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Books by Chancellor Williams
The Raven /
The Rebirth of African Civilization
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The
Destruction of Black Civilization
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Chancellor Williams &
Oggi Ogburn
Beginning in 1975, Oggi Ogburn had the honor of
traveling and working with the great author and historian, Dr.
Chancellor Williams (1898-1992). Oggi is a photographer and as
Dr. Williams assistant and friend, photographed him in his
travels. Since Chancellor was blind, Oggi became his eyes and
Chancellor became a mentor who shared his wisdom and historical
perspective.
Oggi documented this remarkable experience with photographs
and audiotapes that provide an intimate glimpse of Dr. Williams'
life during this period. As the results, he has amassed a large,
quite impressive collection that would afford those who are
interested a means to reflect on and cherish properly the
outstanding contribution of this scholar ad pioneer.
Ogburn feels because of the blessings to have a relationship
with the Mighty Doctor he feels obligated to pass onto others
Chancellor's messages and stories. Chancellor believed the
ideologies and value system of the oppressors unconsciously
become those of the oppressed. The liberation of the mind was
one of his main messages.
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Dr. Williams was a son of the Reconstruction South.
His
father had been a former slave and his mother had been a cook, a
nurse, and an evangelist. Professor William's curiosity, about
racial equality and cultural struggles began as early as the
fifth grade. thus he devoted his lifetime and academic pursuits
to the study of ancient history.
He conducted field studies covering 26 nations in West,
Central, East, and Southern Africa, researching some 105
societies and language groups. The results are an interpretation
of Black history from the conquered as opposed to that of the
conqueror. He assessed the factors that led to the downfall of a
people who were once the "Cradle of Civilization."
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Williams explains what happened, how it happened, and most
importantly, what can be done about it. meanwhile, all of these
insights and ideas are available. He published over 50 articles,
books, and lectures. Among his publications are
The Raven,
The Rebirth of African Civilization, and
The
Destruction of Black Civilization. * * * * *
Ogburn's Star Shots
By Ferdinand Protzman
Oggi Ogburn was working on a masters degree in urban studies
at Howard University in 1971, and teaching himself photography,
when a friend asked if he could shoot some promotional pictures
of musicians visiting a local radio station. Although he had no
experience, Ogburn jumped at the chance and a remarkable career
was born.
"I'm the kind of individual that when I get into
something, I'm really into it," says Ogburn, whose candid,
lyrical photographs can be seen in an exhibition titled
"Backstage Pass," at the Auditorium Lobby Gallery at
the University of the District of Columbia. "So when I
started going into the darkroom at 5 in the afternoon and coming
out at 3 a.m., I knew something was going on. Then I got
involved with the music scene."
Involved is putting it mildly. Over the past 30 years, Ogburn
has been commissioned by record companies, publications, radio
stations and promoters to shoot a mind-boggling collection of
musicians, recording artists and celebrities who have passed
through the mid-Atlantic region. "The only people I haven't
shot are Aretha and the Artist formerly known as Prince,"
he says. "And that could still happen."
He has also served as campaign photographer for President
Jimmy Carter and former mayor Walter Washington, shot the
Watergate hearings and documented his travels as a research
assistant working for the late Dr. Chancellor Williams. The
exhibition includes a series of photographs of Williams, a
pioneering scholar of African-American history and author of the
book, "The Destruction of Black Civilization," that
are being shown in public for the first time.
Ogburn's photographs are almost all candid, black-and-white
shots taken while he was hanging out with stars such as Michael
Jackson, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Dizzie Gillespie and Bob
Marley, just to name a few. They have been shown in exhibitions
in the United States and China and published in major magazines
ranging from Billboard and Jet to U.S. News and World Report. He
has worked for most of the major record companies, including
Sony, Arista, MCA, Motown and Polygram.
"You can see where life has been a holiday for me,"
Ogburn says. "The past 27 years went by fast because I was
doing something I loved. It's been great. Every assignment is
different. I'm working for my friends, eating in the best
restaurants, staying in the best hotels, traveling in limos,
hanging out backstage. It really has been a holiday."
But even holidays can be dangerous. Growing up in Brooklyn
and Queens, Ogburn saw some of his friends get into serious
difficulties because of their use of drugs. Hanging around the
intense partying on the music scene confronted Ogburn with
similar temptations. But he says his work with Williams, who was
blind, helped keep him grounded.
"I had heard him on the radio when I was a student and
when I found out he was looking for an assistant, I
applied," Ogburn says. "I wrote him a letter and ended
up hand-delivering it. We hit it off and I began accompanying
him on the lecture circuit and helping with his research. He
treated me like a son. Working with him I discovered so much
about myself and about the history of Black Americans. You can
get lost in all the partying, but I had this incredible
alternative with him and that balanced my life."
As a group, Ogburn's photos give an unvarnished account of
life inside the music business. Behind the glitz is a world of
egos, entourages, road gigs, promotional appearances, interviews
and exhaustion. One of the most telling images shows the singer
Sade and two members of her band, packed into the back seat of a
limo like sardines, dead to the world. "They were beat. Got
into the limo after her show and passed straight out,"
Ogburn says.
Catching such scenes sounds easier than it is. Ogburn has a
fine eye for composition and a rare knack for capturing stars in
unguarded moments. That talent is particularly critical given
the egos he with which he has to deal. Some stars are more
cooperative than others.
"Michael Jackson can be tough to shoot because he wants
to control everything," Ogburn says. "The way I like
to work is just hang out and see what happens. So in that case,
I've got to go with what he wants. I'm not there to get into
people's faces about what I want for a picture. I'm there to
catch them doing their thing."
A photograph of the Rev. Al Green taken at a 1996 concert
date in Washington, is a fine example of Ogburn's work, although
in this instance he gives much of the credit to the singer.
"Al Green is a pro's pro," Ogburn says. "He gives
you so many different looks in the first ten minutes of his set
that you'd have to be blind not to get a good picture."
Ogburn's show is the second in a new series of art
exhibitions at U. D.C. featuring work by minority and female
artists. Manon Cleary, the coordinator of the university's art
program says the focus was chosen because it reflects the
student body.
"A lot of our students are working women, who take
classes at night. We want to be a venue for people who deserve
attention but for whatever reason haven't gotten it,"
Cleary says. "So we've been really happy to show artists
like Pat Goslee, who was our first show, and Oggi because their
work is so strong and our students can relate to it."
For Ogburn, the exhibition also represents a chance to
emphasize the non-music side of his photography, which he hopes
will inspire students, as well as other viewers.
"I'm locked into the music thing. That's what people
know me for," he says. "But a lot of the music
business is here today, gone tomorrow. I've done a lot of other
work, shooting people like Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu, Nelson
Mandela, Chancellor Williams. I take a lot of pride in that
because those people are in the history books."\
Source: Washington Post,
Thursday, April 9, 1998 * * * * *
Chancellor James Williams (December 22, 1898,
Bennettsville,
South Carolina – December 7, 1992,
Washington, DC) was an
African American sociologist, historian and writer. He was the
author of The Destruction of Black Civilization (1971), a work
advocating
Afrocentrism and
Black orientalism. . . . In 1971, Williams sent his magnum opus
The Destruction of Black Civilization to
Kendall Hunt, a white-owned publishing company, for publication and
distribution. The following year, the book received an award from the
Black Academy of Letters and Arts. Encouraged by the award, Williams
worked for years to expand and revise the book before publishing a
second edition. Feeling more comfortable with a Black-owned firm as his
publisher, he sent the second version to
Chicago's noted
Third World Press.
When published in 1987, the second
edition of the book received a wide wave of critical acclaim, including
from such people as
New Jersey
poet laureate
Amiri Baraka and noted professor
John Henrik Clarke. Years of cultural change enabled people to see
the value of Williams' work. The
21st Century Foundation honored Chancellor Williams, making him the
first person to receive its
Clarence L. Holte International Biennial Prize.
Preparing to release his most
famous book, Williams did not wait for grants or fellowships to publish
it. On his apparent hastiness, he commented: "I was out of step with
tradition." He also said, "I rebelled against overspecialization. Even
when I had the required courses for my majors, I would take other
subjects in which I was equally interested. I was interested in pure
science, for example, even though I was majoring in history. I was also
interested in psychology. My transcripts from Howard, where I did most
of my formal study, won't give you any idea of what my major really
was." Dr. Williams died of respiratory failure on December 7, 1992 at
Providence Hospital. He had been a resident of the Washington Center
for Aging Services for several years. He was survived by his wife of 65
years, Mattie Williams of Washington, and 14 children; 36 grandchildren;
38 great-grandchildren; and 10 great-great-grandchildren.—Wikipedia
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Blacks in Hispanic Literature: Critical Essays
Edited by
Miriam DeCosta-Willis
Blacks in Hispanic Literature is a
collection of fourteen essays by scholars and
creative writers from Africa and the Americas.
Called one of two significant critical works on
Afro-Hispanic literature to appear in the late
1970s, it includes the pioneering studies of
Carter G. Woodson and
Valaurez B. Spratlin, published in the 1930s, as
well as the essays of scholars whose interpretations
were shaped by the Black aesthetic. The early
essays, primarily of the Black-as-subject in Spanish
medieval and Golden Age literature, provide an
historical context for understanding 20th-century
creative works by African-descended, Hispanophone
writers, such as Cuban
Nicolás Guillén and Ecuadorean poet, novelist,
and scholar
Adalberto Ortiz, whose essay analyzes the
significance of Negritude in Latin America. This
collaborative text set the tone for later
conferences in which writers and scholars worked
together to promote, disseminate, and critique the
literature of Spanish-speaking people of African
descent. . . .
Cited by a
literary critic in 2004 as "the seminal study in the
field of Afro-Hispanic Literature . . . on which
most scholars in the field 'cut their teeth'."
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Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in
America
By Melissa V.
Harris-Perry
According to the
author, this society has historically exerted
considerable pressure on black females to fit into one
of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the
Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless
Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to
white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of
those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the
relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable
temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as
an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the
characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television
shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry
points out how the propagation of these harmful myths
have served the mainstream culture well. For instance,
the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for
black females to feel a maternal instinct towards
Caucasian babies.
As for the source
of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their
own bodies during slavery given that they were being
auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless,
it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate
the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate
indiscriminately.
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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Black World
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Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
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January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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update 23 September 2011
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