Posts Tagged ‘Civil Rights Movement’
Young King
Tuesday, January 19th, 2021Portraits de Villes
Wednesday, September 27th, 2017
Rev. LeRoy Glenn Wright, Civil Rights icon and Freedom Rider
Realness Around the Collar
Thursday, October 6th, 2016
Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou
Minister/activist Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou visited Syracuse University last night and was a speaker for a National Pan-Hellenic Council panel titled “Injustice for All 2: I Too Am America.”
Rev. Sekou said much of his personal activism is informed by his empathy as a Christian.
“So for me, Michael Brown’s body (laying on the street in Ferguson, Mo for four hours) is [like a] crucifixion at the hands of the state.”
He told students that we are living in the Age of Ferguson, which he described as:
- occupation of public spaces (including die-ins)
- rejection of traditional leadership
- rejection of modernity (starting urban farms, living off the grid, etc).
“The systems of those that came before us [and] fought so hard to become a part of, we don’t necessarily believe they have redeeming power,” he said.
Week in Review
Sunday, June 12th, 2016
New York, especially Upstate, has to do a better job to promote the historical significance of Peterboro as an epicenter for Emancipation, Suffrage and the Abolitionist Movements. Alden ‘Max’ Smith (above) told some wonderful stories about the influence of Peterboro and Gerrit Smith as we visited the 24th Annual Civil War Weekend.
He also invited us back for the Peterboro Emancipation Day Celebration, which is scheduled for August 6-7, 2016.
Someday We’ll All Be Free
Friday, May 8th, 2015Art of Photography (part 17)
Wednesday, March 25th, 2015
Photographer Matt Herron made some of the most iconic images of the Selma to Montgomery march in 1965. He talked about his work in the South and about his decision to document the Civil Rights Movement during a visit to Syracuse University on Monday. Tonight he will give a lecture at Art Rage Gallery.
Dispatches from the Frontier of Community Theater
Sunday, February 22nd, 2015
Alena Cerro (left) and Kamani Grate act out a semi-dream sequence scene in “Steady” (a play conceived by Ryan Hope Travis and inspired by the March from Selma to Montgomery). The show was held Saturday at Art Rage Gallery on Hawley Avenue.
As a director, Ryan Travis is prolific. He has conceived and directed numerous productions since we interviewed him a few years ago.
Ryan’s pace is frenetic, but the quality of the work never suffers. The actor/director/professor knows how to explore and present timely topics with the right dusting of theatrical polish. His latest offering is “Steady,” an hour-long, song-dialogue-dance-dramatization of the past, present and future of Civil Rights, with a particular emphasis on the 54-mile march from Selma to Montgomery.
There were two shows for “Steady” over the weekend at The Art Rage Gallery. What made the Art Rage production unique was the poignant visual reminder of the Selma adorning the walls, thanks to the compelling documentary photographs of Matt Herron. Having photos of Dr. King, John Lewis, Doris Wilson, and others as part of the set design provided inspiration for the audience as well as the actors.
“Steady” has its next showing at Onondaga Community College on Monday.
Herron’s images will be on display at Art Rage until the end of March.
Ryan Hope Travis (left) and the multi-talented cast of “Steady” at The Art Rage Gallery.
Bring the Noise, Bring the Future
Friday, February 6th, 2015
Dr. Umar Johnson, author, educator and descendant of Frederick Douglass
Dr. Umar will speak at the Frank E. Merriweather Library in Buffalo this afternoon, and on Sunday in Virginia Beach.
Throwback Thursday: Tavis Writes
Thursday, February 5th, 2015“Leadership is not a license to do less; it is a responsibility to do more.”
-Simon Sinek (Leaders Eat Last)
Tavis Smiley, Author, Radio/TV host (circa 2005) in Washington, DC
If you enjoyed the film “Selma,” which paints an intimate portrait of the coalitions and strategies of the Civil Rights Movement, we suggest you move next to “Death of a King” by Tavis Smiley. His book gives a revealing look at the last year of Dr. King’s life (the good, the bad and the unforeseen).
Smiley is pictured here in Washington, DC in 2005.
Throwback Thursday-Selma, Syracuse & Civil Rights
Thursday, January 1st, 2015
Talk-show host George Kilpatrick interviewed Diane Nash at last year’s Cold Case Justice Initiative. Nash is portrayed in the new film by actor Tessa Thompson.
The film “Selma” came out last week (in select cities) and several of the key Civil Right’s leaders active during that march have appeared in Syracuse over the past few years. The roles of Dr. Martin Luther King and his wife Coretta are played brilliantly by David Oyelowo and Carmen Ejogo, but we were also impressed by the supporting cast.
Rev. C.T. Vivian was played in the film by actor Corey Reynolds.
In the film Selma, former ambassador Andrew Young was played by Andre’ Holland. Young spoke at an event at Syracuse University in 2012.