THE LOVE AND WISDOM OF W.E.B. DU BOIS


“Even in its weakest form—that of emotional infatuation—love was something superior to both art and culture. In the face of a world where economic hardships often ground the best of the human spirit into the worst, love provided a pathway into hidden chambers of the spirit where nobility and compassion might be salvaged, resurrected, and made stronger. Before the thunderous clamor of political debate or war set loose in the world, love insisted on its promise for the possibility of human unity: between men and women, between blacks and whites, northerners and southerners, haves and have-have-nots, self and self. Its power and its value and its terror lay in its ability to dominate with joy all other aspects of reality. It was the one thing for which all else—political conviction, art, culture, self-respect, even power—might justifiably be sacrificed because it was the one thing capable of transforming chaos into hope.”
--Aberjhani, from THE WISDOM OF W.E.B. DU BOIS (Citadel Press)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

From Dream to Book: How I Wrote Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah

Image
Like many of the real-life characters in its pages, including me, the author, Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah is a survivor. It has endured several powerful hurricanes, withstood the terror of too many computer crashes to count, eluded theft, and dodged falling ceilings. The real miracle is the book not only survived these successions of turmoil but managed to steadily evolve with the addition of my artwork to the nonfiction stories. To appreciate how truly exceptional that is, please note that when I first began writing the book I did not consider myself a visual artist of any kind at all: not an amateur digital craftsman, acrylic stylist, photographer, or portraitist. I was the author of Songs from the Black Skylark zPed Music Player and co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance beginning a new literary adventure. Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah started with the experience of an actual dream in 1989. It had to do with a group of friends banding toge
Read more

The Year of James Baldwin Now in Full Classic Literary Swing (part 1) - by Aberjhani

Image
Author James Baldwin in St. Paul de Vence, France, 1976. (photo by Dmitri Kasterine) “It has always been much easier (because it has always seemed much safer) to give a name to the evil without than to locate the terror within. And yet, the terror within is far truer and far more powerful than any of our labels: the labels change, the terror is constant.” –James Baldwin, from  the essay Nothing Personal Members of New York City’s cultural arts community made a rare kind of decision earlier this year and the results of that decision continue to generate exceptional events and responses. They–– as in Columbia University School of the Arts, Harlem Stage, and New York Live Arts–– elected to observe The Year of James Baldwin from April 2014 until June 2015 in honor of the late iconoclastic African-American author’s 90th birthday August 2, 2014. Long before he died on December 1, 1987, millions came to recognize the indelible mark of Baldwin’s impact on, and the incredible depth
Read more

THE EXTRAORDINARY TALENT OF BEAUFORD DELANEY

Image
    This 1941 portrait of celebrated author James Baldwin, entitled “Dark Rapture,” is one of numerous masterworks created by the equally celebrated Harlem Renaissance artist Beauford Delaney (1902-1979). Delaney (whose brother Joseph, 1904-1991, was also an accomplished artist) enjoyed a remarkable career that spanned some five decades. That he was a visual artist whose creative aesthetics profoundly influenced the work of a major literary artist like James Baldwin is one indicator of how powerfully charged the creative energy of the Harlem Renaissance truly was. Aberjhani Co-author of ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE And the author of I MADE MY BOY OUT OF POETRY
Read more