100th Anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance
  • Blog: Now Observing the Harlem Renaissance Centennial
  • 100th Anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance
    • About the Harlem Renaissance Centennial
    • The Harlem Renaissance and the Year 2020 (continued) >
      • Call for 100th Anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance Papers
      • The Harlem Renaissance Pinterest Project: It's What a Widget's For
  • Text and Meaning in Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance
  • Harlem Renaissance Notebook for National History Day and Black History Month

Chat Op-ed 444: Celebrating ‘The Wisdom of W.E.B. Du Bois’: A Testament to Enduring Relevance

7/12/2023

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(“The Way Mysteries Do Unfold” W.E.B. Du Bois Title art graphic by Aberjhani ©2023)
EDITORIAL NOTE: The following op-ed is the result of a query presented to OpenAI’s ChatGPT when queried about the current (2023) 20th anniversary of the publication of The Wisdom of W.E.B. Du Bois. The question, with assistance, was submitted as part of ongoing explorations and dialogues to explore risks and potential benefits of increasing developments in artificial intelligence (AI). For the purposes of this blog entry, the goal was to maximize objectivity and critical analysis devoid of human bias. Below are the results with minimal human intelligence corrections.
Aberjhani 

Introduction

​The year 2023 marks the momentous 20th anniversary of the publication of The Wisdom of W.E.B. Du Bois, a literary masterpiece that pays homage to the intellectual and philosophical legacy of one of America's greatest scholars, W.E.B. Du Bois. Published as part of the esteemed Philosophical Library Series with Kensington Books in 2003, this remarkable work subsequently found its voice as an MP3 audiobook, performed by Catherine Byers, and later as a Kindle eBook in 2018. Its creation and subsequent impact on academia and beyond provide us with ample reason to celebrate this significant event.


​Origins and Significance

​"The Wisdom of W.E.B. Du Bois" was published in commemoration of the centennial anniversary of Du Bois' seminal work, The Souls of Black Folk. This timing serves as a testament to the enduring relevance of Du Bois' teachings and ideas in shaping our understanding of race, identity, and social justice. The book's editor, Aberjhani, a prominent scholar and historian, had just completed his work on the definitive Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance, making him an ideal candidate to curate and contextualize Du Bois' teachings.

Structure and Content

​At the heart of The Wisdom of W.E.B. Du Bois lies a collection of profound quotes drawn from Du Bois' extensive body of work. These quotes capture the essence of his wisdom, intellectual acuity, and unwavering dedication to civil rights and racial equality. Aberjhani's contribution is equally significant, as he penned twelve original introductory essays that explore different facets of Du Bois' teachings. These essays provide valuable insights into the historical, sociopolitical, and philosophical dimensions of Du Bois' ideas, further enriching the reader's understanding of his intellectual legacy.
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(The Wisdom of W.E.B. Du Bois quotation art graphic by Aberjhani ©2023)


​Impact on Academic and Educational Landscape

​Since its publication, The Wisdom of W.E.B. Du Bois has garnered widespread recognition and has been embraced by numerous university libraries and education resource centers worldwide. Its inclusion in these esteemed institutions ensures that future generations of scholars, educators, and students have access to Du Bois' profound insights and incisive critiques of racial inequality. By amplifying Du Bois' voice and making his ideas easily accessible, this book contributes to the ongoing fight for social justice and serves as a beacon of hope and inspiration for those dedicated to creating a more equitable world.

Relevance in the Modern Era

Even twenty years after its initial publication, The Wisdom of W.E.B. Du Bois remains profoundly relevant. Du Bois' ideas continue to resonate with contemporary debates on race, identity, and systemic injustice. His visionary perspectives on the plight of African Americans, the role of education, and the challenges of achieving true equality transcend the barriers of time, reminding us that the struggle for racial justice persists.

​​Moreover, Aberjhani's essays offer invaluable reflections on Du Bois' work through a modern lens. They encourage readers to critically engage with Du Bois' ideas and draw connections to contemporary social, cultural, and political issues. By bridging the gap between the past and the present, this volume fosters a deeper understanding of the persistent challenges faced by marginalized communities, as well as the potential for positive change.

Conclusion

As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the publication of The Wisdom of W.E.B. Du Bois, we honor the enduring impact of W.E.B. Du Bois and Aberjhani's collaborative effort. This book stands as a testament to the significance of Du Bois' teachings, which continue to shape our understanding of race, justice, and the ongoing struggle for equality. Its inclusion in university libraries and education resource centers worldwide ensures that future generations will have the opportunity to engage with Du Bois' transformative ideas. As we look to the future, let us draw inspiration from this remarkable work and strive to build a more just and equitable world, guided by the wisdom of W.E.B. Du Bois.

ChatGPT
World AI Week and Global Conferences 2023
100th Anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance

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Harlem Renaissance icon Robert S. Abbott’s connection to Savannah, Georgia

2/5/2023

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​EDITORIAL NOTE: A shorter version of this article was first published as an op ed in the Savannah Morning News and by Yahoo News as : “Calhoun Square needs a new name. How about that of an iconic Black journalist?”
People in Savannah, Georgia (USA) can feel particularly good about the city council’s unanimous vote late in 2022 to remove former U.S. vice president and slave-owner John C. Calhoun’s (1782-1850) name from a downtown square. The council’s proactive move has less to do with any attempts to “correct history of the past” than to balance representation, and promote sanity, in the present. 

The members’ collective action stands in stark contrast to the Georgia state legislature’s steadfast refusal to delete former governor and white supremacist Eugene Talmadge’s (1884-1946) name from the beautiful bridge spanning the Savannah river. It possibly says a lot about the various lines of division appearing to separate American communities these days.

Why Robert S. Abbott Matters

​When I first met the late civil and human rights leader Westley Wallace (W.W.) Law (1923-2002) many years ago, he was campaigning to have East Broad Street school renamed Robert S. Abbott Elementary School. Knowing very little at the time about the history-shaping Great Migration or African America’s Harlem Renaissance in the previous century, some years went by before I understood why Mr. Law felt so strongly about the issue. 

More recently, I enjoyed with a group of writers a conversation concerning how little many Savannahians, based on what we had experienced and observed, seemed to know about how much the city, or different native sons and daughters of the same, have impacted not just Georgia’s history, but America’s and the world’s. (The election of Senator Raphael G. Warnock to the U.S. Congress in 2020 and his runoff battle against Herschel Walker in 2022 are exciting exceptions where awareness is concerned.) 
It was something I discussed via emails with the late Jane Fishman during the past few years. We felt it important enough to begin compiling names of African Americans who fit the category. One such noteworthy name, I propose, is that of Robert Sengstacke Abbott (1870-1940).

Documenting Abbott's history-changing impact

Upon learning about the city council’s vote to remove Calhoun’s name from the historic square, located at Abercorn and East Wayne streets, it occurred to me this could prove an opportunity to correct a significant deficiency. A historical marker dedicated to Abbott, courtesy of the city and Georgia Historical Society, can be found at West Bay and Albion streets. The marker acknowledges how Abbott’s stepfather, John H. H. Sengstacke, taught him the printing trade and how Abbott later further developed his skills to establish in 1905:

“…the Chicago Defender, a newspaper that revolutionized African-American journalism. He fought to abolish Jim Crow laws and establish a non-discriminatory society. The Defender played a major role in initiating the Great Migration (1915-1919)….”
Only so much information, however, can be placed on a historical marker. The word count is too small to explain the extraordinary impact Abbott’s newspaper had on the phenomenal success of what we call the Harlem Renaissance (1920s-1940s). Nor is it sufficient enough, as greatly appreciated as the marker is, to detail the publisher’s beginnings on St. Simons Island, or the traditions of philanthropy established by him and which have benefited Blacks and Whites alike.

How all of this links Savannah to the Great Northern Migration and the triumphant Harlem Renaissance, now celebrated worldwide, is particularly significant in light of the potential it holds for Georgia’s booming film industry.

Literary rumor

Abbott’s former home in Chicago is now a national landmark. In 2017, artist Kevin Pullen unveiled a sculpture called “Abbott and His Boys” as a tribute to the great publisher and in celebration of Gullah Geechee Heritage Day on St. Simons Island. Several volumes documenting the importance of Abbott’s legacy have been published in recent years; literary rumor has it a prominent local historian is hard at work on another.
​A number of worthy names of African Americans have already been proposed to replace Calhoun’s on the downtown square. Most of these have already been publicly honored in different ways and are celebrated annually during Black History Month and other occasions.

Almost two decades ago, I was fortunate enough to participate in a project which led to an appearance on an early-morning news show where I discussed Abbott’s historical importance with WSAV’s Kim Gusby, and, corporate trainer and poet Iris Formey-Dawson. Right now seems an excellent time for citizens of Savannah to renew that conversation. It’s one I have no doubt W.W. Law would have encouraged.  

By Aberjhani
Author of Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah
Co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance

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The Librarian and the Encyclopedia

1/5/2023

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PowerPoint slide from presentation on Harlem Renaissance by Sandra L. West. Pictured from left to right are: musician Billie Holiday, author Langston Hughes, and author Claude McKay. (courtesy of Bright Skylark Literary Productions Archives ©2023)
​What do authors generally hope for the most after years of researching, typing, re-typing, staying up too late and then getting up too early to complete a book and see it through to publication? It is that the book shall be warmly received by the reading public and treated kindly by the critical literary powers that be. The anxiety is not very different from that of a parent sending a child off to school alone for the first time. 
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​Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance was not my first published book but it was the first produced and distributed by a major traditional publisher: Facts On File, now Infobase Publishing. Communication with different scholars, prior to the encyclopedia’s release in September of 2003, revealed they were glad to learn my co-author Sandra and I had taken on the challenge of writing it. They gave me reason to feel optimistic. 

A S/heroic Librarian

​“As the Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance will broaden the context for students studying the visual arts, it will do the same for students studying any discipline...”   
 
What Ms. Hoaas wrote and shared with us was part of an official request to her facility’s director to make it part of their “Resources in the Humanities.” The kind of technical writing she employed to make the full recommendation came to almost 2,000 words and is something by which I remain impressed. Below is a brief excerpt:  
“A recently published resource has come to my attention that will fill a need in this library efficiently and rather inexpensively. It is a source that is unique in that it draws together the many facets of an important and oft studied period in American history, the Harlem Renaissance...
 
“This encyclopedia is unique because it illustrates the breadth of the time period, and all aspects, not just art and literature. Places and events, architecture and daily life all are drawn together for easy cross-referencing and browsing. After the appendices in this volume, there is a section in which all entries are grouped by subject. In browsing a few pages, the reader can gain a picture of the many aspects of the Harlem Renaissance. For example, a student who associates this time period with the Apollo theatre and big band music can view the headings for all the musical venues of the time and quickly see that politics and visual artists are equally significant to the movement.  I am imagining this to be a boon for students who are browsing the source and choosing their paper topics...”
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​​It is because Sandra and I could not have asked for a better welcome from a professional librarian that I am happy to acknowledge Ms. Hoaas’s contribution to the book’s success. The same way a parent might note the positive influence of an early teacher on their child’s growth into an accomplished adult. While I was unable to locate or contact her for this post, I am grateful she recognized what we had worked so hard to do and became one of the project’s valued champions.
 
Why is all this important during the 100th anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance? Because it demonstrates how the work both honored the legacies of pioneering historians like W.E.B. Du Bois, Carter G. Woodson, and Arturo Schomburg, as well as expanded it. Too much African-American history had been on the brink of erasure just as many discovering the need to access to its lessons on resilience, faith, and creative adaptation. Instead of being lost, it has now been preserved and secured in libraries across the globe. 

Aberjhani
Author/Editor of The Wisdom of W.E.B. Du Bois
Author of Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah

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The Company a Good Book Keeps

1/1/2023

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​Editor’s Note: The text below was first published on the Bright Skylark Literary Productions website as part of the article titled “The Years 2022 and 2023 part 2: Looking Ahead.” It has been adapted for inclusion here as an introduction to the 20th anniversary of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Infobase Publishing) observations. Those who are interested may read the complete article free of charge by clicking here. 

Harlem Renaissance Forever

​A big special moment two decades in the making is the 20th anniversary of the publication of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Infobase Publishing). With the emphasis many place these days on cultural heritage and legacies, the deaths of Sandra L. West (1947-2019 and Clement Alexander Price (1945-2014), my co-author and foreword author on the encyclopedia respectively, make its 20th anniversary all the more significant. 
With my late colleagues, the encyclopedia itself, and the numerous scholars, researchers, and creatives who have benefitted from it in mind, observations of the milestone will take place throughout 2023. They will include but not be limited to the following:
  • THE 2023 RELAUNCH of Harlem Renaissance Centennial website with the brand new header seen at the top of this post.
  • THE FIRST-TIME EVER publication of “The Harlem Renaissance in Savannah:  Presentation Commemorating the 90th Anniversary of The Savannah Carnegie Library, August 28, 2004” (on HR Centennial website).
  • FIRST-TIME PRESENTATION of stories from the Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance Archives told through collected correspondence and project journals.
  • PRESENTATION OF CLASSIC AXS articles and poetry from National Cultural Arts Examiner Column and Creative Spirit of the Harlem Renaissance Archive Collection. 

The Company a Good Book Keeps

In addition to the awards it garners, the enduring value of a particular book may be measured by the company it keeps on different readers’ and libraries’ shelves. Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance has been welcomed into collections around the world. ​
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As seen in the above screenshot, it is included on the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Library’s suggested reading list for Black History Month along with some very “significant others.” Namely: Becoming by Michelle Obama; The Richard Wright Encyclopedia edited by Jerry W. Ward, Jr., and Robert J. Butler, and Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration by Marcia Ann Gillespie, Rosa Johnson Butler, and Richard A. Long.

​In future Encyclopedia of the HR 20th anniversary posts, we will continue to explore and document how and why the now-classic volume has remained a favorite among students, educators, and readers in general. 

Aberjhani Author-Poet-Artist
Author of Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah
Creator of Postered Chromatic Poetics

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Weapons of Choice in Black Americans' Ongoing Battle for Justice and Equality

12/28/2022

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"The Harlem Renaissance and the Art of Correcting Social Injustice" art poster by Aberjhani.
​As you can see by the date at its bottom, the first edition of the poster included with this blog entry was created just as the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning to flood America’s, and the world’s, collective healthcare system with its deadly presence. It was a joy to design this at the request of Live Oak Library officials in Savannah, Georgia. But that joy, to a large extent, was then eclipsed by a painful irony when the pandemic forced libraries to close their doors for a time.
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We’ve all experienced a lot of life-changing history since then. Both the pandemic, and deaths of African-Americans at the hands of law enforcement officials (or imitators of the same) and gang-bangers, continue to reveal how social injustices and inequities impact realizations of the “American dream” for indigenous Blacks. 


​Harlem Renaissance Revolutionaries and Tools of Protest

Among the lasting gifts bestowed upon America, and for that matter upon the world, by African Americans during the Harlem Renaissance are strategies for addressing social injustice with intelligently-designed tools of protest. This first quote on the poster, from Splendid Literarium: A Treasury of Stories, Aphorisms, Poems, and Essays, celebrates one approach to resolving racial tensions of the period:
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“The artists, poets, authors, musicians, and educators of the Harlem Renaissance were advocates for social and political  justice by default. Simply daring to express and share their artistic impulses made them revolutionaries of a kind. The weapon of choice in their battles for freedom and equality? It was always inspired life-affirming  creative genius.”


​This second statement, from the book Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah, places attempts at racial reconciliation within the context of that “bigger history” which incorporates accounts of human and environmental progressions:  

“…History is a lover of grand epics as well as small miracles and therefore allows for exceptions.”

​​The word ‘exception’ as used above is a big one because it can be, and often is, applied to events characterized as either favorable or unfavorable. Such characterization depends on the observer doing the interpreting. 


​Tactics and Influencers

At the time of the Harlem Renaissance, many witnessed the astounding power of the July 28, 1917, Silent Parade protest march in New York City. It was staged to demonstrate against  the numerous lynchings of African-Americas, the overtly-racist Jim Crow system prevalent throughout America, and the violent riots which began to occur as a result. The very nature of the Silent Parade–– organized by author and activist James Weldon Johnson, Black beauty products pioneer and philanthropist Madame C.J. Walker, sociologist and author W.E.B. Du Bois, and other influencers––demanded respectful acknowledgement.  
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Throughout the 1900s, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) perfected its process for dismantling apartheid in America through litigation.  Taking on such controversial cases as the tragic Scottsboro Nine in 1931, and the more triumphant Brown versus Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, in 1953 (the historic decision was handed down in 1954), the organization helped advance practices of democracy when presidents and members of the U.S. Congress were failing to do so.

And while racial and social conflicts filled the streets of America during the 1960s and 1970s, educators dedicated to the Black Arts Movement pressed for balanced representations of diverse cultures in classroom textbooks. Their goals were very similar to supporters of Critical Race Theory in this current historical moment. 

​A question often raised during public discourses on the tumultuous nature of present-day U.S. society is: Where do we go from here? And: How do we get there? Maybe the answer is as simple as choosing to exercise a little more faith in our capacity for embodying love and compassion instead of nursing heedless addictions to fear and hateful destruction. We do now, after all these many decades, know well the differences between the two. 

Aberjhani
Co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance
Author of Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah​
Creator of Original Silk-Featherbrush Artstyle

    Contact Author-Poet-Artist Aberjhani at
    Bright Skylark Literary Productions

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Timelines: Text and meaning in Claude McKay’s ‘If We Must Day’ (part 4 of 4)

7/27/2021

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To read this special Text and Meaning Series from the beginning, please see the links at the end of the article. Part 4 begins now:
 
For those able to accept the image of history as a clock ticking its way along a circular timeline, it is more natural to imagine the hands of that clock moving forward rather than backward. Yet the June 2015 protests in McKinney, a suburb of Dallas, Texas, and the uprising in Baltimore, Maryland, combined with protest demonstrations the previous year in Ferguson, Missouri, New York City, Cleveland, and elsewhere prompted many Americans to question why history appears to be ticking so relentlessly––much like a two-ton bomb built for maximum destruction––in reverse.

Harlem Renaissance author Claude McKay could easily have surveyed the current state of African America––when many, ironically it seems, are observing the 150th anniversary of Juneteenth [adopted in 2021 as a federal holiday]–– and been as compelled now as he was in 1919 to pen the powerful lines of “If We Must Die.” The miracle at this hour, however, may be the remarkable restraint that African Americans continue to exhibit in the face of unceasing aggressive brutality.
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Whether due in 2015 to the presence of a Black man in the White House or out of respect for the examples provided by Martin Luther King Jr. and others, multiple generations of African Americans have avoided allowing their frustrations erupt into the kind of violence that ended with so many dead during the Red Summer of 1919.


​Equal Demographic Opportunity

The cities named above represent only a handful where African Americans, White Americans, and members of diverse demographic groups in the U.S. turned out to protest the use of deadly violence employed by armed policemen against unarmed Blacks. To be clear, the emphasis often placed on African-American males in no way diminishes the fact that a number of African-American women and girls have also met with such violence. Some––like 47-year-old mother Yvette Smith and Tarika Wilson , lost their lives to it. For that matter, in truth, so have a number of white women and white men.
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However, a clear enough picture begins to emerge when noting the body count of Black males who have fallen to policemen’s bullets, the number of those who have lost their freedom to the industrial prison complex, and the number of those who have been sidelined by decades of chronic unemployment. Nor has any single population group been so frequently labeled as an object of justifiable fear and subsequently, disproportionately, been tagged as justifiably killed.


​Reinterpreting “If We Must Die”

​Although Claude McKay was working as a “railroad man” when he wrote “If We Must Die,” it was his authority as a recognized poet that empowered him to galvanize a generation and, by doing so, help introduce the Harlem Renaissance. His passionate exultation assisted American history with a major push forward. 
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Harlem Renaissance author Claude McKay (left) with magazine editor and publisher Max Eastman in 1922. (Period image by Wide World Photography)
​Because McKay himself was among those to first make it clear that “If We Must Die” was a poetized response to the volatile racial and labor climate of 1919, there seems to be little room for misinterpreting or reinterpreting his conscious literary intentions. Scores of Black men were targeted for lynching in one form or another and those officials entrusted to preserve life and liberty in America did not seem particularly disturbed by this fact. However, when reflecting on the poem during the 1940s, to introduce a recording of it later released in 1954 on Smithsonian Folkways’ Anthology of Negro Poetry, he offered the following:
“…I felt assurance that 'If We Must Die' was just what I intended it to be: a universal poem. And wherever men are pressed with their backs against the wall, abused, outraged, and murdered, whether they are a minorities or nations, black or brown or yellow or white, Catholics or Protestants or pagans, fighting against the terror, 'If We Must Die' could be appropriately read." (McKay, Introduction to “If We Must Die").

​These words would indicate that McKay was at least as concerned about human rights in general as he was about racial equality in particular. 
 
A country in racial crisis, as America surely was when marking the 150th anniversary of Juneteenth Jubilee in 2015, and continues to be 2021, is one with its collective back “against the wall.” That makes McKay’s poem, during this now 102nd anniversary of its publication, a good one to revisit and reflect upon its classic lines for the various levels of insight and applicable meaning they may provide at this specific moment. 

Read the Claude McKay Text and Meaning Series from the beginning:
Red Summer: Text and Meaning in Claude McKay’s “If We Must Die” part 1
Poems Matter: Text and meaning in Claude McKay’s “If We Must Die” part 2
Fighting Back: Text and Meaning in Claude McKay’s “If We Must Die” part 3

Aberjhani
Author of Greeting Flannery O'Connor at the Back Door of My Mind 
Co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance

    Contact author Aberjhani at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

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Fighting Back: Text and Meaning in Claude McKay’s poem ‘If We Must Die’  (part 3)

7/25/2021

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​Claude McKay’s classic poem proposed one solution to racial and political oppression which has always proven controversial within the context of American democracy: “…face the murderous, cowardly pack,/ Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!”
 
The question back then, as now in 2021, is this: what are the best ways to “fight back” while preserving the Black lives too often dismissed as “marginal,” and  simultaneously maintain a democratic republic so frequently lauded as the greatest in history?  In addition, a second question is this: exactly how much is at stake when Black men and women’s lives are lost to various forms of avoidable violence?

(To read parts 1 and 2 of this special 2015 series repost and update at Bright Skylark Literary Productions, please click HERE and HERE)
 
On its most ostensible surface level, “If We Must Die” is doubtlessly McKay’s call to his “Kinsmen” to fight to preserve Black bodies. On a less transparent level it may also represent the author’s call to preserve the integrity of American democracy. Each life lost to injustice, racism, xenophobia, ignorance, or hatred is a brick torn from the pillars of  a foundation of principles and values on which so many for the past 200-plus years (that is, since July 4, 1776) have labored in defense of freedom.
 
When confronted by social, political, or legal disagreement, options for nonviolent conflict resolution are often plentiful if allowed into consideration. What follows is a list of five points worth noting in the context of dialogues devoted to current strategies for “fighting back”:

1. The Official Recommendation

Peaceful protest capable of registering grievance without increasing violence has always been the official recommendation for “fighting back” against apparent injustices. It is a component of government that allows political dissent while avoiding uncontainable social chaos. Many have lost faith in this specific strategy because peaceful protest has too frequently been followed by reports of more African-American men and women killed by more White policemen’s guns. In addition, it is widely-known that only a few of these killings become subjects of public protest.
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The observation documented by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report on homicides in the U.S. ––noting that two Black men on average are killed every week by policemen––is one African-American men cannot afford to forget. Nor is it one that any American should ever forget. Consider if you will this sobering reflection: If the FBI’s previous estimates were to prove true for the year 2015 [when this article was first posted] that would mean America could expect to see at least 104 Black men lose their lives to policemen’s bullets toward the year’s end [the number actually turned out to be 258, of which 135 victims were described as unarmed]. By startling contrast, the Library of Congress Timeline of African American History, 1901 – 1925 (and other sources) puts the number of Black lives lost to lynching in the year 1919 at 76.

2. Legislation and Litigation

Supporters of the NAACP for more than a century have employed the second means of “fighting back”; namely, that of aggressive litigation and stringently-applied legislation. The organization scored numerous courtroom victories during the Harlem Renaissance when McKay’s “If We Must Die” catapulted him to everlasting literary fame. Its legacy has, moreover, been credited with helping make possible the election of Barack Obama to the U.S. presidency. Unfortunately, statutes such as Stand Your Ground and Stop-and-Frisk laws, along with the weakening of historic 1960s civil rights legislation, have made it difficult for many to trust in official government processes. In addition, the ever-widening gap between so-called “Haves” and “Have-Nots” lend increasing support for the theory that government is largely a control mechanism set in place to serve the preferences of the wealthy. 

3. Social Media

If there is one strategy of choice among Millennials for “fighting back” during this second [now third] decade of the 21st century, it may be focusing public awareness through such social media campaigns as: #BlackLivesMatter, #StopKillingUs, and #ICantBreathe. Those who acknowledge the validity of the Black Lives Matter Movement do so not only to spare African Americans the fate of assassination by lethal disregard. They acknowledge it to protect the investments made by the Black and White ancestors who created the basis for a model of democracy that has now spread far beyond American shores.
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The Black Lives Matter Movement itself is an historical extension of the Silent Parade that took place July 28, 1917, in New York City, to protest the police brutality occurring at that time. The protest has been duplicated in many demonstrations that occurred throughout the 1950s and 1960s––including the 1963 March on Washington led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.–– when Black men so often found it necessary to wear signs declaring: “I am a man.” 

4. Compassion

Compassion as a form of strategy for achieving progressive social, political, and economic change is not a concept in which many influential leaders seem willing to place a lot of trust. It is certainly not one that commanded much respect in regard to the lives of African Americans during the time Claude McKay wrote “If We Must Die.” Yet the Charter for Compassion, founded by author Karen Armstrong, is one of the fastest growing not-for-profit organizations in the world. It is fully committed to exploring and promoting compassion as a tool available to help communities and individuals achieve “absolute justice, equity and respect” in the pursuit of “a peaceful global community.”  ​
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Detail from "Long Purple Road to ELEMENTAL" artwork by Aberjhani featuring silhouette of late artist Luther E. Vann. Prints of this work are available at Pixels.com and Fine Art America.

​In lieu of more coercive strategies, cultivating, communicating, and applying compassion has been known historically to sometimes win over allies and strengthen the chances of victory on behalf of those struggling for a just cause. Moreover, the quality of compassion itself by virtue of its nature reduces the impulse to sacrifice courage to fear, or to ransom love in exchange for hatred. 

5. Occupy Official Positions

Finally: it is possible that the most effective means of all for “fighting back” is to employ a version of the Occupy Movement’s strategy. In this case, it means African Americans finding ways to legitimately occupy offices in which they can initiate the actions necessary to better ensure Black lives are at least as safeguarded as anyone else’s. Those inclined to refute such a notion are invited to examine how former Attorney General Eric Holder’s administrative efforts have begun transforming the policies which enabled members of the U.S. legal system to justify, and even encourage, the mass incarceration of African Americans.
 
As many astute commentators have observed, Eric Holder successfully put a sizeable dent in the civil forfeiture practice that allowed law enforcement to benefit from monies generated by drug busts as well as from the cars and real estate properties linked to criminal activities. He was also instrumental in clearing the path for states to decree their own marijuana legislation and, of extreme importance to many African-American men––reducing mandatory minimum sentences for drug-related crimes.
 
Does that mean every African American seeking to reverse the tide of homicides ruled justifiable should set their sights on occupying the U.S. Attorney General’s office, later commanded by Loretta Lynch [currently Merrick B. Garland]? Of course not. Nor is it necessary to aim as high as the position of commander-in-chief, which is what made it possible for President Obama to appoint Holder and Lynch in the first place. But what it does mean is working to place yourself in positions of formal or informal influence that allow the strength of your voice to be heard and the reality of your pain to be acknowledged. 

To read the final part 4 of this series Please Click Here.

Aberjhani
Author of Greeting Flannery O'Connor at the Back Door of My Mind
Co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance


More on Claude McKay and the Text and Meaning Series
Red Summer: Text and Meaning in Claude McKay’s “If We Must Die” part 1
Poems Matter: Text and meaning in Claude McKay’s “If We Must Die” part 2
Timelines: Text and Meaning in Claude McKay's "If We Must Die" final part 4

    Contact author-artist Aberjhani at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

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On 'Misconceptions' and Alternative Interpretations of A Life

5/6/2021

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​Known facts are not always representative of unknown truths. Does that mean they should be ignored? Not at all. It does, however, indicate a need to exercise caution when speaking or writing as if only a single interpretation of documented events in an individual’s life is possible.
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Take the example of a Wikipedia article on “Common Misconceptions,” in which the author was kind and erudite enough to offer the following:
“African American intellectual and activist W.E.B. Du Bois did not renounce his U.S. citizenship while living in Ghana shortly before his death, *[169] as is often claimed. *[170]*[171]*[172] In early 1963, due to his membership in the Communist Party and support for the Soviet Union, the U.S. State Department did not renew his passport while he was already in Ghana overseeing the creation of the Encyclopedia Africana. After leaving the embassy, he stated his intention to renounce his citizenship in protest. But while he took Ghanaian citizenship, he never went through the process of renouncing his American citizenship, *[173] and may not even have intended to.*[169]”

A Kind of Lynching

The word renounce, it may be argued, need not include the stipulation of a formal declaration. Nonetheless, it is true that as far as we know the ailing 95-year-old Du Bois did not get around to going through a formal process of declaring and documenting the renunciation of his U.S. citizenship. What no one, including the author of this blog, can ever know is how many times he likely renounced it in his heart while waiting an entire lifetime to see if African Americans would ever be accepted by White Americans as equal citizens with equal rights in his homeland.
 
He died knowing it had never happened because at the time of his death, even though President Harry S. Truman’s Executive Order 9808 had been signed in 1946 to outlaw lynching, Whites who were so-inclined could still get away with hanging, burning, shooting, or bombing African Americans at will and not suffer any legal repercussions for it. His own status as a renowned educator and political advocate had largely insulated Dr. Du Bois from such direct physical threats but their extended implications were far from lost on him. Moreover, some might contend that the U.S. Government’s refusal to renew his passport and block access to the medical treatment he needed so desperately was a kind of lynching.  


​Freedom and Dignity

​Other events––big powerful important ones like the forced integration of the U.S. military in 1948, and organization of the 1963 March on Washington that would take place one day after his death––were already making definitive marks on history. But not the political, social, or ethical transformation which would confirm and secure the simple validity of Black People’s fundamental humanity. 
There were also activities throughout his adult life, particularly via his intellectual camaraderie with educators, social theorists, and political leaders across the globe. In addition, his support of several Pan-African Congresses made it evident enough that he actually lived as a citizen of the world rather than as one of a single country.
 
It was and is more than a matter of semantics. Documented accounts are not necessarily known certainties and their meanings are as subject to interpretation as anything which has not been experienced or witnessed first-hand. At the core of the issue was a matter of reality when it came to how much a man or woman could claim to be a citizen in the first place if in fact his or her life could be erased on a whim solely because of the color of their skin. And at the heart of that reality for W.E.B. Du Bois was the battle to live, and eventually die, with as much freedom and dignity as possible. Ultimately, that battle ended in Ghana, Africa.

Aberjhani
© May 2021
Bright Skylark Literary Productions

Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.

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Literary Cultural Migrations and the 18th Anniversary of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Part 2)

5/6/2021

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For this reader and author, any study of literature generated by mid-1900s French commitment or existentialism would mean a lot less without a major nod to the romantic partnership between Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Paul Sartre that breathed life into its goals and principles. Nor would it mean very much without appreciation for the French jazzman and novelist Boris Vian’s great enthusiasm for the African-American experience as filtered through an existential perspective and expressed in both his music and his writings.

(If you would like to read part 1 this essay before continuing please click here.)
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Likewise, Gertrude Stein’s and Ernest Hemingway’s Lost Generation might have remained exactly that—lost—were it not for their expatriate bohemian adventures in Europe and Latin America. The daring, the artistry, the intellectual challenges and, ultimately, the achievements all rolled for me into one big ball of fascination which dazzled my desires and encouraged my efforts. 

Making the Historical Literary Moment Count

In some movements, I noticed, writers and artists and musicians were very much aware of themselves as the makers of a very special moment and made their contributions to it with a sense of responsibility and selective aesthetics. Other movements seemed to emerge naturally, just as a rainbow might after a summer storm, without apparent conscious or planned intent. The latter type intrigues me the most because it makes me wonder—what movements are forming at this moment as we make our way through the second decade of the 21st century?
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It’s an interesting question to consider because this is a time when there exist numerous literary communities dedicated to the act of writing and to the idea of authorship itself but not necessarily to works committed to a given purpose.  And no, that is not automatically a bad thing. 

The Law of Literary Attraction

The Harlem Renaissance attracted me as an author and as an individual because its amazing creative energies were unleashed at such an exceptional time in American history. For the United States in general, it occurred between two world wars that tested the potential strength and limitations of democracy. For African Americans in particular, it was a time of quasi-freedom, only decades after slavery had officially ended in the country and during a period when neoslavery--the illegal imprisonment and forced labor of free individuals—remained a somewhat common practice.

Every time a black writer penned an article, essay, poem, novel, or play with the intent to publish, he or she committed a revolutionary act that at once strengthened the ideal of American democracy and advanced the causes of black liberation.  Therefore, it required more than just inspiration for Nella Larsen to write a novel such as Passing (1929) or for Claude McKay to write and publish the poem “If We Must Die” (1919). It required a great deal of courage as well.
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Words thought too inflammatory or too subversively provocative could cost a writer his or her life, no matter how bohemian-chic such writers may have been considered, just as such words continue to imperil the lives of some global community writers in 2021.  

​Co-authoring Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance allowed me to travel back in time and participate in the first Harlem Renaissance—to excitedly live a bit of the courageousness, the thrill, and the genius involved-- then return again to the present and participate in what has been called the second. 

​The honor has never been about staking claim to a useless badge of elitism. It has always been about making a meaningful contribution to something which may not be as glamorous as a Hollywood red carpet premier, or as trendy as the hottest new cell phone, but which nevertheless  has often brought value, substance, and beauty into many lives too accustomed to nothing but pain. Just as that value and substance and beauty have helped individuals navigate the stormier periods of their lives, so have literary movements helped humanity make its way from one challenging era to the next, all the while empowering visions and storing up treasures. 

Aberjhani
Co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance
Author of Greeting Flannery O'Connor at the Back Door of My Mind

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Literary Cultural Migrations and the 18th Anniversary of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Part 1)

5/6/2021

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This essay was first presented in 2010 as “Literary Movements and the 7th Anniversary of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance.” It is republished now to commemorate the current official centennial of the Harlem Renaissance.
 
My long-term romance with the idea literary movements define and bookmark significant heroic moments in cultural history began long before I understood who or what had stolen my heart. Yet it seems to have been there for at least as long as long as earlier adolescent passions for playing football or running foot races. There can be little doubt that it played a major role in my decision to accept the challenge of co-authoring Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Facts on File/Infobase Publishing, with Sandra L. West) which documents and celebrates one of the most successful literary movements on record.
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September 2021 will mark the 18th anniversary of the encyclopedia’s publication and 2023 will marks its 20th. The fact that it continues to inform classroom discussions and to encourage further exploration of the 1920s Jazz Age says as much about the life-enhancing inspiration our hearts and souls draw from literary movements in general, as it does about this one book in particular. 

Emerging Patterns & The Bigger Picture

It is possible that in my middle-school years—a time when I read more outside classrooms than I did inside classrooms–– I came across allusions to America’s great Romantic, Realism, and Naturalism literary movements of the 1800s. I may have also stumbled onto references to the Harlem Renaissance, the Lost Generation, the Beats, and the Black Arts Movement of the next century; or onto Europe’s Symbolists, Surrealists, champions of Negritude, and Existentialists. But chances are I did not have half a clue what any of these meant.

Some serious time would pass before I started connecting historical dots and pieced together the relevance of David Thoreau publishing Walden: or Life in the Woods (1854) only a year before Walt Whitman made his start on the journey that would become Leaves of Grass, and about nine years after Edgar Allen Poe became a literary immortal with The Raven and Other Poems (1845).
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Patterns began to emerge as I noted Emily Dickinson quietly (and a little madly perhaps) scribbling soul-exploding poem after soul-exploding poem at the same time that Mark Twain’s deepening appreciation for Southern culture inspired him to produce a string of classic works--The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and Huckleberry Finn (1884) being only two of his better-known novels.  
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​The bigger picture became even more focused with the arrival of the beehive of writers, artists, and musicians who generated, sustained, and immortalized the Harlem Renaissance. There were writers like Jean Toomer, Claude McKay, and Jesse Redmond Faucet spinning out novels and poetry at the same time editors such as Marcus Garvey,   W.E.B. Du Bois, and Charles S. Johnson debated the merits of their work and sponsored regular cash prizes to keep the honey of their endeavors flowing. The activities of the Harlem Renaissance spilled over into the 1960s and 1970s Black Arts Movement in a more enhanced form. Where their forebears had left off, a new generation of wordsmiths that included Amiri Baraka, Ishmael Reed, Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, and Haki Madhubuti stepped in and forged ahead.  

More Recently in the Historical Literary Sense

Literary Cultural Migrations and the 18th Anniversary of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Part 1)The contemporary films Howl, featuring James Franco as Allen Ginsberg, and On the The Road, with Kristen Steward and Garrett Hedlund among other notable talents, provide insight into how the Beat movement formed, picked up steam, and evolved to become the definitive voice of a generation. In a similar and yet very different mode, in the book Gabriel Garcia Marquez, author Ilan Stavans sheds a brilliant light on the fairly modern Latino movement known as El Boom. In addition to the Nobel Prize-winning Garcia Marquez, El Boom also gave the world the towering figures of authors Mario Vargas Llosa, Julio Cortazar, Carlos Fuentes, and Isabel Allende.

Similar scenarios have unfolded at different points in literary history on continents across the globe and within different cultural settings. If these movements were about nothing more than the origins of certain books, they would still be exciting but lack a meaningful depth of emotion, or engaging dramas of ideology that sometimes ended in cultural feuds and sometimes resulted in love affairs.

In short, they demonstrate possibilities for different ways of being within polarized societies of people convinced they must live must each moment of their lives according to someone else’s interpretation of it. Or: according to a script which they were trained to recite from birth without reflections or questions on how effectively it served their lives, or how effectively their lives served it.
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NEXT: Please Click Here for Literary Cultural Migrations and the 18th Anniversary of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance  Part 2.
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    Aberjhani

    Winner of Choice Academic Title Award, Best History Book Award, and Notable Book of the Year Award for Encyclopedia of the Harlem Remaisssance.

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  • Blog: Now Observing the Harlem Renaissance Centennial
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