richardmurray

Book Review: A Gardin Wedding: A Gardins of Edin Novel by Rosey Lee List Price: $17.00 WaterBrook Press (May 13, 2025) Fiction, Paperback, 272 pages ISBN: 9780593445518 Imprint: WaterBrook Press Publisher: Penguin Random House Parent Company: Bertelsmann Book Reviewed by Richard Murray Book Review Text Edited by Microsoft Copilot Review URL [ https://aalbc.com/book_review/9780593445518 ] Buy from AALBC [ https://store.aalbc.com/cart.php?action=buy&sku=9780593445518&source=buy_button ] Buy the Audiobook [ https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9780593791820?bookstore=aalbc ] Borrow from Library [https://search.worldcat.org/title/1452959967?oclcNum=1452959967] Rosey Lee Author Page [ https://aalbc.com/authors/Rosey+Lee ] Richard Murray Book Review Page [ https://aalbc.com/authors/Richard+Murray ] IN AMENDMENT burkins machine gun https://theblackhistorychannel.com/2013/eugene-burkins-inventor-with-a-vision/ Webpage article transcript Eugene Burkins, Inventor With a Vision By RitaLorraine -July 5, 2013 Invention: Automatic Machine Gun PATENT #649,433, May 15, 1900 Meet Eugene Burkins, inventor of the “Burkins Automatic Machine-Gun.” Other than learning to read and write, Eugene never had much education and once worked as a “bootblack,” cleaning and polishing shoes for a living. He had never been a soldier, or even had any experience with guns of any type or description, and it is these facts that make his invention all the more brilliant in nature. After seeing a picture of the guns on the Battleship Maine in the local newspaper, hestudied the pictures and imagined ways in which he could improve the machine gun and increase its firing capacity. Eugene made his first working model with a pocket knife. However, word soon spread about his brilliant endeavor and some of the leading African Americans of that period helped him secure his patent. A Mr. Madden, a wealthy Black businessman in Chicago, invested over $3,000 (equivalent to over $62,000 by today’s standards) to make a perfect model of the invention. The result was a machine gun that fired seven times more bullets a minute than the Gatling gun from the Battleship Maine. Several foreign countries quickly offered large sums of money for the rights to manufacture Mr. Burkins’ gun for their own naval departments, but Eugene and his partner, Mr. Madden, decided to try to control the manufacturing interest in the United States. Admiral George Dewey, a famous Naval military figure in American history, was quoted as saying: “Burkins’ Machine Gun was by far the best machine-gun ever made.” Best wishes and happy inventing, Rita Lorraine

Mermaid trio 05/08/2025 https://www.tumblr.com/richardmurrayhumblr/782957995293376512/concurrently-from-aquasonic Referral https://www.tumblr.com/richardmurrayhumblr/782957995293376512/concurrently-from-aquasonic?source=share mermaid [ seahorse style] for deviantart color me club https://www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/art/mermaid-hippocamp-style-1192254228 IN AMENDMENT Ethiopian jazz music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo5QywHt5fo VIDEO TRANSCRIPT 0:01 [Music] hey this is ed from the gray area welcome to through the years an ethio 0:07 jazz special [Music] 0:47 um [Music] 1:25 hey 1:30 [Music] 1:53 uh [Music] 3:05 do [Music] 3:45 hmm [Music] 4:05 [Music] 4:33 hmm 4:39 [Music] 4:45 [Applause] [Music] 5:24 our journey begins actually way back before ethio jazz was even an idea 5:29 we look back to nurses nalbandian composer and conductor of armenian heritage 5:35 his family fled the genocide in turkey around 1915 and settled in ethiopia where his uncle kurvok nalbandian became 5:42 a renowned musician nurses took over the mantle of head of national opera and his uncle retired and 5:48 emperor haile selassie tasked him with composing music for the national theatre 5:54 nurses wanted to take local music to the stage with a big band sound without losing its authenticity 5:59 it was solving this problem way back in the 1950s that laid the groundwork for what was to come 6:06 [Music] 6:19 so now we move on to ethio jazz proper what better place to start than the father of the sound mulatto estate 6:26 born in 1943 in jimmer he took up studies in wales of all places where he discovered a passion for music and the 6:32 arts he then went on to study classical music at trinity college london working with the best and brightest of the uk jazz 6:38 scene at the time he wanted to promote and share ethiopian music though whilst also delving deeper 6:44 into this newly discovered jazz music he eventually moved to america and went to the berkeley college of music in 6:50 boston where he forged the blueprint for the ethio jazz sound merging western 12-note harmonies and instrumentation 6:57 with the traditional ethiopian pentatonic scales [Music] 7:05 in the 1960s he moves again this time to new york and this is where ethio jazz was really born 7:11 establishing an ethiopian quartet and recording three albums the first two more of a latin infused 7:17 affair but 1972's mulatto of ethiopia gave birth to the sound we now know and 7:22 love let's take a listen to chiffada taken from the milata of ethiopia lp 7:27 a track where you can very much still hear that latin influence particularly in the introduction [Music] 7:45 [Applause] [Music] so 7:51 [Music] 8:01 so [Music] 8:32 so [Music] 9:00 so [Music] 9:39 [Music] 9:54 uh [Music] 10:31 bye [Music] 11:05 so [Music] 11:48 so [Music] 12:00 so [Music] 12:23 oh [Music] 12:34 [Applause] [Music] 12:44 hey [Music] 13:00 ah 13:05 [Music] 13:18 [Music] 13:58 not too much later mulatto decided to return to addis ababa and brought with him this new genre of music but was met 14:04 with resistance one of only two african nations never to have suffered colonisation the people of 14:10 ethiopia were suspicious of any form of cultural contamination and as such weren't sure about step k's 14:16 brand of westernized ethiopian music but with enough determination and insistence on the virtuoso's part the nation soon 14:23 came to accept it with open arms a new sound for a modern ethiopia 14:28 yakatit ethio jazz was his first album recorded in addis and features an incredible collection of musicians 14:34 fercado amde mezcal and mogus hate on saxophone rhodesian born andrew wilson and fellow 14:40 ethiopian giovanni rico on guitar tamare harigu on drums and johannes te kola on 14:47 trumpet te kola would go on to lead the walia's band the backing group for hailu mergia 14:53 more on him later for now let's have some more music this time from the yakiti lp 14:58 a smoky mystical number by the name of gobelier [Music] 15:32 foreign [Music] 15:44 so [Music] 15:55 so [Music] 16:21 my [Music] 17:13 [Applause] bass 17:20 [Music] 17:36 so 17:43 [Music] 18:03 so [Music] 18:29 so [Music] 18:44 [Applause] [Music] 19:04 so [Music] 19:13 whilst a hugely important figure in the scene of course mulatto isn't the only ethio jazz musician of note of the 19:19 all-time greats of worldwide renown includes saxophonist getachew mercuria as well as vocalists mahmoud ahmed and 19:25 alameo shetty but of course there are plenty more unsung heroes who perhaps haven't 19:30 achieved the same level of international success let's hear from one of those here played in a clapper style is seifu 19:37 johannes with melamela 19:55 [Music] 20:03 foreign [Music] 20:27 [Applause] [Music] 20:40 foreign [Music] 20:53 foreign [Music] 21:06 foreign [Music] 21:16 me 21:29 [Music] 21:46 [Applause] [Music] [Applause] 21:54 ah uh 21:59 [Music] 22:16 so let's now take a moment to discuss mahmoud ahmed one of the first singers to embrace this new western sound brought by mulatto to 22:23 ethiopia the release of his ear melamela album is a landmark in the genre 22:28 featuring the previously mentioned mezcal enrico as members of ibex band mahmoud's voice rings out with a 22:34 spiritual fervor sometimes deep and hypnotic and at times soaring and empowering 22:39 he's my personal favorite artist from the genre so i'm going to take this opportunity to play a couple of tracks back-to-back to begin to demonstrate the 22:46 diversity of his performances first up from his 1973 self-titled lp 22:52 column then we'll follow up with something from later 1978 the deeply spiritual sounding 22:59 fetsum dinklage 23:11 [Music] 23:31 whoa 23:37 [Music] 24:03 foreign [Music] 24:31 my [Music] 25:00 [Music] 25:09 [Music] a 25:16 [Music] 25:41 i [Music] 25:59 foreign 26:14 do [Music] 26:30 go [Music] 27:09 do 27:29 is [Music] 28:08 [Music] 28:21 foreign [Music] 28:39 [Music] 28:53 [Music] 29:02 [Music] 29:08 [Music] 29:17 [Music] me [Music] 29:36 oh [Music] 29:54 [Music] 30:07 [Music] 30:17 she [Music] 30:24 so [Music] 31:27 [Music] 31:39 [Music] 31:58 [Music] 32:05 so we're next going to take a look at another infamous ethiopian singer alamel 32:11 known by many as the ethiopian james brown but also linked to elvis and sinatra though i personally find these 32:16 comparisons a bit more tenuous eshete was a huge part of the swinging addis scene and took more of a funk 32:23 approach to ethiopian music his huge personality cannot be denied on every one of his tracks like this 32:31 [Music] 33:28 me [Music] 33:40 [Applause] [Music] 33:45 [Applause] [Music] 33:57 yes [Music] [Applause] [Music] 34:12 um 34:23 [Music] 34:37 [Music] 35:17 [Music] 35:28 plan [Music] 35:34 uh 35:48 [Music] 35:54 is [Music] 36:23 me [Music] 36:40 [Applause] [Music] 36:46 me [Music] 36:55 so this golden era of ethiopian music also known as the bell epoch which began in the late 1960s ended all of a sudden 37:02 in 1974 with the arrival of the durg the marxist regime of mengistu 37:10 like many other marxist and communist regimes suppression of western and liberal ideas was a mainstay 37:16 including unfortunately ethio jazz many musicians fled the country or simply stopped performing altogether 37:23 thankfully the downfall of the soviet union meant the communist regime in ethiopia lost their biggest supporter 37:29 and was soon overthrown a democracy was installed and the revival of ethiopian music started in 37:34 1991. i'm now going to play one of my favorite pieces of ethiopian music for you by an artist known as a gutter made 37:40 bayonet i love the vocals on this track the enunciation of some of the sounds of the language just really pop 37:46 the track is entitled bae manesh 37:52 [Music] 38:16 is [Music] 38:42 is [Music] 39:12 foreign [Music] 39:27 [Music] 40:14 do 40:22 [Applause] [Music] 41:04 [Music] 41:11 [Music] 41:18 [Music] 41:30 on the subject of musicians that left their homeland of ethiopia i'd like to touch on the story of a washington-based taxi driver a man i mentioned toward the 41:37 start of the show haile murguia his way around censorship by the derg dictatorship was to produce instrumental 41:44 works as it tended to be lyrics that drew the attention of the government to the music however during a tour of the us in the 41:50 1980s hailu and many of his walia's band decided to stay in america effectively 41:55 ending the band for good hailu still wrote and recorded some music in the years to follow but was effectively lost 42:00 a time until the rediscovery of his music in recent years by the awesome tapes from africa record label reissues 42:06 of his works have now seen him step back into his role as a musician and he tours the world again playing to a new 42:12 generation of fans i had the pleasure of djing alongside him a few years ago and his humility and kindness was 42:17 heartwarming to see here is his track batibati from the way they had guzzo album 42:28 [Music] 43:01 so 43:06 [Music] 43:29 so [Music] 43:44 so [Music] 43:58 so [Music] 44:38 so [Music] 44:51 [Music] so [Music] 45:19 so [Music] 45:35 [Music] so [Music] 45:58 my [Music] 46:58 [Applause] 47:16 me [Music] 47:43 [Music] 48:16 me 48:25 foreign 48:30 [Music] 48:36 [Music] 48:42 [Music] 48:53 huh 49:00 [Music] 49:10 aha [Music] 49:28 hey 49:35 [Music] 50:00 [Music] foreign 50:06 [Music] 50:23 thank you 50:30 [Music] 50:38 foreign following that piece from hailu we heard from muluken malesey with tenesch kelebe 50:45 lai now let's contrast that with something much slower getting right back into it with another piece from the heart of 50:51 garame this time arranged by mulatto estate himself with the track set 50:56 alamene [Music] 51:18 school 51:24 [Music] 51:34 foreign [Music] 51:42 foreign 51:50 [Music] 52:02 is 52:09 [Music] 52:24 [Music] 52:30 lovely 52:38 [Music] 52:57 salazar [Music] 53:14 [Music] 53:21 [Music] a 53:35 [Music] 54:28 [Music] 54:48 um 54:55 [Music] 55:04 yo [Music] 55:16 foreign [Music] 55:32 foreign [Music] 55:51 [Music] 55:59 [Music] 56:04 [Music] 56:13 my now it only seemed right before the end of the show to touch on the ethiopic 56:20 series starting in 1997 francis farcetto a frenchman who traveled to ethiopia and 56:26 discovered so much of the music that we now know as ethio jazz brought it to a western audience 56:32 now a series of 30 cds exploring both ethiopian jazz and traditional styles of music from the country as well as 56:38 eritrea he really did bring this music to a global platform the ethiopic cd series was my personal 56:45 introduction to not only ethiopian jazz but actually music from outside of europe in general 56:51 [Music] many thanks if you've been listening i hope you found this educational a little 56:58 bit more formal than my usual shows something a bit different and to finish off 57:04 another favorite of mine and an absolute barn burner from teshome metaku this is his track hasabe 57:10 once again thanks for listening this has been through the years i've been aired from the gray area i'll catch you on the 57:16 next grey area show you've been locked into newsradio take care of yourselves see you next 57:21 time [Music] 57:36 [Music] 58:02 foreign [Music] 58:10 [Applause] 58:18 [Applause] [Music] uh 58:25 [Music] 58:40 foreign [Music] 58:48 [Music] oh 58:54 [Music] 59:02 [Music] 59:07 me [Music] 59:56 news

Chili Skype Goodbye 05/08/2025 https://www.tumblr.com/richardmurrayhumblr/782953489759404032/chili-skype-goodbye-chili-is-from

https://www.tumblr.com/richardmurrayhumblr/782947006872174592/come-now-blackfish-by-richard-murray referral https://www.tumblr.com/richardmurrayhumblr/782947006872174592/come-now-blackfish-by-richard-murray IN AMENDMENT Viola Davis on Juilliard site https://talkeasypod.com/viola/ Video Link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuHydabht-w Video View Transcript 0:00 [Music] this is Talk Easy I'm Sam 0:05 Fosso Welcome to the show 0:12 Biola Davis Yes Thank you for being here Thank you Thank you for having me We're in the Actor's Equity Building Oh my 0:19 goodness This is where I would come every year to do my taxes But the reason 0:24 why I came to the Actor's Equity Building is they would do your taxes for free Oh really Mhm So I'd get here at 0:31 4:00 in the morning sleep in front of that damn door get my taxes done and mail it You got your actor's equity card 0:38 after doing Joe Turner's Come and Gone right That's right I became a professional actress Well I think you 0:44 were 23 at the time 23 Okay So The Building has good but mostly sleepy 0:50 memories is what I'm hearing So let's try to create a a a better more lasting memory Okay Okay Today around your last 0:58 big action hero film The Woman King Yes You said the story quote resuscitated 1:05 you I'm dark-skinned I have a deep voice And my whole life I've been told that 1:10 I'm too strong too masculine We redefine what it means to be feminine in the 1:15 Woman King And it liberated me Is it from that liberation that you felt well the only 1:24 role to play after the woman king is the president of the United States 1:30 It wasn't intentional I think that people see your career so much as intentional and what that would mean is 1:37 that you have so much control over your work and there are there are no words to 1:44 describe the business of acting 1% of actors make $50,000 a year or more and 1:50 usually those are background actors and only 0.04% of actors are famous You don't get 1:56 control over your material Every once in a while you have an actor out there maybe the Leonado DiCaprios who could go 2:03 out there and say "I want to work with this director." But usually with the 2:08 rest of us it's you're on a wing and a prayer right But the thing about this 2:14 profession because there's so much deprivation you always want to figure 2:20 out what to do in order to work So a lot of people copy everyone else's hairstyle 2:26 They copy everyone else's body You know all the women out there trying to lose weight Maybe they get plastic surgery 2:34 Who knows But very few people sort of relish in exactly who they are M And do 2:40 you relish in that I have to I don't know how to be anyone else And yes was I 2:46 liberated from everything that makes you or defines you as feminine Yes for the 2:51 woman king But I've been liberated by everything that that define me as being 2:56 anything I feel like I define me totally 3:02 I don't want any limits on me my sexuality um my sexiness in terms of my sexuality 3:09 my voice what I can or can't do at what age I refuse to um limit myself I think 3:17 that's where progressiveness comes in That person who's willing to step out on faith and do what it is that they're 3:23 called to do Yeah You said that in making this movie that not every film I 3:28 make has to win an Academy Award Oh God Yes But are you sure the Academy should 3:34 overlook the scene where you shoot someone in the foot Punch him in the face all while in 3:41 a red dress Let me tell you something I do need an award for that damn red dress Listen you 3:48 know what the award That's the last joke question I'll ask you No you got we got to have some laughs I mean this is this 3:55 has been a I mean that's one of the reasons why I did the movie too I want people to be able to get together with 4:01 their families at home and watch the movie in the same way they commit to Air 4:06 Force One Die Hard um Sigourney Weaver and Alien I want them to commit to me 4:13 And I don't think that that is a bad thing I don't think that you know every 4:18 movie I make has to make a grand statement even I think sometimes it needs to just be pure entertainment Well 4:25 I was thoroughly entertained You made this film uh through your production company Yes And and the mission 4:32 statement of the company is to quote change the landscape It's hard for people to see us beyond the narratives 4:38 that are didactic We're trying to change that So tell me how does G20 fit into 4:44 that mission statement What what what does change look like to you and your production Because first of all because 4:50 I'm the lead in a movie Yeah I'm 59 years old and I play the president of the United States with my body my skin 4:56 tone my face and the people in the movie reflect the audience but I'm the center 5:03 of the narrative Then you have Ramon Rodriguez You have Patricia Rian who is 5:08 Mexican uh Guadalajara who's directing it It reflects the audience you know so 5:15 often I don't think that we understand It's like I did a movie one time years 5:21 ago and my husband we went to see it in the movie theater He said "You were the only black person in that town Even when 5:28 we looked in the background in the hardware store that you were at there was no one black brown or nothing." But 5:34 a lot of times movies do not reflect the world 5:40 And you know once I got to a certain level then I needed to be the change 5:46 that I wanted to see You know it's like that saying you know once you're free it's your job to free others And there 5:54 is no that closet in the studios filled with scripts for young African-American 6:02 actresses for for older African-American actresses for any actress of color 6:08 they're they're not there And so if you don't create them then what you have is 6:14 maybe actresses who do one really great movie and then they sit around for another 6:20 year or two until maybe they find something else I don't think that people 6:26 understand the deprivation there is in material And it's the material that pops 6:32 you So in this scene that people are about to hear your character President Sutton 6:39 is negotiating with a group of attackers attempting to destabilize the world economy and corner the market on 6:45 cryptocurrency Yeah Odd timing for us to the scene 6:51 Your character speaks first Why would a mercenary take on the G20 What Wait you 6:59 you call me a mercenary lady You fought a war over gasoline I served my country 7:04 just as I serve it now Yeah Blindly You serve it blindly You were used by them then and they're using you now So you 7:11 feel used That's why you terrorize a world and crash markets We want to switch to cryptocurrency So they 7:17 [ __ ] This isn't about crypto You want to crash currencies and get rich 7:22 This seems like something personal What What are you after I'm after you Like we 7:28 said in D20 you play the president and you're the star of the film Yeah Which means like Harrison Ford Yeah In Air 7:36 Force One you were number one on the call sheet Yes But before you went into the film in the middle of the pandemic 7:44 as you began writing your memoir you said in one interview "I had to press a reset button in my life I had a crisis 7:51 of meaning in 2020 You get to number one and that's your life Once I got there it 7:58 felt like somebody lied to me Yeah What does a crisis of meaning look like for 8:05 Viola Davis A crisis of meaning for Viola Davis I think is probably what it 8:10 looks like to everyone When you set out on the path to become something so you think okay I'm 8:18 going to become a famous actress So that's the goal That's the vision All 8:23 right And then you hit it and they realize that's just not it There is a 8:29 disillusionment that happens There's an emptiness that happens And to be perfectly honest there's an isolation 8:36 and a loneliness that happens And that happened to you Oh totally And it's I I 8:41 have to tell you it sort of hit during after the help but really it really um 8:47 reared its ugly head during How to Get Away with Murder Because here's the thing Whatever goal you set in life is 8:54 just the cosmic carrot to what life is supposed to be about The cosmic carrot 9:00 is the goal but really truly it's the journey and who you're becoming It's a 9:06 quote that I've been using again and again during this whole publicity tour which is your purpose in life is not 9:13 what you do It's what happens to people when you do what you do That's it I mean 9:20 I always tell people even now when you push your kid and you want your kid to be the top of the top and the best of 9:26 the best you have to know invest some money in mental health treatment because 9:31 they're going to need it Because what what's what's going to happen is when they are not that thing all the time if 9:39 they're not accomplishing something all the time they don't they're not going to know how to sit with themselves Mhm And 9:45 it's who you are that's more important than what you do That was my big 9:51 There's a Stevie Wonder song Yeah Where he's saying "Show me how to do like you." Yeah Show me how to do it Yeah I 9:59 stole that from Alice Walker She opens that She opens The Color Purple with that quote And it took me the longest 10:06 time to realize that And I realized it was the whole relationship between Sely and Suge Avery where Suge Avery taught 10:14 Sely how to love herself basically taught her how to you know find home And 10:22 I think that's it sounds Kumbaya Listen the show 10:27 is called Talk Easy Yes Kumbaya is just part of the equation Yeah So you do not 10:33 need to apologize for Kumbaya But this book that you wrote Finding Me did feel 10:38 like does feel like an invitation and a gift and an offering to discover and 10:45 rediscover your younger self Yeah And so I want to understand that young version 10:51 of you a little bit Like you you born in 1965 Yep You're delivered by your 10:56 grandmother in her home on the Singleton Plantation in St Matthews South Carolina 11:02 Yes As the fifth of six children most of your family then relocates to uh Central 11:08 Falls Rhode Island Y a small mill town that was close to two racetracks that 11:14 your father worked at Mhm You were also the first African-American family to live in that community But come the age 11:22 of five you meet your older sister Diane for the first time She was maybe 9 years 11:28 old I think Y when she enters the bathroom with you How does that scene unfold as we sit 11:35 here right now How do you see it You know what How I see it now was that was 11:43 the first seed of curiosity which is a very very powerful 11:48 word to me And the curiosity was at 5 years old It was one of the few times we 11:54 had hot water So I was taking a bath and she all I heard was a voice that said "I 11:59 want to see my baby sister I want to see my baby sister And I got out of the bathtub and she stared at me and she 12:07 looked around the house which was we grew up extremely poor and she said the one 12:15 phrase that opened my world which is what do you want to be viola 12:24 And I call that the call to adventure M you know I I think that a lot of people 12:31 feel like the call to adventure is I have this great opportunity for you to work you know somewhere and make a lot 12:37 of money and blah blah blah blah blah but the call to adventure for me was 12:42 what do I want to become who do I want to become and is that exactly what the 12:48 journey should be I didn't know that I mean of course I was 5 years old at the time but I don't 12:56 think that it matters how old you are I think once the seed is planted it's 13:01 planted Why do you think she asked you that How do you think she knew to plant the seed They say that every hero and 13:09 hero I but I what I mean by hero is someone Joseph Campbell is anyone who 13:14 wants to slay their demons in life That's anybody So that could be any of us Any of us because she didn't want to 13:21 be poor She didn't want to It's it's it's very simple She grew up even um at Singleton 13:28 Plantation for many many years and grew up in segregated schools where she was beaten Had no indoor bathroom No indoor 13:35 bathroom And saw a bathroom for the first time when she was right before she came to live with us and she couldn't 13:42 believe it Her jaw dropped because she saw the possibilities in life And I mean 13:49 I think it would be a better question for her But what she did was she passed the baton on to me unknowingly You've 13:56 described your childhood at 128 Washington Street as full of rage and 14:01 alcoholism Yeah It was a war zone If it was a war zone who were the casualties 14:09 I was a casualty My siblings were the casualty My mom was the casualty My mom 14:16 is now in advanced dementia And I absolutely absolutely believe that the 14:22 level of abuse that she endured caused that So you do suffer trauma when you 14:28 grow up in some level of poverty And when you grow up with you know they say the first enemy of a child is an 14:36 unhealed parent And I had two unhealed parents And certainly in every community 14:42 we have unhealed parents But when it becomes the Africanamean community you 14:48 have the one-two punch of family trauma 14:53 and cultural trauma A trauma of people that just don't see you a world that 14:59 just doesn't see you And I think that was a double whammy for my dad who raged 15:05 out of control And I'm just guessing at that because he was not 15:10 curious And so that he raged What do you mean he wasn't curious He wasn't curious 15:16 enough to know what was behind that rage and to heal it is what I'm saying is 15:22 it's all we have is curiosity All we have is curiosity to wake up every single day 15:29 with I don't know you you walk into any situation and you you have anxiety to 15:36 just say what's that Where's that coming from 15:41 Or do you just live with it Do you say that you know what I want to live a 15:47 transcendent life I don't want to roll into my grave being just a sort of mere 15:53 the the crappy version of myself That's what curiosity does It keeps you 16:00 growing you know and it doesn't m mean that it's perfect growth but it does 16:05 mean that you're curious enough to know who you are inside that home I want to 16:12 better understand how you coexisted and and made it through And to do that um I 16:19 thought you could read from page 70 of your book Oh page 70 Okay I have it 16:25 highlighted here Oh my goodness What is page 70 Just the highlighted parts I think 16:32 No but sometimes we would go to the bar back in the day when parents could take 16:37 kids to the bar and play darts and pool and be treated to Sprite and potato chips These happy moments would soon be 16:44 followed by trauma The rage of my dad's alcoholic binges violence poverty hunger 16:51 and isolation In my child's mind I was the problem I would retreat to the bathroom 16:58 put something against the door So no one would come in and I'd sit for an 17:03 inordinate amount of time staring at my fingers and hands and try to erase 17:09 everything in my mind I wish I could elevate out of my body Leave it One time 17:15 when I was about 9 years old I succeeded I left it My body that is in a manner of 17:22 speaking I floated up to the ceiling looking down at myself observing my hair 17:28 my legs and my face Then I faced myself staring directly into me 17:35 Wow I loved it It was a magical secret power Only I didn't see myself as 17:42 magical or powerful I just felt free It was my way of disappearing It was my 17:49 high I couldn't always control this out of body sense But when I could it was 17:54 beyond fabulous The power to leave my body to be relieved of Biola for a while 18:00 was an everpresent image that followed me for decades How did you feel reading that 18:12 Um you know what I when I look back at um little 18:20 Viola I never felt safe You know what Even worse than 18:27 that I felt wrong I felt like whoever was building 18:34 me up there in the sky just did everything 18:40 wrong Put me in the wrong family put me in the wrong 18:45 circumstances didn't make me pretty enough made me too 18:53 black Every aspect of me was wrong I 18:58 didn't see any evidence in life of 19:04 love I couldn't articulate it at the time I 19:09 just sort of disappeared and numbed cuz that's what you do when you 19:17 grow up in violence too You do everything you can to make yourself as small as 19:22 possible And then I was a bed wetter and then add adding the poverty 19:28 with that it just felt wrong If I did 19:34 have a call to adventure it would be to find 19:41 self-love to find some to find God who can put the deusex machina That's what 19:49 they call it in Greek tragedy the god from the machine that would pluck characters out of a play And when they 19:55 pluck them out of the play it was a sign that they were dead But I just wanted to 20:01 be I wanted God to appear to tell me that I was made with love 20:11 or some level of purpose cuz I didn't see any evidence of it None I don't know 20:18 if God appeared but Cesaly Tyson in the autobiography of Miss Jane Pitman did 20:25 appear Yes And she did come down Yes And pluck you Yes 1974 Yes You and your 20:33 family crowding around the TV Yes What happened 20:39 You know what It's that emoji I don't That emoji I I'm using it more now The 20:44 emoji where the brain is being blown to bits That's what it was It was the emoji 20:50 where it was a God moment It was a sermon on the mount It was the burning bush as Elizabeth Gilbert would say It's 20:58 one of those moments where you know the wind stopped blowing because what I saw 21:05 was magic I saw excellence and I saw it in a body 21:11 of a woman who looked like me who really looked like my mom My mom and her very 21:16 very similar And I saw evidence of what I wanted to become and that scene that you 21:23 just read from Yeah In the bathroom disassociating elevating some kind of 21:29 magic trick in that leaving your body becoming somebody else Yeah Do you think that paired with Miss Tyson's work were 21:37 the early foundations for you as a young actor 21:42 Absolutely But there was a lot of early foundations Miss Tyson was one of them 21:48 My sister Diane was one of them Mr Yates my drama teacher was one of them Mr Aces 21:55 who was the head of the glee club was one of them My sister Dolores the birth 22:00 of my sister Danielle who I loved more than anything uh you know on the planet 22:07 All of those were signs that carried me carried you 22:12 to Rhode Island College Having participated in the Upwardbound 22:18 program in high school I heard you used to tell people acting is not what I do 22:24 it's who I am Oh my god I take that back 22:29 I take that back a little bit It is what I do But but at the time it was true At the time it was true because it was 22:36 healing And there's one performance that's not in your memoir Yeah That I think really represents your commitment 22:44 to becoming an actor I don't know if you know what I'm going to say Oh my god I I hope you're not going to say something 22:49 bad but no such thing At some point during college or maybe a little after college you performed this onewoman show 22:58 as musician at a Jones all across Rhode Island You wore a blue dress I don't 23:04 know if it was as blue as that in the performance And you even did the show once at a basketball court Yep Where one 23:12 person was in the audience People were playing basketball and I think there was a dog Yep That jumped on me Tell me 23:18 about this performance It was horrible First of all it was not a good performance But you know what I 23:25 say that with great pride Mhm Cisoretta Jones She's a opera singer out of Rhode 23:31 Island I think in the 19 turn of the 20th century which I can't even sing And 23:38 I think I sang 14 songs I was told you were going to sing a couple of them for us today My god No But you know you know 23:46 what though Here's the thing You really do learn through 23:52 failure You really do Because I remember my sisters came to see it and they were 23:58 like "That was awful." They said "Did you even hear yourself?" I mean it was 24:04 awful And I remember I felt so bad But here's the thing I got up and I did it 24:11 again And it was still bad but a little bit better And then I did it again 24:17 And I did it again And I think that what happens with all of that 24:26 is by the time I got to the final performance it was a final performance where it was just an audience of one and 24:33 it was greatly improved Was that at the basketball court No the basketball court was maybe four people Okay The final 24:41 performance was one person And if you're willing to go through the 24:48 pain and work with fear I think there's some beautiful discoveries 24:54 there And the beautiful discovery I made is I had it in 25:00 me I had the tools to live better to work myself through failure It wasn't 25:06 the performance that mattered That's just a cosmic carrot It's the journey in 25:11 taking out everything that I had within me to keep 25:17 going And for me that's proof positive 25:22 of God's love I call it God's love for me because he gave me the courage to 25:27 know that there was something even better with even within a performance that probably I wasn't even right for 25:35 I love that story and I don't know it's not in the book but I I love that story because if you're going to do it you're 25:43 going to do it anywhere anytime for anyone at any place at a basketball 25:49 court dog barking people playing pickup in the background even in a blue silk 25:54 dress That's you either do or don't It's 25:59 the doing it that's the beauty of it In many ways it's the only thing that really matters That's it Do you show up 26:06 Show up You showed up to um your audition to Giuliard and said "Um I have 26:14 45 minutes for this audition." Uh-huh Is that true That is true And they said 26:19 "What?" They said "Um the first You 26:24 audition a lot at Jiuliard It has a at the time it had a 3% um acceptance rate 26:30 So the first room I auditioned and it I was so nervous at the time but I said "I 26:36 only have 45 minutes I have to get back to the theater in Providence I have to get on the train It's 4-hour trip." And 26:42 so they talked amongst themselves after seeing my audition And then they stopped 26:47 all the auditions that they had There were like it seemed like hundreds of kids there and they took all their 26:53 chairs All of the teachers took all their chairs into the big big um it was 27:00 a it was a rehearsal room It was the biggest think room 103 I remember the room 103 They took all their chairs in 27:08 there because in in at Giuliard you audition for a different set of teachers like maybe five auditions You're there 27:15 all day sometimes two or three days So all of them took their chairs into one room to see me and I knew I had gotten 27:23 in You know what I what I miss about myself at that 27:29 time I'm just thinking about this that I knew that I knew that I knew 27:36 that I was good I think that as you get go along the 27:43 imposttor syndrome can take over more and that's because you're exposed to the 27:49 world and no one could tell you the sort of hyperbiblical level of confidence you 27:55 need when when when you're at that level of your profession You know you almost 28:02 have to have an arrogant level of confidence which I do not have But at 28:07 that point I knew I was good I knew I 28:13 was going to get in I I just did And there's something about that that I miss 28:19 I could take a sliver of that now So you're saying the performer that was in 28:26 $50,000 of college debt was more confident than EGOT winner 28:33 Viola Davis Yeah What the hell does that mean When I say 28:39 confident too is you always want to be better Okay you do I'm contradicting 28:47 myself a little bit What I'm about to say I'm I'm not mad at the imposttor 28:53 syndrome I think that people I think it's um underrated actually 29:01 Okay But at the time I didn't even have imposttor syndrome I just knew that I 29:06 knew that I knew that I was great I did Now that the world has gotten to me it's 29:12 like oh I could have been better Oh you know this Oh you know yeah I got the he got but you know I could have done this 29:18 better I could have done that better Now Viola herself which is different than 29:23 Viola younger Now this is not the work This is just me 29:30 Way more self-love Mhm Those are two different things That's the trade-off Yeah At Giuliard what was the objective 29:38 of their training Were they shaping you into a good actress or a perfect white actress Definitely a perfect white 29:46 actress And what does that look like What it looks like it's technical training in order to deal with the 29:52 classics in order to deal with the Stinbergs and the O'Neals and the check 29:57 offs and the Shakespeare I totally understand that to get your voice everything and but what it denies is the 30:05 human being behind all of that I feel that as a black actress I'm always being 30:13 tasked to show that I have range by doing white 30:18 work So if I can master I don't know Blanch Dubois in Tennessee Williams you 30:25 know street car named Desire which I'd love to see by the way I would love to see it too I did it in class once I 30:31 listen and listen I could do the best I can with Tennessee Williams but he writes for fragile white 30:38 women Beautiful work but it's it's not me or do a fabulous job playing I don't 30:45 know Hermione in Winter's Tale in Shakespeare but we don't put those same 30:51 parameters on white actors You know you can have a white actress who's 54 55 30:57 years old which is a great age to play Mama in Raising the Sun 31:02 Is she going to be able to pull off Mama and Raising the Sun Is she going to be able to pull off Bonita Is she going to 31:08 be able to pull off Molly in Joe Turner's Come and Gone when Molly says I ain't going south and make me believe it 31:16 They don't have to do that So for those four years at Giuliard all the white actor has to do is play all white 31:25 characters That's not me Me I'm tasked to only do 31:31 the classics and no black um writer is included in those classics And then once 31:37 I leave Giuliard guess what Most of what I will be asked to do 31:44 are black characters which people will not feel that I am black enough So then 31:50 I'm caught in a quagmire this sort of in between place of of sort of not 31:57 understanding how to use myself as the canvas 32:03 Giuliard It was an out-of- body experience because once again I did not 32:08 think that I could use me Me needed to be left at the front door Even though me 32:14 was what got me in there you was what also delivered you to the work of August 32:21 Wilson Yes When you leave college speaking of a playright that's not often 32:26 taught Yeah in school People know you from Fences Mahraini King Henley II but 32:36 your first Tony nomination came from your turn in Seven Guitars Yes Um in the 32:42 mid '9s I think it was Yes But on the subject of 32:47 whiteness was there a Q&A you had after one performance where there was a certain 32:54 response from someone that that made you that opened your eyes to to the 32:59 conditions in which you were working Yes It was in San Francisco at ACT You mean 33:05 liberal San Francisco Liberal San Francisco You know sometimes the liberal or you 33:11 know conservative is just a mask for um something else But um it was after a 33:19 performance and one of the um audience members raised their hand and said "Why 33:25 should we care about Floyd school boy Barton which is the main subject the 33:31 character in Seven Guitars who's a blues singer who's just come out of jail He comes out of jail He makes a hit He has 33:38 a hit record and he's about to be um he's about to be famous and he gets 33:43 killed It's a tragedy And in the end this audience member said "I didn't feel 33:49 anything Why should we care about him?" Uh was he famous It's not like he's BB 33:55 King you know Um so why should we care about him He's not in the history books 34:01 He's not in the history books And for me that's something deeper It's a huge 34:07 problem I have with narratives What is it I think that people have a hard time 34:12 sitting with a black character for 2 hours whether it's in a movie or whether it's in a play I think they're okay with 34:20 it if it's an allegory if we're not really representing a human 34:26 being okay If we're representing an idea maybe they will maybe they'll carry it 34:32 okay because then they can be they can look at it academically They can attach it to a politic or something Absolutely 34:39 Right Um maybe they could do it if it's not deep if it's maybe a 34:46 comedy but to have someone sit with you like you would in All My 34:54 Sons Death of a Salesman you know there is a sort of 34:59 bering for our worth in narratives that if I made it into a 35:05 history book then I can know as maybe someone white I'll know that you're 35:13 worthy of my time in the theater Me being worthy of anyone's time in the 35:19 theater is me breathing Tony Morrison coined the 35:25 phrase the white gaze And the reason why she coined it is because she said every 35:31 time she pen to paper she had an imaginary white character on her shoulder that kept saying "Write for me 35:38 Make me understand it I don't understand it Make me understand it." 35:43 And so she felt that every time she read any work even if it were The Invisible 35:49 Man or Frederick Douglas's autobiography she said the reason why she knew it 35:54 wasn't written for her is because they were explaining things that you wouldn't have to explain to her 36:01 Okay She even felt that Frederick Douglas was holding something back when she got her first review for Schula in 36:07 New York Times a glowing review but the one aspect of the review that really 36:13 threw her was the writer said she could be brilliant if she only had white 36:18 characters in it M I want to be seen as human as human as fragile as messy as 36:27 much of a paradox as any character in Tennessee Williams or Anton Czechov or 36:33 Eugene O'Neal And I think that I want you to sit with 36:38 me even if I have five minutes of a silent moment because of what is 36:44 happening in my life As author Miller said in view from the bridge about Eddie 36:51 he's like he may be a despicable character but something is happening to 36:57 him and attention needs to be made Attention needs to be made with us I'm 37:03 many things beyond my blackness Your artistry 37:08 in that play Seven Guitars I never got to see it I think I was three or four at 37:15 the time Yeah 37:22 Parents could have taken me maybe Yeah exactly Um I want to hold like how you saw your purpose and your artistry in 37:29 that moment working long long hours in these theater productions that were paying you okay but you know can't buy 37:38 home And to do that um I want to set up a scene Mhm in the play which is set in 37:44 a Pittsburgh tenement in 1948 where you play Vera the sometimes 37:49 girlfriend to the 1940s blues musician Floyd who's trying in this scene to 37:55 desperately get Vera back Yeah In the production you played Vera Mhm And um I 38:01 think it was Keith David Keith David Yeah Who played Floyd But I'd like to swap roles for today and um see if we 38:08 can read this scene together Um okay here we go 38:16 doing a scene opposite of you as someone who's not an actor is um horrifying 38:26 Uh thankfully this is mostly you talking in this scene Yeah And I'm playing Floyd I mean Okay Ready 38:34 I want to say yeah but what am I saying yeah to Another heartache Another time for you to walk out the door with 38:40 another woman You was there too Vera You had a hand in 38:46 whatever it was Maybe all the times we don't know the effect of what we do but we cause 38:51 what happens to us Sometimes even in little ways we can't see I went up to Chicago with Pearl 38:58 Brown cuz she was willing to believe that I could take her someplace she wanted to go that I could give her 39:05 things that she wanted to have She told me by that it was possible Even 39:12 sometimes when you question yourself when you wonder can you really make the music work for you Can you find a way to 39:18 get it out into the world so it can burst in the air and have it mean something to 39:23 somebody She didn't know if I could do that if I could have a hit record but 39:29 she was willing to believe it Maybe it was selfish of her Maybe she believed for all the wrong reasons But that gave 39:35 me a chance to try So yeah I took it It wasn't easy I was scared But when them 39:41 red lights came on in that recording studio it was like a bell ringing in the boxing match And I did it I reached down 39:49 inside me and I pulled out whatever was there I did like my mama told me I did my best And I figured nobody could fault 39:56 me for that Then when they didn't release the record Pearl Brown left She thought she had believed wrong 40:04 I don't fault her for that But I never lost a belief in myself Then when they released the 40:11 record I realized I didn't have nothing but a hit record I come back to you figuring you 40:17 couldn't say no to a man who had got a hit record but you did And that made me see that you wanted more than Pearl 40:24 Brown I'm here saying I can give it to you Try me one more time and I'll never jump 40:32 back on you in life I got to thinking and I went down to the Greyhound bus station 40:39 too Here See that See what does that say It 40:44 says one way Chicago to Pittsburgh It's good for one year from date to purchase 40:50 I'm going to put that in my shoe When we get to Chicago I'm going to walk around on it I hope I never have to use it 40:58 Well that's all right I forgot all about that scene I 41:04 can tell one person has won a Tony Award Oh in this conversation 41:11 did the music begin to work for you Did it burst into the air into the 41:17 world when you got the role in Doubt Oh most 41:23 definitely That's when it burst in the air because I love that description of art I I think that's I love that line I 41:30 try to use it all the time and I always misquote it You can take that with you today 41:37 cuz that's what you want with your art You want it to mean something to someone 41:42 Authur Miller says it I write so people can feel less alone 41:49 I mean I think that there's probably a lot of young actors coming up now who just want the awards and they want the 41:55 money Um but really a true artist wants it to 42:00 sort of burst in the air and they want it to sort of shift people shift how you 42:07 think about yourself and the world I mean that's the goal It's a lofty 42:15 goal but it's a goal nevertheless You wrote a 100page biography for that 42:20 character in doubt Yeah A character that appears in the movie for less than 10 minutes Yeah Tell me how you go about 42:28 unpacking a character like that Before you go unpack how you go about unpacking any character from that period 42:35 onward I will say that one of the things that I always do is first of all they 42:41 say in acting you have to be an observer and a thief The observing part comes from life and 42:48 the thief probably comes from looking at other actors work but the observing I 42:53 always have to think of something in my life that I can compare it to I was lost 43:00 because I didn't understand the woman who would allow her son to stay with a man that she that could possibly be 43:07 molesting him and just say at least he's mentoring him when his father all the 43:15 father does is beat him I just didn't understand that I felt it was uh too 43:21 stark too allegorical I I I didn't get it 43:27 What happens for me is when I get a character the reason why I write is the more I write I think I can unlock 43:34 something What's their favorite color What's their first memory Now if it's written within an inch of its life a lot 43:40 of times it's already in there I only had 8 minutes so I had to make up something And then I ask people 43:46 questions of course because what I need to find out is what is the driving need 43:52 in their life What do they live for Do they want to be 43:58 loved Do they want to have control And I remember um an acting 44:04 teacher of mine cuz I I I kept trying to figure out and one of the things she said is Biola maybe she leaves her son 44:13 in that situation Here's a big aha moment because she has no choice 44:21 What are you telling me 44:28 I'm talking about the boy's nature now not anything he's 44:35 done You can't hold a child responsible for what God gave him to be 44:42 I'm only interested in actions Mrs Miller But then there's the boy's nature 44:48 Leave that out of it Forget it then You want forcing people to say 44:58 things My boy came to your school cuz they were going to kill him in a public 45:05 school His father don't like him He come to your school kids don't 45:10 like him One man is good to him this priest Then does a man have his reasons 45:19 Yes Everybody does You have your reasons but do I ask the man why he's good to my 45:29 son No I don't care 45:39 why My son needs some man to care about 45:45 him and to see him through the way he wants to go And thank God this educated man with 45:52 some kindness in him wants to do just that This will not do It's just till 45:57 June I'll throw your son out of this school Why would you do that if it didn't start with him Because I will 46:03 stop this You'd hurt my son to get your way It won't end with your son Throw the priest out then I am trying to do just 46:11 that Then what do you want from me Merryill Streep your co-star said the 46:17 director made you go back and reshoot that scene re-shoot the next day again 46:23 and again and again and again Mhm And I wonder did that 46:29 repetition how did you use that How did you continue doing that scene over and 46:34 over Because just doing it once seems like it would take a whole lifetime to 46:39 produce that kind of work Well um that's my theater training I've done plays for 46:45 over a year again and again and again I've done four-hour plays I've done one woman shows I have over a 40-year career 46:53 So he could have done it 50 times and I would have been able to do it over and over again And you were unflapable in 47:00 that I was pretty unflapable You know what I'm an actor who stays in 47:05 my lane What does that mean I'm not trying to be like anyone else 47:12 I wasn't trying to be like Adrien Lennox who you know who auditioned for the part She auditioned for the part and she was 47:19 you know she originated the part Fantastic actor Great I'm not trying to 47:24 be like anyone else I'm just trying to do what I do And um I did not see it did 47:32 not throw me And I didn't have enough experience in my life up until that time to have 47:40 the sort of wisdom for it to throw me I just thought that this is just what 47:45 people do when they do a scene with Meryill Street It goes incredibly well 47:51 You receive an Oscar nomination In the aftermath you talked earlier about 47:56 getting to a place on How to Get Away with Murder where you had that crisis of 48:02 faith a little bit Yeah Yeah And I'm curious in How to Get Away with Murder and In Widows Um you said both 48:09 Shondaanda Rimes and Steve McQueen saw something in me that other filmmakers did not Mhm What did they see an 48:18 explorer that the industry seemed to be ignoring They saw me as a woman 48:26 Usually I'm just seen as mama you know with no sexuality with no 48:37 mess Yeah They saw me as a woman and they saw me as a complicated 48:42 woman And um I think notoriously women who look like me are seen limited like 48:48 that And we always have to bear the weight and the responsibility of it Like why don't you lose some weight wanted to 48:55 make your voice higher wanted to do something different with your hair As if your worth and your personage should be 49:03 bothered Our job as artists is to show you hum a 49:10 human being Human beings are vast It's only in 49:16 movie and TV land where only the guy the guy who gets the girl the girl always 49:23 has to look cute the first scene If the guy is cute the woman has got to be cute 49:28 If if there is a great best friend then she's usually overweight She's really 49:33 really funny And my thing that's not my world I don't understand that world The 49:39 world is way more vast than that And it's our job to be the conduit to bring 49:46 the audience that truth And I think that's what Shondaanda Rimes and that's what um and Pete Noalk who is a 49:54 showrunner of uh was the showrunner of How to Get Away with Murder and Steve McQueen saw in me What did it feel like 50:00 to be seen Feels free 50:05 man You know when other people see you then it forces you to see 50:11 yourself You know after a while when a culture defines you um your family 50:18 defines you you become trapped in definition and 50:25 labels Somewhere in there is you You know you're in there somewhere but you 50:30 don't even know who you are anymore You sort of filter it into a 50:36 profession in order to get the job And then all of who you are gets 50:42 sort of left in a room somewhere because it you feel like it has to look 50:48 a certain way No it doesn't Sanford Meisner says the most 50:54 important question an actor can ask is why I'm going to redefine that question 51:01 I think the most important question anyone can ask is why And then when you 51:06 get to the end of why the most really powerful question you can ask is why not 51:13 Why can't I be the weight I am now Why can't I have muscular arms Why can't I 51:20 have a deep voice Why can't I be a love interest Why do I have to be 35 Why 51:27 can't you be that confident performer that you were at Giuliard 51:33 Well the world hadn't gotten to me yet Yes Okay So now it's gotten to you Now 51:38 the world has gotten to me This is what it looks like to be got to Yes This is what it looks like to be got to I tell 51:43 you it looks pretty damn good Well well thank you very much But what I needed to do is press the pause button and work on 51:52 the other part of me You know the thing about it is I I 51:58 remember every time I would do a really great performance I would feel so jazzed and so happy and then go 52:05 home And Viola didn't feel like anything if she wasn't working If she wasn't on 52:11 stage doing a monologue that made everybody cry and stand up and throw flowers then she was worthless 52:20 And as soon as I stepped off the stage it was like unplugging a phone or and and the phone losing its 52:29 charge The rest of my life looked like a wasteland And I've realized once again 52:37 is the reason why I wanted to be a great actress is because I just wanted to be 52:45 somebody But that ain't it It's just not 52:51 it And I think you know Joseph Campbell talks about slaying dragons and going 52:58 out there and with mentors and allies and then you finally get to that inmost 53:03 cave where you come face to face not with God but with yourself 53:11 And what I realize is I was always worthy 53:17 I didn't have to do anything for that It's not the power cord 53:23 anymore It's just not So what is I'm the power 53:31 cord I am Every single day when I wake up and 53:36 put my feet on the floor my job is to not betray myself 53:42 Acting is just one aspect of who I am And every single time I betray myself 53:49 that's it It's like I've unplugged myself once again It's what gives my life meaning which by the way what gives 53:57 my life meaning is my story Completely embracing 54:02 it you know I'm worthy Who knew I didn't 54:08 think that I I my big thing is okay the bed wetter B viola who would chuck a 54:14 finger all the time and call people [ __ ] [ __ ] at six years old It was the hardest sentence to write in 54:20 the book by the way No one wanted me to open the book with [ __ ] [ __ ] were my favorite words when 54:26 I was growing up But I wanted to capture little Viola Little Viola was fantastic 54:37 She did not betray herself ever She was extremely 54:45 inappropriate She was extremely rough around the edges She 54:54 smelled She was unruly She had three pink slips and four 55:00 white slips Disciplinary action and you know and every single day was in 55:08 detention But she was Viola She was alive And every single time I feel like 55:15 I have to go back to heal her she's sitting on some bench somewhere imaginary bench saying "You don't have 55:21 to heal me I'm perfectly fine I'm waiting for you to heal yourself so we can just sit and just squeal about this 55:27 freaking life that we both created because I'm the one who got thrust out 55:33 into the world and and let other people get at me Your husband said Viola is 55:39 never far away from that little girl she talks about She's never forgot her Yeah 55:45 You think he's right Oh absolutely You know what When I think 55:50 about her it's the only thing that really makes me enjoy my life What What 55:57 do you mean Because it gives me perspective I talk about my therapist 56:02 who you know who said you know when I said I got to you know it's my job to 56:08 heal this little girl because she was really traumatized cuz the violence in the house he was like why I thought she 56:14 was pretty brave Mhm She she she got it done It's a 55 Maybe it was 55 56:20 55year-old Viola that needs help I was like "Excuse me I'm evolved." He was 56:26 like "Let her squeal." You know they say that only two people 56:32 you only anything is six-year-old self and your 80-year-old self 56:37 You know I do And I only have two questions left for us because then we got to go Okay But speaking of 56:44 perspective um in 2008 around doubt when most people were introduced 56:50 to you and your artistry you were 43 years old then Mhm And you did this 56:57 interview on NPR where they asked you about recognition Does it mean anything now 57:03 that you've received the Oscar nomination And I just want to listen to what you said back then This is you back 57:11 in 2008 I don't care what they say The bottom line is they want to do something that 57:16 moves people that affects them in some way or else what you do is kind of 57:22 meaningless So when you get all the buzz and the reaction you know it's hitting 57:28 someone The part that means nothing is the part that hasn't translated into 57:35 anything tangible Buzz doesn't pay the mortgage Buzz doesn't you know buzz is 57:43 buzz And it's also what you don't really do the project for And I always kind of 57:50 feel you know it's just me It's once again they're going to find me out They're building me up just to knock me 57:56 down You know that's the part that doesn't mean anything because you know what At the end of the day you got to 58:01 keep working I am a theater trained actress I'm not a fluke I'm not a body 58:09 I'm not a face I'm an actor I want to be able to do what Helen Mirren Merill Stre 58:16 all of them are doing That is my dream 17 years later as you turn 60 this 58:24 year it's getting deep Is that you say "I'm not a fluke I'm not a 58:31 body I'm not a face." Right I'm an actor Mhm 58:37 to say that in that moment after all that you had been through to get to that 58:43 performance in doubt Yeah To stand on that and to know then 58:48 I guess now that you have lived up to everything that you said you wanted to do 58:54 there What is the dream for you Two 58:59 things I'm always trying to find home Mhm You know I tell my daughter all the time 59:06 I give her that quote you know how silly of me that I did not know that I was the love of my 59:12 life I'm beginning to understand that So that number one Number 59:18 two it's my job in life because we will be no more 59:26 It's coming and we don't know when it's coming It's It's some deep [ __ ] out there But here's the thing I see life as 59:33 a relay race I do I do see it where you see a relay 59:39 race and you see all the great runners Each one that runs their leg of the race is a great runner in and of themselves 59:46 So you're passing the baton I'm passing the baton man to the next great runner 59:51 I need to leave something in people I do And you have that dash of time to be 59:58 able to do it to be able to make that change And I think that that pretty much the 1:00:04 the twofold of loving oneself and leaving something behind 1:00:10 that's what makes a life And Lamont writes "You can either leave something for people or you can leave something in 1:00:17 people." And when you leave something in them it burns like an ember It does It's it's it 1:00:25 burns forever You have a lot of people like Anton Czechov said who are living 1:00:30 lives in quiet desperation And all of us can be healers if we choose whatever we 1:00:38 choose we choose as an elixir to heal You could be fabulous at 1:00:45 what you're doing You can even make a lot of money doing it But ultimately if the goal is not for it to burst into the 1:00:53 air and have it mean something to someone then you're not doing anything 1:00:59 Your elixir since time immemorial was observation Has been 1:01:05 observation And my last question for us cuz we had to go Yeah Can you tell me 1:01:11 about as an observer and thief and actor that woman on the 1:01:17 corner standing in the freezing cold weather Mhm That you saw as a 1:01:27 child I think the one reason why I became an actor is because I see her And 1:01:33 who is she Oh she's everything 1:01:38 She's a little girl who played with Barbie dolls who wanted to be somebody 1:01:44 She's probably someone who had a really deep laugh She's someone who probably fell in 1:01:51 love with everything in her being and maybe got her heart broken She's someone who's worthy of 1:01:59 love belonging I see her And I think that's why I 1:02:06 became an artist is because I see her When you saw her where was she at She's 1:02:12 so many people growing up in Central Falls on Dexter Street on Broad Street 1:02:18 you know with the cigarette and and and the bad skin The bloodshot eyes The bloodshot eyes The dirty sneakers Dirty 1:02:25 sneakers The corduroy coats Corduroy coat You know that with the fall fur and the inside and and the jeans that don't 1:02:31 fit I think that by the time she makes it to the screen she's been so filtered down into a version um acceptable 1:02:39 version of herself And I think that when you water her down into an acceptable version of herself you're telling her 1:02:46 that you don't love her You're telling her that you're not meeting her where she is I meet people 1:02:53 where they are If if a role calls for me take my wig off or to have no makeup or to have snot 1:03:01 coming out of my nose because that's who the person is then I am honoring their truth It's that that's reconciling 1:03:08 little Viola Little Viola who went to school whose teacher said "You got to go home 1:03:14 because you you smell so bad." You 1:03:20 know I didn't feel worthy because I felt like I had to filter myself down I had 1:03:26 to go through a machine of worthiness And worthiness is nothing to be bartered 1:03:31 with It's asis You are worthy as is right now As 1:03:39 my daughter said when she saw this homeless man in Chicago it was at the last day of widows She was 6 years old 1:03:47 and we were in the car getting ready to go back to the trailer It was over And she said 1:03:54 "Oh look at that homeless man Look at mama He's dirty and he 1:04:02 probably smells bad Oh my god." And then there was a big pause and she said "But he's my brother 1:04:14 God says he's my brother And I think that's the most beautiful 1:04:21 transcendent part of being an actor is that when you meet people where they are 1:04:28 and you channel them where they are they become your 1:04:34 brother We're wired for connection And sometimes for me that's where I got it 1:04:40 from in my art And it's been my honor to do that And 1:04:46 sometimes even if I'm I fail at least that was the objective to see the 1:04:51 invisible Yes To recreate them and make them present and visible to all of us 1:04:56 Absolutely Well I um I hope you haven't been watered down or filtered in this 1:05:03 conversation No it's been fantastic Hope none of it gets me in trouble But you 1:05:09 know what Here's the thing You know it's like John Lewis says "Maybe I'll get into some good trouble." I I I I wish 1:05:14 that for us both Yes And and speaking of the work how it lives in me and I know 1:05:20 so many people listening Mhm Thank you 1:05:27 Thank you Thank you I appreciate that Mhm Viola 1:05:33 Davis appreciate you coming in Thank you Thank you for having me 1:05:43 [Music]

Red Rum born 1965 irish legend, love Red Rum, my second favorite horse behind aristides. Aintree legend streetart 1973 won 1974 won 1975 second won by L'escargot 1976 second won by Rag Trade 1977 won https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Rum

First Kentucky derby held 1875 The Colt's name is Aristides newspaper clipping [ The Tennessean Nashville, Tennessee • Thu, May 11, 1876 Page 1 ] https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tennessean-aristides-breaks-record-f/148895858/ info https://www.espn.com.sg/sports/horse/news/story?id=5086727 Aristides: The first Derby winner Terry Conway Apr 14, 2010, 11:51 PM H. P. McGrath was a barroom brawler who worked his way up from crooked dice games in his native Kentucky to owning posh gambling parlors in New Orleans and New York City. Cashing in his massive profits in 1867, McGrath returned to Lexington as a member of the landed gentry. He built his lordly estate McGrathiana on the crest of a hill a few miles outside town. Breeding, racing, and betting topflight thoroughbreds would dominate the rest of his life. Henry Price McGrath also gained immortality. His blood-red chestnut colt Aristides will forever be remembered in racing history as the first Kentucky Derby winner. The burly Irishman also threw the biggest parties in town. Each spring and fall on the Sunday before the opening of the race meetings, McGrath hosted lavish burgoo feasts. In May of 1875 the carriages of McGrath's racing friends swept up the twisting drive. Under a grove of locust trees at half-past one the feast commenced. First came the burgoo (a sumptuous beef stew) and burgundy, followed by roast dishes of mutton, goat and pig while the champagne and bourbon flowed. Afterwards McGrath paraded the leading lights of his stable before guests on the lawn. Eastern champions Tom Bowling and Susan Ann drew great applause. Not so for Aristides. His heroics were still a day away. Monday May 17 saw most businesses in Louisville shuttered by noon. Merchants realized the lion's share of the money exchanging hands would be at the new racetrack south of town. The previous summer one of the town's leading socialites, Colonel Meriwether Lewis Clark, button- holed 320 of his friends to pony up funds to build the track on 80 acres he leased from his uncle, John Churchill. On that sun-splashed day, streams of Louisvillians rode mule-drawn streetcars down Fourth Street departing for an easy walk to the site of the Louisville Jockey Club. Others arrived on foot or in wagons brimming with race fans. Fringe-topped buggies and handsom carriages led by brilliant teams of hackneys all made their way to the racecourse. Rich gentlemen wore silk hats and fine clothes, while pretty ladies in colorful dresses carrying parasols filled the boxes of the grandstand. Working men in straw hats and shirtsleeves got their first glimpse of the big city.Some paid two dollars for a badge that let them watch near the rail in the home stretch, others trooped into the infield and settled on their patch of grass. As the Derby 2:30 p.m. post time approached, more than 10,000 roamed the grounds. McGrath owned the favorite, a stout and spirited bay colt named Chesapeake. In addition, Aristides was entered as the "rabbit" to soften up the field. "Risty" was a pint size (a little over 15 hands) colt with a white star on his forehead and white socks on his hind legs. Possessing plenty of "bone and substance," as a two-year old Aristides captured three of nine races. Richly bred, the colt was sired by imported English stallion Leamington out of dam Sarong, also by Leamington. His bloodlines traced back to the greats — Glencoe, Sir Archy and Diomed. Frank B. Harper's Ten Broeck turned up for the Derby that bettors considered a "mile-and-a-quarter dash." A week earlier Ten Broeck dominated the field (including Aristides) in the two-mile Phoenix Hotel Stakes in Lexington and would go on to reign as one of the turf's all-time long distance runners. The bugle sounded playing "Boots and Saddles," and 15 three-year old colts jogged onto the track in single file. Parading past the judge's stand Aristides tossed his head following a lad on a lead pony. He sported a saddle blanket "as green as the grass of Erin" bound with a bright orange stripe. In one corner big orange letters spelled "McGrathiana" and in the other "Aristides." The topnotch broadcloth was a gift from Aristides Welch of Philadelphia, the celebrated owner of Leamington. The gregarious Irishman had named the compact colt for his friend. A line was drawn in the dirt and the horses stood to start the race. In unison with the rat-tat-tat of a drummer's beat, Colonel William Johnson dropped the flag. The horses sprang into action. McCreery jumped to the lead, stalked by Volcano and Aristides. McGrath's Chesapeake was one of the last away. As they hit the backstretch Aristides surged to the lead with four horses in close pursuit. Favored Chesapeake was stuck in mid-pack. As they rounded the far turn jockey Oliver Lewis — following McGrath's instructions — began to pull back on the chestnut colt a bit to make way for Chesapeake's run to glory. Then Oliver glanced over to the rail at the head of the stretch where McGrath waved his hat frantically and shouted "go on and win it." Aristides sped to the lead and held off a pair of challengers, dashed under the wire and won by two lengths earning a purse of $2,850. His time of 2:37 ¾ was the fastest ever recorded at the distance for a three-year old. The Louisville Courier-Journal reported: "It is the gallant Aristides, heir to a mighty name, that strides with sweeping gallop toward victory … And the air trembles and vibrates again with the ringing cheers that followed." Epilogue Arisitides' trainer Ansel Williams and jockey Oliver Lewis were both African-Americans, a group who played a critical role in shaping early American racing history. A total of 14 of the 15 riders in the first Kentucky Derby were African-American, with African-American jockeys winning 15 of the initial 28 runnings. Born a slave, Williamson was purchased by Robert A. Alexander, the owner of the famous Woodburn Stud in 1864 where Williamson worked as a trainer and breeder. Following Alexander's death in 1867, Williamson went on to train many great horses including Tom Bowling, who won 14 of his 17 races. Williamson won major races such as the Travers Stakes, the Jerome Handicap, and the Wither Stakes and was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1998. Jockey Oliver Lewis is less well known. Born in Fayette County, Ky., Lewis was 19 when he won the 1875 Kentucky Derby. He never rode in another Derby. Instead, he became a successful bookmaker (then a legal enterprise) and wrote detailed handicapping charts similar to what appears in today's Daily Racing Form. Lewis was said to be a good family man who raised six children. He died in 1924, and is buried in Lexington. Henry Price McGrath trained as a tailor before pursuing the quick riches as a gambler and bookmaker. He spent a year in a federal jail in New Orleans for fleecing hard spending Union soldiers. His opulent mansion at McGrathiana was fashioned after the United States Hotel in Saratoga Springs. At his New York gambling house he won $105,000 in a single night. Reportedly, McGrath never had a bank account and had large sums of money, in gold and silver, buried on the farm. One of the most prominent turfmen of his era, he bred numerous brilliant runners, and declared Tom Bowling his greatest. A bachelor all his life, he died in July 1881 at a fashionable resort in Long Branch N. J. from a diseased liver and dropsy. McGrathiana was sold to Colonel Milton Young who continued the farm's tradition as a birthplace of champion racehorses. Sold again in 1915 to C. B. Shaffer of Chicago, the breeding establishment was renamed Coldstream Farm. Today, it is owned by the University of Kentucky. The Coldstream Research Campus is home to 1,000 employees working in biotech, pharmaceutical and equine-related companies. Aristides Boulevard runs alongside Coldwater Farm. The runner-up in the 1875 Belmont Stakes, Aristides was on the lead heading into the stretch when jockey Lewis put the chestnut colt under a fierce hold allowing stablemate Calvin to win. McGrath had placed a hefty bet on Calvin and took home a stunning $30,000. Aristides captured the Jerome Handicap, the Breckinridge, the Withers Stakes and triumphed in a match race over Ten Broeck. In 21 career starts (9-5-1) he earned $18,325, quite a fortune in the day. But with the Derby not yet a famed national event, breeders did not flock to his stable door. Aristides died at the age of 21 at the Fairgrounds of St. Louis. To honor his racing achievements Churchill Downs inaugurated the Aristides Stakes (sprint race) in 1988. The track also commissioned a life-sized bronze statue that now stands in the Clubhouse Gardens as a memorial to the "the little red horse." Terry Conway has been a regular contributor to The Blood-Horse magazine since 2003. He wrote a Sunday column on racing for several years for the Chester County (Pa.) daily newspaper and covers racing and the horse world for a number of regional magazines in the mid-Atlantic area. In addition, he has written many historical articles on the art world and business entrepreneurs for a variety of national and regional magazines. Contact Terry at tconway@terryconway.net Pedigree LINK PDF https://www.equineline.com/Free5XPedigreePdf.cfm?page_state=GENERATE&reference_number=5332901&registry=T&horse_name=Aristides&dam_name=Sarong&foaling_year=1872&NICKING_STATS_INDICATOR=Y&include_sire_line=Y&sire_reference_number=0&dam_reference_number=0&color=&sex=&hypo_foaling_year=&breeder=&sig=__NA The jockey's name is Oliver Lewis info https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-kentucky-derbys-forgotten-jockeys-128781428/ The Kentucky Derby’s Forgotten Jockeys African American jockeys once dominated the track. But by 1921, they had disappeared from the Kentucky Derby Lisa K. Winkler April 23, 2009 PHOTO ARTICLE CONTINUE James Winkfield was a two-time Kentucky Derby winner and raced across Europe after racism kept him from being the best athlete in America's most popular sport. Courtesy Kentucky Derby Museum / Kinetic Corporation When tens of thousands of fans assemble in Louisville, Kentucky, for the Kentucky Derby, they will witness a phenomenon somewhat unusual for today’s American sporting events: of some 20 riders, none are African-American. Yet in the first Kentucky Derby in 1875, 13 out of 15 jockeys were black. Among the first 28 derby winners, 15 were black. African-American jockeys excelled in the sport in the late 1800s. But by 1921, they had disappeared from the Kentucky track and would not return until Marlon St. Julien rode in the 2000 race. African-American jockeys’ dominance in the world of racing is a history nearly forgotten today. Their participation dates back to colonial times, when the British brought their love of horseracing to the New World. Founding Fathers George Washington and Thomas Jefferson frequented the track, and when President Andrew Jackson moved into the White House in 1829, he brought along his best Thoroughbreds and his black jockeys. Because racing was tremendously popular in the South, it is not surprising that the first black jockeys were slaves. They cleaned the stables and handled the grooming and training of some of the country’s most valuable horseflesh. From such responsibility, slaves developed the abilities needed to calm and connect with Thoroughbreds, skills demanded of successful jockeys. For blacks, racing provided a false sense of freedom. They were allowed to travel the racing circuit, and some even managed their owners’ racing operation. They competed alongside whites. When black riders were cheered to the finish line, the only colors that mattered were the colors of their silk jackets, representing their stables. Horseracing was entertaining for white owners and slaves alike and one of the few ways for slaves to achieve status. After the Civil War, which had devastated racing in the South, emancipated African-American jockeys followed the money to tracks in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. “African Americans had been involved in racing and with horses since the beginning,” says Anne Butler, director of Kentucky State University's Center for the Study of Kentucky African Americans. “By the time freedom came they were still rooted in the sport.” The freed riders soon took center stage at the newly organized Kentucky Derby. On opening day, May 17, 1875, Oliver Lewis, a 19-year-old black native Kentuckian, rode Aristides, a chestnut colt trained by a former slave, to a record-setting victory. Two years later William Walker, 17, claimed the race. Isaac Murphy became the first jockey to win three Kentucky Derbys, in 1884, 1890, and 1891, and won an amazing 44 percent of all the races he rode, a record still unmatched. Alonzo "Lonnie" Clayton, at 15 the youngest to win in 1892, was followed by James "Soup" Perkins, who began racing at age 11 and claimed the 1895 Derby. Willie Simms won in 1896 and 1898. Jimmy "Wink" Winkfield, victorious in 1901 and 1902, would be the last African American to win the world-famous race. Murphy, Simms and Winkfield have been inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York. In 2005, Winkfield was also honored with a Congressional House Resolution, a few days before the 131st Derby. Such accolades came long after his death in 1974 at age 91 and decades after racism forced him and other black jockeys off American racetracks. Despite Wink’s winning more than 160 races in 1901, Goodwin's Annual Official Guide to the Turf omitted his name. The rising scourge of segregation began seeping into horse racing in the late 1890s. Fanned by the Supreme Court's 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that upheld the "separate but equal" doctrine, Jim Crow injustice pervaded every social arena, says Butler. “White genteel class, remnants from that world, didn't want to share the bleachers with African American spectators, though blacks continued to work as groomers and trainers," she says. PHOTOS PHOTO INFO 1 James Winkfield retired from horse racing in 1930 after a career 2,600 wins. Courtesy Kentucky Derby Museum / Kinetic Corporation 2 James Winkfield was a two-time Kentucky Derby winner and raced across Europe after racism kept him from being the best athlete in America's most popular sport. Courtesy Kentucky Derby Museum / Kinetic Corporation 3 William Walker was already under contract at the age of 11 to an owner named Wood Stringfield and at the age of 13, he claimed a stakes victory. Courtesy Kentucky Derby Museum / Kinetic Corporation 4 Oliver Lewis rode Aristides to victory in the inaugural Kentucky Derby. Courtesy Kentucky Derby Museum / Kinetic Corporation 5 In 1892, Alonzo "Lonnie" Clayton became the youngest jockey to win the Kentucky Derby at the age of 15. Courtesy Kentucky Derby Museum / Kinetic Corporation 6 At the age of 14, James "Soup" Perkins won the Latonia Oaks. The Times called him "the best lightweight jockey of the West." Courtesy Kentucky Derby Museum / Kinetic Corporation 7 Isaac Murphy was one of America's first sports stars. At the age of 14, he rode his first race at Louisville in 1875. Courtesy Kentucky Derby Museum / Kinetic Corporation 8 Willie Simms won the Kentucky Derby in 1896 and 1898. Simms also changed the sport of horse racing when he introduced the natural American riding style to England. Courtesy Kentucky Derby Museum / Kinetic Corporation ARTICLE CONTINUE Racism, coupled with the economic recessions of the period, shrunk the demand for black jockeys as racetracks closed and attendance fell. With intensified competition for mounts, violence on the tracks against black jockeys by white jockeys prevailed without recourse. Winkfield received death threats from the Ku Klux Klan. Anti-gambling groups campaigned against racing, causing more closures and the northern migration of blacks from southern farming communities further contributed to the decline of black jockeys. Winkfield dealt another serious blow to his career by jumping a contract. With fewer and fewer mounts coming his way, he left the United States in 1904 for Czarist Russia, where his riding skills earned him celebrity and fortune beyond his dreams. Fleeing the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, he moved to France, raced for another decade and retired in 1930 after a career 2,600 wins. In 1940, Nazis seized his stables, causing Winkfield to return to States, where he signed on to a Works Progress Administration road crew. Back in France by 1953, he opened a training school for jockeys. In 1961, six decades after winning his first Kentucky Derby, Winkfield returned to Kentucky to attend a pre-Derby banquet. When he and his daughter Liliane arrived at Louisville's historic Brown Hotel, they were denied entry. After a long wait and repeated explanations that they were guests of Sports Illustrated, they were finally admitted. Wink died 13 years later in France. After his 1903 run in the Kentucky Derby, black Americans practically disappeared from Goodwin’s official list of jockeys. In 1911 Jess Conley came in third in the derby and in 1921, Henry King placed tenth. Seventy-nine years would pass before another African American would ride in the Derby. Marlon St. Julien took seventh place in 2000. "I'm not an activist,” says St. Julien, who admitted during an interview a few years ago that he didn’t know the history of black jockeys and “started reading up on it.” Reached recently in Louisiana, where he is racing the state circuit, he says “I hope I’m a role model as a rider to anyone who wants to race." Longtime equestrian and Newark, New Jersey, schoolteacher Miles Dean would agree that not enough is known about the nation’s great black jockeys. In an effort to remedy that, he has organized the National Day of the Black Jockey for Memorial Day weekend. The event will include educational seminars, a horse show, parade, and memorial tribute. All events will be held at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville. Last year, Dean rode his horse, Sankofa, a 12-year-old Arabian stallion, in a six-month journey from New York to California. He spoke at colleges and communities to draw attention to African American contributions to the history and settlement of the United States. "As an urban educator I see every day the disconnect students have with their past. By acknowledging the contributions of African American jockeys, I hope to heighten children's awareness of their history. It's a history of great achievement, not just a history of enslavement.” buried https://web.archive.org/web/20160104062442/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2-7s95OJiM referral info Lexington Public Library presents an original documentary production on a historic African-American cemetery and the small band of Lexingtonians who have spent years restoring it. Thousands are buried at African Cemetery No. 2, including the winning jockey of the first Kentucky Derby, Oliver Lewis, a number of Buffalo Soldiers and a member of the Civil Wars's 54th Massachusetts Regiment. The 141-year-old cemetery was neglected and overgrown before volunteers began the work of restoring the grounds and gathering the life stories of those buried there. Produced by the LPL's Cable Channel 20. Edited and Directed by Thom Southerland. Photography by Thai Emmerich. VIDEO TRANSCRIPT 0:06 John Henry Clark who was a noted historian would be 90 some years old if he was still alive said this about 0:12 history he said that history is like a clock it tells of people the historical 0:18 time of day it tells where they've been where they are and where they yet still 0:24 have to go 1:03 African Cemetery number two earliest recorded Cemetery in Lexington to be 1:08 organized owned and managed by African-Americans the site has been in existence since 1869 trusties of 1:16 benevolent Society number two successfully operated Cemetery many individuals buried here were important 1:23 leaders in the community the people buried in that Cemetery are larg 1:30 the people who put a foundation for African-American communities in 1:37 lexingon following the Civil War and the story of these former 1:45 enslaved men and women after emancipation is just graphically told in 1:52 studying their lives they became the leaders the entrepreneurs the business 1:58 people the Civic organizers um they formed fraternal 2:04 organizations they were part of the Masons the col it fair the colored Oran home all of the all of these people are 2:12 buried in this Cemetery early church leaders who found it and organized some of the early churches in Lexington I 2:19 hold very strongly to a belief that when we do not know our history when we do 2:27 not have opportunities to learn about the 2:32 biographies of people who have gone before us then we lose 2:40 opportunities to understand fully who we came from and who we can 2:48 become there are stories here that have been long dormant it's an almost 2:55 forgotten chapter of of Lexington's history this is a spot where so much 3:01 National History is potentially located and yet it's not really well known about 3:07 uh is to me is is a shame and it it's something that needs to be better brought out I have tried to 3:17 unbe information about African-Americans and bring it to light 3:24 so that hopefully the full Kentucky narrative will be more inclusive of the 3:32 contributions that African-Americans have made that the cemetery has gone through so much 3:39 neglect you know renewal desecration vandalism and it's 3:44 still there it's just been amazing that it has survived I mean just truly cuz so 3:50 many cemeteries just get wiped away and this could have been one of them part of restoration is a 3:58 continuation of the work that has been laid here by our foreparents they're 4:05 taking the task to buy the land and create the cemetery was part of a larger 4:12 effort to create Community create a legacy create a safe 4:18 place for their children and their grandchildren and to know that this Cemetery holds their remains it also 4:25 holds their stories you cannot help but uncover their stories when you start 4:32 looking for their names this story out here on Seventh Street with all this 4:37 industry around us and all these railroad tracks is an important story as 4:42 any other story this is your story too whether you are African-American European American Latino um African 4:50 refugees whoever you are wherever you're from that this story is important to you 4:56 as well this story can inspire you 5:06 once you start working in a cemetery and finding the people that you find the 5:11 question is how did this come to 5:26 be in October 185 2 enslaved men 5:33 organized to help each other care for the sick bury the dead and perform other 5:40 acts of Charity this is before emancipation this is after the 1850 5:47 Slave Code law that required all states to identify any person they feel were 5:56 running away uh back at that time you didn't have things like Social Security 6:01 and insurance and stuff like that people banded together like this Cemetery was 6:07 started by Union benevolence Society number two and that was a group of people that banded together and they 6:13 would contribute to the welfare of the members of that Society that's it was sort of a self-help group that group was 6:20 made up of of freed people and enslave people how could people you who we said 6:27 were enslaved who mean couldn't read and couldn't write how could they come out of 6:33 emancipation and be able to buy land and create businesses and start schools 6:40 African-Americans were told yes you are free but you have no rights you know you 6:45 can't vote uh you can't testify in court uh you we don't recognize you as 6:52 having made contributions to our state or city these men and women who came out of 7:02 enslavement uh knew otherwise they knew they had god-given 7:08 talents they knew that they could make a difference the 7:13 cemetery was uh organized and burials began in 7:18 1869 they purchased the first four acres paid $1,000 at 10% interest and they had 7:26 paid for it in 2 years how did they do that and how did they stay 7:31 organized through the Civil War have such a powerful group that after the 7:38 Civil War and after emancipation they had enough money to purchase property 7:43 this was a benevolent Society meaning they didn't get paid to do this and they didn't say to get paid to take care of 7:49 the poor to get paid for any of those things they said that that was what they were supposed to do Henry King and 7:56 Jordan Jackson actually purchased the property from the am family to found the the 8:03 cemetery the initial 4 Acres when the trustees first purchased this property 8:08 the deed said about a mile and a half beyond the city 8:13 limits while this was charitable many of them were exactly that business people 8:19 and they knew that they had to run this organization the cemeteries and everything that else that they were 8:24 affiliated with in a very businesslike manner by April of 1875 they had 8:29 purchased another for is a joining their first four and they paid for that in 2 8:35 months how is it that these people who are supposed to be ignorant who had no 8:40 education or very little education knew enough to say yes we matter and we're 8:49 going to show you we matter they ban together they formed the school 8:54 committees they formed the self-help organizations that moved African Americans who had newly been freed out 9:02 of enslavement and poverty and so you know we find the early Educators there 9:10 the early ministers just Community Builders in general those who were 9:16 starting organizations and so 9:23 on you know there's a lot of history here not only for African-Americans for 9:29 the City of Lexington and the state of Kentucky the women who were be there there are founders of the colored orphan 9:35 home for that was founded in 1892 they Incorporated they spent two years 9:43 raising money in order to purchase property and a home and they started started a color offing home with pennies 9:50 okay a group of women got together and they put pennies together to Star this colored Oran and Industrial home whose 9:58 purpose was to to care for Orphans and elderly women uh the City of Lexington 10:04 was supporting the white orphan home but there was no room at all for African-American children Jane Sanders 10:11 has a wonderful headstone it's a pillow in the cemetery and on that pillow I had 10:17 to do a rubbing in order to see this but it says founder of the color orphan home 10:24 1894 Priscilla Lacy she was one of the first treasurers uh uh she was a laundry 10:32 lady so she wasn't you know she didn't have Buu bucks but she evidently was 10:37 very trustworthy because they selected her as their their first treasure and she remained treasure until her death 10:43 Mary Gillis was one of the founding members she was a member of first African church and she uh according to 10:50 their information she remained a Sunday school teacher for almost 62 years Charlotte POG was a um matron at the 10:59 home home when it first opened and all of these women took turns at keeping the 11:05 orphan home running they had what I call household duties keeping the day-to-day operation 11:11 and they took turns every week somebody would be responsible they would be the supervisor for what was going on they 11:18 had kitchen Industries they helped the children learn skills that would carry them through life as well as to be 11:24 gainfully employed they had a shoe shop um they had a bakery they had 11:59 the F went down to 12:04 Kentucky just to play the foul it's a Mighty Fine Place you all 12:13 ought to go there the color fair was an organization that promoted the idea that 12:20 African-Americans need to showcase the progress they had made since emancipation it two was for organized in 12:28 1869 but it was a activity that became the largest fair in all the state of 12:34 Kentucky they had visitors from Indiana from Ohio they would ship in here by train they were very very successful and 12:42 established a Amphitheater a racing track went out to the RAC track races 12:49 hadn't started yet we're now to the RAC track races 12:56 hadn't started yet someone said c sloppy boys and I swear 13:04 it was almost all the early jockies uh in our country were 13:09 African-American almost all the Grooms all the trainers all the blacksmiths and 13:15 many of them are buried right here we know that there were at least 80 involved in the industry and the thir 13:22 bread industry would not have developed as thoroughly had it not been for the 13:27 African-Americans presence there's nothing on any of the stones except for one that tell you what his 13:34 profession was there is a a young man Joseph Scott who died at the age of 16 13:40 and all it says is a jockey no one has been able to find 13:45 out who he rode for where he died nothing he was 16 and you ask your question how could a 13:53 child this age be riding African-Americans were put on the horses 13:59 as young child they were introduced to the industry as young children 6 Seven 8 years old they were working in the 14:06 stables and as they got older and developed an affinity for the horses you 14:12 began to sense how to handle them uh groomsmen trainers owners would observe 14:19 this as they developed this this uh Talent OR showed the talent that they 14:26 had they would be put on horses and they would ride actually guide them in 14:31 races quite a few Kentucky Derby winners are buried in that Cemetery in 14:38 1875 the first Kentucky Derby was run and out of the field of 15 jockeys 13 of 14:45 them were African-American the winning jockey was Oliver Lewis he's buried in 14:51 our Cemetery unfortunately his name is not not on the family headstone his uh 14:56 brother and mother's name is Dr and Butler good for her she tracked this 15:01 story down the only thing information that I could find about Oliver Lewis was 15:09 that he um won the first Kentucky Derby and he was running uh riding aises 15:17 there's a tragedy there that there's a statue of aises the first horse to Wi to 15:23 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs but there's none of Oliva LS or of anel 15:29 who trained the very first horse to win the Kentucky Derby who was also an African-American there is much 15:36 information about you know the uh bloodline of atitis and so on but I 15:42 couldn't figure out when ol valis was either born or died we sat at the table 15:48 eating dinner and an Dr Butler pulled out this uh big stack of death 15:54 certificates and split them in half and gave me a half and she took a half and she said said Bruce I'm looking for 16:00 Oliver Lewis who won the first Kentucky Derby see if you could find this thing with his name on it when I first started 16:05 doing research archival research I was told I would never find information about African-Americans it would be very 16:11 hard because I was telling people I was looking for my family and they said oh you'll never find it it you can't 16:17 there's nothing there and there's it's not true it is not true I glean through 16:23 a lot of the records at Kean in their Library couldn't find anything and 16:31 ultimately ran across an obituary that mentioned Oliver Lewis The 16:39 Once famous jockey it listed survivors his of his family and she finally 16:47 discovered that um Oliver Lewis had settled in the Northern Kentucky area 16:52 and there was a possibility that they were descendants it turned out to be ala Lewis's 16:57 great-granddaughter she said she called the lady and told her who she was she was Dr Anne Butler Kentucky State 17:03 University and she would like to come up and talk to her and the lady said well 17:08 we knew our father was in grandfather was involved in the industry because he 17:13 was a bookie well my ears you know really perked up to hear that Oliver 17:19 Lewis after ending his racing career ended up being a a booking which then 17:26 was a legal occupation but she was dismissive of that information because 17:33 by the early 30s and 40s uh bookies were uh almost like gangsters you know it was 17:40 considered as gamblers and I'm sitting there knowing 17:46 that oliv vouis developed a racing 17:51 chart a racing form used at the tracks which eventually involved in becoming 17:56 the modern day racing form I pulled out a picture of Oliver Lewis 18:03 and said this is the man I am looking for and she went oh my God the 18:13 tragedy of not knowing is that this woman did not know her great-grandfather 18:19 had won the first Kentucky Derby I could not describe the the the joy at 18:30 introducing this woman to the legacy of her great 18:36 grandfather there's a unique Monument over here an individual named 18:42 cases Clay tankersley on his Monument it said that he was killed at a race at the 18:50 lonia racetrack which is in Northern Kentucky he was 20 years old when this occurred he was riding with the um Piana 18:59 Farm borack um Thomas was the owner Mr 19:05 Thomas had a monument commissioned for him and he has this wonderful 19:10 inscription on the monument telling you know how much he respected this young man as a as a gentleman sup Perkins 19:18 James Su Perkins winner of the 1895 Kentucky Derby is buried there he tied a 19:25 record as being the youngest jockey to have won a derby uh in Lexington he grew up on Thomas 19:31 Street there's a marker that says Perkins beautiful white marker but again 19:37 his name is not on it the famous jockey uh aaac Murphy was 19:45 originally buried here now since then they've moved his Stone out of the cemetery but this is still is known as 19:52 his original burial place he was originally buried in the cemetery in 1896 and he was subsequently moved moved 19:59 to uh to a grave beside Mana War and then manaar and Isaac Murphy were subsequently moved to the Kentucky Horse 20:06 Park what that means is Isaac Murphy was literally buried and reburied the same 20:14 number of times that he won the Kentucky Derby 20:19 three thought I went to see the they call 20:26 man I went to see man W the horse that had 20:33 Le and my baby say he fair but he really haven't got 20:39 my one of the heartaches that I experienced over Isaac Murphy was that 20:47 um the people uh making the decision about 20:52 reentering him forgot about his wife Luc see okay and 21:00 they were from what I can tell virtually Inseparable during life you know and it 21:08 does not sit well with me that she remains in uh an unmarked 21:21 grave our Cemetery holds the remains of 21:27 all economic Strat of the African-American community and some of the stones are so beautiful they 21:33 were just to me Exquisite I mean it's amazing because they were produced in a 21:39 time when they were handcrafted they weren't poured in a in a mold or uh had 21:44 a standard pattern almost every stone in there is 21:55 different there were people in there too poor to put a monument on their grave sites there were people who had friends 22:02 and relatives who actually handcrafted The Monuments and to 22:09 me that that said more than uh having the money to buy one there is a grave 22:17 over in the front left part of the cemetery the uh marker is is broken in 22:25 two but it's it's still very legible and you can put the two pieces together and 22:31 it says Sally B Ford and she died when she was I believe 22:37 7 years old and the marker is it's a very crude 22:43 marker the uh the lettering on it was not cut into the stone it was it appears 22:49 to have been a concrete marker and they they drew it in the wet concrete 23:05 does an African saying that when an elder dies a library closes so I started 23:11 doing the research to find out who the people were and what they had done while they were living and they became family 23:17 to 23:23 me ah Mr Jones is one of my favorite persons here in the cemetery he became 23:28 pre as a result of the will of Elizabeth Parker who was mared Todd Lincoln's 23:35 grandmother his notation importance to us is that he saved funeral notices from 23:44 1806 to 1886 his collection of death notices larger than anyone else's in in 23:51 the state Moses Spencer was one of the free blacks here in the community had 23:56 gained his freedom about 183 33 he became a merchant he owned a used 24:03 furniture business on Broadway uh Clayborn Lee he died when he 24:08 was 111 years old in 1902 so that mean he was born in the late 1700s right so I did a little digging 24:16 and and found out he was a deacon at one of the uh the churches here in Lexington one of the more interesting characters 24:22 that we know is buried in the cemetery is Alexander Campbell vinegar most 24:28 people know him as Peter menar he was a minister here in Lexington he used to 24:34 preach these friy and brimstone uh sermons because the newspaper talked 24:39 about the titles uh not everybody appreciated his sermons from what I've learned Edward Jackson um was a Dairy 24:47 Farmer in Lexington remained in Lexington had 12 children and they all survived and he was probably the only 24:54 African-American in in Lexington that actually had a dairy farm Mr fa was the 25:00 first principal of dumbar high school when it opened in 1923 he wrote a history of education in 25:07 Kentucky as part of his thesis work when he got his master's degree 25:12 James Andrew Scott they called him Andrew he became the first uh 25:19 African-American hired by the United States Postal Service as a male carrier in 1892 birdie Taylor she was an 25:27 educator she was a teacher teacher and she uh Advanced from being a teacher in 25:33 County schools at Maddox toown and Warren toown to County supervisor and 25:38 from there she went on to uh Statewide supervisor for the Eastern uh Kentucky 25:45 counties her tombstone is beautiful it has this beautiful Betty lamp if you 25:51 know what I'm people know what I'm talking about it's a Betty lamp but it's an engraved symbol on her grave side 26:25 you don't you get we there are a lot of individuals with a 26:30 military background buried in the in the cemetery we like to focus on the Buffalo 26:36 Soldiers because Kentucky was one of the recruiting grounds for the Buffalo Soldiers Leslie Bohanan was in company C 26:44 of the 24th Infantry in the Spanish American war Joseph bird it was in company uh G 26:50 of the fifth us Cavalry he was at atics at the end of the Civil War so if you 26:56 think about the role that African-American am an and the union played Kentucky being one of the largest 27:01 suppliers of African-American troops to the union GT prer fought with the 54th 27:07 Massachusetts Infantry and that was the first African-American unit that was formed in the Civil War and fought in 27:13 the Civil War and if you've seen the movie Glory you kind of like know the story that they uh attacked a fort and a 27:21 lot of them were killed he was captured at Fort Wagner he was released after 27:26 some uh some months rejoined his unit and eventually paroled and while it's interesting that 27:33 he fought at Fort Wagner as part of that part of that unit what's even more interesting is the fight that he had 27:40 with the government pension Bureau to get a pension equivalent to white soldiers at that time and there's a 27:46 series of letters back and forth between prer and the pension Bureau he is one of 27:52 the most elegant writers I have ever seen and it was by accident if you read his his re West uh he talks about having 28:00 fought as bravely as any other person but he's only getting half the pension but what we don't know is whether he 28:06 ever got his pension or not so that's one of those unknown unknown stories that would be interesting as a child we 28:12 weren't taught any of these things we knew nothing about the Buffalo Soldiers here or the Civil War soldiers that were 28:19 here that you know the noble effort that those these people made really there was no chance to celebrate it because people 28:27 just didn't know about it 28:33 rco Benjamin uh was a a lawyer a 28:38 newspaper man uh um who lived in Lexington and uh he was killed in a 28:46 fight probably shot in the back I believe 29:01 Mr Benjamin was not a native of Kentucky he was born in u the West Indies In 29:09 1855 he educated himself became an attorney Mr Benjamin was a well-liked 29:15 individual he had been editor of the Lexington standard which was an 29:20 African-American newspaper here in Lexington while he was here he was an advocate for civil rights and he 29:28 encouraged African-Americans to go to the polls and register to vote and this would have been in 1900 people were not 29:34 happy particularly the the Europe european-american Community was not totally happy with Mr Benjamin and his 29:41 agitation for human rights and he actually escorted them to the poll to make sure they got there while he was 29:48 there he heard um the registar asking inappropriate questions while they were 29:55 trying to register so he challenged him there was a a gentleman who was a democratic supporter and he challenged 30:03 Mr Benjamin they got into an argument and a fight and Mr Benjamin filed a 30:10 arrest work a an assault warrant against this man Mike Monahan the sheriff picked 30:16 him up but they didn't put him in jail they released him Mr benjaman did not 30:22 know that so he returned to the polls to take another group of African-Americans and when he arrived Mike Monahan was 30:29 there Mr Benjamin knew that his life was in Peril so he left hurriedly Mike Monahan followed behind him and shot him 30:37 in the 30:48 back unfortunately there was no trial uh Mr Monahan we don't know what 30:54 ever happened to him but he was never brought up on the charge essentially we feel that he was murdered 31:01 and there was no ever justification for it all of the newspapers The Hurl the leader the standard they all were just 31:10 incensed at what had happened it was just a sad situation but we're privileged to have him here to have his 31:17 remains stay here and uh know that we can tell his story even though his life 31:23 was cut short he was about 45 years old when he died and it took them 10 years to finally place a monument at Mr 31:30 Benjamin's grave site but when they did it again was a uh 31:36 Citywide recognition of this man and the contributions he had made to our community so the cemetery I think uh 31:45 represents that sense of of of of of post 31:50 emancipation uh need to build community this post-emancipation period of Renaissance of of of saying well you 31:58 know even though uh you know we we're faced with all kind of Jim Crow laws and 32:03 and the riding Night Riders and the KKK and and all kind of uh examples of Oppression and racism we still have to 32:11 build community when I leave Kentucky I know I really can't 32:18 lose I'm coming back to my baby but I'll have the Le 32:30 it's always puzzled us as to why the cemetery just became so neglected 32:37 Cemetery number two had been in operation over 40 years and they had 32:44 used probably all the available burial spaces the area around them had been 32:50 developed uh the railroad track behind them the lden Avenue um 32:55 subdivision so they were encroached there was no way to go as Society changed uh integration 33:04 started to take place the the community in this neighborhood started to change 33:10 the the African-Americans here started to move to other sections of the town I think the last um records that they have 33:18 where they had any interaction with that group was in U 1932 and that's when the 33:23 majority of the early organizers in the subsequent generation after to them 33:28 started dying out and the cemetery became abandoned and so the cemetery just sort of fell into 33:35 disuse and because the people who had a connection to this Cemetery had moved 33:42 away the whole thing kind of just died down and and became overgrown and people 33:49 tended to forget about it 33:58 and 34:33 and I remember in the 50s driving around we' drive around on Sunday sort of family 34:39 entertainment and I remember driving down 7th Street here and seeing this 34:45 cemetery and at that time it was just overgrown and trash and junk and it was 34:51 just disgusting and uh and it I was about 10 years old at the time 34:58 and it made me wonder how a city could allow that to happen to a cemetery I'd never seen a cemetery in that kind of 35:05 condition before I have talked to people who grew up in the neighborhood and they remember passing through the cemetery 35:11 they remember playing in the cemetery I mean I was probably down in here as a kid I grew up in aspendale which was a 35:16 housing project up OFF Fifth Street and we used to come down in here and play 35:23 pick blackberries raspberries things like that but uh other than that I 35:28 didn't know anything about the cemetery in fact many people were frightened to come here scared of snakes and whatever 35:34 that was here but it was pretty much not cleared and so you had to almost uh cut your way through well I never did go 35:42 down in there and I work night shift at a 35:47 hospital and when I would go out I'd always look over in there just to make sure nothing was coming out to meet me 35:53 when we first moved here it was high would weed and just a lot of growth over there and 36:02 they lot of nice tombstones and stuff was there and they got misplaced and 36:08 broke up a couple of years after that it got so high that you couldn't even see the taller ston and the other thing 36:14 about the cemetery had never been enclosed it was always open just like it had been when they first bought it there 36:21 were had been some wire fence strung along the Shropshire Avenue side and of course along the junkyard side but the 36:27 front and back entrances were always open so people would cross the railroad track come into the cemetery and walk up 36:34 uh 7th Street go Chestnut wherever they wanted to and vice versa and people were dumping uh old refrigerators mattress 36:43 there were people that would come in here and uh U uh homeless people would sleep in here at one time there was a I 36:50 don't know it was a homeless person or what but there was someone actually camped out living down in in the back 36:56 portion of it uh there was one character in the mid 37:01 1900s that Neighbors in this uh area there on Seventh Street talked about and 37:07 his name was lost John he wore a top hat and tails and he walked the streets 37:13 played H Monica he hung out down at the courthouse I understand in the court square and he also walked up and down 37:20 second uh seven Street and several people have said that he helped care for the cemetery 37:30 I'm Going Back Where I Come I'm going back down in Georgia my wife died and 37:37 left me that's I'm going back Georgia you know it's it's just a vague memory 37:42 of me coming to this Cemetery with my grandmother and she would have uh shears 37:47 and she would have all kind of garden tools to try to clean it up you know around the site and then she would plant 37:54 a flower my father many many years ago used to bring me over to the old 38:01 Cemetery to uh on Memorial Day to Remember and clear the grave and that sort of thing so I would know where the 38:07 spot was but it really it was just a wild place it was totally unkempt it was 38:15 um it was in many ways just disregarded and disrespected because nobody was taking care of it uh residents were 38:23 complaining about the vagrants in and out of the cemetery 38:30 about the unkempt condition and the newspaper would have a picture in the paper every year showing how uncapped it 38:37 looked the weeds were higher than the cars I mean truly you couldn't even see you wouldn't know that it was a cemetery 38:43 except they said it was and even though Cemetery number two became 38:51 neglected and it was overgrown because there wasn't a generation that stepped forward to save it 38:58 it still remained unfortunately the cemeteries in 39:05 Lexington once they became overfilled and neglected many of them were 39:11 desecrated uh the city would declare the properties abandoned and they would have the bodies 39:18 removed sometimes many times not and they would just crush the headstones to 39:23 be used on foundations uh or just you know destroyed from 1973 when they started 39:31 documenting um this issue with the cemetery to 1979 the city had assigned 39:37 it to Parks and Recreation well it got to be more than they could take care of so the city decided in 79 after they had 39:44 merged to declare the land abandoned and sell portions of it for development and 39:50 keep a small part for a park they were going to remove all the bodies and 39:56 remove the headstones and place them in another location but in order to do that they had to know how many people were 40:03 buried in the cemetery oral history accounts indicated that there were 3 to 40:09 4,000 uh burials in the cemetery and yet the only surviving document that listed 40:18 the burials uh numbered to around 900 40:23 they hired a company out of uh Owingsville richardon Corporation and he came in and 40:29 determined that there were over 5,000 burials no one had anticipated that 40:35 number at all so then the issue became we don't have the money a to finish 40:41 paying this man for determining how many burials are here cuz he was getting a 40:46 dollar per grave and we don't have the money to disiner this many bodies and move them someplace else by this time um 40:56 people in the community had heard what was going on and they were not happy and and when it was truly threatened there 41:04 were individuals in this community who knew the value of the cemetery and stepped forward and formed the 41:12 organization that saved it so mayor James zato was sitting at the time he 41:18 appointed a committee Reverend HH Green in 1979 was one of the first board members 41:25 he was elected chair of the group that became known as African Cemetery number two they 41:32 Incorporated and he started drawing people into the organization talking to 41:39 descendants uh getting Community Support so that particular generation in 41:47 1979 said we shouldn't allow it to be overrun we shouldn't allow it to be 41:54 desecrated we shouldn't allow it to be con considered abandoned and bodies 41:59 disent teered this is not how we respect our dad so from that 42:05 group for 10 years they operated Reverend green died in 1986 but another gentleman Reverend GM 42:14 Smith he was a minister stepped into the leadership position and he along with other 42:20 churches here in Lexington contined to care for the cemetery again we went through periods of um of of like 42:27 restoration and neglect and we C it a jungle in here uh there's all kinds of 42:35 you know evasive Honeysuckle and bushes and bramble bushes were just everywhere 42:41 it looked better but it was still UNC kept it didn't look as it didn't look like Lexington Cemetery you know it 42:47 wasn't well groomed cuz they could not go in there every every day to do any kind of Maintenance work you start with 42:54 another 10year cycle and Thomas M and Bruce Monday come along and see that 43:00 things have gotten out of hand again and they step into the 43:10 void we kind of like came in around the time that the last of those members were 43:18 still alive their grandparents were buried here and Thomas decided he couldn't necessarily clean the whole 43:24 Cemetery but he was going to clean up his grandparents grave the day I did come my brother was up to the front 43:29 trying to find my grandparents Tombstone which he did and when he found it it was 43:35 so dirty and covered with algae that he put it in the back of his pickup truck 43:40 this I just will never forget he put it in the back of his pickup truck and took it through the car wash I thought oh my 43:48 goodness I thought you're not supposed to do that but when he showed me where the stone was the Stone's beautiful it 43:55 got it clean and you can read it very plainly my brother Thomas was the 44:01 instigator of a lot of this stuff he was in there more than anybody he passed 44:06 daily he enlisted friends and just asked him for one hour a week just come over 44:13 and help me for 1 hour a week well Thomas is very persuasive and he said 44:18 can you do that and I said well yes I can and he said good come back next 44:23 Saturday well Thomas um pested uh Pam Miller mayor Pam Miller to 44:30 death at that time and before long he had people coming and the board got 44:35 reconstituted and it actually looked pretty good and we got a couple of 44:40 Grants we were able to buy some equipment and we came in here and we started just trying to make the place 44:50 presentable the children the the children 44:58 in the water in 45:06 the the going to trouble 45:22 the most of the people who became intricately involved in the cemetery I 45:28 don't remember how I met them okay they just showed up I got 45:34 started with the cemetery after I read an article in the paper I saw that and I 45:40 thought that's the cemetery that I remember when I was a child I had a friend that was working over 45:45 here and uh he asked me to come over and help him uh one hour month and no soon I 45:52 came in he left and I haven't seen him no more so it's almost like I took his place I loaded my lawnmower in the in 45:59 the back of the car and came over here and I've been coming pretty much every Saturday since there are people who um 46:08 you know go there religiously practically every Saturday and do the 46:13 mowing when we came in here there was Japanese nut Sage overtaking the 46:18 cemetery up to your chest it's not a it's not a piece of property that can simply be left alone we used to make fun 46:25 of him because he had this machete and he was going through the cemetery trying to cut the whole Cemetery with 46:30 this machete and we like that fool can't cut that Cemetery with machete well strangely enough he did he Mark worked 46:37 tiously he still works tirelessly to uh maintain this uh Cemetery to maintain 46:43 this sacred place what you see now is really the culmination of uh over 15 46:50 years I guess now of work although it was very difficult to keep up with the grass there just weren't enough people 46:57 and we didn't have the big heavy duty mower it was mostly push mowers and string Cutters but really a lot of hard 47:04 hand labor trying to keep ahead of the of the vegetation when I first came here 47:11 we didn't have the mes that we have now and uh I thought that I could pretty 47:16 much make a a big impact with a push mow and at the same time I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to get 47:22 exercise in the push more well it it really I didn't accomplish much and it kind of wor me out so so later I uh I 47:30 purchased me a self Propel Mo cuz I really thought with a Seth Propel Mo I could really get something done and uh 47:36 it's eight acres here and a Seth bmore didn't do as much good either but actually what I found is that uh uh when 47:45 we you think about various forms of quiet time even though I'm on a mower uh 47:51 every weekend it's actually very quiet contemplative time for me so it's a it's a chance to get away from from everyone 47:57 cuz no one wants to help you when you're when you're mowing it's a stress reliever and even though I don't have 48:03 any family in here you know I do enjoy my my time spent in here after you've 48:09 mowed for for weeks and weeks and weeks and you go by the same tombstones and 48:14 you read the inscriptions you kind of get to know the people they're more like 48:20 family so you you know you want to be sure that they're taken care of well I tell you when I was cutting up in the 48:27 front part the middle section uh and as you cut and you kind of look at the names on it you I was cutting one day 48:33 and I looked down and my name was on one of them so usually when I get to that one I give it extra special attention 48:40 and I even put flowers on it every year I recall numerous times we were back in 48:46 the back just trying to repair the chain link fence and people would come by and 48:51 tear it down and we repair it again and even though we have a fence put in we always were going to have trouble 48:58 keeping out the the other vegetation coming back in so this is an ongoing struggle to make sure that we can keep 49:05 the property of the cemetery wellmaintained and and cleared 49:10 out there was a summer 2003 I believe when someone came 49:17 in with a vehicle and knocked over 36 Stones it 49:22 just just was more than any of us could deal with I mean some of of the prettiest stones that we had the largest 49:29 stones that we had 49:38 Jus to walk 49:46 with we talk about the sadness of uh vandalism and it is sad but there's a 49:54 Christ Christian scripture that says but joy comes in the morning okay we are now 50:01 in the morning of the cemetery and so more than sadness I feel Joy this place 50:07 has a 200 I'm not really sure what the figure is some, fence around it that it's on 50:15 the national register of historic places that tours are done on it Joy comes in 50:22 the morning and so while we know that some things that have been done here 50:28 that are sad once again I say Joy comes in the morning what a glorious morning 50:34 it's a beautiful day today isn't 50:45 it the project both the preservation of the 50:52 cemetery the research efforts are part of an ongoing struggle for 50:59 African-Americans to retain vestiges of africanamerican 51:06 Heritage where we can and it is even a 51:13 struggle to maintain the sight as a sacred burial 51:22 ground our great grandparents uh grandfathers grandmothers 51:27 uh before emancipation post emancipation had recognized the need to create again 51:33 cemeteries schools or his businesses and they said well we're going to do our 51:38 work in our lifetime and we're passing on the Baton what I hope will happen is 51:45 that it will it it will continue to provide a sense of living 51:52 history for the community because it's important that we keep this early 51:57 reminder of who we are where we've come from and how we progressed so I think at 52:05 the point now uh where we are we have the fence around it most of the stones 52:10 are all up we've kind of gotten down to a science how to keep the grass cut uh 52:15 things like that I think now what we trying to do is create this greater 52:21 sense of awareness in the community part of our work early on 52:27 was just to bring young people in here and have them walk in here and get over the fear of being in the cemetery it's 52:34 always glorious to come in here with young people and have them discover things and 52:41 see what they connect up with I don't know exactly how long I've been coming here it seems like as long as I can 52:48 remember it's a nice Cemetery you know it's like a nice place it's not creepy 52:54 at all there's a Emma Bailey's tomb Stone it's like over there behind the bush that's been like my favorite I 53:01 don't know why I just like I like the way it looked it was just really pretty so I remember I'd come like each time I 53:07 came here I'd always end i' go over there I'd like pick a flower and I'd put it there as a present for Emma 53:17 Bailey none of us get paid to do this it's it's all volunteer and we all find 53:23 our passions and this is a passion for the group that's working now now and we'll be passion for the next group that 53:29 comes in behind us the more people know about it then the more they can care for it and take care of it before a lot of 53:37 people didn't know those who did know knew it through 53:42 weeds and overgrown bushes and so it wasn't a comfortable place to come to 53:50 while they had heard stories that didn't get to look the stories in the face now 53:55 you can come look the St is in the 54:07 face you come out here on uh any given morning or late in the afternoon this is 54:13 really a pleasant place to just come and just relax when I 54:20 first came into the cemetery basically I was looking for my own family I had 54:26 asked my mother to go with me and point out uh the headstones that she recalled her great aunt decorating she showed me 54:34 an area she couldn't tell me exactly where the stones were but she showed me the area where she thought they were 54:41 buried after seeing what it had came from and where it was headed uh I 54:46 started volunteering then I end up being on the board and I found out so much history about the 54:53 cemeter uh that I got more and more involved in so now at this point uh it's just a 55:00 label of love for me and as I walked through the cemetery I begun to see these headstones of my 55:09 family when I finally finished uh counting and and recording 55:15 information from all the headstones I discovered I had 42 family members 55:21 buried on my maternal side buried in that cemetery and it was it was almost 55:27 overwhelming for me this cemetery is part of this whole National effort to 55:35 lift up uh if you will all the history all the people who have made this 55:41 country what it is and as I started doing the archival research I found that 55:49 I had relatives who had been instrumental in starting the cemetery and keeping it going during their 55:54 lifetime so then it became a personal 56:01 Journey this tells where we've been and so it's important because we 56:08 need to know that we need to know the struggles and we need to know the 56:15 victories they established the cemetery it was up to a Next 56:21 Generation and sometimes it skips a generation I happen to be that person 56:27 there is a poem that says every tribe has a 56:35 Storyteller and each uh storyteller's responsibility is 56:42 to tell the story of those who've gone before you and that's what I 56:47 do the world's a good place and I only purpose on it is to do good 56:54 work the some cemetery is sort of like a time machine when you're out on sth Street 57:01 you're out on the road in the sidewalk and there are big heavy trucks going by and a lot of traffic and everything but 57:07 the minute you come through those Gates it gets quiet and peaceful and you hear the birds and you the wind blowing 57:14 through the trees and it's a different atmosphere the minute you cross that 57:20 line and you look around and you see the markers and you read the inscriptions and these are the people 57:27 some of the people that helped build this town long before I lived here so we 57:34 owe these people a debt of gratitude and 57:41 respect and helping to maintain the cemetery is is how I do that 57:58 I think this is the one of the prettiest Stones we have has 58:05 a a hand male and female 58:16 hand like in holy matrimony 58:55 see and 59:05 am amen amen join me 59:22 sisters brothers 59:33 am wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Lewis The trainer's name is Ansel Williamson info https://www.racingmuseum.org/hall-of-fame/trainer/ansel-williamson Ansel Williamson Ansel Williamson’s career spanned the pre-Civil War era of the three-mile heat races into the dawning of the single or “dash” races. Born a slave in Virginia, the point from which his record can be traced with confidence begins in the South around 1860. Inducted 1998 Born 1806, Virginia Died 1881, Lexington, Kentucky Career 1860-1881 Biography Ansel Williamson’s career spanned the pre-Civil War era of the three-mile heat races into the dawning of the single or “dash” races. Born a slave in Virginia, the point from which his record can be traced with confidence begins in the South around 1860. For owner T. G. Goldsby, Williamson trained the horse Brown Dick for important victories in New Orleans, Charleston, Atlanta, and Mobile. Williamson was sold to A. Keene Richards and trained the noted runners Australian and Glycerna. He was sent in 1864 to work for R. A. Alexander of the famed Woodburn Stud in Kentucky. Williamson was then freed but remained in Alexander’s employ and trained a succession of major horses, including the undefeated pair Norfolk and Asteroid. Norfolk won the inaugural Jersey Derby of 1864. “Old Ansel,” as he was referred to in contemporary accounts, later worked for H. P. McGrath and trained Hall of Fame member Tom Bowling, winner in 14 of 17 races, including the Travers, Jersey Derby, and Dixie. In 1875, Williamson trained Aristides, winner of the inaugural Kentucky Derby. That year, Williamson also won the Belmont with Calvin. Both horses were owned by McGrath. Other noted horses trained by Williamson included Merrill, winner of the 1866 Travers; Virgil, the dam of Hall of Fame member Hindoo; as well as Aaron Pennington, Chesapeake, and Susan Ann. Other major races won by Williamson included the Jerome, Phoenix, and Withers. Achievements Triple Crown Highlights Won the 1875 Kentucky Derby — Aristides Won the 1875 Belmont Stakes — Calvin Reproduction of an 1864 Edward Troye portrait of Asteroid with his trainer, Ansel Williamson, holding saddle on right (Keeneland Library)

James Brown born 1933 Please please please from the album please please please by james brown and the furious flames The first album cover for please please please, look at it, you wouldn't think this has anything to do with james brown. Lyrics Please, please, please, please (Please, please don't go) Please, please, please (Please, please don't go) Honey, please don't (Go) Yeah, oh yeah, love, I love you so (Please, please don't go) Baby, you did me wrong (So you got me woman) Well, well you done me wrong (So you got me woman) So you done, done me wrong (Go) Well, oh yeah, took my love, now you're gone (Please, please don't go) Please, please, please, please, please (Please, please don't go) Please, please, please, please, please (Please, please don't go) Honey, please don't (Go) Well, oh yeah, love, I love you so (Please, please don't go) I just wanna hear you say I, I, I, I, I (Please, please don't go) I, I, I, I (Please, please don't go) Honey, please don't (Go) Oh, oh yeah, love, I love you so (Please, please don't go) Baby, take my hand (Please, please don't go) I wanna be your lover man (Please, please don't go) Oh yeah, slipped out of my head Honey, please don't (Go) Well, oh yeah, love, I love you so (Please, please don't go) Please don't go (Please, please don't go) Please don't go (Please, please don't go) Honey, please don't go Ha, I love you so, please, please (Please, please don't go) Songwriters: James Brown, Johnny Terry Try Me from the Album Try Me by James Brown and the Furious Flames look at the album cover, again, really disconnected to james brown, white ownership Lyrics Try me (try me) Try me (try me) Darlin', tell me I need you Try me (try me) Try me (try me) And your love will always be true Oh, I need you (I need you, I need you) Hold me (hold me) Hold me (hold me) I want you right here By my side Hold me (hold me) Hold me (hold me) And your love we won't hide Oh, I need you (I need you, I need you) Oh, I need (I need you) Oh, oh walk with me (walk with me) Talk with me (talk with me) I want you stop my heart from crying Walk with me (walk with me) Talk with me (talk with me) And your love will stop my heart from dying Oh, I need you (I need you, uh) Songwriters: James Brown. Live at the Apollo with the Furious Flames Full Album- first track FULL ALBUM https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ncWqay8kj4z85sSpuMzIQSLCgOjkpoeEc Cover art- yeah! actually black Papas Got a brand new bag part 1 part 1+2+3 Lyrics Come Here Sister... Papa's In The Swing He Ain't Too Hip... About That New Breed Thing He Ain't No Drag Papa's Got A Brand New Bag Come Here Mama... And Dig This Crazy Scene He's Not Too Fancy... But His Mind Is Might Clean He Ain't No Drag. Papa's Got A Brand New Bag He's Doing The Jerk... He's Doing The Fly Don't Play Him Cheap 'Cause You Know He Ain't Shy He's Doing The Monkey, The Mashed Potatoes, Jump Back Jack, See You Later Alligator. Come Here Sister Papa's In The Swing He Ain't Too Hip Now But I Can Dig That New Breed Babe; He Ain't No Drag He's Got A Brand New Bag Oh Papa! He's Doing The Jerk Papa... He's Doing The Jerk He's Doing The Twist ... Just Like This, He's Doing The Fly Ev'ry Day And Ev'ry Night The Thing's... Like The Boomerang. Hey... Come On Hey! Hey... Come On Hey! Hey... He's Pu Tight... Out Of Sight... Come On. Hey! Hey! Songwriters: James Brown I got you ( I feel good) lyrics Whoa! I feel good I knew that I would, now I feel good I knew that I would, now So good, so good, I got you Whoa! I feel nice, like sugar and spice I feel nice, like sugar and spice So nice, so nice, I got you When I hold you in my arms I know that I can do no wrong And when I hold you in my arms My love won't do you no harm And I feel nice, like sugar and spice I feel nice, like sugar and spice So nice, so nice, I got you When I hold you in my arms I know that I can't do no wrong And when I hold you in my arms My love can't do me no harm And I feel nice, like sugar and spice I feel nice, like sugar and spice So nice, so nice, well I got you Whoa! I feel good I knew that I would, now I feel good I knew that I would So good, so good, 'cause I got you So good, so good, 'cause I got you So good, so good, 'cause I got you Hey! Oh Songwriters: Timothy Jamahli Thomas, Theron Makiel Thomas, Jevon Lendrick Hill. It's a man's mans' mans' world Lyrics This is a man's world This is a man's world But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing Without a woman or a girl You see, man made the cars To take us over the road Man made the train To carry the heavy load Man made the electric light To take us out of the dark Man made the boat for the water Like Noah made the ark This is a man's, man's, man's world But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing Without a woman or a girl Man thinks about a little bit of baby girls And a baby boys Man makes them happy 'Cause man makes them toys And after man's made everything Everything he can You know that man makes money To buy from other man This is a man's world But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing Not one little thing Without a woman or a girl He's lost in the wilderness He's lost in the bitterness He's lost in love, oh Songwriters: James Brown, Betty Jean Newsome Get Up ( I fele like being) a sex machine lyrics Fellas, I'm ready to get up and do my thing (yeah go ahead!) I wanta get into it, man, you know (go ahead!) Like a, like a sex machine, man, (yeah go ahead!) Movin' and doin' it, you know Can I count it off? (Go ahead) One, two, three, four! Get up, (get on up) Get up, (get on up) Stay on the scene, (get on up), like a sex machine, (get on up) Get up, (get on up) Get up, (get on up) Stay on the scene, (get on up), like a sex machine, (get on up) Get up, (get on up) Stay on the scene, (get on up), like a sex machine, (get on up) Wait a minute! Shake your arm, then use your form Stay on the scene like a sex machine You got to have the feeling sure as you're born Get it together, right on, right on. Get up, (get on up) Get up, (get on up) Get up, (get on up) Hah! Get up, (get on up) Get up, (get on up) Get up, (get on up) Get up, (get on up) You said, you said you got the, You said the feeling, You said the feeling you got to get You give me the fever 'n' a cold sweat. The way i like, it is the way it is, I got mine 'n' don't worry 'bout his Get up, (get on up) Stay on the scene, (get on up), like a sex machine, (get on up) Get up, (get on up) Get up, (get on up) Bobby! Should I take 'em to the bridge? (Go Ahead!) Take 'em on to the bridge! (Take em to the bridge!) Should I take 'em to the bridge? (Yeah!) Take 'em to the bridge? (Go Ahead!) Hit me now! Come on! Stay on the scene, like a sex machine! The way I like it is, is the way it is I got mine, (dig it!), he got his Stay on the scene, like a lovin' machine Stay on the scene, like a lovin' machine Stay on the scene I wanna count it off one more time now (Go ahead!) You wanna hear it like it did on the top fellas? (Yeah!) Hear it like it did on the top? (Yeah!) Hit it now! Get on up, (get on up) Get up, (get on up) Get up, (get on up) Get on up, (get on up) Stay on the scene, (get on up), like a lovin' machine, (get on up) Get up, (get on up) Taste, (get on up) Bein', (get on up) Taste, (get on up) Bein', (get on up) Get up, (get on up) Get up, (get on up) Stay on the scene, (get on up), like a sex machine, (get on up) You gotta have the feelin, (get on up) Sure as you're born, (get on up) Get it together, right on, right on right on, right on, (right on, right on) right on, right on, (right on, right on) right on, right on, (right on, right on) Get up, (get on up) Get up, (get on up) And then, shake your money maker, Shake your money maker, Shake your money maker, Shake your money maker, Shake your money maker, Shake your money maker, Shake your money maker Get up, (get on up) Get up, (get on up) Get up, (get on up) Get up, (get on up) Get up, (get on up) Huh! Get up, (get on up) Get up, (get on up) Get up, (get on up) Can we hit it like we did one more time, from the top Can we hit like that one more time (One more time!) One more time! Let's hit it and quit! (Go ahead!) Can we hit it and quit? (Yeah!) Can we hit it and quit? (Yeah!) Can we hit it and quit? (Yeah!) Hit it! Songwriters: James Brown, Bobby Byrd, Ronald R. Lenhoff, Jo Bogaert, Moaso Djogi Manuela Bar Kamosi. The Payback single cover Lyrics Hey! Gotta, gotta payback! (The big payback) Revenge! I'm mad! (The big payback) Got to get back! I need some get-back! Payback! Payback!(The big payback) That's it! Payback! Revenge! I'm mad! You get down with my girlfriend, that ain't right Wow! Smokin'! Hollerin' n' cussin', you wanna fight Payback is a thing you gotta see Hell! Brother do any damn thing to me You sold me out for chicken change (Yes you did) You told me that they, they had it all arranged You had me down, and that's a fact And now you punk, you gotta get ready For the big payback (The big payback) That's where I land, on the big payback (The big payback) I can do wheelin', I can do dealin' (Yes we can) But I don't do no damn squealin' I can dig rappin', I'm ready! I can dig scrapping But I can't dig that backstabbin' (Oh no) The brother get ready, that's a fact Get ready you mother for the big payback (The big payback) Let me hit them, hit them, Fred hit them Lord! You took my money, you got my honey Don't want me to see what you doin' to me I can get back! I got to deal with you! Gotta deal with ya, gotta deal with ya! I... gotta deal with...! Hey, let me tell you! Get down with my woman, that ain't right You hollerin' and cussing, you wanna fight Lookie here! Don't do me no darn favor I don't know karate, but I know ka-razor (Yes we do) Hey! Get ready, that's a fact Get ready you mother for the big payback (The big payback) Hey, I'm a man, I'm a man... I'm a son of a man, but don't they tell you that pappa can Get ready for the big payback (The big payback) Hit me again! No, don't... Get ready, I need it, I need a hit again The same one, the same one, the same one Hit me back Lord! (The big payback) Sold me out for chicken change You said my woman had it all arranged Tried to make a deal, she wanted to squeal But I had my boys on her heels Saw what she had comin', told a lie she broke down and she wanted to cry I don't care what she does She'll be doing just like she was Take those kids and raise them up Somebody drink out the righteous cup Take her, take that woman, it's one place she found Just run that mother out of town Make her get up, make her get up, get out Make her get up, make her get up, get out I'm mad! I want revenge, I want revenge, my... (The big payback) My patience ends, I want revenge My patience ends, I want revenge I want revenge, I want revenge (The big payback) Gonna get some hits, I need those hits I need those hits, hit me! Lord, I need those hits Carry on, carry on, payback melody (The big payback) (The big payback) Alright! Da-dee-ra-da, da-dee-ra-da, da-dee-ra-da! (The big payback) Songwriters: Fred Wesley, James Brown, John Starks Say It Loud I'm Black and I'm proud cover art Lyrics Uh! With your bad self Say it loud (I'm black and I'm proud) Say it loud (I'm black and I'm proud) Look a'here Some people say we got a lot of malice Some say it's a lotta nerve But I say we won't quit moving Until we get what we deserve We've been buked and we've been scourned We've been treated bad, talked about As sure as you're born But just as sure as it take two eyes to make a pair, huh Brother, we can't quit until we get our share Say it loud (I'm black and I'm proud) Say it loud (I'm black and I'm proud) One more time Say it loud (I'm black and I'm proud) I've worked on jobs with my feet and my hands But all the work I did was for the other man And now we demands a chance To do things for ourselves We tired of beating our heads against the wall And working for someone else Say it loud (I'm black and I'm proud) Say it loud (I'm black and I'm proud) Say it loud (I'm black and I'm proud) Say it loud (I'm black and I'm proud) Oowee! You're killing me Alright! Uh! You're out of sight Alright! So tough, you're tough enough Oowee! Uh! You're killing me, ow! Say it loud (I'm black and I'm proud) Say it louder (I'm black and I'm proud) Now, we demands a chance to do things for ourselves We tired of beating our heads against the wall And working for someone else Look a'here, there's one more thing I got to say right here Now, we're people We're like the birds and the bees But we'd rather die on our feet Than keep living on our knees Say it loud (I'm black and I'm proud) Say it loud (I'm black and I'm proud) Say it loud (I'm black and I'm proud) Lord'a, Lord'a, Lord'a Say it loud (I'm black and I'm proud) Uh! Alright now! Lord! You know we can do the Boogaloo Now we can say we do the Funky Broadway Now we do Sometimes we dance, we sing, and we talk You know I do like to do the Camel Walk Alright now, alright Alright now, ha Say it loud (I'm black and I'm proud) Say it louder (I'm black and I'm proud) Let me hear ya Say it louder (I'm black and I'm proud) Say it louder (I'm black and I'm proud) Now we's demands a chance to do things for ourselves We're tired of beating our heads against the wall And working for someone else You know, we are our people, too We're like the birds and the bees But we'd rather die on our feet Than keep livin' on our knees Say it loud (I'm black and I'm proud) Say it louder (I'm black and I'm proud) Let me hear ya Say it louder (I'm black and I'm proud) Say it louder (I'm black and I'm proud) Eh! Oowee, you're killing me Alright!, Uh! You outta sight! Alright! You're outta sight! Ooowee! Oh Lord! Ooowee! You're killing me Ooowee, ooowee! Ooowee, ooh, ow! Say it loud (I'm black and I'm proud) Say it loud (I'm black and I'm proud) Good God, I feel it! Say it loud, uh! (I'm black and I'm proud) Say it loud (I'm black and I'm proud) Songwriters: James Brown, Mohandas Dewese

Gwendolyn brooks wins the Pulitzer prize 1955 the first black person of african descent in the united states of america to win the pulitzer. It was for the book Annie Allen [ https://nmaahc.si.edu/object/nmaahc_2014.281; https://chicagoliteraryarchive.org/2021/01/28/annie-allen-by-gwendolyn-brooks-1949/] This is gwendolyn brooks reading "Kitchenette Building" Gwendolyn Brooks interview 1967

CBL Juneteenth 05/15/2025