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Don’t let the brown skin fool you.
A Great Oral Tradition
The European colonial powers called Africa “the Dark Continent” when they began their explorations. They saw it as a vast and dangerous place filled with savage people, but Africa has been home to many advanced, exotic civilizations. Many have been buried beneath the sands of time, but we know of others, and archaeologists continue to uncover more clues about ancient African civilizations.
West Africa has a great oral tradition. A griot is a learned storyteller, entertainer, and historian. Often a griot will memorize the genealogy, or family history, of everyone in a village going back centuries. American writer Alex Haley met a griot in 1966 that had memorized the entire story of the village of Juffure to a date two centuries in the past when his ancestor was enslaved.
"The old griot had talked for nearly two hours up to then … ‘the oldest of these fours sons, Kunta, went away from his village and he was never seen again’ … I sat as if I were carved of stone. My blood seemed to have congealed. This man whose lifetime had been in this back-country African village had no way in the world to know that he had just echoed what I had heard all though my boyhood years on my grandma’s front porch in Henning, Tennessee.“
A great deal of what we know about West Africa comes from the griots, but archaeologists are often surprised by new finds. In the last fifteen years, scholars have concluded that civilization had developed in West Africa as much as one thousand years earlier than expected. We now know that Africa had an Iron Age culture with cities and trade routes about 250 years before the common era.
Carte de visite portrait of Harriet Tubman by photographer Benjamin F. Powelson of Auburn, New York, c. 1868-1869. Believed to be the earliest known photograph of her.
Source: Library of Congress.
On this day in music history: October 14, 1972 - “I’ll Be Around” by The Spinners hits #1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart for 5 weeks, also peaking at #3 on the Hot 100 on November 18, 1972. Written by Thom Bell and Phil Hurtt, it is the first chart topping single for the R&B vocal quintet from Detroit, MI. Best known for his work with The Delfonics and The Stylistics, producer and arranger Thom Bell adds another group to his credits when he begins working with The Spinners after they are signed to Atlantic Records in early 1972. The group records four sides with producer Jimmy Roach, but the tracks are shelved when Atlantic doesn’t hear any hits. Label VP Henry Allen asks Thom Bell if he wants to work with The Spinners, and he immediately agrees. Fans of the group since their days on Motown, Bell feels that The Spinners hadn’t reached their full hit making potential while at the label, and commits himself to making them a success. While coming up with song ideas for them, Bell’s regular songwriting partner, lyricist Linda Creed is unavailable since she is prepared to get married at the time. Bell calls on Phil Hurtt, a staff songwriter at his publishing company Mighty Three Music to collaborate. Hurtt comes up with a melody and writes the lyrics for “I’ll Be Around” by the next day. The track is recorded on June 14, 1972 at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia with members of MFSB, with the master take being cut in about forty minutes. The Spinners quickly record their vocals (with Bobbie Smith on lead vocals), and it is readied for release. When it is issued as a single in July of 1972, “I’ll Be Around” is regulated to the B-side of “How Could I Let You Get Away” (sung by Philippé Wynne). “How Could” receives solid airplay from R&B stations, but is largely ignored by top 40 pop stations. Believing firmly in the other songs hit potential, Bell takes it upon himself to visit radio stations and encourage them to flip the single and play “I’ll Be Around” instead. From there, the record takes off quickly, climbing the pop and R&B singles charts almost simultaneously. The breakthrough success of “I’ll Be Around” gives The Spinners the success that had largely eluded them while on Motown, and marks the beginning of a long and highly successful collaboration with producer Thom Bell. “I’ll Be Around” is certified Gold in the US by the RIAA.
On this day in music history: October 14, 1967 - “Soul Man” by Sam & Dave hits #1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart for 7 weeks, also peaking at #2 for 3 weeks on the Hot 100 on November 4, 1967. Written and produced by Isaac Hayes and David Porter, it is the biggest hit for the R&B vocal duo. Songwriter and producer Isaac Hayes comes up with the initial idea for the song while watching television coverage of the riots in Detroit in July of 1967 between the police and African American citizens. Hayes notices that residents have marked homes and businesses with the word “soul” to signify that they were African American owned and therefore not destroyed by rioters. Collaborating with longtime songwriting partner David Porter, the pair write the lyrics together. The track is recorded at Stax Studios in Memphis, TN on August 10, 1967, and features instrumental backing by Booker T. & The MG’s. The mono 45 and stereo album versions of the song feature different vocal performances. With its message of overcoming personal struggles and rising above adverse conditions, the song is also adapted as an anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. Rush released as a single on August 21, 1967, it is an immediate hit. “Soul Man” rockets to the top of the R&B singles chart in just five weeks, taking a similar ride up to the runner up spot on the Hot 100, spending three weeks at #2 behind Lulu’s “To Sir With Love”. In November of 1978, Booker T. & The MG’s members Steve Cropper (guitar) and Donald “Duck” Dunn (bass) back comedians John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd (along with members of the Saturday Night Live band) in their debut television performance as The Blues Brothers on “Saturday Night Live”. The duo perform “Soul Man” that evening, and audience response is so overwhelmingly positive, that they become a popular live attraction, that is spun off into a successful album and hit film. The Blues Brothers’ version of “Soul Man” (#14 Pop), is included on the chart topping album “Briefcase Full Of Blues” released in late 1978. “Soul Man” is certified Gold in the US by the RIAA.
In 1948, Atlanta hired it’s first eight African American police officers. They were “police officers” but they could not drive squad cars, step foot in police headquarters, or arrest white citizens.
a 1947 Newsweek article “estimated that one-quarter of Atlanta policemen were, in fact, members of the Ku Klux Klan.”
“They could only patrol the black neighborhoods; they weren’t supposed to set foot in the white parts of town,”
“On the one hand, they’re second-class citizens as black men in the Jim Crow South: They couldn’t ride in the front of the bus, they couldn’t eat in most restaurants,” he says. “But at the same time, they’re also authority figures, and they have to enforce the laws of the city of Atlanta and the state of Georgia.”Image and caption via Black Lives Matter.
This is my true feelings ✊🏽 www.buynoir.net
Didn’t hear you: Say that again.
Taking a break from my regularly scheduled program, to let y'all mutha fuckas know!!!
Ancient Egyptian painted limestone relief of a royal couple (the so-called “Couple in the Garden”), done in the Amarna style. Artist unknown; ca. 1335 BCE (18th Dynasty, New Kingdom). Now in the Neues Museum, Berlin.
Thomas Edison was a thief taking the credit for inventions that Black people did all the work on….Thomas Edison is credited as inventing the phonograph (record player), the motion picture camera, and the long-lasting, practical electric light bulb….YEAH RIGHT….salute to the nameless Black folks who actually did the work
