Race
-
Woman of the Ghetto: marlena shaw dealing the cold truth
I just found a copy of “Woman of the Ghetto” by Marlena Shaw for 4 bucks! Killer Chicago single from 1969. The song has been sampled multiple times, among them: St. Germain sampled from “Woman of the Ghetto” from Live at Montreux used in “Rose Rouge” on Tourist (2000) 9th Wonder and Buckshot also sampled…
-
Tofu Chitlin Circuit presents: Black Thang
THE SYNOPSIS: “Black Thang” by Ato Essandoh is the story of Sam, a black man, and Mattie, a white woman, and what happens when their relationship progresses from merely a one-night stand to something more…but not without some controversy. Meanwhile, Keisha (Mattie’s best friend), struggles to hold onto her relationship with her long-time boyfriend Omar, and Jerome (Sam’s best…
-
Tim & Tom: it wouldn’t be funny if it weren’t so true
As part of the Chicago Humanities Festival, this Saturday meet Tim & Tom… a “Salt & Pepper” comedy team born in the hotbed of sixties Chicago… Tim Reid and Tom Dreesen met for the first time in tumultuous 1968 Chicago. As the heady promise of the sixties sagged under the weight of widespread violence, rioting, and…
-
Tapes Lost to Time: Chicago Stories
I am bothered by tapes that disappear, the same tapes that record our collective story. The sort that get erroneously misplaced, taped over, or buried (true stories, all). It’s happened often in Chicago to bits of media that palpably documented Chicago Cultural History. It seems to have happened too many times for my taste. Here’s a…
-
Operation Breadbasket, the seed of PUSH
I have dedicated a number of posts here at Darkjive to the PUSH Expo, a 1970s exercise in Black Economic Empowerment (or Black Power as it was then known). The PUSH Expo phenomenon was borne from the seed of Operation Breadbasket (a department of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference), but the roots…
-
Hey, White Girl! Susan Gregory’s Chicago Story
The intersection of race and class. In Chicago. In the late 1960s. That’s the backdrop of a memoir (rather cheekily) titled “Hey, White Girl!” written by Susan Gregory (Norton, 1970). In the book, teenage Susan transfers from well-heeled, suburban New Trier High School to attend infamous-even-then Marshall High School on Chicago’s West Side for her senior year.…
-
The Color of Water
[ Near Philadelphia, kids of color were allegedly turned away from a private club’s swimming pool (even though they’d ponied up the nearly $2000 entry fee). Upon arrival, the kids’ presence allegedly made the regular pool crowd uncomfortable. Now the blogosphere is abuzz. “Racism!” “It’s 2009!!!” What does that even mean? All I know is that racists are better…
-
Another Beautiful Struggle
“We took comfort in the rebel music that was pumped into the city from up North. Hip-Hop was the rumble of our generation, unveiling all our wants, fears, and disaffections. But as the fabled year of ’88 came upon us, we saw something more in the music, a deeper thing that interrogated our random lives…
-
Into Africa: 50 must reads for “Every African”…
…courtesy of afripopmag.com… lots of good stuff for a book nut like me. Anthem of the Decades, by Mazisi Kunene. Biko, by Donald Woods Roots, by Alex Haley Number 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith Long Walk to Freedom, by Nelson Mandela Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe Woman at Point Zero, by Nawal el…
-
Adjust Your Color….and Believe in Radio
Check this clip from the PBS Documentary called “Adjust Your Color” chronicling the life and times of Petey Greene, a seventies DC-area shock-jock/activist (who was played by Don Cheadle in the film “Talk to Me”). Makes me believe in radio (again). And for good measure, below darkjive proudly presents: Life imitating art, Mr. Greene in the flesh. Wild…
darkjive.com 