Venus In The Fifth

ancestral-voices:

THE ANCESTORS RESIDE IN OUR DNA:
“Pour one to the homies”
The act of pouring liquid (usually an alcoholic beverage) on the ground as a sign of reverence for friends or relatives that have passed away.

Libation is an ancient way of prayer. A petition is made while pouring water or alcohol to the Creator and to the passed over ancestors, for their assistance with our human affairs. The libation is symbolic of invoking these energies, it is at this point where the prayer is stated plus giving thanks and appreciation for the guidance and blessings received. Libation is also carried out funerals and to commemorate loved ones

(via navigatethestream)

harlemworldmagazine:

Walter’s World: Lyrics From Lockdown at the National Black Theatre

By Walter Rutledge

Playwright Oscar Wilde said, “I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art…

View Post

thespiritofneworleans:

For decades, the Baby Dolls were among the more enduring mysteries of New Orleans’ African-American Carnival celebration. Women dressed in vintage baby bonnets and short, frilly skirts showing off their legs and strutting their stuff were fixtures in Zulu parades for ages, but by the 1960s they began to fade away, possibly due to emerging concerns about negative stereotypes. By then, few recalled their history or cared. In recent decades, the Baby Dolls experienced a modest revival that became more robust after Hurricane Katrina, but it took a new book, The “Baby Dolls”: Breaking the Race and Gender Barriers of the New Orleans Mardi Gras Tradition, by Kim Marie Vaz — and this subsequent Presbytere exhibition of images, costumes and memorabilia — to finally put it all in perspective.

theotherblack:

Artist Kehinde Wiley

tuesday-johnson:

ca. 1885, [tintype portrait of a gentleman playing his guitar with a slight smile]

via Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Randolph Linsly Simpson African-American Collection

(via soulbrotherv2)

survivaloftheillest:

- Bruce Davidson

(via soulbrotherv2)

In this photograph, Coretta is upset with her husband, who had been attacked the night before by a disturbed white racist but had not defended himself. Though the police urged King to press charges, he refused. “The system we live under creates people such as this youth,” he said. “I’m not interested in pressing charges. I’m interested in changing the kind of system that produces such men.”

Coretta looks so over it in this picture.

(via soulbrotherv2)