SESSION EIGHT
Embedded Files
Wadsworth Jarrell, (b.1929). 'Together We Will Win', 1973.
With bright Kool-Aid colors. (“Everyone was drinking Kool-Aid,” said the original member Barbara Jones-Hogu), political slogans and portraits of Duke Ellington and Malcolm X, the AfriCOBRA art movement was first founded in 1968 on the south side of Chicago by five artists who wanted to define a black aesthetic".) Long rejected by the mainstream art community, AfriCOBRA helped shape the black arts movement.
STUDY QUESTIONS
How can we explain the responses of artists in AfriCOBRA in adopting their aesthetic and its relationship to Black Power? And how can we account for the longevity of AfriCOBRA? (It celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2018.) In viewing the work of the several AfriCOBRA artists here, how would you describe their aesthetic? Comparison with SPIRAL?
DEVELOPING A NEW AESTHETIC:
AfriCOBRA (COALITION OF BAD RELEVANT ARTISTS), 1968
*****
FESTAC '77 (African Festival of Art and Culture, 1977)
ARTISTS OF NOTE : JEFF DONALDSON , BARBARA JONES - HOGU, WADSWORTH JARRELL , JAE JARRELL , GERALD WILLIAMS and NAPOLEON JONES-HENDERSON
DEVELOPING A NEW AESTHETIC: AfriCOBRA (COALITION OF BAD RELEVANT ARTISTS), 1968.
AfriCobra members - 1987
'Intro to AfriCobra and AfriCobra Now', YouTube, 5.04 min.
'DEVELOPING A NEW AESTHETIC, cont.
AfriCOBRA Manifesto? “Ten in Search of a Nation” , Journal of Contemporary African Art, May 01, 2012
AfriCOBRA Manifesto? “Ten in Search of a Nation” , Journal of Contemporary African Art, May 01, 2012
In the AfriCOBRA manifesto Donaldson describes the origins of the group and its aesthetic principles: “The expressive awesomeness that one experiences in African art and life in the U.S.A. like the Holiness church . . . and the demon that is the blues, Alcindor’s dunk and Sayer’s cut . . . Symmetry that is free, repetition with change, based on African music and African movement . . . We want the work to look like the creator made it through us . . . We want the things to shine, to have the rich luster of a just-washed ’Fro, of spit-shined shoes . . . Color that shines . . . Color that defines, identifies and directs . . . Coolade colors for coolade images for superreal people.”
'DEVELOPING A NEW AESTHETIC, cont
Background information, 'Oh Freedom' Barbara Jones - Hogu, Smithsonian Art Museum
Black Power drew some inspiration from many of the ideas that emerged in the 1920s with the New Negro movement and the long struggle for black solidarity and equal rights. Both insisted on economic empowerment and the value of black history and culture. Black Power was, however, also a self-conscious break from these predecessors. Having witnessed the promise and then disappointments of the struggle for civil rights in the 1950s and 1960s, many were angry and impatient for change. In particular, Black Power activists felt they should neither have to compromise nor adopt white cultural standards, and so they rejected what they saw as the conformity of earlier generations. Once considered fringe ideas, the notions of the Black Power movement inspired some of the more radical strains of the Civil Rights movement, which emerged forcefully in the mid-1960s.
AfriCOBRA was one group that gave visibility and drew increasing attention to Black Power. The group's 1970 manifesto, which was written by the artist Jeff Donaldson, espoused the principles of social responsibility, grass-roots artistic involvement, and the promotion of black pride. Artists assimilated these values by using high energy colors, experimenting with innovative approaches to rhythm that were drawn from African art and black music, and adopting symbols that represented African roots. In this print, African elements include the Afros and the ankh, an ancient Egyptian symbol, which one woman wears. These symbols provided a shared source of identity that compelled many to dedicate themselves to the freedom struggle, or as Jones-Hogu urges, to unite.'
DEVELOPING A NEW AESTHETIC, cont
A Brief History of AfriCOBRA , Swann Auction Galleries
Click the image on the right to read the history and view the art of AfriCOBRA
An excerpt:
"The philosophical mission of AfriCOBRA was to create images committed to a sublime expression of the African diaspora that would be identified by and reflected on by all black people. AfriCOBRA’s goal was to unite all members of the African Diaspora–they wanted to eliminate the western idea of the self and embrace the progress of the community. The founding members wanted to honor the past, contextualize the present, and prepare for a bright future. To this end, they created a mission statement and tenets that became a manifesto, written by Jeff Donaldson. The artists believed that through collective consciousness their art and objects would propel social and political change in their communities. The aesthetic principles of AfriCOBRA adhered to the ideals of “bright colors, the human figure, lost and found line, lettering, and images which identified the social, economic and political conditions of our ethnic group.”[1] They wanted to embrace “specific visual qualities intrinsic to our ethnic group.”[2]
Flyer for AFRICOBRA I: Ten in Search of a Nation at the Studio Museum in Harlem, 1968 - 1973
Flyer for AFRICOBRA I: Ten in Search of a Nation at the Studio Museum in Harlem, 1968 - 1973
ARTISTS OF NOTE : JEFF DONALDSON , BARBARA JONES - HOGU ( 1938 - 2017) , WADSWORTH JARRELL (b. 1929, born in Albany, GA), JAE JARRELL (b. Elaine Annette Johnson, 1935 ), GERALD WILLIAMS (b. 1941, born in Chicago, Ill.), NAPOLEON JONES-HENDERSON (b.1943, born in Chicago, Ill.)
# 1. ARTIST OF NOTE : JEFF DONALDSON (1932 - 2004, born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas)
Jeff Donaldson, c. 1970, unidentified photographer, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
JEFF DONALDSON
Jeff Donaldson, 'Aunt Jemima and the Pillsbury Doughboy", 1963,
"Aunt Jemima and the Pillsbury Doughboy, an oil on linen, was begun on August 28, 1963, the day of the civil rights March on Washington. While proud of the event, Donaldson was disappointed that no galvanizing initiatives were introduced. At the time, he reasoned that the "next level of struggle would [have to be] confrontational" if African Americans were to secure their rights. Aunt Jemima, portrays the confrontation Donaldson envisioned. Appropriating icons of American consumer culture, the painting not only portrays a confrontation between Aunt Jemima and the Pillsbury Doughboy, but also enacts a confrontation with popular media imagery responsible for furthering racist stereotypes. Donaldson's depiction of Aunt Jemima subverts the docility and subservience associated with this image of black womanhood. Though the Pillsbury Doughboy (a figure of oppression in the painting) restrains Aunt Jemima, her defensive stance and fierce expression indicate that she will not concede defeat. Moreover, her statuesque figure implies that she holds the upper-hand in a contest of strength with her oppressor. Pitting The Pillsbury Doughboy against Aunt Jemima, Donaldson is simultaneously "identifying the enemy" and asserting black America's strength to overcome racist oppression."
JEFF DONALDSON
'Jeff Donaldson , Celebration of an Alternative History' by John Yau, Hyperallergic, March 26, 2017
Click on the right for an overview.
An excerpt:
Take the case of Jeff Donaldson (1932 – 2004), who, with four other artists, co-founded the group AfriCOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists) in Chicago in 1968, the year Martin Luther King was murdered, race riots were erupting across America, and the Vietnam War was raging. Originally called Cobra (Coalition of Black Revolutionary Artists), the addition of the prefix “Afri” to this group signified an important aesthetic shift — the recognition that the ancestors of Black Americans came against their will from Africa, and living in America meant that you were a member of a diasporic community.'
Jeff Donaldson, 'Paternal Heritage', (1971), mixed media
JEFF DONALDSON, cont.
OPTIONAL READ Jeff Donaldson: Dig, Everson Museum of Art, Jan. 20, 2018 to April 29, 2018.
Click the image on the right for an overview and to view some work of Jeff Donaldson.
An excerpt:
"Jeff Donaldson: Dig, the artist’s first museum retrospective, seeks to shed light on the Donaldson’s contribution to art history by exploring his four-decade career. Spanning Donaldson’s activist roots in Chicago to his influence on future generations of artists as a professor at Howard University and Vice President of the Barnes Foundation, this major exhibition presents new scholarship and features works never before seen in public.
Donaldson’s work across the decades is an amalgamation of energetic colors, intricate patterns, and African iconography that celebrates the history of African art and the roots of Black culture. Featuring paintings, prints, and mixed media works, the exhibition reflects on Donaldson’s deep belief in the responsibility of an artist to create work that is both socially relevant and visually striking."
"Stone Singer", 1996-1999
"Simba", 1973;
"Majorities", 1977"
Jeff Donaldson, the late co-founder of the black arts collective AfriCOBRA, titled this silkscreen 'Victory in Zimbabwe'.
# 2. ARTIST OF NOTE : BARBARA JONES - HOGU (1938 - 2017, born in Chicago, Ill.)
BARBARA JONES - HOGU
Barbara Jones - Hogul interviewed at the South Side Community Art Center by Rebecca Zorach and Skyla Hearn for 'Never the Same".
Click to read the interview.
An intro to her interview:
"Barbara Jones-Hogu is a painter, printmaker, filmmaker, and educator from Chicago. She studied at Howard University, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Institute of Design at IIT. She was a member of the OBAC Visual Artists Workshop and painted the actors’ section of the Wall of Respect. In 1968, together with four other artists, she co-founded AFRICOBRA, the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists. Her work has appeared in exhibitions in Chicago and around the United States, and has been collected by many major institutions. Currently she is pursuing a Master’s degree in film from Governors State University."
Be sure to watch the YouTube video (1 min.)
BARBARA JONES - HOGU, cont.
Barbara Jones–Hogu (b. 1938), "Unite", 1971, screen print, 22 1/2 x 30" Collection of National Museum of African American History and Culture.
"By combining strong silhouettes, limited colors, and bold lettering, Barbara Jones-Hogu not only prints her message, "UNITE," but also makes its meaning palpable. As the word repeats in vivid colors and angular forms above a series of figures, it seems to echo and grow loud. The figures below enact the message. Their rows of similarly raised fists and solemn faces, many in profile, form a rhythmic pattern atop a single, undifferentiated black mass—their unified body.
This print conveys the purpose, intensity, and energy of the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists (AfriCOBRA), a coalition of artists who formed in the late 1960s with the express purpose of defining and modeling a uniquely black aesthetic in the visual arts. AfriCOBRA coalesced within the broader Black Power movement, which gained popularity among many African American activists in the 1960s and early 1970s. Advocates of Black Power argued that racial pride, political resolve, and militant unity were the best means for upturning the status quo—the situation as it currently exists. The raised, clenched fists in Jones-Hogu's print, which many considered the Black Power salute, and the Afro hairdos, which many of the figures sport, signify these ideals. Consciously defiant, they symbolize the group's self-determinism and their insistence on radical change." ((From Oh Freedom! Barbara Jones - Hogu, Smithsonian Art Museum)
"Unite", 1971, screen print, 22 1/2 x 30" Collection of National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Barbara Jones - Hogu examining the first version of the her print "Unite".
Barbara Jones - Hogu, 'Rise and Take Control"
Barbara Jones - Hogu, 'To Be Free'
BARBARA JONES - HOGU cont
"Chicago Artist Barbara Jones-Hogu, a Founding Member of AfriCOBRA, Has Died" by Victoria L. Valentine, Culture Type, Nov. 21, 2017.
Click on the right image to read about the life and work of Barbara Jones-Hogu,
An excerpt:
Recognized for her political, pro-Black images combining figuration with energetic, graphic lettering, Jones-Hogu is closely identified with a 1969/71 print titled, “Unite.” In recent years, the work has been featured in major group exhibitions documenting the contributions and expressions of African American artists during the Civil Rights Movement and Black Power eras.
# 3. ARTIST OF NOTE : WADSWORTH JARRELL
(b. 1929, Albany, GA)
WADSWORTH JARRELL
Revolutionary social artist Wadsworth A. Jarrell, Sr. was born in Albany, Georgia, in 1929, the youngest of six children. Jarrell credits his father, a furniture maker, and the rest of his family for supporting his childhood interest in art. After high school, Jarrell served in Korea, and then moved to Chicago. In 1954, Jarrell enrolled in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago majoring in advertising art and graphic design. Not long afterward, Jarrell lost interest in commercial art and took more drawing and painting classes.
WADSWORTH JARRELL, cont.
"Wadsworth Jarrell", Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, Il
In 1968, Jarrell came to prominence as one of the five co-founders of AFRICOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists), a Black artist collective formed on the South Side of Chicago, which helped define the visual language of the Black Arts Movement of the 60s and 70s. Yet, for decades prior, Jarrell had already been experimenting with his aesthetic voice, transitioning gradually from the illustrative figuration of paintings like Come Saturday (1959), to the Orphic Cubist-inspired, abstract dynamism of Cockfight (1965). Jarrell was already a mature painter when he contributed to the development of the AFRICOBRA aesthetic. The group’s embrace of “cool-ade” colors, text, and positive images of the Black community may be seen as an enlargement of Jarrell’s voice, but as we can see in paintings
like Sign of the Times (1966) and Shore Market (1968), to a large degree these ideas were already emerging out of his own experiments. Essential to his work is Jarrell’s belief that the creation of an art object is inherently personal. Though informed by history and governed by material realities, his process always begins and ends with his own experiences. Many of the seminal works he painted at the height of the AFRICOBRA years—like Black Family (1968) and Boss Couple (1970)—directly reference Jarrell’s personal life. Even seemingly less personal works, such as I Am Better Than Those Motherfuckers and They Know It (1969) and Homage to a Giant (1970), examine the broader culture through Jarrell’s distinctly individuated point. (See below)
“In AFRICOBRA, we thought that our first project should be about the black family. We discussed how they had been split, and we wanted to present a complete family.” Wadsworth Jarrell
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Wadsworth Jarrell,'Boss Couple', 1970
Wadsworth Jarrell, "Homage to a Giant, 1970
"I Am Better Than Those Motherfuckers and They Know It', 1969
WADSWORTH JARRELL, cont.
Wadsworth Jarrell, "Revolutionary" (Angela Davis), 1971
From the Brooklyn Museum
'In 1968, Wadsworth Jarrell co-founded COBRA (Coalition of Black Revolutionary Artists) with his spouse, fashion designer Jae Jarrell, and artists Barbara Jones-Hogu, Jeff Donaldson, and Gerald Williams. Not only did women play central roles in the prominent Black Arts Movement collective—which would later be renamed AfriCOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists)—but they were also iconic leaders in the Black Power Movement.'
Here Jarrell celebrates the renowned radical activist and intellectual Angela Y. Davis, who continues to be a leader in the fight for racial, gender, and economic justice around the world. Incorporating Davis’s words, Black Power slogans, and AfriCOBRA’s signature vibrant colors, the portrait depicts the intensity and power of her activism.'
Wadsworth Jarrell, "Revolutionary" (Angela Davis), 1972
Wadsworth Jarrell, 'Revolutionary'. 1972, Screenprint printed in color on white wove paper.
OPTIONAL READ WADSWORTH JARRELL, cont.
Cleveland artist Wadsworth Jarrell sets record straight on history of revolutionary AfriCOBRA collective in new book, Jan. 10, 2021.
An excerpt::
"Some of America’s greatest artists, Black and white, have decried anti-Black racism for decades by focusing on images of Black suffering and pain.
Cleveland artist Wadsworth Jarrell, 91, a native of Georgia and one of America’s most revered Black artists, has never been one of them. Instead, he has spent his career creating images of Black beauty and power to promote self-reliance and a spirit of overcoming."
# 4. ARTIST OF NOTE : JAE JARRELL (born Elaine Annette Johnson in 1935 , grew up in Cleveland, Ohio)
Jae Jarrell wearing her Revolutionary Suit
It is often said that "Jae uses the body as a vessel for protest, resistance, and identity, a description that elides the joy, color and affirmation in her work."
JAE JARRELL ,cont.
Black Art Story - Profile: Jae Jarrell (b. 1935), 11/24/2020
Click on the image on the right to read about Jae Jarell
An excerpt:
Elaine “Jae” Jarrell is an American artist best known for her fashion designs and her involvement with the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s. Influenced by her grandfather’s work as a tailor, Jarrell learned about fabrics and sewing at a young age. It was learning these skills that set her on her path as an artist, fashion designer, and vintage clothing dealer.' (Black Art Story)
JAE JARRELL ,cont.
OPTIONAL READING Jae Jarrell, agYU, 11 September - 1 December 2019, Curated by Candice Hopkins and Tairone Bastien
Click on the right for an overview of the work of Jae Jarrell.
The introduction
"Jae Jarrell made her first Revolutionary Suit in 1969. Constructed of grey tweed, the suit featured a bright yellow suede bandolier stitched along the edge of the jacket. Running from shoulder to hip, the slots of the bandolier are filled with either brightly coloured wooden pegs or pastels: ammunition for creation or for revolution. As Jarrell noted in an article in Jet Magazine in 1971, the bandolier was not simply a fashion accessory: “We were saying something when we used the belts. We’re involved in a real revolution.” From the beginning of her practice, Jarrell merged art and design with Black liberation politics."
JAE JARRELL, cont.
Jae Jarrell, "Revolutionary Suit", 1969, remade 2010.
'Jarrell’s Revolutionary Suit is one of the standout pieces in "Soul of a Nation". She was one of the co-founders of AfriCOBRA, a black artist movement which drew on the history of African art to contribute to the Civil Rights Movement discourse. Inspired by her grandfather’s career as a tailor, she combined an interest in the craft with her drive to represent the communities of the the black American diaspora, sewing scenes of community and family life onto women’s suits, which she regularly wore herself' (From AnOther)
Jae Jarrell, Revolutionary Suit, 1969, remade 2010.
JAE JARRELL, cont.
Jae Jarrell, "Urban Wall Suit", sewn and painted cotton and silk, two piece suit, 1969
From the Brooklyn Museum:
"As one of the co-founders of the Black Arts Movement collective AfriCOBRA, fashion designer Jae Jarrell made one-of-a-kind clothing using the bright hues the collective called “Coolade” colors, a wordplay on a popular children’s beverage. Jarrell’s vibrant garments exalt black families and culture and were worn by the artist in her daily life. She wrote that her Ebony Family dress “always got good vibes from our [AfriCOBRA] members, no doubt, because my political stance on nurturing the strong loving Black family is real, and personally experienced. We regarded the members as extended family.”
Jae Jarrell, Urban Wall Suit, Sewn and painted cotton and silk, two piece suit, 1969. (In the show, "We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85" at the Brooklyn Museum)
From 'Black Art Story,' Profile: Jae Jarrell (1935):
"Jarrell’s Urban Wall Suit (1969) is a piece inspired by graffiti and concert posters that filled the streets and African American neighborhoods in Chicago. Jarrell incorporated AfriCOBRA’s desire to emphasize images with language by making the suit a symbol of the message boards of the community. All over the suit, there are images of posters that proclaim things like “Vote Democrat” as well as white graffiti messages that say things like “Black Princess” and “Miss Attitude.” Furthermore, with Urban Wall Suit, Jarrell reused her fabric to follow one of the tenets of AfriCOBRA, which was to reinvent yourself in order to create something fresh. She used small pieces and scraps from her store to make the patchwork resembling bricks, adding velvet ribbon as the mortar. These fabric scraps are of all different colors and patterns, including stripes, polka dots, and plaid. She then incorporated the graffiti and poster elements that resembled the message boards ."
JAE JARRELL, cont.
OPTIONAL READING Heritage: Wadsworth and Jae Jarrell at the Cleveland Museum of Art, posted on November 17, 2007.
Click on this article on the right to read about this art show called "Heritage:Wadsworth and Jae Jarrell at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Jae Jarrell, 81, and her husband, Wadsworth Jarrell, 87, at the CMA art show in 2007.
OPTIONAL VIEWING
JAE JARRELL, cont.
"I See you! A Conversation with Jae Jarrell and Jeffreen M Hayes PhD," YouTube, 4.12 min.
# 5. ARTIST OF NOTE : GERALD WILLIAMS (b. 1941 in Chicago, Ill.)
'Gerald Williams with the bronze figure presented to him in 1977 by bronze casters in Benin City, Nigeria. Williams attended FESTAC in 1977 and when FESTAC concluded, most of the artists Williams knew returned to their prior lives. But not Williams. Williams volunteered for the Peace Corps. He spent the next two years in Kenya working as a teacher for developmentally disabled adults . Remarkably though, he said that became more productive than ever in his studio there.'
GERALD WILLIAMS, cont.
"For Gerald Willams, a Co- Founder of AfriCOBRA, Transnational Black Aesthetics Are as Relevant as Ever", by Phillip Barcio, Hyperallergic, November 13, 2017
As one of the co-founders of the Black Arts Movement collective AfriCOBRA, fashion designer Jae Jarrell made one-of-a-kind clothing using the bright hues the collective called “Coolade” colors, a wordplay on a popular children’s beverage. Jarrell’s vibrant garments exalt black families and culture and were worn by the artist in her daily life. She wrote that her Ebony Family
Click on the image on the right for an overview of the life and work of Gerald Williams.
An excerpt:
"Williams’s tastes tends toward the natural, the homemade, as well as the international—a reflection of his life story. He has lived in seven countries and five different states within the US. But his artistic roots are here on Chicago’s south side. This was the birthplace of AfriCOBRA, the black artist collective that defined the visual aesthetic of the Black Arts Movement."
View below these two pieces of work by Gerald Williams.
Gerald Williams, "Malcolm"', 1970, acrylic on board
Gerald Williams, "My Parents'", 1975, acrylic on canvas
GERALD WILLIAMS, cont.
Chicago and the Age of Black Power : An interview with AfriCOBRA Founding Member Gerald Williams by Vasia Rigoum , Newcity Art, September 6, 2018.
Click on the image on the right for an overview of AfriCOBRA.
An excerpt - The Introduction
"It was 1968 when a handful of artists working in a wide range of media—photography, painting, textile design, sculpture, printmaking and so on—were brought together by their shared identity and their love for their art, rich in cultural and political value. The African-American visual art group appreciated music and rhythm, bold color and style, and embraced a positive view of life that would grow to define their aesthetics and purpose: to elevate Black creativity. Looking back, Gerald Williams, Wadsworth Jarrell, Jae Jarrell, Carolyn Lawrence, Barbara Jones-Hogu and Jeff Donaldson never would have guessed that AfriCOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists), a black artist collective that was founded on the South Side of Chicago, would have helped define the visual aesthetic of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and seventies, let alone celebrate its fiftieth anniversary this year."
# 6. ARTIST OF NOTE : NAPOLEON JONES-HENDERSON (b.1943, born in Chicago, Ill.)
"Roxbury's Napoleon Jones-Henderson shines on in ICA exhibit" by Celina Colby, The Bay Street Banner, Feb. 24, 2022
An excerpt:
"For nearly 50 years, artist Napoleon Jones-Henderson has brought his vibrant textile works and a potent artistic manifesto to the Roxbury cultural community. Now, the Chicago native’s work is being honored at the ICA Boston in “Napoleon Jones-Henderson: I Am As I Am—A Man,” a three-room retrospective running through July 24.
From the moment viewers step into “I Am As I Am—A Man,” the energy feels different from the traditional white-cube museum model. Brightly colored walls in yellow, green and blue host artworks from the artist’s long and fruitful career. Jones-Henderson was one of the founding members of the artist collective African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists (AfriCOBRA). His work has always centered on exploring and uplifting the Black experience."
Click on the right to enjoy a studio visit with Napoleon James - Henderson at the ICA, March 19, 2022, 6 min.
OPTIONAL LISTENING Click on the right to listen to a conversation with Dr. Leslie King Hammond, art historian, curator, artist, cultural art activist , and Napoleon Jones-Henderson about his work and practice. March 9, 2022, 72 min.
FESTAC '77 (The 2nd World Black and African Festival of Art and Culture)
"For the first time since the Slave Trade, for the first time in 500 years, the black family was together again, was whole again, was one again"– May 1977 Edition of Ebony Magazine.
Images from FESTAC '77
FESTAC '77 (The 2nd World Black and African Festival of Art and Culture)
FESTAC '77 : "The Revival of Black and African Cultural Values by Oluwatosin Attah", BLAM, June 4, 2021.
Click on the right for an overview of FESTAC '77 - its history and effects.
An excerpt - The introduction
"This article highlights the cultural importance of the Second World Black Festival of Arts and Culture whilst underlining the effects it had on the unity of Black people all over the world. The festival itself took place in Lagos, Nigeria from January 15th – February 12th in the year 1977, as the name suggests. The festival was a celebration of African art, African music and Afro-inspired theatrical performances. The festivities consisted of about 50 plays, 150 concerts, 80 film screenings, 40 art exhibitions and around 200 poetry performances. It was a celebration to be remembered not just for its appreciation of Black people but also for the ramifications faced by Afrobeat’s legend and founder, Fela Kuti, for boycotting FESTAC ’77 – which this article also touches on briefly. "
FESTAC '77 (The 2nd World Black and African Festival of Art and Culture), cont.
"FESTAC: Upbeat Finale" by Jonathan C.R. et al, Washington Post, February 14, 1977.
Click on the right for a summary of FESTAC in 1977.
An excerpt:
"But it was the festival's jamboree aura, rather than its formal performances, exhibits and colloquia, which seems destined to leave a lasting mark. The main benefactors of Nigeria's extravagant gift of total black cultural immersion - offered to some 50 countries plus black communities in the Diaspora - were the performers and other participants.
And the real action was not so much in the new national theater, national stadium or parade grounds, but in the festival village where thousands of participants naturally mingled with each other and came to appreciate the rich variety of their culture."
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