Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Other Posts on the 60s


Camp Craigmeade--links:
http:/mjsoulpictures.blogspot.com/search/label/Camp%20Craigmeade
Aunt Helen who ran the black sleepaway camp Barbara and I attended in the 60s dies at camp.
My Counselor Marion.
Camp Craigmeade in the 60s

New Lincoln School--links:
New Lincoln in the 60s. Graduation Year 1969.
Michele in Anything Goes at New Lincoln in 1968
40 Year New Lincoln Reunion at the Prison on 110th Street in 1968.

Sonny Rollins--From Harlem in the 60s:
Once in Awhile: Sonny Rollins in Denmark. Link: http://jazzicons.com/vid_rollins.html.
Faith and Sonny Rollins receive honorary doctorates at Rutger's University in 2009.
Sonny Rollins plays for Faith's "Sonny's Quilt" at the Mason Gross School of Art on the occasion of her 50 Year Retrospective.

American People/America Black 1960s links--
 http://www.michelewallace.zenfolio.com

Chronology of the 60s

1961

March 26--NAFAD (National Association of Fashion and Accessory Designers) Fashion Show (Hostesses Barbara Mayo and Mme. Willi Posey) at the Red Shield Building.  Zelda Wynn President. Amsterdam News.

June 1st--Fashion Show of Mme. Willi Posey and her models at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Joppa Chapter OES, Amsterdam News.

July 15th--Michele, Barbara, Faith and Mme. Willi Posey depart via the Paquebot Liberty from New York to Plymouth to Le Harve, Tourist Class.  Travel from Le Harve to Paris to Nice and Monte Carlo (Faith and her mother see the performance of Sammy Davis Jr. with the Monte Carlo Dancing Stars), Florence and Rome.

August--While in Rome we learn that Uncle Andrew has died.  Travel by train from Rome through Switzerland back to Paris where we take a jet back to New York for the funeral, which is handled by Barbara Knight (with Burdette's assistance), Mom's sister via her apartment at 345 West 145th Street.  Andrew is the oldest child and dearly loved by all. 

1962

January 1st--
Faith and Burdette are married at Bethany Lutheran Church. Michele and Barbara serve as flower girls. MJ designs all of the clothing and gives the wedding, with a reception at Aunt Barbara's apartment in 345 West 145th Street with Aunt Edith and Aunt Bessie doing the Southern cooking and Momma T (Earl's mother) doing the West Indian cooking.
Michele and Barbara spend their last summer at Camp Craigmeade. Aunt Helen dies during the summer and the camp never reopens.
In the fall upon Michele's return to Our Savior Lutheran School in the Bronx, she had a racist experience with her 6th grade teacher, Mrs. (McKee) Schwernerman, which involved the Director of the School, the Minister at the Lutheran Church we attended and where Faith and Burdette were married, and Faith who confronted them about it.  The teacher yelled at my mother: "Why Don't You Go To The NAACP!" From this moment, the decision was made that I would be leaving this school in the Fall. 

1963

Medgar Evers Murdered.
Michele and Barbara spend the summer at Martha's Vineyard where Faith will develop the first of her American Series paintings on the lawn at the house where we were staying: Between Friends, For MEmbers Only, The Neighbors, The Civil Rights Triangle, Watching and Waiting.
March on Washington in August led by Martin Luther King, Jr. and the SCLC.  Broadcast live on CBS all day. 
In the fall, Michele and Barbara move from 665 Westchester Avenue in the Bronx to 345 West 145th Street in Harlem, and enter New Lincoln School on 110th Street between Lenox Avenue and Fifth Avenue.  Progressive racial school written up in the New York  Times and Ebony Magazine.  Always conceived as such originally in its split from Horace Mann and Columbia University.  Moved into this building precisely because it was poised on the edge of black Harlem in the late 40s. The building now houses a low-security prison.
John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas in November.

1964
Nina Simone came out with "Mississippi Goddamn" to honor the memory of Medgar Evers and the 4 girls killed in the bombing of the Church in Birmingham.  Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come," one of the great anthems of the Civil Rights Movement was issued after his death.  Many great singers would perform it, including both Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding. 


1965

Malcolm X assassinated at the Audobon Ballroom in Harlem in 1965.  Funeral Services held in Harlem with a Parade.

Faith painted her Self Portrait in this year. 

1966

Earl dies of a drug overdose this summer.

Faith, Barbara, Burdette and Michele visit Provincetown, MA with the insurance money Earl left for us. This was our last trip to Provincetown as a family.

1967
Barbara and Michele travel to France, Italy and England with Mme. Willi Posey where they study languages and she visits the Collection shows.

Faith stays at her mother's apartment and paints the three murals of American People at the Spectrum Gallery on 57th Street, which is closed for the summer.

Faith and Burdette separate for a time, although he is still in the picture.  He retreats to an apartment just down the block in 409 Edgecombe Avenue, where he grew up.

Faith's American People exhibition opens in the Fall at the Spectrum Gallery.

 Many of Michele and Barbara's friends from New Lincoln attend the opening on 57th Street--including Danny Allentuck, Stanley Nelson, Sarah Newton, Rosalyn Burks and others.

1968

Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated.

Robert F. Kennedy assassinated.

Summer--Michele teaches at an arts program held in the High School of Music and Art on the CCNY campus during the summer.

Fall--Michele attends the company class of Arthur Mitchell's Dance Theatre classes, and then Barbara Anne Teer's National Black Theatre.  Forms Black and Puerto Rican Students Alliance at New Lincoln.

Mme. Willi Posey begins making dashikis on commission for the New Breed in Harlem.

October--Faith's father, Andrew Jones, Sr. dies.  Family attends funeral.

1969
June--Michele graduated from New Lincoln.

July--Michele and Barbara travel to the University of Mexico for Summer Study.

August--Michele sees first U.S. moonwalk from Mexico City.  Barbara decides to return to NYC without her after which she is ordered home as well. She spends balance of the summer in The Sisters of the Good Shepard Residence across the street from Beth Israel.

September-- Michele begins school at Howard University.  Loved Howard University so much she decided not to return to Mexico when I had the chance.  Barbara returns to New Lincoln for the 12th Grade. Nonetheless, only had one semester at Howard.  Dad visited and said I should come home.  Said I was partying too much.  



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I am a writer and a professor of English at the City College of New York, and the CUNY Graduate Center. My books include Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman (1979), Invisibility Blues (1990), Black Popular Culture (1992), and Dark Designs and Visual Culture (2005). I write cultural criticism frequently and am currently working on a project on creativity and feminism among the women in my family, some of which is posted on the Soul Pictures blog.