The Collegian (Hurst, Tex.), Vol. 14, No. 17, Ed. 1 Wednesday, February 20, 2002 Page: 1 of 10
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I
The Collegian
SERVING THE TARRANT COUNTY COLLEGE DISTRICT
Volume 14 • Issue 17
Wednesday, February 20,2002
[\The lady sings the blues for TCC students
Ex-student
demonstrates
art influences
Jamie Beck/The Collegian
Reporter brings '21 Tulsa race riots to attention of today's youth
' A
Tim Madigan
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NEWS
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NE intramural
basketball season
concludes page 8
a fabulous type of music, but there
are other things out there. I think
hip-hop musicians could stand to
listen to some jazz too so they can
stop sampling each other,” she said.
Jazz music broke down many
color barriers and substantially af-
fected race relations during the 20th
century, Whiteman said.
“Hip-hop has the chance to do
the same. At one time, hip-hop was
NE and NW
campuses team up
for play page 6
by Brian Shults
. se news editor
by Dennis Dobson
reporter
America’s hidden history includes a time when
lynching and public execution of African Americans
were advertised like sporting events in local papers and
I reported on as if they were box scores, a local reporter
told South Campus students last week.
Tim Madigan, author of The Burning, brought the
dark side of America’s past into the light for one cam-
pus and will share his story with NE Campus students
Wednesday, Feb. 27, at 12:30 in the Center Corner.
In front of a packed auditorium, Madigan ad-
dressed an issue that most Americans are totally un-
aware of, the history that one will not find in any U.S.
history book or in any classroom.
Madigan referred to that history as “a metaphor of
the times and culture of the whole country,” a fear and
[jealousy of anyone who looked, talked or acted con-
trary to the white majority.
| This social attitude was so prevalent that in 1915
[America's first big blockbuster film in was D W Grif-
Bfith’s Birth of a Nation, the story of the formation of the
by Brian Shults
se news editor
• editor-in-chief
• sports editor
• advertising ..
•WEB
the province of black musicians.
Now everybody is involved, she
said.
“Hip-hop is now a shared form
between black and white musicians.
It bridges a gap,” she said.
Tulsa, Okla., Madigan said he was shocked and horri-
fied not just by the events of the day, but also by the
lack of mention of the atrocity for over 50 years.
Outside Tulsa, a black community called Green-
wood was made up of an affluent group of small busi-
ness owners, hard-working people and World War I vet-
erans, Madigan said.
A young black shoe-shine boy was accused of as-
saulting a white girl. In an attempt to boost sales of the
local paper, the editor chose to play the race card and
printed the headline “To lynch a Negro tonight.”
As was the custom, a huge mob of whites showed
up outside the courthouse to witness the hanging. The
black community showed up to protect the rights of the
young boy. An argument broke out, and a shot was
fired as an old white man lunged for a gun held by a
black man.
The black community returned to Greenwood, and
shortly after, a battle raged as the white mob laid siege
to Greenwood.
Out-numbered and out-gunned, the mob marched
through Greenwood similar to Hitler’s Third Reich.
«■
Holiday had heard enough snide
racism from the hostess and re-
lieved herself on the hostess’ shoes.
“That hostess was jumpin’
around like she was being scalded
with hot lead,” Whiteman said.
Following her presentation,
Whiteman spoke about the need for
youth today to be exposed to the
jazz legends.
“I think it’s absolutely vital
everyone hears them because the
only way music can die is if it dies
in people’s memories and their
hearts. The only way to keep it alive really interested in hip-hop, which is
is for them to hear it,” she said.
Whiteman would like for
young people to expand their musi-
cal interests.
“Today many young people are
I\
_____]
*
Ku Klux Klan,
Madigan pointed
out.
The film was
watched and re-
portedly endorsed
by President
Woodrow Wilson,
along with other
high-ranking pub-
lic officials.
The number-
one Halloween
costume of the
times was the
hood and robe.
In the winter of
2000, Madigan’s
editor at the Fort
Worth Star-Telegram assigned a follow-up to an article
about the Tulsa Race Riot Commission. As he began to
research deeper into the events of June 1, 1921, in
? 4I
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everything from coat hangers to soda cans and beer bottles, while also recy-
cling materials most people throw away.
“What better way to clean the environment. Because how many cans of
beer or bottles on the street do we see? It doesn’t cost you much to find
them and turn them into beautiful art—only time,” he said.
N’Kele’s art ranges from wire African drum circles to African masks to
spray-painted portraits on old metal signs. One particular work, The Pill,
features a curled-up nude woman with an elongated neck, common to some
practices of African women. N’Kele said this work was directly influenced
by African art he was exposed to while young,
“I use spray paint. Then I go back and use a razor blade and begin
etching out the figure,” he said describing the piece.
The effect of the multi-layering of spray paint shows several shades of
color within the same line. The thin-lined caricature has several colors cap-
tured within each portion of the work.
N’Kele said he is grateful for all the attention that has come to his work
in the 10 years he has been devoted to it. He now has art displayed in Nor-
way and the home of a prominent Dallas collector.
N’Kele and his work will be on NW Campus Thursday, Feb. 21, 9:30
a.m.-2:30 p.m. in B-l 18.
817-515-6392
817-515-6362
817-515-6619
tcceditor@lycos.com
www.tccd.net/collegian
—J jrJ
I
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When the National Guard arrived just a few hours
later, the community of Greenwood resembled Hiroshi-
ma more than a rural community in Oklahoma. Three
hundred men, women and children were killed, and 35
square blocks were burned to the ground, Madigan said.
Madigan said there was a good reason to write
about this event now and come to college campuses to
talk about it.
“My target audience is college-age young adults.
They are the ones who can change the future,” he said.
Madigan concluded the talk by holding up a simple
1921 penny charred and stained black. It is one of the
few remnants of the massacre of 1921.
“The penny is a small but strong reminder of the
darkness and evil that can exist within the hearts of all
of us,” he said. w
One student asked how writing this book has
changed Madigan’s life.
“I can’t look at a black person the same way ever
again,” he said.
“I hope that all who read my book will feel the
same way.”
L
Cathy Whiteman, accompanied by Manny Ro- South Campus. Whiteman spoke about and demon-
driguez, sings a song by jazz great Billie Holiday on strated the musical influence of African Americans.
I SE Campus teaches
[ students to kick
the habit page 3
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African-influenced sculpture by a former TCC student was part of SE
Campus’ celebration of Black History Month.
Augie N’Kele, Congo-born sculptor, moved to Tarrant County 21 years
ago, but he did not seriously begin pursuing his artistic goals until he be-
came inspired as a student on NE Campus in the early ’90s.
“When I moved here, I didn’t do my art because I thought you had to
have a big studio and a lot of money to start creating,” N’Kele said.
After working for a time, he enrolled in art classes on NE Campus.
After one field trip with his class, N’Kele said he changed his attitude about
what was truly necessary to create art.
“We had a trip to Irving at Williams Square to see some sculpture, and I
met one of the artists. He asked me if I made this,” he said pointing to the
gold tribal figure hanging from his neck, which he still wears quite often.
“I told him I did, and he said, ‘You’re very talented. What do you do
with your God-given talent?”’ N’Kele said.
N’Kele told the man he had not worked on his art since moving to
America because he did not have much free time.
The artist said, “If you take advantage of your talent in this country, you
can be successful because there are so many opportunities.”
The encouragement of the conversation made an impression on N’Kele.
After deliberating on whether to focus his energies solely on work or divide
it between work and art, he had the opportunity to confer with everyone in
his family. His father had to come to the United States for surgery, and dur-
ing his recovery, N’Kele gathered his wife and father to discuss his decision
and ask for their blessing.
“I told them I better take my art seriously before it’s too late. And since
then, I have worked on my art and worked at the airport. I realized after I
started working on art that you don’t need a big studio to create. I did most
of this in a two-bedroom apartment with my family living there,” he said.
He stresses now that the main investment in becoming an artist and pur-
suing a goal in life is time. Even the materials for his sculpture and paint-
ings are things people throw away or one sees on the street, N’Kele said.
“Most of the materials I use are found objects that are everywhere. I
use window screen for the hair of some of my sculptures, and I galvanize
wire to make clothes or the body,” he said.
N’Kele believes endless combinations of creations can be made using
Pacemaker
AWARD WINNER
Associated
m Collegiate
■ Press
■ j
Everyone has the blues, a
singer-actress told a SE audience
last week.
Catherine Whiteman’s narrative
and musical presentation, Birth of
the Blues, was repeated this week
on South Campus.
“The blues cry out to be re-
leased—released from pain, re-
leased from suffering, released from
that ‘D’ you received on your test.
Everybody gets the blues whether
it’s I-just-lost-my-job blues, my-
■ baby-done-left-me blues or that-
" ‘D’-on-my-test blues,” Whiteman
said.
Whiteman began her show with
Maya Angelou’s poem Skylark from
her autobiography I Know Why the
m Caged Bird Sings. The poem was
set to music, as were all of White-
" man’s songs, with piano played by
Manny Rodriguez.
“Probably the person I have
found that describes the blues the
best is the poet Maya Angelou,” she
■ said.
Stony Monday by Ethel Waters,
known to some as Sweet Mama
’ String Bean, was her first song.
Other songs performed included
works by jazz, ragtime and blues
legends Jelly Roll Morton, Duke
B Ellington, Ma Rainy, Bessie Smith,
B George Gershwin and Billie Holi-
day.
Whiteman described Holiday’s
unruly personality. While Holiday
was touring the South with Artie
Shaw’s band, she needed to use the
restroom. No matter where she
went in the hotel where they were
» performing, no one would allow her
to use the facilities. Impatient and
■ temperamental, Whiteman said, I A? A
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The Collegian (Hurst, Tex.), Vol. 14, No. 17, Ed. 1 Wednesday, February 20, 2002, newspaper, February 20, 2002; Hurst, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1315534/m1/1/: accessed July 12, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Tarrant County College NE, Heritage Room.