Black Resistance and Joy
Celebrating Black History Month
This Black History Month, we celebrate Black resistance and joy. Resistance to police brutality with some images of the aftermath of the killing of Ronald Stokes in 1962. We also invite you to join in our celebration of the work of two African American journalists, Nikole Hannah Jones and Tara Pixley, who will visit our campus this month to talk about their amazing work. The joy of remembering Earth Wind and Fire’s drummer Frederick Eugene Freddie” White, who died on the first day of this year. And to add to the joy of resistance, we let you know that the Bradley Center is participating in #CSUNGivingDay from March 1st to 2nd to help Marta Valier and Sara Scalia develop the graphic novel ‘Ma ngombe: Warriors of San Basilio de Palenque’
The Death of Ronald Stokes in Los Angeles
The aftermaths of the videos of the brutal killings of Keenan Anderson in Los Angeles and Tyre Nichols in Memphis are a reminder that the work in trying to end police brutality against Black people remains urgent. Our historian and archivist, Keith Rice, took some images of the BLM protest last Sunday afternoon at Lincoln and Venice in Los Angeles. Here is one.
In addition, Rice wrote a few months ago a short chronicle of the events at the Nation of Islam’s Mosque on Broadway that lead to the shooting by LAPD officers of six unarmed members of the Nation of Islam. The killing of the Mosque’s secretary, Ronald Stokes, as he approached officer Donald Weese with his hands up helped propel the Black Power movement in Los Angeles. You can read and learn about it at the University Library’s "Pick in the Stacks." We share with you here a couple of images from those events.
The 1619 Project with Nikole Hannah-Jones
On February 10, Pulitzer-Prize winner and The New York Times staff writer, Nikole Hannah-Jones, will discuss her book, The 1619 Project, and how the legacy of slavery did not end with emancipation. The year 1619 marked the beginning of American chattel slavery, where enslaved people from Africa were forcefully brought to the United States. The 1619 Project discusses the hidden truths about America’s founding and how the aftermath of slavery is still a part of contemporary life. Hannah-Jones has dedicated her life to racial inequalities and injustices, earning multiple awards, including a Peabody Award and the MacArthur Fellowship. She is currently serving as the Knight Chair of Race and Journalism at Howard University, where she is founding the Center for Journalism and Democracy. She also was the co-founder of the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting. You can learn more here.
Rebel Vision with Photographer Tara Pixley
On February 21, photographer and scholar Tara Pixley will talk about how her work and that of other Black female and non-binary photographers charter alternative futures for critically-engaged photography that challenges colonialism, heteronormativity, and racism, making visible structural forms of violence and patriarchy. Pixley will be in conversation with the Bradley Center's director, José Luis Benavides, and archivist, Keith Rice. Tara Pixley, Ph.D. is a queer, Jamaican-American photographer, filmmaker, and media scholar based in Los Angeles, where she is an Associate Professor of Journalism at Loyola Marymount University. She is a 2022 Reynolds Journalism Fellow and 2022 Pulitzer Center Grantee, a 2021 IWMF NextGen Fellow, a 2020 awardee of the World Press Photo Solutions Visual Journalism Initiative, and a 2016 Visiting Knight Fellow at Harvard University's Nieman Foundation for Journalism. If you are planning to come to the event, you’ll need to RSVP here.
Freddie White—the Heartbeat of Earth Wind & Fire
By Keith Rice
As the historian and archivist at the Tom & Ethel Bradley Center, I have had the pleasure of researching metadata on a lot of African Americans who have lived in or visited Los Angeles California. And in some cases, I know that metadata on a personal level. Often times in musical super groups it is only the front men and women who are well known to the masses. But without the super members of those groups, there would be nothing to move, dance, groove or simply bob your head to. On January 1, 2023, the world lost the drummer for one of the world’s biggest supergroups, Earth Wind and Fire. Even though the group was at its pinnacle in the 1970s, the world continues to move and groove to the beats provided by Earth Wind and Fire’s drummer Frederick Eugene Freddie” White.
I had the pleasure of working with Freddie when I served as the sound engineer for the LA Allstars and the Al McKay Allstars in the 1990s and 2000s. Throughout the years both groups featured members of Earth Wind and Fire as well as members of Tower of Power, Santana, Shiela E, The Temptations, The Emotions, and more. I worked with Freddie for a year and it was one of the highlights of my career as a sound engineer. There are people who know their craft and then there are people who are their craft. And that was Freddie. His focus behind a drum set was otherworldly. Although there was a lot going on in front of him he was the glue that held every song together and he defied anyone to not tap his or her feet to every song. His musicianship was equally matched by his easygoing temperament. He was always engaging, even-tempered, and cool.
Freddie joined Earth Wind and Fire at the age of 19 and played on the group’s most memorable hits such as "September," "Boogie Wonderland," "Saturday Night" and "Shining Star." In addition to being a member of one of my favorite groups at the age of 17, Freddie kept time on one the greatest live albums ever recorded and a favorite of mine, Donny Hathaway Live. I have never asked anyone for his or her autograph but I almost missed the plane on an All-Star tour in Japan because at the time Tower Records in Japan was the only place I could find the Donny Hathaway Live album on CD. And Freddie was on the tour and I wanted him to sign it, which he graciously did. Freddie White is a musical legend and he will remain with us until the end of time because every time we listen to the grooves of Earth Wind and Fire Freddie is with us driving the beat.
#CSUNGivingDay coming up on March 1-2
by Marta Valier
The Bradley Center is participating in #CSUNGivingDay from March 1st to 2nd to develop Ma ngombe: Warriors of San Basilio de Palenque.
The graphic novel, illustrated by Sara Scalia and written by Marta Valier, is based on Richard Cross photographs of the first community of free Black enslaved people near Cartegena, Colombia, and combines illustrations with photography. Based on 1979 book Ma ngombe: Guerreros y ganaderos en Palenque by Colombian anthropologist Nina S. de Friedemannan and Cross, whose collection is housed at the Bradley Center, the project will serves as a tribute to the life of the Palenque community and make the work of photographer Richard Cross accessible. Check out some of Richard Cross's images from San Basilio in this short video. Starting Febraury 20th, you’ll be able to help us bring the project and photos to life by making a donation, spreading the word to your friends, family and colleagues, and becoming a Bradley Center ambassador at https://givingday.csun.edu (on the Ambassador tab). Your support is appreciated!
