As a Black woman, our hair is wrapped up in our identity. We struggle to come up with our own definition of beauty and learn to embrace ourselves and our hair.
Observation about what was called the “Triangle of Black Identity” in Los Angeles in the 1970. Three political group have different ideology about the Black Awareness and Black Identity. Discussion about Awareness and Identity amoung neighbors is very common in 1970.
Rodney Ewing’s art blends equal parts beauty and social commentary. In his recent solo exhibition at Frey Norris Gallery in San Francisco, Ewing’s “Public Safety” comprised three thematic series: Disarm, Countermeasures and Meditations. A compelling “Artweek” review notes, when referring to the current social (i.e., violence in inner city neighborhoods) and political (e.g., Iraq War), “Ewing’s complex art rebutes this glamorized violence without emotional grandstanding of its own; combining military imagery with material borrowed from literature and science; it challenges us to ‘intersect body and place, memory and fact to re-examine human histories, cultural conditions and events.”
Ewing grew up in a highly mobile military family. His father was a non-commissioned officer in the Air Force and they lived, over many years, in Louisiana, Virginia, Maryland, New Mexico, Kansas, Colorado, the Phillipines and at Lakenheath Air Force Base in England. The artist received his MFA in printmaking from West Virginia University and has appeared in exhibitions around the country. Ewing regularly volunteers, teaching art to children in Palestine (during the most recent conflict with Lebanon), Trinidad and in Oakland’s community programs. Ewing’s work appeals to a wide demographic. Comedian/actor, Damon Wayans, is one of his more well-known supporters.
Marketing entrepreneur, Pepper Miller of Chicago, IL, talks about her personal and business interest intertwining along with the drive that brought about her book.
A few years ago I discovered my father's name in the Civil Rights timeline on a website. He was credited as one of a few black reporters who covered the integration of the Little Rock School District in 1957. Although the events surrounding the Little Rock Nine happened a few years before I was born, it was impossible to not feel the personal connection my father had to the story.
Red G aka Gloria tells her story of being black in America. Red G, a native of Florida was born to entertain. She had her acting debut in elementary school plays and sang as a member of the school's chorus. By jr. high school, she had become a member of the concert band and realized she had a love for music. Red G began dropping lyrics in the girls' bathroom, between classes, while someone pounded beats on the hand dryers. Then, by the time she got to high school, she was an accomplished concert clarinetist and well on her way to establishing herself as a runway model. Red G has performed in several local area bands as an instrumentalist, vocalist as well as lyricist.