Black History Month: February 2021 To recall and celebrate the positive contributions to our nation made by people of African descent, American historian Carter G. Woodson established Black History Week beginning on Feb. 12, 1926. In 1976, as part of the nation's bicentennial, the week was expanded into Black History Month.
TODAY'S SPOTLIGHT ON
JOHN SINGLETON
The writer, director and producer made history at age 24 by becoming the youngest and first African-American to be nominated for Best Director at the Oscars for Boyz N the Hood, which according to Rap-Up, was based on his experiences growing up in South Central Los Angeles.
In addition to Boyz N the Hood, Singleton’s work, which spanned genres and generations, included a remake of Shaft, historical films such as Rosewood, action films such as 2 Fast 2 Furious, and films that questioned the meaning of American masculinity such as Baby Boy and Four Brothers. He also worked with TV and streaming platforms as a director on hits like Billions, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story and Empire.
He is often celebrated for having the foresight to bring mega-talents like Tupac Shakur, Regina King, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Ice Cube, Tyrese and Taraji P. Henson to the attention of the wider public. Henson and Tyrese were among the celebrities who visited Singleton in the hospital.
Early in his career, he directed the Michael Jackson music video for “Remember the Time.”
Boyz N the Hood remains one of the definitive movies of a generation. Boyz N the Hood is currently housed in the Library of Congress.
In 2003, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
He died in 2019 after suffering a stroke at age 51.
QUOTES
On taking filmmaking seriously: “I really took filmmaking very seriously… It was an honor and then a crutch also, because at a young age, I was like, I guess I'm a serious filmmaker. I never set out to be a serious filmmaker. I just set out to make movies.”
On having fun: “I try to keep focused on the things that really make me happy and just do those same things.”
On being honest: “Because, if I'm honest, people in the white world might be appalled, but in the black world, they're making myths out of me. And I know that ain't the life.”
On being a teacher: “It's cool for me because I'm a director, but I'm also a teacher. I'm a lover of cinema, and I love working with people who are hungry and have the energy to really do better work.”
AUDIO
John Singleton on his diverse film resume:
“In the beginning of my career, all I wanted to do was be taken seriously as a filmmaker, so I chose to like, develop projects that would have some social relevance. I went to film school because I love movies so I'm going to flip on everybody and just do some popcorn stuff–and that started with Shaft and then, you know now, this movie (2 Fast 2 Furious). I feel that I'm best serve my career by doing different types of movies.”
Ice Cube on John Singleton's film Boyz N the Hood.
“Well, John is important because, you know, being a black man, he wanted to make sure that on film that he was able to produce the black experience, you know, uncut, so people can really see how we are, how we feel, not on the tip that most movies were kind of exploring, you know, black reality. So I think he was just a champion to try to show the world, you know, what we are all about. And so I think, you know, he's a great man for that. And with the movie Boyz N the Hood, what I loved about the movie, it taught you guys like Doughboy are real guys, real people with real issues that, you know, life may have given them a bad hand, and they're trying to do things to survive and get over it and understand the world and not just guys you see on the eleven o'clock news getting put in the back of the car, you know. These are guys who have issues. And Boyz N the Hood was able to show guys like Doughboy are real people and not just what America calls criminals.” (1:13 OC: . . .what America calls criminals.)
Ice Cube on meeting John Singleton.
“I never got a chance to talk to Arsenio because I saw a kid come up to me who was pretty much my age saying, you're Ice Cube, huh? I'm going to put you in a movie. I was like, okay, man, watch out. You know what I mean? He said I'm a junior at USC, and you're going to be perfect. I said okay. I didn't believe him because I didn't think I was qualified at all. He's a junior at USC. How I was he going to put me in a movie? I was at a Public Enemy concert the next year and this dude comes walking up. Remember me? I'm John. I'm a senior now at USC and I'm going to put you in this movie still. And I'm like, okay. He's telling me about the movie but I'm distracted. Everybody leaves and his ride leaves him, and he looks at me like, Cube, you can give me a ride to my dorm? What the hell did I get myself into. So I'm like, all right. Did you give him a ride? I gave him a ride. Because he's a cool dude. I didn't want to leave him out there. It's kind of dangerous after the club so I gave him a ride, didn't see him, you know, didn't hear from him. My manager a year later comes to me and says, hey, somebody wants to puts you in a movie. I'm like what? Why? I'm totally unqualified. So, so I go in, and it's John. It's him sitting there. Like, I graduated. I'm like, yay, congratulations.” (1:30 OC: . . .I'm like, yay, congratulations.)
TODAY IN BLACK HISTORY:
In 1870, Hirman R. Revels of Mississippi sworn in as first Black U.S. senator and first Black representative in Congress. In 1948, Martin Luther King Jr ordained as a Baptist minister. In 1964, Muhammad Ali defeated Sonny Liston for world heavyweight boxing championship. In 1971, President Nixon met with members of the Congressional Black Caucus and appointed a White House panel to study a list of recommendations made by the group. In 1975, Elijah Muhammad (77), leader of the Nation of Islam, died in Chicago. He was succeeded by his son, Wallace D. Muhammad. In 1978, Daniel “Chappie” James Jr. (58), retired Air Force general and the first Black promoted to four-star rank, died at the Air Force Academy, Colorado. In 1980, Robert E. Hayden, poet and poetry consultant to the Library of Congress, dies. In 1987, Edward Daniel Nixon, former president of the Georgia NAACP, died at age 87 In 1989, Boxer Mike Tyson becomes the undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World by defeating challenger Frank Bruno of England. In 1991, Adrienne Mitchell, the first African American woman to die in combat in the Persian Gulf War, is killed in her military barracks in Dharan, Saudi Arabia In 1992, James Brown receives a lifetime achievement Grammy award. In 1999, White supremacist John William King, one of three white men accused of chaining James Byrd to a pickup and dragging him along a Texas road until he was decapitated, was found guilty and subsequently sentenced to death by lethal injection. In 2009, President Obama honored Stevie Wonder his musical hero, with America's highest award for pop music, the Library of Congress' Gershwin prize at a ceremony at the White House.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH QUESTION OF THE DAY
Who was the first African-American female pilot?
Answer: Bessie Coleman
(Source: PBS.org)
BLACK HISTORY MONTH: SPOTLIGHT ON TOM BRADLEY:
Tom Bradley (1917-1998), the five-term mayor of Los Angeles, and its first African-American mayor, was born to Lee and Crenner Bradley, poor sharecroppers who lived in a log cabin outside Calvert, Texas. His grandfather had been a slave. From Texas, his family moved to Arizona to pick cotton, and then to Los Angeles, in 1924, where Bradley's father found work as a porter for the Santa Fe railroad. His mother worked as a maid. The family grew to five children before the Bradleys were divorced.
Athletics became Tom Bradley's stepping stone to a better life. His stellar record in track and football at Los Angeles Polytechnic High School earned him an athletic scholarship to UCLA, where he became the track team's top quarter-miler. During his junior year he took an exam to join the Los Angeles Police Dept. and placed near the top. He joined the department in 1940; the following year he married Ethel Arnold, whom he first met in church.
In 1940, the LAPD numbered 100 African-Americans among its 4,000 officers, reflecting the racial discrimination that was prevalent in Los Angeles at the time. As an African-American officer, he later told the Los Angeles Times, “you either worked Newton Street Division which has a predominantly black community, or you worked traffic downtown. You could not work with a white officer, and that continued until 1964.”
In 1963, in his first run for public office, he won election to the Los Angeles City Council, the first African-American ever to do so. His 10th District was centered in the multi-ethnic Crenshaw area, the majority of whose voters were white. Coalition-building was an early feature of Bradley's political career. As a councilman, he spoke out against racial segregation within the LAPD, as well as the department's handling of the Watts Riots in 1965.
Bradley first ran for Mayor of Los Angeles in 1969, challenging the conservative incumbent Sam Yorty. Bradley finished first in the primary, but lost in the general election after a bitter campaign in which Yorty portrayed him as a black militant and ultra leftist. Undeterred, Bradley opposed Yorty again in 1973, this time successfully, having built a powerful, citywide racial, religious and ethnic coalition. He won re-election an unprecedented four more times before retiring in 1993. He died in September 1998 at the age of 80 following a heart attack.
(Source: socialhistory.org)
John Singleton On Career Arc :
John Singleton On Doing All Types Of Movies :
LATE SHOW Ice Cube on John Singletons film Boyz N the Hood :
LATE SHOW Ice Cube on meeting John Singleton :
Sam Jackson On John Singleton :