THEY WERE FIRST- EXHIBIT

Jimmy Winkfield
(Natl Museum of Racing)

THEY WERE FIRST: African Americans in Sports

2/18/2012 - 4/12/2012

Genius comes in many forms- some people are mental giants, others are gifted in the realm of creativity others are physical geniuses gifted with a physical prowess that allows them to be the best at athletic competitions and games. 

For Black History Month 2012, I wanted to focus on the great athletes that have come out of the African American communities, wanted to highlight the athletic giants that led the way for the current LeBron James, Venus and Serena Williams, Tiger Woods and so forth. 

Someone came first- some African American athlete was the first to be chosen, was the first to run faster, jump higher, the first to show that African Americans could compete with whites on the playing field if given a chance, the first to show that girls could throw like the boys. This exhibit is for them and for sports enthusiasts everywhere.

When first beginning the research for the They Were First: Blacks in Sports exhibit, a concerted effort was made to seek out as many sources as possible to help in putting together the exhibit. Below find just a few titles that were used as the basis of research.


The great black jockeys: the lives and times of the men who dominated America's first national sport
The Great Black Jockeys is the first book about the lives of forgotten jockeys. In The Great Black Jockeys, the exploits and courage of America's earliest and best athletes are finally remembered.

Wink : the incredible life and epic journey of Jimmy Winkfield /
This vivid biography of a great black jockey who was banned from American racing, and who found a new life in Europe during turbulent times.

A hard road to glory : a history of the African-American athlete
A Hard Road to Glory, a three-volume work is an authoritative treatment of the history of Black athletes in the US. Each volume is thoroughly illustrated with multiple glossy inserts.

Say it Loud: an illustrated history of the Black athlete
Say It Loud pays tribute not only to such household names as Jackie, Ali, Venus, and Serena but to the forgotten many who made their success and glory possible.

Out of the Shadows: a biographical history of African American athletes
The original essays in the comprehensive collection examine the lives and sports of famous and not-so-famous African American men and women athletes from the nineteenth century to today.

Fleet Walkers Divided Heart: the life of baseball’s first black major leaguer
Moses Fleetwood Walker was the first black American to play baseball in a major league.

The Most Famous Woman In baseball: Effa Manley and the Negro Leagues
From 1936 to 1948, Manley ran the Negro league Newark Eagles that her husband, Abe, owned for roughly a decade.

The California Winter League : America's first integrated professional baseball league
The California Winter League was the first to bring together Negro League teams and white professional teams in one league. This work is the first complete history of the California Winter League from its murky beginnings around 1912 to its golden years from 1924 to 1935 to its final demise in the mid 1940s.

Charging the net : a history of Blacks in tennis from Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe to the Williams sisters
The detailed, yet highly accessible history of blacks in tennis from the 1940s to the present is also the story of the modern game from a new viewpoint. Players from Australia, Africa, and France are included, as well as African Americans.

African American golfers during the Jim Crow era
Authors Dawkins and Kinloch reconstruct the world of segregated African American golf from the 1890s forward. Along the way they show the pivotal role of heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis, who said the toughest fight of his life was against segregated golf.

Black History Month Event 2012

"State of SF" Black History Month event with a host of panelists, community, business and distinguished leaders and speakers talking to a range of topics such as: Regionalism, Local Decision Making, African American Out-Migration,


The Crisis of Men & Boys of Color, Quality Jobs & Labor Issues and Equity Strategies & Community Benefits

The discussion will be focused towards coming up with solutions to the issues and challenges.

Black Power Mixtape, produced by SF native Danny Glover will also be shown.

Black History Month Event 2012

This is a workshop for those who want to know more about their ancestors but do not know where to start. Tracing your family tree is an interest as old as time. Although genealogy was once considered to be the pursuit of royalty and nobility, it has now been taken up by people in walks of life. There is a keen interest by all classes to know more about their heritage and ancestors from which they descend.

WORLD AIDS DAY-2011

December 1st, 2011 is World AIDS Day.  According to the World Aids Day webpage the day is "held on 1 December each year and is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died. World AIDS Day was first held in 1988." 

When queried about what the face of AIDS looks like, most folks might still answer by falling back on the decades old trope of the emaciated and dying gay male.  This image came to life in the early 1990's with a image printed in Life Magazine of a dying male surrounded by his family.  This image became the face of AIDS, a face that has morphed and changed many times over the years since.

http://www.life.com/gallery/45701/image/ugc1063731/the-photo-that-brought-aids-home#index/3

 Over the years AIDS has changed from being what was once thought of as a white, gay man's disease, to a disease that has heavily hit women, and now black men.  According to the CDC:

"African Americans face the most severe burden of HIV of all racial/ethnic groups in the United States (US). Despite representing only 14% of the US population in 2009, African Americans accounted for 44% of all new HIV infections in that year. Compared with members of other races and ethnicities, African Americans account for a higher proportion of HIV infections at all stages of disease—from new infections to deaths."

http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/aa/

But according to UNICEF, AIDS now has a new look, "[c]hildren," says the organization, "are the missing face of AIDS." 

http://www.unicef.org/photoessays/29359.html

This year, for World AIDS Day, the African American Center turns it's focus to the thousands of children left orphaned due to the death of their parent(s) from AIDS.  AIDS orphans as they are refered to, are a population that is constantly growing;  "every day, almost 1,800 children under 15 become HIV-positive and 1,400 die of AIDS-related illness. Daily, more than 6,000 young people aged 15-24 acquire the virus."

It has been estimated that worldwide upward to 16 million children under 18 have been orphaned by AIDS. About 15  million of these children live in sub-Saharan Africa.  Startling numbers.  In some areas whole generations of children have been orphaned.  While in Africa, I had the chance to visit an orphanage in Ghana, where although not all the kids were orphaned, some were and the life and joy in these kids eyes burned brightly.  Here is a face of AIDS that should move and stimulate the reader to learn more about this crisis, not only as it affects Africa, but juveniles worldwide.  Here are some resources for further reading.


                                                                        copyright S. Shaw




Taking Away The Distance-a young orphans journey and the AIDS epidemic in Africa
362.1969 R7394t

Never Give Up- vignettes from Sub-Saharan Africa in the age of AIDS
362.1969 W7267n

28: stories of AIDS in Africa
362.1969 N717t

Children of AIDS- Africa's orphan crisis
362.7309 G938c

Face to Face- children of the AIDS crisis in Africa
362.7309 An224f

The Price of Stones
372.1826 K1199p

Our Storiesm our songs: African children talk about AIDS
J362.1969 Elli



NEW AND INTERESTING TITLES IN THE AFRICAN AMERICAN CENTER

In an attempt to keep readers aware of titles housed in the African American Center, here is a short list of titles, on varying subjects, that speak to the diverse nature of the Center's collection. 


Harlem : a century in images
A century of Harlem, through the eyes and lenses of some of the most important artists and photographers of the twentieth century. The vibrant and bustling neighborhood occupying the upper reaches of Manhattan has been at the crossroads of the artistic, literary, and political currents of the African-American community since the early days of the twentieth century. Home to writers and revolutionaries, artists and agitators, Harlem has been both subject and inspiration for countless photographers. This sweeping photographic survey includes nearly two hundred images that tell the story of Harlem - its distinctive landscape and extraordinary inhabitants - throughout the twentieth century. Featured artists include: Gordon Parks, James VanDerZee, Eve Arnold, Alice Attie, Cornell Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Richard Avedon, Dawoud Bey, Chester Higgins, Jr., Helen Levitt, Aaron Siskind, Bruce Davidson, Roy DeCarava, Leonard Freed, Carl Van Vechten, and Weegee. The book features essays by leading scholars of African-American studies and art - including Deborah Willis, Cheryl Finley, Elizabeth Alexander, and Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. - which are paired with the work of eighty artists and photographers, affording this enclave the richest chronicling in its history.
974.71 H2252
 
The chitlin' circuit : and the road to rock 'n' roll
definitive account of the birth of rock 'n' roll in black America, this book establishes the Chitlin' Circuit as a major force in American musical history. Combining terrific firsthand reporting with deep historical research, Preston Lauterbach uncovers characters like Chicago Defender columnist Walter Barnes, who pioneered the circuit in the 1930s, and larger-than-life promoters such as Denver Ferguson, the Indianapolis gambling chieftain who consolidated it in the 1940s. Charging from Memphis to Houston and now-obscure points in between, The Chitlin' Circuit brings us into the sweaty back rooms where such stars as James Brown, B. B. King, and Little Richard got their start. With his unforgettable portraits of unsung heroes including King Kolax, Sax Kari, and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Lauterbach writes of a world of clubs and con men that has managed to avoid much examination despite its wealth of brash characters, intriguing plotlines, and vulgar glory, and gives us an excavation of an underground musical America.
784.8 ZL3775c

Encyclopedia of African American actresses in film and television
"This encyclopedia provides 360 biographical entries on African American film and television actresses, from Academy Award and NAACP Image Award winners to B-film and blaxpoitation era divas. Each entry is accompanied by a filmography of credits. The book also features more than 180 photographs, some of them rare images from Harlem's Schomburg Institute and other sources"--Provided by publisher.
791.4302 M1262e


Revolutionary suicide / Huey P. Newton, with the assistance of J. Herman Blake
The searing, visionary memoir of founding Black Panther Huey P. Newton, in a dazzling graphic package Eloquently tracing the birth of a revolutionary, Huey P. Newton's famous and oft-quoted autobiography is as much a manifesto as a portrait of the inner circle of America's Black Panther Party. From Newton's impoverished childhood on the streets of Oakland to his adolescence and struggles with the system, from his role in the Black Panthers to his solitary confinement in the Alameda County Jail, Revolutionary Suicide is smart, unrepentant, and thought-provoking in its portrayal of inspired radicalism.
322.4209 N483e 2009


African kings
Even today there are close to 100 tribal kings in Africa, vestiges of a former age-their ancient traditions preserved, their wisdom and power still honored. A portal into these worlds of mysterious rites, ancient customs, and fantastic finery, AFRICAN KINGS takes us into the inner circle of 70 of these tribes in the person of their king. Gorgeous formal portraits of each king, in full regalia, are accompanied by brief biographies and historical notes on the tribe and the rituals and history associated with each ruler. AFRICAN KINGS introduces us to a way of life rarely glimpsed, with anthropological roots as deep as any on the earth, as they make the transition into a new millennium. Includes a historical introduction that provides an overview of the king's role in African tribes.
960 L143r

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY- 1st part of a three part series



El Mina Castle- El Mina, Ghana (photo credit S Shaw)



The GOOD-
This is the start of a three part series dealing with just a few things that is good, bad and ugly within African and African American History.  Not just the things blacks have done to and for themselves, but the hurts and harms slung against the backs of them as a people.  For the Good, lets start where the journey for many black slaves to the Americas began- in Africa in the country of  Ghana. 
During the Transatlantic Slave Trade the ports of Ghana played a major role in the embarkation of slaves to the Americas. Elmina and Cape Coast Castles were key trading post in timber, gold and slaves- first with the Portuguese, then Dutch finally the British.

So why is Ghana and slavery the first posting in the series, and why is it under The Good? Well through all of the bad of the slave trade and slavery and Ghana’s role in it, there is a lot of beauty and grace and hope in Ghana.  The area around Cape Coast and El Mina Castles are bustling with tourism, the colorful boats of local fisherman and Ghanaians going about their daily lives. There is too much Good here, not to start here in Ghana and on the continent from which the African Diaspora started.


Since the 1960's Ghana has opened it's heart and doors to African Americans wanting to visit the land of their ancestors and many African Americans have traveled there and some even now call Ghana home. Ghana is a mix of modern and traditional, the two being found side by side even in the biggest citites, and its people have been called the friendliest on the continent.  Ghana is a beautiful country- it's people and scenery.  From Accra, to Cape Coast, to Legon and the Kakum National Park region vitality and a sense of life abounds.  Below find a few photos of Ghana and a list of books on the country.

Door to Slave Pen at Em Mina Castle (S Shaw)

Fishing Boats El Mina, Ghana (S Shaw)

                   

School Kid Kokrobitey, Ghana (S Shaw)

School Kids Kokrobitey, Ghana (S Shaw)



Old Fashioned Barber Sign Accra, Ghana
(S Shaw)



T-Shirts with pictures of President Barack Obama being made for a rally in Accra
(S Shaw)



LIST OF TITLES ON GHANA:

Ghana

Utley, Ian

916.6704 Ut4g

Culture and Customs of Ghana

Falola, Toyin

966.7 Sa351c

History of West Africa

966 H6297

Historical Dictionary of Ghana

Owusu-Ansah, David

966.7003 Ow72h

A Child's day in a Ghanaian City

Provencal, Francis

j966.7009 Prov

Ghana

Blauer, Ettagale

J966.7 Blau

The word poetry comes from the Greek poiesis meaning a making, a forming, creating.  Poets create worlds for the reader to inhabit, but for me as a lover of poetry, the poet has to not only speak to the intellect but the heart and soul as well.  A turn of phrase is nice, connecting the infinitesimal to the  universal is key, but hitting me in the emotional center is where I connect with poetry. 

Poet L. Lamar Wilson is a poet that writes with emotion and from personal spaces.  His work is personal and poetic testimony.  He brings the reader into and engages him on a most visceral level- the level of feelings.  Be the poems persona poems or biographical you feel for the voices within and share the joys and pain. 

photo credit Rachel Eliza Griffiths

L. LAMAR WILSON, a Cave Canem fellow, has poetry in Callaloo, Rattle, Crab Orchard Review, Obsidian and Tidal Basin Review as well as in Mighty Real: An Anthology of African American Same Gender Loving Writing, edited by R. Bryant Smith and Darius Omar Williams.  He also has a poem featured in the new book The 100 Best African American Poets, edited by Nikki Giovanni.  He is a PhD Student at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

 It Could Happen to Anyone, or a Letter to the BoyL. Lamar Wilson

The man in the shack on the corner wants
to kiss you. He remembers when you jump-roped
better than most of the girls & prayed without
manly pretense, remembers how you mimicked
the church mothers—knees & body bowed, Lawd
—your genuine contrition for being broken
& breakable still. You always was too pretty
to be a boy. Come gimme some sugar, he says
& reaches out to kiss you on your cheek, but
his lips are thistles, his face a cavern of bones.
It’s World AIDS Day, & you are here to chronicle
his free-fall from engineer to blind man leading
the myope, to fevers that flash on & off like a switch
spooked by the God he calls great & merciful
with a smile. Your mother says his songs tore up
church services all over town like hurricanes
had done Old U.S. Road: dogwoods splayed,
naked limbs convulsing, rapt in holy water,
like the saints slain by the spirits he conjured.
You don’t remember him, so busy kneeling
at the altar of this you the mothers & sanctified brothers
could praise, who loved Shirts Against Skins
more than Bible study, loved tackling the most buff Skin
on the field, who always held you on top of him long
enough for you to feel him hardening against you
hardening. Gimme some skin, nigga, he’d say
& grin, as you pulled away, then reached to pull
him to his feet. This man doesn’t know the you
who dreamed of kissing the lead tuba player
but was too much of a punk or a saint or both
to follow his leer from the dais to the bathroom stall.
It could happen to anyone, he says, especially
when you love somebody. Make sure
you write that down. You don’t. Too
sentimental, you think, for a hard
news story, so you dig for the grit, for the who
who branded him untouchable. He smiles,
places one hand on his chest, gropes the table
for yours. You using protection with these boys?
His scaly palm grazes your keloid knuckles.
I haven’t, you know, yet, you mumble, happy
for once to be numb, glad you can’t feel the heat.

previously published on No Tell Motel http://www.notellmotel.org/

reprinted with permission from the poet.

DREAMBOYS
L. Lamar Wilson

My nephew waltzes beside his father,
The man who was the boy who made Faggot!
A reason not to flinch. His neck a merry-

Go-round, our boy rears back, waves
His pointer in my face, jabs his other fist
Into his hip & wails: Watch yo’ mouth!

Watch yo’ mouth, Miss Effie White! ’Cause I
Don’t take no mess from no second-rate diva
Who can’t sustain! In my brother’s eyes, I see

The pain of remembering when I crooned—Don’t

Tell me not to live. Just sit & putter. Life’s candy
& the sun’s a ball of butter—& made him grimace.

I scan the wall of plaques in Mama’s den,
The remnants of home runs & aces that gave
Him hope then, all dusty now. Teeth clenched,

He smiles at his dreamboy & nods in disbelief.
Harrumphs. Lashes flittering, he offers me
The only penance he can: a sheepish grin.

We applaud & feign heartened laughter.
My nephew sees beyond the veil shrouding
His father’s eyes. Realizes this isn’t

How brown boys win favor. Searches
My eyes for answers. Mirrors
A sadness no song can shake.

–from Rattle #31, Summer 2009
Tribute to African American Poets

http://rattle.com/blog/2010/02/dreamboys-by-l-lamar-wilson/

reprinted with permission from poet