Arts and Culture

The Harlem Renaissance: A Cultural Awakening

The likes of Paul Robeson, Ethel Waters, and Florence Mills brought talent to the stages of theaters in Harlem and beyond. Publishing houses, particularly Alfred A. Knopf, Harcourt Brace, and Boni & Liveright, opened their doors to Black authors. The African American experience was being documented, sparking the birth of new literary traditions.

Published

2 years ago

February 14, 2022

Oakland Post

Three Harlem women, The Gay Northeasterners photo by James Van Der Zee, c. 1930. Courtesy Donna Van Der Zee.

By Tamara Shiloh

The 1920s was a decade of general liberation. Change was taking place throughout pockets of Black America, and New York City’s Harlem was at the helm.

It was there that Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong flooded nightclubs with the sounds of jazz. Literary talents including Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Zora Neale Hurston, and Willis Richardson penned poetry and prose and stage plays reflecting the Black experience. Augusta Savage created sculptures and opened doors for other Black artists. She would later establish the Savage Studio of Arts and Crafts and become one of Harlem’s most influential teachers.

Harlem’s streets bustled around the clock as its population swelled. A movement was on the rise. A cohort of talented African Americans was finally being noticed. The Harlem Renaissance, described by some historians as “the golden age in African American culture,” was in full swing.

Meanwhile, significant cultural activity was brewing in Washington DC, Chicago, and Boston.

While the renaissance was not confined to Harlem, it was a magnet for intellect and talent and served as the symbolic capital of this cultural awakening. During the 1880s, Harlem had been a neighborhood for upper-class Whites. By the early 1900s, overdevelopment led to empty buildings. Owners were losing money and had to fill them. This meant renting to Blacks.

A few middle-class Black families from the Black Bohemia neighborhood moved to Harlem. Others quickly followed. From unskilled laborers to the educated middle-class, Harlem at that time boasted the largest concentration of Blacks in the world. All along, angry White residents fought back but failed, eventually deserting the area. This population shift would lead to a Black Pride movement.

The Harlem Renaissance was a phase of a larger New Negro movement that emerged in the early 20th century. The New Negro Movement of the 1920s promoted a renewed sense of racial pride, cultural self-expression, economic independence, and progressive politics. But this pride in and control over how the Black experience was represented began to fizzle out with the stock market crash of 1929 and The Great Depression.

In 1933, when Prohibition ended, White patrons no longer sought out the illegal alcohol in Harlem’s clubs. This forced many entrepreneurs and other residents to look for work as the population continued to increase. The Harlem Race Riot of 1935 broke out following rumors of the arrest and beating of a young shoplifter. This was the death of the golden age.

The Harlem Renaissance changed how America and the world viewed African American culture. It was a time of optimism and revitalization, and its impact remains alive today.

To learn more about the golden age in African American culture, read Nathan Irvin Huggins’ “Harlem Renaissance.”

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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

2 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

6 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.