May 2013 – Page 2 – Finding Eliza

Black Face, Minstrel Shows and An Article

springfieldpastor — Rev. Albert B. Cleage, Jr.

Several weeks ago I read a post on Sheryl’s blog A Hundred Years Ago, about a school play put on in 1913 in which her Grandmother acted the part of Chloe, the maid, in black face. It wasn’t a minstrel show, but there was some discussion about what was accepted in those days and what is accepted now. I googled “minstrel shows” and found photos and articles which show minstrel shows occurring as late as the 1960s in the US. I didn’t realize how many schools, scouts and civic groups put on ministrel shows and plays using black face.

Later, I was looking through my father’s letters home to Detroit while he was a minister in Springfield, MA and I saw the article below about a church that was going to put on a minstrel show in 1947 in Springfield . The NAACP was trying to convince them that this was a bad idea that perpetuated stereotypes about black people that were not true. My father wrote the article below which appeared in the newspaper, The Springfield Republican.

minstral_collage — Black face and minstrel shows. Click to enlarge.

The first link below goes to a page about blackface and racism, in the past and in the present, with links. The other pages are articles and pictures of minstrel shows from 1901 to 1967. I was surprised that there was a television show in Britain called “The Black and White Minstrel Show” that broadcast until 1978.

And a discussion of racism and stereotypes in comics

Black Readers & White Comics

A – Z Reflections 2013

This was my first A-Z Challenge. My main purpose when I started was to make myself write more. It worked. Before April 1, I filled in the calendar with a topic for each day. After the first week, I realized that I couldn’t do 26 days of posts that required so much research. I was spending all day, and into the night working. By the end, I had simplified my expectations and even got a few posts ahead. I used my usual theme of family history, past, present and future for the A-Z Challenge.

Although it was somewhat daunting to find blogs that spoke to me in the list of over 1,800 participants, I finally got the hang of it and found it easier to look at blogs of people who made interesting comments on blogs I read or people who posted near me on twitter or fb. I would appreciate having more labels. My blog went unlabeled because none of them seemed to fit. I found some new blogs I will be following and made some new blogging friends.

I don’t have a “like” button or a counter, so I have no idea how many people visited unless they left comments. I will probably add both soon. Thanks to Arlee for thinking up this challenge and all the helpers and participants. I look forward to participating in the A-Z Challenge in 2014. Maybe I’ll even get a few posts written in advance during the coming year.

Here are my links for this year’s challenge.

A is for Anna Allen Reed

B is for Buford Avritt

C is for Cleage Bricks

D is for Doctors, Dentists, Nurses and Pharmacists

E is for Emancipation

F is for My Fiercely Creative Family

G is for Grandmothers

H is for Henry William Cleage

I is for Inventions

J is for Jacob Graham

K is for Kindergarten

L is for Long Ago – House War Workers March – 1942 Detroit

M is for the Music of Hubert Averette

N is for a Nostalgic Interview With Henry Cleage

O is for Off On A Tangent

P is for Poultry

Q is for Questions, Questions and More Questions

R is for Relatives, of the Elusive Kind

S is for Sibling

T is for Teacher

U is for Umbrella

V is for Very Confusing

W is for Wilverlyn Williams

X is for X-ray

Y is for Yacht

Z is for Zeke

My Parents Smoking – 1944 & 1952

2013.04W.21-1 — Click for more smoking Sepia Saturday posts.

I always liked this photograph of my mother in 1952, holding her cigarette and making a point. She looks so sure of what she’s saying. I assume my father took the photo. It was taken in the living room of the parsonage at 2212 Atkinson, while my father was Pastor of St. Mark’s United Presbyterian Church on 12th and Atkinson. Through the door you can see the kitchen. I remember the tank of guppies, always needing to be cleaned, that stood on a counter under the window. There is the long legged television with Picasso’s “Two Clowns” in the antenna, a leatherette double frame with spaces for pictures and wires attached. When the TV stopped working Mr. Rice, the repairman, came with his big metal toolbox, full of tubes and testers to find the burned out tube and change it. I can’t remember when we no longer needed tubes changed or when we got our next television or what it looked like or when my mother stopped smoking.

ma_smoking — Doris Graham Cleage with cigarette, Detroit, 1952

albert_cleage_smoking — Albert B. Cleage with cigarette, San Francisco, 1943.

From a letter my father wrote home to Detroit from Los Angeles, CA. on December 4, 1944. Photo by my mother.

“Has the Cigarette shortage hit the hinterland as yet? Here we can’t get any most of the time. I manage to get three or four packages a week with the frantic cooperation of Doris and a boy at school who works where he can get hold of some occasionally. At school the Student-Union sells them every once in a while. Then we all line up for blocks until the seventy-five or one hundred packages are gone. Profound commentary on modern life if anyone has the time to figure out just what is is. Drug stores and Groceries just laugh at you when you ask for Cigarettes…”HA HA HA… Listen Folks, he wants cigarettes…HA HA.”

To want to read more about Cigarettes and where they went during WW2, follow this link Smoke ‘Em if You Got ‘Em.

And here is the recording of Sarah Vaughn singing “No Smoke Blues”. Thank you John J. for mentioning this.

“Where Are Our Leaders?” – Dee Dee Sings

Today I’m going to share the recording, Where Can Our Leaders Be? by my talented cousin, Dee Dee McNeil. Dee Dee started writing as a child. I remember many holidays spent up in Poppy’s room practicing her plays with my sister and cousins. After dinner we would perform for our parents and grandparents. I don’t know if we sang her songs for “our public” but I do remember a few of them, especially “Ho, ho, the little bear skating”, which I can still sing.

In 1970 Dee Dee left Detroit and moved to Los Angeles to seek her fortune. She connected with the Watts Prophets soon after and became part of their group, appearing on their album, “Rappin Black in a White World” and sang “What Is A Man” on that album. She also penned and sang the title song of the album “Black In A White World” co-written with fellow Detroiter, Marthea Hicks. Hicks would later die in the Jim Jones Guyanna massacre along with her son, nephew and younger sister. Dee Dee improvised the entire musical score on the original album, playing piano and performing “live” without overdubs. She also recorded several original poems along with the other three male poets who completed the group. She has written songs for several iconic Motown artists including Gladys Knight, Diana Ross, The Four Tops (who originally recorded “What Is A Man”), Edwin Starr, Nancy Wilson, David Ruffin, Rita Marley and many more. I don’t quite get what the visual is about on this YouTube version of “What Is A Man” , but the singing is wonderful.

I found this short, professional biography on Dee Dee’s website. The website also has links to a radio interview, song writing credits, poetry, songs and much much more.

Dee Dee McNeil and Dwight Dickerson Quartet Perform at AUS

Students, faculty and members of the public enjoyed a captivating performance by Dee Dee McNeil and Dwight Dickerson Quartet held at American University of Sharjah (AUS) yesterday, February 17th 2010. A multi-talented vocalist, singer, songwriter, poet, journalist, producer, playwright and educator, Dee Dee McNeil has won renown for her art all over the world. As a contract songwriter for Motown Records in her native Detroit, Michigan, many legendary artists have recorded her music including: Diana Ross and The Supremes, Gladys Knight and The Pips, David Ruffin, Edwin Star, The Four Tops, Nancy Wilson, Rita Marley, Kiki Dee, Jonah Jones, Side Effect, and the rapper ‘Styles.’ She was a contributing member of the historic rap group, The Watts Prophets, now recognized as one of the major forerunners of contemporary hip hop music. She was one of the first women to rap in the late ’60s and early 70’s, speaking up as an articulate champion for women’s rights. One of her raps about respect for women was used as the televised theme song during New Zealand’s Miss Universe Contest in 1983. The plays she has written are based on historic figures and their musical contributions.

Where Can Our Leaders Be?