Month: February 2015

Black History Literary Weekend in San Antonio, Texas

On By thewriterfredIn Black History, San Antonio, TXLeave a comment

I am extremely proud of what we do in San Antonio to promote literacy and culture among our youth. We take a great deal of pride in the quality of writers living right here in the Alamo City. The weekend of February 26 to 28, we plan to acknowledge our writers at a Black History Literary Weekend Dinner. However, prior to the dinner, eight of our outstanding authors will participate in a number of events to include trips to S. J. Davis Middle School and the George Gervin Academy, where they will meet and talk with young students in grades eight through twelve. These eight authors, who have works of fiction, non fiction and poetry, voluntarily give of their time because they strongly believe that they must encourage our young to dig deep in the far regions of their mind, and nurture the gift of creative writing. They readily acknowledge, that someone in their life served as a role model to encourage them to pursue a dream of becoming a writer. Many times, young children do not get such encouragement in the home, and far too often their talent remains dormant and they never reach the pinnacle of success as writers.

This year’s theme for Black Literary Weekend is, “Literature: The Foundation of all Cultures.” Without the written word, the history is lost and the people become insignificant to the world and subject to elimination. A people’s history is recorded in many different genres to include, novels, autobiographies, biographies, essays, dissertations, poetry and the list goes on. The key is that it all begins when young adults have the courage to pick up a pen and write that first sentence. That often is the most difficult task because our young may have been discouraged by family members, peer groups or many other people who pass through their lives. This weekend our authors will dispel those doubts and hopefully, from out of the young people they meet and greet, will come the next Pulitzer Prize writer.

This year’s speaker at the dinner is an outstanding leader within the artistic and literary circles who has, over the years, served as a magnificent beam of creative light illuminating on our community. Aaronetta Pierce is not only a collector of art but also a writer who has recently produced two outstanding works, one on Maya Angelou who was Ms. Pierce’s very close friend, and the other an essay written to her grandchildren about their heritage. Both pieces will appear in an anthology to be released in March 2015, titled, Black is the Color of Strength. It will be one of many outstanding books featured at the San Antonio Book Festival in April 2015.

One of our primary goals for the dinner this year is to raise enough money to help support our effort to establish the Dr. David Floyd Writing Project as a 501c3 foundation. David is a brother whose life story I wrote a few years ago. It is a fascinating story. He graduated from high school reading at the second grade level, and last June received his Doctorate Degree in Accounting. Unfortunately, we lost David in October of 2014 to cancer. David and I had just begun to talk about a sequel to his story, encouraging young black boys not to fear life or run away from its challenges. We now plan to make him a symbol of struggle, dedication and success. If you are in the San Antonio area and would like to attend this dinner, you can contact Ms. Antoinette Franklin at (210) 264-1518 or Mr. D. L. Grant at (210) 207-9180, or just email me at fredwilliams@satx.rr.com.

BLKH_fyer

“Our Way—To Say—Thank You”

On By thewriterfredIn Black History2 Comments

Over the years there has been a myriad of explanations why there should be a Black History Month. There have been just as many criticisms of the celebration. Most critics will argue that Black history need not be acknowledged only one month out of the year, but instead should be recognized every day of the year. One of the leading opponents is Morgan Freeman who calls Black History Month ridiculous. “You’re not going to relegate my history to a month,” he said in a 2005 interview on Sixty Minutes. “I don’t want a Black History Month,” he continued. “Black history is American history.

cartergwoodson_feb2015

According to Freeman’s thinking, Dr. John Hope Franklin’s extensive research and publication From Slavery to Freedom was an exercise in futility, as was Lerone Bennett Jr.’s Before the Mayflower. Both books concentrate on the history of Blacks in this country. These two scholarly men recognized that the dearth of information on Black people, found in the history books and novels, was reason enough to write on the subject. It is arguable that Franklin’s and Bennett’s works brought to light a great deal of our history, not covered in the more traditional books.

However, let me offer additional reasons why we celebrate Black History Month.

It is: “Our Way—To Say—Thank You,” to our ancestors who were captured and thrown into dungeons in their homeland of Africa, and forced out through the “Door of no Return” into the holes of slave ships, piled atop each other for an average of a three month trip in the middle passage.

It is: “Our Way—To Say—Thank You,” to our ancestors who landed on the shores of this country and faced an unbelievable evil in a strange country, among strange talking and looking people.

It is: “Our Way—To Say—Thank You,” to our ancestors who endured over four hundred years of oppression at the hands of oppressors who had the unmitigated arrogance to consider themselves masters.

It is: “Our Way—To Say—Thank You,” to our ancestors who confronted an apartheid system of abuse to include lynching of our men, raping of our women and denial of equal opportunity, but still they hung on, fought back, and brought us up the rough side of the mountain so that men like Morgan Freeman could benefit from their sacrifice.

It is: “Our Way—To Say—Thank You,” to the greatest generation of freedom fighters the world has ever known, who took on an organized force of violent resistance in a peaceful and nonviolent manner and won.

It is: “Our Way—To Say—Thank You,” to the writers, painters, sculptors, poets, musicians and athletes who have excelled in the performance of their particular art and sport, and as a result helped create and sustain one of the finest cultures, known as the African American Culture, in the entire world.

Carter G. Woodson, the founder of Black History Week (extended to month in 1976) elaborated in the following statement his reasoning; “If a race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.”

Need I say or write more in defense of Black History Month? Dr. Woodson’s explanation is sufficient reason for continuing the tradition he began back in 1926.