Arts and Culture

New Black History Exhibition “The Gift to Sing” at Bancroft Library

Published

8 years ago

October 10, 2016

Three days before the opening of the first African-American Museum of History in Washington, D.C., a dedicated group of academics, students, friends and family gathered the Bancroft Library on the UC Berkeley campus to celebrate “The Gift to Sing,” an exhibition open now through Feb. 17.

Professor Emeritus Litwack has been collecting, writing and teaching for decades. When he was a graduate student at Cal, he spent an evening with W.E.B. Dubois, and thereafter committed his career to African-American history.

His earlier work in labor history complemented that decision. Many of his students have departed from a lecture declaring, “I didn’t know that,” as they heard for the first time of the deep history of African American experience in the U.S.

According to Bancroft Library’s curator, David Faulds, “…As I wrote captions (for the pieces in the exhibition), I was also caught up in the history of the lives of the authors…remarkable people.”

Faulds’ arrival at UC Berkeley coincided with Professor Litwack’s permanent gift of over 1,000 pieces, including a copy of “The Autobiography of Malcolm X,” complete with name and address of the original owner – Bobby Seale.

Litwack purchased the book at Moe’s Books, still in business on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley.

The opening reception included remarks by Litwack and a heart-wrenching slide show with audio of Billy Holliday’s “Strange Fruit.” Bay Area jazz singer Kim Nalley sang a song she wrote, “Big Hooded Black Man (Blues for Trayvon Martin).”

Kim is a Cal Ph.D. candidate. There will be many audio recordings in the permanent collection.

According to the exhibition description, the Litwack Collection” is particularly noteworthy for its Harlem Renaissance first editions in strikingly illustrated dust jackets.”

Also in the exhibition are copies of the of the African-American newspaper, “The Elevator,” founded by Philip Alexander Bell in 1865, is part of this exhibition, which the notes say “was established with the primary purpose of expanding the vote for African Americans.”

Many of the books on display in this exhibition were shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2015. The image for the exhibition flyer is the cover of a rare 1928 copy of “Home to Harlem,” by Claude McKay and Aaron Douglas.

The current exhibition at Bancroft Library has been in the works since 2014, and the earliest piece is a Phillis Wheatley 1773 collection of poems. Another remarkable book is “The Negro Trail Blazers,” published in 1919 by Delilah L. Beasley the first African American woman to write for a major newspaper, The Oakland Tribune in 1925.

The Gift to Sing: Highlights of the Leon F. Litwack and Bancroft Library African American Collections, Exhibit-Artifacts, is open to the public daily from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Bancroft Library Gallery, until Feb. 17.

For information or to arrange group visits, call: (510) 642-3781.

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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

2 days 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.

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Arts and Culture

Musical Chronicling Life of Betty Reid Soskin Set for Bay Area Debut

Betty Reid Soskin’s storied 102 years includes time spent as a WWII defense worker, activist, business owner, songwriter, National Park Service park ranger and so much more. Now the Richmond icon is the subject of a musical based on her incredible life.

Published

2 months ago

February 24, 2024

Oakland Post

Betty Reid Soskin. Photo courtesy of Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond.

The Richmond Standard

“Sign My Name to Freedom,” a San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company (SFBATCO) production which will focus on the life, music and writing of Ms. Soskin, will premiere at San Francisco’s Z Space Friday, March 29 and continue through Saturday, April 13. Tickets range from $15–$65 and can be purchased online at https://www.sfbatco.org/smntf

The musical is directed by Elizabeth Carter, while playwright Michael Gene Sullivan integrates Ms. Soskin’s own music throughout dialogue between what SFBATCO calls “The Four Bettys” as they progress through a century of experiences of this awe-inspiring American woman.

The cast of “Sign My Name to Freedom” features Tierra Allen as Little Betty, Aidaa Peerzada as Married Betty, Lucca Troutman as Revolutionary Betty and Cathleen Riddley as Present Betty Reid Soskin, according to Artistic Director Rodney Earl Jackson Jr. and Managing Director Adam Maggio. Other casting will be announced in the future.

Jackson said that having Soskin’s blessing to steward her life’s story is an honor and career highlight for him and that her journey stands as “a beacon for Black Americans, women and people of color all across the world [and] is a testament to the strength of the human spirit.”

San Francisco’s Z Space is located at 450 Florida St. in San Francisco. Check out the trailer here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-ap9N2XBB0