I launched Anderson@Large on January 20, 2005. I created the blog as an outlet for my dismay in the weeks leading up to the second inauguration of George W. Bush.
I had a pretty good run. The impact of Anderson@Large was recognized by my inclusion in the first scholarly research examining the role of Black bloggers and the blogosphere. My blog is listed in the Harvard University Web Archive Collection “Capturing Women’s Voices.”
I never imagined that 20 years later, the blog would still be active. But everything must change. So, this is my final post. Fittingly, I am signing off on January 20, 2025, the second inauguration of Donald Trump.
Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15, 1929. This year marks the 39th anniversary of the first observation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday.
In 1986, an all-star collective of artists, including El DeBarge, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Kurtis Blow, Run–DMC, Whitney Houston, Teena Marie, Stephanie Mills, James “JT” Taylor and Whodini, released a tribute song, “King Holiday,” celebrating Dr. King and the new holiday.
We’re still celebrating the “drum major for justice.” Happy heavenly birthday, Dr. King.
Jimmy Carter has joined the ancestors at age 100. Former President Carter was a humanitarian, and a tireless champion of democracy and human rights. The late president will be honored with a state funeral at Washington National Cathedral.
I do further appoint January 9, 2025, as a National Day of Mourning throughout the United States. I call on the American people to assemble on that day in their respective places of worship, there to pay homage to the memory of President James Earl Carter, Jr. I invite the people of the world who share our grief to join us in this solemn observance.
Along with former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, President Carter co-founded The Carter Center. The Democracy Program was a pioneer in election observation. The Carter Center established the criteria for free and fair elections, and paved the way for ordinary citizens to get involved in the global democracy movement. I observed elections in Ethiopia and Nigeria, and led voter education workshops in Angola and Kazakhstan.
It is widely known that President Carter hosted the first Black Music Month celebration at the White House.
Less well known is that a year earlier on June 18, 1978, President Carter held the first White House concert devoted to jazz to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Newport Jazz Festival. Performers included Pearl Bailey, Louis Bellson, George Benson, Eubie Blake, Ron Carter, Ornette Coleman, Roy Eldrige, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Lionel Hampton, Herbie Hancock, Max Roach, Zoot Sims, McCoy Tyner and Mary Lou Williams.
President Carter provided the vocals on Dizzy Gillespie’s “Salt Peanuts.”
As noted in his remarks, President Carter’s appreciation of jazz dates back to his early youth:
I began listening to jazz when I was quite young—on the radio, listening to performances broadcast from New Orleans. And later when I was a young officer in the navy, in the early ’40s, I would go to Greenwich Village to listen to the jazz performers who came there. And with my wife later on, we’d go down to New Orleans and listen to individual performances on Sunday afternoon on Royal Street, sit in on the jam sessions that lasted for hours and hours.
[…]
Twenty-five years ago, the first Newport Jazz Festival was held. So this is a celebration of an anniversary and a recognition of what it meant to bring together such a wide diversity of performers and different elements of jazz in its broader definition that collectively is even a much more profound accomplishment than the superb musicians and the individual types of jazz standing alone.
And it’s with a great deal of pleasure that I—as president of the United States—welcome tonight superb representatives of this music form. Having performers here who represent the history of music throughout this century, some quite old in years, still young at heart, others newcomers to jazz who have brought an increasing dynamism to it, and a constantly evolving, striving for perfection as the new elements of jazz are explored.
The concert was broadcast live on a special edition of NPR’s Jazz Alive! hosted by Billy Taylor.
The sequence of events for Jimmy Carter’s state funeral is available here.