Category: Black Experience

Manhattan: Portraits in Art, Literature, Film

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ART: PORTRAITS OF AMERICANS

Amy Sherald American Sublime (Whitney Museum of American Art)

First Lady Michelle Obama

Amy Sherald is an American portrait painter whose works feature mostly Black individuals.  She is probably best known for her portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama, hung on a wall by itself.  The exhibit is large and encompasses early works from 2007 to very recent ones.  Many of the portraits are of ordinary people, and almost all of them are single individuals standing upright against a solid deep colored background.  Some are holding objects, such as a rabbit in a hat, which take them out of strict reality into a sort of dream world.  

Early portrait of an individual
The Bathers, 2015

Sherald’s latest works seem more political with a sharper focus on racism and gender issues.  I was especially drawn to these recent pieces.  The riff on the Statue of Liberty forces one to look again closely at the title and the work itself.

Trans Forming Liberty, 2024

For Love and For Country takes the famous kiss in Times Square (Eisenstadt photo, 1945) as inspiration for a different depiction of love and service.

For Love, and for Country, 2022

This year is the 10th anniversary of the Whitney Museum’s wonderful Renzo Piano building located in the Meatpacking District. (The Chief Penguin and I had the chance to tour the building with one of Renzo’s architects shortly before it opened.) To celebrate its location overlooking the Hudson River, check out Mary Heilmann’s Long Life mural and the funky colorful chairs for absorbing the view.

Mural, chairs & view

 

LITERATURE: EARLY FEMINIST

The Solitary Walker: A Novel of Mary Wollstonecraft by N. J. Mastro

In the late 18th century, Mary Wollstonecraft boldly challenged the traditional view of women’s place in society. Mentored and encouraged by publisher Joseph Johnson, she wrote reviews for his publications and penned A Vindication of the Rights of Women, the first of her works to argue that women were not naturally inferior to men. 

Mastro’s debut novel, A Solitary Walker, follows Wollstonecraft’s writing career in London, her time in Paris covering the French Revolution, and her solo journey to Scandinavia to untangle lover Gilbert Imlay’s shipping affairs.  Until her 30’s, Wollstonecraft vowed never to marry. The product of an abusive home, she guarded her heart against love and romance.  

This is a rich and very engaging novel which brings Mary Wollstonecraft to life as she cherishes her independence, but ultimately realizes she too needs love to sustain her.  Recommended for fans of historical fiction! It is worth noting that Wollstonecraft’s daughter, Mary Shelley, was also famous; she wrote Frankenstein, a novel that has inspired numerous plays and movies.

FILM: FEARLESS PUBLISHER

Becoming Katharine Graham (Prime Video)

Katharine Graham (washingtonpost.com)

If you lived through the 1960’s and 70’s, you likely know Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham’s story. Perhaps you have also read her forthright and moving autobiography, Personal History.  Even so, this new documentary, Becoming Katharine Graham, is so compelling and timely, that I highly recommend it.

Katharine Graham’s father bought the Washington Post in the 1930’s, and it was a part of her life from childhood onward.  When in 1963, her husband Phil Graham, then publisher, committed suicide, she took on the role.  Graham was a mother and a deferential wife (or her word, “a doormat.”) The job of publisher pushed her into the forefront.  She was the first American woman to hold this kind of position, and she served with an all-male board.

Throughout her 28 years as publisher, Kay Graham was challenged and determined and even fearless.   She faced tough decisions regarding the Pentagon Papers and how the Post should cover the Watergate scandal.  Her transformation into a female dynamo is documented with archival footage and interviews with the likes of Warren Buffet, Gloria Steinem, Carl Bernstein, and others.  The film runs for 90 minutes.

Note: All unattributed photos by JWFarrington. Header photo is exterior of Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center.

Carolina Comments: Race & Grief

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This week’s post includes a play about race that is compelling and uncomfortable and a beautiful memoir on delayed grief. The drama is the Pulitzer Prize winner, Fairview, and the book is Memorial Days.

CHALLENGING THEATER 

Fairview (Justice Theater Project)

The Justice Theater Project, a small drama company, presents plays about social issues at Umstead United Methodist Church in Raleigh.  Sets and lighting are simple, and the theater space is small with a limited number of seats.  Last year, the Chief Penguin and I went to see their production of Cabaret.

Set in the present day in an unspecified location, Fairview is about a middle-class Black family.  Beverly and her husband Dayton and their teenage daughter Keisha are preparing a special dinner to celebrate Beverly’s mother’s birthday.  Jasmine, Beverly’s sister, is an early-arriving guest.  These four banter and bicker back and forth over the preparations.  Later, Beverly’s brother Tyrone and Keisha’s friend Erica erupt on the scene joining them and Mama, the grandmother.  

The first act is short but could have been shorter.  The second act is long, and half of it is dominated by a radio discussion about race and which race one might choose to be.  From a reasonably ordinary domestic scene, the play then transforms into a confrontation between all the characters now onstage and then the audience.  It is challenging and uncomfortable to watch and thought-provoking.  

Playwright Drury (theintervalny.com)

Written by Jackie Sibblies Drury, Fairview won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.  Those of us who attended together were a bit discombobulated by the end.  We thought it could have been a tighter production and that the radio voice went on too long.  Still, it was a worthwhile experience.

DOCUMENTING GRIEF

Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks

Brooks (vineyardgazette.com)

My first acquaintance with Geraldine Brooks was reading her nonfiction book, Nine Parts of Desire, which focused on Muslim women in the Middle East, and was published in 1994.  Before she was a novelist, Brooks was a foreign correspondent living and working abroad for the Wall Street Journal. That book was a fascinating account which I really enjoyed.

Only later when I read her early novel about the bubonic plague. Year of Wonders, did I connect back and realize that Geraldine Brooks was the author of both titles.  Since then, I’ve read and relished almost every one of her historical novels including March (2005), Caleb’s Crossing (2011), and the most recent one, Horse (2022).

Brooks was married to fellow writer and journalist, Tony Horowitz, author of Spying on the South.  His sudden death on Memorial Day 2019, while far away on a book tour, was a searing event.  Being in the middle of writing Horse, Brooks did not take time to grieve.  Memorial Days is her interleaved account of the day of Tony’s death and those following and her prolonged stay three years later on an island off her native Australia.  

Being alone, isolated in nature, she granted herself a pause from work and her usual routine.  She walked the beach, swam, grieved, and reflected: on their happy marriage, on the joys of their parallel careers, on her sadness, and on how her life would have been different had she not met Tony, but lived her entire life in Australia.  It’s a beautiful and poignant memoir, straightforward and almost understated in its approach.  Highly recommended for Brooks’ fans! (~JWFarrington)

Note: Header image is Pledge Allegiance: Memorial to John R. Lewis by Jo-Ann Morgan.

Tidy Tidbits: Marseille, Memphis & More

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This week, I’m featuring a recent TV series, a debut novel set in the South, and a new local restaurant.

RISKING LIFE IN MARSEILLE

Transatlantic (Netflix)

Mary Jayne Gold, Fry, & Thomas Lovegrove (Den of Geek)

When I’ve mentioned to friends that I’m watching Transatlantic, several told me they had just finished it and are interested in discussing the ending.  Then, this morning, I received an e-mail from another friend highly recommending it.  Transatlantic is an 8-part dramatic series set in Marseille, France in 1940, before the United States entered the Second World War.  It focuses on the efforts of Varian Fry, a real person affiliated with the Emergency Rescue Committee (an American organization), and his colleagues to get refugees safely to Spain and beyond.  The players include the local police, the Gestapo, other officials, and bureaucrats.  

Fry is initially a rule follower, and his concern is for artists and intellectuals, people like Hannah Arendt and the Chagalls.  Money and help sometimes come from unexpected quarters like Mary Jayne Gold, a rich young socialite from Chicago, art collector Peggy Guggenheim, and two Black hotel staff.  

The challenges are many and the work is dangerous.  There are always more people to be helped than exit visas and available places.  Using both a hotel and a private villa as safe houses, Fry and friends plot, scheme, and risk everything for the occasional success.  This is a well-cast series and captures an important piece of WWII history.  For the record, I’ve now seen six of the eight episodes. Highly recommended!

STRONG BLACK WOMEN

Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow

Author Stringfellow (Book Pipeline)

I will have more about Memphis after my book group’s discussion this week.  Suffice it to say, this first novel by an attorney turned novelist is worth your time and attention.

It’s a story of trauma and suffering, but also of hope and joy in the lives of three generations of Black women from 1937 to 2003.  The chapters alternate between Hazel, the matriarch, her daughters Miriam and August, and Miriam’s daughter Joan.  The tragedies and challenges of their lives are sometimes front and center, but at other times are quietly revealed decades later.  Joan, the youngest voice, has a passion for art and harbors ambitions for her future.  Her chapters are the only ones presented in the first person.  This window on Black culture is beautifully wrought; it may offer a different perspective for other white women like me.  

LOCAL MEXICAN FARE

Avocado’s Cocina Mexicana (Bradenton)

Enchilada & accompaniments (JWF)

Owned by the same people as the successful Habanero’s Mexican Grill on Manatee Avenue, Avocado’s on Cortez Road West is a tasty addition to the local dining scene.  The interior space is attractive and the menu of Mexican fare very good.  The Chief Penguin and I sampled their chunky guacamole (very nice, but could have had some heat), the generous sized quesadilla, and a lunch special of one enchilada, rice, and refried beans. 

 I liked that the plate was not piled high nor gloppy.  The chicken in the enchilada was good, the rice nicely spiced, and the beans silky.  I was tempted to add a pork tamale to my selection but wisely didn’t and was just as happy with a little less.  A casual place we will visit again!

Note: Header photo of nightlife in Memphis from Travel Noire.

Tidy Tidbits: Historical Figures in Fiction

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NEW NATIONAL HOLIDAY

Today, June 19, is Juneteenth.  It is now a federal holiday and yesterday, government workers had the day off.  It commemorates the date in 1865 when Texas got the word that American slaves were emancipated.  Many states already have Juneteenth celebrations, but this bill, passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law on Thursday by President Biden, reinforces this date as one to celebrate both freedom and African American culture.  Thus far, nine states have also made it an official state holiday.  Sadly, legislation to enact this in my state of Florida died. 

HISTORICAL NOVELS

A successful historical novel engages the reader in a good story.  Simultaneously, it provides a context for events of a time and place distant or just different from our own.  The focus can be on notable events depicted through fiction or the creation of a three-dimensional real individual about whom we know not much.  And because it’s fiction, timelines can be altered and love interests, probable or simply imagined, added.  A good author makes history come alive through her novels.  Here are two that I recently enjoyed, one that’s particularly fitting for this holiday.

BLACK LIFE IN RICHMOND & PHILADELPHIA

The Secrets of Mary Bowser by Lois Leveen

Most of the novels about slavery that I’ve read have been set on a plantation, detailing the hard lives of house slaves and the brutality and mistreatment of those who worked in the fields. Mary Bowser was a real individual, born into slavery in Richmond who, at about age 12, was bought by Bet Van Lew, the daughter of her owner.  Bet freed Mary and sent her to Philadelphia to live free and be educated.  Mary’s mother had also been freed, but her father was still enslaved and working as a blacksmith, so they stayed in Richmond.

The first half of this absorbing novel depicts the differences in urban life in Richmond, where most Blacks were slaves, and in Philadelphia with a population of free Blacks.  The rules for living in Richmond were very clear and strict; in Philadelphia, freedom came with its own nuanced restrictions.   

Bet Van Lew (smithsonianmag.com)

With Civil War looming, Mary made the amazing and courageous decision to leave Philadelphia and return to Richmond.  Once there, she collaborated with her benefactor, Bet Van Lew.  Pretending to be a slave, she got taken on as a maid in Jefferson Davis’ home.  During the war years, she collected and passed on information on the Confederate plans to the Union side.   

Much about Mary Bowser is not known, and there are no known photos of her. But Mary, Elizabeth Van Lew, and Thomas McNiven, another character, were all real people who spied on the Confederacy for the Union.  Leveen’s novel creates the environment in which Bowser lived and worked and gives us a fictional, yet wonderfully rich, portrait of Mary’s thoughts and actions.  Highly recommended!

For a differing perspective on this Mary, this article questions some of the claims made about her. 

BRIDGE BUILDING

The Engineer’s Wife by Tracey Enerson Wood

This novel is about Emily Warren Roebling’s role in the building of the Brooklyn Bridge.  I found it fascinating and compelling.  So much so, that I raced to finish it.  There is a lot of description of the various steps and processes involved in the bridge construction which might put off a few readers.   I gained a greater appreciation for what went into the beauty of this monumental structure.  Like many folks, I have walked across it! 

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge (JWF)
Emily Roebling (asce.org)

Emily was married to Washington Roebling, whose father John was a successful bridge builder and the one who drew up the original plans for Brooklyn.  Washington was a former military man who took over the chief engineer role after his father’s death.  Unfortunately, he suffered severe illness from working in the caissons (underwater tubes) and was an invalid for much of the construction work.  Over the next eleven years, It fell to Emily to be the messenger transmitting plans, ideas, and decisions between Wash and the working team at the bridge site. Later she took over supervising, calculating, and deciding on materials. 

Emily Roebling pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable for women in the late 19th century.  She was limited in her participation in the women’s suffrage effort by the all-consuming bridge project.  Wash’s illness had a negative impact on their life together, although they remained married. Appropriately, Emily was one of the first individuals to cross the completed bridge in 1883!

My mother was always interested in architecture.   She was especially fascinated by bridges.  In my teens, we made a family trip to see and drive across the famed Mackinac Bridge linking Michigan’s Lower and Upper Peninsulas.  The Big Mac, as it was called, is one of the longest suspension bridges in the Western Hemisphere.  It opened in 1957.  

(mightmac.org)

Another reason for my interest in this novel is the hint of a family connection to the Roeblings: if not a relative working on the Brooklyn Bridge, then on one of Roebling’s other structures.  My mother had two teeny tiny saws, the size of a bracelet charm, which belonged to a family member.  I don’t know that she ever figured out to whom they belonged, so the saws remain a puzzle.

LOCAL CUISINE

You know that life is nearly back to normal and the direst days of the pandemic behind us when the Chief Penguin and I return to Cortez Kitchen.  Before we moved here, it was our go-to place on our twice-yearly visits to Florida.  Once established here, we ate there once a week on average.  The other night we decided it was safe to return after an absence of more than a year. 

Located in the historic fishing village of Cortez, the restaurant is a semi-covered outdoor space on the water.  The menu includes local fish (mainly grouper), shrimp, seared tuna, steamed clams, and a burger for those who prefer meat.  It’s a funky kind of place whose clientele includes faithful regulars, the biker crowd, snowbirds, and folks like us.  We go not for the food, but for the vibe, the live music that’s occasionally very good, and the slightly rustic, relaxed ambience.  We went early this night, ordered our usual fare, and even connected with our favorite longtime waitress!