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shewhoworshipscarlin · 7 months

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Fredi Washington

Fredericka Carolyn "Fredi" Washington (December 23, 1903 – June 28, 1994) was an American stage and film actress, civil rights activist, performer, and writer. Washington was of African American descent. She was one of the first Black Americans to gain recognition for film and stage work in the 1920s and 1930s. Washington was active in the Harlem Renaissance, her best known role being Peola in the 1934 film version of Imitation of Life, where she plays a young light-skinned Black woman who decides to pass as white. Her last film role was in One Mile from Heaven (1937), after which she left Hollywood and returned to New York to work in theatre and civil rights activism.

Fredi Washington was born in 1903 in Savannah, Georgia, to Robert T. Washington, a postal worker, and Harriet "Hattie" Walker Ward, a dancer. Both were of African American and European ancestry. Washington was the second of their five children. Her mother died when Fredi was 11 years old. As the oldest girl in her family, she helped raise her younger siblings, Isabel, Rosebud, and Robert, with the help of their grandmother. After their mother's death, Fredi and her sister Isabel were sent to the St. Elizabeth's Convent School for Colored Girls in Cornwells Heights, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

While still in school in Philadelphia, Washington's family moved north to Harlem, New York. Washington graduated from Julia Richman High School in New York City.

Washington's entertainment career began in 1921 as a chorus girl in the Broadway musical Shuffle Along. She was hired by dancer Josephine Baker as a member of the "Happy Honeysuckles," a cabaret group. Baker became a friend and mentor to her. Washington's collaboration with Baker led to her being discovered by producer Lee Shubert. In 1926, she was recommended for a co-starring role on the Broadway stage with Paul Robeson in the play Black Boy. She quickly became a popular, featured dancer, and toured internationally with her dancing partner, Al Moiret.

Washington turned to acting in the late 1920s. Her first movie role was in Black and Tan (1929), in which she played a Cotton Club dancer who was dying. She acted in a small role in The Emperor Jones (1933) starring Robeson. In 1933, Washington married Lawrence Brown, the trombonist in Duke Ellington's jazz orchestra. That marriage ended in divorce. Washington also played Cab Calloway's love interest in the musical short Cab Calloway's Hi-De-Ho (1934).

Her best-known role was in the 1934 movie Imitation of Life. Washington played a young light-skinned Black woman who chose to pass as white to seek more opportunities in a society restricted by legal and social racial segregation. As Washington had visible European ancestry, the role was considered perfect for her, but it led to her being typecast by filmmakers. Moviegoers sometimes assumed from Washington's appearance—her blue-gray eyes, pale complexion, and light brown hair—that she might have passed in real life. In 1934, she said the role did not reflect her off-screen life, but "If I made Peola seem real enough to merit such statements, I consider such statements compliments and makes me feel I've done my job fairly well." She told reporters in 1949 that she identified as Black "...because I'm honest, firstly, and secondly, you don't have to be white to be good. I've spent most of my life trying to prove to those who think otherwise ... I am a Negro and I am proud of it."[7] Imitation of Life was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, but it did not win. Years later, in 2007, Time magazine ranked it as among "The 25 Most Important Films on Race."

Washington's experiences in the film industry and theater led her to become a civil rights activist. In an effort to help other Black actors and actresses find more opportunities, in 1937 Washington co-founded the Negro Actors Guild of America, with Noble Sissle, W. C. Handy, Paul Robeson, and Ethel Waters. The organization's mission included speaking out against stereotyping and advocating for a wider range of roles. Washington served as the organization's first executive secretary. She was also heavily involved with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, widely known as the NAACP. While working with the NAACP, Fredi fought for more representation and better treatment of Black actors in Hollywood because she was one of the few Black actors in Hollywood who had some influence with white studio executives. Aside from working with those organizations to fight for the rights of Black actors, Washington also advocated for the federal protection of Black Americans and was a lobbyist for the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, which the NAACP supported.

Despite receiving critical acclaim, she was unable to find much work in the Hollywood of the 1930s and 1940s; Black actresses were expected to have dark skin, and were usually typecast as maids. Directors were concerned about casting a light-skinned Black actress in a romantic role with a white leading man; the film production code prohibited suggestions of miscegenation. Hollywood directors did not offer her any romantic roles. As one modern critic explained, Fredi Washington was "...too beautiful and not dark enough to play maids, but rather too light to act in all-Black movies..."

Washington was a theater writer, and the entertainment editor for The People's Voice (1942–1948), a newspaper for African Americans founded by Adam Clayton Powell Jr., a Baptist minister and politician in New York City who was married to her sister Isabel Washington Powell. She was outspoken about racism faced by African Americans and worked closely with Walter White, then president of the NAACP, to address pressing issues facing Black people in America.

In 1952, Washington married a Stamford dentist, Hugh Anthony Bell, and moved to Greenwich, Connecticut.

Fredi Washington Bell died, aged 90, on June 28, 1994. She died from pneumonia following a series of strokes at St. Joseph Medical Center in Stamford, Connecticut.

#historical #black history month #actress

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sporadicarbitergardener · 1 year

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1928-2014

By Dr. Kelly A. Spring | 2017; Updated December 2021 by Mariana Brandman, NWHM Predoctoral Fellow in Women’s History, 2020-2022

Poet, dancer, singer, activist, and scholar Maya Angelou was a world-famous author. She was best known for her unique and pioneering autobiographical writing style.

On April 4, 1928, Marguerite Ann Johnson, known to the world as Maya Angelou, was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Due to her parents’ tumultuous marriage and subsequent divorce, Angelou went to live with her paternal grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas at an early age. Her older brother, Bailey, gave Angelou her nickname “Maya.”

Returning to her mother’s care briefly at the age of seven, Angelou was raped by her mother’s boyfriend. He was later jailed and then killed when released from jail. Believing that her confession of the trauma had a hand in the man’s death, Angelou became mute for six years. During her mutism and into her teens, she again lived with her grandmother in Arkansas.

Angelou’s interest in the written word and the English language was evident from an early age. Throughout her childhood, she wrote essays, poetry, and kept a journal. When she returned to Arkansas, she took an interest in poetry and memorized works by Shakespeare and Poe.

Prior to the start of World War II, Angelou moved back in with her mother, who at this time was living in Oakland, California. She attended George Washington High School and took dance and drama courses at the California Labor School.

When war broke out, Angelou applied to join the Women’s Army Corps. However, her application was rejected because of her involvement in the California Labor School, which was said to have Communist ties. Determined to gain employment, despite being only 15 years old, she decided to apply for the position of a streetcar conductor. Many men had left their jobs to join the services, enabling women to fill them. However, Angelou was barred from applying at first because of her race. But she was undeterred. Every day for three weeks, she requested a job application, but was denied. Finally, the company relented and handed her an application. Because she was under the legal working age, she wrote that she was 19. She was accepted for the position and became the first African American woman to work as a streetcar conductor in San Francisco. Angelou was employed for a semester but then decided to return to school. She graduated from Mission High School in the summer of 1944 and soon after gave birth to her only child, Clyde Bailey (Guy) Johnson.

After graduation, Angelou undertook a series of odd jobs to support herself and her son. In 1949, she married Tosh Angelos, an electrician in the US Navy. She adopted a form of his surname and kept it throughout her life, though the marriage ended in divorce in 1952.

Angelou was also noted for her talents as a singer and dancer, particularly in the calypso and cabaret styles. In the 1950s, she performed professionally in the US, Europe, and northern Africa, and sold albums of her recordings.

In 1950, African American writers in New York City formed the Harlem Writers Guild to nurture and support the publication of Black authors. Angelou joined the Guild in 1959. She also became active in the Civil Rights Movement and served as the northern coordinator of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a prominent African American advocacy organization

In 1969, Angelou published I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, an autobiography of her early life. Her tale of personal strength amid childhood trauma and racism resonated with readers and was nominated for the National Book Award. Many schools sought to ban the book for its frank depiction of sexual abuse, but it is credited with helping other abuse survivors tell their stories. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings has been translated into numerous languages and has sold over a million copies worldwide. Angelou eventually published six more autobiographies, culminating in 2013’s Mom & Me & Mom.

She wrote numerous poetry volumes, such as the Pulitzer Prize-nominated Just Give me a Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie (1971), as well as several essay collections. She also recorded spoken albums of her poetry, including “On the Pulse of the Morning,” for which she won a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album. The poem was originally written for and delivered at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993. She also won a Grammy in 1995, and again in 2002, for her spoken albums of poetry.

Angelou carried out a wide variety of activities on stage and screen as a writer, actor, director, and producer. In 1972, she became the first African American woman to have her screen play turned into a film with the production of Georgia, Georgia. Angelou earned a Tony nomination in 1973 for her supporting role in Jerome Kitty’s play Look Away, and portrayed Kunta Kinte’s grandmother in the television miniseries Roots in 1977.

She was recognized by many organizations both nationally and internationally for her contributions to literature. In 1981, Wake Forest University offered Angelou the Reynolds Professorship of American Studies. President Clinton awarded Angelou the National Medal of Arts in 2000. In 2012, she was a member of the inaugural class inducted into the Wake Forest University Writers Hall of Fame. The following year, she received the National Book Foundation’s Literarian Award for outstanding service to the American literary community. Angelou also gave many commencement speeches and was awarded more than 30 honorary degrees in her lifetime.

Angelou died on May 28, 2014. Several memorials were held in her honor, including ones at Wake Forest University and Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco. To honor her legacy, the US Postal Service issued a stamp with her likeness on it in 2015. (The US Postal Service mistakenly included a quote on the stamp that has long been associated with Angelou but was actually first written by Joan Walsh Anglund.)

In 2010, President Barack Obama awarded Angelou the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor. It was a fitting recognition for Angelou’s remarkable and inspiring career in the arts.

This woman was a woman of rape, abuse , and even a victim of racism. She stayed writing in her life as life went on and she did not ask other people to suffer either was well she was a woman of many gift. A big wake up for womens rights and also a good reflection on what is wrong with today's society. People use religion, marriage, laws and even age to determine what is and isn't rape and that is the sick culture all women have to endure. It is never a woman's fault. It happened to me recently and now I am diving back into my music arts. Even research as well . Getting different domains for different topics as well while putting my story out there . It is scary to put it out there because there are so many different things that make writing scary/

#today i learned #til #inventions #biochemistry #women in stem #electricity #mathematics #ocean #environment #sea

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lboogie1906 · 5 months

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Louise Meriwether (born May 8, 1923) a novelist, essayist, journalist, and social activist, was the only daughter of Marion Lloyd Jenkins and his wife, Julia. She was born in Haverstraw, New York. Her family migrated to New York City. They moved to Brooklyn and Harlem.

She received a BA in English from New York University before meeting and marrying Angelo Meriwether, a Los Angeles teacher. She married Earle Howe. She earned an MA in journalism from UCLA.

She was hired by Universal Studios to become the first African American story analyst in Hollywood’s history. She wrote and published articles in the Los Angeles Sentinel on African Americans. She joined the Watts Writers’ Workshop and worked as a staff member of that project.

Her first book, Daddy Was a Number Runner, a fictional account of the economic devastation of Harlem in the Great Depression, appeared in 1970 as the first novel to emerge from the Watts Writers’ Workshop. Daddy Was a Number Runner, is a fictional account of the historical and sociological devastation of the economic Depression on Harlem residents.

He followed with the publication of three historical biographies for children on civil war hero Robert Smalls (1971), pioneer heart surgeon, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams (1972), and civil rights activist Rosa Parks (1973). She published novels, Fragments of the Ark (1994) and Shadow Dancing (2000). She has taught creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College and the University of Houston. She is a member of the Harlem Writers Guild. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

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pennstateuniversitypress · 1 year

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Q&A with Mary Ann Calo

The author of African American Artists and the New Deal Art Programs discusses the significance of New Deal art projects, the Harlem Artists' Guild, and more.

How were the New Deal art projects significant to the history of African American art?

Historians have tended to think of the New Deal art projects as having had a generally positive effect on the development of African American art. The immediate purpose of the projects was to provide financial relief in the form of employment for artists during the Depression. In practical terms, the projects gave Black artists who were eligible time to work and unprecedented access to materials and instruction. There was strong consensus among participating artists that opportunities offered by the art projects at least partially redressed the chronic disadvantages and isolation they had faced. These art projects thus functioned as mechanisms to advance their careers and facilitate their entry into the mainstream of American cultural life.

My primary focus is on the programs of the Federal Art Project (FAP), the largest New Deal arts initiative, administered by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) from 1935 to 1943. The FAP was a branch of Federal Project Number One, which encompassed multiple government-supported initiatives to provide work relief not only for artists but also for writers and creative practitioners in theater and music. In a departure from historical accounts that concentrate on individual accomplishments within the FAP, I shift the analytical focus to educational projects such as Community Art Centers. These facilities, some of which were established to serve racially segregated populations, combined opportunities for technical instruction and art appreciation with a social service mentality. While centers in Harlem and Chicago have long enjoyed public visibility and distinction, I expand the discussion to include lesser-known initiatives in the South, noting the vast differences between specific locales.

The book moves beyond accounts of artists who personally benefitted from the projects, and the works they produced, toward broader issues informed by the uniqueness of Black experience and circumstances. I argue that the revolutionary vision of the New Deal art projects must be understood in the context of access to opportunity mediated by the realities of racism and segregation.

Were the federal art projects fair? Were they equitable?

While other divisions of Federal One, such as theater and writing, had units dedicated to African American culture, by design the FAP was “race blind.” But historians of the New Deal visual art programs have long had to reconcile optimism about expanded opportunity and nondiscrimination with the fact of low African American participation numbers, especially in the creative divisions. I examine the skill and relief requirements of the FAP in terms of their impact on choices open to African American artists and the emphasis within project administration on the primacy of educational, rather than creative, work in the Black community.

The elaborate skill classification system of the FAP, which distinguished between various levels of preparedness to perform certain kinds of work, contained obvious (but unacknowledged) pitfalls for African American artists. For example, individuals seeking to qualify for the creative divisions, which would provide support for time spent in the studio, were asked to furnish information on their training as artists and their exhibition history. This was a challenge for Black artists who lacked opportunities to attend art school or regularly show their work. Administrators were preoccupied with ensuring equal access to the benefits of the projects but disinclined to challenge existing norms of segregation or examine their consequences.

How crucial are archives and documents in writing African American art history?

Archival repositories and primary documents have always been essential to writing the history of New Deal art projects. Accounting for African American experience within them is hindered, as in many areas of American cultural history, by insufficient interest and a fragmented archival landscape. Because Black artists were largely overlooked during the documentary phase of early research on the New Deal art projects, when statistics were gathered and standard histories were being written, the task of tracking and sorting relevant data has been an ongoing challenge. And while a great deal of progress has been made in recent years, participation and program records are dispersed and not easily aggregated for purposes of analysis.

How did the Harlem Artists' Guild function, and to what extent was it a Popular Front organization?

On its face, the Harlem Artists Guild’s (HAG) was a prototypical artist advocacy organization of the New Deal era. But its agenda was also rooted in discourses about race and culture that had evolved decades earlier. In that sense, while emblematic of the impulse to unite and organize in the 1930s, the HAG existed in a different space of cultural meaning and significance.

The activities of the HAG can, to an extent, be located within the context of Popular Front ideology, which emphasized coalition building in the interest of maximizing the impact of progressive forces. Traditionally, New Deal historians have tended tend to think of the HAG as an offshoot of the Artists’ Union (AU). This suggests that it derived its energy from the dominant activist organization of the majority culture. I describe the nature of its alliances with groups central to this period, such as the AU and the American Artists’ Congress (AAC), but also with the National Negro Congress (NNC) and local civic organizations. This is consistent with more recent historical approaches that raise questions about the extent to which civil rights organizations such as the NNC may have intersected with this cultural energy and stimulated it.

African American Artists and the New Deal Art Programs: Opportunity, Access, and Community is now available from Penn State University Press. Learn more and order the book here: https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-09493-9.html. Save 30% w/ discount code NR23.

#New Deal #Art #Art History #African American Studies #African American History #Contemporary #Modern

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historyprofiles · 6 months

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Maya Angelou

Mary Angelou was born in Missouri and would go on to become a famous Poet and activist.

Mary, most arguably famous work, is I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. This was released in 1969, and dealt with her early life in Arkansas. The book talked about her experiences with racism and It talks about about her tragic past, where she experienced a sexual assault at the hands of her mothers brothers. This man would be murdered by her uncles, and Angelou felt responsible so stopped talking out of trauma. Her poetry also became famous, as her poetry often been lauded for its depictions of 'black beauty'

Many criticised her autobiography but it should be noted that Mary purposely wrote her book out of the standard autobiography style, in a attempt to subvert and make her impact on the genre.

In 1959 - Joined the recently formed 'Harlem Writers Guild' in New York.

In 1981 - Mary ,who was often known as “Dr. Angelou” despite having no higher level education, became a professor of American studies at

Wake Forest University

North Carolina

Wake Forest University

In 2013 - after her death, she received a Literarian award for her contributions for the literary community.

Sources -

Poetry Foundation

Biography.com

Wikipedia

WomenHistory.org

Britannica

#Mary Angelou #black history #historyblr

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themovieblogonline · 7 months

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#charliecox #Daredevil #Daredevil:BornAgain #disneyplus #Kingpin #Marve #MarvelStudios #MCU #VincenD'onofrio #WilsonFisk

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alrederedmixedmedia · 9 months

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Alredered Remembers novelist, essayist, playwright, and co-founder of the Harlem Writers Guild John Oliver Killens, on his birthday.

"Western man wrote "his" history as if it were the history of the entire human race."

John Oliver Killens

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tigermike · 1 year

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Marguerite Annie Johnson was born in St Louis, Missouri in 1928. When she was 8 years old, her mother's boyfriend sexually abused her. He ended up spending only one night in jail, but was murdered four days later, most likely by one of Johnson's uncles.

For the next 5 years, Johnson became a mute. "I thought, my voice killed him; I killed that man, because I told his name. And then I thought I would never speak again, because my voice would kill anyone."

A teacher and family friend by the name of Mrs. Bertha Flowers was the one who started to help her speak again by introducing her to books written by literary heavyweights such as Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe.

The family soon moved to Oakland, California and at the age of 16, Johnson became the first first black female cable car conductor in San Francisco. She described it as her "dream job." However, in her 20s, she pivoted careers and began studying modern dance, eventually performing professionally in nightclubs around San Francisco in the early 1950s. It was during this time that Johnson decided to change her name to Maya Angelou in order to set her apart from other dancers.

From 1954 to 1955, Angelou toured Europe performing in an Opera production and made it a point to learn the languages of all the countries she visited. She became fluent in French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, and Fanti.

In 1959, she met writer John Oliver Killens who encouraged her to move to New York City, where she joined the Harlem Writers Guild and launched her writing career, becoming an important voice for women and the black community.

In her 1969 autobiography, "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings," Angelou writes, "There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."

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lotus-flower-writes-history · 1 year

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The Unofficial Black History Book

Maya Angelou (1928-2014)

Trigger Warning - This chapter mentions s*xual assault, (Placed a guideline, just in case)

"You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them." - Maya Angelou

This is her story.

Maya Angelou was not just a poet. She was an author, historian, songwriter, dancer, playwright, performer, singer, stage and screen producer, director, and Civil rights activist.

She was born Marguerite Ann Johnson on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. She had a difficult childhood. When her parents divorced when she was a child, she and her older brother Bailey moved to Stamps, Arkansas, to live with their grandmother, Ann Henderson. Her brother gave her the nickname "Maya," which she continued to go by.

Maya experienced firsthand racial prejudice and discrimination while she was living in Arkansas.

When she was seven, she traveled to St. Louis to see her mother and was raped by her mother's boyfriend. He was later jailed and then released.

When she spoke about the assault, her uncles banded together and killed her attacker. Traumatized and believing that her speaking about the assault caused a man's death, she became mute for almost six years and went back to live with her grandmother.

Maya has always been fascinated by the written word since she was a child. Throughout her childhood, she wrote essays and poetry and kept a journal. When she returned to Arkansas, she took an interest in poetry and memorized the works of Edgar Allan Poe and Shakespeare.

Maya moved back in with her mother, who was now living in Oakland, California, during World War II, when she was in her teens. She attended George Washington High School and received a scholarship to the California Labor School to study dance and acting.

She applied to join the Women's Army Corps during the war, but her application was denied because she had attended the California Labor School, which was rumored to have Communist ties.

Maya was only 15 years old at the time, but she was determined to find work, so she applied for a job as a streetcar conductor. With many men leaving their jobs to fight in the war, women were able to fill their positions.

Maya was initially turned down because she was a woman of color. But that did not deter her, so every day for three weeks, she requested a job application but was denied every time.

But this didn't stop her.

She eventually wore the company down, and they gave her an application. She stated on her application that she was 19 instead of 15 because she was under the legal working age. She was finally accepted for the job position and was the first African American woman to work as a streetcar conductor in San Francisco.

She was employed for at least one semester but then decided to go back to school. She graduated from Mission High School in 1944 and later gave birth to her son, Clyde Bailey 'Guy' Johnson. (He also became a poet later in his life.)

After graduation, Maya took on a bunch of odd jobs to support herself and her son. In 1949, she married Tosh Angelos, a Greek sailor who was an electrician in the US Navy. She adopted a form of his last name, "Angelou," and kept it despite their divorce in 1952.

Maya was very private about her marriages; she most likely married three times in her life.

Maya Angelou was well-known for her abilities as a singer and dancer, particularly in calypso and cabaret styles. Her performing career began in the 1950s. She was cast in a touring production of "Porgy and Bess" and later in the Off-Broadway production of "Calypso Heat Wave" (1957). She performed professionally in the United States, Europe, and North Africa.

In 1950, African American writers in New York City founded the Harlem Writers Guild to foster and support the publication of black authors.

Maya Angelou joined The Writers Guild in 1959, became involved in the Civil Rights Movement, and was the Northern Coordinator of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a prominent African American advocacy organization. She even organized and starred in the musical revue 'Cabaret for Freedom' as a benefit for the SCLC.

Maya appeared in an Off-Broadway production of Jean Genet's 'The Blacks' in 1961, alongside James Earl Jones, Lou Gossett Jr., and Cicely Tyson.

Angelou spent the majority of the 1960s living abroad, first in Egypt and then in Ghana. She was working as an editor and as a freelance writer. During her time at the University of Ghana, she worked as a lecturer. While in Ghana, she also joined a community of "Revolutionist Returnees", discovering Pan-Africanism.

She became close friends with Malcolm X as well. When she returned to the United States in 1964, she assisted Malcolm X in establishing the Organization of Afro-American Unity, which was later disbanded following his death the following year.

Maya and Martin Luther King Jr. were also close friends. When he was assassinated on her birthday, April 4, 1968, she stopped celebrating her birthday for years afterward. Instead, she sent flowers to Coretta Scott King, Martin's widow, for over 30 years until Coretta's death in 2006.

In 1969, Maya Angelou published 'I know why the caged bird sings', a memoir about her early life. Her friend and fellow African-American writer James Baldwin encouraged her to write her autobiography.

As the first nonfiction bestseller by an African-American woman, her story of personal strength in the face of childhood trauma and racism made literary history.

It was nominated for a National Book Award, and while many schools tried to ban it due to the vivid depiction of sexual abuse, it was credited with assisting other Sexual Abuse survivors in telling their own stories.

'I know why the caged bird sings' made Maya Angelou an international star. It's been translated into many languages, has sold over a million copies worldwide, and continues to be her most popular autobiographical work. She went on to publish six more autobiographies.

Maya published a number of poetry collections, including "Just Give Me a Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie' (1971), which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, as well as several essay collections. She also recorded spoken word albums of her poetry, including 'On the Pulse of the Morning,’ and won a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album. The poem was originally written for and delivered at Bill Clinton's inauguration in 1993.

She received another Grammy in 1995 and another in 2002 for her spoken poetry albums.

With the production of 'Georgia, Georgia' in 1972, Maya became the first African-American woman to have her screenplay turned into a film. In 1973, she received a Tony nomination for her supporting role in Jerome Kitty's play, 'Look away.' In 1976, she wrote 'Singin' and swingin' and 'Gettin' Merry Like Christmas," autobiographies about her early career as a singer and actress. And played Kunta Kinte's grandmother in the TV miniseries 'Roots' in 1977.

'The Heart of a Woman,' her memoir about leaving California with her son for New York and participating in the Civil Rights Movement, was published in 1981.

In 1986, she wrote "All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes," a lyrical exploration of her years spent living in Ghana and what it means to be an African-American in Africa.

In 1994, she wrote "Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now," a collection of inspirational essays that features Maya's insights about spirituality and living well.

In 2002, she wrote 'A Song Flew Up to Heaven', an autobiographical work that explores Maya's return from Africa to the States and her struggle to cope with the assassinations of her close friends, Dr. King and Malcolm X. The book even ends when, at the encouragement of James Baldwin, she begins to work on 'I know why the caged bird sings'.

In 2008, she wrote 'Letter to My Daughter'. It was dedicated to the daughter she never had and features essays of her own advice for young women about living a life with meaning.

In 2013, she wrote 'Mom & Me & Mom', a memoir where she discusses her complicated relationship with a mother who abandoned her during childhood.

Maya also published cookbooks. Interested in health, she published. "Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes" (2005). And 'Great food, all day long' (2010).

Maya Angelou was honored by numerous organizations both nationally and internationally for her contributions to literature. Wake Forest University appointed her to the Reynolds Professorship of American Studies in 1981. And in 2000, President Clinton awarded Maya Angelou the National Medal of Arts.

Maya was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2011, the country's highest civilian honor.

In 2012, she was a member of the inaugural class inducted into the Wake Forest University Writers Hall of Fame. She received the National Book Foundation's Literary Community Award the following year. She also gave many commencement speeches and was awarded more than 30 honorary degrees in her lifetime.

On May 28th, 2014, Maya Angelou died at the age of 86 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In her honor, memorial services were held at Wake Forest University and Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco.

In honor of her legacy, the US Postal Service issued a stamp with her likeness on it in 2015.

President Obama issued a statement about Maya Angelou, calling her "a brilliant writer, a fierce friend, and a truly phenomenal woman. Angelou had the ability to remind us that we are all God's children and that we all have something to offer." He wrote.

In May 2021, it was announced that Maya Angelou would be one of the first women to be honored with a new series of quarters from the United States Mint.

Maya Angelou was truly a phenomenal woman.

Clara Hale

Ruby Bridges

___

My Resources

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writemarcus · 1 year

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JCTC Produces Reading of New Play SIBLING RIVALRIES By Marcus Scott

The production is set for September 18.

By: Stephi Wild Sep. 06, 2023

Jersey City Theater Center will present a reading of Sibling Rivalries by Marcus Scott, a new play set at a fictional Ivy League school in the years following the Obama Administration. This political drama follows a diverse group of young black men, all members of a fraternity, who face shifting loyalties and eroded principles when they are forced to compete against one another for a prestigious fellowship. Sibling Rivalries will take place at Jersey City Theater Center (165 Newark Ave, Jersey City, NJ 07302 / Entrance from Barrow St., Jersey City, NJ, 07302) on Monday, September 18 at 7:30PM. Tickets start at just $5.00 and are available at www.JCTCenter.org. "As we prepare to showcase the extraordinary talent of Marcus Scott, a remarkable representative of the black, queer community, whose work we have had the privilege of nurturing by providing a creative residency in 2023, our enthusiasm knows no bounds. At the very core of our mission lies our unwavering commitment to open doors for emerging playwrights, allowing their voices to resound both locally and on the globally," stated Olga Levina, the Executive Producer at JCTC. "JCTC is immensely thankful for our enduring partnership with I Love Greenville and the sponsorship from Healthier JC, our collaboration has given rise to a wide spectrum of programming, each piece thoughtfully designed to shed light on the experiences and obstacles faced by people of color while celebrating their rich cultural traditions." We wish to express our gratitude to the Performers' Unions: ACTORS' EQUITY ASSOCIATION, AMERICAN GUILD OF MUSICAL ARTISTS, AMERICAN GUILD OF VARIETY ARTISTS and SAG-AFTRA through Theatre Authority, Inc. for their cooperation in permitting the Artists to appear in this program.

About Marcus Scott

Marcus Scott is a playwright, musical theatre writer & journalist. Full-length works: Tumbleweed (finalist: 2017 BAPF & the 2017 Festival of New American Plays at Austin Playhouse; semifinalist: 2022 O'Neill NPC, 2022 Blue Ink Playwriting Award & 2017 New Dramatists Princess Grace Award in Playwriting Fellowship), Sibling Rivalries (finalist: Normal Ave's NAPseries, 2021 Seven Devils Playwrights Conference & 2021 ATHE-KCACTF Judith Royer Excellence In Playwriting Award; semi- finalist: 2022 Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival, 2021 Blue Ink Playwriting Award & 2021 New Dramatists Princess Grace Award in Playwriting Fellowship; long-listed: 2020 Theatre503 International Playwriting Award), There Goes The Neighborhood (finalist: 2023 New Dramatists Princess Grace Award in Playwriting Fellowship, 2023 Blue Ink Playwriting Award, the 2019 Bushwick Starr Reading Series; semifinalist: 2023 BAPF) & Cherry Bomb (recipient: 2017 Drama League First Stage Artist-In-Residence, 2017 New York Theatre Barn's New Works Series; 2017 finalist for the Yale Institute for Music Theatre). Heartbeat Opera commissioned Scott to adapt Beethoven's “Fidelio” (Co-writer; Met Live Arts at the MET Museum, Mondavi Center at UC Davis, Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, The Broad Stage, Rutgers Presbyterian Church, Baruch Performing Arts Center; NYTimes Critics' Pick! ★★★★). Scott is the recipient of the WTP Rosalind Ayres-Williams Memorial Scholarship (2022-2024). Scott is the recipient of the WTP Rosalind Ayres-Williams Memorial Scholarship (2022-2024). His one-act Sundown Town is published in Obsidian: Literature and Arts of the African Diaspora: Issue: 48.1. His work has developed or presented at Concord Theatricals/Sam French OOB Short Play Festival, Queens Theatre (New American Voices series), The Fire This Time Festival, Zoetic Stage (Finstrom Festival Of New Work), Dixon Place, Feinstein's/54 Below, Abingdon Theatre Company, Downtown Urban Arts Festival, Classical Theatre of Harlem, Across A Crowded Room at Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library (NYPL), Musical Theater Factory's 4x15 Series, Space on Ryder Farm, Theatre West, New Circle Theatre Company, MicroTheater Miami, Columbia College Chicago, among others. Residencies and retreats: The inaugural Personal Pizza Party Writers' Kitchen cohort (2023), The 2022 Valdez Theatre Conference, The Road Theatre Company's Under Construction 3 Playwrights Group (2022), Mojoaa Performing Arts Company's Southern Black Playwrights Lab (Cohort 2; 2022), Works & Process LaunchPAD “Process as Destination” Residency at the Guggenheim (2022), Prospect Musical Theater Lab (2021), María Irene Fornés Playwriting Workshop (2021), JACK Governor's Island Artist Residency (2021), Catwalk Artist Residency (2021), The Center at West Park Virtual Performance Residency (2020-2021), Gingold Theatre Group Speaker's Corner Writer (2020-2022), Liberation Theatre Company's Playwriting Residency Fellowship (2018), Athena Theatre Company's Athena Writes Playwriting Fellowship (2018-2019), the inaugural LIT Council at the Tank (2018-2019), Fresh Ground Pepper Artist-In-Residence BRB Retreat (2017), One Co. Writers' Residency at Little Farm (2017) and Goodspeed Opera House Retreat (2013). Scott is a 2021 NYSAF Founders' Award finalist, a 2021 Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award semi-finalist, a four-time National Black Theatre I AM SOUL Playwrights Residency finalist and a four-time top finalist for The Civilians R&D Group. His articles appeared in Architectural Digest, Time Out New York, American Theatre Magazine, Playbill, Elle, Out, Essence, The Brooklyn Rail, among others. BFA: State University College at Buffalo, MFA: NYU Tisch.

#marcus scott #marcusscott #write marcus #writemarcus #black playwrights #theatre #theater #new works #new plays #talented tenth #Sibling Rivalries #black frats #Black fraternities #Ivy league #college plays

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bloggersrndainja · 2 years

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Langston Hughes Day Celebration Saturday, February 11th, 2023

Flyer via Queens Public Library Good morning! It’s Black History Month. I’m excited to share with you that I will be among the featured poets at the annual Langston Hughes day celebration. Saturday, February 11th, 2023. #blackhistorymonth2023 Stop through if you can.

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#Harlem Writers Guild #Langston Hughes Day Celebration #Queens Public Library

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sharonrb · 2 years

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Maya Angelou

1928-2014

By Dr. Kelly A. Spring | 2017; Updated December 2021 by Mariana Brandman, NWHM Predoctoral Fellow in Women’s History, 2020-2022

Poet, dancer, singer, activist, and scholar Maya Angelou was a world-famous author. She was best known for her unique and pioneering autobiographical writing style.

In 2011, President Barack Obama awarded Angelou the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor. It was a fitting recognition for Angelou’s remarkable and inspiring career in the arts.

#maya angelou

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sporadicarbitergardener · 11 months

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Maya Angellou

Poet, dancer, singer, activist, and scholar Maya Angelou was a world-famous author. She was best known for her unique and pioneering autobiographical writing style.

This goes to show you only get real honor after death, she was amazing and very inspiring, after reading her story gave me encouragement to always continue with mine no matter what anyone says

#womens voice #womens rights #womens history #art #writer #young writers #inspiration #love #peace #how she wrote

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lboogie1906 · 8 months

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William Edmondson (c. December 1874 - February 7, 1951) was the first African American artist to have a solo show at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1937. He grew up near Nashville, Tennessee. Edmondson’s father, George, died when he was quite young and his mother Jane became a farm worker to support the family. He began carving tombstones and expanded his work to include sports heroes, animals, birdbaths, and figures from the Bible.

He had very little formal education and as a young man he worked for railway shops in Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis. He was employed at various times as a farmhand, horse groom, orderly, fireman, and handyman. He began work as a helper for a stonemason, he discovered his talent for stone carving and built his carving tools by forging railroad spikes. In the early 1930s, he began carving tombstones for Nashville’s African American community using pieces of limestone that had been thrown away. People stopped by and bought tombstones for a few dollars. He never married.

He believed that God guided his creative endeavors and the subject matter reflected his faith. He created Martha and Mary, a sculpture based on these prominent Biblical figures. His sculpture was displayed in 1937 at his first one-person exhibition at MOMA. At the end of the exhibit, it was sold to a prominent collector. From that point, his work was recognized in national art circles.

He connected with Harlem Renaissance artist Aaron Douglas and writer James Weldon Johnson in a discussion about art and ideas. He worked as an artist on Works Progress Administration projects in Nashville (1939-41).

He had solo shows at The Montclair Art Museum The Cheekwood Fine Arts Center, The Nashville Artist Guild, and The Tennessee State Museum. His work was included in group exhibitions in DC, New York, San Francisco, and Paris. His work is in the permanent collections of The Montclair Art Museum. The University of Rochester, the San Francisco Museum of Art, and at The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, The National Museum of American Art, and the Smithsonian Institution. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

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