History Hunt: Amanda Christina Elizabeth Aldridge
Google doodles celebrates Amanda Aldridge today.
Note: This post discusses racist subject matter. Discretion is advised.
This week, we’re back to Britain to meet a composer of many names–and just as many talents.
Amanda Christina Elizabeth Aldridge was born on March 10, 1866 in a suburb of London, England. Her mother was a white opera singer (and supposed Swedish countess) Amanda Pauline von Brandt and her father was the famous Black Shakespearean actor Ira Aldridge, who also was a talented singer.
Because of her parents’ musical background, Aldridge and her siblings’ musical talents were strongly encouraged. Her mother would take them to classical music concerts at the famed Crystal Palace, and Aldridge was able to study both singing and piano almost from the start of her life. And it paid off–when she was fifteen, Aldridge sang with an orchestra at the very same Crystal Palace she’d visited as a little girl!
When she was seventeen, Aldridge won…
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Pity These Ashes: Tulsa 1921-2021
Among the commemorations of the Tulsa Race Massacre — the horrible events of 31 May-1 June 1921 that took place in Tulsa’s Greenwood District — here’s a concert scheduled for 19 June/Juneteenth by the Harlem Chamber Players and featuring the world premiere Adolphus Hailstork’sTulsa 1921 (Pity These Ashes, Pity This Dust), an operatic retelling of the massacre.
The mezzo-sopranoJ’Nai Bridges will sing in this digitally streamed concert on Juneteenth at 7pm, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the massacre.She will be joined by the violinistJessica (Lady Jess) McJunkins,WQXR host and authorTerrance McKnight,harpistAshley Jackson,and conductorAmadi Azikiweleading the Harlem Chamber Players.
Also on the program are pieces byJessie Montgomery,Alice Coltrane, andTrevor Weston.
COMPLETE PROGRAM:
Jessie Montgomery Starburst
Alice Coltrane Prema for Harp and Strings arranged by Tom Cunningham of Urban Playground Orchestra
Adolphus…
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BOOK: Cooper on Slavery and Resistance in Montreal
Discovered this today. Just waiting for the right time to dive in. Wow.
Afua Cooper. The Hanging of Angelique: The Untold Story of Canadian Slavery and the Burning of Old Montreal. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2007.
via UGA Press:
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Camille Billops, Maker of Unflinching Documentary Films, Is Dead at 85 -ARTnews
Source: Camille Billops, Maker of Unflinching Documentary Films, Is Dead at 85 -ARTnews
From “Winnie” by Gwendolyn Brooks as we begin April is #PoetryMonth
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Gone to join the ancestors. Grateful for her life and her spirit.
April is (US) National Poetry Month. It’s been a while since I celebrated the month here at Kinna Reads and frankly, I miss it. There is no theme to this year’s celebration. I might, uncharacteristically, share more “upbeat” poems since the first three months of 2018 have been quite unsettling, to put it mildly. Illness and a stream of bad news have me feeling vulnerable and unmoored. As I typed that sentence, I reminded myself that sad poetry can be sweet and haunting. I’m just going to have fun this month. I’ll be reading at least one poem a day and will post poetry here throughout April. Old favourites and new discoveries.
The above is the first paragraph of a post I scheduled to go live today. I was going to kickoff #PoetryMonth with “May this be a House of Joy” by Lucille Clifton. But yesterday, April 2nd, brought news…
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Madam Walker’s 1917 Convention: Entrepreneurship & Protest Politics
On the 100th Anniversary of the NAACP’s Silent Protest March against racial injustice in New York City, I want to share the words of Madam C.J. Walker, who, although more well known for her business acumen, was a staunch, outspoken advocate for civil rights: “This is the greatest country under the sun, but we must not let our love of country, our patriotic loyalty cause us to abate one whit in our protest against wrong and injustice. We should protest, until the American sense of justice is so aroused that such affairs as the East St. Louis race riot be forever impossible.” Madame C.J. Walker, exhorting her agents to support the Silent Protest Parade, July 28th, 1917. Walker served on the NAACP organizing committee for the march.
On August 31, 1917, Madam C. J. Walker hosted the first national convention of her Walker “beauty culturists” at Philadelphia’s Union Baptist Church. More than 200 women from all over the United States gathered to learn about sales, marketing and management at what was one of the earliest professonal gatherings of American women entrepreneurs.
Walker–who founded her Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company during the spring of 1906 in Denver after marrying her third husband, Charles Joseph “C.J.” Walker, earlier that year–had first begun selling hair care products in St.
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