Langston Hughes, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”

Better Boys Foundation and YouthLAB present an Open Mic Night this Friday at 6PM at 1512 South Pulaski Road

Theme: What does Freedom and Civil Rights mean to you?

All Youth are invited to speak!

In honor of this event, we have another bit of poetry for you:

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

Langston Hughes

To W.E.B. DuBois

I’ve known rivers:
I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy
bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I’ve known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

About the poet:
Langston Hughes (b. Feb. 1, 1902, d. May 22, 1967) was a novelist, short story writer, and playwright, but is best known for his jazz poetry and his work during the Harlem Renaissance. He was born in Joplin, Missouri of parents who were both mixed race. Even in grammar school, he showed a love for poetry. Some poets who influenced him were Paul Laurence Dunbar and Carl Sandburg. He worked many odd jobs as a young man and graduated from Lincoln University in 1929. After college, he moved to Westfield, New Jersey.
During his career, Langston Hughes published many different works, the first of which was published in The Crisis, the official magazine for the NAACP. “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” was in his first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, which was published in 1926. He was a very influential voice in the Harlem Renaissance and is an inspiration to many.

About the poem:
“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” is one of Langston Hughes’ most famous works and speaks out against inequality and injustice against the black community in America. It connects ancestry of the African-America community to the four main rivers in the Middle East. It speaks of both freedom and enslavement to acknowledge the strength and wisdom of the African-American people.
The symbolism in “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” uses the image of rivers to represent the soul of the African-Americans throughout history. In addition, the contrast of light and dark is used throughout with the “muddy” Mississippi and other “dusky” rivers along with the image of sunrise and sunset. This contrast of light and dark mirrors the conflict of race in history.
While the poem is free verse, and therefore has no rhyming, there is still a definite pattern and movement that can be seen throughout. It is full of strong, moving, language mimicking the movement of a river. The repetition in the beginning and end creates a cyclical pattern that mirrors the cycle of life and history. Also, the indentation of a few of the lines causes the poem to visually look like a river.

For more information, check out these sites

Wikipedia: Langston Hughes
The Negro Speaks of Rivers @ Shmoop.com

Thanks to BBF’s Adler Evaluation Intern Renee Shurilla for this post!

Poetry

Knoxville, Tennessee, by Nikki Giovanni

I always like summer
best
you can eat fresh corn
from daddy’s garden
and okra
and greens
and cabbage
and lots of
barbeque
and buttermilk
and homemade ice-cream
at the church picnic
and listen to
gospel music
outside
at the church
homecoming
and go to the mountains with
your grandmother
and go barefooted
and be warm
all the time
not only when you go to bed
and sleep

Taken from The Best 100 African American Poems, edited by Nikki Giovanni.

This Friday, March 4th, YouthLAB @ BBF will be hosting a movie screening of the film “The Great Debaters,” starring Denzel Washington.

Based on a true story, the plot revolves around the efforts of Wiley College coach Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington) to place his team on equal footing with whites in the American South during the 1930s when Jim Crow laws were common and lynch mobs were a pervasive fear for blacks. In the movie, the Wiley team eventually succeeds and is invited to debate at Harvard University.

The movie also explores the social constructs in Texas during the Great Depression, including not only the day-to-day insults and slights African Americans endured, but also a lynching. Also depicted is James L. Farmer, Jr. (Denzel Whitaker), who, at 14 years old, was on Wiley’s debate team after completing high school (and who later went on to co-found C.O.R.E., the Congress of Racial Equality). According to the Houston Chronicle, another character depicted on the team, Samantha Booke, is based on the real individual Henrietta Bell Wells, the only female member of the 1930 debate team from Wiley College who participated in the first collegiate interracial debate in the United States. Wells also happened to be a minor African American poet whose papers are housed at the Library of Congress.

The key line of dialogue, used several times, is a famous paraphrase of Augustine of Hippo: “An unjust law is no law at all.”

Taken from Wikpedia.org

Neighborhood Recovery Initiative Update

Thanks to Development Intern Jaleesa Parks for the following report of this event!

On Thursday, February 10^th 2011, BBF hosted the 3^rd Neighborhood Recovery Initiative Advisory Board Meeting. Leaders from over a dozen organizations in North Lawndale convened to discuss the progress in the Reentry, Mentoring Plus Jobs, School-Based Counseling and Parent Leadership programs being launched in North Lawndale. The meeting reflected the dedication, commitment, eagerness, and excitement that has built up around the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative. This strong collaboration has created a great amount of synergy that will soon manifest into terrific programs that will start unfolding as soon as May of 2011. For more information please contact the Director of the NRI, LaTonya Lumpkin, at ltlumpkin@betterboys.org.

Here are some photos from the event.

Celebrating Malcolm X’s Memory

On Feb. 21, 1965, Malcolm X, a former Nation of Islam leader, was assassinated by Black Muslims in New York.

Malcolm X was a militant black nationalist leader in the Nation of Islam until he left the organization in March 1964 over disputes with NOI leader Elijah Muhammad. In the ensuing year, Malcolm changed the militant philosophy he had espouses, becoming open to peaceful co-existence with whites. 

Malcolm frequently received death threats and faced attempts on his life from Nation of Islam members. He knew that his life was in danger, remarking just days before his death, “I’m a marked man. It doesn’t frighten me for myself as long as I felt they would not hurt my family.”

On Feb. 21, 1965, Malcolm X was on stage and about to speak at a rally at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, N.Y., when three members of the Nation of Islam shot him. He was pronounced dead at nearby Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center.

Followers of Malcolm X retaliated against the Black Muslims for the assassination, setting Black Muslim mosques on fire in Harlem and San Francisco.

Nearly 2,000 people attended his funeral on Feb. 27 at the Faith Temple Church of God in Christ in Harlem, where actor Ossie Davis delivered a moving eulogy. He was buried at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, N.Y.

Malcolm’s killers, Talmadge Hayer, Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson, were convicted of first-degree murder in March 1966.

Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little in Michigan on May 19, 1925, into a family of black empowerment advocates in the mold of Marcus Garvey. After his father’s murder and his mother’s nervous breakdown, Malcolm lived in foster homes until he moved in with his half-sister Ella in Boston. 

In Boston, Malcolm became involved in crime, earning the nickname “Detroit Red.” In February 1946, he was sent to prison, where he became involved with the Nation of Islam (NOI), a religious organization led by Elijah Muhammad.

Upon his release in 1952, Malcolm took the name Malcolm X. He traveled the country as a minister and spokesman, establishing new mosques and addressing civil unrest with his characteristic passion and articulate expression, attracting record numbers of new converts.

In contrast to fellow civil rights leader Martin Luther King’s nonviolent approach, Malcolm X promoted an aggressive Nation of Islam separatist doctrine. He talked of the “white devils”  and referred to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy as “the chickens coming home to roost.”

As Malcolm rose in the Nation of Islam, he began to clash with Elijah Muhammad over the direction of the organization and who would lead it. Malcolm also became disillusioned with Muhammad after learning that he was secretly having affairs with female followers and had fathered several children. In December 1963, following his comments on Kennedy’s assassination, Malcolm was suspended from the NOI.

Malcolm X broke with the NOI in March 1964, after the NOI refused to reinstate him even after he convinced boxer Cassius Clay to convert to Islam. He formed his own organization, Muslim Mosque, Inc., and made a religious pilgrimage to Mecca, where he learned that the true teachings of Islam bore little resemblance to the militant teachings of the NOI.

The trip had a profound effect on him, prompting him to change his name to el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz and re-evaluate his beliefs. He wrote in a letter: “They asked me what about the Hajj had impressed me the most. … I said, ‘The brotherhood! The people of all races, color, from all over the world coming together as one!’ It has proved to me the power of the One God. … All ate as one, and slept as one. Everything about the pilgrimage atmosphere accented the Oneness of Man under One God.”

Malcolm’s change in philosophy was largely overlooked in the media, and he still had the reputation of a militant at the time of his death. “Unfortunately the image that many … were left with, was of Malcolm as a vengeful militant, a symbol of hatred,” writes the BBC.

This image has changed in the four decades since his death. “The memory and image of Malcolm X has changed as much after his death as his own philosophies changed during his life,” according to The African American Almanac. “At first thought to be a violent fanatic, he is now understood as an advocate of self-help, self-defense, and education; as a philosopher and pedagogue, he succeeded in integrating history, religion, and mythology to establish a framework for his ultimate belief in world brotherhood and in human justice.”

Please take this day to remember and honor all of the activists who fought in the civil rights movement.   More information can be found at Finding Dulcinea, where this article was originally published.

Updates from BBF: Project LEAD!

Here are some brief updates from BBF – more will be coming soon!

Project LEAD
On February 24, 2010, Project LEAD will be hosting its Black History Celebration.  There will be a showcase of projects, skits and songs in honor of Black History Month featuring kids ages 5-12 enrolled in Project LEAD.

The event will begin at 5:00 PM and last one hour.  It will be held at Better Boys Foundation, located at 1512 South Pulaski Road in Chicago.

Additionally, Project LEAD is looking to enroll more children in the program.  Project LEAD offers academic, social and recreational programming year round to elementary school aged children.  Program hours are from 2:30-6PM Monday-Friday during the school year, and 8:30AM-5PM Monday-Friday during the summer and school holiday periods.

Project LEAD aims to provide North Lawndale children with safe and high-quality out-of-school time activities, including mentoring, academic performance enhancement, parental involvement, cultural awareness, and physical and creative development.

Parents must be employed or in school in order to be eligible for this program.  A co-payment is required and is based on the family income.

Please contact Ms. Molly Nelson or Ms. Pamela Blackman at 773-542-7300 to make an appointment to enroll your child today!

KnitLAB @ BBF!

Here is the first in a line of blog posts about YouthLAB’s apprenticeships.  We currently offer six apprenticeships in film editing, beginning tap dance, advanced tap dance, bike repair, literary magazine, and knitting.  Today we’re going to talk about KnitLAB @ BBF!

KnitLAB is taught by the author of these posts, Erica Greil.  Erica is a fellow from Princeton University who is working in the development office until the end of July.  Outside of work, she enjoys reading and doing crafts such as knitting, crocheting, and cross-stitching, and is so happy that she could bring those skills to BBF!

KnitLAB’s inaugural season was this past fall, when 12 intrepid North Lawndale teens learned to knit.  Yarn and needles were donated by St. Joseph’s Parish in Miesville, Minnesota and the Minnesota Board of Nursing. Although the first few weeks were sort of rough, by the end, all the students were well on their way to becoming master knitters.  The first project tackled were dishcloths.  The kids honed their knitting and purling stitches, mastering garter stitch, stockingette stitch, and basic ribbing.  After that, students picked out a project and yarn and began making scarves, hats, and wristwarmers.  Eleven (11) knitters will be returning this spring, with four new students, so keep an eye out for updates!

Here are some pictures of students and their knitting projects; more pictures of BBF activities can be found at our Flickr page.

If you would like to volunteer to help with knitting class, or if you would like to make a donation of needles, yarn, or other materials, please contact Erica Greil at 773-542-7307.