The Official Black History Month Thread!

[Captain Planet!]

I watched the Autobiogrophy of Miss Jane Pittman.

 

[Steve Rogers]

ANYTHING regarded as African-American this or Black Exposition that, and I mean nearly EVERYTHING-is NOT EXCLUSIONAL, meaining that there is no reason as to why you can't participate in any discussions, change your avatar, watch a John Amos marathon, whatever.

Counter to that, in terms of other gatherings or recognizion, it is purley EXCLUSIONAL, meaning that you need not apply if your a women, or hispanic, or from Oa.

This SMALL recognition is purley from the standpoint that Black people were not even considered people for the majority of American History. Forced to into slave labor, killed, maimed, and EXCLUDED from the majority. So in celebration of the many achievements in the face of stauch and most times legal oppresion, that is why we have such.

So feel free to change ur picture.

Cool. I alredy changed my picture and actually did recently see a John Amos marathon. I'm not kidding.

 

[Steve Rogers]

Just enjoy the ride people.

You, my friend, get it. My hat's off to you.

 

[ObakeTora]

Why do blacks get the shortest month? What I don't get is the need to tell people who the first black firefighter in L.A. was. I don't even care who the first white, female, asian, any firefighter was.

The idea is to focus on the absurdity of the racial climate during that era and tell a story about personal achievement through the face of it's adversity.

 

[SLVRSR4]

The idea is to focus on the absurdity of the racial climate during that era and tell a story about personal achievement through the face of it's adversity.

I know, that is true, but I do this every year in Febuary. Maybe I should be mad at Valentine's day instead.

 

[Steve Rogers]

Why are so many white people against Black History Month? The fact that these people rose up from slavery and oppression and fought for the things white people take for granted is an inspiration to ALL people, regardless of color. One of my personal heroes is Frederick Douglass and I'm as white as bird crap on a snow covered glacier.

Black history is American history. Black culture is American culture. Why can't white Americans see that and embrace it?

 

[ObakeTora]

Ive been mad at V-day for quite a while now.

 

[SLVRSR4]

Why are so many white people against Black History Month? The fact that these people rose up from slavery and oppression and fought for the things white people take for granted is an inspiration to ALL people, regardless of color. One of my personal heroes is Frederick Douglass and I'm as white as bird crap on a snow covered glacier.

Black history is American history. Black culture is American culture. Why can't white Americans see that and embrace it?

If this was directed towards me, I'm not white. I think it's placating and that's stupid. If I was white I wouldn't create a month for anyone. It's comparable to all the indian history we learn now. They demonize the white man. The truth is that if any other race had a gun and the indians had land that they could take. They would take it just the same. If I could make someone else do menial labor I didn't feel like doing I'd make people do it to. If they were midgets, whites, greens, or oranges.

 

[Steve Rogers]

If this was directed towards me, I'm not white. I think it's placating and that's stupid. If I was white I wouldn't create a month for anyone. It's comparable to all the indian history we learn now. They demonize the white man. The truth is that if any other race had a gun and the indians had land that they could take. They would take it just the same. If I could make someone else do menial labor I didn't feel like doing I'd make people do it to. If they were midgets, whites, greens, or oranges.

Nope, wasn't directed towards you. However, your last two sentences scare me.

 

[ObakeTora]

That reminds me of alot of arguments white people claim. "Well Africa sold slaves."

Of course they did,

but who's more gulity? The person who SELLS the human? Or BUYS the human?

 

[Steve Rogers]

That reminds me of alot of arguments white people claim. "Well Africa sold slaves."

Of course they did,

but who's more gulity? The person who SELLS the human? Or BUYS the human?

Are you asking me my personal opinion? I think they are both equally guilty.

 

[Tissues]

http://www.sickanimation.com/audio/blackhistory.mp3

 

[Memphis Slim]

Bernard Harris, Jr., made history. One of only seven black astronauts, he was the first black astronaut to walk in space.
A year later, as the U.S. celebrates Black History Month, Harris reflected on his accomplishment, and pondered the future of space exploration.

"To be the first was great, it really was," he said. "But to me, it signifies that there would be many more behind me.
For Harris, the experience was a high point of a journey that began years ago. From the time he was eight-years-old, he dreamed of becoming an astronaut.
On the way to his dream, he reached many other personal goals -- pilot, flight surgeon, scientist, mission specialist. As Harris explained, his dream -- his trip to the stars -- had its roots in history.
"I think it's kind of ironic," he said. "When we look at history itself, you realize that astronomy -- the study of the stars -- that whole origin ... (was) being done by people from Africa. And now I get to fly amongst those same stars."

Harris emphasized that people should know and understand the importance of history, especially from their own perspectives.
"If you don't know where you are and where you came from, you'll never know where you are going," he said.

 

[Steve Rogers]

Good find, Slim. I didn't know about him.

 

[Memphis Slim]

[SIZE=-1]Garrett Morgan was an inventor and businessman from Cleveland who invented a device called the Morgan safety hood and smoke protector in 1914. On July 25, 1916, Garrett Morgan made national news for using his gas mask to rescue 32 men trapped during an explosion in an underground tunnel 250 feet beneath Lake Erie. Morgan and a team of volunteers donned the new "gas masks" and went to the rescue. After the rescue, Morgan's company received requests from fire departments around the country who wished to purchase the new masks. The Morgan gas mask was later refined for use by U.S. Army during World War I. In 1914, Garrett Morgan was awarded a patent for a Safety Hood and Smoke Protector. Two years later, a refined model of his early gas mask won a gold medal at the International Exposition of Sanitation and Safety, and another gold medal from the International Association of Fire Chiefs.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]Garrett Morgan's Early Life[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The son of former slaves, Garrett Morgan was born in Paris, Kentucky on March 4, 1877. His early childhood was spent attending school and working on the family farm with his brothers and sisters. While still a teenager, he left Kentucky and moved north to Cincinnati, Ohio in search of opportunity.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Although Garrett Morgan's formal education never took him beyond elementary school, he hired a tutor while living in Cincinnati and continued his studies in English grammar. In 1895, Morgan moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he went to work as a sewing machine repair man for a clothing manufacturer. News of his proficiency for fixing things and experimenting traveled fast and led to numerous job offers from various manufacturing firms in the Cleveland area.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]In 1907, the inventor opened his own sewing equipment and repair shop. It was the first of several businesses he would establish. In 1909, he expanded the enterprise to include a tailoring shop that employed 32 employees. The new company turned out coats, suits and dresses, all sewn with equipment that Garrett Morgan himself had made.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]In 1920, Garrett Morgan moved into the newspaper business when he established the Cleveland Call. As the years went on, he became a prosperous and widely respected business man, and he was able to purchase a home and an automobile. Indeed it was Morgan's experience while driving along the streets of Cleveland that inspired him to invent an improvement to traffic signals.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The Morgan Traffic Signal (Click image for larger view)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The first American-made automobiles were introduced to U.S. consumers shortly before the turn of the century. The Ford Motor Company was founded in 1903 and with it American consumers began to discover the adventures of the open road. In the early years of the 20th century it was not uncommon for bicycles, animal-powered wagons, and new gasoline-powered motor vehicles to share the same streets and roadways with pedestrians. Accidents were frequent. After witnessing a collision between an automobile and a horse-drawn carriage, Garrett Morgan took his turn at inventing a traffic signal. Other inventors had experimented with, marketed, and even patented traffic signals, however, Garrett Morgan was one of the first to apply for and acquire a U.S. patent for an inexpensive to produce traffic signal. The patent was granted on November 20, 1923. Garrett Morgan also had his invention patented in Great Britain and Canada.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Garrett Morgan stated in his patent for the traffic signal, "This invention relates to traffic signals, and particularly to those which are adapted to be positioned adjacent the intersection of two or more streets and are manually operable for directing the flow of traffic... In addition, my invention contemplates the provision of a signal which may be readily and cheaply manufactured."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The Morgan traffic signal was a T-shaped pole unit that featured three positions: Stop, Go and an all-directional stop position. This “third position” halted traffic in all directions to allow pedestrians to cross streets more safely.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Garrett Morgan's hand-cranked semaphore traffic management device was in use throughout North America until all manual traffic signals were replaced by the automatic red, yellow, and green-light traffic signals currently used around the world. The inventor sold the rights to his traffic signal to the General Electric Corporation for $40,000. Shortly before his death in 1963, Garrett Morgan was awarded a citation for his traffic signal by the United States Government.[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Other Inventions[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1][/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Garrett Morgan was constantly experimenting to develop new concepts. Though the traffic signal came at the height of his career and became one of his most renowned inventions, it was just one of several innovations he developed, manufactured, and sold over the years.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Morgan invented a zig-zag stitching attachment for manually operated sewing machine. He also founded a company that made personal grooming products, such as hair dying ointments and the curved-tooth pressing comb.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]As word of Garrett Morgan’s life-saving inventions spread across North America and England, demand for these products grew. He was frequently invited to conventions and public exhibitions to demonstrate how his inventions worked.[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Garrett Morgan died on August 27, 1963, at the age of 86. His life was long and full, and his creative energies have given us a marvelous and lasting legacy.[/SIZE]


This brotha was Tony Stark, before Tony Stark.

 

[Memphis Slim]

HATTIE MCDANIEL

Hattie McDaniel is best remembered today for her role in the film "Gone With The Wind". She won the 1939 Academy Award for best supporting actress for her portrayal of Mammy. She was the first African-American to be nominated for, and to win, an Academy Award. Hattie got her start in show business with her family's traveling Baptist tent show. As a teenager Hattie performed in the touring vaudeville outfit the Spikes Brothers Comedy Stars on the West Coast. In the early 1920s she was singing with George Morrison's Orchestra in Denver and toured the Pantages and Orpheum vaudeville circuit with them. She made her recording debut in 1926, but never had much of a recording career, but she was a popular live act. As the Blues craze died out in the late 1920s, Hattie started appearing in theatrical productions. She was in the touring company of "Showboat" from 1929 to 1930. In the early 1930s she settled in Hollywood and began her career as a film actress. She was almost always cast as a maid, cook, nanny or servant of some sort, these being the only types of roles available for African-Americans at the time. She appeared in over seventy movies during the 1930s.

After winning the Academy Award in 1940 she continued to be cast as the maid for the rest of her life. She famously quipped "I'd rather make $700 a week playing a maid than earn $7 a day being a maid." Despite the poor quality of her roles Hattie continued to open doors that had previously been closed to African-American performers. In 1947, she starred on radio in "The Beulah Show". In 1951, the show moved to television, and Hattie starred in the first three episodes until she discovered she had cancer and became too ill to continue working. She died of breast cancer in 1952.


Another who took the trash so that the Bassetts and Berrys wouldn't have to.

 

[Steve Rogers]

Garrett Morgan just became my new favorite person!

 

[SLVRSR4]

Nope, wasn't directed towards you. However, your last two sentences scare me.

I wouldn't go as far as slavery. Maybe hire illegals I suppose i'm just really lazy I like to think cost effecient.

 

[Memphis Slim]

SIR DUKE


Duke Ellington brought a level of style and sophistication to Jazz that it hadn't seen before. Although he was a gifted piano player, his orchestra was his principal instrument. Like Jelly Roll Morton before him, he considered himself to be a composer and arranger, rather than just a musician. Duke began playing music professionally in Washington, D.C. in 1917. His piano technique was influenced by stride piano players like James P. Johnson and Willie "The Lion" Smith. He first visited New York in 1922 playing with Wilbur Sweatman, but the trip was unsuccessful. He returned to New York again in 1923, but this time with a group of friends from Washington D.C. They worked for a while with banjoist Elmer Snowden until there was a disagreement over missing money. Ellington then became the leader. This group was called The Washingtonians. This band worked at The Hollywood Club in Manhattan (which was later dubbed the Kentucky Club). During this time Sidney Bechet played briefly with the band (unfortunately he never recorded with them), but more significantly the trumpet player Bubber Miley joined the band, bringing with him his unique plunger mute style of playing. This sound came to be called the "Jungle Sound", and it was largely responsible for Ellington's early success. The song "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" is a good example of this style of playing. The group recorded their first record in 1924 ("Choo Choo (Gotta Hurry Home)" and "Rainy Nights (Rainy Days)", but the band didn't hit the big time until after Irving Mills became their manager and publisher in 1926. In 1927 the band re-recorded versions of "East St.Louis Toodle-Oo," debuted "Black and Tan Fantasy" and "Creole Love Call", songs that would be associated with him the for rest of his career, but what really put Ellington's Orchestra over the top was becoming the house band at the Cotton Club after King Oliver unwisely turned down the job. Radio broadcasts from the club made Ellington famous across America and also gave him the financial security to assemble a top notch band that he could write music specifically for. Musicians tended to stay with the band for long periods of time. For example, saxophone player Harry Carney would remain with Duke nonstop from 1927 to Ellington's death in 1974.

In 1928 clarinetist Barney Bigard left King Oliver and joined the band. Ellington and Bigard would later co-write one of the orchestra's signature pieces "Mood Indigo" in 1930. In 1929 Bubber Miley, was fired from the band because of his alcoholism and replaced with Cootie Williams. Ellington also appeared in his first film "Black and Tan" later that year. The Duke Ellington Orchestra left the Cotton Club in 1931 (although he would return on an occasional basis throughout the rest of the Thirties) and toured the U.S. and Europe.

Unlike many of their contemporaries, the Ellington Orchestra was able to make the change from the Hot Jazz of the 1920s to the Swing music of the 1930s. The song "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" even came to define the era. This ability to adapt and grow with the times kept the Ellington Orchestra a major force in Jazz up until Duke's death in the 1970s. Only Louis Armstrong managed to sustain such a career, but Armstrong failed to be in the artistic vanguard after the 1930s . Throughout the Forties and Fifties Ellington's fame and influence continued to grow.

The band continued to produce Jazz standards like "Take the 'A' Train", "Perdido", "The 'C' Jam Blues" and "Satin Doll". In the 1960s Duke wrote several religious pieces, and composed "The Far East Suite". He also collaborated with a very diverse group of musicians whose styles spanned the history of Jazz. He played in a trio with Charles Mingus and Max Roach, sat in with both the Louis Armstrong All-Stars and the John Coltrane Quartet, and he had a double big-band date with Count Basie. In the 1970s many of Ellington's long time band members had died, but the band continued to attract outstanding musicians even after Ellington's death from cancer in 1974, when his son Mercer took over the reins of the band.

 

[Memphis Slim]

Garrett Morgan just became my new favorite person!

Yeah....he was somethin'.

 

[SLVRSR4]

Ira Frederick Aldridge (July 24, 1807 New York City – 7 August 1867 Łódź) was an American stage actor who made his career largely on the London stage. He is the only actor of African American descent among the 33 actors of the English stage with bronze plaques at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon.
//

Early life and career

Born in New York City to Reverend Daniel and Luranah Aldridge July 24, 1807, Aldridge went to the African Free School in New York City. His early "education" in theater included viewing plays from the high balcony of the Park Theatre, New York's leading theater of the time.
Aldridge's first professional acting experience was in the early 1820s with the company associated with the African Grove, where he debuted as Rolla in Pizzaro; he went on to play Shakespeare's Romeo and later became a rather famous Hamlet.
Charles Mathews famously imitated and parodied the African Grove's star James Hewlett [1]performing Hamlet in a performance Mathews called "The African Tragedian" (part of a larger worked titled "A Trip To America"). Aldridge would later gain fame by claiming to be "The African Tragedian" on whom the performance was based. According to Bernth Lindfors [2], professor of English and African literatures at the University of Texas, Mathews went to the African Theater and invited Hewlett do a private performance for him, and then invented a story about a black actor butchering Shakespeare. In Mathews' parody, Hewlett spoke the line "…and by opposing end them…" as "…and by opposum end them…", leading to a rendition of "Opossum up a Gum Tree", the de facto anthem of African Americans at the time. Aldridge denied that this had actually occurred during his performances at the African Grove; according to Eric Lott, he actually borrowed the joke back from Mathews at a later date and made exactly that transition from Hamlet to the popular song.
Confronted with the persistent disparagement and harassment that black actors had to endure in the United States, Aldridge emigrated to England, where he became a dresser to the British actor Henry Wallack. According to Shane White [3], author of the book "Stories of Freedom in Black New York," [4] the only American stage anyone in England had ever heard of at this time was the stage that Mathews had performed, and Aldridge associated himself with that. Bernth Lindfors says "when Aldridge starts appearing on the stage at the Royalty Theatre, he’s just called a gentleman of color. But when he moves over to the Royal Coburg, he’s advertised in the first playbill as the American Tragedian from the African Theater New York City. The second playbill refers to him as 'The African Tragedian.' So everybody goes to the theater expecting to laugh because this is the man they think Mathews saw in New York City." Instead Aldridge performed scenes from Othello that stunned reviewers. According to a monograph written by Herbert Marshall at Southern Illinois University, one critic wrote "In Othello (Aldridge) delivers the most difficult passages with a degree of correctness that surprises the beholder." He gradually progressed to larger roles; by 1825, he had top billing at London's Coburg Theatre as Oronoko in A Slave's Revenge, soon to be followed by the role of Gambia in The Slave and the title role of Shakespeare's Othello. He also played major roles in plays such as The Castle Spectre and The Padlock and played several roles of specifically white characters, including Captain Dirk Hatteraick and Bertram in Rev. R. C. Maturin's Bertram, the title role in Shakespeare's Richard III, and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice.

 

[Memphis Slim]

Very nice.

 

[Steve Rogers]

Nina Simone, one of my favorite singers.

Eunice Kathleen Waymon, better known by her stage name Nina Simone (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger and civil rights activist.

Although she disliked being categorized, Simone is generally classified as a jazz musician. She preferred the term "Black Classical Music" herself. Simone originally aspired to become a classical pianist, but her work covers an eclectic variety of musical styles besides her classical basis, such as jazz, soul, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop music. Her vocal style (with a rich alto vocal range) is characterized by intense passion, breathiness, and tremolo. Sometimes known as the High Priestess of Soul, she paid great attention to the musical expression of emotions. Within one album or concert she could fluctuate between exuberant happiness or tragic melancholy. These fluctuations also characterized her own personality and personal life, worsened by a bipolar disorder with which she was diagnosed in the mid-sixties, but was kept secret until 2004.

Simone recorded over 40 live and studio albums, the biggest body of her work being released between 1958 (when she made her debut with Little Girl Blue) and 1974. Songs she is best known for include "My Baby Just Cares for Me", "I Put a Spell On You", "I Loves You Porgy", "Feeling Good", "Sinnerman", "To Be Young, Gifted and Black", "Strange Fruit", "Ain't got no-I got life" and "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl". Her music and message made a strong and lasting impact on African-American culture, illustrated by the numerous contemporary artists citing her as an important influence (among them Alicia Keys, Jeff Buckley, and Lauryn Hill), as well as the extensive use of her music on soundtracks and in remixes.

Biography

Youth (1933–1954)

Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina, one of eight children. She began playing piano at her local church and showed prodigious talent on this instrument. Her concert debut, a classical piano recital, was made at the age of ten. During her performance, her parents, who had taken seats in the front row, were forced to move to the back of the hall to make way for white people. Simone refused to play until her parents were moved back. This incident contributed to her later involvement in the civil rights movement.

Simone's mother, Mary Kate Waymon (who lived into her late 90s) was a strict Methodist minister; her father, John Divine Waymon, was a handyman and sometime barber who suffered bouts of ill-health. Mrs. Waymon worked as a maid and her employer, hearing of Nina's talent, provided funds for piano lessons. Subsequently, a local fund was set up to assist in Eunice's continued education. At seventeen, Simone moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she taught piano and accompanied singers to fund her own studying as a classical music pianist at New York City's Juilliard School of Music. With the help of a private tutor she studied for an interview to further study piano at the Curtis Institute, but she was rejected. Simone believed that this rejection was directly related to her being black, as well as being a woman. It further fueled her hatred of the widespread and institutionalized racism present in the U.S. during the period.

Early success (1954–1959)

Simone played at the Midtown Bar & Grill on Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City to fund her study. The owner said that she would have to sing as well as play the piano in order to get the job. She took on the stagename "Nina Simone" in 1954 because she did not want her mother to know that she was playing "the devil's music". "Nina" (from "niña", meaning "little girl" in Spanish) was a nickname a boyfriend had given to her and "Simone" was after the French actress Simone Signoret, whom she had seen in the movie Casque d'or. Simone played and sang a mixture of jazz, blues and classical music at the bar, and by doing so she created a small but loyal fan base.

After playing in small clubs she recorded a rendition of George Gershwin's "I Loves You Porgy" (from Porgy and Bess) in 1958, which was learned from a Billie Holiday album and performed as a favor to a friend. It became her only Billboard top 40 hit in the United States, and her debut album Little Girl Blue soon followed on Bethlehem Records. Simone would never benefit financially from the album, because she sold the rights for 3000 dollars. It meant that she missed out on more than 1 million dollars of royalties (mainly because of the successful re-release of "My Baby Just Cares for Me" in the 1980s).

Becoming "popular" (1959-1964)

After the success of Little Girl Blue, Simone signed a contract with the bigger label Colpix Records, followed by a string of studio and live albums. Colpix relinquished all creative control, including the choice of material that would be recorded, to Nina in exchange for her signing with them. Simone, who at this point only performed pop music to make money to continue her classical music studies, was bold with her demand for control over her music because she was indifferent about having a recording contract. She would keep this attitude towards the record industry for most of her career.

Civil rights era (1964–1974)


Simone was made aware of the severity of racial prejudice in America by her friends Langston Hughes, James Baldwin and Lorraine Hansberry (author of the play Raisin in the Sun). In 1964, she changed record labels, from the American Colpix to the Dutch Philips, which also meant a change in the contents of her recordings. Simone had always included songs in her repertoire that hinted to her African-American origins (such as "Brown Baby" and "Zungo" on Nina at the Village Gate in 1962). But on her debut album for Philips, Nina Simone In Concert (live recording, 1964), Simone for the first time openly addresses the racial inequality that was prevalent in the United States with the song "Mississippi Goddam". It was her response to the murder of Medgar Evers and the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four black children. The song was released as a single, being boycotted in certain southern states. With "Old Jim Crow" on the same album she reacts to the Jim Crow Laws.

From then onwards, the civil rights message was standard in Simone's recording repertoire, where it had already become a part of her live performances. Simone performed and spoke at many Civil Rights meetings, such as at the Selma to Montgomery marches.She covered Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" (on Pastel Blues (1965)), a song about the lynching of black men in the South, and sang the W.Cuney poem "Images" on Let It All Out (1966), about the absence of pride in the African-American woman. Simone wrote the song "Four Women" and sings it on Wild Is the Wind (1966). It is about four different stereotypes of African-American women.

Simone moved from Philips to RCA Victor in 1967. She sang "Backlash Blues", written by her friend Langston Hughes on her first RCA album, Nina Simone Sings The Blues (1967). On Silk & Soul (1967) she recorded Billy Taylor's "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" and "Turning Point". The last song illustrates how white children would get indoctrinated with racism at an early age. The album Nuff Said (1968) contains live recordings from the Westbury Music Fair, April 7th 1968, three days after the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King. She dedicated the whole performance to him and sang "Why? (The King Of Love Is Dead)", a song written by her bass player directly after the news of Dr. King's death had reached them.

Together with Weldon Irvine, Simone turned the late Lorraine Hansberrys unfinished play "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" into a civil rights song. She performed it live on Black Gold (1970). A studio recording was released as a single, and the song became the official "National Anthem of Black America" and has been covered by Aretha Franklin (on 1972s Young, Gifted and Black) and Donny Hathaway.

Later life (1974–2003)


Simone left the United States in September 1970. The continuous performances and decline of the Civil Rights movement had exhausted her. She flew to Barbados, expecting her husband and manager, Andrew Stroud, to contact her when she had to perform again. However, Stroud interpreted Simone's sudden disappearance (and the fact that she left behind her wedding ring) as a cue for a divorce. As her manager, Stroud was also in charge of Simone's income. This meant that after their separation Simone had no knowledge about how her business was run, and what she was actually worth. Upon returning to the United States she also learned that there were serious problems with the tax authorities, causing her to go back to Barbados again. Simone stayed in Barbados for quite some time, and had a lengthy affair with the Prime Minister, Errol Barrow. A close friend, singer Miriam Makeba, convinced her to come to Liberia. After that she lived in Switzerland and the Netherlands, before settling in France in 1992. Simone's divorce from her husband and manager can be seen as the end of her most successful years in the American music business, and the beginning of her (partially self-imposed) exile and estrangement from the world for the next two decades.

After her last album for RCA Records, It Is Finished (1974), it was not until 1978 that Simone was convinced by CTI Records owner Creed Taylor to record another album, Baltimore. While not a commercial success, the album did get good reviews and marked a quiet artistic renaissance in Simone's recording output. Her voice had not lost its power over the years, but developed an additional warmth and a vivacious maturity. Her choice of material retained its eclecticism, ranging from spiritual songs to Hall & Oates' "Rich Girl". Four years later Simone recorded Fodder On My Wings on a French label. It is one of her most personal albums, with nearly all of the (autobiographical) songs written by herself. In the 1980s Simone performed regularly at Ronnie Scott's jazz club in London, where the album Live At Ronnie Scott's was recorded in 1984. Though her on-stage style could be somewhat haughty and aloof, in later years, Simone particularly seemed to enjoy engaging her audiences by recounting sometimes humorous anecdotes related to her career and music and soliciting requests. Her autobiography, I Put a Spell on You, was published in 1992 and she recorded her last album, A Single Woman in 1993.

In 1993 Simone settled near Aix-en-Provence in Southern France. She had been ill with breast cancer for several years before she died in her sleep at her home in Carry-le-Rouet, Bouches-du-Rhône on April 21, 2003, aged 70. Her funeral service was attended by singers Miriam Makeba and Patti Labelle, poet Sonia Sanchez, actor Ossie Davis and hundreds of others. Elton John sent a floral tribute with the message "We were the greatest and I love you". Simone's ashes were scattered in several African countries. She left behind a daughter Lisa Celeste, now an actress/singer who took on the stagename Simone and has appeared on Broadway in Aida.

Simone standards

Throughout her career, Simone gathered a collection of songs that would become standards in her repertoire (apart from the civil rights songs) and for which she is still remembered, even though most of these songs didn't do well on the charts at the time. These songs were self-written tunes, cover versions (usually with a new arrangement by Simone), or songs written especially for Simone. Her first hit song in America was a cover of George Gershwin's "I Loves You Porgy" (1958). It peaked at number 18 in the pop singles chart and number 2 on the black singles chart. In that same period Simone recorded "My Baby Just Cares for Me", which would become her biggest hit years later in 1987, when it featured in a Chanel no. 5 perfume commercial. A music video was then created by Aardman Studios.

Well known songs from her Philips albums include "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" on Broadway-Blues-Ballads (1964), "I Put a Spell on You", "Ne Me Quitte Pas" (a Jacques Brel cover) and "Feeling Good" on I Put A Spell On You (1965), "Lilac Wine" and "Wild Is the Wind" on Wild is the Wind (1966).Especially the songs "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", "Feeling Good" and "Sinnerman" (Pastel Blues, 1965) have great popularity today in terms of cover versions (most notably The Animals's version of the former song), sample usage and its use on various movie-, TV-series- and videogame soundtracks.

Simone's years at RCA-Victor spawned a number of singles and album songs that were popular, particularly in Europe. In 1968 it was "Ain't Got No, I Got Life", a medley from the musical Hair from the album Nuff Said (1968) that became a surprise hit for Simone, reaching number 2 on the UK pop charts and introducing her to a younger audience. In 2006, it returned to the UK Top 30 in a remixed version by Groovefinder. The following single, the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody" also reached the UK top 10 in 1969. "House of the Rising Sun" featured on Nina Simone Sings The Blues in 1967, but Simone had recorded the song earlier in 1961 (featuring on Nina At The Village Gate, 1962), predating versions by Dave Van Ronk and Bob Dylan. It was later picked up by The Animals and became their signature hit.

Personality, style and viewpoints

Performing style

Simone's regal bearing and commanding stage presence earned her the title "High Priestess of Soul". Her live performances were regarded not as mere concerts, but as happenings. In a single concert she could be a singer, pianist, dancer, actress, activist, as well as both therapist and patient all simultaneously. On stage Simone's versatility became truly evident, as she moved from gospel to blues, jazz and folk, to numbers infused with European classical styling, and counterpoint fugues. She incorporated monologues and dialogues with the audience into the program, and often used silence as a musical element. Simone compared it to "mass hypnosis. I use it all the time" Many recordings exist of her concerts, expressing fragments of her on-stage power, wit, sensuality and occasional menace towards her audience. Throughout most of her live and recording career she was accompanied by percussionist Leopoldo Flemming and guitarist and musical director Al Schackman.

Being 'difficult'

Simone had a reputation in the music industry for being volatile and sometimes difficult to deal with, a characterization with which she strenuously took issue. In 1995, she shot and wounded her neighbor's son with a pneumatic pistol after his laughing disturbed her concentration. She also fired a gun at a record company executive whom she accused of stealing royalties. It is now recognised that this 'difficulty' was not just the result of an overly-perfectionist rigor, but her raging outbursts and diva-like extremes were actually the result of a psychiatric condition, most probably a bipolar disorder or borderline personality disorder. Simone reluctantly took medication for her condition from the mid sixties on. All this was only known to a small group of intimates, and kept out of public view for many years, until the biography Break Down And Let It All Out written by Sylvia Hampton and David Nathan revealed this secret in 2004.

Honors

On Human Kindness Day 1974 in Washington DC more than 10,000 people paid tribute to Simone for her music and commitment to humanity. Simone received two honorary degrees in music and humanities from the University of Massachusetts and Malcolm X College. She preferred to be called "Dr. Nina Simone" after these honors were bestowed upon her. Only two days before her death, Simone was awarded an honorary diploma by the Curtis Institute, the school that had turned her down at the start of her career.

Views on homosexuality

Simone's fanbase and personal circle included a significant number of gay people. Her view on homosexuality can be described as ambivalent. On one hand her viewpoint was colored by her strict religious upbringing, opposing homosexuality. On the other hand, Simone was aware of widespread homosexuality within her fanbase and the entertainment industry. Many of the people close to her were homosexual, including her younger brother,the writers Lorraine Hansberry, Langston Hughes and James Baldwin, and the founders of her European fanclub, David Nathan and Sylvia Hampton. The latter two stated in their biography of Simone that she had no problem with homosexuals, as long as she did not have to hear about it explicitly

Legacy

Nina Simone is often cited by artists from diverse musical fields as a source of inspiration. Musicians who have cited her as important for their own musical upbringing are among others Jeff Buckley, Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys, and Mary J. Blige. John Lennon cited Simone's version of "I Put a Spell on You" as a source of inspiration for the Beatles song "Michelle". Musicians who have covered her work (or her specific renditions of songs) include Jeff Buckley, David Bowie, Aretha Franklin, Donny Hathaway, The Animals, Muse, Michael Bublé, Katie Melua and Timbaland. Simone's music has featured in soundtracks of various motion pictures and video games. Her music is frequently used in remixes, commercials and TV series.

 

[Memphis Slim]

My mom and dad had some of her albums

 

[Steve Rogers]

My mom and dad had some of her albums

You mean on record? That's awesome. I have a few CD's but I want to get more.


Yes, I listen to some very old music sometimes. There is nothing that sounds as good as some old jazz, blues or soul.