Arts and Culture

Celebrate 150th Anniversary of Juneteenth in Prayer, Drums And Song

Published

9 years ago

June 17, 2015

June 19 marks the 150^th anniversary of Juneteenth, the day when the enslaved people in Texas received news from Union soldiers that not only was the Civil War over, but that they had been freed two-and-a-half years before.

This news was greeted with joy and prayer. Omnira Institute will celebrate the end of slavery in the U.S. with prayer, drums and song on Saturday, June 20 at Lake Merritt at the Boathouse picnic area from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public.

“There is a lot to celebrate, but there’s also a lot to remember,” said Wanda Ravernell, the institute’s executive director.

For one thing, it has been lost to common memory that the Emancipation Proclamation not only declared freedom for the enslaved, but invited Black men, free and slave, to join the armed forces to fight for their freedom.

“It’s 150 years later, and it’s all but forgotten that the North was losing the war in 1863. The fighting had reached Pennsylvania, next was New York,” said Ravernell.

More than 200,000 Black men took up arms. There is no doubt that their presence turned the tide of the war. “One thing that is little known is that Black regiments were involved in the final rout of Robert E. Lee’s confederate army at Appomattox and present at the surrender on April 9, 1865,” Ravernell said.

According to the African American Civil War Museum in Washington, D.C., “United States Colored Troops traveling along the Southside Railroad led the Union pursuit of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army. Headed west, Lee’s army was forced to turn south by Gen. Phil Sheridan. In the early morning of April 9, 1865, along Lynchburg Road, just south and west of Appomattox Court House, Lee’s army skirmished with the Union’s soldiers of African descent, with the 41^st USCT in the forward skirmish.”

“Lee soon discerned that his army could no longer continue to fight. Lee surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, and 13 USCT regiments were present to witness the surrender.”

The Black soldiers were praised for their bravery and skill in battle, one that they believed would be their last battle for freedom. “Then, Black lives mattered only in their worth as chattel. They were fighting for their dignity as human beings,” Ravernell said.

From Appomattox, the soldiers continued fighting in other areas of the South where there were more slaves to be liberated. But, armed Black men and Black men on horseback, given the authority to act as men threatened white supremacy.

“Returning soldiers could not rest in the pride of their victory without risking vilification and worse from whites in the North and South,” Ravernell said.

At the end of the war, when all of the troops were brought back to Wash., D.C., the Black soldiers were not allowed to march in the victory parade.

The African American Civil War Museum was a key player in rectifying that slight by holding a parade in Wash., D.C., where the descendants of USCT soldiers marched in the names of their forefathers on May 17, 2015, wearing period dress.

The event commemorated the May 23, 1865 Grand Review of the Armies, which was meant to lift the nation’s spirits after a protracted Civil War, but also the grief over Pres. Lincoln’s assassination just the month before.

Over the course of the two-day event, 150,000 Union troops marched through the capital, but none of the Black soldiers were included. It would be just one of many signals that the freedom they had fought for was not complete.

And like 1865, the 2015 Grand Review Parade took place as the nation was rocked again by pain and grief. This time it was massive protests in nearby Baltimore, MD, in response to the alleged unlawful arrest and injury while in police custody of a Black man, Freddie Gray, who died on April 21.

“At that time, and for decades afterward, Black peoples’ strategy was to prove that they were not docile children or animals that could not manage freedom,” Ravernell said.

“What better way to show they deserved freedom than to fight for it? They thought it would be their last fight. How disappointed they would be to see that the battle is not yet won.”

For more information, send an email to ravernell@aol.com.

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Arts and Culture

Kedrick Armstrong: New Music Director for the Oakland Symphony

The Oakland Symphony Announced Kedrick Armstrong as its Next Music Director. In addition to conducting the orchestra’s public concerts, Armstrong will also actively participate in the Oakland Symphony’s many education and community engagement programs, designed to inspire a love of music in people of all ages.

Published

6 days ago

April 20, 2024

Oakland Post

Kedrick Armstrong is the new music director for the Oakland Symphony. Photo credit Scott Chernis.

By Post Staff

The Oakland Symphony Announced Kedrick Armstrong as its Next Music Director.
In addition to conducting the orchestra’s public concerts, Armstrong will also actively participate in the Oakland Symphony’s many education and community engagement programs, designed to inspire a love of music in people of all ages.

Armstrong is the successor to previous music director and Conductor Michael Morgan, who passed away in 2021 after a 30-year tenure at the Symphony.

Armstrong will open the Oakland Symphony 2024-2025 season on October 18.

Armstrong, who is 29 and hails from Georgetown, South Carolina, is currently the creative partner and principal conductor of the Knox-Galesburg Symphony.

The Chicago Tribune has praised Armstrong for his ability to “simply let the score speak for itself.” He enjoys a wide range of repertoire, spanning early music to premiering new works, using his joy and curiosity for all music to cultivate understanding and collaboration within diverse communities.
“I am deeply honored and grateful for the opportunity to serve as the new music director of the Oakland Symphony,” Armstrong said. “As a Black conductor, I find it humbling to stand on the shoulders of both Michael Morgan and Calvin Simmons,” the most recent and the first African American music directors of the Symphony, respectively.

Armstrong led three programs at the Symphony between 2022 and early 2024, which showcased his broad knowledge of the classical repertoire and enthusiasm for spotlighting diverse voices.
On his Oakland Symphony subscription debut on Feb. 16, Armstrong led the world premiere of “Here I Stand: Paul Robeson,” an oratorio by Carlos Simon on a libretto by Dan Harder, commissioned by the Oakland Symphony.

Armstrong was selected unanimously by the Oakland Symphony’s board of directors and musicians after an extensive two-year search. “The search committee was overwhelmed by Kedrick’s scholarship and curiosity about all kinds of music, from classical and jazz to gospel and hip-hop,” said. Dr. Mieko Hatano, executive director of the Oakland Symphony. “We are thrilled to have him join us at the Oakland Symphony.”

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Arts and Culture

Faces Around the Bay Dr. Carl Blake, Pianist

Born in Liberty, Missouri, Carl Blake, a virtuoso and respected pianist, made his most recent migration to the East Bay in 1999. One might have seen him performing recently at Noontime Concerts in San Francisco, or at the Piedmont Center for the Arts in Oakland. He is Director of Music at The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco. He was also co-organizer and collaborative pianist at Herbst Theater for The Majesty of the Spirituals concert in 2022 and has held several church positions in the Bay Area.

Published

1 week ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Dr. Carl Blake

By Barbara Fluhrer

Born in Liberty, Missouri, Carl Blake, a virtuoso and respected pianist, made his most recent migration to the East Bay in 1999.

One might have seen him performing recently at Noontime Concerts in San Francisco, or at the Piedmont Center for the Arts in Oakland. He is Director of Music at The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco. He was also co-organizer and collaborative pianist at Herbst Theater for The Majesty of the Spirituals concert in 2022 and has held several church positions in the Bay Area.

Blake obtained a Bachelor of Music from Boston University and continued post-baccalaureate studies in Jamaica before earning a Master of Arts in Music at San Jose State University. He was the recipient of two Fulbright residencies in Honduras and completed a third residency at the University of St. Petersburg in Russia. He has a Doctor of Musical Arts from Cornell University.

At age 19, Blake, then an undergraduate piano major at Boston University, was “discovered” by Impresario Dr. W. Hazaiah Williams, who is the Founder and Director of Today’s Artists/Four Seasons Arts.

Williams honored Blake by awarding him the first Marian Anderson Young Artist Award. Anderson personally presented the award at the Masonic Auditorium in S.F. Subsequently, Blake was presented by Dr. Williams in his San Francisco debut at The Herbst Theatre. Williams subsidized a year of study abroad for Blake at the Paris Conservatory of Music. Additionally, Williams sponsored Blake’s New York Weill Hall debut, where he has performed twice since. Blake performed several times at the Yachats Music Festival in Oregon.

Blake continues to perform nationally and abroad. His hobbies are reading, baking and travel. He says, “I’m still pumping ivories, as Belgian pianist Jeanne Stark described the disciplined practice of concert piano.”

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Arts and Culture

Oakland Jazz Great Offers Master Class as City Declares “John Handy Day”

World-renowned jazz master saxophonist John Handy, a McClymond’s High School graduate, was presented with a Mayor of Oakland Proclamation declaring Feb. 12, as John Handy Day in the city. Handy is most notably known as the featured saxophonist for Charles Mingus on “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” from the album “Mingus Ah Um” (1959) and on “Hard Work” from his own album “Hard Work” (1976).

Published

2 months ago

February 24, 2024

Oakland Post

(L-R) Del Handy, John Handy, Roger Glenn, and Joe Warner celebrate John Handy Day at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle, Oakland. Photo by Lady Bianca.

By Conway Jones

World-renowned jazz master saxophonist John Handy, a McClymond’s High School graduate, was presented with a Mayor of Oakland Proclamation declaring Feb. 12, as John Handy Day in the city.

Handy is most notably known as the featured saxophonist for Charles Mingus on “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” from the album “Mingus Ah Um” (1959) and on “Hard Work” from his own album “Hard Work” (1976).

“John Handy is a jazz icon and an inspiration to musicians everywhere,” said Ayo Brame, a 16-year-old Oakland tenor saxophone player who is enrolled at the Oakland School for the Arts.

In celebration of this day, the reception in downtown Oakland at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle was a gathering of artists, young and old, coming together in his honor and celebrating his 91st birthday.

Handy presented a Saxophone Colossus free masterclass for musicians. This class afforded a rare opportunity to learn about the saxophone from an aficionado. The class was free and open to all – saxophonists, vocalists, aficionados, students, and casual listeners.

“As a longtime friend for over 60 years, and fellow musician who has had numerous opportunities to share the stage with John, it has always been a pleasure performing with him and hearing his creative interpretations of the music and his gift of ease inspiring the next generation of jazz musicians,” said Roger Glenn, a multi-instrumentalist.