#selma morris

[bonzlydoo]

This particular chapter in our crossover RP had me drawing like a madman. omg. I love them all so much. maybe i'll get around to colouring them at some point

thank you team for the heart vibes. featured are characters written by @dross-the-fish and @differenceenginegirl

[askparadise]

The bonus art on that last ask is doing something to me and I'm about to act unwise

(( I probably shouldn't share these RP arts also then. fet. characters also played by @dross-the-fish and @differenceenginegirl who's blogs you should also check out ))

[dross-the-fish]

Selma hauled her overstuffed carpet bag down the hall as she made her way to her quarters, eager to get out of her travel clothes and have a wash before she joined Quincey and Larry for dinner. As she rounded the long corridor that led to the guest rooms she halted. There was a short, dark-haired man standing at her door. When he turned his head to look at her, she froze, caught off guard by his odd appearance. This could only be the infamous Edward Hyde. She’d been warned about him but seeing him in the flesh was, nonetheless, a bit of a shock.

“You’re staring,�� keen as a razor Hyde’s voice cut through silence. The edge of it dripping with threat. Selma caught herself and averted her gaze from the shorter man, “Beggin’ yer pardon. That were rude of me,” she apologized, tipping the brim of her hat politely.

“Pretty manners you have for a yokel.”

 Biting, mocking. The thick, corded hand that seemed ever fixed to the knob of his cane flexed with barely contained malice. Selma’s own hand, calloused from years of work, rested on the handle of her pistol. Not a threat or warning, merely a precaution. Hyde’s acid green eyes flickered to her weapon then back up at her face.

“My Ma always told me you don’t get nowhere by bein’ rude,” she offered, keeping her tone even.

“Your Ma is a fool then, rudeness gets me farther than manners ever did,” His tone lightened in amusement but his hand did not unfurl from its grip on the cane. His thin lips were stretched so tight they seemed to barely contain his unfortunate arrangement of large, uneven teeth, “How far do you reckon yours are gonna get you?”

Selma frowned down at him, “I’m hoping, for both of our sakes, it’ll take me farther than shooting you where you stand,” she made no move to draw. She and Hyde stared each other down, he was the first to break, out of restlessness and boredom. His cane tapped once, loudly against the floorboards, echoing through the hall, the sound bouncing all around until it faded into air that Selma found suddenly and unpleasantly thick.

“Are you afraid?”

Hyde’s curiosity was the only thing holding his wrath in check. Upon realization a furl of resentment curled in Selma’s chest. He was toying with her. This was a game to him, a game that could end her life yet to him represented nothing more significant than the amusements of a particularly cruel school boy. Selma did not care for games and she had no intention of trying to bluff him out by pretending she was braver than she was. “I am, but it don’t make much difference, does it? What will be will be,” she replied evenly, “You’re scary, and I do fear you, Mr Hyde, but I’ve taken down worse, so if you wanna try it you got however long it takes me to draw. But I ain’t aimin’ fer a fight and I ain’t movin’ until you do.”

Hyde whistled appreciatively, “Now there’s an honest answer. Not enough of that going around, what with all of our team mates lying to themselves and each other,” he said brightly and Selma sensed that the danger had passed. She allowed herself to relax ever so slightly, realizing that the hand that had been holding her carpet bag was growing sore from the tension. She set it down and gave her fingers a flex before she looked back at Hyde. It was her turn to be curious. Unwise, though she thought it was, she had to know what he meant.

“How do you figure they’re lying?” she asked.

Pleased that she had asked, and eager to talk, Hyde perched himself on the end table next to her door, carelessly knocking over a vase and giving a self-satisfied grin when it shattered, “Oh they’re all liars in their own way. They tell themselves little tales to keep themselves going. Harker tells himself he’s brave and that being a good friend will be enough to save Larry, he doesn’t really believe it with as much conviction as he puts on. Larry tells himself that he’s not responsible for killing his parents, even though his guilt screams so loudly that it is that it keeps him awake and crying into his pillow at night. Adam tells himself and everyone else he’s not a monster but then spends an hour washing invisible blood off his hands and Watson tells himself that if he just keeps pushing forward, he’ll find his friend alive even though he’s leaking hope like a sieve,” the smirk broadened and Selma should have been repulsed by the nastiness in it but she found that she wasn’t. Though she did not intend to voice it, she knew exactly what he meant and secretly agreed.

“If I catch yer meanin’ what you’re really saying is that they’re lying to themselves because they have hope,” she ruminated for a moment before she continued, “Do you think hope is a lie then? Just on principal?” There was no judgement in her tone, merely more of the same, even, curiosity.

“Sharp little thing, aren’t you?” He seemed pleased but didn’t elaborate and Selma bristled at being called “little” by a man half a head shorter than her. The trollish fiend simply eyed her expectantly while he bit off and spat one of his grubby, blunt, finger-nails onto the polished hardwood floor.

“I don’t hold on to hope, myself, hurts to much when it dies,” she remarked, bitterness creeping into her tone.

“There’s a smart Lass, there is. I was hoping you’d be tolerable.”

Lass…lass and little, two words that seemed exceedingly out of place coming from a man who was shorter than her and seemed close to her own age. Selma’s instincts told her that there was much more to Mr. Hyde than he appeared but she was astute enough not to press her luck and rouse his ire again. Increasingly she wanted to go to her room and rest. Picking up her carpet bag again she moved forward. Not wanting to risk being rude or abrupt she held out her free hand to him, a gesture that caused his thick eyebrows to shoot up into his unkempt mop of greasy black hair.

“Not afraid I’ll bite you?” he grinned, showing off every jagged tooth in his head.

“No idea if you will or won’t but I stand by good manners even if they don’t help me much,” she replied, “My name’s Selma Morris, how do you do?”

Satisfied with her answer Hyde hopped off of the end table, crunching the broken bits of porcelain vase under his shoes, “Edward Hyde, a pleasure, Miss Morris,” he said closing his thick hairy hand over hers. Selma relaxed and gave his hand a firm shake, not balking at the sweatiness of his palm or the thick, black, hair dusting his knuckles.  She’d made it through and the ordeal was over, now all she had to do was take her bag to her room and-

“OW! What the hell did ya do that for?!” she cried jerking away her bitten wrist with a string of curses. He hadn’t drawn blood but it was going to bruise. Damn lunatic.

“You let your guard down, Morris! Shame, you were doing so well! I’ll see you at dinner!” his laughter echoed down the halls as he bounded away, knocking portraits askew in his wake.

“I shoulda stayed in Texas…”

[allamericansbitch]

based on this thread, here is a list of famous people who have supported johnny depp and/or made fun of amber heard. fuck all of them:

Aly & AJ

Alissa Violet (Influencer)

Anitta

Ann Coulter

Ashley Benson

Ashley Park (actress from Emily in Paris)

Auli'i Cravalho (actress from Moana)

Bailey Muñoz

Bella Hadid

Ben Shapiro

Booboo Stewart

Chase Hudson (Lil Huddy)

Chase Stokes (actor from Outer Banks)

China McClaine

Chris Rock

Cierra Ramirez (actress from The Fosters/Good Trouble)

Cody Simpson

Connor Swindells (adam groff on sex education)

Cazzie David

Critical Role

Dakota Fanning

Dakota Johnson

Daniel Ricciardo

Diana Silvers

Dillion Francis (DJ)

Dominic Fike

Dove Cameron

Elle King

Emma Roberts

Florence Pugh

Gabby Douglas

Gemma Chan

Halle Bailey

Henry Golding

Ian Somerhalder

Jaime King

Jamie Campbell Bower

Javier Bardem

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Coolidge

Jeremy Renner

Jessie J

JK Rowling

Joe Perry (Aerosmith)

JoJo Siwa

Jordan Fisher

Julian Kostov (actor from Shadow & Bone)

Justin Long

Kali Uchis

Kat Von D

Kelly Osbourne

Kelsea Ballerini

Kyle Rittenhouse

LaKeith Stanfield

Lance Bass

Lennon Stella

Lewis Tan

Lucy Hale

Madelyn Cline (actress from Outer Banks)

Maren Morris

Matthias Schoenaerts

Michael Clifford (of 5 Seconds of Summer)

Molly Shanon

Nicholas Braun

Norman Reedus

Nyane (popular instagram model)

Olivia Jade

Paige (from WWE)

Paris Hilton

Patti Smith

Paul Bettany

Paul McCartney

Penelope Cruz

Perrie Edwards

Phillip Barantini (director of Boiling Point)

Pokimane (Twitch Streamer)

Reeve Carney

Robert Downey Jr

Rian Dawson (Drummer of All Time Low)

Riley Keough

Rita Ora

Ryan Adams

Sam Claflin

Samantha Hanratty (actress from Yellowjackets)

Samuel Larsen

Seth Savoy (Director)

Shannen Doherty

Sharon Stone

Sia

SNL cast and writers

Sofia Boutella

Sophie Turner

Stella Maxwell

Tammin Sursok

Taika Waititi

Tony Lopez

Upsahl

Vanessa Hudgens

Vanessa Morgan

Vanessa Paradis

Vincent Gallo

Yungblud

Zachary Levi

Zedd

Zoe Saldana

Zoey Deutch

People who publicly support Amber:

Aiysha Hart 

Alex Winter

Alexa Nikolas (actress from Zoey 101)

Amanda Seyfried

Amy Schumer

Anna Sophia Robb

Bianca Butti (Amber's ex)

Busy Philipps

Chace Crawford

Chloe Morello

Christina Ricci

Constance Wu

Contrapoints/Natalie Wynn

Corey Rae

Dana Schwartz (journalist and writer)

David Krumholtz

Dolph Lundgren

Edward Norton

Elizabeth Lail (actress who played Beck from you)

Elizabeth McGovern

Elizaberh Reaser (Esmé in Twilight)

Ellen Barkin

Emeraude Toubia (actress from Shadowhunters and With Love)

Emily Ratajkowski

Evan Rachel Wood

Finneas

Howard Stern

Ira Madison III

Jamelle Bouie (NYT columnist)

Jessica Taylor, Dr

Jon Lovett (podcaster & former White House speech writer & fiance of Ronan Farrow)

John Legend

Julia Fox

Julia Stiles

Julianne Moore

Kate Nash (singer, actress from Glow)

Kathy Griffin

Kristen Bell

Lauren Jauregui

Lena Headey

Lindsay Ellis (YouTuber)

Lindsay Lohan

Lindsey Gort

Mia Farrow

Michele Dauber (Stanford law professor)

Millie Brady (actress in The Last Kingdom)

Mel B

Melanie Lynskey

Melissa Benoist

Monica Lewinsky

Nathalie Emmanuel (actress on Game of Thrones)

Neil Gaiman (writer of Caroline, American Gods, Good Omens, etc.)

Nikki Glaser (comedian)

Patricia Arquette

Rachel Riley

Raphael Bob-Waksberg (creator of Bojack Horseman)

Robin Lord Taylor

Rian Johnson (director of Knives Out)

Ryn Weaver (singer)

Samantha Bee (comedian)

Sarah Paulson

Sarah Steele

Selma Blair 

Sophia Bush

Uzo Aduba

Willa Fitzgerald

Zach Kornfeld (from the Try Guys)

[melodicheauxxlovesfood]

🎬📺share ten different favorite characters from ten different pieces of media in no particular order🎮🃏 Then send this to 10 people (anon or not, your choice)

I can’t do just one, y’all know that 🥴🫣

Dominique Deveraux (THE ORIGINAL Dynasty)

Peter Parker (MCU Spider-Man, if that isn’t obvious lol 🥴)

Akeelah (Akeelah and the Bee

Alex Fisher (The Women)

Kimberly Reece (A Different World)

Bernadette (Waiting to Exhale)

K.C. Cooper (K.C. Undercover)

Eve Batiste (Eve’s Bayou)

Shyann Webb (Selma, Lord Selma)

Sister Mary Clarence (Sister Act)

Melinda Warner (Law & Order: SVU)

Tiana (Prince and the Frog)

Olivia Benson (Law & Order: SVU)

Siddalee Walker (Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood)

MJ Watson (Spider-Man)

Poussey Washington (Orange Is The New Black)

Zack Morris (Saved By The Bell)

Zora Greenleaf (Greenleaf)

Papi Evangelista (POSE)

Candy Ferocity (POSE)

Alexandria Crane (STAR)

Rue Bennett (Euphoria)

Marie (Malcolm & Marie)

Arvin Russel (Devil All The Time)

[lboogie1906]

Colonel Raymond Aloysius Brown (May 6, 1913 - October 9, 2009) a prominent civil rights activist, attorney, and military officer was born in Fernandina Beach, Florida. His mother, Elizabeth Christopher Traeye, was a domestic, teacher and homemaker. His father, Miller, was the first Black bus mechanic employed at the Public Service Bus Company.

He graduated from Lincoln High School and joined the segregated Civilian Conservation Corps fighting forest fires in Montana’s Kootenai National Forest. As a history major at Florida A&M College, he wrote humor for the FAMCEAN newspaper, participated in a 1937 campus protest, and played football before graduating.

He worked as a bellhop at Journal Square’s Plaza Hotel, shipping clerk, FDIC messenger, cab driver, and dockworker while enrolled in the night program at Fordham University Law School. Drafted in the segregated Army Quartermaster Corps in 1942, he challenged segregated practices in the South during WWII and served overseas.

He joined the all-Black New Jersey Army National Guard 372nd AAA Group. He rose in the ranks to become a full colonel and Judge Advocate General, retiring in 1975. After graduating from Fordham. He was admitted to the Bar in 1949.

At the behest of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s Barbara A. Morris and Robert L. Carter, he represented defendants in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas. He helped quell the 1964 Jersey City rebellion, the 1967 Newark and Plainfield uprisings, and the 1971 Rahway prison revolt. He helped desegregate public schools, took five busloads to the March on Washington, and joined Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma.

His clients included Black Liberation Army activist Assata Shakur, poet Amiri Baraka, SNCC chairman H. Rap Brown, pugilist Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, jazz legend Sarah Vaughn, Jersey City Black Panthers Isaiah Rowley, Victor Perez, and Charles Hicks, Student Afro Society members during the 1968 Columbia University protests, Kawaida Towers, and the Congress of African People.

He was survived by his second wife, Dr. Jennie Davis Brown, and children. His first wife Elaine Camilla Williams Brown died (1968). #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[connellslover]

A BUNCH OF MEMORIES : from march to april.

MARCH: the return of the flowers

Spring equinoxe : monday 20th march 2023. 

Is it just me or March seems like a perfect month to reinvent yourself? The rainy days, at least the cold days, are over and Mister Sun is making its comeback. Flowers are blooming, you tend to not take your big coat anymore and you just feel a little bit more freer. At least, that’s what I think. 

Here’s a recap of what makes me happy this month : 

CINEMATIC UNIVERSE : 

✧ the adaptation of Daisy Jones and The Six and especially Warren 

✧ Rory Gilmore in her uni era

✧ Luke Danes

✧ The Whale

THIS MONTH SOUNDTRACK :

✧ Missing London - lostcrewboy (and for the fact, i was searching this song since my london trip in 2019)

✧ Why - Dominic Fike

✧ the SOUL playlist on Spotify (especially This Life by Kendra Morris)

✧ Liberta - Pep’s

✧ Many Times - Dijon

✧ the album Here comes everybody by Spacey Janes

BOOK I READ : 

✧ Funny you should ask - Elissa Sussman

MEMORIES : 

✧ seeing the Tap Factory show with my family

✧ seeing my mom happy

✧ being in peace with myself

✧ sushis

✧ spring

✧ naps 

✧ celebrate the birthday of my friends

✧ potatoes 

✧ eating at Don Camillo (which is a wonderful italian restaurant with the best pizza i’ve ever eat)

LAST BUT NOT LEAST : having my driver’s license (finally, thanks the universe)

A BUNCH OF MEMORIES : from march to may. 

APRIL: my birthday month

"April is named after the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite. The Romans called this month Aprilis, which may derive from the verb aperire meaning “to open”, referring to flowers and fruits opening."

April or the month I turned twenty (which is a pretty big thing for me). Twenty : a round number, a good number. Things turned out so great and I'm happy, truly happy. Flowers are blooming, we are living again.

CINEMATIC UNIVERSE : 

✧ cars

✧ les trois mousquetaires

✧ watching Disney movies with my mom and my little brother

✧ All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

THIS MONTH SOUNDTRACK :

✧ letter to an old poet - boygenius

✧ "always an angel, never a god", not strong enough - boygenius

✧ WILLOW

✧ gracie abrams

MEMORIES : 

✧ the surprise party my mom threw me

✧ the birthday gifs of my friends

✧ going at Disneyland Paris with all my family

✧ my Edgar allan poe candle

✧ my bracelets

✧ flowers

✧ the little chocolates my mom hid in my backpack  

✧ the zoom calls with my favorite professor (we talked about books a lot)

✧ the idea of love  

✧ the idea of peace

✧ studying at the Royal Holloway University of London next year

✧ going out with my friends and drinking red lights

thank you (for whoever is going to read my post about my little life). 

and remember : you are loved.

all the love, Selma.

[msbeatles]

Advertisement of Hank Jr, The Cheatin' Hearts, Audrey and Lamar Morris performed at National Guard Armory in Selma, Alabama on January 27, 1966.

[librelivrevivre]

books to educate yourself about black history and struggle in America

disclaimer: I’m white. I’m white as snow. My ancestors came to America from Scotland before the war for Independence. My other ancestors came from Germany. I’m THAT white. So if there’s any books that I should take off the list or add, please let me know!! 

- Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the Selma Voting Rights March by Lynda Blackmon Lowery

- The Autobiography of Malcolm X

- For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood... and the Rest of Y'all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education by Christopher Emdin

- We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom by Bettina L. Love

-  How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

-  Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi

-  Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools by Monique W. Morris

- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

- Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System by Cyntoia Brown-Long, Bethany Mauger

- Loving vs. Virginia: A Documentary Novel of the Landmark Civil Rights Case by Patricia Hruby Powell

- At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance--A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power by Danielle L. McGuire

- The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

- The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

cool so now you have resources to learn from! so stop asking black people to rec you books when you could, I don’t know...google it?? :) stop asking ppl like @blackgrad to educate you when you can do it yourself :))) hi it’s me your friendly education major I’ll teach you as best as I can!!!

[96thdayofrage]

The Moment King was Slain: How Opposition to Capital and Unification of the Poor Sealed his Fate

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights legend and leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, is murdered, the evening of April 4, 1968 at 6:01pm by an assassin’s bullet outside his room, #306, on the 2nd floor balcony of the Lorrain Motel in Memphis Tennessee. This brutal act shocks the conscience of the nation and the world. If a picture is worth a thousand words, this photo by Joseph Louw, the only photographer on the scene that day, is taken just minutes after the infamous shot rang loud.

King’s body lies in a puddle of blood caused by a-single-kill-shot to the head, which struck him on the right side of his face splintering his jawbone and severing his carotid artery. Reverend Ralph Abernathy, Vice President at Large for the SCLC, and close friend of King, is standing to the right of a Memphis police officer, having just placed white cloths over King’s wounds in a futile attempt to slow the bleeding. Abernathy is flanked by a panicked group of concerned associates and staff members including the renowned Rev. Andrew Young, Executive V.P. of the SCLC; and, Jesse Jackson. The young woman in the photo is turned back toward Louw with an expression of shock, fear and bewilderment, which encapsulates the horrors of this historic moment frozen in time.

In March 1968, after months of traveling the country gathering support for his Poor People’s Campaign, MLK arrives at the behest of his friend and fellow civil rights activist, Rev. James Morris Lawson, pastor of The Centenary United Methodist Church, in Memphis Tennessee. King then leaves Memphis to address the concerns of poor people in Mississippi. By this point, MLK had dedicated years of his life to the struggle for civil rights in the United States: From the 1956 marches in Montgomery Alabama to desegregate city-buses; to the 1965 marches in Selma for the right to vote.

On April 3, the day before his murder, King returns to Memphis to deliver the now famous I’ve Been To The Mountain Top speech, arguably one of the most profound and prophetic sermons of his life. In the speech, King seemingly prophesizes his own death: “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned with that now.” King had spent months of exhaustive travel, crisscrossing America, fighting for the rights and dignity of poor people of all colors. This issue, the defense of the poor and their dignity, has always been problematic: the unification of the poor and demands for social-justice have historically stood as a threat to the establishment in the United States.

MLK and his movement of non-violent-civil-disobedience had come to symbolize that very threat. In fact, the movement demanded that Pres. Lyndon Baines Johnson end the Vietnam War and use the money domestically, by giving it to those that need it the most: America’s poor. MLK quickly becomes, in the eyes of America’s power elite, i.e., government officials and American business interests, a very dangerous man. In 1964, LBJ, under pressure from MLK and his movement, ends segregation with the Civil Rights Act and institutes a Voting Rights Act in 1965. That said, under both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI tracks King’s every movement for years, up until the moment of his death.

By the time King delivers his address in Memphis, on March 18, at the Bishop Charles Mason Temple, more than a thousand African-American sanitation workers walk off the job – after being savagely underpaid, brutally mistreated and forced to work in filthy conditions. To a rousing crowd, MLK calls for a general work-stoppage using non-violent-civil-disobedience. King states: “Don’t go back on the job until the demands are met.” On March 28, Memphis sanitation workers strike and thousands march alongside them bearing the slogan: “I Am A Man!” After The National Guard is brought in, and brutal and aggressive tactics by police are unleashed on demonstrators, Mayor Henry Loeb dismisses the workers’ demands and refuses to recognize their union. Fifty-seven-days after the strike began; Loeb is finally willing to talk. On April 16, just weeks after King’s murder, the workers’ demands are ultimately met.

This photo of MLK dead on the ground represents the loss of one of the greatest proponents of human rights in world history – not only for his people, but for all people of conscience. The SCLC was like an aggrieved family that had lost its father. Rev. Ralph Abernathy poignantly states: “I’m not concerned with who killed MLK, I’m concerned with what killed MLK,” referring to America’s long and brutal history of violence and racism. On April 8, 1968, a symbolic march takes place in Memphis, a profound gathering of resilience, homage to King’s life and struggle, led by his widow Coretta Scott King and their children. That struggle continues to this day.

[dross-the-fish]

The Motley Crew. From the top: Quincey Harker [Oldest son of the Harker family and by all accounts a nice boy] Henry Jekyll [Well respected doctor, very shady] Edward Hyde [same as the person above but even worse] John Watson [Doctor and biographer to the worlds greatest detective] Adam Frankenstein [8 foot tall homunculus. Daddy issues like you wouldn't believe] Theo Kipp [Thesbian vampire. Needs a hug] Lawrence Talbot [Neurotic werewolf. Self-made orphan. Needs a hug even more] Selma Morris [Vampire hunter. Best sharp shooter in all of Texas. Needs a nap] Erik [No last name, says he's a ghost. Drama queen.]

[selena-snape]

Sexta Generación:

¤ Lilith Moira Riddle y Julian Cameron Gray

¤ Bloom Larissa Peters y Sky Aurelius Peters

¤ Hazel Opal Peters y Magnus Roman Watson

¤ Theodore August Peters y Meredith Mavis Monroe

¤ Aaron Christopher Weasley y Verena Michelle Dyer

¤ Joshua Stephen Weasley y Esther Amalia Holt

¤ Charles Samuel Weasley y Ruby Stephanie Saffron

¤ Iris Aurelia Weasley y Marshall Everett Conrad

¤ Theophania Calliope Richardson y Corinne Roxanne Everleigh

¤ Arabella Beatrix Richardson y Henry Oliver Brooks

¤ Kai Dominick Richardson y Flynn Milo Wolf

¤ Willow Cosima Levin y Nicoletta Pomona Wilford

¤ Fern Violet Levin y Marie Honoria Ollivander

¤ Euphemia Alessandra Levin y John Florean Palmer

¤ Dorothea Giovanna Levin y Elladora Eloise Gibson

¤ Salazar Lucius Levin y Holly Avalon Barnes

¤ Eleanor Hope Levin y Savannah Genevieve Shaw

¤ Gracie Isadora Novak y Marvin Declan Sullivan

¤ Alec Aurelian Novak y Claire Piper Johan

¤ Mason Ezekiel Novak y Clementine Octavia Albion

¤ Lotor Comet Snape y Giovanni Benjamin Lestrange

¤ "Moon Demon" Darius Angelo Snape y "Dark Angel " Arianne Alysson Snape

¤ "Killer Shadow" Lazarus Ignatius Snape y "Ice Demon" Urania Calliope Snape

¤ Morterius Viktor Snape y Hisirdoux Artemas Casperan

¤ Regris Niven Snape y Acxa Valda Snape

¤ Kevin Ethan Snape y Gwendolyn Stephanie Tennyson

¤ Regulus Orion Snape y Abel Austin Khemse

¤ Cygnus Arcturus Snape y Frederic Alistair Weasley

¤ Elle Rigel Snape y Matsuda Touta

¤ Beyond Aurelian Snape y Mikami Teru

¤ Alexander Valens Snape y Magnus Sebastian King

¤ Lysander Nikolaus Snape y Vladimir Micah Masters

¤ Gwendolyn Hiroko Snape y Tanaka Misaki

¤ Ezra Yamato Snape y Luveva Rosemay Sutherlamd

¤ Ryan Yoshio Snape y Avery Daxon Sinclair

¤ Keith Akira Snape y James Oliver Griffin

¤ Yuudai Riley Snape y Danielle Edna Young

¤ Yuriko Harley Snape y Debra Kathleen McIntosh

¤ Clarice Suki Snape y Alphard Delphinus Black

¤ Mako Ethan Snape y Giovanna Naomi Hamilton

¤ Morgana Kendra Voorhees y Karin Delilah Summers

¤ Carrie Margaret Voorhees y "Sue" Susan Danica Snell

¤

¤

¤

¤ Jessica Lorna Kimble y Steven Malcom Freeman

¤ Audrey Andromeda Malfoy y Andre Perseus Bourgeois

¤ Gabriel Bastian Malfoy y Emilie Calliope Graham de Vanily

¤ Roynard Hydra Malfoy y Violet Rowena Deekers

¤ Raymond Lynx Malfoy y Cedric Atticus Diggory

¤ Draco Lucius Malfoy y Astoria Coraline Greengrass

¤ Merle Ariel Malfoy y "Jesus" Paul Finnegan Rovia

¤ Hope Leah Malfoy y

¤ Carl Thomas Malfoy y

¤ Levi Armand Malcoy y

¤ Daryl Hunter Malfoy y Rick Jonah Grimes

¤ Vitale Astaroth Sparda y Luka Nicholas Sparda

¤ Neron Asura Sparda y Kyrie Serena Kiernan

¤ Merak Emory Sparda y Portia Manon Hendrix

¤ Armand Vincent Sparda y

¤ Nicholas William Sparda y

¤ Septimus Canyon Sparda y

¤ Loretta Margot Grace y Calvin Raphael Foxglove

¤ Julius Grant Grace y Ivy Roxanne Baxley

¤ Benjamin Vidar Grace y Edgar Zachary Maddox

¤ Ophelia Nozomi Jensen y Cordelia Avery Bkwie

¤ Eileen Victoria Jensen y Silvius Dael Sinclair

¤ Thomas Lysander Jensen y Othello Natalie Reeve

¤ Nova Genesis Jackson y Allison Leah Reid

¤ Losa Iris Brooks y Briar Anais Tedford

¤ Nina Rosie Brooks y Asa August Harding

¤ Connor Cyrus Brooks y Sandra Sabine Simmons

¤ Esme Aurora Donovan y Maxine Riley Crosby

¤ Arabella Cassidy Donovan y Robert Dashiell. Davenport

¤ Arianne Odette Donovan y Terrence Gideon Graves

¤ Kendra Alessandra Donovan y Alexis Scarlett Bishop

¤ Cassandra Abigail Donovan y James Anthony West

¤ Pansy Genevieve Parkinson y Theodore Phineas Nott

¤ Avalon Forrest Parkinson

¤ Damien Emory Parkinson

¤ Ursa Alexa Corvinus Y Narcissa Hazel Ripley

¤ Nora Alyssa Corvinus y Lydia Skylar Abernathy

¤ Annabelle Danica Corvinus y Rowan Vladimir Norwood

¤ Luna Pandora Lovewood y Rolf Elijah Matthew Scamander

¤

¤

¤

¤

¤ Ronan Artemis Marcelly y Adam Timothy Reed

¤ Giovanni Octavius Marcelly y Robin Mikhaila Mckinley

¤ Ivan Alistair Marcelly y James Christopher Peters

¤ Mika Valentina Donnelly y Arthur Ethan Bowers

¤ Damien September Delaney y Melione Rowena Robinson

¤ Kira Dominika Delaney y Marlon Oliver Williams

¤ Kanna Amelia Delaney y Gael Ethan Byron

¤ Nicholas Hadrien Delaney y Madison Edith Emerson

¤ Armand Demetrius Corwin y Persephone Aspen Cormac

¤ Tatiana Aubrey Corwin y Marcella Carolinne Cervenka

¤ Pandora Evageline Corwin y Cecilia Honoria Van Frietag

¤ Natasha Piper Dresden y Donna Mary Berkshire

¤ Emily Alisha Ansel y Nana Eliza Martin

¤ Isabelle Veronica Ansel y Carmen Emilia Reyes

¤ Kenneth Paul Dollins y Ella Isabella Evans

¤ Joseph Herman Dollins y Juliet Corina Rogers

¤ Hailey Amelia Flint y Lucia Naomi Barnes

¤ Ashley Jasmine Flint y Maxwell Benjamin Norton

¤ Piper Savannah Flint y Louis Howart Daxton

¤ Chase Akira Braken y Felix Lucius Quinn

¤ Florian Narcissus Braken y Colin Leonard Frone

¤ Callum Daniel Fox y Marjorie Katie Vance

¤ Dante Ezra Fox y Leila Juniper Thomson

¤ Nathan Soren Fox y Matthias Isaac Parker

¤ Magnus Gideon Fox y Desmond Ethan McReynolds

¤ Lucian Harrison Fox y Apollo Anthony Greene

¤ Jude Eli Hudson y Theodore Declan Vesper

¤ Olive Genesis Ivanovich y David Cameron Canyon

¤ Tate Roman Ivanovich y Molly Aurora Wiley

¤ Ivory Leah Ivanovich y Diane Barbara Jennings

¤ Devon Julian Kane y Ophelia Pauline Colins

¤ Claudine Barbara Kane y Matthew Benjamin Rothchild

¤ Castiel Dominc Kane y Charlie Isaac Lauder

¤ Natasha Bella Kane y Mackenzie Riley Hills

¤ Caroline Samantha Kane y Sarah Emma Fuller

¤ Harper Eva Kane y Daniel Michael Baker

¤ Henry Jasper Kane y Duncan Joshua Evas

¤ Nathan Pietro Kane y Elijah Maxwell Crimson

¤ June Opal Kane y Felix Octavius Rhodes

¤ Jane Ophelia Kane y Angelo Dominic Lowell

¤ Aldora Corinne Prince Amora Lyra Stout

¤ Odolette Lila Prince y Thalia Cora Fulton

¤ Amon Rowan Prince y Elira Bianca Thorton

¤ Amelia Robin Prince y Nicolo Dorian Guthrie

¤ Alastor Robert Prince y Dinah Pandora Pearson

¤ Gavin Marshall Prince y Megara Eloise Lang

¤ Sean Colin Prince y Rebecca Odette Douglas

¤ Renee Tara Prince y Miles Edgar Lambert

¤ Eric Lance Snapey y Millicent Corinne Curtis

¤ Marlon Levi Snape y Lily Alyssa Yancer

¤ Luther Garth Snape y Judith Naomi Tailyour

¤ Hannah Ebony Snape y Lincoln Nathan Penfold

¤ Marie Clarice Snape y Leslie Regan Eastwood

¤ Jade Tiffany Snape y Leah Eliana Rees

¤ Grant Devin Snape y Geraldine Annalie Harfield

¤ Dean Leighton Snape y Fiona Charity Wheeler

¤ Mason Riley Oakley y Cartie April Willis

¤ Morgan Harley Oakley y Ian Paul Wenman

¤ Robert Damian Lake y Marion Corinne Turner

¤ Roy Ethan Morrinson y Griffin Rhett Essex

¤ Joy Ebony Morrinson y Kilian Lee Rowell

¤ Holden Ethan Snape y Eleanor Nadia Heron

¤ Corey Silas Snape y Jane Lydia Orchard

¤ Astrid Juliette Snape y Rhonda Hope Pataki

¤ Tate Julian Snape y James Ronan Poole

¤ Soren Jaspn Snape y Carmen Marianna Rojas

¤ Edgar Samuel Snape y Ingrid Ianthe Lauder

¤ Castiel Gabriel Dream y Cecilia Ember Bonavich

¤ Callum Paul Dream y Avalon Ginevra Carmichael

¤ Cedric Ernest Dream y Bathilda Sibyll Irvine

¤ Garett Elia Dream y Padma Orla Astor

¤ Austin Jordan Dream y Magenta Pomona Hearst

¤ Daryl Silvanus Dream y Nuru Sura Van Doren

¤ Calliope Scarlett Dream y Gemma Pomona Windsor

¤ Cordelia Maribelle Carter y Ivar Rainn Kline

¤ Howart Steven Carter y Sylvia Peyton Bechtel

¤ Lysander Casimir Carter y Enid Jivanta Galumba

¤ Pierre Milford Afton y Kylie Olivia McKeehan

¤ Rupert Stanley Afton y Andrea Jocelyn Varner

¤ Warren Philip Jefferson y Michelle Sabine Castle

¤ Ellie Audrey Jefferson y Shireen Monroe Marks

¤ Giselle Corina Leighton y Mia Velvet Bushnell

¤ Odette Marina Leighton y Nicoletta Verona Goldstein

¤ Larissa Dirina Leighton y Winry Carmina Montgomery

¤ Magnus Cassidy Edevane y Harry Leroy Baker

¤ Stella Andromeda Orville y Harold Russell Mcquiston

¤ Lucille Arabella Orville y Jace Colton Rutledge

¤ Lee Amos Evans y Zoey Makayla Camfield

¤ Cadmus Orion Evans y Trudy Nayala Lovell

¤ Florean Newton Evans y Xenia Sybil Herron

¤ Ivory Ooal Evans y Edmund Wilfred Frankham

¤ Luisa Veronica O'Kelly y Connor Evan Carson.

¤ Finn Andrew Harley y Portia Marilyn Curtis

¤ Abel Nolan Harley y Bonnie Thea Proudley

¤ Louis Xander Harley y Petunia Jamie Deakins

¤ Claire Norah Harley y Lance Chandler Western

¤ Camille Loena Harley y Myrtle Denise Golby

¤ Cora Adelaide Harley y Selma Kelsey Hicks

¤ Juliette Theodora Harley y Daisy China Kempster

¤ Cyrus Maximua Harley y Meredith Shannon Crocker

¤ Horatio Gideon Harley y Heidi Antoinette Deacon

¤ Dorothea Euphemia Harley y Terence Xavier Croucher

¤ Violetta Leopoldine Murphy y Franklin Leonidas Burton

¤ Nova Orion Murphy y Faustina Spencer Odam

¤ Comet Sky Murphy y Yvonne Wilhemina Hibberd

¤ Phoenix Bianca Murphy y Rosalie Simone Stratton

¤ Celestine Xiomara Glenwood y Rylan Waylon Mills

¤ Isla Cosima Glenwood y Neil Rowan Lee

¤ Jacqueline Glenna McCoy y Jarome Staley Orline

¤ Ann Marie McCoy y Ridley Everett Anderson

¤ Apoline Elian McCoy y Simom Edward Thompson

¤ Aubrey Lynn Orson y Braxton Hunter Young

¤ Amelia Faith Orson y Ryland Linden Allen

¤ Lucy Ella Volkov Jacob Jhon Wright

¤ Freya Leah Volkov y Rome Canyon Adams

¤ Martin Lane Volkov y Brianna Mirella Collins

¤ Monet Valentina Volkov y Callahan Anselm Morris

¤ Robinia Venus Carrington y Aragon Glorianne Watson

¤ Damon Micah Carrington y Selie Nia Rise

¤ Calla Seraphina Balckwood y Ariel Calyx Reid

¤ Adriana Norah Blackwood y Windsor Athen Foster

¤ Trevor Narcissus Blackwood y Larry Eugene Fraser

¤ Heather Kalina Moore y Lucilius Nicholas McIntosh

¤ Bernadette Alexa Moore y Ares Gabriel McLean

¤ Althea Ruby Lexington y Trinity Elizabeth Bland

¤ Camellia Iris Lexington y Damian Anthony Boswell

¤ Taylor Sidney Lexington y Fabian Dominic Bartlett

¤ Elena Vittoria Lexington y Athena Aubree Birch

¤ Oris Edward Goodwin y Ryleigh Nadia Chapman

¤ Archer Emrys Goodwin y Paisley Autumm Pannell

¤ Raphaela Esperalda Goodwin y Ryder Quentin Hamilton

¤ Ike Neron Goodwin y Bailey Stephanie Adams

¤ Lilianna Persephone Blackwood y Jared Fabian Crawford

¤ Albert Christopher Blackwood y Gemma Alyna Gibson

¤ Alfred Stella Blackwood y Nicholas Julian Munro

¤ Rose Mary Blackwood y Sebastian robert Walker

¤ Bernard Alden Blackwood y Katherine Calliope McGregor

¤ Benjen Isaiah Blackwood y Seraphina Harper Docherty

¤ Lewis Beckett Blackwood y Samirah Luna Ross

¤ Vlaire Harley Blackwood y Aurora Isabelle Gordon

[1962dude420-blog]

Today we remember the passing of Nina Simone who Died: April 21, 2003 in Carry-le-Rouet, France

Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone, was an American singer, songwriter, musician, arranger, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned a broad range of musical styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.

The sixth of eight children born to a poor family in Tryon, North Carolina, Simone initially aspired to be a concert pianist. With the help of a few supporters in her hometown, she enrolled in the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. She then applied for a scholarship to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she was denied admission despite a well-received audition, which she attributed to racial discrimination. In 2003, just days before her death, the Institute awarded her an honorary degree.

To make a living, Simone started playing piano at a nightclub in Atlantic City. She changed her name to "Nina Simone" to disguise herself from family members, having chosen to play "the devil's music" or so-called "cocktail piano". She was told in the nightclub that she would have to sing to her own accompaniment, which effectively launched her career as a jazz vocalist. She went on to record more than 40 albums between 1958 and 1974, making her debut with Little Girl Blue. She had a hit single in the United States in 1958 with "I Loves You, Porgy". Her musical style fused gospel and pop with classical music, in particular Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied expressive, jazz-like singing in her contralto voice.

The sixth of eight children in a poor family, she began playing piano at the age of three or four; the first song she learned was "God Be With You, Till We Meet Again". Demonstrating a talent with the piano, she performed at her local church. Her concert debut, a classical recital, was given when she was 12. Simone later said that during this performance, her parents, who had taken seats in the front row, were forced to move to the back of the hall to make way for white people. She said that she refused to play until her parents were moved back to the front, and that the incident contributed to her later involvement in the civil rights movement. Simone's mother, Mary Kate Waymon (née Irvin, November 20, 1901 – April 30, 2001), was a Methodist minister and a housemaid. Her father, Rev. John Devan Waymon (June 24, 1898 – October 23, 1972), was a handyman who at one time owned a dry-cleaning business, but also suffered bouts of ill health. Simone's music teacher helped establish a special fund to pay for her education. Subsequently, a local fund was set up to assist her continued education. With the help of this scholarship money, she was able to attend Allen High School for Girls in Asheville, North Carolina.

In order to fund her private lessons, Simone performed at the Midtown Bar & Grill on Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey, whose owner insisted that she sing as well as play the piano, which increased her income to $90 a week. In 1954, she adopted the stage name "Nina Simone". "Nina", derived from niña, was a nickname given to her by a boyfriend named Chico, and "Simone" was taken from the French actress Simone Signoret, whom she had seen in the 1952 movie Casque d'Or. Knowing her mother would not approve of playing "the Devil's music", she used her new stage name to remain undetected. Simone's mixture of jazz, blues, and classical music in her performances at the bar earned her a small but loyal fan base.

After the success of Little Girl Blue, Simone signed a contract with Colpix Records and recorded a multitude of studio and live albums. Colpix relinquished all creative control to her, including the choice of material that would be recorded, in exchange for her signing the contract with them. After the release of her live album Nina Simone at Town Hall, Simone became a favorite performer in Greenwich Village. By this time, Simone performed pop music only to make money to continue her classical music studies, and was indifferent about having a recording contract. She kept this attitude toward the record industry for most of her career.

Simone married a New York police detective, Andrew Stroud, in December, 1961. In few years he became her manager and the father of her daughter Lisa, but later he abused Simone psychologically and physically.

In 1964, Simone changed record distributors from Colpix, an American company, to the Dutch Philips Records, which meant a change in the content of her recordings. She had always included songs in her repertoire that drew on her African-American heritage, such as "Brown Baby" by Oscar Brown and "Zungo" by Michael Olatunji on her album Nina at the Village Gate in 1962. On her debut album for Philips, Nina Simone in Concert (1964), for the first time she addressed racial inequality in the United States in the song "Mississippi Goddam". This was her response to the June 12, 1963, murder of Medgar Evers and the September 15, 1963, bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed four young black girls and partly blinded a fifth. She said that the song was "like throwing ten bullets back at them", becoming one of many other protest songs written by Simone. The song was released as a single, and it was boycotted in some southern states.  Promotional copies were smashed by a Carolina radio station and returned to Philips. She later recalled how "Mississippi Goddam" was her "first civil rights song" and that the song came to her "in a rush of fury, hatred and determination". The song challenged the belief that race relations could change gradually and called for more immediate developments: "me and my people are just about due". It was a key moment in her path to Civil Rights activism. "Old Jim Crow", on the same album, addressed the Jim Crow laws. After "Mississippi Goddam", a civil rights message was the norm in Simone's recordings and became part of her concerts. As her political activism rose, the rate of release of her music slowed.

Simone performed and spoke at civil rights meetings, such as at the Selma to Montgomery marches. Like Malcolm X, her neighbor in Mount Vernon, New York, she supported black nationalism and advocated violent revolution rather than Martin Luther King Jr.'s non-violent approach. She hoped that African Americans could use armed combat to form a separate state, though she wrote in her autobiography that she and her family regarded all races as equal.

In 1967, Simone moved from Philips to RCA Victor. She sang "Backlash Blues" written by her friend, Harlem Renaissance leader Langston Hughes, on her first RCA album, Nina Simone Sings the Blues (1967). On Silk & Soul (1967), she recorded Billy Taylor's "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" and "Turning Point". The album 'Nuff Said! (1968) contained live recordings from the Westbury Music Fair of April 7, 1968, three days after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. She dedicated the performance to him and sang "Why? (The King of Love Is Dead)", a song written by her bass player, Gene Taylor. In 1969, she performed at the Harlem Cultural Festival in Harlem's Mount Morris Park.

Simone and Weldon Irvine turned the unfinished play To Be Young, Gifted and Black by Lorraine Hansberry into a civil rights song of the same name. She credited her friend Hansberry with cultivating her social and political consciousness. She performed the song live on the album Black Gold (1970). A studio recording was released as a single, and renditions of the song have been recorded by Aretha Franklin (on her 1972 album Young, Gifted and Black) and Donny Hathaway. When reflecting on this period, she wrote in her autobiography, "I felt more alive then than I feel now because I was needed, and I could sing something to help my people".

In an interview for Jet magazine, Simone stated that her controversial song "Mississippi Goddam" harmed her career. She claimed that the music industry punished her by boycotting her records. Hurt and disappointed, Simone left the US in September 1970, flying to Barbados and expecting her husband and manager (Andrew Stroud) to communicate with her when she had to perform again. However, Stroud interpreted Simone's sudden disappearance, and the fact that she had left behind her wedding ring, as an indication of her desire for a divorce. As her manager, Stroud was in charge of Simone's income.

In 1993, she settled near Aix-en-Provence in southern France (Bouches-du-Rhône). In the same year, her final album, A Single Woman, was released. She variously contended that she married or had a love affair with a Tunisian around this time, but that their relationship ended because, "His family didn't want him to move to France, and France didn't want him because he's a North African." During a 1998 performance in Newark, she announced, "If you're going to come see me again, you've got to come to France, because I am not coming back." She suffered from breast cancer for several years before she died in her sleep at her home in Carry-le-Rouet (Bouches-du-Rhône), on April 21, 2003. Her funeral service was attended by singers Miriam Makeba and Patti LaBelle, poet Sonia Sanchez, actors Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, and hundreds of others. Simone's ashes were scattered in several African countries. She is survived by her daughter, Lisa Celeste Stroud, an actress and singer, who took the stage name Simone, and who has appeared on Broadway in Aida.

[lboogie1906]

Alana Mayo (born May 2, 1985) is a film production executive who was born in New York. She was raised in Chicago. She graduated with a double major in English and Film Studies from Columbia University. She began an internship with Oscar-nominated director, Lee Daniels of Tribeca Films and independent filmmaker Warrington Hudlin.

She worked as an assistant for Andrew Lazar at Mad Chance Productions for two years before she was promoted to Creative Executive. She had the opportunity to work on the development of the movies Get Smart and I Love You Phillip Morris. She became the Creative Executive at 20th Century Fox. She worked on the films Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and The Three Stooges. She worked as the Creative Executive with Paramount Pictures and served as a Production Executive before being promoted to Vice President of Production. She worked on the films A Quiet Place, Annihilation, Selma, 13 Hours, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, and the Oscar-winning Fences.

She began working as the Head of Production and Development for Outlier Society, a film production company owned by actor Michael B. Jordan. She oversaw the company’s slate of films in partnership with Warner Brothers, and television works in partnership with Amazon Studios. She worked on films Just Mercy, and Without Remorse, and co-produced numerous films and segments, including Raising Dion, Fashionably Black, and an adaptation of Fahrenheit 451, which earned Jordan’s company the Production Guild Award.

She was selected to become the President of MGM Orion Films, where she will oversee the firm’s day-to-day operations including acquisitions, development, and physical and post-production.

She married Producer Lena Waithe (2010-2020). #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[brooklynmuseum]

The Brooklyn Museum mourns the loss of Dr. David C. Driskell, whose scholarship, teaching, and curatorial work were instrumental in defining the field of African American art history. His landmark, traveling exhibition Two Centuries of Black American Art, which made its final stop at the Brooklyn Museum in 1977, featured work by more than 200 artists and transformed the ways in which American museums framed and presented histories of African American art. An artist himself, his work was included in the Museum’s recent presentation of Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power.

Reflecting on Two Centuries of Black American Art in 2009, Dr. Driskell recounted how he wanted to bring “patterns of exclusion, segregation, and racism to the attention of the art public. [. . .] But it was also about engaging the establishment in the rules of the canon, so as to say, ‘No, you haven't seen everything; you don't know everything. And here is a part of it that you should be seeing.’”

We are grateful to Dr. Driskell for his immeasurable contributions to the field of art history, and will continue to carry his scholarship and his lessons with us.

***

“When Dr. Driskell spoke at the Brooklyn Museum last year as part of the programming for Soul of a Nation, he told me backstage how he had been on our stage in the 60s with civil rights heroes such as James Baldwin. He was so happy to have returned and could not have been more full of grace. Dr. Driskell has left a profound mark on the Museum’s history. While we mourn his passing, we also celebrate the ways that he shaped a history of African American art and advanced both the field and our institutions with clarity and conviction.”

– Anne Pasternak, Shelby White and Leon Levy Director

“An artist, educator, art historian, and curator across at least five decades, Dr. Driskell’s impact was not only field defining but field generating. When we talk about the ongoing project that is the writing and presentation of black art history against its erasure and/or dismissal, we must keep close what it meant for scholars like Driskell who began this work with few blueprints, summoning the great courage and clarity necessary to name and advocate for the importance of black art history – in the face of so many cynics and detractors. I live with gratitude for that fortitude. It was my absolute honor to include Dr. Driskell in the Brooklyn presentation of Soul of a Nation, and an even bigger honor to meet him and to welcome him to the museum for an unforgettable conversation with Dr. Elizabeth Alexander in the fall of 2018. I will hold that memory close.”

– Ashley James, Associate Curator, Guggenheim Museum, and former Assistant Curator, Contemporary Art, Brooklyn Museum

Two Centuries of Black American Art, June 25, 1977 through September 05, 1977 (Image: Brooklyn Museum photograph, 1977)

“Dr. Driskell's 1977 exhibition Two Centuries of Black American Art intended to, in his words, engage "the establishment in the rules of the canon, so as to say, 'No, you haven't seen everything; you don't know everything. And here is a part of it that you should be seeing.'" Museums are still catching up to this proposition today, and we can all benefit from acknowledging how much there is to learn from each other. And we learned so much from him!

In the New York Times review of that exhibition, critic Hilton Kramer dispraised the show, asking "Is it black art or is it social history?" Dr. Driskell responded: "All art is social history; it's all made by human beings. And, consequently, it has its role in history."

Rest in power Dr. Driskell.”

– Carmen Hermo, Associate Curator, Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art

“When I was an undergrad art history student at the University of Maryland, I ran the student art gallery and while this was between the time when Dr. Driskell served as Chair of the Art Department and when he was named Distinguished Professor, he was always interested and supportive of the clique of young artists and future art historians who hung out at the West Gallery. His generosity made a real impression on me and every time he walked in the gallery I would become completely tongue-tied.”

– Catherine Morris, Sackler Senior Curator, Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art

“Although I never got to know Dr. David C. Driskell personally, I did have the opportunity to hear him speak several times. When I first began studying African American art in college, I understood that David Driskell was a pioneer in the field. But, when I tucked into seats in buzzing lectures hall to hear Dr. Driskell speak as a grad student or subsequently as a museum professional, I heard about conversations with Aaron Douglas or summer at Skowhegan--Dr. Driskell painted a picture of a life lived with the people that made up the history I was devoted to studying. With the passing of Dr. Driskell, a connection to the past has been irrevocably severed.”

– Dalila Scruggs, Fellowship Coordinator, Education

“David Driskell’s life took him from a one-room segregated schoolhouse in North Carolina to the White House. Under the Clinton administration, Driskell, acknowledged as a leading expert on African American Art, worked with Mrs. Clinton to acquire a great landscape by Henry Ossawa Tanner, who became the first Black artist to enter the White House collection. This is only one example of the many doors Driskell opened in his quest to tell a more truthful and complete story of American history and culture.”

– Eugenie Tsai, John and Barbara Vogelstein Senior Curator, Contemporary Art

“I did not have the opportunity to meet Dr. David C. Driskell, but I fondly recall seeing him speak at a CASVA symposium, The African American Art World in 20th-Century Washington, D.C., at the National Gallery of Art in 2017. There, he participated in a panel discussion with other artists (moderated by Ruth Fine) regarding the city’s impact on his own artistic development. He spoke with such passion about James A. Porter and the legacy of his teaching at Howard University.

Driskell has also left an indelible imprint on the Brooklyn Museum and its own exhibition program, most recently with his inclusion in Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power. In 1976, he curated Two Centuries of Black American Art, which opened at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1976 and subsequently traveled to the Brooklyn Museum in 1977. In this groundbreaking exhibition and publication, he defined the “evolution of a black aesthetic” and called attention to such important eighteenth- and nineteenth-century artists as Joshua Johnson, Robert S. Duncanson, and Henry Ossawa Tanner, among many others. Driskell has significantly shaped my own thinking on American art and, in my own research, I am reminded of his rediscovery of the landscape painter Edward Mitchell Bannister who, after his death in 1901, remained largely forgotten.

Edward Mitchell Bannister (American, 1828-1901). Untitled (Cow Herd in Pastoral Landscape), 1877. Oil on linen canvas. Brooklyn Museum Brooklyn Museum Fund for African American Art, 2016.10

A tireless advocate for Black artists, Driskell led the charge in redefining the mainstream art historical canon. He forever changed the discipline and paved the way for so many, and for that I am grateful.”

– Margarita Karasoulas, Assistant Curator of American Art

Clips from Two Centuries of Black American Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art © Pyramid Films, 1976. Brooklyn Museum Archives.

“One of the greatest treasures in the Brooklyn Museum Archives are the five videos that document the Symposium Afro-American Art: Form, Content, and Direction that occurred on June 24th and 25th, 1977 that was organized by David Driskell, the Schomburg Center, and Brooklyn Museum Staff in conjunction with the Two Centuries of Black American Art exhibition. In the afternoon of the first day, Romare Bearden, Selma Burke, Jacob Lawrence, John Rhoden, Ernest Crichlow, Vincent Smith, Bob Blackburn, Roy De Cavara, Valerie Maynard, and William T. Williams talked on stage for three hours about their artistic practices within the context of twentieth-century art traditions. It’s staggering to think of all those brilliant artists in conversation together—watching the footage, hearing the artists in their own words is profoundly moving.

When researchers are looking into the exhibition or are curious about the Museum’s history of exhibiting Black Artists, I’m always excited to share the material produced for, by, and of the exhibition. The archival material includes visitor comment books, the press kit, 22 folders of correspondence, the film produced for the exhibition, and the aforementioned symposium videos. The programming built around the exhibition was legendary, and the breadth is rarely seen today: seven artist studio visits (Howardena Pindell!), six supplemental exhibitions at other venues (The Abstract Continuum at Just Above Midtown Gallery!), twenty-two gallery talks (Dr. Rosalind Jeffries on the Harlem Renaissance!), dance performances (Sounds in Motion Dance Company!), concerts, and the list goes on. Driskell’s vision had a deep seismic effect on the art world. The people brought together at these events and programs, the knowledge shared, learned, and passed on to subsequent generations, none of this can be quantifiably measured or completely comprehended, especially from a remove, but its incredible magnitude can be felt when conducting research into the exhibition. Dozens of researchers have come to look into this history, and I look forward to welcoming future visitors to the Archives to learn more about David Driskell, hopefully inspiring them to perpetuate his monumental legacy.”

– Molly Seegers, Museum Archivist

[dduane]

What would be on your recommended reading list for someone who wants to write epic fantasy?

Oh, gosh. That’s a tall order, and there’s a barb in its tail: what works as effective fantasy reading material for one reader isn’t necessarily going to work for another. But sampling as many “flavors” as possible -- of fantasy in general, before drilling down to the “epic” level -- seems like a good goal.

I would go back to works of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and work forward. The classic paperback Ballantine Fantasy editions (available used, though out of print, and/or shelved in a lot of libraries) are a good way to do this. I would pay special attention to: Lord Dunsany, Clark Ashton Smith, E. R. Eddison, William Hope Hodgson, William Morris, James Branch Cabell, Hope Mirrlees, David Lindsay, Thorne Smith, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Selma Lagerlof, E(dith) Nesbit, Abraham Merritt, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Among them, though all these writers are idiosyncratic, the common theme of what starts looking like “epic fantasy” -- big sweeping stories with wide scope and large-ish casts of characters -- is taking shape.

Closer in time to us, material that would be widely accepted by most people trying to define the term “epic” gets a little easier to find and pull into the classification. I would recommend reading Ray Feist, Roger Zelazny, Elizabeth Moon, Robert Jordan, J. V. Jones, Clive Barker, Patricia McKillip, Jim Butcher, Julian May, Patrick Rothfuss, Jack Vance, Glen Cook, Robin Hobb, Guy Gavriel Kay, Stephen Donaldson, Garth Nix, Susan Cooper, and Dave Duncan.

Hope this helps!