When I started looking into all the well-known black people born in February (Black History Month), the list was very long, including Toni Morrison (writer), Smokey Robinson (soul singer), Sidney Poitier (actor), Barbara Jordan (politician), Bill Russell (athlete), Leontyne Price (opera singer), Rosa Parks (activist), Gregory Hines (dancer) and many more. I’ve chosen to give you clips (warning – they’re long-ish) of three people whose contributions have personally moved me.
NINA SIMONE
Nina Simone was born February 21, 1933 in North Carolina. As a child piano prodigy at 10, she refused to start her debut concert performance until her parents were moved back to the front seats they were forced to abandon to white audience members. By 1964, her music was reflecting her commitment to civil rights, starting with her famous “Mississippi Goddamn” – honoring the murdered Medgar Evers and the children killed in the Birmingham church bombing. She lived abroad from 1970 in a series of countries and died in France at age 70. The clip below is her beautiful tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Nina Simone: Why (The King of Love Is Dead)
BOB MARLEY
Bob Marley was born February 6, 1945 in a small Jamaican town. Marley suffered bullying as a kid because of his light complexion – his absent father was an older white man who had married his 18-year-old mother. He started playing music early and after marrying, moved to the States for a couple of years where he worked the line at a Chrysler plant. Once Marley became successful in the early 70s, he, his wife and his manager were shot in an attempted assassination. In 1977 Marley refused because of Rastafarian beliefs to have his toe, which had been diagnosed with melanoma, amputated and it metastasized. His final concert, in 1980, was in my hometown of Pittsburgh. As I read in one PBS article, Marley is “the symbol, as Jack Healey of Amnesty International continues to tell people, of freedom throughout the world.” Below is a clip of a song rooted in his experience of poverty and hunger as a child.
Bob Marley - No Woman No Cry
LANGSTON HUGHES
Langston Hughes, a prolific and talented writer was born February 1, 1902 to a Missouri abolitionist family. He struggled to maintain his black identity in his writings (“No great poet has ever been afraid of being himself.") and eventually enjoyed success in nearly every genre of writing, from poetry to television scripts. He was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance, combining his creativity and his politics of justice and racial pride. Below is a clip of Langston Hughes reading his poem about a blues musician with amazing footage of Cab Calloway.
Poetry by Langston Hughes - The Weary Blues
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