VOA CONNECT
EPISODE 81
AIR DATE 08 02 2019
TRANSCRIPT
OPEN ((VO/NAT))
((Banner))
Slavery in America
((SOT))
((Bill Wiggins, Hampton Historian))
I just cant imagine the sailing into the bay of these chained
individuals in a strange land.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Identity in Art
((SOT))
((James Terrell, Visual Artist))
People say that our race has been broken, but I say that we
have been put back together and were stronger as a
people.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Strength in Song
((SOT))
((NATS))
((DALE MARCELLIN, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
Capoeira is for everybody, but everybody is not for Capoeira.
You know what I mean?? Like a snake, Capoeira will grab
you.
((Open Animation))
BLOCK A
((PKG)) ECHOES OF 1619
((Banner: Echoes of 1619))
((Reporter/Camera: Chris Simkins))
((Editor: Betty Ayoub))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Hampton, Virginia))
((Main characters: 6 male, 3 female))
((NATS))
((Pop-Up Banner:
400 years ago, the trade ship White Lion arrives carrying
the first enslaved Africans to English North America))
((NATS))
((Calvin Pearson, President, 1619 Society))
The ship came up the Chesapeake Bay, and it landed here
at Point Comfort in the latter part of August of 1619, and on
that ship were 20 and odd Africans.
((NATS))
((Calvin Pearson, President, 1619 Society))
The first Africans who were brought here were destined for a
life of servitude. They had to work the plantations from
sunup to sunset, the tobacco fields, the corn fields. They
had to work these fields with no hope of ever being free.
((Bill Wiggins, Hampton Historian))
It makes me feel goosebumps and a sad nostalgia. I just
cant imagine the sailing into the bay of these chained
individuals in a strange land, not knowing anything about
where they were. Being taken off of the vessel and told,
You are going to work here. You are going to live here.
((Cassandra Newby Alexander, Norfolk State
University))
These were free people who had been kidnapped as free
people and sold into slavery.
((Pop-Up Banner:
A few days after the White Lions arrival, another ship
brought an enslaved woman named Angela))
((Cassandra Newby Alexander, Norfolk State
University))
Angela, interestingly, is the only African whose name was
actually written in the records in 1620, that survived. Now,
there may have been other names mentioned, but those
records did not survive.
((NATS archeological dig))
((Pop-Up Banner:
Archaeologists are searching for clues about Angelas life at
the Jamestown settlement))
((James Horn, President, Jamestown Rediscovery))
With Angela, we can tell the much broader story of slavery
and the beginnings of slavery in our country, and racism
which really went hand in hand with slavery. And at the
same time, give Angela, through our imagination, some
sense of identity, some sense of dignity.
((Bill Wiggins, Hampton Historian))
They did most of the work, and a number of them obviously
died in the process, but we owe a debt to those Africans,
because they were the foundation of the economic
development of what became the United States of America.
((Pop-Up Banner:
The economic benefits of slavery were not confined to the
south))
((Pop-Up Banner:
Preservation efforts are underway at a colonial-era burial
ground in Newport, Rhode Island))
((Keith Stokes, Newport Historian))
So, as early as 1650, Newport had a burial place where
anyone, regardless of race or class or ethnicity, could be
buried. By 1705, the northwest section of this burying
ground, we are starting to see enslaved Africans buried
there. And over the next 100 years, hundreds and hundreds
of markers and hundreds and hundreds of burials are being
made at that burying ground. We believe there were at least
3,000 burials during the life cycle of that burying ground.
((NATS: cemetery))
((Keith Stokes, Newport Historian))
My own family is buried here, but more importantly, its a
sense of African identity. I mean, this is a place where men
and women of African descent actually lived in this
community and were buried here. And it gives me a direct
connectivity to the history of my own community.
((Keith Stokes, Historian))
So, one of the great ironies of Rhode Island is the fact that
we are founded under religious freedom, but we soon enter
and dominate the enslavement of human beings in the
African slave trade.
((NATS street))
((Rev. Nicholas Knisely, Bishop of Episcopal Diocese of
Rhode Island))
The church, particularly in Rhode Island, profited directly
from the slave trade. But in a more direct way, we owned
slaves. We had clergy who owned slaves. We had slaves
who were owned by the missionary organizations that were
creating by the Anglican churches here in the United States.
((Keith Stokes, Historian))
Between 1705 and 1805, there are at least 900 documented
slave ships that begin in Rhode Island and eventually end
from West Africa, through the West Indies, and back to
Rhode Island.
((Locator:
DeWolf Cemetery, Bristol, Rhode Island))
((NATS
This is where it is, right?
This is the DeWolf family cemetery.))
((James DeWolf Perry, Descendant of slave trader
James DeWolf))
This is the funeral mound of James DeWolf. It is hard to
muster much sympathy for the lack of dignity in this for
someone who engaged in slave trading, and on that kind of
an epic scale.
((James DeWolf Perry, Descendant of slave trader
James DeWolf))
James DeWolf and his extended family brought more
than12,000 enslaved Africans across the Middle Passage,
and are probably responsible for about half a million people
who are alive today in the Americas, descended from those
who crossed the Middle Passage on their ships.
((Katrina Browne, Descendant of slave trader James
DeWolf))
They would take rum, primarily, as well as other
commodities, to the coast of West Africa to trade for men,
women and children, who were then brought back to be sold
at auction either in the Caribbean and primarily that was
in Cuba or in the American South, in ports like
Charleston, South Carolina.
((James DeWolf Perry, Descendant of slave trader
James DeWolf))
All of this was tremendously important in building the
economy of the North and what became the United States.
In the colonial era, the slave trade, and the provisioning
trade to slave plantations of the West Indies, were a key part
of what allowed the British colonies to prosper and
eventually to rebel against Great Britain and become an
independent nation. It's incumbent upon me, as someone
with this kind of a family history, and knowing about this
history, to speak out about what our family did, and to help
other people draw the connections to the ways in which their
families are connected to slavery. If we bury the dark parts
of a family history, if we bury the dark parts of a national
history, we will start to assume things like that didn't happen,
and that will greatly distort our understanding how we got
here today.
((Locator:
Hampton, Virginia))
((NATS))
((Pop-Up Banner:
Born to slavery in Virginia in 1624, William Tuckers African
parents arrived on the White Lion))
((Pop-Up Banner:
His descendants are buried here))
((Brenda Tucker, Descendant of William Tucker, First
African Family in Virginia))
There were so many captured and put on the slave ships.
So many did not survive, but those that did survive, we are
the healthy ones, our ancestors. It is a sacred ground for us.
And so, there is no way we can pass it or walk through it
without thinking of an ancestor. We exist because they
worked hard. They struggled. They did whatever they had
to do to survive.
((NATS))
((PKG)) SLAVERY KIDS
((Banner: Children of Hampton))
((Reporter/Camera: Deepak Dobhal))
((Map: Hampton, Virginia))
((Main characters: 2 male, 5 female))
((Kearstin, Student, Third Grade))
So many statues were slave owners when it was such a
horrible thing to have slavery. So, my thing is, why? That's
my question, why? That's, that's my question, why?
((MUSIC))
((NATS))
((Robin Hunt-Crenshaw, Principal, George P. Phenix
School))
We are approximately 11 miles [18 km] away from Fort
Monroe, where the first African-Americans arrived
approximately 400 years ago. I am Robin Hunt-Crenshaw,
the principal here at George P. Phenix Pre-K through 8
school. The school is predominantly African-American.
Today, I will be meeting with 3rd and 4th grade students to
discuss the issues of slavery, what they know about slavery.
((MUSIC))
((Kearstin, Student, Third Grade))
We need to learn about slavery because in the upcoming
generations, we can't all just believe that this country was
always different races combined together. We have to know
what our history was. There was land being taken from
different races because they were that race, and I don't feel
like any of that is right because we're all human beings.
((Jeremiah, Student, Fourth Grade))
Now were allowed to do stuff that we couldnt do before.
We have to know, this is why we're free and this is why we
can do this.
((Dion, Student, Student, Fourth Grade))
Some people say it was nice back then, but it wasn't always
nice.
((Gabriella, Student, Third Grade))
Almost two years ago, in Charlottesville, Virginia, there was
people in their cars who was running over people. Me and
my family took a trip, and while we were on our way, we
were driving in Charlottesville and we had to be very careful.
((Dion, Student, Fourth Grade))
Ive seen on the news where a black man was trying to ask
for directions, and he knocked on a white persons house.
The husband, he went and got the gun and chased the black
man off. So, I thought that might have been, well, was it
because he was black? Or did they think he was trying to,
like, steal something? And I thought it was really mean.
((London, Student, Third Grade))
People don't like it and some people want to treat other
people unfairly still after all that's happened.
((Caleb, Student, Fourth Grade))
People just don't get treated the way that they deserve.
They just get treated very wrong.
((Dion, Student, Fourth Grade))
Sometimes people think that is still right to keep people
separated. It's like, its happening again, and people are
starting, working it up again.
((Jeremiah, Student, Fourth Grade))
Black males and females that are getting shot. People are
losing their lives and they haven't done anything. So, I think
we can improve that.
((Kearstin, Student, Third Grade))
Like he said, people are, innocent people are getting shot for
no reason. We could change that. There's a whole lot more
to be improved. We, we as Americans have to be united.
((Gabriella, Student, Third Grade))
We live in the United States. United means that we're all in
this together, but people arent getting treated fairly because
people are not doing the right thing, and we should all do the
right thing because we're in this together.
((Montage of students))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up..
((Banner))
Embracing Identity
((SOT))
((Zsudayka Nzinga Terrell, Visual Artist))
My people, whatever happened between the place they left
in Africa and the place they were sold once they got here,
we have become a new culture.
BREAK ONE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK B
((PKG)) AFRICAN AMERICAN ART IDENTITY
((Banner: From Across the Ocean))
((Reporter: Faiza Elmasry))
((Camera: Mike Burke))
((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: Manassas, Virginia))
((Main characters: 1 male, 1 female))
((Pop-Up Banner:
Two artists express their heritage s descendants of Africans
brought to America))
((NATS))
((James Terrell, Visual Artist))
The art is based on the African American experience, the
black experience, from slavery until now.
((NATS))
((James Terrell, Visual Artist))
All right, this piece is called Mami Wata. Mami Wata is a
goddess of the sea.
((NATS))
((James Terrell, Visual Artist))
During the triangle trade, slave trade, sometimes slaves
were thrown overboard. And when they were thrown
overboard, there were books written about how those
particular people became mermaids.
((NATS))
((James Terrell, Visual Artist))
My art is very focused on, I guess in terms of stain glass
windows, the breaking up of the space. I like to break down
the image with the vertical lines, horizontal, diagonal lines,
but I also like to play with the color. So, Im really into color
theory. So, growing up in a church, I was into stained glass
windows and how light comes through the windows and how
the colors vibrate and how they are layered next to each
other.
((NATS))
((James Terrell, Visual Artist))
Its trying to be uplifting, like the poses are in uplifting
poses. Theyre not bowed down, theyre not hung over, but
theyre standing firm, standing strong. Their lines are to
symbolize the fact that people say that our race has been
broken, but I say that we have been put back together and
were stronger as a people. The different colors represent
the fact that we come from different backgrounds, and yet
we all come together and were still together to form a
particular person or a particular feeling.
((NATS))
((Zsudayka Nzinga Terrell, Visual Artist))
They have the classic European style art circles of suns
around their heads. Im from Denver. I went to
predominantly white schools when I was growing up and we
would do things, like we would take field trips to the art
museums and we would go look at all this beautiful art and
there would be no black artists represented.
((Zsudayka Nzinga Terrell, Visual Artist))
I remember when I was a sophomore in high school, they
gave an assignment to trace back your lineage, and so, the
white kids were able to get up and talk about hundreds of
years of their background and where they come from and
who they are, and there was me and one other black kid in
the class who could go back to a plantation in Virginia and
thats it.
((NATS))
((Zsudayka Nzinga Terrell, Visual Artist))
My people were brought here on the bottom of a ship, and
they were sold and they were renamed and they would travel
from plantation to plantation. If they were sold to another
plantation, they might have been renamed. So, for me, that
set me on a journey of trying to define myself as, you know,
clearly Im American. My people, whatever happened
between the place they left in Africa and the place they were
sold once they got here, we have become a new culture and
maybe thinking about embracing that culture and embracing
that identity as what I am as an American descendant of
slavery.
((Zsudayka Nzinga Terrell, Visual Artist))
So, my artwork is very reflective of trying to define what that
identity looks like. So, youll see a lot of things that remind
people of, like, African prints and African textiles, but youll
also see things that are reminiscent of American culture and
American print and textile.
((NATS))
((James Terrell, Visual Artist))
Id say that we have a healthy competition. We work
together. We influence each other. We guide each
other. The people love the colors. They love the energy
They love the images. They love the fact that we are a
husband and wife team. We were able to create by having
three kids of our own. So, I think its a very healthy situation.
((NATS))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up..
((Banner))
Capoeira
((SOT))
((NATS))
((DINAJ, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
The music is great. You can really feel it in your soul. And
when you sing along, you feel like you are part of something
greater, a part of something more. So, its not really
uncommon for someone to start crying when they hear a
song or to get goose bumps.
BREAK TWO
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK C
((PKG)) CAPOEIRA ANGOLA
((Banner: Capoeira))
((Reporter / Camera: Mayra Fernandes, Karina
Choudhury))
((Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((Main characters: 4 male, 1 female))
((Pop-Up Banner with stills, music:
Capoeira is an art form that combines music, dance and
martial arts. Rooted in the rich cultures brought to Brazil by
enslaved Africans in the 1500s, Capoeira found resonance
in the United States in the last half century))
((NATS))
((DINAJ, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
A lot of people, blacks in America, are always looking for
some way to get back to their roots, something that, kind of,
connects them. So, I thought it was fitting that Capoeira was
banned in Brazil before being allowed for all Brazilians to
participate in because so many aspects of black American
life were banned before being opened up, you know,
allowing us to vote, allowing us to come in and drink from the
same water fountains and use the same restrooms.
((NATS))
((CLYDE CLARK, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
It integrates music, movements, dance, arts, philosophy and
history, all in one form, as well as a complexity and
intelligence of it. I mean, you have to be very
knowledgeable, savvy, remember a lot of things, apply
strategies that wouldnt normally apply, and it, kind of,
teaches a life philosophy. How to smile in the face of danger
is how I put it.
((NATS))
((KHALID THOMPSON, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
There is something about the jovial nature, the slyness of it,
the stories, the mystery, the mystic of it that just drew me in
immediately and I feel like not only are you learning a lot
about yourself, but you are learning a lot about a whole
another world or alternative universe of feelings and
emotions and perspectives that are deeply rooted in African
mysticism and culture.
((NATS))
((JESSIE WINSTON, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
Thats what we do here. Thats what its about. You know,
when I first started, I could barely hold a berimbau. I could
lift a 60-pound dumbbell, but I couldnt hold a berimbau for 2
minutes, but I learned to fall in love with it. When I am not
here, if I have two hours or four hours, Im just playing. I get
home from work, I grab my berimbau and I play because its
therapy.
((NATS))
((DINAJ, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
The music is great. You can really feel it in your soul. And
when you sing along, you feel like you are part of something
greater, a part of something more. So, its not really
uncommon for someone to start crying when they hear a
song or to get goose bumps. The music is, you know,
almost the best part.
((NATS))
((DALE MARCELLIN, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
Capoeira is for everybody, but everybody is not for Capoeira.
Capoeira pulls you into it. All I do is make a comfortable
environment where people could come sing and have a
good time and enjoy themselves and, like a snake, Capoeira
will grab you.
((NATS))
((KHALID THOMPSON, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
The music is very hypnotic, powerful and it just automatically
grabs you. The rhythms of the atabaques and the
berimbaus, and the slowness and depth of the beat, it just
resonates and moves something in your body.
((NATS))
((JESSIE WINSTON, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
Liberation. Thats really it, liberation and community. Right
now, in this country theres chaos, theres separation.
People are realizing that things we thought were in repair
arent really in repair. We have a lot of work to do, but we
are also realizing we are disconnected, that black
communities in this country are falling apart. There is no
more Harlem. D.C. isnt Chocolate City. Oakland isnt
Oakland. And we need help. We need to realize how we
can reconnect, how we can build community and Capoeira
started with that. It started with people who are of
disconnected origins, who are in a foreign land, under
foreign rule and needed something, needed an identity and
something they could grasp on to and something to hand on
to their children and family to make them stronger and thats
what I am looking for today.
((NATS))
PROMO
((Banner))
African American Rodeo
Go to voanews.com/voa-connect
((SOT))
((NATS))
((Valeria Howard-Cunnigham, President - Bill Picket
Invitational Rodeo))
Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo was created 35 years ago. My
deceased husband did dome research and found out that
there were thousands of black cowboys and cowgirls across
the United States, but for some reason, they were not given
the opportunity to showcase their talents. So, the story
needed to be told and that was the whole purpose of
creating this association. 35 years ago, it was very
necessary. The doors have opened over the years and
black cowboys and cowgirls are now showcased in those
other rodeos, but its the only African American touring
rodeo. This is home, so, its something that I think the
African American community feels like they own it. Its their
story.
((NATS))
CLOSING ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect
FREE PRESS MATTERS
((NATS))
((Pop-Up captions over BRoll))
Near the Turkish Embassy
Washington, D.C.
May 16, 2017
President Erdogans bodyguard attacks peaceful protesters
Those terrorists deserved to be beaten
They should not be protesting our president
They got what they asked for
While some people may turn away from the news
We cover it
reliably
accurately
objectively
comprehensively
wherever the news matters
VOA
A Free Press Matters
BREAK
SHOW ENDS
EPISODE 81
AIR DATE 08 02 2019
TRANSCRIPT
OPEN ((VO/NAT))
((Banner))
Slavery in America
((SOT))
((Bill Wiggins, Hampton Historian))
I just cant imagine the sailing into the bay of these chained
individuals in a strange land.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Identity in Art
((SOT))
((James Terrell, Visual Artist))
People say that our race has been broken, but I say that we
have been put back together and were stronger as a
people.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Strength in Song
((SOT))
((NATS))
((DALE MARCELLIN, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
Capoeira is for everybody, but everybody is not for Capoeira.
You know what I mean?? Like a snake, Capoeira will grab
you.
((Open Animation))
BLOCK A
((PKG)) ECHOES OF 1619
((Banner: Echoes of 1619))
((Reporter/Camera: Chris Simkins))
((Editor: Betty Ayoub))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Hampton, Virginia))
((Main characters: 6 male, 3 female))
((NATS))
((Pop-Up Banner:
400 years ago, the trade ship White Lion arrives carrying
the first enslaved Africans to English North America))
((NATS))
((Calvin Pearson, President, 1619 Society))
The ship came up the Chesapeake Bay, and it landed here
at Point Comfort in the latter part of August of 1619, and on
that ship were 20 and odd Africans.
((NATS))
((Calvin Pearson, President, 1619 Society))
The first Africans who were brought here were destined for a
life of servitude. They had to work the plantations from
sunup to sunset, the tobacco fields, the corn fields. They
had to work these fields with no hope of ever being free.
((Bill Wiggins, Hampton Historian))
It makes me feel goosebumps and a sad nostalgia. I just
cant imagine the sailing into the bay of these chained
individuals in a strange land, not knowing anything about
where they were. Being taken off of the vessel and told,
You are going to work here. You are going to live here.
((Cassandra Newby Alexander, Norfolk State
University))
These were free people who had been kidnapped as free
people and sold into slavery.
((Pop-Up Banner:
A few days after the White Lions arrival, another ship
brought an enslaved woman named Angela))
((Cassandra Newby Alexander, Norfolk State
University))
Angela, interestingly, is the only African whose name was
actually written in the records in 1620, that survived. Now,
there may have been other names mentioned, but those
records did not survive.
((NATS archeological dig))
((Pop-Up Banner:
Archaeologists are searching for clues about Angelas life at
the Jamestown settlement))
((James Horn, President, Jamestown Rediscovery))
With Angela, we can tell the much broader story of slavery
and the beginnings of slavery in our country, and racism
which really went hand in hand with slavery. And at the
same time, give Angela, through our imagination, some
sense of identity, some sense of dignity.
((Bill Wiggins, Hampton Historian))
They did most of the work, and a number of them obviously
died in the process, but we owe a debt to those Africans,
because they were the foundation of the economic
development of what became the United States of America.
((Pop-Up Banner:
The economic benefits of slavery were not confined to the
south))
((Pop-Up Banner:
Preservation efforts are underway at a colonial-era burial
ground in Newport, Rhode Island))
((Keith Stokes, Newport Historian))
So, as early as 1650, Newport had a burial place where
anyone, regardless of race or class or ethnicity, could be
buried. By 1705, the northwest section of this burying
ground, we are starting to see enslaved Africans buried
there. And over the next 100 years, hundreds and hundreds
of markers and hundreds and hundreds of burials are being
made at that burying ground. We believe there were at least
3,000 burials during the life cycle of that burying ground.
((NATS: cemetery))
((Keith Stokes, Newport Historian))
My own family is buried here, but more importantly, its a
sense of African identity. I mean, this is a place where men
and women of African descent actually lived in this
community and were buried here. And it gives me a direct
connectivity to the history of my own community.
((Keith Stokes, Historian))
So, one of the great ironies of Rhode Island is the fact that
we are founded under religious freedom, but we soon enter
and dominate the enslavement of human beings in the
African slave trade.
((NATS street))
((Rev. Nicholas Knisely, Bishop of Episcopal Diocese of
Rhode Island))
The church, particularly in Rhode Island, profited directly
from the slave trade. But in a more direct way, we owned
slaves. We had clergy who owned slaves. We had slaves
who were owned by the missionary organizations that were
creating by the Anglican churches here in the United States.
((Keith Stokes, Historian))
Between 1705 and 1805, there are at least 900 documented
slave ships that begin in Rhode Island and eventually end
from West Africa, through the West Indies, and back to
Rhode Island.
((Locator:
DeWolf Cemetery, Bristol, Rhode Island))
((NATS
This is where it is, right?
This is the DeWolf family cemetery.))
((James DeWolf Perry, Descendant of slave trader
James DeWolf))
This is the funeral mound of James DeWolf. It is hard to
muster much sympathy for the lack of dignity in this for
someone who engaged in slave trading, and on that kind of
an epic scale.
((James DeWolf Perry, Descendant of slave trader
James DeWolf))
James DeWolf and his extended family brought more
than12,000 enslaved Africans across the Middle Passage,
and are probably responsible for about half a million people
who are alive today in the Americas, descended from those
who crossed the Middle Passage on their ships.
((Katrina Browne, Descendant of slave trader James
DeWolf))
They would take rum, primarily, as well as other
commodities, to the coast of West Africa to trade for men,
women and children, who were then brought back to be sold
at auction either in the Caribbean and primarily that was
in Cuba or in the American South, in ports like
Charleston, South Carolina.
((James DeWolf Perry, Descendant of slave trader
James DeWolf))
All of this was tremendously important in building the
economy of the North and what became the United States.
In the colonial era, the slave trade, and the provisioning
trade to slave plantations of the West Indies, were a key part
of what allowed the British colonies to prosper and
eventually to rebel against Great Britain and become an
independent nation. It's incumbent upon me, as someone
with this kind of a family history, and knowing about this
history, to speak out about what our family did, and to help
other people draw the connections to the ways in which their
families are connected to slavery. If we bury the dark parts
of a family history, if we bury the dark parts of a national
history, we will start to assume things like that didn't happen,
and that will greatly distort our understanding how we got
here today.
((Locator:
Hampton, Virginia))
((NATS))
((Pop-Up Banner:
Born to slavery in Virginia in 1624, William Tuckers African
parents arrived on the White Lion))
((Pop-Up Banner:
His descendants are buried here))
((Brenda Tucker, Descendant of William Tucker, First
African Family in Virginia))
There were so many captured and put on the slave ships.
So many did not survive, but those that did survive, we are
the healthy ones, our ancestors. It is a sacred ground for us.
And so, there is no way we can pass it or walk through it
without thinking of an ancestor. We exist because they
worked hard. They struggled. They did whatever they had
to do to survive.
((NATS))
((PKG)) SLAVERY KIDS
((Banner: Children of Hampton))
((Reporter/Camera: Deepak Dobhal))
((Map: Hampton, Virginia))
((Main characters: 2 male, 5 female))
((Kearstin, Student, Third Grade))
So many statues were slave owners when it was such a
horrible thing to have slavery. So, my thing is, why? That's
my question, why? That's, that's my question, why?
((MUSIC))
((NATS))
((Robin Hunt-Crenshaw, Principal, George P. Phenix
School))
We are approximately 11 miles [18 km] away from Fort
Monroe, where the first African-Americans arrived
approximately 400 years ago. I am Robin Hunt-Crenshaw,
the principal here at George P. Phenix Pre-K through 8
school. The school is predominantly African-American.
Today, I will be meeting with 3rd and 4th grade students to
discuss the issues of slavery, what they know about slavery.
((MUSIC))
((Kearstin, Student, Third Grade))
We need to learn about slavery because in the upcoming
generations, we can't all just believe that this country was
always different races combined together. We have to know
what our history was. There was land being taken from
different races because they were that race, and I don't feel
like any of that is right because we're all human beings.
((Jeremiah, Student, Fourth Grade))
Now were allowed to do stuff that we couldnt do before.
We have to know, this is why we're free and this is why we
can do this.
((Dion, Student, Student, Fourth Grade))
Some people say it was nice back then, but it wasn't always
nice.
((Gabriella, Student, Third Grade))
Almost two years ago, in Charlottesville, Virginia, there was
people in their cars who was running over people. Me and
my family took a trip, and while we were on our way, we
were driving in Charlottesville and we had to be very careful.
((Dion, Student, Fourth Grade))
Ive seen on the news where a black man was trying to ask
for directions, and he knocked on a white persons house.
The husband, he went and got the gun and chased the black
man off. So, I thought that might have been, well, was it
because he was black? Or did they think he was trying to,
like, steal something? And I thought it was really mean.
((London, Student, Third Grade))
People don't like it and some people want to treat other
people unfairly still after all that's happened.
((Caleb, Student, Fourth Grade))
People just don't get treated the way that they deserve.
They just get treated very wrong.
((Dion, Student, Fourth Grade))
Sometimes people think that is still right to keep people
separated. It's like, its happening again, and people are
starting, working it up again.
((Jeremiah, Student, Fourth Grade))
Black males and females that are getting shot. People are
losing their lives and they haven't done anything. So, I think
we can improve that.
((Kearstin, Student, Third Grade))
Like he said, people are, innocent people are getting shot for
no reason. We could change that. There's a whole lot more
to be improved. We, we as Americans have to be united.
((Gabriella, Student, Third Grade))
We live in the United States. United means that we're all in
this together, but people arent getting treated fairly because
people are not doing the right thing, and we should all do the
right thing because we're in this together.
((Montage of students))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up..
((Banner))
Embracing Identity
((SOT))
((Zsudayka Nzinga Terrell, Visual Artist))
My people, whatever happened between the place they left
in Africa and the place they were sold once they got here,
we have become a new culture.
BREAK ONE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK B
((PKG)) AFRICAN AMERICAN ART IDENTITY
((Banner: From Across the Ocean))
((Reporter: Faiza Elmasry))
((Camera: Mike Burke))
((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: Manassas, Virginia))
((Main characters: 1 male, 1 female))
((Pop-Up Banner:
Two artists express their heritage s descendants of Africans
brought to America))
((NATS))
((James Terrell, Visual Artist))
The art is based on the African American experience, the
black experience, from slavery until now.
((NATS))
((James Terrell, Visual Artist))
All right, this piece is called Mami Wata. Mami Wata is a
goddess of the sea.
((NATS))
((James Terrell, Visual Artist))
During the triangle trade, slave trade, sometimes slaves
were thrown overboard. And when they were thrown
overboard, there were books written about how those
particular people became mermaids.
((NATS))
((James Terrell, Visual Artist))
My art is very focused on, I guess in terms of stain glass
windows, the breaking up of the space. I like to break down
the image with the vertical lines, horizontal, diagonal lines,
but I also like to play with the color. So, Im really into color
theory. So, growing up in a church, I was into stained glass
windows and how light comes through the windows and how
the colors vibrate and how they are layered next to each
other.
((NATS))
((James Terrell, Visual Artist))
Its trying to be uplifting, like the poses are in uplifting
poses. Theyre not bowed down, theyre not hung over, but
theyre standing firm, standing strong. Their lines are to
symbolize the fact that people say that our race has been
broken, but I say that we have been put back together and
were stronger as a people. The different colors represent
the fact that we come from different backgrounds, and yet
we all come together and were still together to form a
particular person or a particular feeling.
((NATS))
((Zsudayka Nzinga Terrell, Visual Artist))
They have the classic European style art circles of suns
around their heads. Im from Denver. I went to
predominantly white schools when I was growing up and we
would do things, like we would take field trips to the art
museums and we would go look at all this beautiful art and
there would be no black artists represented.
((Zsudayka Nzinga Terrell, Visual Artist))
I remember when I was a sophomore in high school, they
gave an assignment to trace back your lineage, and so, the
white kids were able to get up and talk about hundreds of
years of their background and where they come from and
who they are, and there was me and one other black kid in
the class who could go back to a plantation in Virginia and
thats it.
((NATS))
((Zsudayka Nzinga Terrell, Visual Artist))
My people were brought here on the bottom of a ship, and
they were sold and they were renamed and they would travel
from plantation to plantation. If they were sold to another
plantation, they might have been renamed. So, for me, that
set me on a journey of trying to define myself as, you know,
clearly Im American. My people, whatever happened
between the place they left in Africa and the place they were
sold once they got here, we have become a new culture and
maybe thinking about embracing that culture and embracing
that identity as what I am as an American descendant of
slavery.
((Zsudayka Nzinga Terrell, Visual Artist))
So, my artwork is very reflective of trying to define what that
identity looks like. So, youll see a lot of things that remind
people of, like, African prints and African textiles, but youll
also see things that are reminiscent of American culture and
American print and textile.
((NATS))
((James Terrell, Visual Artist))
Id say that we have a healthy competition. We work
together. We influence each other. We guide each
other. The people love the colors. They love the energy
They love the images. They love the fact that we are a
husband and wife team. We were able to create by having
three kids of our own. So, I think its a very healthy situation.
((NATS))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up..
((Banner))
Capoeira
((SOT))
((NATS))
((DINAJ, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
The music is great. You can really feel it in your soul. And
when you sing along, you feel like you are part of something
greater, a part of something more. So, its not really
uncommon for someone to start crying when they hear a
song or to get goose bumps.
BREAK TWO
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK C
((PKG)) CAPOEIRA ANGOLA
((Banner: Capoeira))
((Reporter / Camera: Mayra Fernandes, Karina
Choudhury))
((Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((Main characters: 4 male, 1 female))
((Pop-Up Banner with stills, music:
Capoeira is an art form that combines music, dance and
martial arts. Rooted in the rich cultures brought to Brazil by
enslaved Africans in the 1500s, Capoeira found resonance
in the United States in the last half century))
((NATS))
((DINAJ, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
A lot of people, blacks in America, are always looking for
some way to get back to their roots, something that, kind of,
connects them. So, I thought it was fitting that Capoeira was
banned in Brazil before being allowed for all Brazilians to
participate in because so many aspects of black American
life were banned before being opened up, you know,
allowing us to vote, allowing us to come in and drink from the
same water fountains and use the same restrooms.
((NATS))
((CLYDE CLARK, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
It integrates music, movements, dance, arts, philosophy and
history, all in one form, as well as a complexity and
intelligence of it. I mean, you have to be very
knowledgeable, savvy, remember a lot of things, apply
strategies that wouldnt normally apply, and it, kind of,
teaches a life philosophy. How to smile in the face of danger
is how I put it.
((NATS))
((KHALID THOMPSON, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
There is something about the jovial nature, the slyness of it,
the stories, the mystery, the mystic of it that just drew me in
immediately and I feel like not only are you learning a lot
about yourself, but you are learning a lot about a whole
another world or alternative universe of feelings and
emotions and perspectives that are deeply rooted in African
mysticism and culture.
((NATS))
((JESSIE WINSTON, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
Thats what we do here. Thats what its about. You know,
when I first started, I could barely hold a berimbau. I could
lift a 60-pound dumbbell, but I couldnt hold a berimbau for 2
minutes, but I learned to fall in love with it. When I am not
here, if I have two hours or four hours, Im just playing. I get
home from work, I grab my berimbau and I play because its
therapy.
((NATS))
((DINAJ, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
The music is great. You can really feel it in your soul. And
when you sing along, you feel like you are part of something
greater, a part of something more. So, its not really
uncommon for someone to start crying when they hear a
song or to get goose bumps. The music is, you know,
almost the best part.
((NATS))
((DALE MARCELLIN, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
Capoeira is for everybody, but everybody is not for Capoeira.
Capoeira pulls you into it. All I do is make a comfortable
environment where people could come sing and have a
good time and enjoy themselves and, like a snake, Capoeira
will grab you.
((NATS))
((KHALID THOMPSON, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
The music is very hypnotic, powerful and it just automatically
grabs you. The rhythms of the atabaques and the
berimbaus, and the slowness and depth of the beat, it just
resonates and moves something in your body.
((NATS))
((JESSIE WINSTON, CAPOEIRA PRACTITIONER))
Liberation. Thats really it, liberation and community. Right
now, in this country theres chaos, theres separation.
People are realizing that things we thought were in repair
arent really in repair. We have a lot of work to do, but we
are also realizing we are disconnected, that black
communities in this country are falling apart. There is no
more Harlem. D.C. isnt Chocolate City. Oakland isnt
Oakland. And we need help. We need to realize how we
can reconnect, how we can build community and Capoeira
started with that. It started with people who are of
disconnected origins, who are in a foreign land, under
foreign rule and needed something, needed an identity and
something they could grasp on to and something to hand on
to their children and family to make them stronger and thats
what I am looking for today.
((NATS))
PROMO
((Banner))
African American Rodeo
Go to voanews.com/voa-connect
((SOT))
((NATS))
((Valeria Howard-Cunnigham, President - Bill Picket
Invitational Rodeo))
Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo was created 35 years ago. My
deceased husband did dome research and found out that
there were thousands of black cowboys and cowgirls across
the United States, but for some reason, they were not given
the opportunity to showcase their talents. So, the story
needed to be told and that was the whole purpose of
creating this association. 35 years ago, it was very
necessary. The doors have opened over the years and
black cowboys and cowgirls are now showcased in those
other rodeos, but its the only African American touring
rodeo. This is home, so, its something that I think the
African American community feels like they own it. Its their
story.
((NATS))
CLOSING ((ANIM))
voanews.com/connect
FREE PRESS MATTERS
((NATS))
((Pop-Up captions over BRoll))
Near the Turkish Embassy
Washington, D.C.
May 16, 2017
President Erdogans bodyguard attacks peaceful protesters
Those terrorists deserved to be beaten
They should not be protesting our president
They got what they asked for
While some people may turn away from the news
We cover it
reliably
accurately
objectively
comprehensively
wherever the news matters
VOA
A Free Press Matters
BREAK
SHOW ENDS
