GOSSIP FROM THE GIRLFRIEND GATHERINGS

Learning from YOU to empower ME !

National Women History Maker – The Poetess – Phyllis Wheatley

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My first love of the written word is poetry and I thought it would be great to share information on one of the earliest women history maker – the poetess, Phyllis Wheatley.   Born in West Africa in 1753, sold into slavery at the age of 7 and transported to North America, Phyllis Wheatley became the second published African-American poet and the first published African-American woman before her death at the early age of 31.

Phyllis was named after the slave ship that brought her to Boston and took the last name of her progressive master and his wife, John and Susanna Wheatley.  These believers in education for their slaves started educating Phyllis and soon recognized her genius.    Giving Phyllis’ work to other slaves, they fostered her education and by the time she was twelve years old, she was reading the Greek and Latin classics.    Eventually, she started to write poetry on religious, classical themes and about famous people.   However, she seldom wrote about her life or slavery which is still a mystery.

Phyllis traveled to England with the son of her master and her work was held in high esteem in British society.   Here at home, she wrote a poem about George Washington, sent it to him and later met him.   Of course, she experienced racism and sexism as these evils were prevalent in that time.   Phyllis had to defend her authorship of her poetry and was examined by Boston dignitaries including John Hancock, the governor and lieutenant governor of Massachusetts.   Her genius prevailed and these same dignitaries signed an attestation to the authenticity of her work and her brilliance.   John Paul Jones called her the “African favorite of the Muses and Apollo”.    Phyllis was emancipated via her master’s will upon his death.

Eventually, Phyllis fell on difficult times.   She married after being emancipated and lost two infant children.   With the Revolutionary War waging, Phyllis also lost her financial backers and her husband was imprisoned for debts.   Phyllis was reduced to working as a domestic and caring for a sickly infant child.    She became ill and died.   Her last child died on the same day.

Here is one of her rare poems on slavery, written when she was sixteen years old.

 “On Being Brought from Africa to America”

 Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land

Taught my benighted soul to understand

That there’s a God, that there’s a Saviour too:

Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.

Some view our sable race with scornful eye;

“Their colour is a diabolic die.”

Remember, Christians, Negros black as Cain,

May be refin’d, and join th’angelic train.

It’s March – National Women History Month!

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women in business (2)March is National Women’s History Month – a time to celebrate the contributions of women to this country.   This month I will blog about some famous women and their contributions but I will also blog about a few women friends in my inner circle that I feel are doing some unique and fun things.      I have divided them into three categories  – “Creative Cool Women”, “Doing Their Own Thing Women” , and “Informing the World Women”.   Also, this month, I will host a blog interview with author Stacy Overman Morrison on her book “Comfort of Fences”.   Some of my blog readers/friends read the book and submitted some questions for Stacy.   We are all looking forward to her response.

 

So, please stay save my blog site in your “Favorites” and plan to drop by throughout the month.

Girlfriend Gathering Review – Ensemble Theatre – The Meeting

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Imagine……a secret date……a secret place…….a secret meeting.

Imagine……Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  ………….Malcom X.

Imagine……Talking……..subject……..Civil Rights Movement.

This is the place the Ensemble Theatre took us to with their current production of Jeff Stetson’s play – The Meeting.    This play has been performed to many audiences across the U.S. and several other countries on several continents over the past 30 years.  It has finally arrived to Houston.    I was excited when I saw it in the 2013-2014 season line up for the Ensemble Theatre and the production dates were perfect to make it a part of my African-American History celebration for February.   Of course, I gathered a few of my girlfriends to attend with me.

We were surprised to learn the play was only 75 minutes long without an intermission.   However, after experiencing those dynamic 75 minutes, we understood the reason.    The dialogue of this play was so intense and mesmerizing that any break in the flow of words would have been inappropriate.   The actors Jason Carmichael (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) and Mirron E. Willis (Malcolm X) clothed themselves in the essence of these great men and delivered a portrayal that effectively captured the brilliance, dedication and fortitude that each brought to a struggle that impacted their people and their country.    Even though there were vast differences in their approach to the civil rights struggle, we were able to glimpse the similarities in the hearts of these men through the rendering of the playwright and the performance by these wonderful actors.

It is an urban legend that a meeting was planned between these great leaders but Malcolm X was assassinated the week before the scheduled date.   I believe that if it had happened it would have been just as it was in this play.    If you are in or near Houston, please gather up the young people in your sphere and take them to the Ensemble Theatre to witness African-American history in motion.

QUESTION(S):

Are you a history buff?

What do you imagine Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X would have discussed?

Remembering Nelson Mandela

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Sometimes there are those persons who are born to raise the bar for humankind.   Such is the legacy of Nelson Mandela who departed from our realm this past week.    His life journey from lawyer, to freedom fighter, to prisoner, to president of his country is a testament to the spirit of the man and that spirit will stand through the ages.    His name and story will survive the centuries to come.

I first learned of Nelson Mandela in the early 1970’s as a young teenager.    When I started school in the early segregated 1960’s, I was taught by very well-educated African-American teachers whose mission was to advance the race through education.   Therefore, I was taught to be an avid reader and to be aware of world events.   In the early 1970’s, I joined a “culturally aware” youth organization.   We studied the equality struggles of other countries in comparison to the equality struggles in the U.S., especially the Civil Rights Movement that was most recent in our country.   Of course, during our studies, we studied apartheid in South Africa and the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela.

During the years afterwards, I followed what was happening in South Africa with dismay.   Finally, I rejoiced with everyone else when Nelson Mandela was freed and the last remnant of apartheid was abolished– amazed that it happened in my lifetime.    I was ecstatic with the rest of the world when Nelson Mandela became President Nelson Mandela of South Africa.    I felt the circle of righteousness had now come full circle for South Africa.

For me, the circle closed when one day in the late 1990’s I was driving home from the office and I heard on the radio that the Fifth Ward Multi-Service Center was raising money for a group of youth to travel to South Africa on a “cultural awareness” trip.  They would join other youth groups there and they all would attend an event in attendance by President Nelson Mandela.    I rushed home and grabbed my checkbook to donate.   I was so inspired by the knowledge that a group of youth from my city – so much like I was in the 1970’s – would have the opportunity to learn about a culture first-hand that I could only study from a distance in the 1970’s.   After I wrote the check, I grabbed a sheet of notebook paper and jotted down all of my feelings in a note to accompany the check.      A week, or so, after mailing the check, I received a call from the Director of the Fifth Ward Multi-Service Center.  He thanked me for my donation and told me that the note I sent was so inspirational that he wanted my permission to read it to the youth and their parents at their departure assembly.  I gave my permission. I don’t recall everything I wrote but I do recall this one thought – “If you wonder if God still works miracles, just look at the life journey of Nelson Mandela.”  I remember how exhilarated I felt writing the note and if any of that feeling transferred to it, then I know it was worthy to be shared.

I still believe that statement I wrote that day.   Nelson Mandela’s life journey was one of God’s miracles and this is why his name and spirit will live through the ages to come.

“12 Years A Slave” – A Girlfriend Gathering Movie / Book Review

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12 Years a Slave

On October 28th, my girlfriends and I attended the opening of the movie “12 Years a Slave” in Houston at the historic River Oaks Theatre.    This was the only theatre in Houston showing the movie on the second limited opening across the nation.    As the “unofficial” coordinator of our girlfriend gatherings, I was really excited about getting my great friends together to attend.    We are a multi-cultural group of single, divorced and widowed women who strive to reach across stereotypical boundaries to truly know and understand one another.   Whenever we are together I think of that old Marvin Gaye song “What’s Going On?” and the verse “Talk to me, so you can see, what’s going on.”

Our group had attended the movie “The Butler” a couple of months ago and saw the preview for “12 Years a Slave” at that time.   It created a buzz among us especially when we discovered that only one of us had ever heard of Solomon Northup and she is Anglo-American!   She learned about him in school in upstate New York whereas those of us who grew up in the South had never heard of him.   This is another testament to the sad state of our country’s educational system and the travesty it teaches named American History.   It is my hope that one day the historic journeys and contributions of all of America’s citizens will be included in the history books but until then I guess we will discover it in bits and pieces.   These were my thoughts as we waited for the start of the movie on that day.  Since October 28th, I have seen the movie twice more and read the book that Solomon Northup published in 1853.   I waited to read his book before blogging about the movie.

The movie was brutally honest.   It accurately depicted the grave injustice and inhumanity that was done to Solomon Northup, as a free citizen, and to the enslaved African-Americans he encountered on his journey.    In my opinion, director Steve McQueen was very deliberate in bringing this disturbing subject to life for those of us who can never imagine the impact of slavery on a human being.    The superb performances of Chiwetel Ejiofor (Solomon), Lupita Nyong’o (Patsy), and Michael Fassbender (Epps) evoked such a range of emotions in me that my heart actually raced.  There were many moments during the movie where my thoughts could not process what was happening on the screen.   I was compelled to view it multiple times until my soul was satisfied.   I am grateful to the director, producers, and actors for bringing this troubling and painful story to the forefront.

The reading of Solomon Northup’s book took me to an even deeper place.   Reading his own words written in 1853 about what happened to him and his thoughts about it brought me to a level of sad discontentment.   Every word he wrote was a contradiction to all that I had been taught as a student in my history classes.   I wanted justice for him so badly and wondered what can be done for him in this present time.   The only act I think that can be consolation for me is to encourage others to see the movie and read his book.   Also, I want for others to encourage their friends and family to spread the word, too.

I think that every American should see the movie and read the book because Solomon Northup’s journey as an American citizen is worthy to be known by all.   Slavery in America is a subject that many of us do not want to acknowledge, discuss, and review.   Some descendants of former slave owners and former slaves want to continue to ignore this past because it is uncomfortable for them.   However, the historical fact is that America was founded on the economic benefit of slavery and America had the largest slavery system in the history of the world.   These facts are a part of our dark past and our laws have evolved beyond that past.    But, if we continue to exclude the truth about slavery and the impact on American citizens from the history classes in our educational system, how can we truly determine that we have evolved beyond our dark past?   What does it say to the memory of those who suffered through it and fought against it?    These are the questions that our American society, in the present time, must answer.

QUESTIONS:

Have you seen the movie?   If so, please share your thoughts/experience.

If you haven’t seen the movie, do you plan to see it?     Why?

Would you consider reading the book?

How do you feel about the history that is taught in American public schools?