(left to right) Pianist Dianna White-Gould, violist Christopher Jenkins, and tenor Matthew Jones are the co-creators of the Linking Legacies Project. Their virtual concerts of music by Black composers have reached hundreds of listeners since the project’s launch in the summer of 2021. To experience the June 27, 2021, virtual performance that the RASHAD Center, Inc. sponsored, please click HERE.
Pianist Daniel Spearman (above) will launch RASHAD’s 2021 Juneteenth celebration on Saturday, June 19, 2021, with a 12 PM Performance at the Cleveland History Center (CHC), 10825 East Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44106. This event is free with paid CHC admission.
Juneteenth (Freedom Day) celebrates the promise of Black freedom in the United States of America. The holiday commemorates an important event in the history of the ongoing Black freedom struggle, when people in Texas learned that the era of legal slavery was coming to an end. On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger published General Orders No. 3, which informed the people of Texas that, “in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”
The following events, part of an arts-filled Juneteenth / “Magnoliafest” / Black Music Month Celebration, are designed to recognize the significance of the Juneteenth celebration in Black history and to pay tribute to Dr. A. Grace Lee Mims, one of the founders of the Black History Archives Project (now the African American Archives Auxiliary of the Western Reserve Historical Society), host of WCLV’s “The Black Arts” radio program for more than 40 years, and a long-time faculty member at The Music Settlement (TMS) on Magnolia Drive in University Circle. This RASHAD Center, Inc. program is supported in part by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, the Music Settlement, and the Western Reserve Historical Society.
The Passione Quartet
(*Cleveland School of the Arts Students)
Darnell McMullen II (violin) Devin Chapman (violin)
Raymond Parker (viola)
Camari Dodson-Poindexter (cello)
The Music Settlement
11125 Magnolia Dr.
Cleveland, Ohio 44106
Saturday, June 19, 2021, 2-2:45 PM; Free Admission
Helen Turner-Thompson, Mark Thompson, and the Helen Turner-Thompson Gospel Music Ensemble
Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum, Rotunda
The Western Reserve Historical Society
10825 East Boulevard
Cleveland, Ohio 44106
Saturday, June 19, 2021, 3 – 3:45 PM; Free with Paid Museum Admission
African American Soul Dancing and Book Signing
Featuring Frank R. Ross, Best-Selling Author, and Friends
Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum, Rotunda
The Western Reserve Historical Society
10825 East Boulevard
Cleveland, Ohio 44106
Sunday, June 27, 2021, 12-2 PM; Free with Paid Museum Admission
The Linking Legacies Project
A Virtual Performance by
Christopher Jenkins (viola)
Dianna White-Gould (piano)
Matthew Jones (tenor)
Sunday, June 27, 2021, 7 PM, Online Premiere, Free
For more information, please visit the Facebook event page for the RASHAD Center, Inc.’s C-L-E / Arts and Culture TV program at https://fb.me/e/MqINWjvc .
*C-L-E / Arts and Culture TV is supported in part by the residents of
Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts &
Walter Napier, Senior Class Photo, Glenville High School. (Courtesy of Walter Napier.)
The RASHAD Center Inc. salutes Mr. Walter Napier, an alumnus of Cleveland’s Glenville High School, an Air Force veteran, and a servant-leader at St. Adalbert – Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church. On Sunday, March 14, 2021, board member Theresa Ann Bumpers served as an interviewer-oral historian, capturing the story of Napier’s civilian life and military service for C-L-E/Arts and Culture TV, RASHAD’s Internet-based educational program series. In direct keeping with our arts and culture focus for 2021, after the interview, Bumpers also served as the pianist-vocalist for the church service!
Thanks to a grant from Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, RASHAD will continue to produce and share virtual programs that highlight the accomplishments of local fine and performing artists and other community leaders in Cleveland, including veterans. The program on Walter Napier will be available for viewing by June 19, 2021 –just in time for the annual Juneteenth celebration of Black American freedom.
On Sunday, March 14, 2021, Theresa Ann Bumpers interviewed Air Force Veteran Walter Napier at St. Adalbert – Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church.Glenville High School, Napier’s Alma Mater. (Photo courtesy of Walter Napier.)Inspection Time for Walter Napier. (Photo Courtesy of Walter Napier.)
Walter Napier with Air Force Colleague. (Photo Courtesy of Walter Napier.)
For more information on this project, please write to rashadcenterinc1@gmail.com, follow C-L-E / Arts and Culture TV on Facebook, and like the RASHAD Center’s Facebook page.
Program for the May 31, 2002 concert that included a performance of Margaret Bonds’ “The Ballad of the Brown King”
I have long believed that the study, teaching, and writing of history all give back beautiful gifts. Evidence to support this belief is readily available in the Praying Grounds Collectionat Cleveland State University and in countless other library and archival collections throughout the world. Information obtained from my personal collection reminded me that my home-based RASHAD archives also contain abundant evidence of historical gift-giving.
As the end of the first week in Women’s History Month 2021 approached, I spent several joy-filled hours at home recalling events from 2002, one of my favorite years in African American cultural history. In that year, it was my great pleasure to serve as the director of Cleveland’s award-winning Langston Hughes Centennial Celebration. Hughes (1902-1967) began his writing career when he was a student at Cleveland’s Central High School. Today, I am but one of the city’s many Hughes fans.
After reviewing the printed program from one of our 2002 Hughes-related concerts, I concluded that March would be the perfect time to celebrate the creative genius of a long-time Hughes collaborator, Chicago native and award-winning composer Margaret Bonds. Born on March 3, 1913, Bonds and Hughes were the co-creators of “The Ballad of the Brown King.”
As the program notes for the May 31, 2002, “Music from the Words of Langston Hughes” concert suggested, ” The Ballad of the Brown King (1954) is a Christmas cantata for SATB chorus, solo voices, and piano, although originally scored for orchestra. Langston Hughes, commissioned by Bonds, wrote the text, the subject of which is Balthazar, one of the Magi, who had dark skin.”
My recent listening session featuring the Dessoff Choirs and Orchestra’s 2019 recording of “Margaret Bonds: The Ballad of the Brown King & Selected Songs” was at once a feast for the ears and a birthday tribute to Bonds. I couldn’t have imagined a more pleasant way to celebrate both Women’s History Month and the joy that beautiful music and poetry always bring. When your schedule permits, I invite you to listen to this recording.
If your schedule permits, please join me at my final public program for Black History Month. “Praying Grounds: African American Faith Communities” will focus on the evolving role of religion in Black America.
In 2020, I had the pleasure of working with colleagues in South Africa and other nations to prepare the manuscript for Leadership for Change: Developing Transformational Student Leaders through Global Learning Spaces. After a rigorous review process, I am pleased to announce that this Open Educational Resource (OER) is now available online at AOSIS Scholarly Books. My contribution to this edited volume is chapter 8, “Race, Religion, and Reconciliation: Academic initiatives, Leadership Development, and Social Change.”
The publisher’s synopsis describes the book in the following manner:
This edited volume reveals how the journey of transformation at the University of the Free State (UFS) became interwoven with student leadership development and global learning. The UFS initiated two intersecting co-curricular programmes, namely, the First-Year Leadership for Change (F1L4C) programme in 2010; and the triennial Global Leadership Summit (GLS) in 2012. Although these programmes changed over time, their core focus remained to be the development of transformational student leaders through the creation of global learning spaces. From its inception in 2010 to the last GLS in 2018, the UFS global learning project involved 780 students and 259 staff members from 109 institutions, across four continents. The goal of this edited volume is to create a deeper understanding of how the UFS F1L4C and GLS programmes enhanced student leadership development through global learning, especially in the context of higher education transformation.
From the AOSIS website.
I invite you to download and read this book, and please encourage others to do the same.
You are cordially invited to attend afree virtual event that will take place at 7 p.m. (EST) on Monday, January 18, 2021, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. Hosted by the Cuyahoga County Public Library System, “1963: A Year in the Life of a Nation” will focus on this watershed year in the history of the Modern Civil Rights Movement and the work of Dr. King and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. Admission is free, but space is limited. For registration information, click HERE.
The holiday season has arrived! Given the challenges associated with celebrating during the COVID-19 global pandemic, this year’s holiday season promises to be like nothing that we have experienced in the recent past. I am happy to know, however, that individuals and organizations near and far are planning virtual activities that promise to offer important reminders of the reasons for the Christmas (December 25, 2020) through Kwanzaa (December 26, 2020 – January 1, 2021) holiday season. I am including information below on two of my favorites. Peace, love, and joy! –Regennia
Regennia N. Williams, PhD (Photo by Nathaniel Rhodes)
CHRISTMAS AT ABYSSINIAN BAPTIST CHURCH
According to information, on the website for New York’s Abyssinian Baptist Church (f. 1808), “Jesus is the reason for the season.” For more information on the activities that this African American religious and cultural center has planned for December 2020, please click HERE.
KWANZAA: AN AFRICAN AMERICAN AND PAN-AFRICAN HOLIDAY
In 1966, Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga established Kwanzaa, a celebration of family, community, and culture. The holiday tradition that began in California with Dr. Karenga is now celebrated by African peoples all over the world. For more information on Kwanzaa, please visit the Official Kwanzaa Website HERE
Thank you for supporting the work of the Center for the Study of Religion and Spirituality in the History of Africa and the Diaspora, The RASHAD Center Inc. Without you, we would not have been able to produce The Traditions & Beliefs Newsletter, The Journal of Traditions & Belief, The Praying Grounds Oral History Project, and the pilot program for C-L-E Arts and Culture TV in 2019-2020, so we really appreciate your help.
Please remember RASHAD on Giving Tuesday, December 1, 2020, and throughout the month of December. We invite you to consider making a year-end donation via our Facebook fundraiser, since Facebook may be able to match your gift. For more information, please visit https://www.facebook.com/donate/1089717998145032/.
The RASHAD Center, Inc. 