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6-28-75
David -
Received the Amistad catalog and proposal. Thanks. Were some very interesting things in them. Did you tell me that the Black material culture catalog from the L.A. County Museum was or wasn't available?
Have been busy trying to get my Black historic sites survey done for the Historical Commission. (If you know of anything in New Jersey, drop it to me on a postcard). Saw an engraving of the baker Bustill (18th century) on a T.V. program about Paul Robeson - am trying to track it down now. Was down in D.C. a few weeks ago. Talked to Tony Wrenn (T. Day biographer), and he said he'd be glad to help you any way he could. Alma Thomas is feeling better, sounding much more feisty, like her old self. Adolphus was in Virginia (Roanoke ?). Saw Frankie White, who's doing much better since the financial fiasco of the Jefferson Place bankruptcy. He has a new dealer (female & a Jew) who's really pushing him and his work. He's got 2 rowhouses at 14th & Swann NW that he's renovating.
Was home (Chi) briefly 2 weeks ago. Talked to Ausbra Ford (Sunbury Ga. funerary sculpture). Am enclosing copy of picture he gave me of Lori (eastern Zaire) handiwork. Also, compare it with pic from Gambella, Ethiopia done by Tony Barboza. Ausbra feels the Lori things particularly are
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related to some of the Bowen sculptures in Sunbury. Any suggestions you might have for him getting a grant to finish his work would be appreciated.
Also enclosed is a zerox of a drum pic I have. Found in Virginia prior to 1745, it's part of the Sir Henry Sloan Collection (that started British Museum?) and is made of deerskin and cyprus wood. I thought you might want to use it in your show. It's supposed to be the oldest example of extant Afro-American craft according to Mike Cohn of Brooklyn Children's Museum. I believe it's antecedents are Ghanaian.
A friend of a friend at Yale wrote her senior research paper on the Metoyers of Melrose, La. She did research with official (state and local) documents and though she concentrates on family history, she clears up many questions on dates of Melrose buildings. I have a copy if you need more info.
Am just getting you a copy of my Howard graduation pic. Even though it's old (& I'll never be 24 again) I wanted you to have one.
Need some advice from you. My cousin Ben (in Newark) is considering the need to hook up with a gallery. He's tired of trying to push his own stuff and would really rather pay someone to do it for him. Because I've seen the benefits of it for Frankie White, I agreed. Sat next to Terry Dintenfass at a dinner here before a Jacob Lawrence lecture the beginning of the month.
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(For some reason out of the blue she asked me if I knew you. I simply said "Yes." then she moved on to another topic. Strange child.) I tried to get some feeling from her on the gallery owners perspective, and it seems to be everyone's opinion that one should hook up with an operator who appreciate's the artist's work. Since Ben's neo-African interests and expressions parallel some of your own, I thought you might be able to suggest how he might go about it, or if possible a particular gallery or two in New York he could think about trying to hook up with. Would very much appreciate your thoughts on this matter.
Oh, one thing about the Lawrence lecture that struck home. When asked what the "influences" (& by implication "white artistic influences") of his youth were, he responded that there were no conscious white ones, but that he operated from that same sense of design he saw around him (in Harlem) that he felt was typical of many of the Black families of his community. He said he remembered that the insides of so many of the Black homes weren't opulent but that the way they were decorated - particulary their use of color and texture - was "just beautiful". He said he didn't know where they got it from but they had it none-the-less. And of course I translated all of that as the Afro-American artistic tradition originating in Africa. It seems to me to be very important that we start to more adequately document just those kinds
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of traditions and expressions Lawrence refers to. I'd like to hear how you would respond to that.
Talked to Gerard William, the brother who is Bicentennial Coordinator for the Black museum project in Phillie. He says that it's not only viable but on its way. Apparently they are letting bids on the design now.
Talked to Mark & Martha Henderson of Merabash Museum here in New Egypt. In spite of themselves, I can't help but like them. I'm going by there Monday to see him about all this "fabulous" information he's been gathering on New Jersey. I just know he has a job for me to do - gratis - as my "contribution" to the museum.
I'm probably going to be nominated for membership on the New Jersy State Review Committee for Historic Sites "as a person with expertise by virture of education and experience in the field of architecture." -which means they need a nigger and don't know nobody else. But the committee reviews nominations for the National & State registers and reviews the State Historic Preservation plan so I go plenty to tell them folks about what kind of self-image they need to be preserving.
At some point we need to sit down and deal with grant possibilities for teh DuSable Museum. Am looking forward to your Barjon info., and please save me some herbs from your garden this year. Take care, Steve P.S. Will I see you at the Amistad II opening July 16?
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7-12-75
Hey David -
In working on my New Jersey project, got a letter you might be interested in. You had talked of dealing to some degree with architecture in your exhibit, and some of the buildings mentioned in the letter enclosed may fit in. Almost all of them (and some others) were researched and nominated by the Afro-American Bicentennial Corp (on contract for such). the person in charge of that: Marcia Greenleigh Afro-American Bicentennial Corp 1420 N St. NW Washington, DC 20005 202 / 462-2519 234-2240 - messages for her
She seems very cooperative and on the phone comes across as a "family" member. They have complete data and photo files on all the buildings they do.
Two other people to keep in mind regarding architecture: Dick Dozier Carl Anthony
