Copyright © 2000 by Michael
Segers, All rights reserved
Brought to you by Peanut.org
I
never thought that I would learn some great lessons about American culture in
the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, that bastion of European culture on New York's Upper
East Side. But, one pleasant Sunday afternoon, over twenty years ago, escorting
two friends from Georgia, I had a very American experience at the Met that I'm
still trying to understand. We ran into Owen Dodson, an elegant gentleman who
lived in the same apartment building as a friend of mine and who was known for
his elegant, gentle novels. I was delighted to see him--yes, you can run into
people you know in New York's crowds--and I presented him to my friends as
"an outstanding black writer."
To
this day, I do not know why I said that. My friends were not blind. They could
see Owen was black, just as they could see that he was in a wheel chair, but I
did not refer to him as a "handicapped" writer. His books are
outstanding, no matter what color their author or characters. I often thought
about asking Owen how he felt about my introduction, but he died before I got
the nerve to do so.
The
lesson I learned, under the gaze of the lady in a favorite Vermeer painting, was
that no matter what, even in terms of a person whom I liked and a writer whom I
respected, there was something about his color that was very basic in my
perception of him. Of course, there are people of all different colors who would
say that that is a good thing, but I'm not so sure.
Anyway,
I think we need Black History Month, if only to make me stew over my own
problems with race. There is no Generic White Boys' Month, but there is no need
for it. White and male are the defaults in our society. If you do not think it
necessary to dedicate a month to black history, how about giving black history a
try for just a week? I've snooped around on the Internet and come up with links
to correspond to seven days of a scaled back commemoration of black history.
Give it a try. You may learn something. I know that I have.
Oh,
no, it's Monday, and that means we have to go to work. So, how better to begin
Black History Week that with a look at one of the hardest working and most
successful people in American history, Madam C. J. Walker, who was America's
first woman of any color to make herself a millionaire. Learn more about this
fascinating woman and her contributions:
http://view.womenswire.com/goodnews/people/d0128feature.html
The
New York City neighborhood of Harlem was perhaps the first home of the black
middle class. At "Home to Harlem," you can tour this fascinating
neighborhood--unfortunately, without all the good smells that waft out of the
restaurants there:
www.hometoharlem.com/Harlem/hthadmin.nsf/harlem/homepage
Let's
get serious on Tuesday with a look at the contributions of some black writers
whose works you may not be familiar with. One of the people in New York I most
enjoyed being around--he was an active member of the literary organization for
which I worked--was Albert Murray. Like my father, he has a background in the
Air Force. He is a fellow southerner, a jazz historian, and a social
commentator, regarded as a teacher and model for a generation of young black
conservatives. But, unlike most conservatives, he can sustain a spirit of
celebration and joy in his writing that makes me want to say, "Amen,
Brother Murray," when I read his work. For a delightful interview with
"the unsquarest person around," that anybody of any color can enjoy,
look at:
www.salon.com/09/reviews/murray1.html
To
balance a conservative male writer with a woman of a different political
persuasion, consider the author Toni Cade Bamabara:
www.public.asu.edu/%7Emetro/aflit/bambara/index.html
For
a great site dedicated to "Poets of the Harlem Renaissance and After,"
go to:
www.poets.org/lit/exh/ex006fst.htm
I
was disappointed to find very little about Owen Dodson on the Internet, but here
is a memoir of him by one of his students. Like Marguerite Young, he was a
legendary teacher who gave so much of himself to his students that we probably
have fewer books with his name on them than we should have:
http://gloria-brame.com/glory/glorbio1.htm#poets.htm
See,
this can be fun, and if you need any more evidence, let's dedicate Wednesday to
comic strips drawn by blacks, Curtis, Wee Pals, and my favorite, Jump
Start, which always has some pertinent remarks about Black History Month:
www.kingfeatures.com/comics/curtis
www.unitedmedia.com/comics/weepals
www.unitedmedia.com/comics/jumpstart
As
I've mentioned before, I take comic strips very seriously as indicators of what
is going on in American culture. It seems to me that the comic pages are among
the most segregated in the newspaper. It's not just in the art museum that we
learn lessons about our society.
So,
if this is Thursday, this must be Africa, and I found such a wealth of good
African sites that I could have done a whole article. Let’s begin with the
very thorough "Africa Online":
Of
course, to explore one of my interests, "The African Writer," explore:
www.africaonline.com/AfricaOnline/griotstalk/writers/series.html
For
"The Internet Living Swahili Dictionary," just one of many languages
spoken in Africa, refer to:
www.cis.yale.edu/swahili/swahilihome.htm
For
African newspapers from A (Algeria) to Z (Zimbabwe), look at:
www.samara.co.zw/standard/index.cfm
So,
Friday at last in our Black History Week, and you know what that means. Thank
Goodness, It’s Friday, and let’s have some fun and games. Oh, yeah, we all
know, black folks are good players. But, chess? Just ask Maurice Ashley, the
first black Grand Master (won’t it be good when someday Mr. Ashley can be
identified as Grand Master, not as the first black Grand Master?) and a
bunch of talented kids in Harlem:
www.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/articles/0,3266,38421,00.html
How
about another sport at which blacks excel?
www.wildcow.com/articles/pickett_tour/legacy/legacy.htm
Although
you would never know it from the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, Fred
Whitfield is, yep, the first black All Around Cowboy:
www.prorodeo.com/html/2.3.1.allaround.html
Although
professional football is a sport more often associated with black players, it is
a sad reality that there are not many black coaches. But, everybody of every
color can be proud of a good, decent man like the head coach of the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers, Tony Dunghy [as of the writing of this
article], a pro football coach for people who have no use for pro
football:
www.nfl.com/Buccaneers/news/coaching/index.html
Saturday
night, and everything is all right! Let’s have some music. For some perhaps
unexpected sounds of music by black performers, how about the great William
Warfield, who not only was married for some years to the black soprano Leontyne
Price but also performed some years ago in nearby Albany, Georgia:
www.riverwalk.org/profiles/warfield.htm
For
another type of black music, let’s tune in Huddie Ledbetter, known as
Leadbelly, not only a great composer but also a great conservator of
all-American tunes:
http://cycad.com/cgi-bin/Leadbelly/index.html
And,
don’t forget that the black experience is not confined just to Africa and the
United States. Check out "Afro-Caribbean Music" at:
www.ina.fr/Music/index.en.html
It’s
Sunday, and no matter what happened on Saturday night, it’s time to consider
the impact of religion on the life of black Americans. We can start with
"African-American Religion in the Nineteenth Century":
www.nhc.rtp.nc.us:8080/tserve/nineteen/nkeyinfo/nafrican.htm
Then,
we can go on to "Santeria, A Practical Guide to Afro-Caribbean Magic,"
which you can explore at:
www.iac.net/~moonweb/Santeria/TOC.html
Finally,
let’s remember Malcolm X, whose Autobiography is one of the most
powerful stories of human growth and development, in matters spiritual (Islamic)
and otherwise, that I know of. I rambled around the Internet, getting
increasingly unhappy with what I found about this great black man who happened
to be American, this great American who happened to be black. Then I found a
website that could stand as a model for websites, a cyber-memorial appropriate
for "Brother Malcolm," who came to understand before his death that he
was a brother to us all:
I’ve
said many times before that About.com is the place to go for all your Internet
needs. I’m pleased to report that African American Culture Guide R. Jeneed
Jones makes that statement true for those of us looking for information about
African Americans along with our other Internet research.
http://afroamculture.about.com
I
remember once watching with my father a report on the mysteries of "soul
food," the hearty, resourceful cooking of black Southerners or Southern
blacks. "Gee," my father said, unconsciously echoing the Moliére
character who had been speaking prose all his life, "I’ve been eating
soul food all my life… and I never knew it!" See what you’ve been
missing or maybe lucky enough not to miss at:
This
has been a particularly difficult rave, even worse than what followed my seeing The
Beach last week. As I look back on the experience of writing this article, I
find the most hope in my honest admission that I am not comfortable with my
attitudes about race. I hope that with my dry feet, the inherent nobility of the
thoughts with which I try to fill my heart, and the soulfulness of my southern
soul (an attribute that I share with so many black people), I can muddle on
through inflicting as little pain as possible. Perhaps I can do some growth,
some good along the way.
I
hope.