I am honored to be one of the contributors to speak about the life and impact of Howard Thurman on American History. Other contributors include: Congressman John Lewis, Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Barbara Brown Taylor, Luther Smith, Jesse Jackson, Otis Moss, Jr., Otis Moss III, Anton Wong, Alton B. Pollard III, Walter Earl Fluker, Peter Eisenstadt, Lerita Coleman Brown, Eileen Guenther, and Lawerence Edward Carter, Sr.
To watch the film in its entirety: https://www.pbs.org/video/backs-against-the-wall-the-howard-thurman-story-cgv9gi/
In this Growing Edge Podcast, we talk with author, educator, and activist Gregory Ellison II about his new book, Anchored in the Current, a collection of essays about the enduring influence of mystic, theologian, and civil rights activist Howard Thurma
James Baldwin and the Power of Story: A Prelude to Viewing Barry Jenkins’ rendition of ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’
Stories
Stories have the power to frame our daily living,
to pattern our future.
Stories have the capacity to inform values,
shape beliefs, and craft culture.
But, what happens when a community is not
afforded the space or the platform to share their
story?
When lacking the opportunity to share one’s
story, values can be deformed, beliefs can be
misshapen, and stereotypes can toxify a culture.
For this reason we give thanks for those fearless
enough to share the narrative arc of a people
pushed to the margins of the American Story.
In an essay penned in 1951 entitled, “Many
Thousands Gone,” James Baldwin articulates
the necessity of moving the Negro’s story from
margin to center. With his signature clarity and
precision of words, Baldwin explains:
The story of the Negro in America is the story of
America— or, more precisely, it is the story of
Americans. It is not a very pretty story: The story
of the people is never pretty. The Negro in
America, gloomily referred to as the shadow
which lies athwart our national life, is far more
than that. There’s is a series of shadows, self
created, intertwining, which now we helplessly
battle. One may say that the Negro in America
does not really exist except in the shadow of our
minds.
On this day, we celebrate an artist who used
“Moonlight” to illumine the stories of a people who
are far too often cast in the shadows of
American consciousness.
We anticipate the performance of brilliant
storytellers who were challenged to lift
Baldwin’s words off the page so that we might
see ourselves, our communities, our country
more clearly.
For this feat of bringing James Baldwin to the
public so that this story might inform our values,
shape our beliefs, and craft our culture, we say
thank you.
Without further adieu… “If Beale Street Could Talk.”
Barry Jenkins
Regina King
Colman Domingo
KiKi Layne
A native of Miami and a graduate of Florida
State University,Barry Jenkins is an acclaimed
film director, producer, and screenwriter who is
based in Los Angeles. He is known for his films
Medicine for Melancholy (2008) and Moonlight
(2016), which received dozens of accolades,
including the Academy Award for Best Picture
as well as Best Adapted Screenplay, which
Jenkins shared with co-writer Tarell Alvin
McCraney.
See video from November 2019