Archival is remembrance.
as fascism continues to expand and eliminate anything in its path, and continue to destroy proof of life, proof that we’ve been here, they will do everything in their power to make it seem as if we have no history, no truth to our claims, no rights to our land, our homes. they will take every single thing away from us with no remorse
we must resist and remember
if there is anything i want people to get into their head is that this is not a system that can be reasoned with, it does not seek logic or reason, it seeks domination by any means
reform is fascism
remember
“If you’re not careful the papers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing” – el Haj Malik El Shabazz
oppressed people have every right to resist
the Palestinian resistance has every right to resist
the axis has every right to resist
when the erasure of your people is on the line
we have every right to resist
we have every right to hold on to what we have and be proud of our resistance
archival work is resistance because we are preserving our culture
resisting the appropriation, co-optation and elimination of our truth
truth telling
My responsibility to myself, my neighbors, my family, and the human family is to try to tell the truth. And that ain’t easy. – Toni Cade Bambara
i have a duty to my ancestors and the revolutionaries who fought before me to remember them and share their memory
too much of our history has been burned into ash, locked away in vaults, and hung on the walls of billionaires mansions
i want everything back where it belongs
all the statues and gems and bones and clothes and drums and gold and the animals too
and it will all return
Palestinians will return
everything will return
i archive to resist
In the summer of 1969, the same summer as the “legendary” woodstock festival there was another music festival happening 100 miles away in Harlem. The Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969 was its third and biggest year. Organized by St. Kittian, Tony Lawrence, a singer, promoter and organizer. The festival was sponsored by General Foods’ Maxwell House Coffee and was filmed and some footage was aired as two 1 hour long CBS specials.
The festival took place over the course of 6 sundays:
Schedule of Events
Broadway in Harlem June 29
Gospel Festival July 13
Soul Festival July 20
Caribbean Festival July 27
Blues and Jazz Festival August 17
Miss Harlem Beauty Pageant and Local Talent August 24
A wide range of artists performed such as: Stevie Wonder, The Chambers Brothers, B.B. King, Herbie Mann, The 5th Dimension, The Edwin Hawkins Singers, Pop Staples & The Staples Singers, Mavis Staples, Mahalia Jackson, Ben Branch, David Ruffin, Mongo Santamaria, Ray Barretto, Hugh Masekela, Nina Simone and Sly and The Family Stone.
The NYPD refused to be security
so the Black Panther Party did instead
you had Black folks barbecuing and selling food like fried chicken, mac n cheese, greens around the park and other vendors selling other goods. yo i can just imagine all the amazing food with all the puerto ricans, jamaicans, panamanians and cubans in Harlem.
AND THE FESTIVAL WAS FREE!!!!!!!!!
the story goes outside of the original airing on CBS in 1969 the footage had never seen the light of day until the man responsible for filming the concert, Tal Hulchin died in 2017 and somehow Questlove got hold of the over 35 hours of footage.
i would love to see the rest of the footage because i can imagine how much was left out and i don’t think the makers of this film did a good job at telling the true story of the festival
the documentary was more of a concert which i appreciate but so much context was left out (i.e. the fact the movie is tagged the “or when the revolution could not be televised” meanwhile the festival itself was televised, although only two hours of it but that is not really talked much about in the film and the leave out many facts about Tal Hulchin and his role in having possession of the film) suspicioussssss
i mention this story because i think this is an important example of how often our history goes unknown
The Edwins Hawkins Singers ft. Dorothy Morrison @ 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival
for 60 years this footage sat in a basement
for 60 years this footage was in the possession of a white man who in my opinion was holding a piece of our history hostage because of disagreements on creative direction if a film was to be made out of the footage
what i think is so beautiful about this footage is that it is in color and not in black and white like we are used to seeing the 60s
all the beautiful melanin, and bright colors and afros and dashikis, and beautiful black afrikan people in color in all their glory
imagine all the other footage and pictures sitting in basements and the manuscripts and records that may forever go unheard
imagine a world without gatekeeping and private ownership of information
all the information they are keeping hidden from us
we will uncover the truth one way or another
the truth always comes out
we must tell the truth
take note of everything
take more pictures
take more videos
write in your journal
put dates on everything
document everything
so that there is no denying our truth
Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) Soundtrack
we need more block parties, bbqs and picnics in the park
we need more together
we need more revolutionary optimism
interlude – happiness by dead prez
to those that made it this far i give thanks and praises. i love you.
we continue in pursuit of an afterwards.