Oscar Micheaux Stamp

Negro Leagues Stamp

The United States postal service maybe in deep financial trouble but they continue to strike gold with their entries to The Black Heritage stamp series and their stead fast recognition of Black history and culture. Please visit The Museum of UnCut Funk new acquistions page to read more about the Oscar Micheaux and Negro Leagues stamps and visit our previous blog pages to see our stamp collection.

Crimson Tide six sheet courtesy of Posteritati

The subject of Blacks in Motion Pictures provides some of the most interesting studies along with the many controversial interpretations of the roles they played on the silver screen.  The messages or themes of these movies have over the years presented a mixture of images based upon what was thought to please the viewers of each particular film. However, many of those films showed Black characters in negative stereotypical roles which the average Blacks would never truly identify as being like themselves.

Black Gold three sheet courtesy of Posteritia

Independent Black Filmmakers:

Ocsar Micheaux

The early 1900’s  saw for the first time the formation of the Independent Black Filmmaker who took up the cause of counter-attacking the making of The Birth of a Nation. They sought out their own financing in order to produce films with more positive images of Blacks. The Birth of a Race (ca. 1918) was the first independent Black film undertaken and produced by Emmett J. Scott, personal secretary to Booker T. Washington of the Tuskeegee Institute. The film was released in 1919 but never drew movie goers.

The Johnson Brothers, George P. and Noble Johnson, had already begun movie making as the Lincoln Motion Picture Company which opened for business in the summer of 1915. They wanted to produce movies which presented Blacks “in everyday life, human beings with human inclination, talent and intellect.” By 1916, they completed and distributed two films, The Realization of the Negro’s Ambition (1916) and A Trooper of Troop K (1916).

Two years before these films, Bert (Egbert Austin) Williams (1873-1922), the famed actor, singer and vaudevillian, became the first Black to appear as a star in a motion picture. His 1914 film, Darktown Jubilee, was not well received even though he appeared in Blackface.

By Right of Birth, 1921, was another one of the “hope for success” movies produced by The Lincoln Motion Picture Company. It covered the portrayal of Black life featuring successful middle-class Blacks.

The seeds were now planted, and 1918 brought to the forefront the legendary name of Oscar Micheaux (1884-1951). Micheaux is credited with keeping the Black independent movie production industry alive from 1918 thru 1948.

Oscar Micheaux posters courtesy of Separate Cinema

Race Movies: 1927-1948

The year of 1927 ushered in a new era in the motion picture industry. The use of sound films or the “talkies” was the new technique connecting the silent staged scenes in movies to the voices of actors and the action of those scenes. The usage of blackface in sound films was still a carry over from the silent films when depicting Blacks in movie roles. The old minstrel shows of entertainment by using exaggerated Black characters was also a continued trend.

The popular rendition of Al Jolson as the Jazz Singer, produced in 1927, and two white sisters, Rosetta Duncan (in blackface) and Vivian Duncan (in natural face), as Topsy and Eva in 1927 dealt with Whites in characterizations of Blacks. In the sound films, the actors were forced to be convincing or sensitive or silly and stereotypic. Soon the Black dialect and “suitable” musical talents of both Black and white actors had to fit into the making of “talkie” motion pictures. Entertainment had to be more convincing by phasing out the blackfaced white actors and the use of more “suitable” Blacks in Black character roles.

The roles of Blacks during the 1929’s thru 1940’s saw the rise of Black actors seeking work but only receiving roles dealing with light comedy, music, or dance. Therefore we see Stepin Fetchit getting star billing as an Black actor in a series of films as the slow-talking, lazy-like plantation Negro (Hearts in Dixie, 1929). The film, Hallelujah (1929), conveyed multiple themes of Black stereotypes exhibited in song, dance, blues, spirituals, and frivolity, making star billing with Nina Mae McKinney, a light-skinned Black woman as a standard barer for future lead roles when using Black women. Other stars to receive star billings were Ethel Waters (On with the Show, 1929) and Lorenzo Tucker, who was given the name of the Black Valentino, appearing in Wages of Sin (1928), The Black King (1931), Daughter of the Congo (1930), and Temptation (1936). The famed Bessie Smith made her only screen appearance in the short film, St. Louis Blues (1929).

Below are a few Black Cast movie posters from the collection of The Museum of UnCut Funk.

Contributor: Learn About Movie Posters

DINAH-MITE!

Often neglected by collectors, Dinah-Mite was Mego’s answer to Barbie as AJ was to GI Joe. Her advertising featured her as an incredibly poseable doll who “sits and stands”; an overt shot at Barbie, who famously cannot “stand on her own”.

Dinah seems to have fared better than AJ, as she was advertised in their catalogs up through 1975. Since most of her stock did not languish in warehouses, her accessories and outfits are much harder to find.

Although Dinah started out as a white doll, she came in a Black version as well. Mego’s bendable doll  rode the wave of 70’s blaxploitation heroines like Friday Foster, Cleopatra Jones, Foxy Brown, Christie Love and my fave, Velvet Smooth.

I came across this sister’s site while scoping the web for some Funky Stuff! And I was blown away by her creativity with keeping the images of 1970’s Funk alive. The images quickly reminded me of the Blaxploitation film era. The art is funky, crazy kool and I had an immediate connection with her designs. A couple of emails back and forth Desiree was happy to be apart of The Museum of UnCut Funk Family and we can’t get enough of that funky stuff!

Please read about Desiree and her company AFRODELIK DESIGNS.

WELCOME TO AFRODELIK DESIGNS brand

…collections of hand drawn art created through the spirit of SOUL

It began with a pen and paper, and the desire to show the world my creativity. For over 20 years, I have had a passion for drawing, which comes from the heart. My natural artistic talent of drawing makes me feel at peace.

My name is Desiree Marshall, and in 2006, I decided to fulfill a life-long dream, and launched my apparel company AFRODELIK DESIGNS brand.

The various pieces feature hand-drawn original designs celebrating culture. There are currently three distinct collections available:

• AFROCITY: a memorable throwback to blaxploitation movies of the 1970s

• AFRIKA: inspirational line drawings dedicated to the various African cultures

• IKONS: an ode to trendsetters and community leaders in music, politics and literature, to name a few

AFRODELIK DESIGNS is a young and exciting company that produces collections of original HAND DRAWN art, on T-shirts, Bags, Greeting cards, and much.

We are currently working on new designs and new products for Summer 2010.

Our products are enjoyed by men and women between the ages of 24-48, and children aged 1-12 years old, of ALL shapes and colours. There is something for EVERYONE!

Afrodelik collections have been described as unique, bold, urban and inspirational, and international celebrities such as Erykah Badu, actors Vivica A.Fox and Derek Luke, singer Jully Black, and playwright and actress Trey Anthony, all own Afrodelik tees.

New to the line is a dedication to the inspiration and iconic, Young Michael Jackson. Afrodelik Designs’ brand is available in stores in North America, also available on the Afrodelik website at www.afrodelik.com

I had the pleasure of representing Cedric Smith in my galley, Eclectic Connection, several years ago. He is one of the nicest artists I have had the opportunity to work with. I loved his art then and I love it now. I can’t get enough of that Funky Stuff!

Cedric Smith was born in Philadelphia in 1970. He grew up in Thomaston, Georgia, where he moved with his family when he was a young boy. He currently resides in Savannah, Ga.

Smith is a self taught artist who while eschewing the “so-called rules of art”, has created a personal genre of work. Smith started painting postage stamps with images of African Americans after hearing a line from Public Enemy front man Chuck D: “most of our heroes don’t appear on no stamps.” Later, he moved to painting magazine covers and now, he focuses on vintage-looking advertisements, calling attention to the lack of Black representation in advertising. He draws on a wide range of influences and sources, both traditional and contemporary, and which include landscape art, pop art, brand advertising and photography to express his poignant observations of life in the rural south. A prolific artist, Cedric works with a honed discipline on his compositions, seamlessly morphing photographic images into his richly textured pieces, applying and removing layers and lettering.

Cedric has a blog called  Vintage Blood, where he posts new paintings and stunning photographs along with his vintage finds. Please visit Cedric Smith and his art at CedricSmith.com

Sting Like a Bee signed by Muhammad Ali circa 1979. Courtesy of The Museum of UnCut Funk Collection

The Art

I co-owned an art gallery for 4 years and I have the privilege to meet some fascinating collectors, dealers and celebrity artists. They have all had their opinions as to what art meant to them. In my mind if I liked what I saw and could identify with the images I made my purchase.

As my appreciation for art intensified I was contacted by an Australian art dealer who had an offering on a Muhammad Ali lithograph. He e-mailed me pictures and I was captivated by the imagery. I’m a huge fan and collector of animation and comic book art so this litho had to be in my collection.

Now art is subjective and many a art critics have panned celebrity art. Baird Jones, a critic for Artnet.com says “celebrity art combines the worst of several worlds. Since most stars who make art have little art training, their work tends to be a historical, a Hollywood version of naïve or outsider art. Furthermore, since celebrity art is shunned by top galleries, it’s usually displayed side-by-side with kitsch and low-grade prints”. He may be right in his opinion but Muhammad Ali is a cultural icon and any memorabilia from his years as a boxer, activist and humanitarian has increased in value and is extremely sought after.

You decide what art means to you but 20 to 30 years from now you’d wish you had a part of Ali’s sports history in your collection. The Ali lithos are all 18 by 24 inches, and were published in 1979 in editions of 500. Three have religious imagery and cost $8,500 each: Under the Sun, which shows a jet plane; Guiding Light, showing an image of a lighthouse; and the eponymous Mosque II. The fourth is a cartoonish scene of the boxing ring, titled Sting Like a Bee, that retails for $12,500 and by today’s standards for buying art is considered a bargain.

Although the art is hard to find and is sought after by fans and collectors alike, these are truly one of a kind pieces and should be apart of any collection.

Under The Sun signed by Muhammad Ali. Courtesy of Ro Gallery

Mosque ll signed by Muhammad Ali. Courtesy of Ro Gallery

Guiding Light signed by Muhammad Ali. Courtesy of Ro Gallery

The Man Behind the art:

Who would’ve thought that a stolen bike was the key to the beginning of the Muhammad Ali story? But it was. In 1954 in Louisville, Kentucky, 12-year-old Cassius Marcellus Clay’s bike was stolen while he and a friend were at the Columbia Auditorium. 
Young Cassius found a cop in a gym, Joe Martin, and boiling with youthful rage, told Martin he was going to “whup” whoever stole his bike. Martin admonished, “You better learn to box first.” Within weeks, 89-pound Cassius had his first bout—his first win.

For the next 27 years, Cassius would be in that ring. Even in his youth, he had dreams of being heavyweight champion of the world. But his life would take turns that no seer could’ve predicted.

Young Cassius dedicated himself to boxing with fervor unmatched by other young boxers. Indeed, it was his only activity. As a teenager, he never worked. He boxed and trained. He had 108 amateur bouts. According to Joe Martin, Clay set himself apart from the other boys by two things: He was “sassy,” and he outworked all the other boys. The work paid off: 6 Kentucky Golden Gloves championships; two National Golden Gloves championships; two National AAU titles before he was 18 years old. And the son of Odessa, whom he lovingly referred to as “Bird,” and Cassius senior, “Cash,” to everyone, won the Olympic Gold Medal in 1960 in Rome months after his 18th birthday.

Although Cassius returned home to a parade, Louisville was still, in 1960 part of the segregated South. Even with a medal around his neck, Cassius was refused service at a local restaurant.

At the time, Cassius has managed by the Louisville Sponsoring Group, a consortium of wealthy local white businessmen. The LSG, as it became known, put young Cassius with veteran trainer, Angelo Dundee, after failed attempts to with the Mongoose, Archie Moore, and a turn down by Ali’s boxing idol, Sugar Ray Robinson.

With Dundee in his corner, from his Miami base, Cassius blazed a trail through the heavyweight division with his unorthodox style that defied boxing logic. He was a “headhunter.” He never threw body shots (he adopted this style in his youth because he had reach and because he didn’t want to get close enough to get hit). And he “danced.” Because of Clay’s powerful legs—maybe the strongest in the history of boxing—he literally floated in the ring. He invented the “Ali Shuffle;” a foot maneuver where he would elevate himself, shuffle his feet in a dazzling blur, and sometimes deliver a blow while dancing.

The third element that Clay brought to boxing was his mouth. He never shut up. He became known as, “The Louisville Lip.” It was more than banter; it was a constant harangue. In a time when boxers never talked to the media—their managers always spoke for them—Clay did all his own talking. He even went so far as to predict the round. “To prove I’m great he will fall in eight!”

While training for his title bout against the fearsome heavyweight champion, Sonny Liston, Clay met Cap’n Sam, a Nation of Islam minister of the local Miami mosque. Cap’n Sam introduced Cassius to NOI spokesman, Malcolm X. Malcolm and young Cassius bonded on a deep level. Malcolm brought Cassius into the Nation of Islam.

Despite the 7-1 odds, Clay upset Sonny Liston in Miami and became heavyweight champion of the world in 1964. The next day, Clay announced to the world that he was a member of the Nation of Islam and that his name was Cassius X. The X reflecting the unknown name that was taken from him by the slave owners centuries before.

The national response was immediate, negative and intense. Cassius X, soon to be given the name Muhammad Ali, by NOI founder, “The Messenger,” the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, chose to disassociate himself from his friend and mentor Malcolm X after the Messenger suspended Malcolm. Herbert Muhammad, eldest son of Elijah, was installed as Ali’s new manager as Ali continued to defend his crown against all comers.

In 1967, as the Vietnam War was escalating, Ali was called up for induction into the Armed Services. Ali refused induction on the grounds of religious beliefs. He was, in fact, a practicing Muslim minister. This refusal led to the now-famous Ali quote, “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Vietcong…”

The national furor over that comment combined with Ali’s refusal to be inducted into the Armed Services, caused virtually every state and local entity in America to cancel Ali’s boxing licenses. Ali final fight of 1967 was against Ernie Terrell, who incensed Ali at the weigh-in by calling him “Clay.” Ali pounded him in the ring with taunts of, “What’s my name?!!”

Ali did not fight again for 2 ½ years. He was stripped of his championship title, his passport taken; all his boxing licenses were cancelled. He lost an initial court battle and was facing a 5-year prison term. Ali made money during his exile by speaking to colleges. He was the first national figure to speak out against the war in Vietnam.

In 1970, after a 2 ½ year layoff, and with the mood of the country changing, Ali staged his comeback, first against Jerry Quarry in Atlanta then for what was billed as, “The Fight,” his first match against undefeated champ, Joe Frazier at Madison Square Garden on March 8, 1971.

Ali fought valiantly, but lost. The 2 ½ year exile had cost Ali his legs. He could no longer dance. He lost that night in the Garden, but months later he won his biggest fight, the Supreme Court, reversed his conviction and upheld his conscientious objector claim. Ali was free of the specter of jail, and free to travel to box anywhere in the world.

Several matches followed, including an unexpected loss to ex-Marine, Ken Norton; a win in their next bout; an uninspired win against Joe Frazier. But these matches were but window dressing for the biggest match of Ali’s career: The Rumble In the Jungle.

George Foreman was a fearsome champ. He had thunder and destruction in both hands. He had easily knocked out Ken Norton and had lifted Frazier off the mat with one blow.

Promoter Don King got the government of the African nation of Zaire to guarantee the unheard of sum of 10 million dollars for the fighters. In Kinshasa, Ali derived strength from the African people. They adored him. They yelled, Ali Bomaye! (Ali kill him).

Going into the fight, Ali was 3-1 underdog. His fight doctor, Ferdie Pacheco, had a jet ready to spirit Ali away to a neurological hospital in Spain after the fight. But Ali had other ideas.

Because of the heat, Ali realized he couldn’t dance from Foreman for the whole fight. He invented, “The Rope-A-Dope,” a strategy that allowed Foreman to pound on him until Foreman tired. His corner men yelled at him to get off the ropes, but Ali persisted with his strategy for seven rounds and then in the eighth round, when Foreman was spent, Ali came off the ropes and scored a shocking knockout! Ali was the king again.

After the legendary “Thrilla In Manila,” the rubber match against Frazier, who some have deemed, the greatest boxing match ever, Ali fought and lost to young Olympic Champion Leon Spinks. He subsequently regained his title against Spinks, thus becoming, at that time, the only man in heavyweight history to win the crown three times. Ali ended his career 56 wins (37 by knockout) and 5 defeats.

Ali has three ex-wives and nine children: Maryum, Rasheeda, Jamillah, Hana, Laila, Khaliah, Miya, Muhammad Junior, and Asaad. Ali is married to the former Lonnie Williams of Louisville. Ali has known Lonnie since her family moved across the street from the Clay family when she was 6 years old.

Ali has inspired millions worldwide. He gave people hope and proved that anyone could overcome insurmountable odds. He gave people courage. He made fighters of us all. This is Ali and never comes another.

Please visit The Muhammad Ali Center – www.alicenter.org

Contributor: Gregory Allen Howard, he is the award-winning screenwriter of Remember the Titans. He also wrote the original story for the movie, ALI.

African Barber signs from Ivory Coast courtesy of Indigo Arts Galley

The Hairdresser and Barbershop Signs of Africa are original boards from barbershops and hair-salons in the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Tofo dating from the 1970-ies to the present day.

African Barber signs from Ghana courtesy of Indigo Arts Galley

The advertising signs contain all aspects of a specific popular genre, with similarities and differences mirroring the times of their appearance – the stylistic signature, fashion trends and influences from abroad, at the same time revealing a strong respect for the traditional ways of combing hair – the starting point for almost all modern hairstyles. Inherited ideals that meet and merge with contemporary expressions, in this case, new and authentic stylizations and imported styles, create a harmonious symbiosis evident in varying formal designs in the context of elaborating hairstyles for the purpose of creating a visual embellishment of the head.

African Barber signs from Burkina Faso courtesy of Indigo Arts Galley

Advertising boards were made by specialised, self-taught artists, who used colours to paint previously determined motifs on wooden, plywood, or less commonly on metal surfaces, most often with the very expressive use of pure colours. The paintings mostly portrayed figure motifs which symbolised certain respectable professions, or certain products and brand names. Besides the pictorial, the boards also conveyed written messages and signs. This specific combination of symbol and written message which characterises African painted signs have not changed since the emergence of this art, except to the extent of corresponding to the spirit of the times.

African Barber signs from Togo courtesy of Indigo Arts Galley

Today there are a number of artists all over Africa who are specialized in the painting of advertising boards. Their work advertises a wide spectrum of products and professions – from movies, restaurants, hotels, discotheques, buses, car mechanics, cobblers, tailor shops, state, health and religious institutions to the new trendy hairstyles.

Contributor: The Museum of African Art; Belgrade, Serbia

The Museum of UnCut Funk has acquired the latest stamps from the United States Post Office Black Heritage Series, the Distinguished Soldiers stamp featuring Doris Miller and the Anna Julia Cooper stamp.

Doris Miller, known as “Dorie” to shipmates and friends, was born in Waco, Texas, on October 12, 1919, to Henrietta and Conery Miller. He had three brothers, one of which served in the Army during World War II. While attending Moore High School in Waco, he was a fullback on the football team. He worked on his father’s farm before enlisting in the U.S Navy as Mess Attendant, Third Class, at Dallas, Texas, on September 16, 1939, to travel, and earn money for his family. He later was commended by the Secretary of the Navy, was advanced to Mess Attendant, Second Class and First Class, and subsequently was promoted to Cook, Third Class.

Following training at the Naval Training Station, Norfolk, Virginia, Miller was assigned to the ammunition ship USS Pyro (AE-1) where he served as a Mess Attendant, and on January 2, 1940 was transferred to USS West Virginia (BB-48), where he became the ship’s heavyweight boxing champion. In July of that year he had temporary duty aboard USS Nevada (BB-36) at Secondary Battery Gunnery School. He returned to West Virginia and on 3 August, and was serving in that battleship when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Miller had arisen at 6 a.m., and was collecting laundry when the alarm for general quarters sounded. He headed for his battle station, the antiaircraft battery magazine amidship, only to discover that torpedo damage had wrecked it, so he went on deck. Because of his physical prowess, he was assigned to carry wounded fellow Sailors to places of greater safety. Then an officer ordered him to the bridge to aid the mortally wounded Captain of the ship. He subsequently manned a 50 caliber Browning anti-aircraft machine gun until he ran out of ammunition and was ordered to abandon ship.

Miller described firing the machine gun during the battle, a weapon which he had not been trained to operate: “It wasn’t hard. I just pulled the trigger and she worked fine. I had watched the others with these guns. I guess I fired her for about fifteen minutes. I think I got one of those Jap planes. They were diving pretty close to us.”

During the attack, Japanese aircraft dropped two armored piercing bombs through the deck of the battleship and launched five 18-inch aircraft torpedoes into her port side. Heavily damaged by the ensuing explosions, and suffering from severe flooding below decks, the crew abandoned ship while West Virginia slowly settled to the harbor bottom. Of the 1,541 men on West Virginia during the attack, 130 were killed and 52 wounded. Subsequently refloated, repaired, and modernized, the battleship served in the Pacific theater through to the end of the war in August 1945.

Miller was commended by the Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox on April 1, 1942, and on 27 May 1942 he received the Navy Cross, which Fleet Admiral (then Admiral) Chester W. Nimitz, the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet personally presented to Miller on board aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) for his extraordinary courage in battle. Speaking of Miller, Nimitz remarked:

This marks the first time in the conflict that such high tribute has been made in the Pacific Fleet to a member of his race and I’m sure that the future will see others similarly honored for brave acts.

On December 13, 1941, Miller reported to USS Indianapolis (CA-35), and subsequently returned to the west coast of the United States in November 1942. Assigned to the newly constructed USS Liscome Bay (CVE-56) in the spring of 1943, Miller was on board that escort carrier during Operation Galvanic, the seizure of Makin and Tarawa Atolls in the Gilbert Islands. Liscome Bay’s aircraft supported operations ashore between November 20-23, 1943. At 5:10 a.m. on November 24, while cruising near Butaritari Island, a single torpedo from Japanese submarine I-175 struck the escort carrier near the stern. The aircraft bomb magazine detonated a few moments later, sinking the warship within minutes. Listed as missing following the loss of that escort carrier, Miller was officially presumed dead November 25, 1944, a year and a day after the loss of Liscome Bay. Only 272 Sailors survived the sinking of Liscome Bay, while 646 died.

In addition to the Navy Cross, Miller was entitled to the Purple Heart Medal; the American Defense Service Medal, Fleet Clasp; the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal; and the World War II Victory Medal.

Commissioned on June 30, 1973, USS Miller (FF-1091), a Knox-class frigate, was named in honor of Doris Miller.

On October 11, 1991, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority dedicated a bronze commemorative plaque of Miller at the Miller Family Park located on the U.S.

Source: The Navy Museum

Anna Julia Cooper, a woman born into slavery in North Carolina nine years prior to the Civil War, reached milestones as the first woman to publish a book on Black feminism, “A Voice from the South by a Black Woman from the South,” and one of the first Black women to earn a doctorate from world renowned University of Paris, Sorbonne.

Her accomplishments have not gone unnoticed. On Thursday, June 11, the U.S. Postal Service unveiled the Anna Julia Cooper Commemorative Stamp at the Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School in Northwest.

Cooper, who also worked as a teacher and principal at the Preparatory High School for Colored Youth (later known as M Street School and today as Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School), was honored by the Postmaster of Washington, D.C., Yverne Pat Moore, Vice President and Consumer Advocate for the United States Postal Service Delores J. Killette, Professor of English at University of Maryland Carla L. Peterson, Dunbar High School Principal R. Gerald Austin, and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. Cooper is the 32nd honoree to be inducted into the Black Heritage Stamp Series.

“Anna Julia Cooper once said, ‘The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, a party or a class – it is the cause of humankind, the very birthright of humanity.’ Her actions to support these memorable words during her life are the reason the Postal Service has chosen Ms. Cooper as the subject of the 32nd stamp in the Black Heritage series,” Killette said.

Cooper was freed from slavery after the Civil War and received a scholarship to attend the St. Augustine Normal School and Collegiate Institute, known today as St. Augustine’s College, in 1868. Cooper graduated and married George A.C. Cooper in 1877. Two years later, her husband died and Cooper moved to Ohio and attended Oberlin College, distinguishing her as one of the first Black women to graduate from the school. Cooper earned a degree in math and returned to St. Augustine to teach math, Greek and Latin.

In 1887, Cooper moved to the District where she was invited to teach science and math at the Preparatory High School for Colored Youth, the most prestigious high school for Black students in the country at that time. Cooper became principal of the school in 1902.

“Although Ms. Cooper was born in Raleigh, N.C., Washington, D.C. claims her as one of its own because she lived her life here and she worked as an educator, feminist, and an activist in our nation’s capital,” Moore said.

“I want to thank the postal service for holding this ceremony. For me, this is very special. This is not the quite the same Dunbar I graduated from, but it is on the same ground,” Norton said.

“This was the first public high school in America for Black children, but it became known nationally and internationally for its faculty. Dunbar would not have become Dunbar without the standards and the aspirations of teachers like Anna Julia Cooper. She set such high standards that in turn they encouraged Black children throughout the District of Columbia to believe that they could go to college and to believe that Dunbar High School would prepare them to go to the best colleges in the United States,” Norton said.

Source: The Washington Informer

If you want to ease the minds of film fans about a remake you’re working on, just compare it to Ocean’s 11. That’s what Will Smith did back in 2002 when his production company bought the rights to Sidney Poitier’s Uptown Saturday Night with plans to do an all-star Black update on the 1974 classic that originally paired up Poitier and Bill Cosby. At the time, Smith mentioned casting Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence. Eight years later, the remake is in motion again, this time with Smith set to costar with Denzel Washington.

In the original, Cosby and Poitier play old buddies who are robbed during a nightclub hold-up and must solve the case in order to get back a winning lottery ticket that’s in Cosby’s wallet. The film also starred Richard Pryor, Harry Belefonte, Flip Wilson and Calvin Lockhart. If Smith’s initial pitch can be continued, let’s hope that these characters are indeed filled with modern African-American stars like the aforementioned Murphy and Lawrence. And while we’re on the topic of casting, It’d be interesting and refreshingly against type to put Smith in the Poitier role and Washington in Cosby’s.

Warner Bros. and Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment are currently looking for writers to pen a new draft of the film, working from a previous script by Robb and Mark Cullen. And for the moment, director David Dobkin is attached to the remake.

Overbrook also holds the rights to the subsequent Cosby/Poitier pairings Let’s Do It Again and A Piece of the Action. Neither was technically a sequel to Uptown Saturday Night, though the three films are considered a trilogy. My assumption is if the Uptown remake is a hit, they’ll redo the follow-ups as straight sequels involving the same characters.

Source: Cinematical

Star Trek: The Animated Series was aired as the source of new adventures of the Enterprise crew. The series was produced by Filmation and ran for two seasons from 1973 to 1974 on NBC, airing a total of twenty-two half-hour episodes.

The series featured most of the original cast performing the voices for their characters, except for Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig), who was omitted because the show’s budget could not afford the complete cast. He was replaced by two animated characters who made semi-regular appearances: Lieutenant Arex, whose Edosian species had three arms and three legs; and Lt. M’Ress, a female Caitian. James Doohan and Majel Barrett, besides performing their characters Montgomery Scott and Christine Chapel, performed the voices of Arex and M’Ress, respectively.

Initially, Filmation was only going to use the voices of William Shatner, Lernard NiMoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan and Majel Barrett. Doohan and Barrett would also perform the voices of Sulu and Uhura. Leonard Nimoy refused to sign up to lend his voice to the series unless Nichelle Nichols and George Takei were added to the cast — claiming that Uhura and Sulu were of importance as they were proof of the ethnic diversity of the 23rd century and should not be recast. Right On Dr. Spock!!!

The Museun of UnCut Funk is thrilled to have acquired a limition edition cel featuring Lt. Uhura and the entire cast of Star Trek The Animated Series to our ever expanding and extremely rare Black Animation Collection.

Original Production Cel use to film the opening of Soul Train. This cel is part of the collection of The Museum of UnCut Funk

Original Production Drawing used to create the original production cel to Soul Train. This drawing is part of the collection of The Museum of UnCut Funk

It was the little show that could. Beginning its ride as a local dance show on Chicago’s WCIU-TV, “Soul Train” chugged its way to Los Angeles and into pop culture history. The syndicated franchise’s impact is chronicled in the 40th-anniversary tribute “Soul Train: The Hippest Trip in America.”

Narrated by actor Terrence Howard with an original score by the Roots’ Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson, the 90-minute documentary abounds with performance clips and commentary by former dancers and crew members as well as music executives (Clive Davis, Antonio “L.A.” Reid) and major performers who appeared on “Soul Train,” including Chaka Khan,Snoop Dogg, Aretha Franklin and Sly Stone. At the helm is “Soul Train” creator/producer/host Don Cornelius.

The special, produced by VH1 Rock Docs and Soul Train Holdings, doubles as entertainment and history lesson. The innovative show’s August 17, 1970, debut was bracketed on one side by the civil rights movement and on the other by the emergence of black empowerment.

“This is so much more than a story about a man with a vision for a music dance show,” says Kenard Gibbs, a co-principal in Soul Train Holdings with Peter Griffith and Anthony Maddox. “Had it not been for the social and political forces stirring the pot, the show probably wouldn’t have been as successful. It empowered African-Americans, showing our culture and creativity in a light not seen on TV. This was reality TV at its best.”

After its 1971 move to Los Angeles, “Soul Train” spun off award shows as well as a No. 1 R&B/pop hit in 1974, MFSB’s “TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia”). The Gamble & Huff-produced single originally was billed as “The Theme From ‘Soul Train.’”

Cornelius jokes in the documentary that the hit’s title change was his “one mistake.” During a recent phone interview, though, he said his fondest memory is the show’s early validation by major R&B talent.

“Gladys Knight & the Pips helped us start out, but we didn’t know where it would go from there. We were just determined to make this happen, feeling it was the right kind of show for this country at the time,” he recalls. “Then one day James Brown walked onto the sound stage. A few months later came the Jackson 5, and then Stevie Wonder. So we’re thinking, ‘OK, this might work.’”

The show later hosted performances by such pop stars as Elton John and David Bowie.

Contributor: Gail Mitchell

Filmmaker John Sealey began his career making short films for artists and galleries. He studied film practice at the International film school in Newport, South Wales and went on to do an M.A. in European Cinema and PhD in Film Practice at the University of Exeter, where he currently teaches film. John’s practice is grounded in cultural identity and his films interrogate areas of research within Diaspora histories – their function to challenge and create new ways of reception within the formulaic structure of classical narrative cinema.

‘They Call Me…Don’t Call Me…’ was commissioned by David A. Bailey for The  Black Moving Cube Project.

Two enigmatic ‘Diaspora’ characters arrive in Manhattan in search of the residue of Blaxploitation iconography in this experimental docu-drama.

Inspired by the ideas in John Berger’s book ‘Ways of Seeing’, ‘They Call Me, Don’t Call Me’ is also an in-depth study of how we read and understand images.

In the film, the interviewees are shown an image which has something to do with Blaxploitation cinema. The point in which they see the image is their first viewing (they have not been shown anything off-camera) and their initial reactions are captured on camera.

John contacted The Museum Of UnCut Funk and graciously offered to let us share his film with you. So please check it out…Thank you John for being so funky and so righteous…RIGHT ON!!!

Here is some text that was written for an upcoming exhibition that John’s film will be featured in:

Dr John Sealey – University of Exeter
They Call Me…Don’t Call Me… (2006)   DV-Cam, 25min. commissioned by David A. Bailey for ‘The Black Moving Cube Project’ 2006

‘I used to have an afro like that’

Although a great deal has been said, written and visually documented on the subject of the Blaxploitation film, for some, the mere mention of this period in Afro-American cinema history, in today’s context, seems to conjure up a narrative image of a definitive cinematic black cool, as if nothing like it had ever existed before and that everything after it seemed doomed; trapped in a straight jacket of pastiche. The hip iconography of Afros, black leather, super-cool pimps and funky soundtracks is one that the cultural mainstream has taken to its ideological heart. But what of the value of these films beyond their first level of signification and how has meaning disseminated itself over the last thirty-five years since Shaft first pounded the streets of Manhattan?

As a teenager growing up in London in the late seventies, having an Afro wasn’t just about style. For kids like myself whose parents formed part of a major migration from the West Indies in the 50s and 60s, questions of belonging became an important issue, particularly in the face of exclusion based on race and ethnicity. Having an Afro symbolised a means of identification: an identification that acknowledges one’s own cultural background. Thus, to have an Afro was to state a kind of belonging.

But these visual references can also play a different role, one that is part of a system that creates layers to be used as a defence mechanism, or as a source of cultural knowledge with which one can draw from. Stuart Hall takes up this point:

There are at least two different ways of thinking about ‘cultural identity’. The first position defines ‘cultural identity’ in terms of one shared culture, a sort of collective ‘one true self’, hiding inside the many other, more superficial or artificially imposed ‘selves’ which people with a shared history and ancestry hold in common. Within the terms of this definition, our cultural identities reflect the common historical experiences and shared cultural codes which provide us, as ‘one people’, with stable, unchanging and continuous frames of reference and meaning, beneath the shifting divisions and vicissitudes of our actual history. (Hall 2003: 223)

It was this experiential approach that was my initial starting point in developing the drama/documentary, They Call Me…Don’t Call Me…

I wanted to make a film that investigated the residue of Blaxsploitation iconography and in turn comment on structures of meaning; how we perceive or read images. Taking the idea from John Berger (1972) that seeing comes before words, I opted for a filmic structure whereby the context of a particular image was absent, so that the interviewee would be positioned in such a way, that their recall emanated entirely from the memoir of their own visual and aesthetic criteria.

This image recollection concept is also imbedded within the film form, through the 
re-construction of certain shots. The opening zoom as the characters hit the streets comes directly from the opening sequence of Shaft (Gordon Parks 1971)
and the male character as he peers out of the hotel window is a nod towards the famous rifle image of Malcolm X as he attempts to protect his family.

At the same time, the film attempts to address issues of gender within Blaxploitation, using diegetic space to re-evaluate the relationship between the male and female characters: they are in silent communion with each other, sharing the same objectives and actions.

In creating the personas of the two characters, I drew on the unique insights of French filmmaker Robert Bresson in his approach to directing, using the actor as a ‘model’ within a space in which movement or kinetics become integral to the film:

Models who have become automatic (everything weighed, measured, timed, repeated ten, twenty times) and are then dropped in the medium of the events of your film – their relations with the objects and persons around them will be right, because they will not be thought. (Bresson 1986: 32)

I embellish Bresson’s idea of using the actor as a model and automated action-character, to create a prototype ‘model’ that I can successfully apply to the documentary format. In They Call Me…Don’t Call Me…the characters provide a tension which polarizes the generic form; the documentary.

Although in the early stages of the project, I wanted to explore the dichotomy between the politics of transformation (the communal) with the individualist narratives of Shaft, Superfly (Gordon Parks Jr. 1972) and to some extent Sweet Sweetback’s Baad Asssss Song  (Melvin Van Peebles 1971), I felt that I needed to take on a role of active observer in my own film. Yes, I had certain filmic elements under my control; I could choose the shots, approach people to be interviewed and also cut the film with a subjective slant, but as to what the outcome would be, and what the people would say, that seemed out of my control.

‘Ooh, wow. I think that is about people feelin the power…’

Two silent ‘Diasporic’ characters called They Call Me… and Don’t Call Me… arrive in the city of New York in order to search for the spirit of ‘Blaxploitaion Cinema’. To do this they ‘arm’ themselves with images from several of the most recognisable characters from the genre, including Shaft and Foxy Brown (Jack Hill 1974).

Their names offer the first ‘clue’ in their quest:

‘They Call Me…Mr Tibbs’ (In the Heat of the Night – Norman Jewison 1967)

‘Don’t Call Me…Nigger, Whitey’ (Sly and the Family Stone 1969)

They approach subjects (members of the public) in the street, and without speaking, show them pictures – which we, the spectator, do not see. These pictures form or instigate the interview that follows. The subjects then discuss the image and when they are finished the Diasporic character walks away silently, looking for the next subject who is willing to deconstruct the images that the two characters carry around in their pockets. Intermittently throughout the film, we hear an echo voice-over of a woman describing the situation in America today for Afro-Americans. This structure continues throughout until the final interview where a group of women discuss the attributes of Pam Grier in such films as Foxy Brown.

The film ends with the two Diasporic characters inside a car; either retuning from whence they came, or continuing their quest.

An important point to say here is that; all the subjects in the film were initially approached by either myself (the filmmaker) or the cast and crew and then asked to contribute their thoughts on the documentary we were making about Blaxploitation cinema. None of the subjects were shown any images beforehand off-camera as it was felt that by using this method, the subjects would react more instinctively. Once the subject had agreed to be interviewed, we would then go on to explain (sometimes at great length) the procedure or method of the set-up idea; whereby the subject would pretend to be unaware until approached by one of the characters with an image-card.

The idea behind this set-up was the influence of the lucid style and reflexive camera of Haskell Wexler’s Medium Cool (1969).

In this film, Wexler (who, incidentally was Director of Photography on Norman Jewison’s In the Heat of the Night) blurs generic or traditional distinctions between drama and documentary, appropriating a style akin to cinema vérité by placing his ‘actors’ in ‘real’ situations and recording the resulting drama.

Shot frenetically over two jetlagged days in Manhattan in August 2005, the film draws its energy from its mode of production in the same way as the production of Sweet Sweetback…

In Van Peebles’ film, the aesthetic is born from the coupling of cinematic revolutionary ideas alongside budgetary restrictions. The vivid and elliptical montage sequences produced when we see the protagonist on the run is a good example of a filmmaker harnessing the moment – the inter-thought or feelings that surround the moment of filming.

Like Sweetback, the characters in They Call Me…Don’t Call Me…  are on a journey as they ‘trace’ the footsteps of Shaft through the Manhattan community, looking for answers to questions which can only come from the subjects that they confront.

The familiar quest narrative is one that is used time and again in Blaxploitation and lends itself perfectly to They Call Me…Don’t call Me… as the two characters walk the streets of Manhattan, ready to produce their images for public investigation.

The question is; are they chasing a memory, or exploring a dream?
——————–

A Baad Asssss Blasian Is Coming Back To Collect His Dues….

For all the brothers and sisters who dig Blaxploitation films, have seen the original Sweet Sweetback’s film, and can see the similarities between Sweetback, the sex performer and Tiger Woods, the sex addict, as the Curator of The Museum of UnCut Funk I just could not resist…

Synopsis: Produced, directed, written and scored by Sista ToFunky, this landmark Blasian film is as controversial as it is popular for its X-rated story of one bad ass Blasian brother’s triumph over The Man. After beating a couple of white golfers, he witnessed their brutalization of a little white ball because they were pissed they got their asses kicked by a Blasian. Fearing he would be framed for this brutalization, Tiger the sex addict goes on the run. As he flees from his fabulous life of fame and fortune, Tiger demonstrates his sexual prowess and insatiable appetite for ruff and wild sex by taping the asses of the willing and able. After a violent Thanksgiving holiday car crash, Tiger evades his Swedish wife, his celebrity Black friends who screw white women, the press and the paparazzi. The Tiger hunt is intensified when he runs off into the sunset to find his swagger (or a condom or another blond), while his agent, Mark Steinberg warns that his story ain’t over.

There’s a bad ass Blasian coming for your ass, your daughter’s ass, your wife’s ass and as a matter of fact any other ass that crosses his path.

Coming soon to a theater near you.

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Blax

During the 1970’s, Blaxploitation moved into the horror category with a number of movies, made for Blacks, staring Blacks. One of the most important actors from this period was William Marshall. He starred as Blacula, a Black version of Dracula in two movies, Blacula and Scream, Blacula, Scream. Blacula became the Blaxploitation’s eras first prominent horror film. Blacula gets released from his coffin in the 20th century and raids the population of Los Angeles for victims. Blacula, along the way, finds a girl by the name of Tina and falls in love with her. The police find out about Blacula and track him down. In a final chase scene, Tina dies and Blacula is left to mourn. He then sacrifices his life to be with Tina.

The movie was a commercial success. There were huge premieres in Los Angeles and San Francisco in the Black community. Although Blacula does make victims out of a number of white L.A. police, critics felt it was a milder than most of the Blaxploitation films.

For the most part, Blacks do not fare well in horror films, as they are generally the first to suffer or be killed. While some may object to the negative portrayals of Blacks in many Blaxploitation films, at least in the horror films some Black actors were allowed to live until the end!

There were a number of horror films made during the Blaxploitation era. These films allowed allowed Blacks to fight evil while sticking it to the man. The Museum of UnCut Funk pays homage to the classic Blaxploitation horror flick with a few posters from our collection.

What??? Looks like champagne, pours like champagne, tastes like champagne! But it cost PENNIES more than beer! Yeah right! This ad was straight from Madison Ave…or maybe Harlem…Ad executives went further to suggest that Champale would taste better served in a stemmed glass. LOL!!! Well, actually it did if you were around during the 1970’s.

In the 1970’s, Pink and Sparkling Champale was an integral part of pop culture and a major hit in the Black community. It was my drink of choice at an age when I shouldn’t have been drinkin’. Decades later, even JayZ, Ghostface and the Beastie Boys added a line or two about Pink Champale in their lyrics.

“Grandma dressed me, plus she fed me banana puddin’, what’s in the hood then Puffin on L’s, drinkin’ pink champelle.” Jay Z – Mama Loves Me – The Blueprint

“Begosh all that Oshkosh jumpers / Pink Champale, brown paper bags, wall to wall bumpers.” Ghostface Killah – Wu-Tang’s Careful Click Click

“I got class like pink Champale.” The Beastie Boys -Ch-Check It Out – To The 5 Boroughs.

What was so cool and hip about Sparkling Champale and Pink Champale was the ads. The ads that ran in Ebony magazine were sexy and featured sexy looking Black folks drinking this malt liquor. You thought it was Champagne and you had to have some because it was cheap.

The Museum of UnCut Funk found a number of the original ads that ran in Ebony magazine.

The new line of darker-skinned Barbie BFFs may be a vast improvement over Mattel’s notorious “Colored Francie” of the 1960’s or the inexplicable “Oreo Fun Barbie” of 1997, but they’re still not quite Michelle Obama.

“It’s a step in the right direction. I love that they have different skin tones,” said Shellene Drakes-Tull, marketing communications director of Black Pearls Community Services, a group of greater Toronto young Black women that runs community and mentoring programs for Black women and girls.

“Who knows? The next time around, they might be more representative of all of the different types of Black people.”

Designed by Stacey McBride-Irby, Grace, Trichelle and Kara differ from the original Barbie and her many family and friends because of their broader noses, higher cheekbones, fuller lips, three “little sisters” and “aspirational” back stories.

“This is something Mattel needed to do, said McBride-Irby, who was inspired by watching her now 6-year-old daughter play with her Barbie.

“I wanted to be true to the girls and their moms in my community,” said McBride-Irby, who has designed dolls for Mattel for 12 years. “I made sure they had a fuller nose and fuller lips. I was answering my community’s needs.”

And this time, they’ve also got a powerful marketing campaign behind them.

Next season, McBridge-Irby will deliver an even darker-skinned Barbie BFF called Sandra to increase the “diversity.”

Barbie has had a Black friend, Christie, since 1968. The first collector Black Barbies turned up in the 1980’s, looking identical to the alabaster-skinned originals. Barbie acquired three Black friends briefly in the early 1990s, the “Shani” dolls that supposedly looked more “ethnic.”

The new “little sisters” are designed to inspire Black teens to mentor younger girls, either their own sisters or in the community, McBride-Irby said. Each doll also matches an academic side “that moms can hone in on” with her fun side; Kara, for example, is into “math and music.” But it’s the hair that needs work. The dolls have “Beyonce-looking” long hair that can be curled and styled, said Drakes-Tull. Some short, curly Afros would have been encouraging, she said.

Focus groups persuaded McBride-Irby to curl Trichelle’s hair, she told The Star Thursday in an interview from California.”As far as the hair, I wanted to create dolls little girls would play with. They couldn’t have as much fun playing with an Afro.”Drakes-Tull agrees that’s true, although felt some imagination and authenticity could have produced a Barbie BFF with a wardrobe of hair extensions to play with. ”There is a lot of politics around hair and accepting the way it is” for Black women, Drakes-Tull said.

The new “So In Style” line isn’t available in Canada, although a Mattel spokesperson said it might arrive in eight weeks or so. Toys R Us were unable to say when they might be sold here. Barbie collector Margaret Matsui intends to bring them in herself, though, because she’s spotted a surge of interest in Black dolls. ”This is the year colour has disappeared” in dolls, said Matsui, who operates My Favourite Dolls in Mississauga. The collector Black Barbies with their neon wardrobes from the 1980’s have been “my best-selling doll this year,” she said, and the new Black line “is something significant that is going to go down in Barbie history.

“People love them. They like the Black face sculpting over the white ones. Or they say, ‘This doll is so pretty.’ They’re not seeing black and white anymore.” She and Drakes-Tull are ready to cut Mattel some slack, just for trying. ”You can’t make everyone happy,” said Matsui. ”It’s hard to encapsulate all Black people in three dolls,” said Drakes-Tull.

Black Barbie: Vogue Italian Style

Everybody’s talking about Barbie this year, everybody’s celebrating one way or the other. But how about Black Barbies? Shouldn’t we celebrate them too? Good thing Franca Sozzani (Vogue Italy  supreme editor) thought about them and highlighted the Black Barbie in a special Barbie Issue supplement to the Vogue July with McMenamt the Legend.

Just looking at those marvelous models, I feel the urge to run out the door and buy me some Barbies! (it’s tough to get a house literally full with boys toys to become Barbie friendly, but not if I have something to say about it!) Just look at them sitting on those couches and teaching us how to really present lingerie! Beautiful!

This year, fashion celebrates Barbie’s 50th anniversary. So how many anniversaries do we have to count for the Black Barbies? The first Black Barbie was given to us in 1980 (the first Black doll from Barbie was actually introduced in 1967 and was called Black Francie) and this year, a new Black Barbie (limited edition) was introduced by Mattel. Called So In Style, S.I.S, the new Black Barbies have more accurate facial characteristics (wider nose, more prominent cheek bones and significantly curly, frizzy hair). Ignoring the limited edition downer, I wish I could get my hands on one of those Black beauties! Ahem Barbies!

Italian Vogue celebrated Black Barbie in their July 2009 Barbie Issue. Last year’s Black Issue was so impressive and successful that they somewhat reinterpreted it by including Black barbies in this collector’s edition! Here are a few photo’s from the issue.

Sources: Parentcental.ca, Style Frizz and T.E.E.N Diaries

The Museum of UnCut Funk has a warm spot in our collection for Vintage Black Advertising Memorabilia and we have a few HAMBONE pieces as a part of our collection. Whether it be crate labels, tins or posters we collect it all for the both the historical and artistic value of the items. We feel it is important to understand the racist and stereotypical way that Blacks have been portrayed in product advertising throughout history. HAMBONE is one of the many caricatures that personifies racists advertising from the last century.

Hambone was the nickname of Tom Hunley, a folk-wisdom spouting ex-slave who lived in Greenwood Mississippi. Hunley was interviewed late in his life by a young Memphis editorial cartoonist James Pinckney Alley “J.P.”

Alley who was taken by Hunley’s humorously philosophical tone, and turned the old man’s pithy observations on life into a syndicated illustrated column called “Hambone’s Meditations” which debuted in 1916 and was soon followed by two books. When J.P. died in 1934, his son Calvin took over his work, and the Hambone character continued in newspapers until 1968.

Starting in the late 1920’s, two different cigar companies (over time, not at once) were licensed to market cheap cigars under the character’s name and Alley’s illustration. The image on the cigar box label is a satire on Lindberg’s 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic ocean.

Source: Cigar History.info

Many of you may know that the Negro League was established on February 13, 1920, at a YMCA in Kansas City, Missouri. Andrew “Rube” Foster, the man who organized the league, served as its president.

Foster was known as “the father of Black baseball.” This first league was known as the Negro National League with member teams in the South and Midwest. The NNL operated successfully until 1931.

With the help of Edward Bolden as it chair, on December 16, 1923 the Eastern Colored League was formed and in 1924 the very first Negro World Series was played between the ECL and the NNL champions. The ECL collapsed in the spring of 1928 but the member teams reemerged in 1929 as the American Negro League.

The depression brought difficult times for Black baseball. In 1932, the East-West League was formed, but folded before the season ended. The Negro Southern League was the only Black professional league to survive the 1932 season. The NSL was a minor league before and after the 1932 season.

In 1933, the Negro National League was formed again. This was the only Black professional league operating until 1937. The league included teams from the East and the Midwest through 1935. By 1936, the NNL was operating exclusively in the East. As in the white major leagues, the Negro Leagues had their own World Series. Over the years, eleven inter-league Black World Series were held. The NNL and ECL played from 1924 through 1927. Champions from the second NNL and the NAL competed from 1942 through 1948. Also in 1933, the Black teams began all-star game competition. The game was known as the East-West game and was played each summer at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. This game was considered more important than the World Series and annually attracted between 20,000 and 50,000 fans.

Below is a map of some of the most prominent Negro League teams and the states that they represented.

What wasn’t uncommon about baseball then was women took part in Negro League baseball, among them Toni Stone, Mamie Johnson and Connie Morgan. Stone played from 1949 until 1955 with such outfits as the New Orleans Creoles and the Indianapolis Clowns. Johnson (nicknamed “Peanut”) was the first woman to pitch in the Negro Leagues, and built an impressive record of 38 wins and only 8 losses for her career. Morgan started in an all-women’s league (where she had a .368 batting average) before joining the Clowns in 1954.

The Museum of Uncut Funk celebrates the players and history of the Negro Leagues. The Museum Of UnCut Funk Collection includes a complete set of original pins from the Negro Leagues. Below are a few pins from the collection.

Tennessee Rats

From the minds of Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca, the Afrodisiac phenomena got it’s start in 2005 as short stories and anthologies. Jim Rugg, co-creator of the Afrodisiac comic series, recently stated in an interview with Comic Book Resources “ We try to capture the style and energy of the great Blaxploitation movies”.

Capture they did. Afrodisiac has all the energy and hipness of some of the greatest Black films to come out of the 1970’s. In addition to embodying the artistic flow of 1970‘s comic books, Afrodisiac is straight up old school funk. Afrodisiac is a pimp who can hypnotize any woman with the mere mention of his name. The Afrodisiac character has been compared to some of the coolest cats of the Blaxploitation genre like The Mack, Willie Dynamite and John Daniels from Black Shampoo. Afrodisiac is as slick as Jim Brown in Slaughter or Issac Hayes in Truck Turner, and as cool as Brother Rabbit from the classic animated live action film Coonskin. Afrodisiac is the man!

Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca have captured the true essence of what was going down in the streets of Black America during the 1970’s. With all the usual suspects, Afrodisaic has freaks, geeks, the man, hot chicks, bad ass rides and who can forget the fashion. Fashion played a huge part in Blaxploitation films. While SuperFly will go down as the flyest motherfucker in cinematic history, Afrodsiac represents on all levels, including his never out of place fro.

The Museum of UnCut Funk is thrilled that Jim Rugg shared some of the art from the soon to be released Afrodisiac graphic novel. The complete collection of Afrodisiac comics will be available in graphic novel form in December 2009. This is a must have for any comic book collector, fan of Blaxploitation films or anyone interested in comic art. Right On!!!

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So it took the election of the first Black President, a beautiful Black first lady and two Black tween girls living in the White House for Disney to make a Black princess movie. The new Disney film is a classic tale but has a fresh, hip and cooler look. Yes, the story line is the same -- girl kisses frog, frog turns into a prince, with some strange going ons in between.

Disney went out on a animated limb by producing an animated film with a Black princess. Will fans of Disney films accept this new princess? Well, why not? Didn’t more White Americans vote for Obama than any other ethnic group?

The film opens in December 2009.

The story is set in Jazz Age New Orleans, with this princess-in-the-rough working as a waitress. She is only royal in her mind, and dreams of opening a restaurant in the French Quarter. Aside from breaking a race barrier, the animated film is a throw-back to another era: The movie is hand-drawn, with zydeco-style songs by Randy Newman and stars actress Anika Noni Rose as the princess, Tiana, and queen of daytime, Oprah Winfrey, as the voice of her mom. (Source: Yahoo Buzz Line)

The Museum of UnCut Funk is elated that Disney has finally come all the way out of it’s racial and stereotypical bag to produce a film with a Black lead in true Disney form.

Meet Anika Noni Rose: Disney’s First Animated Black Princess

Jumping from the stage to the world of animation, Tony Award-winning actress Anika Noni Rose takes on her most enchanting and monumental role yet: Princess Tiana, Disney’s first animated black princess.

“This feels amazing,” Rose, 36, told PEOPLE this week at the Manhattan unveiling of the toy line for The Princess and the Frog. “Not only is she the first black princess, she’s the first American princess. So, the scope and the significance is larger than people even realize.”

Regal Role

In the meantime, Rose is enjoying her newfound role as “Princess of America.”

“I’m not like, skipping down the street with it, but when you take a moment and you think about the fact that this is what America has chosen to put out as Princess-hood, Princess-dom, it’s amazing,” she said.

In The Princess and the Frog, set in New Orleans, Tiana’s mother is voiced by Oprah Winfrey.

Rounding out Disney’s multicultural royalty (see below) are Mulan, from China; Pocahontas, who is Native American; and, from the Middle East, Jasmine. (Source: People)