00:00:11.230 - 00:01:01.200

the buffalo rew Rew err aereo Whoa, Canyon LeBeau Larry fucking batty Wasow a bow Ready, buddy? Whoa, Yeah! Whoa! Larue e or me lately? Oh, yeah. Hello. My name is Maya Angelo. In a previous program we discussed or rather I talked about African ISMs positive African

00:01:01.200 - 00:01:28.340

ISMs, then negative African ISMs. Finally, African history. And in this program, I'm going to discuss when teaching African history can be construed as a negative effort. If a teacher teaches African history the glory that was Africa, the pageantry, the beauty that was Africa and leaves out

00:01:28.350 - 00:01:49.920

the other side. That teacher is half arming that student. So the student goes out into the world, encounters an opposition that is totally armed. And when they have a confrontation, the student is wiped out. The student then turns to feel that Africa has betrayed him. When

00:01:49.920 - 00:02:07.060

the fact of the matter is that the teacher has betrayed him, it is that the teacher is the culprit. In this case, it is important that black Americans understand today that we are not. We must not rather fall into that trap of being sub human or

00:02:07.060 - 00:02:23.060

superhuman, being either the Martin Luther King type or thug in the street. We are human beings. We have human reactions. We have been as good as any human being can be. And we have been as bad as any human being can be. And I leave that

00:02:23.070 - 00:02:48.550

to you to decide upon what I mean by good and bad. Mr. Sterling Brown, a great writer fortunately, who is still alive at wrote a poem that tells a story about our history. The poem says, Yeah, they dragged you from Homeland. They changed you in coffee

00:02:48.550 - 00:03:21.980

bowls. They huddled. You spoon fashion in filthy hatches. They sold you to give a few gentlemen ease. They broke you in like oxen. They scar judged you. They branded you. They made your women breeders. They swelled your numbers with bastards. They taught you the religion they

00:03:21.980 - 00:03:52.800

disgrace You sang keep inching along like a pole Entire. You're saying by and by I'm gonna lay down this heavy load You're saying walk together, Children. Don't you get weary. The strong men keep coming on. The strong men get stronger. They point with pride to the

00:03:52.800 - 00:04:17.160

roads you built for them. They ride in comfort over the rails you laid for them They put hammers in your hands and said Dr so much before sundown And you sang Ain't no hammer in this land can ring like mine baby ring like mine They cooked

00:04:17.160 - 00:04:39.360

you in their kitchens They pinned you in their factories They gave you the jobs that they were too good for They try to guarantee happiness for themselves By shunting dirt and misery Off on you And you sang me and my baby Gonna shine Shine me and

00:04:39.360 - 00:05:14.040

my baby gonna shine They bought off some of your leaders You stumbled as blind men Will they coaxed you unwanted Lee Soft voice You followed away Then you laugh as usual They heard the laugh and wondered Uncomfortable on admitting a deeper terror The strong men coming

00:05:14.050 - 00:05:34.870

on, the strong men getting stronger what from the slums where they have pinned you What from the tiny huts they could not keep from you. What reaches them makes them ill at ease and fearful. Today they shall prohibition at you. Thou shalt not this thou shalt

00:05:34.870 - 00:06:08.960

not that reserved for whites only you laugh. There's only one thing They cannot prohibit the strongman coming on the strong men getting stronger strong men. Stronger, stronger, stronger. That's the story. That's your story. It's my story. I wonder I would like very much to see that

00:06:08.960 - 00:06:57.730

story told in pictures. Let's see it Told in pictures Who do? Yeah. Freedom. Who? Who do? Yeah, Freedom. Who? Yeah. Freedom. Mm. Mhm. Mm. What about what? About what about freedom? Mhm, Mhm. Mhm. Who do you freedom? Who? Who do? Yeah. Freedom. Mm hmm. Mm. Strong

00:06:57.730 - 00:08:12.880

men. Who? Mm mm. Strong men. Hmm. What about what about What About? Yeah. Yeah. Freedom. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Strongly. And get me stronger. Mm hmm. Mm. America. Uh huh. He huh? Mm hmm. Mhm. Mm hmm. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. He had I

00:08:12.890 - 00:09:02.860

knew who. Who? Uh, You who don't know. What. Who? Oh, yeah. Freedom. Oh. Oh, yeah. Freedom. Mhm, Mhm. Oh. So what so ever So, yeah. We'll beat them. Yeah. Who? Yeah, freedom. Oh, freedom. He having mhm and Mm hmm. They dragged you from your homeland. Oh,

00:09:03.540 - 00:10:20.780

who? They chained you in coffee fills. Mm mm. Who? Who? Who? Oh. Oh, Oh. Uh huh. He Mm. They huddled you in filthy hatches. Spoon fashion. Mm. Who they sold

00:10:20.780 - 00:11:31.060

you to? give a few gentlemen. Ive who? Oh, who before I'd be a slave. They broke you in like oxen. Who? Mm. Who? Oh, you go home to my God and be free. Mhm. Uh huh. Oh. Mm. The major women breeders brand. Did you swell

00:11:31.060 - 00:12:26.550

your numbers with bastard? Uh, who? Uh huh. Mm mm mm. They point with pride to the roads you built for them. King Cotton. Oh, they gave you the job that they were too good for our Oh, all the more freedom. He he?

00:12:27.440 - 00:13:42.360

Mm. Oh. Oh. Freedom. Mm. Oh, freedom. Oh, old freedom over me Me and before Oh, can you hear me? They ride in comfort over the rails. You laid for them? Mm hmm. Mm. Mm hmm. Hey. Oh. Mm mm. Mm

00:13:43.440 - 00:14:57.470

mm. Oh, freedom. Who today they shall prohibition at you. Thou shalt not this. Mm. Thou shalt not that I'll be buried in my grave and go home. So Mm mm. Mm mm. Mhm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mhm. No more change. No more chain,

00:14:57.820 - 00:15:53.450

no moting gang over me. I am that before I feel slave, I'll be buried in my grave. And then I go home to my gun and my face. Oh, mhm. They tried to guarantee happiness to themselves. Oh, oh, who?

00:15:54.040 - 00:16:33.670

Oh, by shunting dirt and misery, I'll phone you. But before I'll be a slave I'll be buried in my grave and go home to my God and be free Oh, freedom, Oh, Freedom! Oh, freedom over me. Say that before I'll be a slave I'll be buried

00:16:33.670 - 00:17:03.030

in my grave And then I'll go home to my God and be free No more Lynch in no more crying No more mourning over me. And before I'll be a slave I'll be buried in my grave And then I go home to my God and be

00:17:03.030 - 00:17:41.180

free Oh oh, Freedom, Oh, Freedom! Oh, freedom over me I said that before I'll be a slave. I'll be buried in my grave. I'll go home to my God and be free Oh, no more meaningless Oh, no more violence! Oh, no more anger over me that

00:17:41.190 - 00:18:13.110

before I'll be a slave. I'll be buried in my grave. I'll go home to my God to be free. Oh, old freedom! Oh, old freedom! Oh, oh, freedom over me that before I'll be a slave, I'll be buried in my grave and go home to my

00:18:13.110 - 00:18:42.930

God and be free. Who Freedom the strongman Keep coming on. The strong men get stronger all the time. Stronger, stronger Not in spite of the history, but stronger because of the history because of the negatives, as well as the positives imperative that you understand it around

00:18:42.930 - 00:19:06.660

the States. Now they are popping up dress shops, design shops, jewelry shops, art galleries with black Americans. Finding some, uh, direct way back to the African heritage. It's imperative that those people understand when they say this dress is a an African design. They must be sure

00:19:06.670 - 00:19:22.860

whether it is an African design or an African influence design. Now, both are good. Neither is better than the other. But if we are really going to teach African history, we must be able to say this dress is a traditional dress. This earring is a traditional

00:19:22.860 - 00:19:46.850

earring. This is used by a chief. This has been influenced. It's imperative now. In San Francisco, we went to a shop to buy yet shop, and we found not only in African influenced dresses, jewelry, objects of art, um, musical instruments. But we also found the traditional

00:19:46.850 - 00:20:14.740

one. Well, you're really a survival. You're not a revival. If you can carve ivory and carry on like that, I want to ask Pat, Do you have a business arrangement with people in Africa? I mean, whether your friends, that from the beginning of our friends Yes,

00:20:14.770 - 00:20:34.080

we have more, less a business arrangement. We are in the body shop on Fillmore Street. The shop is owned by Mr and Mrs Roberts. Now, this is Al Robert, and this is Pat Robertson. Uh, we were wondering we're dealing with African revivals in the United States

00:20:34.090 - 00:20:53.310

and the wearing of cloth is this cultural revival. So we were wondering, how did you get into the business in the first place? Well, we saw the need to bring awareness to the young black people of today. Um, there has been taught for many, many years

00:20:53.320 - 00:21:10.420

the feeling that black people had no culture, no heritage and, as a matter of fact, that the continent of Africa itself was a continent of barbarians, were trying to dispel that image. And one of the easiest ways that we found to do it is to bring

00:21:10.420 - 00:21:32.560

the art and the craft of Africa home to American black people. I'll say maybe about 1% of our customers have been to Africa, and, uh, they've just been influenced by coming into the shopping knowledge. You know, of Africa. I don't know what it is now that

00:21:32.740 - 00:21:50.150

bringing this awareness other than what we have contributed and a few along with a few other things. But, uh, only about 1% I would think you yourself have never been has never been. And neither has Al. Well, you'll be so welcome. You walk down the street

00:21:50.150 - 00:22:15.460

and people will never know they'll start speaking to you and Fonte or Swahili or something. And because you look a typical African lady Sorry. Now Lula is wearing a dress here. Yeah, yeah, that's a beautiful cloth. And you two look like a typical African lady who's

00:22:15.460 - 00:22:36.120

about to go shopping to the market. Well, she might not walk quite that, uh, commercially, but But I think there's a natural grace that Africans and black Americans have, or Africans at home and Africans abroad. And, uh, we don't we find that our models don't have

00:22:36.120 - 00:22:53.550

to wear books on their heads for two years in order to walk comfortably and I believe that's because we have spent centuries with things on our heads. We have a natural kind of grace, and it's shown very much in Lula here. The people who come into

00:22:53.840 - 00:23:14.720

look out of curiosity and this sort of thing try on something, and immediately they change their bearing completely, really. They become quite regal and stately and, you know, they just feel kind of good wearing the clothes, and they generally wind up walking out in something. Now,

00:23:14.720 - 00:23:32.250

Al, I'm interested in that figure on the very end of the second shelf. Will you tell us about it? Yes, that the smile is from Kenya. It's a representation of a musician, and the idea is that this fellow has become so involved in what he's doing

00:23:32.250 - 00:23:51.990

that he's become like a part of his instrument. Oh, that's fantastic. And what about the second piece? That's a stool? Are a bowl centerpiece? Um, it's hollow on the top, and it can have food in it. And it's from the com tribe in west Cameroon. Uh,

00:23:52.000 - 00:24:08.720

that piece is quite quite special. Uh, it's Haitian piece from Haiti, and, as you know, Haiti is a black country also and that is a very, very special carving and that it's used in rituals and this sort of thing. I I'm not familiar with that, but

00:24:08.720 - 00:24:32.960

I've heard a lot about it. The African art has influenced the United States, South America, the Caribbean to such an extent that it would be difficult. Two separate black influence from the world stage. We thank very much the proprietors of the bait shop. We're proud of

00:24:33.340 - 00:25:07.140

the resurgence of interest in African affairs, in African cloth, in African jewelry and mostly in African soul. Yes, we are. We are in new days. We are in new times. When we look at African history and understand that history is today, Tomorrow today will be history.

00:25:07.150 - 00:25:23.470

Not so. Then we have to see it as one we have. We must see what we did as what we do. We should almost be able to speak in the present tense of 300 years ago of 600 years ago of 1000 years ago. 5000, 5000 years

00:25:23.470 - 00:25:45.810

ago, in a in Africa, slavery was an African institution before the coming of the white man. We must understand that so that we don't go around romanticizing slavery wherever it was, it wasn't right. But let's look at what kind of slavery Slavery in Africa was a

00:25:45.810 - 00:26:04.910

different being. But it was slavery a slave could inherit. A slave could marry into the family. A slave could in fact, become a part of the family. And ofttimes did, uh a slave was often a slave because he, his family or he himself owed a debt.

00:26:04.920 - 00:26:20.590

Or maybe he was a prize of a war. But he was a slave, no matter how how nice it was. That is to say, how much more human, which is a fact it was and say what took place in America. Still, when a man does not

00:26:20.590 - 00:26:40.080

have total mobility, when the man cannot determine and direct his own destiny that slavery, Jack. Anyway, you look at it any way you cut it. Those That's a fact. It is a fact that from our from the time when you panda, uh, with the Zulus, betrayed

00:26:40.080 - 00:27:00.780

his leader, we have seen down the line Africans and black Americans and West Indians and Haitians and South Americans who have betrayed each other. These are facts who have in fact, either killed are allowed to be sent into exile. Like Dr Du Bois, like Marcus Garvey,

00:27:00.790 - 00:27:19.920

Uh, like to sound the literature we've allowed our men to be to be sent into slavery and sat back and said, Oh, well, everything is going to come out All right. Well, um, I think these are things we better look at very seriously when, uh when

00:27:19.920 - 00:27:37.160

a person says he's made no mistakes. As I said before, he goes on to decide. Then he can make no mistakes. And that's the end of growth. That's the end of progress. We must be able to take it all the bitter and the sweet. Stir it

00:27:37.170 - 00:27:59.440

all up and drink it. Jim, I'm going to tell you a poem I quite often do on these programs. Get a chance to say some of my own poetry. This is a poem called a letter to an aspiring junkie. Let me help you to the streets,

00:27:59.440 - 00:28:19.110

Jim. Ain't nothing happening. Maybe some tomorrow is gone up in smoke. Raggedy preachers telling a joke. Too lonely, sunless old lady's maids. Nothing happening. No haps, baby. Oh, there's a slew of young cats riding that cold white horse agree Old Monkey on their back, of course.

00:28:19.110 - 00:28:37.770

Does rodeo tricks. No haps, baby. No have. There's an old time pimp with a space age conch setting up some food for a game of tunc or poker. Get him dead and alive, the street climbing the streets like you're climbing the rear end of a lion.

00:28:38.140 - 00:29:04.110

Then it's fine. It's a bugger, Lou, and it's a shingle ng. It's African dreams on a book and a wing and a prayer. That's the street stem. Nothing happening. Can you dig it? My brothers and sisters were bit off first and one by one while my

00:29:04.110 - 00:29:20.680

mother, paralyzed by grief, held me by the hand. Her turn Crane and she was bought by Isaac Riley of Montgomery County. Then I was offered to the assembled purchases. My mother, half distracted with the thought of parting forever from all her Children, pushed to the crowd

00:29:20.690 - 00:29:34.840

while the bidding for me was going on to the spot where Riley was standing. She fell at his feet and clung to his knees in treating him in tones that only a mother could command to buy her baby as well as herself, inspire her one at

00:29:34.840 - 00:29:51.820

least of her little ones. Will it? Can it be believed that this man thus appealed to, was capable? Not merely of turning a deaf ear to her supplication, but of disengaging himself from her with such violent blows and kicks as to reduce her to the necessity

00:29:51.820 - 00:30:13.190

of creeping out of his reach and mingling the grown of bodily suffering with the sob of a breaking heart? As she crawled away from the brutal man, I heard a sob out Lord, How long? How long, How long I must have been between five and six

00:30:13.190 - 00:30:30.960

years old. I seem to see and hear my poor mother weakening. Now this was one of my earliest observations of men, an experience which I only shared with thousands of my race, the bitterness of which, to an individual who suffers it cannot be diminished by the

00:30:30.960 - 00:31:00.590

frequency of its re occurrence. While it is dark enough to overshadow the whole afterlife with something blacker kind of funeral power. That was an excerpt from a book written by Josiah Henson around 18 40. Josiah Henson is credited with having been the inspiration for Harriet Beecher

00:31:00.590 - 00:31:30.400

Stowe's famous. Some people feel infamous Uncle Tom's cabin. Mr. Lothario Lothario, read that excerpt. We have some friends in the studio this evening. I'd like to introduce them to you first. Mr Glenn Battle an actor and a dancer. Next we have Mr James Bircher, quite a

00:31:30.400 - 00:31:53.260

famous Bay Area painter and a writer, but a silent one for himself. Next, we have Mr Willie Coated Steel, whom you met before, who is a very well known and a very great South African poet. And here we have little Miss Pamela Johnson, who you may

00:31:53.260 - 00:32:13.530

have seen on one of the other programs, who's very bright, articulate and is a little princess. And next, we have a great beauty. Miss Karen Richardson, who is the daughter of Mr Julian and Mrs Ray Richardson of the Success Bookstore in San Francisco. And there, again,

00:32:13.540 - 00:32:38.310

is Lothario Low. So on the end. Now, gentlemen and ladies, you've watched the programs so far and especially the ones dealing with African history. I'd like to ask you first. Nobody in particular just talk. What do you think is the importance of black Americans dealing with

00:32:38.310 - 00:33:02.060

African history, Karen? Well, listen, the I believe the whole, um, reason that history is taught in the schools where our American history is is taught to us is so that the Children will be able to relate to the country or relate to something that, first of

00:33:02.060 - 00:33:23.750

all, they are told is great or is beautiful. And in a relationship with their ancestors or with their forefathers, they can therefore participate in its founding. Whereas a black student who is only taught European history and has no knowledge of African history cannot relate to that

00:33:23.750 - 00:33:44.650

country. Yes, I see. Uh, tell me, Lothario, until when did you start learning anything about African history? Well, I studied a little history where I was going to high school, but I first actually started learning about African history at Merritt College, where the program that's now

00:33:44.650 - 00:34:02.580

going on throughout the country was first initiated. And I was particularly interested in the culture of Africa because I related to it, even though there had been a void. By that, I mean that the student, uh, in my time when I was coming up, he didn't

00:34:02.580 - 00:34:19.200

relate to Africa. He said, Oh, man, what you talking about? I'm African. I'm black, You know, Uh, I'm not no African. You know I'm a Negro where he didn't relate to Africa, Africa, because he wasn't. Actually, he was not aware of the greatness of Africa. All

00:34:19.200 - 00:34:34.510

he had seen through the movies and projected through books and Tarzan and this type of super image was just travel, brother running around with the spirit, you know, uh, through the jungle climbing trees, you know? So this let me see a little more of Africa and

00:34:34.510 - 00:34:55.740

understand that we had great civilizations and that Africa also was where the, uh, life began or man originally helped me a lot. Tell me something, Mr Battle. Uh, if what do you think can happen to a people if they have no understanding of their path? Well,

00:34:55.740 - 00:35:12.660

there is no motivation for for future successes. I was listening to the hair and I was thinking I was at Howard in 1952 or three. And I was fortunate enough to be living with Dr John Hope Franklin when he was writing from slavery. Negro travels in

00:35:12.660 - 00:35:30.800

the North and from slavery to freedom, and he at the time was living in Dr uh wrote Black Bourgeois. Dr Franklin Franklin Frazier's house and Mrs Fraser had collected all these African artifacts. Of course. I was young and from the South, and I saw these things,

00:35:30.800 - 00:35:46.870

and they meant nothing. Really? To me, I mean, artistically. But as I grew older, I got to see the significance and understand the significance of from Negro Travels in the North, from slavery to freedom and the various other books that were written by Woodson and the

00:35:46.870 - 00:36:10.500

various other authors. I was quite fortunate in having this background and that Howard, Howard and Lincoln and the Negro schools on the East Coast have this. Fisk. Well, let me just skip Mr Virtue for a minute and ask Willie Coated silly, who is from South Africa

00:36:10.580 - 00:36:39.180

to show us the parallel in the South African school system and the American school system. As far as blacks are concerned, yes. Uh huh. As far as black people are concerned, the educational systems in, uh, various countries or nations where European refugees, let's say, had either

00:36:39.190 - 00:37:07.790

taken over the country or taken the African out of the continent to another country, that the educational system was designed to cut the African off from the past and those few things that they considered African history that they would teach us in South Africa were such

00:37:07.790 - 00:37:37.330

that we would immediately develop feelings of inferiority and insecurity and despise ourselves. And if they could do this as they did in America and almost very successfully dead in Africa is that the black man ends up cut off from his spiritual roots from whatever powerful forces

00:37:37.330 - 00:37:56.960

of continuity would enable him to see his future with any clarity. That's true. I also remember a South African friend telling me that he learned to sing a song called Piccadilly That's my home, Piccadilly, That's my home And he said he sang it for years. Years

00:37:56.960 - 00:38:17.040

later, this man became quite a well known lawyer and he traveled to England and spent some time in London. And he saw Piccadilly Square. He thought all these years he'd been singing Piccadilly. That's his own. Uh, let me ask Mr Bircher, who is an artist? Have

00:38:17.040 - 00:38:37.080

you been influenced particularly by what you learned of African art in the recent years? Yeah, I would say greatly. So I say to the extent that the majority of my work is involved around black people, black substance matter, life of black Americans and the things which

00:38:37.080 - 00:38:55.750

I feel irrelevant to us as a people that could be portrayed through our, uh, the beautiful symmetry and an African sculpture. The rhythm that our people have is carried throughout our art and, you know, in some manner I try to portray this in my work. Actually,

00:38:56.120 - 00:39:14.320

I I want to come back and talk more about that. But let's ask Little Miss Pamela. The other day when I was talking with her, she she explained to me how people came about. And she said something about certain people in Africa had started off eating

00:39:14.320 - 00:39:33.760

as they traveled. They the foods, they had had more melon and less carrot and and so forth. Will you explain that to me? Well, the people began in one particular spot, and they spread all over Africa in different directions. Some people went this way, others one

00:39:33.760 - 00:39:55.080

another, and as they moved, the foods became different because they grew in different climates. And so they make good of what they had there. And what they ate contained more Mellon in some parts and more Cara Cara, teen in others. And this is the melon and

00:39:55.080 - 00:40:14.830

make their skin darker and the carotene made their skin lighter and in different places, they their skin was lighter. And then others. It was darker. And others. They had different shades of all kinds of colors. I see. Well, thank you very much. That's probably our only

00:40:14.830 - 00:40:33.970

scientific explanation of the day. Now tell me something else. While we're talking to your parents, your parents I know have taught you these facts in the schools Where you the school you go to. Do you find many black American Children who know anything of their past?

00:40:33.980 - 00:40:55.140

Most of them I've run into They don't know anything and they don't. They aren't really concerned about anything. You think they aren't concerned, Or is it made to seem kind of dull? Uhh. More or less. I think they just don't know that it's there. I see.

00:40:55.150 - 00:41:12.720

Well, are you doing anything personally? I mean, do you try to explain to your friends something about African history? No, not really. Not really know. Because you don't want to be put down. Probably. Your mother is doing a good work, though. That's all right. Please. Let's

00:41:12.720 - 00:41:40.270

go back to Karen Richardson. Karen, you started off by, uh, explaining to us. What? Uh, what Why? History is taught. Will you just enlarge on that a bit? What for? I mean, in this way, uh, when white students, uh, consider European history, they can enclose into

00:41:40.270 - 00:42:06.160

their own achievement. A total identification with with whether it was, uh uh huh. Galileo or whether it was, uh, the French, uh, inventor or writer or philosopher. They can do this. Who do you know, uh, in French, or do you know anyone in the French history

00:42:06.170 - 00:42:25.260

that was African that we can identify with? No, because, um mm. Not Not as on a fault of that. I hadn't been taught French history because I had been taught European history. And as a matter of fact, in high school, one of my majors was history.

00:42:25.340 - 00:42:43.750

But I did not like history because it was just a a confrontation with uhh historical dates. It in no way related to me at the time. Of course, I didn't use this as an excuse to get the bad grades in it that I did, but it

00:42:43.750 - 00:43:06.150

had no interest. It had no color, literally, literally and figuratively. And not only was was I not made aware of my own participation in this country's heritage because the history of black people is the history of America. But, uh, in studying world history, it was only

00:43:06.160 - 00:43:30.680

Europe and England, and everything was was taught through the eyes of the English world. And even in this, there was a hypocrisy of actual effects. Because there we couldn't even see, um, the impression that black people had made upon European history. So we were even wiped

00:43:30.680 - 00:43:52.420

out of there, so I couldn't relate at all. Well, let me just give you a couple of names of people who were of African descent. Dumas, both father and son. Obviously, uh, where Alexandre Dumas, who wrote the Three Musketeers, was of African descent, and so was

00:43:52.420 - 00:44:10.570

Colette of African descent. And you can check it in any library. So that's sort of nice to know when you hear about French literature and these people have influenced French literature, uh, push can, of course. You know, you know that that Pushkin was African descent and

00:44:10.570 - 00:44:37.140

Russia? Um, yeah, the the it is a It is said I wasn't able to find the particular volume that that documents this, that it is said that Sappho one of the greatest poets, uh, female poets of, uh, Greek history was of African descent. Now, the only

00:44:37.140 - 00:44:58.270

thing I can find in the libraries here out here on the west Coast, uh, statements that her brother to Proximus, uh, married, Uh, an African. But it doesn't say that she was, but she was a very great poet. She's she the the, uh developed the Sapphic

00:44:58.270 - 00:45:15.690

verse, which is a particular kind of rhythm, And I tend to think it's so It's said of her that the coins that were minted of her head that was struck it showed the African features and the big woolly hair. I don't know many Europeans who have

00:45:15.690 - 00:45:35.070

that Big Willie have, uh if they haven't got African blood, let me go back then and ask Mr Bircher to talk to us. And more about African art and black American art are more Are many black American artists today? Graphic artists being influenced directly by African

00:45:35.070 - 00:45:53.140

art, would you say? Well, I would say more sold by black consciousness, You know, uh, the events that are happening now, you know that, uh, definitely bad in the country cause a lot of people to want to depict it, I suppose. But I think 11 historical

00:45:53.140 - 00:46:09.400

thing that you can't get away from it are people is the fact that we've been able to live throughout the slave system and some of the bad systems that are imposed upon us now because we're balanced. People were able to withstand a lot of conditions that

00:46:09.880 - 00:46:29.040

other races of people say the Indians were able to withstand. So I mean that balance that since the rhythm that has been carried throughout the years, it also belongs to the artist, the black artists at this time. And and I find studying African art that the

00:46:29.040 - 00:46:44.050

rhythmic progression you know, the fact that an African carpets take car of a piece of sculpture with both his hands and have it come out perfect and symmetrical, symmetrical? I mean, you know, even on both sides, it's kind of a relates to a balance, a sense

00:46:44.050 - 00:47:04.770

of balance, and I find that many black artists in this way relate to African art through their balance through there. They're wanting to depict situations as they are. Do you? Do you know the work of, uh, Bailey, the black American painter? He's he He's, he did

00:47:04.780 - 00:47:24.450

most recently. His most famous piece of work is a poster that was done for Reverend Martin Luther King's SCLC, that poster with Reverend King in the center and all those black faces around him. Those are that that was done by painter named Bailey, whose it was

00:47:24.450 - 00:47:43.910

quite young. He's teaching down South and some black school now, and he was in Ghana for a number of years. So, uh, and he's a student of Charles White. Yes, you know, I'm sure we all know his word. Now let me go back to Lothario, who

00:47:43.910 - 00:48:04.900

is an actor, as everyone can determine and tell us something about your understanding of African art forms and drama. Do you have you? Have you been introduced to African drama? Well, most of I've taken drama. I had a black drama course at Murray College, where we

00:48:04.900 - 00:48:26.700

perform a saga of a black man, which was written by Sarah Fabio, who was instructed there having formal education. I haven't been introduced to African art at all. I attended University of California and, uh, take drama there, but, uh, it's dealing more with that European tradition,

00:48:26.710 - 00:48:46.780

uh, Shakespeare, Shakespearean type theories, uh, evolved in this theater. And also I go to a C t. Now, in the summer time they have a training program that the Congress and then to it deals with technique and method. But as far as actually seeing African techniques

00:48:46.790 - 00:49:04.810

or even studying fables, I've read these things on my own tales and things of this nature. I have never actually been exposed to it. Well, I think that little as we know we are exposed to it. When we go to black churches, we are exposed to

00:49:04.810 - 00:49:28.610

black drama. That's it. In West Africa, the all art, all, all forms of art. Our participation forms in, uh, in the churches, as we know as soon as the minister starts, he says. Now, brothers and sisters, everybody said, Yeah, amen. That's right. You can hear the

00:49:28.610 - 00:49:50.870

kind of the rhythmic pushing him on, get on to it and so forth. Well, in in Ghana, where I live, if if I have friends over, I invite a storyteller the best in the neighborhood, and he comes with his drummers. All my friends sit all the

00:49:50.870 - 00:50:07.590

old people young, the Children from around we sit in my compound And then the storyteller starts to tell a story that everyone knows, like a brother rabbit story or in a non si story. But first he says, This part of the yard, these are the old

00:50:07.600 - 00:50:22.690

people, this part of the yard, These are the Children. This part are the singers, and this part are the dancers. So then he starts to tell his story and as he gets into it, he says, And then the dancers came forward. And it doesn't matter whether

00:50:22.690 - 00:50:41.030

it's old people, young, whatever. All those people he has designated as dancers have to come forward. And they do their dance and they move back. And the singers and everyone knows the story. It's he's called upon to, uh, to tell the story. Only because he has

00:50:41.030 - 00:51:06.820

more punch to it. Like some of our good Baptist ministers who can really turn around. I think that, uh, the importance of of teaching African history I'm coming back to you, Pamela, Uh, you've been particularly lucky since in blessed let me say, because in the system,

00:51:06.820 - 00:51:29.580

the school system, uh, there they have there been no arrangements made for you to to get some backbone put some start in your backbone for your future. Fortunately, I say you've been blessed by your mother and father and your environment, you know which which feeds you.

00:51:29.960 - 00:51:44.180

But can you imagine? Can you try to make up for me a story of what would happen to you if you didn't know who you were? If you looked in the mirror every morning and you saw this little brown face and everybody thought it was so

00:51:44.190 - 00:52:00.610

ugly, what do you think would happen to you? Well, you wouldn't think very much of yourself. And you think you know, you were nothing and nobody cared for you or anything. You didn't have any history, no backgrounds. You couldn't go forward because you didn't really know

00:52:00.610 - 00:52:26.110

what had happened to you before. Before the time. Well, in history before even that century or what your people have done. So you could be there that day or whenever it was. I think she has put her finger on something very important. You're in love? Yes,

00:52:26.110 - 00:52:51.160

you. When? When you can identify with history, you are there that day. That is true. That is very true. Now, before we just move into a sort of close, and I'm concerned with our people learning African history. I do not simply mean the glorious path. I

00:52:51.160 - 00:53:13.120

don't just mean that I mean, also the inglorious past. Now that is to say, if if people believe they have made no mistakes, then they go on to say they can never make any mistakes, and that means that rules out the chance of growth. We have

00:53:13.120 - 00:53:32.630

got to be able to deal with a truth in our history. Whether it's painful are, are, are pleasant. We have, for instance, that it is a fact that is documented not only by European history but by the African oral history that there were chiefs who sold

00:53:32.640 - 00:53:49.450

people that the economy was based for quite a long time on the slave trade itself. Now, these are painful facts for us to deal with, but they are necessary. We've got to be brutally honest. What do you think about that? Caromed. I know that that's true

00:53:49.450 - 00:54:06.840

and that, um, that actually slavery was already in Europe when I was already in Africa when the Europeans got there. But can I make a point about you? Um, you never refer to it as Negro history. And this is because uhh there is no history of

00:54:06.840 - 00:54:24.040

Negroes. Negroes was Negro was the race given these people when they stepped into the United States. Therefore, you could not go back to Africa for it. Uh, that's I think that's a very good point. Uh, now, usually I use the word black or African or Afro

00:54:24.040 - 00:54:40.360

American uh, Negro. I don't find it personally and insult. I think I've moved beyond that. I'd like to think so. I don't like the word that is to say, I don't use it often, but when we find out people do use it, let's not put them

00:54:40.360 - 00:55:00.650

down for it. You know, realize that's a stage that's cool. It's It's just a matter of time before they will drop that to, uh, but we have a great black American history that started in from 16 19, some fantastic achievements, beautiful achievements and some painful achievements,

00:55:00.650 - 00:55:19.940

some betrayals, and Nat Turner, Gabriel Prosser, all the leaders of the of the slave revolts were, in fact, uh, betrayed by black men. That's painful. Uh, it's necessary to look at Malcolm X's death. It's necessary to look at Paul Robson's exile. It's necessary to look at.

00:55:19.940 - 00:55:36.320

Dr Du Bois is, uh, exile and subsequent death to see that these are people who were exiled by the whites, but we never moved behind them to support them. This is important, and it's painful, but we've got to look at it at the same time balancing

00:55:36.320 - 00:55:53.710

it. We must look at the positives. We must look at these people. A. Gabriel Prosser, who led one of the greatest slavery votes in the United States, was, uh, when he was caught, the whites for miles around said he couldn't have done it. He was so

00:55:53.710 - 00:56:09.040

nice. Well, he was just a nice ***. He couldn't have done anything like that when the truth of the matter is, he had been planning it for four years. We have his diary. We have the Diary of Denmark, Vesey and V. C. The even his owner

00:56:09.040 - 00:56:29.210

said that's impossible. Couldn't be VC, but a black man is the one who who turned him in these the Africans In, In in Ghana, there's a statement it's also said in Europe, but I don't speak your about. They say the trouble for the thief is not

00:56:29.210 - 00:56:57.930

how to steal the bugle, but where to blow it That's pretty handy. And in the black Americans say, remember, no matter what your history has been, there's a tomorrow they say, tired don't mean lazy and every goodbye ain't gone. And if that's not tough enough, I

00:56:57.940 - 00:57:18.330

don't know what I think that on that positive note, uh, I'd like to say thank you very much to Pamela Johnson to Caryn Richardson to Lothario Luther to claim battle to James Bircher. And to really cuts it silly. Thank you very much. And thank you very

00:57:18.330 - 00:58:14.250

much. A buffalo rew rew err aereo Oh, no, Kanye LeBeau Larry Food Batty Watt. So a bow ready, buddy? Whoa! Yeah. Whoa! LaRue e or me lately? Oh, room Mm e or me leave. Oh, yeah, before Yeah, before their Oh, they mean Ceron Mobile. Oh. Mm