America I AM

Harvey B. Gantt Center & SmileyBooks Gift

admin — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 23:04:33 +0000

HARVEY B. GANTT CENTER AND SMILEYBOOKS GIFT EXHIBIT VISITORS WITH A FREE COPY OF THE RICH AND THE REST OF US: A POVERTY MANIFESTO DURING THE 2012 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION

This inspiring and thought-provoking book seeks an end to poverty

Charlotte, NC (August 30, 2012) – When the Democratic National Convention convenes in Charlotte, NC on September 3, delegates and visitors from all over the nation and the world will have a chance to experience the award-winning America I AM: The African American Imprint exhibition being showcased at the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture.

To say thank you to all those who pay to tour the America I AM exhibition during the DNC, noted broadcaster and New York Times bestselling author Tavis Smiley will gift each family a free copy of the New York Times bestselling book, The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto, co-authored with Princeton University Professor Emeritus, Cornel West. This groundbreaking volume examines the historical roots of our nation’s current economic challenges.

“For the America I AM exhibition and the DNC to be in Charlotte at the same time is perfect,” says Bonita Buford, Director of Communications and Operations for the Gantt Center. “The exhibition presents a historical continuum of 400 years of African American contributions to the nation through artifacts, documents, multimedia, photos, and music.”

Together, Smiley and West co-host the nationally syndicated public radio program Smiley & West distributed by Public Radio International (PRI), and they’ve written The Rich and the Rest of Us to focus on the economic realities of the 21st century: poverty, record unemployment, gross income inequality, and health care.

“Poverty seems to be the new American norm,” says Smiley. “It’s important that as we fasten our seat belts for this upcoming election, that we don’t forget people in need who are left behind. Providing a complimentary copy of The Rich and the Rest of Us will help us discuss why our most vulnerable citizens need to be in the front seat, and not in the back.”

As the nation awaits the imminent release of the latest numbers on poverty from the U.S. Census Bureau, Smiley and West will embark on “The Poverty Tour 2.0,” September 12-15, 2012, visiting four battleground states: Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Florida, to continue their mission to make the eradication of poverty a top priority in America.

Please find below the Gantt Center’s hours of operation:

· Friday, August 31, 2012 – Harvey B. Gantt Center, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

· Saturday, September 1, 2012 – Harvey B. Gantt Center, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

· Monday, September 3, 2012 – Harvey B. Gantt Center, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. (as part of the DNC’s CarolinaFest. Free admission with timed tickets distributed on the hour until 4 p.m.)

· Thursday, September 6, 2012 – Harvey B. Gantt Center, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

· Friday, September 7, 2012 – Harvey B. Gantt Center, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

For more information about The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto, visit: www.therichandtherestofus.com.

###

ABOUT TAVIS SMILEY AND CORNEL WEST

From his celebrated conversations with world figures to his work to inspire the next generation of leaders as a broadcaster, author, advocate, and philanthropist, Tavis Smiley continues to be an outstanding voice for change. Currently, Smiley hosts the late-night talk show Tavis Smiley on PBS, The Tavis Smiley Show from Public Radio International (PRI), and is the co-host of Smiley & West from PRI. Educator and philosopher Cornel West is the Professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice at Union Theological Seminary and Professor Emeritus at Princeton University. He is known as one of America’s most provocative democratic intellectuals.

ABOUT SMILEYBOOKS

Founded by media pioneer Tavis Smiley as a co-publishing venture with Hay House Inc., SmileyBooks is a general trade book publisher that specializes in quality nonfiction. A dynamic company dedicated to the new media landscape, SmileyBooks publishes books by authors ranging from established New York Times bestsellers to exciting new voices on topics that appeal to a broad spectrum of readers. SmileyBooks titles are published in hardcover, trade paperback, and digital media, offering the widest possible readership and exposure. For more information, visit: www.smileybooks.com.

ABOUT THE HARVEY B. GANTT CENTER FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN ARTS + CULTURE

Founded in 1974, Charlotte’s Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture (formerly the Afro-American Cultural Center) exists to present, preserve, and celebrate the art, history and culture of African-Americans and those of African descent through dance, music, visual and literary arts, film, educational programs, theatre productions, and community outreach. Named for Harvey B. Gantt, the prominent Charlotte architect and community leader and former Mayor of Charlotte, the Center is housed in an inspired and distinguished award-winning structure and is home to the nationally celebrated John and Vivian Hewitt Collection of African-American art. For more information, contact Sharon Holm, Marketing Specialist at 704-547-3767, or visit www.ganttcenter.org.

Celebrate 500 years of African contribution to America.

admin — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 05:38:08 +0000

America I Am exhibit at Gantt Center

admin — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 21:56:03 +0000

At least 250 people visited the harvey B. Gantt Center to tour Tavis Smiley’s “America I AM: The African American Imprint”. The exhibition opened at the Gantt Center on Saturday, June 30, 2012. Visitors having just passed the “Doors of No Return” enter an area depicting were captive Africans were housed awaiting ships that would take them to the Americas. Smiley and a group of children cut the ribbon and he later posed for photos with folks attending the ceremony. The exhibit, which runs through Jan. 1, 2013 features more than 200 artifacts. JOHN D. SIMMONS – jsimmons@charlotteobserver.com

DNC 2012 Notebook: Art and history at the DNC

admin — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:58:48 +0000

When delegates, celebrities, media and the just-plain-curious descend on Charlotte for the Democratic National Convention in September, scoping out local art and history might not be at the top of their to-do list. But maybe they should reconsider.

Two exhibits that just opened Uptown add resonance to the renomination of the first black president – a point not lost on the Gantt Center or the Mint Museum.

“America I Am: The African American Imprint” at the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture brings items connected to names as varied as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Prince. Then there are the artifacts that haunt me most – a bill of sale from Union County, pricing an 11-year-old boy at $700 and a perfect silver set for a proper woman of the house, complete with mirror, comb, brush and whip, sized for a lady’s hand and suitable for disciplining house slaves. Prepare to be amazed at many of the rare, famous items – and stunned by the unexpected.

As exhibit organizer Tavis Smiley said when he came to Charlotte for opening events, “America: I Am” is a chance for visitors “to situate themselves in the narrative” of all the hopeful Americans who contributed and sacrificed when they had no reason to hold on to that hope. In my interview with him at TheRoot.com, he said: “It’s important for Americans to understand that there is a 400- to 500-year backstory to Barack Obama; he didn’t just fall out of the heavens.”

Be sure to check out CL‘s July 12 cover story on the exhibit, including an interview with Smiley.

“Hard Truths: The Art of Thornton Dial” at the Mint takes a chance by presenting the art of a working-class man, a self-taught artist, raised in the rural South. His work tackles a wide range of social and political subjects, from commentaries on the homeless and the abuse of the environment to the plight of women and the rural poor. He uses all sorts of found and salvaged materials to share the kind of perspective that is often overlooked.

I contemplated one of his pieces for quite a while with the artist, now in a wheelchair, and his son, Richard, when they visited Charlotte for the opening. Created after the start of the Iraq war, “Don’t Matter How Raggly the Flag, It Still Got to Tie Us Together,” from 2003, is made of mattress coils, chicken wire, clothing, salvaged metal, plastic twine and more. “It’s just life, that’s all,” Thornton Dial said.

Richard Dial wondered why the country still can’t seem to tie it together. He talked about the rigid opposition to every policy proposed by Obama, even those the president’s opponents previously favored. The 2008 election, he said, was too big a change for some. “Maybe not this time, but next time” genuine acceptance will be there, he said.

Mint Museum president Kathleen Jameson told me she sees the show as representing the “struggles that people endured to make President Obama possible.” Amid the parties and the pomp, let’s hope visitors, as well as Charlotte’s own, make time for tough shows that are worth it.

On July 17, I will be moderating a panel “Hard Truths: African American Art in the Mainstream Art World” at the Mint Museum Uptown, featuring Mint curator of contemporary art Brad Thomas, and artists Nellie Ashford, Chris Watts and Juan Logan. It’s at 6:30 p.m. and it’s free to attend.
Mary C. Curtis, an award-winning Charlotte-based journalist, is a contributor to The Washington Post‘s “She the People” blog, The Root and theGrio. Her “Keeping It Positive” segment airs Wednesdays at 7:10 a.m. on Fox News Rising Charlotte, and she was national correspondent for Politics Daily. Follow her on Twitter.

‘I AM’ celebrates proud history, culture

admin — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:46:04 +0000

Exhibit shows ways blacks have contributed to America

While in college in the 1960s, Macie Riddick was arrested for sitting down to eat ice cream at a whites-only section in Rock Hill. She spent about five days in jail.

Memories of the civil rights movement came back to the Huntersville woman on Saturday as she and her husband, Melvin, toured almost 500 years of African-American history and culture at the Harvey B. Gantt Center’s new featured exhibition, “America I AM: The African American Imprint.”

“What I saw today was a certain reflection of some of the experiences that I went through,” Melvin Riddick said, “but also it showed me the progress … that has been made in this country.”

“America I AM,” which opened Saturday, tells the story of pivotal moments in African-American history through more than 200 eclectic artifacts.

There are the weathered and rusty dungeon doors from Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, Africa, – “doors of no return” – where Africans were held captive until they departed on ships to the “New World.” There’s the key to Martin Luther King Jr.’s jail cell and Rosa Parks’ fingerprint card from her arrest. There’s also the purple guitar that Prince played during the halftime show at a Super Bowl.

The exhibition overall seeks to answer the question posed by scholar W.E.B. DuBois: “Would America have been America without her Negro people?” Through a dozen galleries, it examines the ways African-Americans have contributed to the country in economic, socio-political, cultural and spiritual ways.

Charlotte is the eighth stop for this traveling exhibit, which was conceived by television personality Tavis Smiley.

In its entirety, the exhibition can fill 25,000 square feet. But here in Charlotte’s Harvey B. Gantt Center, it was customized to about 10,000 square feet.

“We had to make some real difficult choices to take that 25 and squeeze it down to 10 or 12, so you got the best of the best of the best,” Smiley said to the large crowd at the exhibit’s opening ceremony.

The loud, energetic crowd of attendees at the ceremony turned thoughtful and somber as they began their tour of African-American history, passing by the “doors of no return.” At least 250 people attended the exhibit on opening day.

Children stopped to ask their parents questions about what they were seeing.

“This is going to be a transformative event for all of you, but particularly for the young people,” said former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt in an opening speech.

Keondra Goins, 10, of Charlotte quietly read artifact explanations aloud to her mom, Kenya Clark.

“It’s a really big deal for us, as parents, to let our kids know basically where they came from – where we came from and where we’re going,” Clark said.

Though she’s already aware of the history, Angie Ransom, 60, of Charlotte said seeing the shackles of slavery on display stuck with her. “It was very emotional for me,” she said.

Amid stories of slavery and segregation, there are also the stories of triumph in “America I AM.”

The exhibit celebrates key figures including President Barack Obama, music icons Stevie Wonder and Jimi Hendrix, and athletes Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali, among many others.

“We’ve been through a lot,” Macie Riddick said. “We survived. We are survivors and that makes us proud of our history and our culture.”

By Joanna Nolasco
joannanolasco@charlotteobserver.com

Angie Ransom, Destiny Davis, 14, and her mother, Tina Davis, stop at a display case of African icons near the entrance of Tavis Smiley’s “America I AM: The African American Imprint.”

More Information

Qcitymetro.com Q&A with Tavis Smiley
Fannie Flono interview with Smiley
More information

Want to go?

Exhibition dates: June 30 through Jan. 1.

Tickets: $12 for adults. $10 for students/senior/military. $8 for children ages 3 to 13. Children ages 2 and under are free.

For more information: Visit ganttcenter.org or call 704-547-3700.

Celebrity Spotlight: Tavis Smiley

admin — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 21:56:37 +0000

Tavis Smiley (Photo: G Burkins, Qcitymetro.com)

Ever wonder how people like Tavis Smiley achieved their life’s goals?

Growing up in Kokomo, Ind., Smiley and 12 other family members shared a tree-bedroom trailer.

“It was tough. It was tight. And we were broke,” he says. “But I had so much fun.”

In a podcast with Janine Davis, Smiley talks about personal success, President Obama, what’s on his iPod and more.

Click here to listen then share your comments below.

Or, to hear some of the other podcasts we offer, visit our special Qcity Radio page.

Smiley on Black People’s ‘Backstory’

admin — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 23:09:51 +0000

(The Root) — With “America I Am: The African American Imprint” making its home in Charlotte, N.C., while 35,000 visitors descend on the city for the Democratic National Convention in September, Tavis Smiley is sending a message. “It’s important for Americans to understand that there is a 400- to 500-year backstory to Barack Obama,” the radio and TV host told The Root. “He didn’t just fall out of the heavens.”

From June 30 through Jan. 1, 2013, the exhibit’s more than 200 artifacts, which trace the contributions of African Americans to the history and culture of this country, will fill the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture. The museum is named for the history-making first black mayor of Charlotte, an architect and community leader who has advised the second, and current, African-American mayor, Anthony Foxx, as he prepares to host the convention.

Author and advocate Smiley shepherded the exhibit through its creation and four-year tour. When he spoke with The Root recently, Smiley and professor and author Cornel West had wrapped up their poverty-awareness tour, during which they talked about the challenges and possible solutions explored in their book, The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto.

Though the two have taken heat for their criticism of President Obama, Smiley said that it’s in keeping with “the best of our black prophetic tradition, which in my mind means speaking truth to power and to the powerless.” Smiley talked with The Root about why it’s important for the shapers of democracy in both parties to consider the exhibit and its message about America’s obligation to all of its citizens.

The Root: What is the significance of having this exhibit in an African-American cultural institution during the Democratic National Convention?

Tavis Smiley: Over this summer, history will be made in the city of Charlotte. The first African-American president of the United States will be renominated and the journey will begin once again. There’s a 400- to 500-year journey in this country that makes this moment possible …

And so we want to encourage people while they’re in Charlotte, and those who are going to be coming through Charlotte in the next six months, to take a moment to understand that backstory, to appreciate it, to embrace it, to familiarize themselves with it and to recognize that the country would not be — simply would not be — were it not for the contributions of African Americans, long before and including Barack Obama.

TR: What will visitors learn about the experience of African Americans in this country?

TS: We’ve always been a hopeful people. Optimism suggests to me that there is a particular set of facts or circumstances or conditions … something you can see, feel or touch that gives you reason to believe. That has not been our experience. We are not an optimistic people; we are a hopeful people.

Whatever we have done, we have done it against all the odds. It’s important to understand that African Americans love this country, but we have come to love this country in spite of, oftentimes, not because of.

TR: Which items in the exhibit have you responded to most emotionally?

TS: “The Doors of No Return” [from Ghana]. These are the doors that our ancestors were marched through in shackles and chains in Africa when they were stolen from their lands and sold into slavery. Millions perished in that Middle Passage; only the strongest survived. To stand in between those doors that our ancestors walked through for the last time, those doors of no return are very powerful … Prince’s guitar . I called him when I was working on this a few years ago … People run to that guitar.

TR: How does this exhibit fit in with the planned Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture?

TS: One thing I’m disappointed about — and we have 300 items from all over the world, so I have nothing to be complaining about; and the Smithsonian, to its credit, did loan us an executive to get this exhibit curated — but the Smithsonian did not make any effort to loan us any items … The funny part about that story is everything always comes full circle. Now that we’re down to the last year of our exhibit touring, the Smithsonian has been very, very aggressive in going to the lenders [and] begging them to donate these items to the new museum.

TR: What action can get done in the present partisan atmosphere, especially concerning the issue of poverty?

TS: It is polarized already, and that’s where, again, our timing of being in Charlotte with this exhibit during the Democratic National Convention was by design, and putting out [The Rich and the Rest of Us] was by design. This issue must be a priority; Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney have to focus in on it …

In the last presidential race between Obama and [John] McCain, in those final three presidential debates, the word “poor” or “poverty” didn’t come up one time. Obama never raised it. McCain never raised it. The moderators never asked about it. Fast-forward four years: Half of the nation is wrestling with poverty. We can’t abide another race for the White House where this issue is never discussed.

Mary C. Curtis, an award-winning Charlotte, N.C.-based journalist, is a contributor to the Washington Post, the She the People blog, The Root, Fox News Charlotte and Creative Loafing. She has worked at the New York Times and Charlotte Observer and as national correspondent for Politics Daily. Follow her on Twitter.

Like The Root on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

America I AM, The African American Imprint in Charlotte

admin — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 23:00:43 +0000

Tavis Smiley‘s cultural rich, painful, educational exhibit titled America I AM, The African American Imprint opened Saturday morning with a red ribbon cutting ceremony at the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts and Culture. The collection of 200 historical artifacts across 500 years ago, available for a exhilarating experience until January 1, 2013, depicts the courage, creativity and importance of Blacks in America. It brings African American history and American history, read and unread, to life in audio and visual medium.

“Would America have been America without her Negro people?” a W. E. B. Dubois quote largely portrayed on entrance to exhibit.

America I Am answers that question vividly through artifacts like the Door of No Return, a place before the Middle Passage, that opened the door to slavery and closed Africans life at home, the ankle shackles used for bondage, Martin L. King’s stool and the key from his cell, a place where he wrote A Letter From A Birmingham Jail, Rosa Parks’ jail fingerprint card, Jim Crow signs and other unbearable conditions iconic Blacks suffered for freedom. Cultural contributions that added to the fabric of America, that ALL can enjoy, including a Jimi Hendrix guitar, Tupac lyrics, Muhammad Ali’s boxing rope and Charlotte Bobcat’s owner Michael Jordan’s sports memorabilia, shows the progression of African Americans in America on to the successes like Eli Whitney, Garrett Morgan and President Obama.

“The most important thing to be said about slavery…is that millions of African Americans endured slavery by making a world for themselves in the midst of bondage. By 1776, a viable African American culture emerged out of slavery,” Dr. Ronald F. Davis, California State University and author.

David Taylor, Gantt president and CEO, said this exhibit is the most important exhibit of our lifetime. “It impacts the lives of all adults and children.”

“I’m excited its come to Charlotte. This is the eighth city of the only ten cities in four years chosen. It’s a pretty big deal. Charlotte is the hub to the southeast of a lot of things. And with the timing of the Democratic National Convention, we want people visiting to stop by and indulge,” said Smiley, award winning broadcast journalist and author.

The Walmart sponsored exhibit would make an excellent field trip with lesson plans available to HBCU’s, high schools and mainstream colleges and other organizations. For more information visit www.americaiam.org.

Prior to the ribbon cutting, a group of children sang “Yes, I can. I can do anything.”

America I Am’s $12 adult , 10 for senior and students, 8 for ages 3 to 13 admission is a small price to pay for this enlightening experience. Gantt’s hours of operation are Tuesday thru Saturday, 10 am – 5 pm and Sundays, 1 to 5 pm.

America I AM, The African American Imprint in Charlotte

admin — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 22:00:58 +0000

“Would America have been America without her Negro people?” a W. E. B. Dubois quote largely portrayed on entrance to exhibit.

David Taylor, Gantt president and CEO, said this exhibit is the most important exhibit of our lifetime. “It impacts the lives of all adults and children.”

Prior to the ribbon cutting, a group of children sang “Yes, I can. I can do anything.”

Tavis Smiley’s America I Am Travelling Exhibit Opens At The Gantt Center

admin — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 21:50:57 +0000

The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History opens in 2015, but Tavis Smiley’s I Am America travelling exhibit is available now. Smiley is known for his duties as a radio and television host, but the exhibit is his pride and joy.

America I AM: The African American Imprint opens in Charlotte Saturday at the Harvey B. Gantt Center. It will remain here until January 1, 2013. It contains 300 artifacts and is large enough to fill the 25,000 square feet Atlanta Civic. The Charlotte stop will be about half that size, but will contain popular pieces such as The Doors of No Return and Prince’s “Purple Rain” guitar.

“It is the biggest baddest boldest exhibit ever to tell the story of the contributions that we’ve made in the country,” said Smiley, with the bluster of a proud parent. “There’s been no exhibit this compelling or this comprehensive.”

The exhibit covers African American contributions in inventions, science to theater arts, music, culture, business, politics and social movements. Artifacts, most of which were loaned to Smiley for the exhibit, include items luminaries such as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Frederick Douglas, Rosa Parks, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles.

Smiley’s favorite artifact is “The Door of No Return.” To walk through the same doors that our ancestors walked through, which were the last thing they say on Africa was powerful, Smiley said.

“These doors of no return represent so much to me,” he said. Read the exhibit highlights below the photo gallery.

Tavis Smiley’s America I Am African American Exhibit Coming To Gantt Center

Other Exhibit Highlights include:
• “The Doors of No Return” from the Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, which enslaved Africans passed through to board ships to the “New World”
• The typewriter Alex Haley used to write the groundbreaking book, Roots
• Malcolm X’s journal and personal Quran
• The door key and stool from the Birmingham jail cell that held Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. when he authored “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
• Frederick Douglass’ Frock Coat and Shirt
• The robe that Muhammad Ali wore during training for the “Rumble in the Jungle,” where he defeated world heavyweight champion George Foreman

The exhibit is divided into galleries: “Our History,” “Rooted in Africa,” “Our Foundation,” “The Measure of Justice,” “The Soul of Freedom,” “The Voice of Equality,” “Invincible,” “Spirit,” “Patriotic,” “The Conscience of a Nation”, “The World” and “What’s Your Imprint?”