Just ahead on American black Journal we are taking a look at black empowerment through the creation of social networks it’s the focus of a new PBS documentary Making Black America from Dr Henry Lewis Gates Jr plus we’ll examine the contributions of black fraternities and sororities from a Detroit perspective
Stay where you are American black Journal starts right now from Delta faucets to Bare paint Masco Corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces Masco serving Michigan communities since 1929. Support also provided by the cynthian edselford fund
For journalism at Detroit Public TV the DTE Foundation proudly supports 50 years of American black journal in covering African-American history culture and politics the DTE foundation and American black Journal Partners in presenting African-American perspectives about our communities and in our world also brought to you by Nissan Foundation
And viewers like you thank you Foreign Welcome to American black Journal I’m your host Stephen Henderson noted historian and Storyteller Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr has a new documentary series that’s launching on PBS it’s titled making Black America Through the Grapevine four-part series explores the vast social networks associations and organizations created by and for African Americans as a means
Of empowerment in the face of racial segregation making Black America can be seen right here on Detroit public television every Tuesday night in October at 9 00 PM here’s a preview followed by my conversation with the series producer and director Stacy Holman for centuries starting with slavery followed by Jim Crow segregation racism
Has been a fault line running straight through the American Experience races shaped where black people could live how they saw themselves and what kind of future they could hope to achieve but remarkably black people survived the strictures of racism by creating their own world a sepia World a Nexus of
Formal and informal Spaces by us and for us when we talk about black social networks what we’re really talking about is how black people create spaces where we can be seen and where we can be heard by each other they are a place to you know celebrate that often gets overlooked
We talk about black life particularly in America it’s like sometimes you just want to celebrate how dope it is to be black And that’s important particularly in a country that the best you can say is misunderstands black people and the most damning thing you can say is doesn’t care about black people generation after generation these organizations institutions and social networks have been a shelter in the storm a place from which to demand that
America confront its failures and finally live up to its ideals Stacy Allman welcome back to American black Journal thank you for having me back this is crazy thanks so it’s great to have you here to talk about this latest work uh tell us about making Black America well this is
Um obviously the the brainchild of Professor Henry Louis Gates who I’ll defer to as skip probably throughout the actual interview and he um is really interested this is kind of coming off these deals of the black church and he’s really interested in um social networks organizations particularly secret societies and he
Starts with you know the Prince Hall Masons and this is looking at you know the spaces the places the people the organizations that African Americans or black people you know people will get that when they see the series um that we created for us by us behind
The veil outside of the white gaze where we can just you know let down our you know our hair we could just take off that mask we could just be so so it strikes me that a lot of the institutions that we’re talking about here um
They were not Black by intention but by exclusion right uh we were left out of uh lots of things for a lot of time uh and had to create our own spaces but in modern America I I think they are uh Black by intention uh we preserved these
Spaces we celebrate them and we build them up uh because they have value and importance far beyond the exclusion that forced us to create them uh in the first place and sometimes that’s hard for people who aren’t part of our community to understand but I think for for all of
Us uh it’s crystal clear right we need these we need these spaces now we do I mean it’s you know we need that that time to kind of step aside and I think you talk about you know networks of today I mean and spaces and even creative Outlets you know look at
Hip-hop I mean that was created you know by us um also too you know you look at black lives matter you know that was built you know by you know a group of women founded by a group of women out of a need and then even going back during depression you know rep
Parties you know this economic um informal economy that black people created um because in some instances it wasn’t yes you know actually you know open to us but in the cases of hair products we needed to have you know black people need their hair done so you know that
Was built out of a need yeah yeah we’ll ever need our hair done so yeah so I think it was really so it’s you know really just finding that you know those creating those spaces and those places that um are meeting the need of that particular um Community yeah yeah that’s not always
A response as you said so so I also always think that that you know resilience play such a incredibly important part of uh of black existence and black history and and and here again so many of these institutions are about that resilience about um again preserving ourselves preserving our culture
Um you know in the face of of a society that that um that doesn’t always uh allow us really to do that in in other spaces yeah I mean I think it’s um you know black Joy is a really big theme throughout this and I think you know
Just the agency that we that we have needs to be celebrated um and also too you know outside of struggle you know it’s not always we’re not always talking about we’re always not always um living in it you know we’re resilient because we step outside of it sometimes
Resilient because we go to you know you know you know play a game of Midwest you know resilient because we go to you know our book club because we can talk about you know this book that moved us you know we’re resilient because you know we have creative spaces whether it’s
Reading a book by Toni Morrison to kind of take us you know through this world and take us through a lens um so these feed into that resilience she just has the black church these also speak to that yeah so so tell me about the some of your
Favorite uh some of your favorite Parts uh of the series oh my gosh that is you know I will I’ll kind of go through the different hours but for hour one um we have uh in the literary our literary and quotes setting um Andre Holland Reading uh the words of uh
French poets and else one of the earliest books written by a black person um and yes black people spoke French fluently um but just the black love sequence you know just really just um for me that section always just pulls at my heartstrings um you know also I think that in black
Women I think are dominating our two I mean we have uh Magdalena Walker with um you know the penny Savings Bank you know that was just just empowering um and you know we also do a nod to you know another thing is the nod that we do
To Ebony magazine and I mean most of us know if the generation we used to get the big you know poster size so Ebony magazine did you know how the tiny size of jet but that was that was just like just so nostalgic for me
Um and then just you know the last hour I think um there’s just you know a lot of gems in there as well but definitely you know looking at um the rent parties I’m sorry different parties but looking at hip hop um and even just our last point about
Just black Joy yeah yeah that’s funny you mentioned ebony you think about in this day and age what it cost to print that thing in full color at that size and then put it in the mail and send it all across the company exactly [Laughter] I don’t know it is it is
So so I wonder what you want people to to take away from uh from from all this work both black people and uh other populations who don’t share our experience in history well for for black people I just want them to just smile I just want us to
Just kind of take a moment and just sit back and just reflect I want them to feel encouraged and empowered um I think it’s just it’s definitely going to be a Nostalgia moment for a lot and it’s also going to be probably a learning moment for another generation
That might not know about some of these spaces I know for me there’s a lot that I I didn’t learn um but I just want people just to to kind of savor that you know it’s you know Joy is in the midst Joy is in the midst of this struggle Joy’s in the
Midst of the suffering um for those who are outside of um our Circle you know I think it’s just a testimony of that black folks existed you know to that point of struggle it wasn’t always about you know the man oppressing us it wasn’t always about you
Know we had a life you know we had Joy you know the the African-American experience um is huge and it’s not just that narrow space it’s not just that one note um but it’s it crosses everything from politics to social obviously we know about religion um you know Financial that you know we
Had agency we continue to have agencies so I think it’ll be a moment of just of just showing that black Excellence lives in so many spaces yeah yeah yeah and it’s it’s I mean I think it’s an important point that uh we need people outside our community to watch this to
Know about us and to smile with us uh about about ourselves yeah yeah and I think just overall too this speaks about the importance of community I mean you know I think all of us coming out of a pandemic where all some people are a little bit you know shy of of gathering
But we see the importance of community we see the importance of just being in a space um and not even the church you know in a space to just gather just to you know play a game of cards or just to like the beans yeah just a yes yeah
All right uh Stacy Holman always great to have you here congratulations again on making black thank you thank you it was such a pleasure the story of black Greek letter organizations is an essential part of the making Black America documentary African-American fraternities and sororities have maintained their influential role in Black America for
More than a hundred years in advance of the documentary Detroit public television and wdetfm teamed up for a town hall at Wayne State University that focused on the history the contributions and the future of the divine nine fraternities and sororities the event was moderated by Mark Lee of the league
Group here are some excerpts and let me just start out with a very general question discussed Al starting with you the historical context of your organization and how it’s evolved over time if you think about the time that our fraternity was founded which is 1906 Cornell University uh you know you got
To look at the fact that what the racial climate was at the time and you had you know seven gentlemen who were trying to complete their class work and graduate and if you know if you if anyone’s ever been involved in a in a class that was
Tough where you have to work together to try to finish that’s kind of what the where we started where we found how we came about if you look at it from that standpoint they were all said look we need some to support each other and so we’re going to continue to meet and
Um and that’s how this whole thing got started with Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated well Dr Sigma Theta let’s just start with Delta Delta means change and with my organization we’re all about change we were founded on Howard University’s campus in 1913 and the first Public Service Act we did was the
Women’s selfish March where black women were not even allowed to March we had this we had to be in the back of the line but we were diligent we were not we were not going to be denied and we did our first public service act so Delta
Means change and we will continue to be that light for those that are voiceless and those that do not have the opportunity to stand up for themselves so we will we are all about public service and social justice and Michael let’s talk about the great fraternity of
Kappa Alpha Psi cap off inside it’s a college fraternity uh comprised of undergraduates and alumni chapters on major campuses and major cities throughout the throughout the country it was a vision and a dream of our revered founder Elder Watson Diggs and nine others that came together on the
Night of January 5th 1911 on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington Indiana to form you know this fraternity in which look we now members of the fraternity I should say Enjoy you know the fruit of the tree you know that the planet you know for us so uh we’re truly
Truly blessed yeah and let’s look at the challenges going back over 100 years 100 years ago there were certain challenges it’s about voting and other challenges I’ll have those challenges evolve to where we are today so in other words look at the challenges today and how the organizations really adapted to
Those changes and challenges that we’re currently confronting well for one thing I’m not sure there’s been that much change we were uh we were we were certainly working to get people to the polls then and we’re certainly doing it now uh and so now for different reasons we have the
Ability to vote these days but we’re just not voting and so we have worked hard in in this fraternity at least and I know let’s just say for in general all the Divine organizations have worked on similar things to register our people to vote give them the information they need
And get them to the polls it’s quite simple we’re standing on the shoulders of people who actually died so that we can do that and so we are doing our best to continue on that Legacy that was set back then but the challenges are in some ways not all that different
Especially when you look at the climate right now Jump Right In Katrina from your perspective I concur with Alvin when you think about it’s like history is repeating itself so you think about what happened what uh robot versus Wade we’re back to that fight again a woman’s right to choose so
Now that was way back when but to this day we’re still fighting that same fight along with voter suppression they’re changing the they’re changing the rules for us to vote what are the requirements registration and the biggest thing that I think all of us do with the divine
Nine is voters education and that should always be in the Forefront it might you know from your perspective from the capital perspective again challenges 100 years ago to where we are today how has it evolved yeah yeah we’ve made great strides over the years nevertheless what happened then
It’s happening again today as you know trying to set you know poverty you know education uh I would say Health Care educational needs those things you know still exist so we definitely need to step up our game you know to address those and I must say that earlier this year you know
The capital is working with the divine nine we uh partnered up and collaborated and went up to Lansing Michigan you know to to meet with the legislators you know to talk about the issues that are common to us in which we really when we met with the legislator we focus on you know
Voting rights but then we know we agree that we would get back together so that we could make sure we get folks out to the polls to vote this November one of the founding principles is focused on the community but we’ve heard and we know there’s so many challenges
Confronting the black community today so from your perspective Marquis let’s start with you what are the top issues that your organization is focusing on right now I think uh within within Omega Psi Phi we like many other organizations want to make the strongest impact with
Our youth growing up so in order to do that we focus on Reclamation and retention retaining our members reclaiming members that aren’t currently active in order to make a stronger impact on the programming that we have we have an effort where we call it fatherhood and mentoring and that is one
Of our focused areas where we want to bring along the young young men and women in the community in order to ensure that they have the tools that they need to continue to enhance their lives so overall just galvanizing our own Brotherhood is where we really want
To focus on and we have programs to do that each of our chapters throughout the the country internationally yearly we focus on bringing members back in showing them what programs that they can get involved with and making that greater impact together Dr Robinson has the same question for
Akas I mean your top issues top issues the aka’s all right we’re looking for Women from breast cancer and to do that we’ve had the mobile unit mammography unit that we’ve taken over 150 000 women have benefited from that no cost to them we also focus on education and we look at the young children the middle schoolers and the high schoolers and of course the college
Graduates we have many programs together to help them make that transition to other levels but in the black community economic economic management is a big problem with a lot of our families so we have programs to help them become more literate as far as budgeting financing
Accessing funds that they can get and we help them to make that transition applying for loans things like that yeah we wanted to give you an opportunity to respond to the question um well I think we have around we do have uh like five programs that we
Really focus on throughout the year we just did a March a walk with St Jude we have a partnership with them but one of our biggest things that we’ve been focusing on for about the last 10 years or so is Project swim 1922 which is a partnership with USA swimming where we
Teach young African-American kids how to swim but providing them free swimming lessons so that we can lower the numbers of the accidental death rate by Drowning when you talk to young people today about fraternities and sororities what’s important to them I remember when I was being recruited way back in the day I
Knew what was communicated to me and you know 43 years later we still keep in touch the guys I crossed we still we do a zoom every Sunday night but my point is what what are young people what are their expectations I’m gonna start with you Paul what are their expectations today
What are they looking for today that makes them connect with the organization great question so what as a leader what I’ve seen is a lot of them are looking for a safe space a lot of them are coming from families that may not be what I grew up in a
Two-family household or have brothers and sisters you have some people looking for Outlets you have some people who are looking for like Minds so you have those things that is where the kind of conversation kind of starts and then from there again it’s just being relevant in the community showing
Them that there are people who are black who are educated who have two colors and three letters and are still doing things in their Community to remain relevant and visible and at least we come back over to you again same question about the what do young people looking for I
Know all the organizations reaching out to young people you’re trying to certainly touch them and feel them so to speak what are they looking for from my perspective I think those young people are looking for inclusion they want to be included in the organization and feel
As if they are welcome in addition to that they are also looking for someone that will help them grow and develop and get to the next level of their career as to what they are trying to pursue so it’s all about connecting them to resources as you grow and develop them
In addition to that with those young people that are coming from homes that have divine nine structure or exposure in it they want to be a part of that Legacy that lives on and for those who are not part of a Legacy Family where they are exposed to the Divine nines and they
Only know about it when they hit a college campus then they are looking for how can I make this work for me how can I now gain those letters gain the respect be a part of the organization go out and do community service where I feel valued because
That’s what it’s all about and how am I going to make a difference so often we tell young peoples don’t ask me questions sit down uh stay here you haven’t learned enough I promise you generation Millennials and generations years they don’t want to hear that they want to be
Given an opportunity where they are challenged and an opportunity where they could show their skills and they can say I did this yes I align myself with my brothers and sisters of the D9 but they gave me an opportunity they gave me a voice a positive voice
That’s going to do it for us this week you can find out more about our guests at americanblackjournal.org and as always you can connect with us on Facebook and on Twitter take care and we’ll see you next time Foreign Delta faucets to Bare paint Masco Corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces Masco serving Michigan communities since 1929. Support also provided by the cynthian Edsel Ford fund for journalism at Detroit Public TV the DTE Foundation proudly supports 50
Years of American black journal in covering African-American history culture and politics the DTE foundation and American black Journal Partners in presenting African-American perspectives about our communities and in our world also brought to you by Nissan Foundation and viewers like you thank you
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