Root and Branch: Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, and the Struggle to End Segregation Author: Rawn James The Supreme Court 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education is widely considered one of the milestones of the civil rights movement. James Rawn explores the two men, Charles Hamilton Houston and Thurgood Marshall, and the...
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Michelle and I send warm wishes to all those celebrating Kwanzaa this holiday season. This is a joyous time of year when African Americans and all Americans come together to celebrate our blessings and the richness of our cultural traditions. This is also a time of reflection and renewal as we come to the...
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In 1971, Marvin Gaye articulated what was on the minds of most people in America with his landmark single and album “What’s Going On.” The content of What’s Going On was that of a politically charged and deeply personal Motown album, and was notable for including elements of jazz and classical music instrumentation and...
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You are my pride and joy And I just love you, little darlin’ Like a baby boy loves his toy You’ve got kisses sweeter than honey And I work seven days a week to give you all my money And that’s why you are my pride and joy And I’m tellin’ the world -Marvin...
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Motown is both a style of music and a label and is now a metaphor for success and excellence. Motown set the standard for popular music, and developed a sound which others musicians and record companies sought to emulate. No other label is more identified with the sound it produced which gives credence to...
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It is indeed a rare and intriguing moment when an artist decides he or she is the instrument of history-making. ” In the closing year of the 1950s, such an artist, Miles Davis, conceived of and produce a masterpiece- Kind of Blue. A moment like this happens only occasionally: Martin Luther King, “I Have...
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Proclamation 8389 – African-American Music Appreciation Month, 2009 June 2, 2009 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation The legacy of African-American composers, singers, songwriters, and musicians is an indelible piece of our Nation’s culture. Generations of African Americans have carried forward the musical traditions of their forebears, blending old...
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The freedom songs, lifted from the African American spirituals songs, helped to inspire and transform ordinary black people and their multiracial allies into a moral and social force, commonly known as the Civil Rights Movement. This movement, aided by the freedom songs, changed the structure and character of American society that may never be...
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The freedom songs, lifted from the African American spirituals songs, helped to inspire and transform ordinary black people and their multiracial allies into a moral and social force, commonly known as the Civil Rights Movement. This movement, aided by the freedom songs, changed the structure and character of American society that may never be...
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The Harlem Renaissance was truly a milestone and high point in African American history. Viewed as a flowering of music, literature, poetry and visual arts, the Renaissance period paralleled and reinforced the emergence of a new African personality, expressed in the “New Negro” anthology, edited by Alain Locke. The impetus for this new personality...
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