Uncovering Our History Through The Relics Left Behind
Posted in Black history, history, and Politics
The two women had a glow about them. They sat across from my friend Valorie and me on the Washington, DC, subway headed to President Barak Obama’s swearing-in on the National Mall. I had driven…
Posted in Black history, Movies, and slavery
I wasn’t too keen on engaging in all the intellectual back-and-forths swirling around Quentin Tarantino’s movie “Django Unchained,” but I broke down and went with my friend Kristin over the weekend to a discussion about…
Posted in Architecture/Buildings, Black history, and slavery
I almost stepped foot on a cotton plantation last week. I was headed to a bookstore in my hometown of Macon, GA, when at the foot of the exit off I-75, I spotted the sign…
Posted in Black history, and Books
The book was partially hidden under other items on the auction table, but from the title, I instantly knew who – not what – it was about: “The New Progress of a Race.” It had…
Posted in Black history, Music, Performers, and Plays
A couple years ago, I picked up a studio photo of Louis Armstrong with his first band the Hot Five from the 1920s. Armstrong was at the piano and seemed to be talking to the…
I was going through some dusty and dirty containers of old Edison cylinder records from the early 1900s when I saw a name I recognized. It surprised me because many of the tunes, singers and…
Posted in Black history, Broadway plays, dance, and Performers
The woman was moving as masterfully as the men, leaning forward and tapping backwards in steps that had long defined a tradition of dance for African American men. As I sat there watching her in the “Cotton Club…
Posted in Art, Black history, collectibles, Crafts, and Culture
My auction buddy Janet had missed the two baskets entirely. I had, too, on my first walk-through at the auction house – a new one for me but a return spot for her. They were…
Posted in Black history, Broadway plays, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, Music, and Performers
I could tell there was another clear frame behind the one with a sheet-music cover of a black woman in orange kerchief lovingly holding a white child in night clothes. I wasn’t sure who was…
Posted in Art, Black history, Culture, and travel
We weren’t sure where we were going. My travel buddy’s smart phone was offering directions by car, not on foot. But Oaks Bluff was a walkable little town, and I was determined to find the…
