A PIECE OF AFRICA!

A PIECE OF AFRICA...

EVERYBODY WANTS A PIECE OF AFRICA,

LIKENED TO A FRAGMENT OF THE GREAT EARTH-MOTHER,

KNOWING... THAT TO PUT THE PIECES TOGETHER...

IS TO DISCOVER...

THAT HER POWER IS POWER...

By David Vollin

When I wrote this poem I was a dreamy student of architecture at Hampton University... My colleagues there may remember the many intellectual discussions we had on Afrocentrism, Postmodernism, Futurism, Deconstructivism and Neo-Primativism... all of the many isms of the day.  As most artists have done, I searched for a medicum inwhich to express my theories on Afrocentrism and that medium became furniture.  At that time I designed what I called the Shaniqua Chair, a fanciful chair based on the overscaled sillhowette of an inner city African American Woman  wearing a monothically architectectonic hair style and huge bamboo earrings.  Along with this imagery add the effusion of gold bangles, finger nose and earrings, necklaces and other adornments typical of the postmodern era.  I would like in reflection, to think that my decision to design a tool for seating based on a womans hair style was a rare combination of social manifesto, wit and pure experimentalism.  At this time the Memphis style had captivated us and we began to  incorporate it's concepts into our designs for  buildings and objects.  The Memphis book had a prominent position upon the shelf of my dormitory room... which became a collecion of memphis and postmodern furnishings and artifacts gathered on our weekend travels to DC, Philly, and New York in search of "The Architectonic Experience" imangined to have been missed in the hallowed and sleepy but much beloved halls of Hampton University.  But when my friends and I were in town we turned Bemis Laboratory, the school of architecture, into a hotbed of intellectualism and experimentation.  We formed a design collaborative called, "Architectnoir" and wrote our own manifesto proclaiming a new era in design expressionism and mannerism that would begin to incorporate elements of African design and culture.  We carefully planned and rehearsed our presentations, critiqueing one anothers delineations, models and script.  We went shopping for our "presentation clothes" which typically included something black, and may have incorporated vintage and other accessories we had designed and made ourselves.  My colleagues at Hampton and I spent countless hours theorizong the meaning of postmodernism.  Finally, while pondering the word a year or so aftter I left Hampton to attend Catholic University it hit me!  Postmodernism, or at least the term... was a sham... and empty hollow shell literally meaning nothing more than, "After Modernism"!  How could you define an era by calling it simply "After Modernism"?  It was always my opinion that the modern era had not yet come to a close.  After all, no new technology or innovation or even aesthetic had replaced the way man had been building, painting or thinking for the past 100 to 150 years.  Socially, even though the sexual revolution had interjected prophetic seeds of change, we were essentially still in the last phases of the victorian era... all of the gadgets of modernism had not been fully activated yet...  and tt was clear that the era between the late 1970's and 90's lacked a real identity... who would coin it?  The actual name hummanity would ascribe to the period of time from roughly 1972 till 1999 would be left for posterity.  The term, postmodernism quickly vanished as I am sure everyone else had come to the same conclusion I had reached.  Like the era, Shaniqua was layered, clustered, guilded, wrapped, faux finished, cross cultured, oversized and otherwise enamored of the trappings of this nameless era which seemed so cluttered with self absorption.  The 80's was obsessed with external verification of status.  Drug dealers,  the omnipresent icons of the day and their women legendarily wore their assetts upon them, perhaps for safe keeping in such a trecherous and uncertain milieau.  An ongoing African Tradition has been for men and women to wear their wealth as a show of status.  These connections are unavoidable and support my theory of hybrid culture.  But the 80's was obsessed with excess from the lowest exhelons of the ghetto to the highest of haute couture.  The upper social classes were also engaged in a fantasy of what the media termed, "conspicuous consumption"... It was an American thing, it was a golbal thing... it was the culture of the 1980's. 



During the 1980's there was a brief revival of exuberantly stylized fashions for womens hair.  Hair pieces were ritully attached, glued, layered and stacked in ways that mirrored styles worn by West African women.  At the same time Martin Lawrence popularized a character of his own creation called Shanaenae.  Shanaenae was the quintessential "Ghetto" girl... unpolished, uneducated, boisterous, overly aggressive and fitting the stereotype of the angry black women who finds success in her career but not in her love life.  This form of hair style reached its pinnicle in "Charm City", Baltimore, which became renown for its ability to execute complex hair styles incorporating multiple textures and materials such as flecks of  gold and silver, woven theads jewelry, fruits, birds and other objects.  Shanaenae was a caricature, a parody... she was L.L. Cool J.'s  round-the-way girl, she was the banjee girl imitated in the drag balls and vogueing contests of inner city gay culture.  In every way  Shanaenae was the antithesis of Martin's wife who was a polished and beautiful  corporate proffessional.  Shananenae gave you realness... maybe not authentic continental African realness... but hers was the flavor of the streets in a time when street credibility was everything, so much that some famous rappers went to jail for it.  I am not saying that Shaniqua is the paradigm for the late 20th Centrury "Noble Savage" as model for Afrocentric realness but I am saying that the formula for true Afrocentrism did not come from the hallowed halls of the black intelligentsia alone, rather it came from simple folk who made due with what little material and intellectual wealth they had to make a bold and revolutionary statement about culture without plagiarising or being too derivative.  Shaniqua, unlike Shanaenae, was not a parody, buffoon or caricature, she was an idealised woman who was responsible, proper, intelligent though not well educated, huanitarian and community oriented... she was the Kore, the Chloe of the ghetto.


 I argued that this woman named Shaniqua was a woman of modest means who could not speak Swahili or easily enter in a discussion on Binin Bronzes, Ashanti jewelry, The relationship between Byzantine architecture and Coptic symbolism in Ancient Ethiopian churches but she knew that she was of African descent and felt the desire to express her reverence for her ancestors in the naming of her child and her expression of external beauty. 


That she knew of and recognized their importance at all is significant and shows that there was some cosmoligic link between just surviving the odds and setting a foundation from which to concquer them.  While I was developing the persona for Shaniqua I bounced my theory off a female confidant at Hampton.  From her bourgeois perspective Shaniqua was too completely unimaginable to be memorialized in the form of a practical object d'art...  While I do concede that the black  bourgeoise plays an important role in the maintainence of the African American community as a whole there are some aspects of it's narrowness of sight which will continue to limit it's ability to capture the spirit and attention of our age and lest it become utterly insulated within it's own bias efforts must be made to transform itself into a phenomenon worthy of popular opinion and credibility.  For the present it is too aloof...

There appear to be two distinct ways inwhich African Americans have expressed the desire to preserve the legacy of Mother Africa. one is through scholarly pursuit of African culture with the intent to absolutely re-assimilate the full range of cultural offerings into their daily lives or to replicate selected aspects verbatim.  The other approach is a synthesis of what we know of African Culture with elements of the African American experience.  It is my belief that the latter is the only true form of what we call African American Culture because it fuses elements taken from both sides of the diaspora into a hybrid of unique and site-specific form.  In order to support this argument I will need to digress with a commentary of the nature of what we call popular culture. 

Ask any person... the first person... that you encounter to please tell you the name of at least one popular song from the early 1700's and you will undoubtedly see they have pulled a blank.  Popular culture is a volatile phenomenon.  For instance, although the passing of a well known neighbor will gather local and even regional headlines today, after about 100 to 150 years anyone who ever knew or heard of them would have been dead unless they are descendants.  Popular culture preserves only a small fraction over time of what was once commonly known.  It is dusturbing but likely that almost everything we know to be popular will be utterly forgotten in 100 years, replaced with newer data relevant to primary sources for its importance. 

Over the roughly 400 centuries that Africans have existed in America most of the culture which was once common to them has been forgotten.  The popular culture of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries is compelling and captivating indeed.  While an attempt at a verbatim infusion of African culture would probably not be succesful at this time because it would not have the ability to compete with already established elements of popular culture identity a hybrid would have a much better chance to rise to the upper clouds of popular culture.  Two examples are the popularity of dreadlocks and braiding as alternative hairstyles for African American men and women.  Although many men and women who wear these styles may not even be aware of their true origins or of the cosmological symbolism they denote... they are considered to be acceptable elements of popular African American, Afrocentiric culture.  Afro Sheen mounted a popular campapign during the late 1960's and 1970's to popularize the "Afro" or the "Natural" in direct opposition to the conckoline or permanant pressed hair styles popular with black men and women.  Although it has has marginal popularity over the past 30 years the afro has again become a popular mens and womens style, it's clear reference is to African and aboriginal human ethnic origins.  So the incorporation of African or Africanesque elements into already popular cultural trends creates a hybrid esteemed as an essential element of popular culture and maintained only as long as it is deemed relevant.  Hopefully these elements of African origin will continue to be considered relevant by African American peoples and as they become more aware they will incorporate even more elements in an effort to replace these elements which they feel are essential to their current state of being.



So how does the Shaniqua chair factor into this equation?  It's very simple in fact.  She, with her pure and unaffected expression of reverance will name her child Takasha or Imbari, Mobari or Layanya, or some other name of absolute artifice with the idea that it has the feel and sound... the soul of something african. She has created something new.  Scholars who name their children proper African names will also do due dilligence by teaching their children their meanings and will teach them of the culture and traditions of the African tribes from which their names were borrowed.  But without actually living from birth the traditions of the tribe, the cosmology and folkways that tie the names, language, food, and everything else together at best we African American scholars can only be good scholars of these cultures.  Nobody outside the close and well informed circle of those who speak and understand Swahili will even know what a grammatically accurate African name sounds like or means.  In a culture where such things as names bear heavy cosmological significance this is important to how a person is percieved and percieves themself.  In a culture where personal names have virtually no meaning or cosmologic significance at all, (such as in America), even the best chosen name is largely insignificant within the context of society.  Shaniqua took something that sounded African to her and transformed it into something that has relevance not in Africa but here in America.  She recalled the structure, volume and articulation of hairstyles worn centuries ago and revised them to create a new fashion incorporating modern materials and techniques and speaking to the aesthetic demands of a modern Amerin audience.  hair design.  I hesitate to use this word but I must intercede to mention it as the name of a an afrocentric hair salon I saw in the 80's called, "Hairology" where the aestheticians allegedly studied hair in all its manefestations.  The hair stylists of Baltimore proved the test of hybrid afrocentricity with their experiments in hair design. We understand what it signifies, it is part of our culture, folkways, language and cosmology and aestetic. 

Well... my theory about Afrocentrism is very basic and familiar in structure.   Because our ancestors were virtually stripped of their language and culture during the centuries long process of enslavement and assimilation we have always had a desire to recapture what was percieved to have been lost.  I remember watching the landmark series, "Roots" in the 70's as Kunta Kente... yes... "Kente"... resisted his newly given name of Toby.  Our ancestors had to ultimately choose their battles wisely in order to survive relegating many traditions to secrecy away from the scrutiny of white Americans but vowing never to give up their connection with a home that they would never live to see again.  Sankofa is the quintessential expression of this truth.  Since we have so digressed from any semblance of what we know or do not know to be "traditional African culture" It can never truly have the same precedence, meaning, and cultural relevance as that of African American culture which is dominant because it is the very world we live in from day to day.  It's tantamount to learning to speak Yoruba  but living in a world where it is never spoken outside of a very small circle and of course simply speaking the language is not the same as growing up within the culture, places and experienceing all the psychical phenomenon that give the very language it's meaning.  This essay called the Shaniqua chair was an attempt to explicate the term we affectionately call, "African American Culture".  So let me here set down a definition for African American culture:  The linguistic, cosmologic, dietary, sexual, behavioral, philosophic, aesthetic oral and written traditions of traditional African culture preseved and evolved through generations of struggle combined with and modified by western european language, diet, sexual, behavioral, philosophic, aesthetic oral and written traditions to galvanize a hybrid and uniquely evolved expression of social intity.   

 Well, let me tell you where this poem came from.  As an avid  collector of antiques and artifacts I have entered may lovely homes of extravagant and simple elegance.  One vein is clear.  Each time I entered the home of an African American person I saw multiple artifacts, masks, paintings, sculpture, furniture and other objects d'art but the objects were always oddly out of context.  Why was a funerary mask be hanging on a wall beside a football poster?  Why was a faux Egyptian papyrus wreed painting written with meaninglessly arranged hyroglyphs?  Why was kente pattern, reserved for sacred occasions, adorning a commercial chicken box and retail uniform? My first reaction was one of resolute horrorror but I was young...  Once I had time to contemplate this phenomenon I realized that it was not important that the African Artifacts be kept in the correct context or if they even could be read or understood... they were merely comforting reminders of our past!  Pieces... Fragments of mother Africa that we had assembled in an attempt to show reverence for our heritage.  I realized that we were symbolically putting all of the fragmentary pieces together for ourselves in order to create a coherent image of who we were and where we came from.  Like Shaniqua, we may not have been technically accurate in our assemblage but that did not matter because in so doing we had created something of newer meaning and relevance.  These random artifacts gave us power... power to complete ourselves in ways that had been denied for over 400 years of bitter struggle in this land.  Now I understood the expressions I heard during the early sixties and seventies when I was a boy; Power to The People, Right On, Brotha, Blood... they all made so much sense to me...

THE VOYAGE OF LIFE: PAINTING SERIES BY THOMAS COLE, AMERICAN SCHOOL

Thomas Cole is one of my favorite nineteenth century landscape painters.  He founded the Hundson River School of painting.  His rich and dark pallette is very similar to that of various Italian and Dutch schools.  Of particular interest is his painting series called, The Voyage of Life executed around 1840.  The first of the canvases shown above is called "Childhood."  In this canvas a young male child emerges from the dark womb of the mountain acompanied by a guardian angel.  The boat is carved with rich roccocco figures gilded and happy, allegories of the emotions and carelessness of childhood.  The boat emerges into a world pristine and primordial, lush and vivacious. 

  "Youth," being sent out into the  world by the guardian angel watches while the young man proceeds on his journey.  The expressions and postures of the figures in the boat have changed, they are no longer babes but now wear more serious countenances.  In the far background is a faboulous edifice that appears to be composed of cloud vapour.  This structure reminds me of the fanciful and hauntingly modern structures that Titian placed in his landscapes.  Perhaps the edifice is an allegory for democracy since it appears to be a much stylized US Capitol building, or a mirage of an updated St. Peters.  It seems to represent the hopes and aspirations of a young, civic minded man...

"Manhood,"is an acute departure from youth.  The Landscape becomes treacherous, a dark stormy pall overtakes the once pastoral and edenesque landscape.  Rapids portend a hazardous journey and the figures carved into the boat take on the countenance and posture of alarm and fear for what may lay ahead.  Everything about the landscape has changed.  Through a fissure in the gloom a patch of borrowed landscape shows a beautiful evening sky but this reality is far from the one our subject will presently encounter. 

"Old Age," the boat has been wrecked by the rapids, its carefully crafted figures are broken and shattered.  the terrestrial landscape has dissapeared.  In medieval literature, "The Sea," was a metaphor for heaven.  the angel which had been watching the man from afar in the paintings now comes down to welcome the man and relieve him of his mortal journey.  A host of angels await him in the nimbus cutting through the cumulonimbus clouds.  He is at the end of his long journey.  The seascape is serene but ominous and the aolian landscape is threatening and tempestuous as if it is only being held at bay by for this brief time of transitiion. 

If you ever have time please go to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. to view this incredible series.  When I was in high school I would cut school to sketch the great masters and study their work.  This painting has remained one of my favorites and each time I see it again I gain deeper insight into its meaning. 

Victorians lived closer to mortality than modern people do today.  They more intimately experienced the inevitable transition from birth to death than we  do today.  This series celebrates life and suggests that we make our impressions now and that we are on lifes journey alone with little time to waste and no chance to go back to redo what has been done...

The natue of Conscience

Intent is a volatile, ephemeral vapour... but conscience.... conscience is permanent as a base element, invading every atom of our humanity...  D. Vollin 4-4-11

TAKING NOTES FROM SOME STYLISH BROTHAS

Over the years I have been quietly taking notes from stylish brothas, borrowing elements of style and incorporating them into my personal expression of style.  I would like to give them credit for their effort and hopefully these men who inspired me will will or have inspired you as well.  If so, then we will be waling down this avenue together recalling some of the greatest men of style...

I was sitting out at a cafe enjoying the summer sun when a handsome and particularly stylish gentleman came up to me and mentioned that he particularly liked my fedora.  "Well", I said, "Thank you so much it is a vintage hat from the early fifties."  We began to talk about hats and style in general and both found that from an early age we had both got our fashion tips  from the older mature gentlemen that made an impression upon us.  More than other thing the icons I came to admire from  the jazz, blues and film industries shaped my personal style.  As a child and young man I took careful notes of the clothing my father and his buddies wore; how tweeds were worn with turtulenecks, how cufflinks and cuffs were worn, how hats were tipped, cravats knotted and such, I saved it all up for a time when i could use it.  By my mid teens I was buying 1940's zuit suits, smoking jackets and 50's sharkskins from vintage stores.  I had to wear suspenders to keep the large pants from falling off.  My parents must have thought I was a  riot in those big 40's suits and tuxedos.  I was fascinated with tuxedos, especially tails which I found to be an especially elegant way for a gentleman to look. When I see a stylish man on the street I always stop to complement him.  The ultimate complemant one gentleman can pay to another is to aknowledge his mastery of true masculine style. 

So I mentally stored all of those images of dapper gentlemen who I felt had a strong sense of masculine style and now I would like to begin to chat about the lessons I learned  from some of my personal favorites over the years.  Nat King Cole always struck me as a sharp brotha who's send of style was a modern, clean and effortless as his music.  He always has a crisp unclutterd look.  He always made sure to show just the right amount of cuff.  In these two photographs he has a relaxed look, his jacket is full and comfortible looking and it seems to flow like silk from his shoulders. 

aI really like the the photo of Nat in the double breasted sweater.  Its such a cool classic look again with soft clean lines. Nat King Cole always had a soft but sharp feel to him.  He always looked as if he was dressed for a romantic date.   

To the left he sings in a suit made of a muted grey and blue with an oplescent sheen.  He accessorizes with a simple narrow black tie and silver watch. 

I like this picture of Nat with a black and white houndstooth fedora, black double breasted sweater, ivory, elongated collar polo shirt and soft light caramel coloured camel pants.  I'd love to have a sweater like his.

Below are two classic photographs of Nat King Cole standing with a white trenchcoat and playing keyboard with his signature black and white houndstooth fedora smoking a cigarette.  Again, Nat always keeps the palette simple.  He usually limits his ensembles to three or less colors and when he features a distinct pattern he allows it to be the sole point of interest never mixing plaids and stripes or any combination of patterns that are singularly bold. 



Sammy Davis Jr. on the right is my second choice.  Here is a young Sammy Davis Jr. Wearing a very well tailored suit, generous lapels soft and clean.  I love the width and fall of his polka dot necktie which he tied perfectly.  It falls like fine silk.  The bowtie makes the suit in my opinion. 

Sammy always seems to get photographed from the right side... perhaps he felt it was his best.  the next two shots show him wearing suits again... but O' how he wears them with such flair...  I especially love the soft woven patterned lilac jacket with the deep purple cravat.  I see that he mirrors his oversized round watch face with his silver cufflinks.  To the right he wears a clean suit with his cravate loosed about his neck... shirt collar unbuttoned.



The next photo below is of Sammy Davis Jr. with Carmen McRae.  Here is a chance to see him utilize colour.  He complements a grey suit with white pinstripes with a narrow red cravate.  Again, I like the roominess of his coat sleaves, they add a soft gracefullness to the suit allowing the fabric to flow. 

I want to look at some more casual shots of Sammy before moving on to the next canddidate.  To the lower right we see Sammy in a clean no fuss look with his sleeves rolled up to reveal a striking watch.  His collar is open and he has a look that says he is having fun.  To the left we find Sammy wering a bold combination of tweed jacket and striped shirt.... but I like it... it definitely works and he wears a subdued dark tie and miniature cufflinks so as to quiet the affair down to acceptable limits.  Bravo Sammy!

Lets jump forward a few decades to see how a suit can look especially sexy and comfortable but fit the body to perfection... I want to see Mr. Richard Roundtree in his strong 1970's polyester double knit  wide lapeled suit.  He is wearing a turtlenecked body shirt, something you may not know about if you did not have one in the 70's.  its a shirt that fit like a swimsuit transitioning into briefs to eliminate wrinkles and shirts balooning out from the waist. 

I really like this look because it it very young and not so precise...  The turtleneck was an essential element of a mans wordrobe from the late 1950's  to the 70's and I enjoyed the updated revival of the mock-turtleneck in the late 1990's and early 21st century.  I cant get this photographs of Sammy Davis Jr. with a mandarin collard suit jacket and a bright red turtleneck, it's so cool. 

Lets look at the vocalists from the soul group, "The Main Ingredient", showing us how a man can look sexy in a suit of clothes...  Wow! I love the super wide lapels... and the 4inch ties and wing spread collars to go with them. Although many men do not appreciate the aesthetic of the 70's there are actually some wonderful style tips to be learned.  One of them is proportion and the other is texture. 

Mens lapels, collars, sleeves and cravates were very large and exuberant up until the late 1800's.  By 1915 collars and lapels had changed significantly.  collars had got larger and taller and lapels had got smaller.  By the mid 1930's and 1940's suits had become very generous with huge luxurious lapels.  Trousers were pleated and full legged most trousers had flared legs commonly called bell-bottoms.  jackets were longer and cut full.  The 1940's and 1970's were similar in scale if not in detail.  Exploded plaids came back into style.  But the really cool feature about 70's suits that no other generation had enjoyed were the deeply raised textures woven into the polyester fabric.   I particularly loved bell bottomed pants and greatly miss them.  Of all of the revivals it appears these have not caught on again...  They made a brief come back in the late 1990's in denim but one thing was missing... Stacks!  Stack-heels or platforms are absolutely necessary in order to allow the generous weight of bell bottoms to fall elegantly.  I personally loved the way that double knot polyester fell when crafted into bell bottomed slacks...

Im going to swing back again because I want to hit on some very classic looks from the sixties starting with the Ramsey Louis Trio on the left and right.  Of course I love the picture of the trio in Chi-Town all wearing fur felt fedoras.  What a nice and unexpected splash of colour the yellow blazier makes.  Once again, these guys keep it simple with a color scheme of one basic color and one secondary color mediated by a tie and shirt, the occasional splash of tincture in a pocket square or hat feather. 

 Im going for the relaxed but structured and classic look next.  This look is all about texture and line, quality and simplicity.  A truly comfortable look has to be simple and the fabric has to be soft and open. 

Max Roach, on the left has a very soft and comfortable look... generous tweed slacks soft cotton shirt, collar unbuttoned and tie untied but with those cool mirrored shades... check out that cool 60's torchere lamp and marbelized shade against the wall.  I like this look because it can go ether way...its in-between being formal and casual...

Grover Washington Jr. to the right is totally relaxed.  his shirt is soft and has a wonderful drape catching his form without being tight.  His trousers are a loose cut with a nice white belt, so I assume he is wearing white shoes.  Opening up the neck to reveal a little chest and a little jewelry such as a medallion is always a sexy alternative to a tie. 

Sonny Rollins in red... What I like most about this look is the way it frames his face, his white beard... Sonny always had stunning and meticulously groomed facial hair...  His looks here show how to take a suit and make it into a fun and casual look soft and unfussed yet crisp and modern. 

 

And where would we be witout Issac Hayes...  Black Moses to give us the ultimate sexy casual masculine and richly sophisticated style...

EVOLVING TRADITIONS FOR EMANCIPATIONS DAY

For over a century and a half African American peoples have celebrated the anniversary of the emancipation of their enslaved ancestors.  Although this historic turning point in American History is now designated an official holiday by many municipalities there is no standard ritual or tradition unifying it's observance.  Not that there has to be any uniformity at all... One of the most interesting things I discovered in my research is the diversity of ritual depending on where you look in the U.S.  For instance, the type of tradition generated by a community in rural Alabama where the physical remnants of slavery are still standing in the landscape will be completely different than one in Massachusetts which abolished slavery in 1783.  That is to say that each place touched by slavery has its own unique stories to tell and in some places those accounts are more abundant and much better preserved.  One can only conjecture how the first annaversary was celebrated, perhaps groups of freed slaves gathered to share oral accounts in the privacy of their homes, in their places of worship or perhaps they gathered to honor their ancestors who did not live to taste the unfamiliar sweetness of freedom.  More than likely, the event was highlighted by group picnics including games and entertainment of all kinds.  How will we celebrate this historic quantum leap of civilization today?  I am not one for lugubrious events, whenever they can be avoided... I am sure that with the added liesure afforded former slaves who had been compelled to labor intensely from dawn to dusk under duress a little down time including good food, drink, music and song was the order of the day.  Im banking on the very first Emancipations Day or Juneteenth Day celebration being a festive event interspersed with speeches and commentary from members of the community, both black and white, but a real celebration in its own right.  Below is an 1860's engraving by Currier and Ives entitled, "Low Water in the Mississipi" which captures the spirit of what I imange that event to have been like.  This print shows slaves dancing by the banks of the Mississippi, celebrating some event of unknown origin.  A caricature perhaps but a period account of the ability of downtrodden people to find enjoyment in their complex lives.

The gentleman in the photograph below was freed after rescuing over 35 people from a fire in a Richmond theatre.  In his hands he holds the tools of his respected trade.  After being emancipated, freed slaves were at last able to earn wages for their skills.  70 years later African Americans would migrate north to find jobs in factories sometimes crossing picket lines and exacerbating hostility between themselves and striking white factory workers.  After the great depression of 1929 Workers Unions would protect and unite both black and white workers.  Workers Unions were a milestone in the social evolution of human beings. 

Over the past 30 or so years I have witnessed a renewed interest in geneology among African American peoples.  Documenting and Sharing the struggle of our ancestors is so integral to the preservation of our legacy and to the construction of a firm foundation within the context of the American Experience.  Since both whites and blacks worked closely within the circles of abolition, the underground railroad and innumerable other sagas of heroic suffrage this is a platform that will bring us together in celebration of the deeds of our forbears.  Emancipation day is not just a day of celebration for African Americans, it is a day for all Americans to celebrate the American spirit of freedom and struggle and the tradition of excellence, hard and honest work.  Below is a photograph taken shortly after Emancipation. 

What should Emancipation Day say to Americans? It should say that humans have the conscience and ability to bring forth positive change to human suffering and inequality.

Racism is a bitter legacy that continues to knaw the spirit of Equality and Democracy in America and this holiday we call Emancipation Day gives us a chance to develop strategies for healing and quelling racial strife.  It is a soothing and reassuring event that identifies an indellible point of progress. 

It is important that all Americans discover a positive humanitarian way to observe Emancipation Day so that traditions can be established that heal the deep wounds of racism for all races and creeds.