Saluting Women in History

Minnijean Brown Trickey

 made history as one of the Little Rock Nine, the nine African-American students who desegregated Little Rock Central High School in 1957. The world watched as they braved constant intimidation and threats from those who opposed desegregation of the formerly all-white high school.

Minnijean Brown of the "Little Rock Nine"

, the eldest of four children of Willie and Imogene Brown, was born on September 11, 1941, in Little Rock (Pulaski County). Her mother was a homemaker and nurse’s aid during the crisis, and her father was an independent mason and landscaping contractor. She is the sister of the late Bobby Brown, who was the president of Black United Youth (BUY) in Arkansas in the late 1960s.

Although all of the Nine experienced verbal and physical harassment during the 1957–58 academic year at Central, Trickey was first suspended, and then expelled, for retaliating against the daily torment: specifically, she called one of her tormenters “white trash.” On February 17, 1958, she moved to New York and lived with Drs. Kenneth B. and Mamie Clark, African-American psychologists whose social science research formed the basis for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) argument in the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas case, which held that segregation harmed the self-esteem of African-American children. She graduated from New York’s New Lincoln School, a private progressive school in Manhattan, in 1959.

Brown married Roy Trickey, a fisheries biologist, on September 21, 1967; they have six children. She attended Southern Illinois University and majored in journalism. She later moved to Canada with her husband, where she received a BSW in Native Human Services from Laurentian University and an MSW in social work from Carleton University in Ontario, Canada.

Trickey is a social activist and has worked on behalf of peacemaking, environmental issues, developing youth leadership, diversity education and training, cross-cultural communication, and gender and social justice advocacy. She served in the Clinton administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Workforce Diversity at the Department of the Interior from 1999 to 2001. She has taught social work at Carleton University in Ottawa Canada and in various community colleges in Canada.

Trickey currently works for an interactive traveling trip called Sojourn to the Past. Sojourn to the Past is a ten-day interactive history experience through selected U.S. states with 100 high school students learning about the civil rights movement. She was also a guest lecturer at Arkansas State University (ASU) in Jonesboro (Craighead County). She was the recipient of the Mary Gay Shipley Writing Fellowship, as a part of ASU’s Heritage Studies PhD program, and is writing her memoir. She is also the subject of a documentary, Journey to Little Rock: The Untold Story of Minnijean Brown Trickey.

Trickey is the recipient of numerous awards for her community work for social justice, including the Lifetime Achievement Tribute by the Canadian Race Relations foundation and the International Wolf Award for contributions to racial harmony. Trickey, along with the other Little Rock Nine and Daisy Bates, was awarded the prestigious Spingarn Medal by the NAACP in 1958. In 1999, President Bill Clinton presented the nation’s highest civilian award, the Congressional Gold Medal, to the members of the Little Rock Nine.

For information about memior and documentary visit: http://www.journeytolittlerock.com

Information courtesy of encyclopediaofarkansas.net

Rumba Morena

Rumba Morena during live performance in central Havana. Photo courtesy of Flickr.com

was formed in 1997 with the objective to draw attention to women’s abilities as percussionists and their participation in rumba and folkloric festivals accross the length and breadth of Cuba.Out of o­ne of Havana’s worst neighbourhoods come seven young women dedicated to break the historic male domination in the field of Rumba – Diunis (the group’s leader), Ada, Amile,Barbara,  Greidy, Hilda,& Osmary.

Between them they sing, dance play the congas and all the traditional minor percussion instruments. Most have graduated in Havana’s most innovative Cultural Centre. Many of Rumba Morenas members come from families with a long history of playing the music. This new group offers a departure from the past, a different approach to percussion playing, singing and dancing. At each appearance these women add beauty and harmony to the sounds and interpretations of the numbers, both traditional and modern, which increases the public’s interest in the genre.

Rumba Morena play with deep roots in Cuban culture, their songs fusing Yoruba chants, Santeria dances with boleros, reggaeton and street songs, all within the framework of a strict adherence to classical rumba rhythms. The group has been going seven years playing venues throughout Cuba.

The music forms the spinal column of a 45-minute show. The group are seeking funding to make a video and a DVD which will give a better impression of their creative talents.

One of Rumba Morena’s major ambitions is to take the show to Canada Europe and the USA where they anticipate a warm reception for their special brand of hip-swinging music

The group works under the leadership of Diunis Valdes O’Farrill, a first class rumbera, who has instilled in the other members of the group, continuity of the rumba tradition. In each appearance Rumba Morena wins over their audience, cuban or otherwise, because of their original approach, their professionalism and their individual and collective performances.

Rumba Morena has become an intrinsic part of the Havana cultural scene delighting their audiences with their interpretation of this particular form of Afro-Cuban music.

Information provided by www.kongoi.com

 Sister Corita Kent

Sister Corita Kent 1918-1986

Corita Kent, also known as Sister Corita, gained international fame for her vibrant serigraphs during the 1960s and 1970s. A Sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, she ran the Art Department at Immaculate Heart College until 1968 when she left the Order and moved to Boston. Corita’s art reflects her spirituality, her commitment to social justice, her hope for peace, and her delight in the world that takes place all around us.

Corita was born Frances Kent in 1918 in Fort Dodge, Iowa. She grew up in Los Angeles and joined the Order of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1936, taking the name Sister Mary Corita.

By the 1960s, she was using popular culture (such as song lyrics and advertising slogans) as raw material for her meaning-filled bursts of text and color. Corita’s cries for peace in the era of Vietnam were not always welcome. In 1965 her “Peace on Earth” Christmas exhibit in IBM’s New York show room was seen as too subversive and Corita had to amend it. However, her work continued to be an outlet for her activism—in Corita’s words:
“I am not brave enough to not pay my income tax and risk going to jail. But I can say rather freely what I want to say with my art.”
By then Corita was the chairman of the famous Immaculate Heart College Art Department. Buckminster Fuller described his visit to the department as “among the most fundamentally inspiring experiences of my life.” Other influential friends of hers included Charles Eames , Ben Shahn, Harvey Cox and the Berrigan brothers.
August was Corita’s time for her own art making. During the three weeks between semesters, she and her students would work round the clock printing new serigraph designs by the hundreds. Corita’s chronic insomnia no doubt made some of this possible, but it was often accompanied by a bleak depression. In 1968 Corita decided to devote herself entirely to making art.

Art work by Sister Corita Kent

 She left the Order and Los Angeles, and moved to Boston’s Back Bay. She made numerous commissioned works (Westinghouse Group W ads, book covers and murals) and continued to create her own serigraphs (over 400) in the next 18 years. Still using exuberant splashes of color, the tone of her work became more generally spiritual and introspective. Watercolor “plein air” paintings and great floral silk screens dominated her later works.Corita remained active in social causes and designed posters and billboards for Share, the International Walk for Hunger, Physicians for Social Responsibility and Amnesty International.
The Boston Gas tank on the Southeast Expressway still bears her famous 150-foot rainbow swash, which is a similar to her design for the 1985 Love Stamp.

 On Sept. 18, 1986 Corita finally lost her battle with cancer and died at a friend’s home.

For more information visit: www.corita.org

Tania Leon

Tania Leon

A multi-faceted musician, Tania Leon is an international figure in the music world. She has carved a niche for herself in contemporary music as a composer, conductor, and music director, in the process receiving numerous commissions and awards. Tania Leon “has distinguished herself as a proponent of music without category beyond a standard of excellence,” remarked long-time music commentator Howard Mandel in an article for Ear Magazine. “Her enthusiasm for contemporary composers regardless of gender, race, or national origin indicates an all-embracing world view as befits a warm, lively woman who accepts no imposed limits to her own activity.”

The daughter of Oscar Leon Mederos and Dora Ferran, Leon was born in Havana, Cuba, on May 14, 1943, of a mixed ethnic background. Her ancestors hailed from China, Nigeria, France, and Spain. In Havana Leon studied piano, violin, and music theory, earning multiple bachelors degrees and a masters degree in music from the Carlos Alfredo Peyrellado Conservatory. While still a student she wrote her first compositions–boleros, bossa novas, and popular music. From 1964 to 1967 Leon performed as a piano soloist in her native country and acted as music director for a television station in Havana.

Leon immigrated to New York City in 1967. Two years later, she accidentally met Arthur Mitchell, who asked her to accompany on piano his new dance troupe–Dance Theater of Harlem. Leon improvised music to fulfill Mitchell’s rehearsal needs, and before long Mitchell offered Leon the music directorship of the troupe, a position she held until 1980. In addition to her artistic managerial  activities, Leon began composing works for the troupe, such as Tones, which she and Mitchell collaborated on in 1970. The ballets The Beloved and Dougla quickly followed. Dougla, in particular, met with success, becoming a regular part of the repertoire of European dance companies.

Although composing was well within the realm of imagination for Leon, at the time there were no women conductors, so she did not consider conducting a viable career choice. “Women conducing a symphony orchestra? Taboo. It was completely unheard of,” Leon recalled to Mandel. “It never crossed my mind.” Yet when the Dance Theater of Harlem performed at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy in 1971, Leon was unexpectedly given the opportunity to conduct the Julliard Orchestra, which was accompanying the troupe. “I was encouraged by Arthur Mitchell and Gian-Carlo Menotti to work with the orchestra,” reminisced Leon to Anne Lundy in the Black Perspective in Music. “They encouraged me to do that, and I had never done it in my life. It was my very first time, but I picked up the baton, and I conducted the performance.”

Upon returning to the United States, Leon began to study conducting formally with Laszlo Halasz, one of the founders of the New York City Opera. Encouraged, she enrolled at the Julliard School of Music to study with Vincent LaSilva. While working with the Dance Theater, Leon earned a bachelors degree in music and then a masters degree in composition from New York University.

For more information visit: www.tanialeon.com

This blog is an extention of  the Janina Ordonez Photography site.