine.

The book also goes into detail about the infamous meeting Hansberry had with Bobby Kennedy in 1963, which I wrote in detail about recently.

I highly recommend the book, as well as the documentary, Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart.

You Should Know About Ralph Bunche

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I am excited that the Boston Public Library has acquired online access to Kanopy, a video streaming service that specializes in independent and educational films.  What I especially like is that Kanopy has access to the entire California Newsreel collection, which is a film distributor that mainly focuses on issues of the African diaspora.  I remember watching many of their films when I was in college many years ago. So I am more than thrilled that I can see these great films on demand on my computer today.

One of my favorite California Newsreel films is Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey (the video below incorrectly says journey…). Ralph Bunche was an American diplomat who helped to establish the United Nations.  He was the first black person to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on the partition plan in Israel.  Bunche was also active in the civil rights movement and worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. Bunche was an inspiration for many black people who pursued careers in foreign service and international development like myself.  I highly recommend this movie for those of you who don’t know who Bunche is and what learn about black history from the international scope.

What is Intersectionality?

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This is one of these new terms I had known about, but couldn’t refer to it by a name until recently.

So here is my definition: Intersectionality is the belief that one person can have many different identities that don’t exist separately and have an effect on how that person is viewed in society. This theory was first developed by race theorist Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw. Identities could include, but not limited to, race, ethnicity, gender, class, nationality, sexual orientation, and disability.

For example, I am a middle-class, first-generation Jamaican-American, college-educated, black female. All of these identities have an effect on how society views me, for both good and bad. I am using my friend, Janine, who is a working-class, fourth-generation Irish-American, white female with a GED and uses a wheelchair. We both face discrimination for being female; however, because I am also black, I face both racial and gender bias. I am an entrepreneur and live in a house and can afford a better standard of life compared Janine who lives paycheck to paycheck at her office manager job. While being a white female in America still hold high privilege, Janine faces discrimination for her disability.

Believe it or not, Sojourner Truth was the first advocate who articulated intersectionality the best during the 1851 Women’s Convention in Ohio:

Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that ‘twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what’s all this here talking about?

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?

Then they talk about this thing in the head; what’s this they call it? [member of audience whispers, “intellect”] That’s it, honey. What’s that got to do with women’s rights or negroes’ rights? If my cup won’t hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn’t you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

Then that little man in black there, he says women can’t have as much rights as men, ’cause Christ wasn’t a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.

Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain’t got nothing more to say.

Sojourner Truth was the truth!

This is a very complex discussion. So here is a video of Crenshaw discussing intersectionality.

The Talking Drums of West Africa

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Over at Global Wire Associates, we released the first article in our yearlong series about the history of communication. We highlighted some of the earliest methods of messaging, ranging from cave paintings to hydraulic semaphore systems.

We briefly touched on all of these methods, but the one that most interested me was the West African tradition of “talking drums.” Drumming for communication continues to be prevalent throughout the region, especially in Nigeria. The drums would communicate specific messages across many miles to different villages. Drumming is also used to celebrate community rituals and religious traditions, as well as tell stories and even gossip. It was also used during wartime to rally the troops.

During slavery throughout the Americas, African slaves would pass their time drumming for entertainment. However, drums were banned because the slaves were communicating to each other over long distances, especially during slave revolts, using a code their owners couldn’t understand.

Go figure!

I have been lucky through my work to travel to Nigeria, Ghana, Benin and Senegal to learn about the different functions of drumming for communication.  Even within the same country, drumming has many different “languages” and traditions.

I found these great videos that explain the history of drumming among African peoples.

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