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February 16, 2000
H M
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M otow n R e c o rd s, c o m b in in g
gospel and rhythm and blues. In
addition to founder Berry Gordy,
the main architects o f the Motown
sound were the Holland-Dozier-
Holland songwriting team (Eddie
and Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier),
who penned 28 top 10 hits between
1963 and 1966.
N
for Nobel Peace Prize
By J anus A dams
On June 19, 1997, we did just that.
Oprah W infrey had bought the
screen rights to Toni M orrison’s
novel Beloved and had taken on a
new role as executive producer as
well as actor in the film adaptation.
It was a dream come true. As chief
executive, Winfrey was guardian to
the dream. As actor, giving flesh to
the role o f Sethe meant uttering a
praise-song to the ancestors. On
this day, she joined her fellow actors
for the first read through o f the first
novel to reach the screen written by
the first African American woman
aw ard ed the N obel P rize for
Literature. In her journal, she wrote:
“One incredible day...W e realized
what an incredible journey this is
w e’re undertaking” - a journey o f
which she would later write, “I never
felt so free and so joyful as when I
was working on Beloved."
Focus
R
for Roots
By T h e S c h o m b l r c C e s t e r
Alex H aley’s book, com bining
historical research with fictional
narrative techniques, was as much a
cultural as a literary phenomenon.
By tracing his family history back
through seven generations to an
A frican ancestor named Kunta
Kinte, Haley re-established a link
that had been violently broken by
the onslaught o f the slave trade. Its
message was amplified by a 12—
h o u r,
re c o rd -b re a k in g
TV
miniseries that aired to millions in
1977. R oots inspired A frican
Americans, educated whites about
slavery, and spurred members o f all
ethnic groups to investigate their
own genealogies. Touted for both
creativity and its scholarship, Roots
met with some negative criticism
from book reviewers who claimed
that Haley blurred the line between
fiction and nonfiction in his work i n
order to enhance its narrative.
JiarUatti* ©bsem r
------
o f his insensitivity to race matters.
His nomination split the nation
racially. If his nomination was not
designed to insult and divide the
nation, why w asn’t a person more
acceptable to blacks nominated to
fill a “so-called” black seat?
The insult to black America began
to backfire in an unprecedented
series o f events from October 11 to
14 after professor Anita Hill, ablack
woman, testified at the hearing. As
the entire nation sat glued to their
television sets, Anita Hill in calm,
measured tones, charged Thomas
with sexual harassment and told her
version ofClarenceThom as’ sexual
habits, his appetite for X-rated adult
m ovies, fa v o rite po rn o stars,
unwanted sexual advances he made
on female employees, and ribald
language about “pubic hairs on Coke
cans.”
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A national poll had shown that 35
percent o f African Americans in
the United States opposed the war
in 1966.
for Vietnam Conflict
Whereas African Americans had
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for Supreme Court
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Dr. Martin Luther King/Jr,
Bi (. LAiu AyutKSO', t il l),
1929-1968
On July 2, 1991, when President
George Bush nominated Clarence
Thomas to fill Thurgood Marshall’s
seat on the United States Supreme
Court, it became the most pol itically
contentious, hypocritical, disturbing
and yet comical spectacles in the
history o f Senate confirmations.
T h o m as w as o v e rw h e lm in g ly
opposed by black America because
Dr. John W. Garlington, Jr.
1937-1986
The Bridge Builder" in our community
and
other Black Leaders
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