By Daisha Williams

Oakland-based artist Reshawn Goods, also known as Bushmama, will host a hands-on workshop that connects present-day blue jeans to the skills of enslaved Africans at the 9th Annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival on Sept. 14 at Marston Campbell Park at 17th and West streets.

Indigo is a plant that is cultivated in a number of places around the world, including India and Africa.

Indigo dyes were introduced in America as a result of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Many of the enslaved African people knew how to propagate indigo to create dye from the plant. Indigo was used to dye clothes throughout all of West Africa, often referred to as blue gold. Wearing these clothes was a symbol of wealth. The Yoruba of Benin, the Manding of Mali, and the Hausa of Kano were renowned for indigo processing and dyeing.

According to Goods, the Europeans liked the colors that this dye produced and made slaves continuously produce it. Another crop that they cultivated was cotton, still something used for much of our clothing today.

When talking about the historical significance of indigo for Black Americans Goods said, “Slaves at that time were given a ration of clothes once a year… this cloth was very coarse and harsh to the skin. So, one slave decided to dip their clothes in the indigo vat and this was the early beginnings of what denim became to be. People will say that Levi Strauss created jeans, but we created jeans.”

At Goods’ workshop, attendees will be able to use cotton, indigo, and denim to create patches that resonate with them that will be used to form a family quilt. This fun and free craft has a lot of historical significance.

“When you go to school you learn about slaves, but you don’t learn about where they came from or what they brought with them,” said Bushmama. “That’s not part of the narrative… we brought so much with us, and that part is not shared. I feel that if we knew how powerful we were it would help us to elevate. That would help to dismantle white supremacy.”

Bush has been creating ever since she was young. Her first exhibition was in 1994 and was also where she sold her first piece. Since then, she has continued using art to create awareness within the Black community.

Before the counterculture of the 1960s, dungarees weren’t even sold in department stores but rather Army-Navy and hardware stores. They were really cheap but sturdy and only made in men’s sizes. Eventually, blue jeans began to be used by designers and became fashion statements that can cost hundreds of dollars.

Many Black Americans are unfamiliar with this history, and with conservative pushback against things like Critical Race Theory, many pieces of history like this are left untold.

That’s why having workshops like these is so important, it shines a light on the parts of history that have been hidden in the shadows while empowering the Black community by connecting them to their roots.

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By Daisha Williams

Chef Wanda Blake, a legacy food ambassador for Farms to Grow, Inc., will honor the history of Black farmers and Black cuisine by creating a food altar for this year’s annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival on Sept. 14 at Marston Campbell Park at 17th and West streets.

Blake is a chef who incorporates history and culture into her foods, using her awareness of Black history to enrich both the body and the mind. With this in mind, Blake’s altar will highlight red foods and their significance to the Black community.

Red is associated with the blood shed during slavery and that blackness and pain are often intertwined with one another.

The practice of eating red foods and drinks for Juneteenth and other gatherings was popularized in Texas, which may have been influenced by Yoruba and Congo cultures. Red symbolizes spiritual power and transformation in both of these cultures.

Blake says that things like “red drink” are examples of the ancestors’ ability to find value in the things around them. “Red drink” was a type of hibiscus tea, sweetened with honey. Hibiscus is now known to be hydrating, and helps with high blood pressure, blood sugar and menstrual cramps.

Like black-eyed peas, watermelon is part of Black history as it was cultivated in Africa. And, according to Wikipedia, red velvet cake — an iconic dessert — may “have origins in 1911 when Rufus Estes, a formerly enslaved person and chef, incorporated a recipe for a sweet velvet cake in his cookbook.”

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The color red also has ties to enslaved ancestors beyond food. There are tales of African people being lured to slave ships using red cloth, which was a rarity and highly prized. such as. Red handkerchiefs were considered powerful objects.

Blake learned to cook the way many Black women do, from her mom, and later from aunties and grandmothers as well. Food, family, and culture are so intertwined with each other, and Blake never forgets that when navigating her career. This explains her strong ties between food and culture.

As she’s taken recipes into her own hands, she has added her own creativity into. For example, at previous Black-Eyed Pea Festivals, she has created many different black-eyed pea dishes, including a hummus-like dip, chili, pies, and hoppin’ john pasta.

Blake is the legacy food ambassador for Farms to Grow Inc. Farms to Grow is a nationwide 501c3 nonprofit organization that works with Black farmers, and other farmers who struggle due to systemic oppression such as Indigenous people, Latinx people and other minority groups. Their goal is to keep underserved farmers able to grow and produce food not just now, but for future generations as well.

Blake holds the title of ‘Legacy Food Ambassador’ for consciously integrating culture into her meals, as well as keeping an awareness about cultural food security. Blake was born in Lewisville, Ark., and then moved to San Francisco, first studying at City College of San Francisco.

The 9^th Annual Black-Eyed Pea Festival takes place on Sat. Sept. 14 at Marston Campbell Park at 17^th and West in West Oakland. Free and family friendly, take BART, the bus or car service and bypass parking. See you there.

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By Daisha Williams

Black August is a month that celebrates everything that Oakland stands for including block parties, movie nights, and other community events.

Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency’s (BOSS) annual Black August Block Party took place on Aug. 31 at Oakland City Hall. Eastside Arts Alliance hosted a movie night with the Oakland chapter of the Malcom X Grassroots Movement on Aug. 30 at their cultural center at 2277 International Blvd.

Black August celebrates Black independence and liberation. The month gained its title because San Quentin prisoner George Jackson and Jonathan P. Jackson were killed in August of 1971 and 1970 respectively. Jonathan Jackson was killed in an attempt to kidnap a judge in Marin County and George Jackson was targeted in a prison uprising   These brothers were instrumental figures in the Revolutionary Prison Movement and fought for freedom, costing them their lives.

The ways that people celebrate Black August differ, and even here in the Bay there are many different ways people honor of Black August.

BOSS is a local organization dedicated to helping disadvantaged people achieve health and self-sufficiency since 1971. The main way they do this is by trying to help the unhoused population in the Bay Area, fighting mass incarceration. They also have a trauma recovery center in East Oakland, focusing on healing some of the traumas that are part of the Black community.

This is the fourth year of BOSS’s annual block party. The event has been growing each year with fewer than 100 people present the first year and around 400 in 2023. This year they expected 400-500 people to attend.

In the second year, BOSS augmented the celebration with a “Black Market.” This is a market exclusively for Black vendors, at no cost to them, to boost economic empowerment in the Black community, one of the fundamental ideals of Black August, according to Satia Frazier-North the organizer of the BOSS Block Party.

“The foundation for Black August is art, culture, political education, and economic empowerment. We think that all of those pieces are important to the healing of the community that we serve,” Satia Frazier-North.

This year, the block party included an artists’ zone, a wellness zone which had free blood pressure screenings, performances by many Oakland musicians, poets, and rappers, as well as a food truck. The first 250 people got free food.

The Oakland branch of the Malcom X Grassroots Movement and Eastside Arts Alliance hosted a screening of the 1980 movie “Attica.” This film tells the story of one of the largest prison riots this country has ever seen which began on Sept. 9, 1971. This movie about resistance was followed by a community discussion.

The Malcom X Grassroots Movement (MXGM) is an organization dedicated to protecting the rights of Afrikan people through empowerment and education. Some of their principles include a demand for reparations, opposition to genocide anywhere in the world, and an end to gender and sexual oppression.

More than movie nights and block parties, Black August acknowledges the power that descendents of the African diaspora have shown in the face of oppression.

One notable historical event that occurred during August was the start of the Haitian Revolution on Aug. 14, 1791, brought on by the largest and most successful slave revolt in history. Haiti then became the first country to be governed by previously enslaved peoples.

The Nat Turner Rebellion took place in Virginia on Aug. 21, 1831. After receiving a sign from God, Turner killed his slave master and the slave master’s family. Then he led a group of other enslaved people to kill their oppressors. These acts of violence made it clear to white people that Black people were not timid or docile, that there will be consequences for the ways that they were treated.

Black August observations are not all deadly serious or in the distant past. Most recently the Montgomery Riverfront Brawl in Alabama took place on Aug. 5, 2023. It will likely not be the last of Black August’s notable dates because as long as people are silenced, they will rise up.

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