143rd birthday of Carter G Woodson

(Born 19 December 1875, New Canton, Va, United States)

Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe

Historian, journalist, versatile educator and inaugurator of the “African World History Month”, now a very important fixture in the annual calendar in several regions of the African World, outside Africa, and who, whilst researching the nature of the education of African Americans in the 1930s, concludes on the following consequences on someone, anyone, being controlled and defined by an agency outside their own centre of being, an observation as salient as ever, 80 years on (Woodson, Mis-Education, 2010: 48):

IF YOU can control a [person’s] thinking, you don’t have to worry about [their] action. If you can determine what a [person] thinks you do not have to worry about what [they] will do. If you can make a [person] believe that [they are] inferior, you don’t have to compel [them] to seek an inferior status [for they] will do so without being told and if you can make a [person] believe that [they are] justly an outcast, you don’t have to order [them] to the back door. [They] will go to the back door on [their] own and if there is no back door, the very nature of the [person] will demand that you build one [for them]. (added emphasis)

(Charles Mingus Quartet, “All the things you could be by now if Sigmund Freud’s wife is your mother” [personnel: Mingus, bass; Ted Curson, trumpet; Eric Dolphy, alto saxophone; Dannie Richmond, drums; recorded: Nola Penthouse Sound Studios, New York, US, 20 October 1960]) 

*****Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe is the author, with Lakeson Okwuonicha, of Why Donald Trump is great for Africa (2018)

(https://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Donald-Trump-great-Africa-ebook/dp/B07KFQHXKV/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1542585950&sr=8-1)

Twitter @HerbertEkweEkwe

56th birthday of Terence Blanchard

AWARD-WINNING trumpeter, bandleader, educator and versatile composer whose output includes a range of film scores especially the critically-acclaimed music for director Spike Lee’s 2006 documentary, When the Leeves Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts on the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina

(Terence Blanchard Sextet & Orchestra, “Levees” [personnel: Blanchard, trumpet; Brice Winston, tenor and soprano saxophones; Aaron Parks, piano; Derrick Hodge, acoustic and electric basses; Kendrick Scott, drums, percussion; Zack Harmon, tabla drums; Northwest Sinofia {40-member string orchestra, conducted by Blanchard}; recorded: Blue Note, New York, 14 August 2007])

Twitter @HerbertEkweEkwe

83rd birthday of George Coleman

(Born 8 March 1935, Memphis, US)

Distinguished tenor saxophonist, composer, bandleader, educator

(Wynton Kelly Trio with George Coleman, “Mr PC”  [Kelly, piano; Coleman, tenor saxophone; Paul McLure, bass; Jimmy Cobb, drums; recorded, live, Left Bank Jazz Society, Baltimore, Maryland, US, 22 September 1968])

Twitter @HerbertEkweEkwe

154th birthday of George Washington Carver

(B [?]Jan 1864, Diamond, Mo, US; d 5 Jan 1943, Tuskegee, US)

Botanist/multidisciplinary scientist, multifaceted inventor, educator

(Charles Mingus Quintet, “Pithecanthropus erectus” [personnel: Mingus, bass; Jackie McLean, alto saxophone; JR Monterose, tenor saxophone; Mal Waldron, piano; Willie Jones, drums; recorded: Audio-Video Studios, New York, US, 30 January 1956]) 

Twitter @HerbertEkweEkwe

142nd birthday of Carter G Woodson

(Born 19 December 1875, New Canton, Va, United States)

Historian, journalist, versatile educator and inaugurator of the “African World History Month”, now a very important fixture in the annual calendar in several regions of the African World, outside Africa, and who, whilst researching the nature of the education of African Americans in the 1930s, concludes on the following consequences on someone, anyone, being controlled and defined by an agency outside their own centre of being, an observation as salient as ever, 80 years on (Woodson, 2010: 48):

IF YOU can control a [person’s] thinking, you don’t have to worry about [their] action. If you can determine what a [person] thinks you do not have to worry about what [they] will do. If you can make a [person] believe that [they are] inferior, you don’t have to compel [them] to seek an inferior status [for they] will do so without being told and if you can make a [person] believe that [they are] justly an outcast, you don’t have to order [them] to the back door. [They] will go to the back door on [their] own and if there is no back door, the very nature of the [person] will demand that you build one [for them]. (added emphasis)

(Charles Mingus Sextet – with Eric Dolphy, Cornell University 1964, “Meditations” [personnel: Mingus, bass; Johnny Coles, trumpet; Dolphy, flute, bass clarinet; Clifford Jordan, tenor saxophone; Jaki Byard, piano; Dannie Richmond, drums; recorded: live, Cornell University, 18 March 1964]) 

Twitter@HerbertEkweEkwe

153rd birthday of George Washington Carver

(B [?]Jan 1864, Diamond, Mo, US; d 5 Jan 1943, Tuskegee, US)

Botanist/multidisciplinary scientist, multifaceted inventor, educator

(Charles Mingus Quintet, “Pithecanthropus erectus” [personnel: Mingus, bass; Jackie McLean, alto saxophone; JR Monterose, tenor saxophone; Mal Waldron, piano; Willie Jones, drums; recorded: Audio-Video Studios, New York, US, 30 January 1956]) 

Twitter @HerbertEkweEkwe