“And the syndrome goes on; this is only a poem, wondering when to our senses we will come home.”      ––T.J. Reddy (from A Poem About A Syndrome) Most of the more celebrated names among African-American authors, poets, and artists are known to the world because of their association with specific cultural arts movements. The recently-deceased  Amiri Baraka has been identified as a hero of both the late 1950s Beat Movement and the 1960s and 1970s Black Arts Movement. Poets such as Gwendolyn Brooks and Sterling Brown remain renowned for their link to the Harlem Renaissance. One of the more powerful qualities of such movements is that they often inspire more creative genius than the world takes time to recognize. Or sometimes they produce creative thinkers of a type that “others” tend to fear and consequently attempt to destroy. It is possible both these scenarios may be applied to the poet, visual artist, human rights advocate, and educator known as T.J. Reddy.

In addition to kicking off the beginning of Black History Month 2012, February 1 also marks the 110th anniversary of the birth of Langston Hughes, one of America’s most acclaimed authors. Although widely celebrated for his poetry, plays, and short stories, the phenomenally prolific Hughes was also an author of celebrated memoirs, novels, works of history and translations, as well as an editor of anthologies. In honor of Hughes’ lasting legacy, actor Danny Glover has presented dramatized recitals of his work for at least a decade and is currently on tour portraying the author in An Evening with Martin and Langston . Fellow actor and director Felix Justice portrays Martin Luther King Jr. in the production. Performances are currently scheduled to take place February 8 at the Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, New York ; and on February 9 at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. For the entire Langston Hughes celebration please click this link : Notebook on Black Histo

(Cover of audio for Days of Grace by Arthur Ashe) The word “iconic” is usually more than sufficient to describe exceptional contributors to African-American and world history but in the case of tennis great and philanthropist Arthur Ashe it barely seems to scratch the surface. The term fits his status as one of the great men of his time well enough that in 2005 the United States Postal Service issued a stamp in his honor. The stamp bears the same image of Ashe that was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated Magazine in 1992 when he was named “Sportsman of the Year.” That singular tribute reveals something of the magnitude of his positive impact upon the world before his death––and even afterwards–– at the relatively young age of forty-nine. However, the man himself provided a deeper sense of who and what he was in the memoir Days of Grace. To continue reading the full article with a review of Arthur Ashe's DAYS OF GRACE by Aberjhani please click this link : Notebook on Bla

Michael Jackson and summertime from this point on - National African-American Art