Mavis Staples and Mahalia Jackson perform at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival in Summer of Soul.įinancially, the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival was co-sponsored by the City of New York and the Maxwell House coffee company. As musician and filmmaker Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson's strategic direction makes clear, these concerts were organized to reveal and encourage a new Pan-African push for social justice. Black America's acute sense of being forcibly denied both altruistic leadership and hope made the Harlem Cultural Festival about more than mere music. The 1969 edition of the festival was a carefully coordinated reaction to these cumulative losses. Kennedy in 1968, ordinary Black citizens were tired of counting martyrs. Having lost Medgar Evers in 1963, Malcolm X in 1965, then both the Reverend Dr. Non-violent and legislative attempts to dismantle institutionalized racism had led to a devastating series of political assassinations during the 1960s, most attributed to arcane conspiracy theories. Unlike Woodstock, these concerts were no sybaritic celebration of hippie counterculture, but a direct response to the profound losses and violence endured by Black activists and progressives that preceded that summer. The stage featured extraordinary artists from the sisterly harmonies of The Staple Singers to headlining sets by B.B. But Woodstock, while avowedly anti-war and anti-imperialist, was also synonymous with sex, psychedelics, and rock & roll.Įach weekend from June 29 to August 24 in 1969, thousands of Harlem residents flocked to what is now Marcus Garvey Park. On the surface, the new concert film Summer of Soul may easily read as a black alternative to the well-documented four days of Woodstock - the predominantly white music festival that got so much attention in August of 1969. Singer Abbey Lincoln performing at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival in a scene from the new concert film Summer of Soul.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |