Anderson@Large

Black Artists’ Flight Into Egypt

I was a consultant on a project in Egypt in the 1990s. As I walked around Cairo, I was struck that Egyptians look like “high yellow” Africans. I later read that when Frederick Douglass visited Egypt in 1887, he observed, “The great mass of the people I have yet seen would in America be classified as mulattoes and negroes.”

In a speech delivered on July 12, 1854, “The Claims of the Negro Ethnologically Considered,” Douglass said:

Here I leave our learned authorities, as to the resemblance of the Egyptians to negroes.

It is not in my power, in a discourse of this sort, to adduce more than a very small part of the testimony in support of a near relationship between the present enslaved and degraded negroes, and the ancient highly civilized and wonderfully endowed Egyptians. Sufficient has already been adduced, to show a marked similarity in regard to features, hair, color, and I doubt not that the philologist can find equal similarity in the structures of their languages. In view of the foregoing, while it may not be claimed that the ancient Egyptians were negroes,—viz:—answering, in all respects, to the nations and tribes ranged under the general appellation, negro; still, it may safely be affirmed, that a strong affinity and a direct relationship may be claimed by the negro race, to THAT GRANDEST OF ALL THE NATIONS OF ANTIQUITY, THE BUILDERS OF THE PYRAMIDS.

From activists to artists, ancient Egypt has fueled African Americans’ imagination.

I recently checked out a new exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876–Now,” a multimedia exploration of how Black artists have drawn inspiration from Egypt.

The exhibition features 200 works of art, including the Sun Ra documentary, “Space is the Place,” John W. Mosely photographs taken at the Philadelphia Pyramid Club, and Henry O. Tanner’s “Flight into Egypt.”

On the day of my visit, there was a creative convening of some of the artists included in the exhibition.

The program closed with a live performance of “Egypt, Egypt” by rapper and DJ The Egyptian Lover.

“Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876–Now” is on view through February 17, 2025.

The Apollo Theater@90

The Apollo Theater turned 90 this year. Opened in 1914 as a burlesque house, by 1934 the theater was transformed into a venue primarily for African American performers and audiences. A stop on the Chitlin’ Circuit, the now historic landmark was the place “where stars are born and legends are made.” Legends like Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. Jazz, blues and soul artists who graced The Apollo’s stage include Count Basie, Art Blakey, James Brown, Ruth Brown, Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Louis Jordan, Otis Redding, Nina Simone, Jimmy Smith, Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington.

The Apollo is, again, making history. It is the first organization to receive the Kennedy Center Honor. Michelle Ebanks, President & CEO of The Apollo, said:

We are thrilled to be the first organization honored in the history of the Kennedy Center Awards, emphasizing The Apollo’s impact on the past, present, and future of American culture and the performing arts. From the longest-running talent show in America with Amateur Night at The Apollo, which launched the careers of icons like Ella Fitzgerald and Lauryn Hill, to performances from beloved legends like Smokey Robinson and Lil’ Kim and today’s biggest stars like Drake, The Apollo has always been a home for artists to create and a home for audiences to see incredible music and art from legendary artists.

The 47th Kennedy Center Honors, hosted by Queen Latifah, will be broadcast on CBS on Sunday, December 22, 2024, from 8:30–11 pm ET/PT.

Cultural Week of Action on Race and Democracy

The first annual Cultural Week of Action on Race and Democracy will be held September 27 through October 5, 2024. Organized by Race Forward and Americans for the Arts, the initiative will harness the transformative power of arts and culture to spark dialogue, inspire action, and build community.

All That Philly Jazz’s West Philly’s Main Street: A Walk Through Time is one of the inaugural projects.

The walking tour will be held on Saturday, October 5, 2024, from 10am to 12pm. We will stroll the historic 52nd Street corridor and uncover lost and hidden history. For event details and tickets, please go here.

The walking tour culminates at the former site of the Red Rooster, the jazz club where John Coltrane first met McCoy Tyner. Today, the building is home to Steve’s Sports Lounge but the history lives on.

Immediately after the Red Rooster stop, we will gather at the Painted Bride Art Center for a community conversation, Telling Our Stories from “Back in the Day”: A Voices of 52nd Street Memory Salon.

The afternoon will be filled with joy, remembering, and light refreshments. The Memory Salon is free and open to the public. Space is limited so be sure to reserve your spot.

Community Art Festival

West Philly’s Main Street, 52nd Street, is a historic cultural and commercial corridor. In its heyday, banks, movie theaters, restaurants, bakeries, shoe stores, dress shops, night clubs, jazz venues and other businesses lined “the Strip” from Arch Street to Baltimore Avenue.

The African Cultural Art Forum, Urban Art Gallery, Family Survival and 52nd St Cultural Art Corridor Coalition will present Community Art Day x Urban Art Fest 52 on Saturday, August 17, 2024. The event will be held on the five-block stretch of 52nd Street from Walnut St. to Spruce St. that was the heart of the Strip back in the day.

The family-friendly block party will feature African art, workshops, fashion show, guest speakers, live performances, including jazz, funk and soul, and a virtual reality game by XVR Lounge.

Zen S, marketing and operations specialist for the African Cultural Art Forum, said:

Community Art Day is a collaboration of businesses on the corridor that want 52nd Street to thrive. Basically, it’s us making noise. We are here. We support each other. We also give back to the community to show the culture and respect that the community values. We want the same thing that Mayor Cherelle Parker wants: a cleaner, greener and safer 52nd Street.

Community Art Day x Urban Art Fest 52 is free and open to the public.

Black Music Month: Max Roach

This year marks the centennial of the birth of drummer, composer, bandleader and activist Max Roach. His groundbreaking album, “We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite,” was influenced by the Emancipation Proclamation and the emerging Civil Rights Movement.

Born in North Carolina, Roach’s family moved to Bedford-Stuyvesant, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, when he was four. He grew up near the corner of Greene and Marcy avenues where the City of New York has co-named a street for the iconic drummer. Fittingly, the “Max Roach Way” co-naming ceremony was held on Juneteenth, Freedom Day.

The Library of Congress recently opened the David M. Rubenstein Treasures Gallery.

The permanent gallery, “Collecting Memories: Treasures from the Library of Congress,” features more than 120 items from across the Library’s holdings. The depository for the Max Roach Papers, the manuscript page for “We Insist!” is on display in the new gallery.

Black Music Month: Disco Inferno

The three-part series, Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution, debuts on PBS this week.

The first episode focuses on the roots of disco. Philadelphia native, drummer Earl Young, is the architect of disco.

Young is the founder and leader of The Trammps which had a No. 1 hit with “Disco Inferno.”

The Trammps used to perform at North Philly’s Impulse Discotheque (the building still stands).

Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution will premiere Tuesday, June 18 at 9pm ET on PBS (check local listings), PBS.org and the PBS App.

Black Music Month 2024

Black Music Month is the brainchild of music mogul and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Kenny Gamble, radio personality and media coach Dyana Williams and Cleveland DJ Ed Wright.

The first celebration was held on June 7, 1979. President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter hosted a dinner and concert on the White House’s South Lawn. Performers included Chuck Berry, Billy Eckstine, Evelyn King and Max Roach.

Every president since Carter has issued a proclamation recognizing the contributions of African American musicians. In his 2024 proclamation, President Joe Biden said:

During Black Music Month, we celebrate the Black artists and creatives whose work has so often been a tidal wave of change — not only by defining the American songbook and culture but also by capturing our greatest hopes for the future and pushing us to march forward together.

Our Nation has only recognized Black Music Month for 45 years, but its legacy stretches back to our country’s earliest days. Black music began when enslaved people, who were cruelly prohibited from communicating in their native languages, found ways to express themselves through music. Set to the sound of African rhythms, they captured the inhumanity, tragedy, and toll that America’s original sin took on their lives while also telling the stories of their hopes and dreams, faith and spirituality, and love and purpose. Ever since, Black performers have carried on that tradition of using art to break down barriers, create sacred spaces for expression, and give voice to the promise of America for all Americans. They have created and shaped some of our most beloved genres of music — like folk, blues, jazz, hip-hop, country, rock and roll, gospel, spirituals, and R&B. Black music has set the beat of the Civil Rights Movement; expressed the inherent dignity and captured the pride and power of Black communities; and held a mirror to the good, the bad, and the truth of our Nation.

NPR is celebrating Black Music Month with an all-women lineup of Tiny Desk concerts. Featured performers include Chaka Khan, Lakecia Benjamin, Meshell Ndegeocello, Tems, Tierra Whack, SWV and Flo Milli.

Tiny Desk host and series producer Bobby Carter said:

This Black Music Month, we’re giving the ladies their flowers! We’re releasing nine Tiny Desk concerts from Black women who’ve paved the way for what we hear today in Black music and others who are carving out their own paths. All of them are queens in their own right who represent a beautiful array of genres, generations and walks of life.

If you hear any noise, it ain’t the boys. It’s the ladies at NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert.