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Episode #2312
Celebrate African American Culture
Lewis: Welcome to Black Issues Forum. I am Mitchell Lewis. Each year just prior to Black History Month the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh presents a spectacular open house that captures the spirit and energy of the state’s African American culture and heritage. The African American Cultural Celebration is in its seventh year of bringing greater awareness around the story of African Americans in North Carolina’s history. Later in the program we will hear from the events organizers and participants about the importance of the celebration and what to expect this year. But first producer Deborah Holt had an opportunity to attend the 2007 celebration and shares with us more about how the African American Cultural Celebration came into fruition.
[MUSIC]
Holt: Whether it is the energy of dance and the sound of music or the fascinating people and stories behind our nation’s history, there is something for you to love at the North Carolina Museum of History’s annual African American Cultural Celebration.
Black: There is so many different things going on here. I couldn’t choose where to be or what to do.
A. Henderson: The music, the arts, the crafts, the everything, is out of sight. And next year it is a must on my calendar.
Grant: The event started in 2001 and it actually started like a lot of great ideas with just a few people sitting around a table thinking about how can we really focus on African American history in a vital way and we started throwing around ideas. And there were so many names that came to the forefront that we said, “This isn’t one program. We’ve got to establish something that is ongoing, that really highlights the diversity in our state.” And we started in 2001 and it has just gotten bigger and bigger every year.
Holt: African American culture personifies the rich dynamic multi-faceted heritage of America so that everyone can enjoy this day of celebration, the museum opens its doors free to the public. To create this day of engaging activity and equally diverse group of individual are involved in the planning.
Grant: We have a planning committee that is made up of members of the community, historians, musicians, presenters, and we meet each year and look at what theme do we want to focus on? How do we want to pull these events together? And we look around and we talk to people and try to come up with who are the people that are really making history today?
Holt: And who is helping to preserve that history? The Carolina Chocolate Drops for one delighting the crowd with their interpretation of early American music. They see the relevance of their contribution to this day of celebration.
Robinson: It’s because all this music was a lot of times exclusively in the black community but a lot of times the black community had forgotten about this because it has been quite a while ago. The banjo as an African American instrument, for the first 100 years of its __ it was only played by slaves. So it wasn’t until the early 1800s that the banjo began to be picked up by white southerner’s in a lot of places. And then also the tradition of playing __, the pan pipes and other things that are specifically African American traditions, but have been all but lost.
Holt: But thanks to celebrations like this one that history is being passed on to new generations.
Robinson: More like the music because it’s like you get to go back to your roots and just awesome, awesome, pure awesomeness.
Holt: If you are more interested in learning about the history behind the art, the planners have included exhibits by individual and groups on everything from the Civil War to the art of quilting. And there are lectures and seminars like this cooking demonstration featuring the author of the soul vegetarian cookbook.
Asiel: We don’t want to fry. Only use enough olive oil just to coat the skillet so it won’t stick.
Dunnon: It was awesome. I learned a lot and I am visiting from Charlotte so this is like what we need in Charlotte.
E. Henderson: Fabulous. I enjoyed every moment of it, the food, demonstrations, the lessons we learned about health, the music, the crafts, and the participation of all that was here. It was great.
Burnette: I enjoyed the drumming, seeing people I know around here and it was just fun learning about your own history.
Lewis: And I would like to introduce our guests for today’s program. Emily Grant is the Youth Programs Coordinator at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh. Michelle Lanier is the curator of Cultural History for North Carolina State Historic Sites. And Ron Baxter is a saxophonist, composer and clinician in Raleigh. His group, R [ph] Effect will perform at the celebration and to the three of you welcome to Black Issues Forum.
Several: Thank you.
Lewis: Emily, I will start off with you. It has been seven years since the African American Cultural Celebration. How have you seen this event evolve?
Grant: Well, as you saw in the previous clip it really started out just as a small seed of an idea. We were looking at programming for at that time the New Millennium, what we were going to do in 2000. And we were planning a large Civil Rights Exhibit at the time and we were thinking, what kind of programming do we want to do that is related to that? And the ideas just started flying around the table. We said we can’t limit it to just Civil Rights and we can’t limit it to just one program. There are just enough programming ideas just in this small group of people to last for years. And at that point we really decided, well, let’s do an all-day event. Let’s explore some of those ideas further and it has just taken off from there. And last year we had a record crowd. It just gets bigger and better every year.
Lewis: And, Michelle, you are the curator or Cultural History for the state’s historic sites. What is your role in the celebration?
Lanier: Well, when I came into that position one of the first things that I did was to go to an African Americans cultural celebration. And we had two or three sites represented there. But I realized that there was the potential for a lot more collaboration and partnership between state historic sites and the Museum of History. And so one of the things that we are really excited about is this year we have 11 sites that will be represented at this event.
Lewis: Now we will get to some of those a little bit later. Ron, of course, a lot of the music that is being played this year will be played by jazz composers. Give our audience a little bit of background about yourself. How did you get interested in jazz, your inspiration?
Baxter: Well, you know, I got to tell you at a young age I was blessed to have a father who was into jazz music, he is not a musician himself. But he kept music in the house and I guess growing up in the early ‘80s, jazz along with a lot of other types of music really got in my ear. And I got into music typically like most young kids in public school, sixth grade, Ligon Middle School, and I knew at that point that I wanted to be involved with music and it just carried on from there.
Lewis: Emily, you touched on this earlier, the planning of an event of such magnitude, how do you go about planning this event and how does this particular celebration compare to other events that are held at the Museum of History?
Grant: Well, this event has grown to be, it is one of the largest events that we do. And because it is a recurring event, an annual event, we are never out of the planning process. We start gathering ideas. I have people that contact me or the museum or other members who are on the planning committee throughout the year and say, “Hey, we heard about this. You haven’t touched on this topic. Or you haven’t had this particular performer.” We collect all those ideas and then the committee meets, usually twice a year to really vet all of those ideas that have been sort of flying around throughout the year and talk about what do we really want to focus on? What haven’t we touched on? What do we need to address in this year’s event that might be different or at a greater depth that maybe hasn’t been covered in the past. And talk about those and kind of just start from there.
Lewis: And, Michelle, especially when you are looking at the African American Cultural Celebration, how would you describe, say, the historical and educational aspects of this event?
Lanier: It is enormous. There is an enormous educational impact. I know with the sites that we will be providing for this event, we have a range of historical moments that will be interpreted. Everything from the Charlotte Hawkins Brown story, a woman who at the turn of the century founded Palmer Memorial Institute, a boarding school for African Americans. And then going back further, we have enslaved people, the story of the Somerset slaves and also the story of Stagville enslaved people. So we have quite a variety of stories.
Lewis: And, Ron, it seems as though this event is family oriented but you sort of involved in a first because although you are performing, I believe your father is actually involved in the celebration as well. Talk about what he will be doing and what goes through your mind, the two of you being together performing in the same venue.
Baxter: I tell you, it’s really a pleasure to be working with my father in that context. On the day of the event my father will be displaying some of his artwork. A lot of it is jazz in content and there is other African American work that he is going to display as well. Again, his love and passion for jazz shows in his artwork and his current series of paintings that he has been doing. And, obviously I picked that up and decided to become a jazz musician myself. And it is just a really good feeling to collaborate with a family member like that. And it is going to be a lot of fun.
Lewis: Emily, I understand there are some other firsts going on at this year’s celebration. Talk about some of those.
Grant: Sure. Well, this year is kind of theme is Passing it On. As Ron just mentioned, we have a couple of presentations or connections that people hopefully are going to be able to make when they are at the event. One, Ron, mentioned, his dad is going to be showing art and he is going to be performing with his group but also doing a master class in the afternoon, Hopefully, we will get a lot of young people interested and sort of passing the ideas of jazz and that legacy that is so important to North Carolina history about jazz. So that is one aspect. Another aspect that we are going to have a special exhibit at the museum of Alex Rivera’s photographs. He was a Civil Rights photojournalist. And he will be talking a little bit about his work and following his presentation is a woman, Kelly Starling Lyons who was also a journalist. She worked for Ebony Magazine, covered the Million Man March and so she is going to be following his presentation looking at Civil Rights activism in the ‘40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s moving into her presentation. She has written a children’s book called One Million Men and Me talking about more modern activism. So we have got several connections like that that we hope visitors are going to see that all that activity today is rooted in past generations.
Lewis: And, Michelle, you had mentioned that you have a lot of exhibits there at the celebration. Are there any in particular that really I guess stirs you up as you go through all these exhibits?
Lanier: Absolutely. One of my favorite historic characters is Harriet Jacobs. She was a woman of letters so she represents our literary history in North Carolina. She came from historic Edenton where she is—her story is interpreted there. She wrote Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. And actually hid out in an attic for almost seven years waiting freedom on the maritime underground railroad. Also it is not an exhibit but there will be a performance of our ___ from Tryon Palace.
Lewis: Well, Ron, I am trying not to put you on the spot here but when most people, not most people, but there are some people when they think of jazz they are thinking like, “Oh, that is music from generations far back.” How do you go about perhaps bringing generations closer into understanding and appreciating jazz?
Baxter: Well, I think as far as jazz is concerned or with any new subject matter, the best way to approach it is really be relevance. You know, you approach young people, in this case with jazz music and you approach them through the music that they are familiar which in this case mostly hip hop music, popular music of the day. And the key elements that make hip hop music and popular music sound the way it does are the same elements that exist in jazz. It’s just, again, that kind of generational thing. So really the key is there, is just relating to the students with something they are familiar with and working them backwards and make comparisons to the baseline and the grooves and the beats that they like in current music along with the same elements that exist in earlier jazz music.
Lewis: And you are having a lecture there as well.
Baxter: Sure, right. I found that when talking to young kids a whole lot you ask them, “What do you like about music?” And it really comes down to, “I like the beat,” or “I like the baseline.” And that really comes down to rhythm. So I think if one approaches it from a rhythmic standpoint, you can really introduce jazz as a new music with something they are really more familiar with than what they think. Also then that most popular music stems from jazz earlier on. Those elements still exist in current music.
Lewis: Emily, are there any new groups that will be coming to this year’s celebration?
Grant: Always. Really the only thing that is constant is we have several artists who are just only—they are the only people in the state that we know of that are doing their craft, I know you saw George SerVance was featured earlier in the earlier segment carving his dancing dolls. He is the only person that does that and we are honored to have him back again this year. But as far as the performances, lectures, demonstrations, cooking demos, all of those performers and presenters have switched out each year. Of course, Ron’s group is going to be here. It’s the first time he has been there before. We have African dance troupe that is going to be there who hasn’t been there before. We have a couple of step groups, Southern High School from Durham is going to be doing a performance and workshop. We have the Allen Boys, they are really one of the few sacred steel bands who play outside of church in the state and this is the first time that they have been there before. And this is a whole, a musical genre that a lot of people aren’t familiar with but, again, is deeply rooted in North Carolina’s communities and we are hoping to showcase their work. Boo Hanks is going to be there. He is a nationally known blues guitarist. He hasn’t been at the event before. So there is always something for people to do that we hope they will be surprised at. And learn from all the different things that we are showcasing.
Lewis: You talked about lectures and sometimes when folks think of lectures, uh, it is usually not a good thought. What are some of the lectures you are going to have and what type of approach are you going to use in these lectures?
Grant: Sure. Well, as a history museum, you know, we always fight that perception that we are very serious and very lecture oriented and it is really not that way at all. We don’t actually call them lectures in the program. That particular section is called Celebrate History and Literature. And we have some dynamic short presentations. Now there are a lot of multi-media presentations. We have Dr. Chris Ambrose [ph] is going to be talking about the Nina Simone Foundation and all the efforts that they are doing. So music is combined with that. We have several people from the town of Princeville who are going to be talking about Princeville as the oldest African American town in America, talking about their experience with the flood in particular. The mayor will be there speaking but we will also have a gospel singer that is part of that presentation. So we like to tell people, yes, there is going to be talking but even the lecture part of it is very interactive and very accessible and hopefully will spark people’s interest into learning even more.
Lewis: Well, since I am still putting people on the spot I will start with you, Michelle, in some of the events that are going on, some of the exhibits, we have been talking about trying to reach, say, the younger kids. Any specific approach that you all are using to try to make sure that the younger kids understand what’s going on?
Lanier: Well, Emily said the key word, it is interactive. Another key word is experiential. Something that is not just about listening and bearing witness to but it is about getting involved with it. So, for instance, when you go by the Somerset booth people will literally be able to hold baskets very similar to the kinds that an enslaved person may have created.
Lewis: And, Emily, remind our audience one again when the event is going to take place and will there be any special need as far as parking, things of that nature that they should be aware of?
Grant: Well, the event is always the last Saturday in January so you can mark it on your calendar, not just for this month, but in future years. This year that is going to be on Saturday, January the 26th. It is from 11:00 to 4:00 and it is free. The only thing that you have to pay for is if you want to buy lunch from one our great vendors outside. Parking downtown, I know people are sometimes a little concerned about coming and parking in downtown Raleigh, on the weekend all the state lots, all of the metered parking on the street, all of that is free. There is no charge. So and once you get parked downtown, downtown Raleigh is still pretty accessible. You just come into the museum, grab a program, you will get started right away.
Lewis: And, Michelle, I understand that in addition to this celebration that your agency has some other events coming up as well.
Lanier: Yes, we are very excited about an event that is happening on February 9th, 2008. It is going to be a two-part film showing that is going to start in the morning at the Museum of History but sponsored by the capital. A showing about Princeville, a film called This Side of the River and at the same time we will be opening an exhibit called With All Our Rights: North Carolina’s First African American Legislators. And then that afternoon we will be at Hayti Heritage Center in Durham for an event sponsored by Duke Homestead. And that film is called We Shall Not Be Moved about an African American resettlement town in Tillery, North Carolina.
Lewis: And of course, Black Issues Forum will be profiling the Princeville film so that is coming up next week. Ron, give us some ideas about some of the projects you are working on and perhaps your dad’s gallery.
Baxter: Right. On Martin Luther King Day I will be at the Sonja Haynes Center for Black Culture at UNC, part of the Martin Luther King celebration. Excuse me. I am starting February 6th. I will be starting an acoustic hip hop session I like to call it where I am going to actually really incorporate jazz in some of the greater hip hop community and pull some music together and have a great venture along those lines. My father has several art shows planned for the first half of the year starting with the event on the 26th. And we do have some other projects, some collaborative projects planned for later on in 2008 along the lines of what we are going to do at the Black Cultural Celebration.
Lewis: And some of the events that your dad is involved in, how can folks get in contact with him to look at some of his artwork?
Baxter: Okay, you can reach my father’s site at www.edbaxterartgallery.com. He has several pictures and all his information and also contact information up there. There is a link to my site off of his site so those of you who want to go there can obviously click on and get to my site. But that is the information to contact my father by.
Lewis: And we are coming close to the end of our program. A question I wanted to ask to all three of you and, Michelle, I will start off with you, of course, throughout the program we have been talking about the young people, making sure that they are aware of African American history. What do you hope that the African Americans cultural celebration, what do you hope that the young folks especially and some folks who might be young at heart, what do you hope that they will take away from the event?
Lanier: I hope that they will come to understand how rich and diverse the African American cultural and history stories are in North Carolina. Just within our state we have such a variety of stories that I hope that it will also encourage them to do their own study, to go and read a little bit about some of these historic figures like George Moses Horton, the poet. And I hope that it will also encourage them to go within their own communities and talk to the elders within their own communities to do a little bit of oral history of their own.
Lewis: Ron, as a performer and a producer, what do you hope folks will take away?
Baxter: You know, given the opportunity to present jazz to young people or just people in general that may not be that familiar with jazz, again, along the same lines here, you are hoping to strike an interest so that they will go out themselves and perhaps pick up a recording or maybe even be inspired to play an instrument. Or just be aware of the music that came primarily from African American people that became American music that became world music and to be proud of that and see some of the parallels of today’s music and how it is definitely represented in jazz music and definitely the evolution of jazz to current music. I am hoping that people can take that away.
Lewis: And, Emily, especially you have been a part of this for seven years, what do you hope that folks will take away from the African American Cultural Celebration?
Grant: Well, I think Michelle and Ron have both articulated it well but for me it is pride in community, knowing where we came from, where we want to be. And interest in saying, “Hey, I didn’t know that. I want to find out more. I want to listen to something different. I want to expand my knowledge of my community and really…” And also to use museums as a resource. To see a museum or a historic site or a music session as places of learning and that it is fun, it is fun to learn about history.
Lewis: And the event is free?
Grant: And the event is free. Check out our website: ncmuseumofhistory.org for a detailed schedule of events for links to Ron’s and other organizations who are participating, to find out more information that way and to the state historic sites. We are really thrilled to have them partner with us this year.
Lewis: Well, thank you very much for being on our program. If you would like to get in touch with our guests or obtain a copy or a transcript of today’s show, visit us online at unctv.org/bif. When you visit be sure to give us your comments and program suggestions. You can also call us on the BIFline at 919-549-7167. For Black Issues Forum, I am Mitchell Lewis. Thanks for watching.
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