The Passage Project

Modern Day Segregation at the High School Prom: Prom Night in Mississippi

I've been away from the blog for about a month preparing for a redesign in addition to other related projects. The new look of the site will be up by the end of next week.

Today, I did want to briefly mention a rather upsetting, yet important article I read in yesterday's New York Times Sunday Magazine. The article details the racially segregated high school proms of Montgomery County High School in Mount Vernon, GA. Since 1971, the school's senior prom has been this way. 1971 is also the year the school was integrated. (The above photo was take by NYT photographer Gillian Laub). Writer Sara Corbertt spoke to several students of Montgomer County High School, some who seemed to be torn by their situations, while others appeared to just accept things as they are.

It's terribly disappointing that in the same year our country inaugurates Barack Obama as the first African-American President, episodes such as this continue. It also says a great deal about our country and the challenges we face.

16 years ago, when researching colleges during my junior year of high school, I learned that the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana had a separate African-American homecoming dance. I grew up in the well integrated suburban Chicago town Oak Park and at the time, I couldn't imagine something like this existing and I didn't want to be a part of a school or community that felt that his was "normal". Fast forward to 2009, and I'm even more blown away and saddened.

The documentary Prom Night in Mississippi details a similar story. Airing on HBO in June, the film profiles Charleston High School's first intergrated prom which took place in 2008 after actor Morgan Freeman offered the school, located in his hometown, a deal they, thankfully, couldn't refuse. He offered to pay for the high school's upcoming senior prom if they agreed to end its legacy of racial segregation. The film has collected numerous awards including Best Documentary Feataure at the 2009 AFI Dallas International Film Festival, the Audience Award at the 2009 Oxford Film Festival, and was screened at Sundance earlier this year (the above photo is from the films website).

Arabesque: Arts of the Arab World at The Kennedy Center

On Monday, The Arabesque Festival opened at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. The three-week program will present the latest in theater, dance, music, film, and more coming from the Arab World. Performers include outstanding Somali hop-hop artist K'NAAN and Heather Raffo performing The Sounds of Desire with Amir El Saffar, a jazz trumpeter and Iraqi santoor player. I saw Raffo's wonderful one person show 9 Parts of Desire about two years ago and definitely would love to see her perform along with a live musician.

And if you like to shop, visit the souk — marketplace — where you can purchase jewelry, handbags, and textiles.

Last night, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer profiled three artists living in Cairo who are participating in this years Arabesque Festival: modern dancer Karima Mansour, jewelry maker Azza Fayma, and Lebanese/Egyptian artist Lara Baladi.

To view a dance performance by Mansour, and to learn more about these three artists, visit NewsHour's website.

Notes From the Diaspora, 1/30: Urwintore's The Investigation; Tibet House Benefit Concert; Boston African Film Festival

This regular section of The Passage Project is the spot to find abbreviated notes on news and events throughout the African Diaspora and beyond.

 

Image courtesy of Urwintore's website.

Theater
Montclair, NJ

It's been a long time coming. The Rwandan theater company Urwintore has brought their production of The Investigation by Peter Weiss to the United States and I've been waiting for the chance to see this production for myself for sometime now.  Originally produced in 1965, the play is based on transcripts from Frankfurt's war crimes trials of German citizens who worked at Auschwitz during WWII. Urwintore's production has been adapted by Jean Beaudrillard, conceived and directed by Dorcy Rugamba and Isabelle Gyselinx.

 

Image of Darcy  Rugamba courtesy of Thisislondon.co.uk.

Urwindtore's production was first performed in Rwanda in 2005 and later performed in London in 2007.
After wrapping up performances in Chicago last week, Urwintore brings their production to the Alexander Kasser Theater in Montclair, New Jersey February 5 - 9. The production will be performed in Kinyarwanda with English super titles.

Music
New York City

Image of musician Angelique Kidjo courtesy of Afropop.com.

Carnegie Hall will play host to the 19th Annual Tibet House Benefit Concert Tuesday, February 3rd at 7:30pm. Performers include Philip Glass, Antibalas, Steve Earle, Keb' Mo', Angelique Kidjo and Monks from India's Drepung Gomang Monastery.  The concert as been held at Carnegie Hall since 1993. Other guests are expected to be announced soon.

Film
Boston
The Boston African FIlm Festival will be taking place February 6 - 15 at The Museum of Fine Arts. This year's screenings include Cheik Doukoure's Paris Selon Moussa (Guinea/France, 2003, 96 min.) and Ngozi Onwurah's Shoot the Messenger (Nigeria/UK, 2006, 100 min.).

Notes From the Diaspora, 1/27: Medicine for Melancholy, Duke Ellington Commemorative Quarter, Johannesburg Int'l Mozart Fest, and African Textiles at Kim Sacks Gallery

This regular section of The Passage Project is the spot to find abbreviated notes on news and events throughout the African Diaspora.

Poster from Medicine for Melancholy courtesy of Strike Anywhere Films.

Film
Across the U.S.

Medicine for Melancholy opens this Friday. Written and directed by Barry Jenkins, the award winning film has been nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards, and is the winner of TK at Sundance
With San Francisco as it's backdrop, the film has been described as "a love story about a one-night stand told through two African-American twenty-somethings dealing with issues of class, identity, and the evolving conundrum of being a minority in rapidly gentrifying San Francisco- a city with the smallest proportional black population of any other major American City." Wyatt Cenac  of The Daily Show and Tracey Heggins are the films two stars.

The movie opens in NYC January 30th, Detroit February 13th, Seattle February 20th, San Francisco and Los Angeles February 27th.

Check out the official website for music from the movie, two short-films by Jenkins called My Josephine and Little Brown Boy, a fierce T-shirt and a photo contest with a $1000 prize. Also, don't forget to look at the films Facebook page for the latest information.

Money
Washington D.C.

Image courtesy of The DCist.

Jazz legend Duke Ellington will grace the flip-side of commemorative quarters representing the District of Columbia. Today, the U.S. Mint released the coin as part of their 50 state quarter program (the Duke Ellington coin is the first to be issued in 2009). The quarter reads, "DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, DUKE ELLINGTON and JUSTICE FOR ALL".

Ellington was born in Washington D.C. April 29, 1899 and later moved to New York in 1923.

If you would like to get your hands on these, the wait to get them at your local bank could be a few weeks. Your best bet is to order directly from the U.S. Mint at 801 9th Street NW in D.C. or it's website.

Music
Johannesburg
Johannesburg International Mozart Festival continues through February 3rd. The festival will feature South African Violinist Zoe Beyers and German pianist Florian Uhlig. A series of workshops, master-classes, lectures and community based programs are also part of the festival.

Textile images courtesy of Kim Sacks Gallery.

Art
Johannesburg
The African textile exhibition Tranformed Fibres opens at The Kim Sacks Gallery January 31st and runs through February 28th. Kente, Dida, Indigo, Fante, Yuroba, Baule, Nupe, Kuba, Fulani, Mbuti, Ewe, Hausa and Bamileke will all be represented in the show. The space is located at 153 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood (27-11/447-5804).

Notes From the Diaspora, 1/6

This regular section of The Passage Project is the spot to find abbreviated notes on news and events throughout the African Diaspora.

Art
Cape Town
The Association for Visaual Arts (AVA) will be opening three solo exhibitions Monday, January 19th with Lindile Magunya's Disgrace, Mawande Zenzile's Crawling Nation, and Kilmany-Jo Liversage's Symbol of Tribute through February 6th.

Artwork by Mawande Zenzile courtesy of AVA.

From the artist statement of Zenzile:
“I have experimented with the revival of Xhosa ‘art’ production, positioning myself and examining this culture in contemporary ways of art production inside Africa. In my work I challenge expectations, perception and misconception behind blackness and consciousness; through this I interrogate, history itself, subcultures, space, and time."

Image courtesy of Girls Write Now.

Literature
New York
Girls Write Now is spreading the word about the upcoming submission deadline for The Scholastic Art and Writing Award by The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers January 13th. I've attended a reading organized by the Girls Write Now in the past and many of it's young writers have won the scholarship. For more details about the award and the program, visit the organizations website. Good luck! 

Film
New York
Healing Starts with Us: An Open Book will be screened January 15, from 7 to 9:30 p.m at Symphony Space. The film looks at the stigma of mental illness in the Black community and features interviews with Ruby Dee, Mo'Nique, Susan L. Taylor, Terry McMillian, among others. Author Terrie M. Williams will be there to discuss the topic with the audience and all those in attendance will receive a copy of her book Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We're Not Hurting (2008).  Tickets are $25.

The Talented Eartha Kitt

             

On top, photo of Eartha Kitt  in 1952 taken by Carl Van Vechten, Courtesy of the Library of Congress. On bottom, image of Eartha Kitt courtesy of her website. 

Beginning her career as a dancer in the Katherine Dunham Dance Company in New York City, Eatha Kitt triumphed as an actress, singer and dancer, far from her birthplace in rural South Carolina. Kitt died on Christmas day from colon cancer at the age of 81. 

Below is a short list of a few of Eartha Kitt's career highlights:

• In 1953 Kitt records the sultry "Santa Baby" covered by a wide selection of artists including Madonna, Macy Gray, Natalie Merchant,  Kylie Minogue, The Pussycat Dolls, LeAnn Rhimes, Taylor Swift, Les Paul and RuPaul. Yes. Imitation the the highest form of flattery. There is a video of Kitt performing the song on YouTube. 
• In 1968, during the third season of television series Batman, Eartha Kitt took over the role of Catwoman.

                  

Images of Eartha Kitt courtesy of her website. 

• She is the author of four books, Thursday's Child (1956), Alone with Me (1976), I'm Still Here: Confessions of a Sex Kitten (1989) and Rejuvenate: It's Never Too Late (2001). 
• Her many films include Casbah (1948) The Mark of the Hawk (1958) with Sidney Poitier, St. Louis Blues (1958), and Boomerang (1992).
• Kitt performed at the reopening of The Cafe Carlyle in September 2007. The legendary venue remember's Kitt on their website and The New York Times has a video of her performing and happily teaching writer Melena Ryzik how to imitate for infamous purr. 
• Voice of Yzma in Disney's The Emperor's New Groove in 2000, the sequel Kronk's New Groove and the won an Emmy for the animated television series spin-off The Emperor's New School. 
• In 2000 she was nominated for a Tony and Drama Desk Award for her broadway performance in The Wild Party. 
• On Saturday, September, 20, 2008, Eartha Kitt did her last interview with Gwen Ifill for Historymakers. Filmed in Chicago at Northwestern University's School of Law, she also did a live performance. An Evening with Eartha Kitt will air on PBS in February 2009 and their website features a video excerpt of the interview.

Her official website includes a store where you can find all things Eartha, including sheet music, DVD's, music, books and frame portraits. 

The New Yorker's Hilton Als on the Best Performances of 2008

Hilton Als on Michelle Obama as the lady in red at the White House, the fashion sense of Kim Gordon, Tilda Swinton on screen and Zadie Smith's other gig. From The New Yorker's website on December 10, 2008.

Hilton Als: The Eleven Best Performances of Stage and Screen

Generally, actors are the heart and soul of theatre and film. While audience members are usually unaware of who wrote a piece, let alone directed it, they can always pick out a star. Despite a number of auteur theories, it’s the performer who comprises the heart and mind of a given piece, still, even when it’s in a photo spread in a magazine or in a piece of criticism. Herewith, some of the year’s best:

The year ends with a bit of performance poetry: Tilda Swinton in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” As the quietly despairing Elizabeth Abbott, Swinton makes us believe in the cinema as a hall of dreams reasonably peopled by gorgeous women whose thoughts incite a riot of our own. The more she exposes herself to our titular hero, the more costuming and mystery she puts on. A primer on how the cinema can look at female performers, and how they can stare back.

Carey Mulligan as Nina in “The Seagull.” To my mind, Blythe Danner still owns the part, but Mulligan is a close second.

S. Epatha Merkerson in “Come Back, Little Sheba.” A tour-de-force performance. She perverted Inge’s naturalism by emphasizing his theatricality.

Michelle Williams in Kelly Reichardt’s “Wendy and Lucy.” A transcendant, Bresson-like film about suffering, living among the despised, and acceptance. With this film, Williams enters Anna Karina territory.

Kim Gordon. Everything she did this year—from making a Free Kitten album to posing in i.D. wearing clothes by Rodarte—was not only fascinating but galvinizing. She just made everything better.

Michelle Obama, in that red dress in front of the White House, about to enter her new home. She burned one’s retinas with sexy-back hope.

Robert Downey, Jr., in everything. Yes, yes, “Tropic Thunder,” yes, yes. But check him out in “Fur.” That last scene, as he hurtles towards his death. Is there nothing he doesn’t understand?

The entire cast and director of “Let the Right One In.” Exceptional in every sense of the word. Guileless and brilliant.

Zadie Smith on Kafka, in the New York Review of Books. A good novelist becomes an even better critic.

Thomas Bradshaw’s plays. A voice that defied categorization.

Andy Samberg’s S.N.L. “Jizz” video. The b-side to his “Dick in a Box.”

Notes From the Diaspora, 12/10: Human Rights Day, Tuskegee Airmen at Inauguration, Film Slingshot Hip Hop

This regular section of The Passage Project is the spot to find abbreviated notes on news and events throughout the African Diaspora.

Politics
World

Today is Human Rights Day and the United Nation's has scheduled a number of events to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights. This morning they will be awarding The United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights to Louise Arbour, Ramsey Clark, Dr. Carolyn Gomes, Dr. Denis Mukwege and Human Rights Watch. There will also be a panel discussion titled “Reclaiming The Vision: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Today”  with Prof. Philip Alston, Larry Cox, Michael Ratner, and Prof. Patricia Williams.  

Want more? International human right's champion Amnesty International is organizing the 2008 Global Write-a-thon December 5-14 to mark the occasion. From their website: Write letters on behalf of prisoners of conscience and human rights defenders at risk of severe human rights violations.

Visit Amnesty's website to read a Q&A about the program and to learn about event supporter musician Serj Tankian of the band System of a Down.

Washington D.C.

Surviving members of World War II's Tuskegee Airmen have been invited to attend the inauguration of Barack Obama January 20th. The troop included elite pilots, flight instructors, navigators, radio technicians, air traffic controllers and other grounds crewmen. 

 

Troops being briefed in 1945. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

They were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal at a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on March 29, 2007 by President George Bush. Their other honors include Distinguished Honor Crosses, Legions of Merit, Purple Hearts, Silver Stars, the Croix de Guerre and the Red Star of Yugoslavia.

From 1942 to 1946, the all black air troop trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama and Moton Field at the Tuskegee Institute. To visit The Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site at Moton Field, visit the offical website of the National Park Service.

  
Dr. Roscoe Brown Jr. receives Congressional Gold Medal from President Bush.

  Image courtesy of the Slingshot Hip Hop website.

Film
Dubai

Award-winning documentary Slingshot Hip-Hop, directed by Jackie Reem Salloum, will be screening in Dubai at the DMC Ampitheater December 12th at 8 p.m. After the screening there will be live performances by DAM, PR (The Palestinian Rappers), Fredwreck and the Narcicyst.

The film tells the stories of several young men and woman living in Palestine who are using hip-hop to explore the everyday lives, politics and hardships of their communities in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel.  To see the trailer or to purchase the film's recently released soundtrack and t-shirts, please visit the official website.

Slingshot Hip Hop will also be screened in New York City January 7th. Details coming soon.

The Return of New York's African Diaspora Film Festival

November is my favorite time of the year. There seems to be a holiday celebration every week, plenty of good food and chances to catch up with family members and old friends. And, of course, there is the New York African Diaspora Film Festival which begins this Thursday at it's regular haunt, Film Anthology Archives. For over two weeks, you will get the opportunity to see an extensive collection of films from the diverse voices of the African Diaspora.

Known for including a large and diverse selection of films, the festival's programs include special nights dedicated to Egyptian, Senegalese and Moroccan cinema. On December 12 and 13, ADFF will host several panel discussions including Production of African, Latin Amercan and Carribean Cinema and A Conversation with Mohammed Soudani.

Films in this years festival include Soudani's Waalo Fendo, Where the Earth Freezes (1998, Senegal/Switzerland), Youssour N' Dour: Return to Goree (2006, Senegal/U.S.A./Luxemburg/Switzerland) Charles Barnett's Namibia (2007, Namibia/U.S.A.) and the documentary Congo: White King, Red Rubber and Black Death by Peter Bate (2003, UK/Belgium/Congo).

Will there be a party? Well, to kick off the festival, organizers will host an opening night dance party following the screening and Q & A of Giancarlo Esposito's Gospel Hill (USA/2008) starring Angela Bassett, Danny Glover and Julia Stiles. There will also be catered receptions following the screenings of 13 Months of Sunshine, Prince of Broadway, Choas, Where are You Going Moshe, the Women's Indie Night program and the documentary The Black List. I have this films campanion book, The Black List by Elvis Mitchell, which came out earlier this ear so I am really looking forward to seeing it come to life on screen.

In addition to Film Anthology Archives, the festival will hold events throughout Manhattan at locations including Clearview 62nd Street Theater, Symphony Space Thalia Theater, Riverside Theater at Riverside Church, Teacher's College at Columbia University and the Schomburg Center for Black Culture.

For ticket information and a complete schedule check out the official website for ADFF.

The Film The Garden & NYC's East New York Farms

On Monday I went to see the New York City screening of The Garden, by Scott Hamilton Kennedy. Winner of Sterling Award at the Silverdocs Film Festival, the film documents an urban farm that rose from the ashes of the 1992 L.A. riots and the South Central Farmers battle to save a sacred space spanning 14 acres.

The film is incredible because it vividly shows a group of people fighting to support themselves and their community--actively participating and succeeding in "The American Dream"--only to have it completely taken away from them.

The film will be screening at Cinema Village through August 14th.

To see a trailer of the film, find out about future screenings or to learn more, visit www.blackvalley films.com. To learn more about the work of the South Central Farmers, go to www.southcentralfarmers.com.

About a month ago, my boyfriend and I had our own urban farming experience when visiting New York City's East New York Farms. While there, we took a tour of the community garden, bought fresh callaloo and cherries from the farmer's market, then had the best ice tea I have ever tasted. It was made from a choice variety of fresh mint leaves grown by a woman who has a plot in the community garden as well as a stand in the farmer's market. I had the tea only once, weeks ago, and still think about it often.

The group tour of the garden was lead by a young woman who talked about it's history, including how the community prepared a once empty lot for a future of farm-life and healthy living in the urban jungle. We had the opportunity to see a working bee-hive, a greenhouse and the many plots growing organic vegetables, including those unique to the Caribbean such as karela and bora.

The farmer's market sells produce grown at East New York Farms, in addition to fruits and vegetables from regional farmers. The market will also be hosting cooking demonstrations and workshops through November 15th.

East New York Farms is truly an oasis. Please visit this sanctuary in the city.

East New York Farmers Market
Saturdays, June 28th through November 15th
9a.m.-3p.m.
New Lots and Schenck Avenue
Take the 3 train to Van Siclen or the B6, B15, B83 buses.

Below are photos from our visit. All photos by Philipp Kuecuekyan. (Please click on photos to enlarge.)

 
From top to bottom: A mural outside a community garden in
East New York, the composting area, the greenhouse.