Cornel West

One of the most highly visible contemporary African-American intellectuals is Cornel West.

Image by Darrell Nance from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

West entered Harvard University at the age of seventeen and graduated in three years with a degree in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures and then earned a PhD at Princeton University.  Professionally, he has been a professor of philosophy, religion, divinity, American Studies, and African-American studies at Harvard, Princeton, Union Theological Seminary as well as being a highly sought-after lecturer, political activist, and even a film actor.  He played Councillor West in The Matrix film series.

Councillor West in The Matrix Reloaded
(http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/matrix/images/d/dd/West.png/revision/latest?cb=20081010065236)

West is well-known for his outspoken views on race, the use and misuse of religion in the public sphere, Marxist thought, etics, social justice, and the cultural importance of music.  He is the author of numerous books, including the influential and controversial books Race Matters (1994) and The Future of Race (1996; co-written with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.), Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight against Imperialism (2004), and The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto (2012; co-written with Tavis Smiley).  West's aproach to life and ethics was summed up in his segment of Examined Life (2008), a film about contemporary American philosophers and the role of philosophy in American life.

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African-American Women Guitar Greats!

Glancing through Star Guitars … That Rocked the World, one might get the erroneous impression that women guitarists are few and far between-- only THREE women are listed out of 101 guitarists!  (Sister Rosetta Tharpe is one of the three).  Here’s a shout-out to—and partial list of—   a few often overlooked, incredible African-American female guitarists, past and present. 

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Sister Rosetta Thorpe, late 1930's.
Photo: Roxie Moore

Godmother of rock and roll.
Gospel superstar.
Performed at the Cotton Club.

Performed with the Dixie Hummingbirds, Lucky
Millinder, Cab Calloway, Benny Goodman, and
Sammy Price. 

Performers Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Little
Richard, Johnny Cash, Isaac Hayes, and Aretha
Franklin all credited Tharpe as having had a major
influence on their music.

Video: “Didn’t it Rain” (live performance, Alexandria Park
Station, Manchester, May 7th, 1964)

Andy Allo

Photo from Urban Bush Babes, October 2015.

Cameroon-born singer, songwriter, guitarist,
and actress Andy Allo's first solo gig was in

2008 in downtown Sacramento's Fox &

Goose Public House. Allo released her first

independent album (UnFresh) in 2009,

which led to her role as a backup singer and

guitarist for Prince’s band The New Power

generation.  

In 2017 Allo appeared in the film Pitch

Perfect 3 as Evermoist band member

Serenity.

Andy Allo performs “People Pleaser” on
Jimmy Kimmel Live (March 31, 2013) 

 

Bibi McGill

Image from About Face, Portland's
Interview Magazine, July 2012.

Belinda “Bibi” McGill is best known as the lead
guitarist and musical director of the all-female

Suga Mamas, Beyoncé's backing band.  

Bibi also toured with Pink, among other bands.   

Video: “If I were a Boy.” Guitar solo with Beyoncé  

McGill currently lives in Portland, Oregon where

she is also a yoga teacher— and founder of Bibi

Food Enterprises which produces kale chips and

other “gluten-free artisan food snacks.” 

Video “Believe,” produced in collaboration with

Open School North, Portland, Oregon

Image from online article in All Access Music

Malina Moye

Malina Moye, “the female Jimi Hendrix,” is a singer, songwriter,

lefty guitarist and entrepreneur.

  

Moye grew up surrounded by music--

her father played with Bernard Allison, and her mother was a background

singer with Tina Turner. 

Video: “Foxy Lady”

Tamar-Kali

Image from Black Women Rock website.

Singer, guitarist and composer 

Tamar-Kali, NYC underground punk

rock fave and star of the documentary

Afro-punk, takes her name from the

Hindu goddess of war and death.

Tamar-Kali likes to describe her music

as “classical experimental” and

“aggressive melodic rock.” How would

you characterize her music?

Here are two music videos of Tamar-

Kali performing to help you decide.

Video: “Boot” live

Video: “Senseless” (Tamar-kali &

Psychochamber Ensemble, MOMA, 2015)

Toshi Reagon

Image from iHeart Radio

Singer and guitarist Toshi Reagon is

the daughter of musician activist

parents. Both parents were members

of the civil rights musical group The

Freedom Singers. Mother Dr. Bernise

Johnson Reagon founded Sweet Honey

in the Rock. Father Cordell Hull Reagon

was a leader of the civil rights

movement in Albany.  

Toshi is also the goddaughter of folk

singer Pete Seeger, and was named

after Seeger’s wife. 

Toshi continues to speak out against

injustice as her parents did-- she and her band BIGLovely performed with Nona

Hendryx at the Women’s March on Washington on January 21, 2007.

Video: “Battle of the Broken Word”

Valerie June

Image: i.ytimg.com [aka YouTube image]

Musician Valerie June Hockett likes to described her music as “organic moonshine roots music.”  A modern woman, she raised funds to record an album via Kickstarter, raising $15,000 in 2 months. Valerie June is particularly popular in Europe and the UK, and her music is often played on BBC Radio 6.

Video: “You can’t be told”:

Interested in learning, (hearing, watching) more?  Unfortunately, there is little written about female guitarists,

particularly those who are African American. O’Grady does, however, own the book She's a Rebel : the History

of Women in Rock & Roll, as well as DVDs such as Ken Burn’s Jazz series (plus companion volume) 

and Martin Scorsese’s The Blues, a Musical Journey series.

Several Summit Libraries own Gayle Wald’s biography Shout, sister, shout!, as well as CDs of Tharpe's music.

UK filmmaker Mick Csaky's one-hour documentary Sister Rosetta Tharpe: The Godmother of Rock & Roll can

be found online (currently through Vimeo, for example), and of course many music videos are available online

thanks to YouTube.

Black History Month: Frederick Douglass

While 77-year-old Frederick Douglass passed away nearly 122 years ago (on February 20, 1895 to be exact), his illustrious name has recently been, well, trending.*  

Frederick Douglass around 1850  

(National Park Service, public domain)

                                                      

Author and former slave Frederick Augustus Washington Douglass (né Bailey) is best known for his work as an abolitionist and social reformer, but he’s also a stand out for his ability to read and write, unusual in an era which criminalized African-American literacy.  To put Frederick’s ability to read and write in some perspective, 25 years before his death, only 20% of “black and other [non-white] races” were literate. (U.S. Department of Education. “120 Years of Education : a Statistical Portrait.” 1993. Table 6).   

Bailey was taught the alphabet and basic reading at age 9 by the sympathetic wife of ship carpenter and slave owner Hugh Auld-- until the lessons were discovered and halted by Hugh, who believed [realized?] education could make slaves discontented and rebellious, [and was therefore a threat to the extremely profitable institution of slavery].  Over the years Frederick surreptitiously continued his education on his own, and began teaching other slaves how to read and write.  Frederick paid a high price for disobeying—he was rented out as a field hand to a man known for his brutal treatment of slaves, and was repeatedly and severely whipped.  

Fast forward to 1838.  Frederick had tried unsuccessfully to escape slavery twice before, but this time with luck—and the aid of his wife-to-be, free black woman Anna Murray, plus a seaman’s uniform, identification papers purchased from a retired black seaman, and the safe house of abolitionist David Ruggles in New York, Frederick was successful in escaping slavery, changing his surname to Johnson, then later to Douglass.  Douglass began sharing his story at Abolitionist meetings, and with the encouragement of Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, Douglass wrote the first of three autobiographies: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.  

Douglass addressing Anti-Slavery Society, Nantuckett, 1841. 

Wife Anna (bottom left corner). Abolitionist Garrison (bottom right corner). 

 (Quilt by Ben Irving & Negro History Club, Marin City & Sausilito, 1953. Robert Woodruff Library Collection)

If this this extremely brief bio has whetted your appetite for more, we have several books by and about Frederick Douglass, including his autobiographies.  

*Trending.  "a mutilation of the English language that means 'currently popular.' It derives from a sad misunderstanding of the verb 'to trend' as meaning 'to become a trend.' Twitter's 'Trending Topics' list has probably contributed to this degeneration." (Urban Dictionary website).