Today is the anniversary of the birth for two famous Georgians.  These two men made an impact in their respective fields. I knew the first one, Ty Cobb, was from Georgia but I was surprised that Ossie Davis was from Georgia.

Ty Cobb made his impact on the baseball world.  He was born in 1886 in Narrows, Georgia. He was known as the “Georgia Peach” and was considered an outstanding offensive player of all time.  He played for Augusta in the minor South Atlantic League. He set many Major League records. Several are still intact today.  Ty Cobb  was the first man elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame which was established in Cooperstown, Ohio in 1936.

Want to learn more about Ty Cobb? Check out these books.

Ty Cobb by Charles C Alexander

Cobb: a biography by Al Stump

Ossie Davis made an impact in films. He was born in Cogdell Georgia in 1917.  He was known as one of the busiest African-American Entertainers in the 1970’s.  In his career he wrote plays and books. He was a director, playwright and producer. He co-starred in a radio program with his wife in the mid-1970’s.

Want to learn more or see some of Ossie Davis’s work? Check out the following.

Black Directors in Hollywood by Melvin Donaldson

Finding Buck McHenry

Miss Ever’s boys

With Ossie Davis and Ruby: in this life together

Just Like Martin by Ossie Davis

Want more information about these gentleman but can’t get into a library? You can use the Library’s electronic resource, Biography Resource Center. This resource along with other electronic resources can be found on our Reference Database page.

With just a smidgeon of summer remaining, there is still plenty of fun to be had.  One event on the horizon is the 20th Annual National Black Arts Festival that begins today, July 29 through August 2. Among the notable performers, speakers and guests on the roster are actor/filmmaker/producer Robert Townsend (check out his independent film classic Hollywood Shuffle),author Nelson George and a tribute to one of my favorite singers Nina Simone by great vocalists such as Dianne Reeves and Lizz Wright. This promises to be a truly special event in celebration of African cultural heritage in through film, theatre, dance, literature, music and art. Check out the festival’s website for more information . Don’t you wanna go?

Back in February the Library hosted a quilt exhibition by members of the Brown Sugar Stitchers Quilt Guild. The exhibition was such a hit that we wanted to let you know about another exhibition by the Ebony Stitchers Quilt Guild, a group related to Brown Sugar Stitchers.  The Ebony Stitchers Quilt Guild has partnered with the National Black Arts Festival to host an exhibition at the Porter Sanford III Performing Arts and Community Center. The exhibition, entitled “Award Winning,” will feature quilts by Aisha Lumumba that celebrate African American Academy Award winners in the areas of motion picture and music. There will be several activities such as quilting classes, workshops and lectures for adults and children to participate in throughout the weekend. The Opening Night Reception is Thursday, July 23 at 6:30 p.m. The exhibition will run from July 24 — 26 at the Porter Sanford III Performing Arts and Community Center and from July 29 — August 1 at the Woodruff Arts Center. Hours for both locations will be 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. For more information click here.

Film Love is an on-going Atlanta film series at The Eyedrum Gallery and occasionally at other venues as well.  Its stated goal is to provide “access to great but rarely-screened films, and promotes awareness of the rich history of experimental and avant-garde filmmaking.”  Over the years I’ve been to many really great screenings of films that are not released anywhere on DVD or VHS.

This year Film Love is presenting a series of movies about African Americans’ struggle for civil rights.  The Civil Rights on Film series starts this Friday, February 20th and features four nights of rare films on African-American life, 1941-1967.  To learn more about the films, please visit their website.  Many of these films are not available anywhere else, so don’t miss this opportunity!  Note: the films will be screened at three different locations, so check the website for where each movie will be held.

I’ve taken a break from the book I blogged about two weeks ago (How To Talk About Books You Haven’t Read by Pierre Bayard) to do a number of things. Among my diversions from this book were other books including comedian Steve Martin’s brilliant memoir Born Standing Up (Scribner) and an intriguing book called Def Jam, Inc (One World Ballantine) by Stacy Gueraseva. In her book, Gueraseva chronicles the rise of Def Jam Recordings, the preeminent and pioneering record label that helped steer rap music into the mainstream.

I was reading about Def Jam as I watched the Grammys on Sunday night. I’d read snatches of the book during commercials, awkward podium banter and some of the performances (sorry, Kid Rock!). Watching the awards show with its genre-splicing rap performances–Jay-Z meets Coldplay! Lil Wayne and Allen Toussaint!–was quite a reminder of how far hip hop music has come. What was once an underground, New York-centered movement is now a global phenomenon. Lately I’ve grown curious about the roots of rap music, its cultural significance and what to expect for the future.

DCPL is a great source for all things hip-hop, from music to books to DVDs. Here are some other notable titles:

Beats, Rhymes and Life: What We Love and Hate About Hip-Hop (Harlem Moon/Broadway Books): This book features insightful essays, articles and interviews of some of hip hop music’s biggest names.

Know What I Mean?: Reflections on Hip -Hop by Michael Eric Dyson (Basic Civitas): Author Dyson examines and discusses the cultural significance of rap music not as a casual observer or a detached outsider but as a fan who appreciates hip hop and understand its roots.

In Ya Grill: The Faces of Hip-Hop (Billboard Book):This book, with photos by Michael Benabib, features the vivid, nostalgia-inducing images of some of hip-hops original all-stars including future Hollywood powerhouses Will Smith and Queen Latifah.

Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A History of The Hip-Hop Generation by Jeff Chang (St. Martin’s Press)

Third Coast: OutKast, Timbaland and How Hip-Hop Became a Southern Thing by Roni Sarig (Da Capo Press): This book focuses on the rise of Southern rap and its contributions to the hip-hop community.

DCPL also has great DVDs that explore hip hop culture, including:

The MC: Why We Do It : This documentary features interviews with hip-hop’s preeminent voices including Slick Rick, Talib Kweli and Kanye West as they discuss their craft.

Krush Groove, a flick about an up and coming rap label in the ’80s and Style Wars, a documentary on hip-hop culture in early 80s NYC, are also worth a look.

All DeKalb County Public Library branches will be closed on Monday, January 19 in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday.  A list of local events is available online from The King Center.

A great online resource for photos, letters, videos, and much, much more relating to Dr. King (as well as other civil rights leaders and events), is the Civil Rights Digital Library.  It’s an excellent and fascinating resource.  Click here to watch a WSB newsfilm clip from First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama on May 21, 1961, where Dr. King encourages nonviolence while a riot goes on outside.

For me, Langston Hughes’ writing epitomizes the beauty of the Harlem Renaissance in its passion, its vibrancy, and its fullness.  Since April is National Poetry Month, I thought I would share one of his best-known and well-loved poems.

Dream Variation

To fling my arms wide
In some place of the sun,
To whirl and to dance
Till the white day is done.

Then rest at cool evening
Beneath a tall tree
While night comes on gently,
            Dark like me -
That is my dream!

To fling my arms wide
In the face of the sun,
Dance! whirl! whirl!
Till the quick day is done.
Rest at pale evening. . . .
A tall, slim tree. . . .
Night coming tenderly
            Black like me.

- found in The Oxford Anthology of African-American Poetry

As February 29 nears and the national celebration of Black History Month ends, I feel it only fitting to dedicate this blog post to the power of words from our ancestors, parents and world leaders.  After reading please share with us your favorite quote!

May the following quotes and the input from DeKalb Library users words live from generation to generation.

“Until the lion has his or her own storyteller, the hunter will always have the best part of the story.”
-Ewe-mina

“The (word) of a friend makes you cry; the (word) of an enemy makes you laugh.”
-Tuareg

“Patience can cook a stone”
-Fulfulde

“If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a family (nation).”
- Fanti

“If you understand the beginning well, the end will not trouble you.”
-Ashanti

“Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.”
-Maya Angelou

“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”
-Martin Luther King Jr.

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning.”
-Frederick Douglass

I stumbled upon blackpast.org the other day and found it to be a very useful resource.  In their own words:

“This site is dedicated to providing reference materials to the general
public on six centuries of African American history. It includes an
online encyclopedia of hundreds of famous and lesser known figures in
African America, full text primary documents and major speeches of
black activists and leaders from the 18th Century to the present. There
are also links to hundreds of websites that address the history of
African Americans including major black museums and archival research
centers in the United States and Canada.”

For many more African-American resources and websites, see this post.

I stumbled upon this webpage the other day and thought it was intriguing.  It’s about the first Negro Leagues in the early 20th century and the impact the first black baseball players had on the history of the sport.  Be sure to listen to the sound clips where different players talk about the subject.

For further research, here are a few books you may wish to check out:

The Kansas City Monarchs : champions of Black baseball by Janet Bruce

Negro league baseball : the rise and ruin of a Black institution by Neil Lanctot

Crossing the line : Black major leaguers, 1947-1959 by Larry Moffi and Jonathan Kronstadt

Blackball superstars : legendary players of the Negro baseball leagues by Ace Collins and John Hillman

Black diamond : the story of the Negro baseball leagues by Patricia C. McKissack and Fredrick McKissack, Jr.

The forgotten players : the story of black baseball in America by Robert Gardner and Dennis Shortelle

The Negro leagues : the story of Black baseball by Jacob Margolies