Black History Month Day 1
Valaida Snow- Jazz Musician and Entertainer. Talented trumpeter and vocalist, was known as “Little Louis” and “Queen of The Trumpet”. Growing up in Show Business family, by the time she was 15 she played a variety of instruments including bass, cello, harp and saxophone. She could both sing and dance.
A Harlem Renaissance alumnus, she received good notices from groundbreaking show Shuffle Along. She achieved an international following and starred in films with her husband Ananias Berry of famed Berry Brothers Dance Troupe. The tragedy
WWII descended upon her when she became a prisoner of war, a trauma from which she never fully recovered from and ended her promising career.
Black History Month Day 2 : Richard Nathaniel Wright,
Novelist, poet, essayist, short story writer. This brilliant novelist and writer's works spoke of the violence and alienation of racism. Through his powerful works, most notably the novel Native Son, Wright is credited to helping improve race relations in America. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wright_(author)
#blackhistorymonth #BlackHistoryMonth2023 #Blackauthors #NegroProgressmovement #richardwrightauthor #nativeson #blackboynovel
Novelist, poet, essayist, short story writer. This brilliant novelist and writer's works spoke of the violence and alienation of racism. Through his powerful works, most notably the novel Native Son, Wright is credited to helping improve race relations in America. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wright_(author)
#blackhistorymonth #BlackHistoryMonth2023 #Blackauthors #NegroProgressmovement #richardwrightauthor #nativeson #blackboynovel
Black History Month Day 3
Gwendolyn Brooks-Poet and Educator. A prolific writer she published her first works at age 16. She received recommendations from fellow writers such as Richard Richard Wright and Langston Hughes. She was the first Black American to win a Pulitzer Prize for her book Annie Allen and was the Poet Laureate for the United States 1985-1986
Black History Month Day 4
African Grove Theatre was a theatre founded and operated by William Alexander Brown, a free black in New York City in 1821. It was the first place Ira Aldridge, renowned black Shakespearian actor, first saw a production of the Bard's work.
Black History Month Day 5
Jessie Redmon Fauset editor, poet, essayist, novelist, and educator. Sought realistic depicts of African American life in her fiction, avoiding generalizations and stereotypes. In her roles as literary editor of The Crisis, a NAACP magazine and as a literary reviewer, she encouraged writers of the Harlem Renaissance to strive for earnest representation of Black lives.
azz: Music of the Harlem Renaissance
Explorations celebrates Black History Month by exploring the music of the Harlem Renaissance. Jazz, Blues and Swing. Join us as we visit the sounds of the Cotton Club, Speakeasy and everything you'd hear in 1920's up pass 125th Street.
Black History Month Day 6
William Henry Johnson- Artist student at the National Academy of Design in New York City. His work evolved from realism to expressionism to folk art, a style predominating his work.A Harlem Rena Alumnus his paintings depict scenes of African-American life and culture. A prolific artist, a large portion of his works reside at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Black History Month 2023, Day 7
Madame Sul-ate-Wan-Actress born as Nellie Crawford, she was the daughter of former slaves, she was the first black actress to sign a contract as featured player. She appeared in DW Griffith’s Birth of a Nation and intolerance. She played opposite of both the Gish Sisters in their films and was popular character actor in stage and screen, easily making the change from silent movies to Talkies
Black History Month 2023 Day 8
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III jazz singer, dancer, and bandleader. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he performed regularly. Born on Christmas day,
"Hi-de-ho" Man first Black musician to sell a million records from a single song and to have a nationally syndicated radio show.
Black History Month 2023 Day 9
Augusta Fells Savage, Sculptor and educator. Started to create work as a child and continued to produce sculpture in defiance of strict Minister father. Having been turned down for a Summer Art program she was qualified for solely for being black, she became an advocate for equal rights of Black people and women in the Arts.Though having received of Numerous international awards and scholarships, financial difficulty beset her all her life. Harlem Renaissance Alumnus, sculpting busts of luminaries W. E. B. Dubois and Marcus Garvey. She was educator and mentor a generation of nationally known artists.
Note: Augusta Savage is a Leap Year Baby; she was Born February 29 1892
Black History Month 2023, Day 10
Aaron Douglas, Painter. Harlem Renaissance Alumnus painted murals and created illustrations that addressed social issues around race and segregation using African-centric imagery. Worked with W. E. B. Du Bois, then-editor at The Crisis, a monthly journal of the NAACP, and became art editor briefly in 1927
.
Black History Month 2023 Day 11
The Harlem Renaissance-The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual, social, and artistic Movement for African- American that took place in Harlem, New York, During the 1920s-1930s. Known in Black community as the "New Negro Movement", named after The 1925 anthology edited by philosopher Alain Locke, Harlem New York served as epicenter of the Negro progressive movent, with other Black Communities in Chicago and Paris. As with all revivals it was promotion of Culture and thought.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem_Renaissance
#Blackhistorymonth #Blackhistorymonth2023 #Blackartist
#BlackPhilosophy #HarlemRenaissance #blackculture
Black History Month 2023, Day 12
Allen ”Farina” Hoskins -Actor
Beginning acting as a toddler in silent films he was the Breakout star of Hal Roach’s Our Gang Comedies or Lil Rascals. As most child stars, he was very successful in his youth only to become unemployed by the time he was 13 years old. For a short time he did vaudeville, Our Gang specialty shows and 7 films in mostly uncredited roles. A WWII Vet, mustered out at rank of Sergeant. He achieved later success as Director of facilities of caring for People with special needs. He opened his own Theatre company and was inducted in the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1975.
Black History Month 2023, Day 13
Bessie Coleman, Civil Aviator. Known as Queen Bess, she became the first Black and Native American woman to gain an aviator's license. Did so out of a duty to be a representative of people of color in aviation. Would only perform for desegregated audiences.
Happy Valentines Day
Black History Month 2023, Day 14
Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald) Entertainer, French Resistance agent, and civil rights activist. Baker was the first African-American to star in a major motion picture, the 1927 silent film Siren of the Tropics. Known as the "Black Venus", this Harlem Renaissance alumni was a sensation at the revue Un vent de folie in 1927 in France. Awarded
Croix de guerre and Legion Of Honor for her efforts in the French Resistance in WWII.
Black History Month 2023, Day 15
Malvin Gray Johnson painter, Student of National Academy of Design, the youngest member of the Harlem Renaissance artists' worked in a variety of styles. Influenced by Impressionism and Cubism, he was one of the first black artists to paint cubist works. In his brief life he exhibited in the famed Harmon Exhibits in 1929 at the Smithsonian.
Black History Month 2023, Day 16
Eleanora Fagan, professionally known as Billie Holiday, singer. with a career spanning nearly thirty years. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner Lester Young, Holiday’s seminal influence on jazz music and pop singing pioneered manipulating phrasing and tempo, Her style strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists. She began Her singing career in nightclubs in Harlem,
Initially under name Billie Dove
#BlackhistoryMonth #BlackHistoryMonth2023 #BlackSingers #Jazz #BillieHoliday #HarlemRenaissance
Black History Month 2023, Day 17
Jack Carter -actor. Known for creating the role of Crown in the original Broadway production of Porgy (1927). He starred in Orson Welles's stage productions of Macbeth, Premiering Federal Theatre Project's 1936 New York production of that came to be known as the Voodoo Macbeth
Black History Month 2023, Day 18.
Black Macbeth -In 1936, the Federal Theatre Project produced an all black production of Macbeth set on a fictional island and directed by Orson Welles, it was a box sensation of it's time. To quote Wikipedia " landmark theatrical event for several reasons: its innovative interpretation of the play, its success in promoting African-American theatre, and its role in securing the reputation of its 20-year-old director."
Black History Month Day 2023 19
Gertrude "Ma" Rainey (Pridgett) Singer.. The "Mother of the Blues” Ma Rainey is at the fulcrum of Vaudeville and blues. Her style and approach influenced an entire generation of blues singers. One of the Blueswoman of Harlem, while she was married (Thomas “Pa” Pridgett) she occupied a the tolerant, permissive world of Harlem nightclubs in which Gay and Lesbians inhabited and is believed to have been Lesbian or Bisexual. Having recorded with such fellow Harlem alumnus Louis Armstrong, Ma Rainey largely retired from performing in 1935.
Black History Month 2023, Day 20
Loretta Mary Aiken Aka Jackie "Moms" Mabley, comedian. A veteran of the Chitlin' Circuit, she pioneered a edgy, topical brand of comedy that opened the door for many to follow. She also appeared on era mainstays like the Ed Sullivan Show and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.
lack History Month 2023, Day 22
Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks Photojournalist and Filmmaker
A Polymath, Gordon Parks’ considerable achievements have filled film documentaries and books of their own. Self taught photographer, he used his camera to document black life and experiences. As a filmmaker he directed such films as The Learning Tree and his best known film action-adventure Shaft.
Black History Month 2023 Day 23,
Nina Simone.
Eunice Kathleen Waymon, know as Nina Simone was Singer/songwriter, pianist, arranger, composer and Civil Rights activist. Her achievements could and have filled entire books. This gifted artist is worthy of consideration and study.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Simone
#blackhistorymonth #blackmusicians #civilrights #ninasimone #younggiftedandblack
#BlackHistoryMonth2023
Nina Simone.
Eunice Kathleen Waymon, know as Nina Simone was Singer/songwriter, pianist, arranger, composer and Civil Rights activist. Her achievements could and have filled entire books. This gifted artist is worthy of consideration and study.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Simone
#blackhistorymonth #blackmusicians #civilrights #ninasimone #younggiftedandblack
#BlackHistoryMonth2023
Black History Month 2023, Day 24
Spencer Williams, actor and filmmaker. A World War I veteran, he was best known for playing Andy on TV's Amos 'n' Andy Show and for directing the 1941 race film The Blood of Jesus. Williams was a pioneer African-American film producer and director.
Black History Month Day 25 2023
Katherine Johnson (born Creola Katherine Coleman) Scientist and mathematician
Her calculations of Orbital mechanics for NASA were critical to the success of the U.S. crewed spaceflights. She mastered complex manual calculations and helped pioneer the use of computers to perform the tasks. Her calculations were also essential to the beginning of the Space Shuttle program and and she worked on plans for a mission to Mars.
Black History Month 2023, Day 26
Tim Moore-Actor a dancer in his youth, his career spanned from vaudeville to early TV. Having been in several successful, world traveling vaudeville acts and a stint as professional boxer, he achieved his greatest success in the role of George "Kingfish" Stevens in the CBS TV's The Amos 'n' Andy Show. The character was so beloved that by the time of his death in 1958 some 10,000 mourners passed his open coffin.
Black History Month 2023, Day 27
Zora Neale Hurston, novelist, short story writer, folklorist, and anthropologist. A literary genius and Harlem Renaissance alumnus, there is much in her oeuvre worthy of perusal. From filmmaking to writing, Hurston contributions are considerable.
Black History Month 2023, Day 28
James Arthur Baldwin-novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic. This man of letters was a stalwart of the Civil Rights movement. His social criticism of America was borne of his love of country, candor and astute observations.
In 2017 I began a project. I was committed to the sharing of images of notable figures in black history through social media for each of the days of Black History Month. In 2019, I began producing rendering of these figures, employing whatever media I chose on that day. 5 years later and 144 pictures later I felt it time for a retrospective of previous work. My mission then is my mission now; celebrating these incredible figures and their achievements. In no way can my small efforts reflect the enormous contributions these people given to American culture and history. I merely seek to honor and pay tribute to them.
