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ChickenBones: A Journal for Literary & Artistic African-American Themes |
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Contact -- Mission -- Nathaniel Turner -- Marcus Bruce Christian -- Guest Poets -- Rudy's Place -- The Old South -- Black Labor -- Film Review -- Books N Review -- Education & History -- Religion & Politics -- Literature & Arts -- Work, Labor & Business -- Music & Musicians |
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Online
Or Send contributions to: ChickenBones: A Journal / 13219 Kientz Road / Jarratt, VA 23867 Help Save ChickenBones |
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The Claude McKay--Romare Bearden Literature & Arts Index |
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The Black Experience in America is Unique / The Fact of Blackness (1952) By Frantz Fanon / Election Day Returns / Emerge & See by Tony Medina |
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Send contributions to: ChickenBones: A Journal / 13219 Kientz Road / Jarratt, VA 23867 -- I became aware of Rudy Lewis’ labor of love a few short months ago during a visit to Kalamu ya Salaam’s e-drum listserv. As soon as I saw the title of the journal I knew it was about Black folks, and the power of the written word. A quick click took me into a journal that’s long on creativity, highlighting well-known, little known, and a little known writers, and commitment to the empowerment of Black folks. I contacted Rudy to ask if he’d consider publishing some of my work. His response was immediate, and a couple of days after I’d forwarded some poems to him—they were part of ChickenBones. What I didn’t know was that this journal has been surviving for the last five years with very little outside financial support. . . If we want journals like this to “thrive” we need to support them with more than our website hits, praise, and submissions for publication consideration. —Peace,
Mary E. Weems (January 2007)
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By Joy Flasch |
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Langston Hughes: Life and Works in Celebration of Black Dignity (Arthur E.E. Smith) |
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The Black Arts Movement By James Edward Smethurst The Black Arts Movement (Highly Recommended, a Must Read) Global News:Politics—Literature & the Arts |
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Books by Danyel Smith Bliss (2005) More Like Wrestling Debut Novel by Denise Nicholas Freshwater Road |
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Conversations with Kind Friends Katrina New Orleans Flood Index Conversation on Black Film |
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On
Richard Wright and Our Contemporary Situation The Art of Tom Dent: Early Evidence
(essay) After
the Hurricanes |
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Twenty Years of Seeing Black at the Movies, 1986-2006 By Esther Iverem—Reviewed by Kam Williams Do Me Twice: My Life after Islam A Memoir by Sonsyrea Tate / Women of a New Tribe By Jerry Taliaferro |
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Welfare Poets have been in existence since the Spring of 1990, when two Cornell students came together to write poetry/rhymes of protest and upliftment, accompanied by congas (percussions). A band was created from this union with the purpose of using culture as a tool of resistance, and in the summer of 2000, the group released their first independent album "Project Blues." The group plays Hip Hop with a fusion of various styles from the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico, Cuba and Jamaica. Over their 15 plus years of existence, the Welfare Poets have been not only cultural activist, but they have been directly involved in efforts for social justice, most notably against police brutality, political prisoners, the colonial status of Puerto Rico and theU.S. Naval occupation of the island, environmental justice in New York City and elsewhere and the death penalty. Through teaching residencies and workshops, through activism around community struggles and through sharpedged performances of music that incorporates Hip Hop, Bomba y Plena, Latin Jazz and other rhythms, the Welfare Poets bring information and inspiration to those facing oppression and those fighting for liberation. Sak Pasé Welfare Poets |
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Two Scholars Discuss Afrocentrism as A Racial Ideology: History & Ethics Wilson Jeremiah Moses & Cane Hope Felder |
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J. Nash Porter was born 24 May 1942 (died 27 October 2007) in New Orleans and raised in an Uptown neighborhood surrounded by the sights and sounds of the urban streets. His career combines documentary and commercial photography, and photo-journalism. "Through the lens of my camera, I share with others the exciting tradition that I grew up with. Hopefully, I can ignite a spark of enthusiasm and bring about an awareness in other communities for the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians," said Porter. Formally trained at San Francisco State University and the University of California at Berkeley, Porter owned and operated a photography studio since 1972. Although his most prolific work was with the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians, his photographic exhibits encompass an amalgam of African American blues and jazz musicians, and traditional cultures of the American South, West Africa, and the Caribbean. Chuck Siler 2007>>> |
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Race or Over-Reaching or Gullibility or All Three?—Study after study show that minorities are more likely than whites to get subprime mortgages, which are high-cost loans made to people with poor credit. In its heyday earlier this decade, the subprime market was cheered as an avenue through which historically shut-out borrowers could get loans. That frequently meant minorities. So long as home prices rose, the subprime market seemed a positive example of how to increase home ownership, but as the housing market weakened this year, many began to question whether the loans were fairly priced. In September, the Federal Reserve released a study that found 52.8 percent of African-Americans got a high-cost home loan when they refinanced in 2006, compared to 37.7 percent of Latinos and just 25.7 percent of whites in the same year. A similar study by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known by its acronym ACORN, in September found the same pattern even when income was equal. Yahoo <<<<<<<<<<Kwanzaa by Chuck Siler |
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St.Clair Bourne, Filmmaker, Dies at 64—St.Clair Bourne (1943-2007), a documentary filmmaker who recorded American black culture, produced portraits of eminent African-Americans and, in one stark film, drew a parallel between the civil rights movement and the “troubles” in Northern Ireland, died on Saturday (15 December) in Manhattan. He was 64 and lived in Brooklyn. I am proud to say that I know this brother and am sadden by news of his untimely transition. We met each other, I believe in New York City in the late sixties or early seventies, when we were beginning our “media” related lives. I’m not sure who introduced us, but from the beginning I knew I was in the presence of a really “special” human being. Somewhat self assured, St.Clair went on to create a significant body of work what will connect our people with their mighty history and greatness for generations to come. An article in the New York Times published Tuesday, December 18, 2007 providing greater detail includes a nice video short by photographer Chester Higgins, Jr. Now, St.Clair is beginning his journey amongst many of the ancestors whose lives he presented in his films. May they and the Creator treat him well. vernard r gray |
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The Painting: "My Friend Yictove” By Bev Jenai |
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Xmas Fifty Years Ago Devil's Got a Lien on My Soul A Discussion of "The Gift Outright" by Robert Frost" |
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The Situation of the Literary Arts in Sierra Leone By Arthur Edgar E Smith |
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Grace Paley, Writer and Activist, Dies—born in the Bronx on 11 December 1922, died 22 August 2007 in Manhattan—taught for many years at Sarah Lawrence and the City College of New York, was also a past vice president of the PEN American Center. . . .Her parents, Isaac and the former Manya Ridnyik, were Ukrainian Jewish socialists who had been exiled by Czar Nicholas II — Isaac to Siberia, Manya to Germany. In 1906, they were able to leave for New York, where Isaac became a doctor. They had two children, and, approaching middle age, a third, Grace. . . .A “somewhat combative pacifist and cooperative anarchist,” Ms. Paley was a lifelong advocate of liberal causes. Her books include The Little Disturbances of Man (1959); Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (1974); and Later the Same Day (1985). Her other books include a collection of essays, Just As I Thought (1998), and several volumes of poetry, among them Leaning Forward (1985) and New and Collected Poems (1991) and The Collected Stories (2007). NYTimes |
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Haiti Cherie—The director stressed that while the film's plot was fictional, the experiences suffered by the characters were completely realistic."I wanted to show what life is like in the 'bateyes'," Del Punta said, referring to the encampments set up on the outskirts of the sugar plantations where the cane cutters are forced to live. The workers live crowded together in the communal bateyes which usually lack running water, toilets, electricity and cooking facilities, as well as health care services and schools. There are some 400 bateyes scattered across the Dominican Republic. The cane cutters toil for up to 14 hours a day for what human rights organisation Amnesty International has termed "derisory wages" (typically the equivalent of $2.5 a day), while some are paid in vouchers which can only be used at plantation stores. The freedom of workers to leave the bateyes is also often restricted, turning them into virtual prisons that are patrolled by armed guards. A March 2007 report by Amnesty International detailed its long-standing concerns regarding discrimination, racism and xenophobia against Haitian migrants living in the neighbouring Dominican Republic and particularly its bateyes. Italian Film Helps Haitian Plantation Workers Life in Italy |
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Larry Neal
Interview in
Omowe Larry Neal
Chronology The Black Arts Movement
(Larry Neal)
Black Fire (Afterword)
on the Black Arts as Folk-Based & Directed at Black People Don’t Say Goodbye to the Pork Pie Hat Sonnets for Larry Neal ( Rudolph Lewis) |
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Claude McKay and Michael Manley Defying the Ideological Clash and Policy Gaps in African Diaspora Relations By Lloyd D. McCarthy |
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Brenda Marie Osbey at the GOLD MINE SALOON Ceremony for Minneconjoux In These Houses Desperate Circumstance, Dangerous Woman All Saints: New & Selected Poems |
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Mary Carter Smith is Now an Ancestor Known Nationwide for Reviving and Promoting Storytelling as an Art |
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Edited by Langston Hughes Foreword by Gwendolyn Brooks Indiana University Press, Bloomington & London Eighth Printing 1960, Copyright 1964 |
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The Cultural Politics of Paul Robeson and Richard Wright Theorizing the African Diaspora By Floyd W. Hayes, III |
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Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance 'Mastery of form' and 'Deformation of mastery' as Interpretive Strategies for Afro-American Discourse By Houston A. Baker |
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The 10 Biggest Myths About Black History (Bennett) The Propaganda of History (Du Bois) |
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Edited by John A. Williams and Charles F. Harris Vintage Books, February 1971 From A Black Perspective: The Poetry of Don L. Lee by Paula Giddings |
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Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas -- The Black Panther Party for Self Defense, formed in the aftermath of the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965, remains one of the most controversial movements of the 20th-century. Founded by the charismatic Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, the party sounded a defiant cry for an end to the institutionalized subjugation of African Americans. The Black Panther newspaper was founded to articulate the party's message and artist Emory Douglas became the paper's art director and later the party's Minister of Culture. Douglas's artistic talents and experience proved a powerful combination: his striking collages of photographs and his own drawings combined to create some of the era's most iconic images, like that of Newton with his signature beret and large gun set against a background of a blood-red star, which could be found blanketing neighborhoods during the 12 years the paper existed. This landmark book brings together a remarkable lineup of party insiders who detail the crafting of the party's visual identity. Publisher Rizzoli |
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The Suppression of the African Slave Trade (1896) / The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study (1899) / The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches (1903) John Brown (1909) / The Quest of the Silver Fleece (1911) / Darkwater: Voices Within the Veil (1920) Gift of Black Folk: The Negroes in the Making of America (1924) / Dark Princess: A Romance (1928) / Black Reconstruction in America (1935) / Black Folk, Then and Now (1939) Color and Democracy: Colonies and Peace (1945) / The World and Africa: An Inquiry (1947) / In Battle for Peace (1952) / A Trilogy: The Ordeal of Monsart (1957) Monsart Builds a School (1959) nd Worlds of Color (1961) / An ABC of Color: Selections (1963) The Autobiography of W.E.B. Du Bois: A Soliloquy on Viewing My Life from the Last Decade of Its First Century (1968) |
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How the Media Uses Blacks to Chastise Blacks The Colored Mind Doubles By Ishmael Reed |
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a belated note to the editors of The Norton Anthology of African American Literature By Alvin Aubert |
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Socialist Joy in the Writing of Langston Hughes by Jonathan Scott
The Niggerization of Palestine By Jonathan Scott What do you call a Black man with a PhD? Nigger. —Malcolm X / Global News:Politics—Literature & the Arts |
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Dog's Day -- a belated note to the editors of The Norton Anthology of African American Literature by Alvin Aubert |
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Region Sparkles With Katherine Dunham’s ‘Leg-a-cy’ Amidst Renewal of Her ‘Vision’ Katherine Dunham: A Familial Memorial Celebration East St. Louis Plans Big Tribute to Katherine Dunham June 22 Lincoln Middle School Gymnasium 12 South 10th Street — noon to 3 pm |
| For true jazz is an art of individual assertion within and against the group. Each true jazz moment (as distinct from the uninspired commercial performance) springs from a contest in which each artist challenges all the rest; each solo flight or improvisation, represents . . . a definition of his identity, as member of the collective, and as a link in the chain of tradition. Ralph Ellison, "The Charlie Christian Story," Saturday Review of Literature ( May 17, 1950), p. 42. |
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Blackness and the Adventure of Western Culture By George Kent |
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Local Black radio news was an indispensable ingredient in the formation of a progressive post-Sixties Black political class. It was a fountain of social democracy, focusing the spotlight (microphone) on groupings engaged in the transformation of a Jim Crow America to . . . Glen Ford Bring Back Black Radio News: The People’s Network |
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The Autobiography of LeRoi Jones By Amiri Baraka Commentary by Rudolph Lewis A Plea from Amiri Baraka / Global News:Politics—Literature & the Arts |
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New Perspectives on Black Experience and American Culture By Albert Murray |
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By Sam Cornish |
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Countee Cullen (1903-1946) Harlem Renaissance Poet Color (1925) / Copper Sun (1927) / Caroling Dusk (1927) / The Black Christ (1929) / My Soul's High Song (Anchor, 1990) Houston Baker, Many-Colored Coat of Dreams: The Poetry of Countee Cullen. Broadside Press, 1974 |
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Memoirs of a Black Journalist and Poet By Frank Marshall Davis Edited by John Edgar Tidwell |
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The Ground on Which I Stand Sandra Shannon The Dramatic Vision of August Wilson The Life and Work of Playwright August Wilson |
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By Sandra L. West |
Chief's Greatest Triumph Comes After his Death (Marcel Diallo) |
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Congo White King Red Rubber, Black Death A Belgium King’s Sins Revealed in Film Read also Esther Iverem's Revealing Africa’s Hidden Genocide
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Thomas Jefferson and His Negro Family
By Wilson J. Moses The Eternal Linkage of Literature and Society / Global News:Politics—Literature & the Arts |
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Teflon Sense of History Creative Conflict in African-American Thought Afrotopia |
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on (or) to George S. Schuyler, James Weldon Johnson Walter White, NAACP, Countee Cullen, Eugene O'Neill & a Letter from Theodore Dreiser |
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Richard Wright's Seven Photos of Traditional Ghana in the 1950s from Natasha Gerson (Holland) Richard Wright (1908-1960)
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Letters from Xavier Review Letters from LSU and Skip Gates
Activist
Works on Next Level of Change By Gregory Kane The Sun, 15 December 1999 Marcus Bruce Christian BioBibliographical Record Amin Sharif |
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Marvin X Rocks Crowd The Complexity of Iraq We're In Love, But You Don't Know Me
The
Works of Marvin X |
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Other Literary & Artistic Criticisms |
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Professor Sandra Shannon On the Cutting Edge of Research in Contemporary Theater |
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A Confluence of Literary, Cultural & Vision Arts Honoring Amiri Baraka 's 70th Birthday & The 40th Anniversary of the Black Arts Movement |
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A
BAM Roll Call Goodness Descending or On Hold, Another
Man Done Gone My Man Ron Milner as a Paradigm of Our Losses By Amiri Baraka John Henrik Clarke
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From Parks to Marxism A Political Evolution By Amiri Baraka The Christianity-base movement cut no ice with urban northerners like Baraka. |
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"Somebody Blew Up America" by Amiri Baraka / Baraka Bio /Black Art |
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