Augusta Savage, Sculptor (February 29, 1892 – March 26, 1962)

Augusta Fells (Savage) was born in Green Cove Springs (near Jacksonville), Florida. She began making clay figures as a child, mostly small animals, but her father would beat her when he found her sculptures. This was because at that time, he believed her sculpture to be a sinful practice, based upon his interpretation of the "graven images" portion of the Bible. After the family moved to West Palm Beach, she sculpted a Virgin Mary figure, and, upon seeing it, her father changed his mind, regretting his past actions. The principal of her new school recognized and encouraged her talent, and paid her one dollar a day to teach modeling during her senior year. This began a lifelong commitment to teaching as well as to art.

An excellent audio bio on Augusta Savage given by Ashley Remer 

as part of the Chick History #HerStory project.

The Harp
Inspiration for this piece was
Lift Every Voice and Sing
The African American National Anthem

 Savage posing with her sculpture.

Identification on verso (handwritten and stamped): Art Service Project; 137 E. 57th Street, New York City;
Location: 137th St. and Edgecombe Ave.; DAte: 6/10; Negative No. 1060I; Photographer: Herman.
Identification on accompanying note (typewritten): Augusta Savage

Within Our Gates by Oscar Micheaux

Movie Info

"This film is one of the earliest surviving examples of a film by an African American filmmaker. Sylvia Landry is engaged to a black soldier, but her rival Alma Pritchard arranges for him to catch Sylvia in an innocent but compromising situation. No longer engaged, she moves to the South to work as a teacher in an all-black school. When the school has financial problems, she returns to Boston to raise money for it. There, she is befriended by a white doctor, Dr. Vivian, who falls in love with her. In a flashback, her rival tells the doctor how Sylvia lost her family. Sylvia's father was unjustly accused of murder, and her parents were lynched. Micheaux was not a great artist, but his films are important because they dealt with issues that the mainstream "white" studios ignored. The only surviving print of Within Our Gates was found in an archive in Spain, and the titles had been rewritten in Spanish. When translated back to English, plot points may have been lost. On the other hand, the last third of the film is a haunting flashback to the death of Sylvia's parents. The scenes of the lynch-mob beating one man to death and hanging Mr. and Mrs. Landry are still powerful today, and the film is highly critical of blacks who betray their race to earn favor with the white dominant society." ~ Bruce Calvert, Rovi

Langston Hughes

James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet,
 social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of
the then-new literary art form called jazz poetry. Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He famously wrote about the period that "the negro was in vogue" which was later paraphrased as "when Harlem was in vogue"

No presentation of modern Black American History could be complete without
discussing Langston Hughes.

Introducing Five Black Artists (1971)

National Archives and Records Administration
U.S. Information Agency. (1982 - 10/01/1999)




ARC Identifier 50813 / Local Identifier 306.4583.
INTRODUCES FIVE BLACK AMERICAN ARTISTS -

• CHARLES WHITE, A PAINTER IN LOS ANGELES; 
• ROMARE BEARDEN, A NEW YORK PAINTER WHO USES COLLAGES AND CUT-OUTS; 
• RICHARD HUNT, A SCULPTOR IN CHICAGO; 
• BARBARA CHASE- RIBOUD, A SCULPTOR LIVING IN PARIS; 
• BETTY BLAYTON, A PAINTER-COLLAGE ARTIST AND DIRECTOR OF THE MOMA ART SCHOOL IN HARLEM. ALL ARE ACCOMPLISHED ARTISTS.

Made possible by a donation from Public.Resource.Org.
This movie is part of the collection: FedFlix
Producer: National Archives and Records Administration
Language: English
Keywords: archives.gov; public.resource.org
Creative Commons license: Public Domain

Amiri Baraka "Somebody Blew Up America"

This poem created a lot of hubbub, apologies were called for, resignations
insisted on, people were horrified, indignities were expressed, fouls called.
What a mess.  All that because Somebody Blew Up America. JSMH

Amiri Baraka Speaks to the Importance of African-American History

 Well, Amiri Baraka has passed on but before he transitioned he paid a tribute
to Martin Luther King Jr. and left us with the message that we must never
forget the story of our struggle for justice and equality and we have to continue
to pass that message to future generations and continue to prepare them to
move our struggle forward, until such time as we reach our goal.

 I hope you'll listen to and pass this video on to anyone that you think can
benefit from the contents of this important message.

African American Icon Paul Robeson

Africa Today featured Paul Robeson
(don't miss the audio files at the bottom part of this article)

This program was aired a few years ago but I felt like pushing it up to the top of the blog because we need some inspiration of the kind that mr. Robeson has demonstrated. He stood up for what he believed in and in terms of money and career it cost him dearly but he stood up for what he believed in. We need to remember the sacrifices made by people such as Paul Robeson and teach our children that we can make this place a better place for all people if we stay on track

Walter Turner of Africa Today is featured  Black  Super Hero Paul Robeson.

 Robeson worked as a social activist on behalf of the common working people. He could have enjoyed immense personal success and wealth but he chose the high road. 

 We've all heard of Mr.Robeson but how many of us know about the sacrifices he made or how he stood up to the House Un-American Activities Committee with statements like "You are the Un-Americans and you should be ashamed of yourselves." Wow!

 Turner in the midst of a KPFA fund drive is offering  a Freedom Archives CD of Mr. Robeson but he is also playing selected parts on his podcast - This stuff really knocked my socks off. 

You have to hear it. (Recorded Program Here)

This extra recording is Robeson testifying at the HUAC from the Black Media Archives,           (click here to listen) I recommend you listen to this one.

 See also A Biography of Paul Robeson 

NBUF Black Arts Movement Dedicated to Trayvon Martin

I'm liking this. I really want to see more presentations of socially conscious work by young Black artists. Keep it coming NBUF!

Nina Simone "Feelings" (Montreux Jazz Festival)

Nina Simone was an artist that presented herself from the bottom of her soul. In my opinion the following clip is a presentation as opposed to a performance. What we see here are Nina's "feelings" coming to life on stage. The few other clips that I have seen from that time at the Montreux Jazz Festival were equally compelling each in their own right.



I'm not going to fill up with the clips from that show here but if you're interested, go to youtube and enter "NINA SIMONE live at Montreux,1976" in the search box. I promise you won't be dissappointed, unless someone takes these clips off youtube.