Legacy: the Artists Behind the Legends

The beginning is the end is the end.

This is the Preface to my latest novel, Rationem, available for pre order now at www.inkshares.com/books/rationem

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Legacy Season 4 coming September 2021
What is Rationem? Tune in to find out.
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ANNOUNCEMENT!

William Edward Burghart Du Bois was an American author, editor, writer, sociologist, socialist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, and all around badass active from the late 19th to mid 20th centuries. He was the first African American do earn a doctorate from Harvard University and one of the original founders of the NAACP in 1910 who rose to national prominence as the leader of the Niagara Movement, a group of African-American activists that wanted equal rights for blacks and pushed for an increase in black political representation. Over the course of his life, racism was the main target of Du Bois’ polemics, and he strongly protested against lynching, Jim Crow laws, and discrimination in both education and employment. This cause included people of color everywhere, particularly Africans and Asians in colonies, and he was a proponent of Pan-Africanism and helped organize several Pan-African Congresses to fight for the independence of African colonies from European powers. On top of that, he additionally surveyed the experiences of American black soldiers in France after WWI and documented widespread prejudice and racism in the US military. And wait, did I mention he was an author, and a prolific one at that? His collection of essays, “The Souls of Black Folk”, is a seminal work in African-American literature, and his 1935 magnum opus, “Black Reconstruction in America”, challenged the prevailing orthodoxy that blacks were responsible for the failures of the Reconstruction Era. The central thesis of much of his life’s work is the opening line of “The Souls of Black Folk”, “The problem of the 20th century is the problem of the color-line,” in which he refers to the injustice of the separate but equal doctrine prevalent in American social and political life. Du Bois firmly believed that capitalism was a primary cause of racism, and was generally sympathetic to socialist causes throughout his life, ardently advocating for peace and nuclear disarmament. To top that off, The United States’ Civil Rights Act, which embodied many of the reforms for which Du Bois had campaigned his entire life, was enacted a year after his death, at the age of 95.

This is the TIP of the fucking iceberg, so let’s just get to it and talk all things WEB Du Bois on this episode of Legacy: the Artists Behind the Legends.

Lorraine Vivian Hansberry was an American playwright, activist, and writer active throughout the middle of the 20th century. She is probably best known for being the first African American female author to have a play performed on Broadway – this of course being her masterpiece, A Raisin in the Sun. What is remarkable about Hansberry’s work is her ability to argue for political, economic, social, racial, and sexual liberation while simultaneously satisfying her own urge for self-expression through aesthetics, almost as if she were walking a political-artistic tightrope. Though her life was cut far too short at the age of 34, Lorraine’s genius inspired everyone around her, particularly in regards to the Civil Rights Movement, and that includes the other artist we will be discussing today, a personal friend of Lorraine’s: Nina Simone.

Eunice Kathleen Waymon, or as we know her, Nina Simone, was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist, also active throughout the middle to late 20th century. Simone originally aspired to become a concert pianist, with an aptitude and gift for music that was undeniable to anyone who heard her play, yet as time went on, Nina found herself immersed in the world of jazz, blues, folk, and soul. Her life, much like her performances, was relatively tumultuous, yet Nina left a lasting impression on the world of music, art, and activism, sharing her truth of experience with work that to this day resonates with great emotion and power. There was a resounding strength in everything she sang or played, and her voice both in song and in speech was able to shine a light on black America during and after the Civil Rights Movement. What is not widely known, however, is that without Lorraine Hansberry, the Nina Simone whose unforgettable tenor strikes hard, perhaps might not have become the legend she is today. These two women took their impatience and outrage of the world around them and held it up for everyone to see, no matter the consequence, and their bravery echoes decades later as we embrace the BLM movement.

Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, let’s discuss the lives and legacies of Lorraine Hansberry and Nina Simone.

James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, novelist, playwright, columnist, and social activist active throughout the early to middle 20th century, probably best known as one of the leaders of the Harlem Renaissance. Through his work, Hughes sought to honestly portray the joys and hardships of working-class black lives, avoiding both sentimental idealization and negative stereotypes – in his own words, Langston declared his poetry was about “workers, roustabouts, and singers, and job hunters on Lenox Avenue in New York, or Seventh Street in Washington or South State in Chicago – people up today and down tomorrow, working this week and fired the next, beaten and baffled, but determined not to be wholly beaten, buying furniture on the installment plan, filling the house with roomers to help pay the rent, hoping to get a new suit for Easter – and pawning that suit before the Fourth of July.” What is so monumental about Hughes is that he brought a varied and diverse background to his writing: before the age of 12 he had lived in six different American cities. When his first book was published, he had already been a truck farmer, cook, waiter, college graduate, sailor, and a doorman at a nightclub in Paris, and to add to it, traveled to Mexico, West Africa, the Azores, the Canary Islands, Holland, France, and Italy. In the wake of his first book’s publication, Hughes went on to write countless more works of poetry, prose, and plays, as well as a column in the Chicago Defender, a column which ran for over two decades. Over the course of his career, Langston witnessed a colossal amount of upheaval, from WWI, to the Roaring 20s, the Great Depression, WWII, and of course the Civil Rights Movement, but his outspoken fight never wavered in his pursuit of shining a light on the reality of life for black Americans. So, without further ado, let’s dive into this weeks episode of Legacy, covering the incredible journey of none other than Langston Hughes.

Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison, or as we all have come to know and love her, Toni Morrison, was an American novelist, essayist, college professor, and editor active throughout the later 20th and early 21st centuries. Throughout the course of her career, Toni won a plethora of awards for her work, including the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993 (of which she was the first African-American woman to receive and upon hearing the news over the telephone thought her friend was just drunk), a Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for her groundbreaking novel, Beloved, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012, the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1996, and MANY, many more. Morrison was one of the rare American authors whose books were both critical and commercial successes – Oprah was literally her number one fan, of which we will discuss later, and when it came to her own writing, Morrison was the author of 11 novels as well as children’s books and essay collections. Her work focused on themes of black American experience: in an unjust society, her characters struggle to find themselves and their cultural identity, and her use of fantasy, sinuous poetic style, and rich interweaving of the mythic gave her stories incredible strength and texture. As an editor and collaborator, she worked with everyone from Angela Davis to Muhammad Ali, utilizing her efforts to make black voices heard not just in America, but around the world, thus playing a vital role in bringing black literature into the mainstream. Toni was a force to be reckoned with – she was a single mother, an activist, a creator, an educator, and an adversary to those wishing to turn a blind eye to the systemic racism embedded in our American society, and in addition to all that, apparently made a damn good carrot cake. I could go on for hours about how fucking rad this woman was, but instead, let’s just get this episode going and talk all things Toni Morrison, one of the most influential figures in the literary community in the last one hundred years.

James Arthur Baldwin, aka Jimmy (as everyone called him), was an American novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist throughout the course of the 20th century. Born and raised in Harlem, New York, Baldwin streamlined onto the writing scene in 1955 with a collection of essays entitled Notes of a Native Son, which explored the intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions during that time period in the United States. Baldwin’s short stories, novels, and plays brilliantly fictionalize the fundamental personal questions and dilemmas he faced during his life, all amidst complex social and psychological pressures along with racial disparity, sexual identity, masculinity, and status. His works, of course, run rampantly parallel with some of the major political movements toward social change in mid-twentieth century America, such as the Civil Rights Movement and the Gay Liberation Movement. And let me tell you, Jimmy was a fucking unbelievably brilliant speaker, both eloquent and forthright, honest and uncompromising, a man who knew what he stood for and would not concede his beliefs, no matter how disparaging the journey became. Not to mention he had back up, a jaw-dropping list of comrades and friends including Marlon Brando, Charles Heston, Jean Genet, Rip Torn, Alex Haley, Miles Davis, Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, Josephine Baker, Allen Ginsberg, Chinua Achebe, Maya Angelou, and so many more. For the last two weeks I have watched James Baldwin’s speeches, read his works, and truly found myself in awe of a man I previously glossed over at university and now, wish I hadn’t. Without drabbling on any longer, let’s just get to it, shall we, and discuss the life, the message, and the legacy that was James Arthur Baldwin.

Hermann Karl Hesse was a German novelist, poet, and water color painter active from the late 19th to early 20th centuries, and while his works have run relatively under the radar in the Western Hemisphere, Hesse did win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946. Some of his best known works include Demian, Siddhartha, The Glass Bead Game, and Steppenwolf, which yes, to answer your question, the Canadian-American rock band from the 60s and 70s did name their group after Hesse’s incredible tale of discovery. Hesse’s writing was often an exploration of an individual’s search for authenticity, self-knowledge, and spirituality, paired with an effort to break out of the established rules and modes of civilization. Let me be very honest about Hesse’s initial reception amongst readers – his writing was never quite popular amongst critics – in fact, it was often described as ‘inaccessible’ for the majority American readers (MUCH was lost in translations back then). During a time of world wars, much of Hesse’s work tends to be appreciated greatly by a younger audience, but then outgrown as adolescence fades into the harder realities of being an adult in functional society. Much of his focus relays to a young, brooding man struggling to find his place in a world that does not seem to understand him, and while there are an infinite number of us who can directly relate to the feeling, our focus shifts with age, wherein we become less preoccupied with our own ego and self. Hesse is a fascinating character, the product of an absurdly strict Christian upbringing, struggles with mental health, two world wars, three wives, and a constant frustration with never truly feeling as successful of a writer as he desired. This episode falls during a time when we are all feeling isolated, quarantined due to the Covid 19 pandemic spreading all over our country and the world, and I hope if we can take away one thing from Hermann this week, it is that even in a time when we are forced to confront our own selves, it is important never to forget that we all need to be looking out for each other as best we can.

So let’s dive in shall we, and discuss all things Hermann Hesse this week on Legacy: the Artists Behind the Legends.