This is so wonderful - many of these same actors, singers, musicians are people I’ve admired and related to through my years of exploring the diverse field of entertainment. It never matters to me what color a person’s skin is - my only criteria for admiring an artist and their work, is the work - and if I connect with it, and in turn, them. How we limit ourselves, or have others try to limit us - if we’re not “allowed” to cross all lines of race, culture, gender, etc. to connect with, and find glorious emotional harmony that enrich our lives. And without being accused of trying to appropriate another’s culture.
I do believe the Cabin in the Sky has a Russian Jewish connection btw. Going back to an earlier post of yours, it can be easy to forget how closely the two communities did work together in many areas to the benefit of both. Cabin in the Sky does show that collaboration quite clearly.
But hooray for doing this because Americana, particularly the American theater and music in general owes a huge debt to the black American performers, composers, arrangers, and indeed the mostly forgotten people who kept the show on the road. You simply can't disentangle them from the story. it is wonderful that the nearly erased are being finally being inked back in. They are an integral part of American culture.
There's a plentiful lack of both curiosity and knowledge amongst the younger generations, which leads them to believe that there's been no inclusion or amplification of black voices in this culture and I find it tragic. Black artists and representation were everywhere in my consciousness as a child--on TV, in books, on the radio. And awareness of the history of slavery and Jim Crow and other forms of discrimination? We knew about all of this and we knew how to feel about it. Does no one remember ROOTS, and the impact that had on mainstream culture? Or SOUNDER? Or IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT? Not to mention the TV series, sitcoms, variety series: "What's Happening?" "The Jeffersons," "Sanford and Son," "Cosby Show" (and his kid's show "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids"), "Julia," Good Times," "Flip Wilson," "Solid Gold" starring Marilyn McCoo, etc etc etc. The problem with "progressive" culture these days is that it pretends none of this happened and we have to start all over--which is by definition REGRESSIVE. And it spits on all the progress and accomplishment of generations of black people in this culture. The history of achievement is precious--certainly as worth preserving and sharing as the history of oppression, no?
This is precisely what I find so frustrating. Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids was a staple of my Saturday morning tv watching -- so a real blast from the past.
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is another one which had this huge impact. Cicely Tyson
I sometimes think it is shifting baselines. It is so frustrating that black American achievement worldwide despite enormous odds is being deliberately obscured Think Marian Anderson or Paul Robeson in the 1930s/1940s. Josephine Baker. Think the fact that Jazz was the soundtrack which fuelled the Indian independence movement and the fact that you had black American musicians over in India performing for many years. And it is a crying shame because that resilience and ability to overcome and speak to so many around the world is something which all Americans should celebrate and rejoice in.
This is so wonderful - many of these same actors, singers, musicians are people I’ve admired and related to through my years of exploring the diverse field of entertainment. It never matters to me what color a person’s skin is - my only criteria for admiring an artist and their work, is the work - and if I connect with it, and in turn, them. How we limit ourselves, or have others try to limit us - if we’re not “allowed” to cross all lines of race, culture, gender, etc. to connect with, and find glorious emotional harmony that enrich our lives. And without being accused of trying to appropriate another’s culture.
I do believe the Cabin in the Sky has a Russian Jewish connection btw. Going back to an earlier post of yours, it can be easy to forget how closely the two communities did work together in many areas to the benefit of both. Cabin in the Sky does show that collaboration quite clearly.
But hooray for doing this because Americana, particularly the American theater and music in general owes a huge debt to the black American performers, composers, arrangers, and indeed the mostly forgotten people who kept the show on the road. You simply can't disentangle them from the story. it is wonderful that the nearly erased are being finally being inked back in. They are an integral part of American culture.
There's a plentiful lack of both curiosity and knowledge amongst the younger generations, which leads them to believe that there's been no inclusion or amplification of black voices in this culture and I find it tragic. Black artists and representation were everywhere in my consciousness as a child--on TV, in books, on the radio. And awareness of the history of slavery and Jim Crow and other forms of discrimination? We knew about all of this and we knew how to feel about it. Does no one remember ROOTS, and the impact that had on mainstream culture? Or SOUNDER? Or IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT? Not to mention the TV series, sitcoms, variety series: "What's Happening?" "The Jeffersons," "Sanford and Son," "Cosby Show" (and his kid's show "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids"), "Julia," Good Times," "Flip Wilson," "Solid Gold" starring Marilyn McCoo, etc etc etc. The problem with "progressive" culture these days is that it pretends none of this happened and we have to start all over--which is by definition REGRESSIVE. And it spits on all the progress and accomplishment of generations of black people in this culture. The history of achievement is precious--certainly as worth preserving and sharing as the history of oppression, no?
This is precisely what I find so frustrating. Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids was a staple of my Saturday morning tv watching -- so a real blast from the past.
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is another one which had this huge impact. Cicely Tyson
I sometimes think it is shifting baselines. It is so frustrating that black American achievement worldwide despite enormous odds is being deliberately obscured Think Marian Anderson or Paul Robeson in the 1930s/1940s. Josephine Baker. Think the fact that Jazz was the soundtrack which fuelled the Indian independence movement and the fact that you had black American musicians over in India performing for many years. And it is a crying shame because that resilience and ability to overcome and speak to so many around the world is something which all Americans should celebrate and rejoice in.
As always, right on bro' (we can say bro', we lived through the 1970s!).
Right on. :-)