Visionary Vibes: A Blog by Aberjhani

Weapons of Choice in Black Americans' Ongoing Battle for Justice and Equality

2/7/2022

"The Harlem Renaissance and the Art of Correcting Social Injustice" art poster by Aberjhani.

As you can see by the date at its bottom, the first edition of the poster included with this blog entry was created just as the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning to flood America’s, and the world’s, collective healthcare system with its deadly presence. It was a joy to design this at the request of Live Oak Library officials in Savannah, Georgia. But that joy, to a large extent, was then eclipsed by a painful irony when the pandemic forced libraries to close their doors for a time.

We’ve all experienced a lot of life-changing history since then. Both the pandemic, and deaths of African-Americans at the hands of law enforcement officials (or imitators of the same) and gang-bangers, continue to reveal how social injustices and inequities impact realizations of the “American dream” for indigenous Blacks.

Harlem Renaissance Revolutionaries and Tools of Protest

Among the lasting gifts bestowed upon America, and for that matter upon the world, by African Americans during the Harlem Renaissance are strategies for addressing social injustice with intelligently-designed tools of protest. This first quote on the poster, from Splendid Literarium: A Treasury of Stories, Aphorisms, Poems, and Essays, celebrates one approach to resolving racial tensions of the period:

“The artists, poets, authors, musicians, and educators of the Harlem Renaissance were advocates for social and political justice by default. Simply daring to express and share their artistic impulses made them revolutionaries of a kind. The weapon of choice in their battles for freedom and equality? It was always inspired life-affirming creative genius.”

This second statement, from the book Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah, places attempts at racial reconciliation within the context of that “bigger history” which incorporates accounts of human and environmental progressions:

“…History is a lover of grand epics as well as small miracles and therefore allows for exceptions.”

The word ‘exception’ as used above is a big one because it can be, and often is, applied to events characterized as either favorable or unfavorable. Such characterization depends on the observer doing the interpreting.

Tactics and Influencers

At the time of the Harlem Renaissance, many witnessed the astounding power of the July 28, 1917, Silent Parade protest march in New York City. It was staged to demonstrate against the numerous lynchings of African-Americas, the overtly-racist Jim Crow system prevalent throughout America, and the violent riots which began to occur as a result. The very nature of the Silent Parade–– organized by author and activist James Weldon Johnson, Black beauty products pioneer and philanthropist Madame C.J. Walker, sociologist and author W.E.B. Du Bois, and other influencers––demanded respectful acknowledgement.

Throughout the 1900s, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) perfected its process for dismantling apartheid in America through litigation. Taking on such controversial cases as the tragic Scottsboro Nine in 1931, and the more triumphant Brown versus Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, in 1953 (the historic decision was handed down in 1954), the organization helped advance practices of democracy when presidents and members of the U.S. Congress were failing to do so.

And while racial and social conflicts filled the streets of America during the 1960s and 1970s, educators dedicated to the Black Arts Movement pressed for balanced representations of diverse cultures in classroom textbooks. Their goals were very similar to supporters of Critical Race Theory in this current historical moment.

A question often raised during public discourses on the tumultuous nature of present-day U.S. society is: Where do we go from here? And: How do we get there? Maybe the answer is as simple as choosing to exercise a little more faith in our capacity for embodying love and compassion instead of nursing heedless addictions to fear and hateful destruction. We do now, after all these many decades, know well the differences between the two.

Aberjhani
Co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance
Author of Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah
Creator of Original Silk-Featherbrush Artstyle

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Springing Forward with Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah

3/23/2019

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"Simply by allowing its darker-hued brothers and sisters to openly discuss ideas without having to constantly justify, defend, or survive the color of their skin, whether in classrooms of the great Sorbonne or while walking un-hunted down a boulevard, Paris [France] made a crucial contribution to what would become known as the Harlem Renaissance and to the legacy of African-American intellectual traditions in general." from Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah quote, art graphic, & new 2019 book by Aberjhani. Click image to pre-order.

The basic image in this quotation art graphic was derived from visual studies prepared for the works of art which have become known as Harlem Renaissance Deja Vu Numbers 1 and 2 canvases. The work seen above was modeled after a famous photo (photographer unknown at this point) of a young James Baldwin holding a copy of his essay collection, No Name in the Street. In the poster graphic viewed here, this author is seen holding a copy of the forthcoming title, Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah (ISBN 978-9388125956) currently slated for release May 1, 2019. It is also now the focus of a new blog-site you can check out by clicking either the art graphic or this link: Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah

With actress Regina King having won Golden Globe and Academy Awards for her portrayal of Sharon Rivers in the film adaptation of Baldwin's classic novel, If Beale Street Could Talk, plus the critical acclaim garnered by the 2016 biopic, I Am Not Your Negro, the iconic Baldwin is possibly more famous now than ever before. And No Name In Street, of course, has gone on to become an American literary classic.

The personal essay style utilized in Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah may or may not reflect some of Baldwin's influence. He is referenced in the stories "Cities of Lights and Shadows and Dreams," and "Trees Down Everywhere" but any stylistic similarity is not intentional. Contemporary authors who grew up reading Baldwin, as I did, are more likely than not to have been influenced by him to one degree or another on one level or another.

Connecting and Disconnecting

The observation noted in the above quote about the city of Paris's connection to the cultural arts revolution known as the Harlem Renaissance might seem out of place in a book titled Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah. In fact it is not. One reason is because the book is being published during the 100th anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance.

Another is because Savannah, like Paris, also has strong ties to the event which is generally recognized as having lasted throughout the 1920s going into the 1930s, but which endured to a lesser degree well into the 1940s. That such an unlikely connection can be identified between the Harlem Renaissance, Paris (France), and Savannah (Georgia, USA) is one more example of how the phenomenal movement transcended geographical boundaries and strengthened the case for harmonious interactions between multicultural communities.

I first explored that three-way connection in an essay titled The Harlem Renaissance Way Down South, and now revisit it in the aforementioned story, "Cities of Lights and Shadows and Dreams." The narrative stands as a good metaphor for one of the primary concerns highlighted in Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah: how we connect and why we sometimes disconnect during disruptive, or stagnant, moments in our personal lives and shared public histories. Measuring, determining, and applying the value of such awareness holds possible advantages for many more than the denizens of just one city or region.

Aberjhani
100th Anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance

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Tribute to Harlem Renaissance Chronicler Sandra L. West (part 2): Worthy of Our Ancestors' Legacy

3/7/2019

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Honoring educator, author, & community activist Sandra L. West. Title art graphic by Aberjhani.

That the story of two chroniclers of the Harlem Renaissance should have had its beginning in Savannah, Georgia, in the early 1990s, might seem unlikely but it did. Sandra and I met as writers often do: in a bookstore. I was the manager at a now defunct Waldenbooks store interviewing for a part-time worker and she was interested. The interview turned into a two-person literary salon as, somehow, we started talking about writers of the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, and contemporary art.

Scheduling requirements would not allow me to hire her but neither did it bring our dialogue to an end. Long before either of us would consider working on Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance, within a year she would suggest I consider writing poetry for a book of her then husband Luther E. Vann's art. We would for a time work together on the Savannah Literary Journal, and in her role as an assistant editor for the weekly Savannah Tribune, one of the oldest African-American newspapers in the country, she would publish a feature story on me. We would also team up for different literary programs, so when the time did come to tackle the encyclopedia we were ready, as a team, to answer history's call to duty.

Worthy of Our Ancestors' Legacy

Although we moaned, groaned, and outright blubbered over difficulties encountered completing Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance, the hardcore truth was we were two lit-geeks who would have been disappointed had there not been any major hurdles to overcome and thereby prove ourselves worthy of our ancestors' legacy. If ever any book was worth burning candles at ends we did not even have, it was the encyclopedia. Sandra trusted that I would pull through because I was somewhat younger and had energy enough to carry my multiple loads. I trusted she would pull through because she had one of the finest literary minds and most committed dispositions toward African-American literary culture I had ever encountered. Moreover, it was she who had invited me to join the project.

This is a framed news article titled "A legend’s place" written by Sandra L. West about Georgia civil rights icon W.W. Law. It hangs on the wall of the W.W. Law Center in Savannah, GA. The photo in the lower right corner is of West. The article was published in the Savannah Morning News Black History Month 1996.

The really big surprise was one that often stuns first-time authors. It was learning how much promotional work remained to be done after the writing was accomplished. That was also the fun part with Sandra taking on book signings and interviews up north while I did the same down south. Still, she emailed to remind me it was not enough that we had completed the history-making volume itself. We needed to record the history we were continuing to make through related activities:

"Aberjhani, we need to keep a running list of what we have done thus far. Especially since we have done a ton of public relations stuff ... I know you have been busy on your end and I would like to have at least one major list of things done ... because, you never know. Please plug in what you did... radio interview for Michael Porter and WBAI, the Gusby TV interview, signings, etc. We also need to plug in print reviews, and all those newspaper interviews of you.
I know you are writing your next books. But, when you come up for air, maybe you can plug in an item or two so that by the end of the year, this will be in formal order and will be a very decent line of defense, etc.

Sandra

P.S. I think we are going to win the Before The Columbus Foundation Award.

By "line of defense" she meant irrefutable proof the success of the encyclopedia warranted additional printings and a revised, maybe expanded, second edition. The follow-up eventually would come in the form of InfoBase’s eBook of the title and its addition to publisher Facts On File's history database. Any plans on an updated edition to correspond with the current Harlem Renaissance centennial never surfaced. Given the significance of the 100th anniversary of the renaissance and the way numerous institutions are observing it around the globe, many thought an updated reissue was going to happen automatically. But the world of publishing in 2019 as impacted by social media and various Internet influencers is a far cry from what it once was. So in 2003 my co-author assigned herself the role of Team Encyclopedia scorekeeper and started recording notes like the following:

SEPTEMBER 2003, BOOK SIGNING. Aberjhani & Sandra L. West host Book
signing at Rutgers University, Newark, NJ. West and Dr. Clement Alexander Price presented formal papers on Harlem Renaissance. Includes interview on area cable tv show, Literary Forum. Host. Dorothea Moore.

OCTOBER 2003, BOOK SIGNING. Sandra L. West hosts book signing during
historic 2nd Street Festival at Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, Richmond, VA.

RADIO INTERVIEW. Sandra L. West is guest on "Jazz Tracks" WPLJ-FM, Cleveland, OHIO. Spoke about Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance.

BOOK SIGNING/PRESENTATION. Sandra L. West book signing host. Delivered presentation on Harlem Renaissance at Sisters Uptown Bookstore, NYC.

BOOK SIGNING. Sandra L. West signed books at Hue-Man Books in Harlem.

BOOK SIGNING/PRESENTATION. Sandra L. West book signing host. Delivered presentation at Countee Cullen Library, Harlem.

NOVEMBER, BOOK SIGNING. Sandra L. West signed books at Gospel
Brunch with Vickie Winans, at Robert Treat Hotel in Newark, NJ.

PHONE INTERVIEW. Sandra L. West was interviewed by students at Denver School of the Arts in Colorado re Harlem Renaissance artists. Students are preparing a documentary film.

EXCERPT ON WEB. Excerpt from book, article on Harleston's written by Sandra L. West, included on Goucher College Website, as part of Alumni Showcase.

BOOK SIGNING/PRESENTATION. Sandra L. West and Dr. Clement A. Price hosted book signing and presented formal papers on Harlem Renaissance at Newark Public Library.

BOOK SIGNING. Sandra L. West signed books at Barnes & Noble, Libble Place and Broad Streets, Richmond, VA.

BOOK SIGNING/PRESENTATION. Sandra L. West signed books and spoke about Harlem Renaissance at Rare Wear Bead Shop, event co-sponsored by Sister Circle and Sacred Women, two community groups in Richmond, VA.

DECEMBER, BOOK AUCTION. Sandra L. West will auction off one signed copy of ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE at fundraiser Radio-Thon for WBAI-FM, New York.

KWANZAA. Sandra L. West one of several featured authors to present speeches on topic of Umoja/Unity at Kwanzaa Celebration sponsored by African Voices magazine, New York.

In Conclusion

So what does all of this mean? Simply that no matter what notes or accounts might suggest anything to the contrary, Sandra was one of the most brilliant committed wordsmith's to ever glance in this writer's direction. The gift she labored to present this world is one I have no doubt put smiles on the faces of our Harlem Renaissance ancestors, that greatest of African-American generations which led our people through the barbaric wilderness of the post-Civil War Black Codes and Jim Crow apartheid toward the more democratic civil rights realizations of the 20th century. I can hardly say how honored I was--and how grateful I remain--to share with her such powerful work filled with meaning, overflowing with splendid vision, and so truly blessed with purpose.

Aberjhani
100th Anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance

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Tribute to Harlem Renaissance Chronicler Sandra L. West (part 1): Accomplishing Mission Impossible

3/7/2019

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Honoring co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance Sandra L. West (1947-2019). Art graphic by Aberjhani based on original book cover which features art by Jacob Lawrence.

Somewhere in the digital files accumulated while working with Sandra L. West on Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance is a long poem I wrote--at a time when we were both feeling exhausted by our literary labors--to renew our motivation to finish the book. Having learned earlier this week of Sandra's passing last month on Valentine's Day, I wanted very much to find it.

What I recall about the poem is that it placed our determination to complete the encyclopedia within the context of challenges faced by our Harlem Renaissance heroes to get their work done. Instances such as the historical reality of James Weldon Johnson repeatedly risking his life in different towns to establish new chapters of the NAACP, or Zora Neale Hurston moving a small heater from one room to another in a cold Harlem, New York City, apartment to keep her hands warm while typing, did not invalidate our personal struggles but did diminish the anguish they caused.

For her part in keeping hope alive as we wrote what would become a Choice Academic Title Award-winning volume, Sandra used to conclude all of her emails with several inspiring and empowering quotes. They included this one from the great poet and essayist Audre Lorde:

"When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid."

During one low point, when frustration more than fear nearly got the better of us, she grumbled: "...I have never worked so hard. I am still tired from it. My face has lines in it, encyclopedia tracks, I call them, just like the tracks in a junkie's arms."

"Encyclopedia tracks": That was some kind of weariness and addiction. But we were no more about to throw in the towel than Ida B. Wells-Barnett had been about to give up her gun when investigating reports on lynching.

Mission Impossible Accomplished

The obstacles confronting us as we employed every ounce of strength we could command in service to our vision were not minor. In my case, it was a matter of balancing the extensive research and composition of articles with being a full-time caregiver. In Sandra's, it meant continuing the work at the same time she negotiated significant life changes: going through a divorce while also relocating from Savannah, Georgia, to Richmond, Virginia, to New York City and eventually back to her alma mater of Rutgers University in Newark, NJ.

Sandra L. West and Aberjhani at 2003 Rutgers University-Newark book launch for Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. (Photo cred: Bright Skylark Literary Productions Collection)

Obviously, with help from a few friends like the late Dr. Clement Alexander Price, who gifted us with a foreword for the book, we did make it to the finish line and enjoyed an amazing launch party for the encyclopedia at Rutgers University in 2003. Not long afterwards, numerous reviews, book-signings, and interviews followed. Below is an excerpt from a spring 2004 interview with Sandra published in the EBONY WATCH newsletter of the Organization of Black Faculty and Staff, Rutgers University-Newark. Her response to the interviewer's question makes it clear why she felt our stress and agonies were worth the battle won:

Q. There are many reference books about the Harlem Renaissance. What makes your volume stand out?

A. The Harlem Renaissance was not only a literary period or just a music period, though it sometimes appears that it is, based upon the strength of Langston Hughes' jazz poetry or the development of gospel and jazz music during that period. Aberjhani, the co-author, and I tried to approach the era from many more angles than are likely to be found elsewhere. There are discussions in the book, for example, of multicultural and homosexual relationships during the Harlem Renaissance. There is a glossary of slang vocabulary, the distinctive language of Harlemese, which were culled from a "jive" dictionary written by Cab Calloway, Zora Neale Hurston's folklore vocabulary, expressions from the community folk, and other oral history sources.

You can't have growth of a people
without growth of a community."
Sandra L. West

"You will see information about sports, journalism, and education. And, how the Harlem Renaissance impacts on contemporary times. Even before the impact upon contemporary times is how the Renaissance influenced the nation and the world. Especially Africa and the Caribbean, via the Negritude Movement. And how the music migrated with African Americans as they fled Georgia and Alabama during the Great Negro migration and resettled their sorrow songs and blues songs into urban centers like Chicago, Newark, and Harlem.
"The Harlem Renaissance was an era of The New Negro, the growth of an entire people. You can't have growth of a people without growth of a community. African Americans would never be the same again; they developed dances, dances that were tried out in cotton fields that made it to the stages of Broadway during black America's era of black music revues, and they marched against lynching. They wrote sonnets (read Countee Cullen), urban drama novels much like the hip hop novels of today (read Claude McKay's Home to Harlem), and established organizations-- The Urban League is a perfect example-- and publications, just look at The Crisis--that are still with us. It was a heady time, one of the most important times in the history of African American people. All of this excitement had to be captured in an encyclopedia, a readable encyclopedia that would hold the attention of young people and older readers for generations to come in an era, the 21st century, when the Internet reigns supreme."

NEXT: Tribute to Harlem Renaissance Chronicler Sandra L. West part 2: Worthy of Our Ancestors' Legacy

By Aberjhani
100th Anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance

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Text and Meaning in Dick Gregory's 'Nigger' (part 1): Laughter and Revolution

10/10/2017

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Two icons of the African American Civil and Human Rights struggle: Dick Gregory (left) and Muhammad Ali. (photo credit attributed to Reuters File)

In his lifetime, Dick Gregory (1932-2017) achieved the distinction of becoming a celebrated athlete, conscientious comic, civil rights leader, devoted (in his own singular way) family man, philanthropist, American icon, and author of more than a dozen books.Publisher Harper Collins released his most recent title, Defining Moments in Black History, Reading Between the Lies, on September 5, 2017. The event was a highly-significant one for a 21st-century America in which racial conflicts continue to fuel social and political division. It also represented the extension of a major literary legacy begun at the height of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.

‘For Black Folks and White Folks’

Gregory possessed an uncanny ability to transform the soul-crushing anguish of racism and poverty into healing inspiration. As rare as such a gift can be, it is on full display in his first triumphant publishing venture: the classic autobiography titled Nigger, (written with Robert Lipsyte).

My used paperback edition of the book was published in 1964 and has a cover price of $1.94. On its now-famous front is a beautiful black and white photograph of Gregory beside a red starburst with bold white text announcing in all caps: OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD. The copy in my possession has been so thoroughly read and re-read by different people that the cover has started coming off and had to be reinforced with cellophane tape.

As impressive as the book’s 1 million-plus sales figures are, equally noteworthy is an observation shared by Gregory in its pages about the history and future of the struggle to which he would dedicate so much of his life:

“It started long before I came into it, and I may die before it’s over, but we’ll bust this thing and cut out this cancer. America will be as strong and beautiful as it should be, for black folks and white folks” (p. 209).

Few in 1964 would have imagined those words retaining the relevance which they have for more than half a century. Yet the #TakeAKnee and Black Lives Matter movements, both of which owe some ideological debt to the icon’s legacy, indicate they have never been more applicable. In addition, Mr. Gregory has indeed passed on while the struggle has not halted but intensified in ways unpredictable before the advent of social media.

On August 20, the day before the great eclipse of 2017, I learned that Gregory had died on the 19th at the age of 84. Prior to learning about his death, my plan for the day had been to spend some time constructing an outline for an article or an op-ed in response to suggestions the Confederate Monument in Savannah’s (Georgia, USA) Forsyth Park should be removed. But news of the great satirist’s demise prompted me once again to pick up his brilliant autobiography.

‘More Hope in Laughing’

In his own way, Richard Claxton Gregory, who was born on Columbus Day, was as politically dynamic as Malcolm X, as spiritually motivational as Martin Luther King Jr., and as socially revolutionary as Nelson Mandela. Yet his talent for coaxing laughter out of the most brutally inhumane situations set him apart as an astonishingly unique and painfully necessary individual.

He said his genius for employing comedy in the face of humor-less oppression derived from a lesson taught by Lucille Gregory (1909-1953) his mother, whom he saw cruelly beaten by Presley Gregory (b.?-1964) his father: “She taught us that man has two ways out in life—laughing or crying. There’s more hope in laughing” (p. 25).

In regard to the highly-controversial word chosen for the title of his autobiography, he examined it from many different angles and concluded it said more about people who used it to express hatred that it did about people who were targets of its use. He himself employed it in different situations, such as in 1963 during a protest demonstration in Greenwood, Mississippi, when threatened by a white policeman: “Nigger, you want to go to jail?” (p. 172). By that time, when he was 30 years old, Gregory had already become one of the most successful comedians in America and responded to the policeman as follows:

“Come here, boy, let me tell you something. I could take you to Chicago today and let you walk through my home, then come back here and walk through your home, and out of the two of us you’d know which one was the nigger” (p. 172).

Cover of Dick Gregory's classic autobiography "Nigger" (E.P Dutton Publisher,1964).

His words represented more than just a furious retort. Gregory felt a deep compassion for humanity as a whole; one of his early mentors was the white Southern Illinois University track and field coach Leland “Doc” Lingle. Like many of the great civil rights activists of his time and now, he believed racism was at least as injurious to those who practiced it as it was to those dis-empowered by it.

In the universe as the comically-inclined author saw it, whether certain words cause an individual’s soul to bleed or help it to heal depends on the emotional intent expressed behind its use. Hatred can turn a beautiful poem into a curse. Love can transform an expletive into a benediction. Therefore, the same word which word which sustained an intense encounter between him and a policeman could make others smile: such as when reading this dedication to his mother:

“Dear Momma––Wherever you are, if you ever hear the word ‘nigger’ again, remember they are advertising my book.”

Maintaining that fine-line balance between humor and rage never became easy. In light of the author’s commitment to eradicating social injustice, however, the ability to do so remained critical.

NEXT: Text and Meaning in Dick Gregory’s ‘Nigger’ part 2: Unyielding Commitment

About Aberjhani

On any given day of the week, the creator of Postered Chromatic Poetics and co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance, Aberjhani, may be found wearing any number of hats: historian, visual artist, poet, advocate for compassion, novelist, journalist, photographer, and editor. Having recently completed a book of creative nonfiction on his hometown of Savannah, Georgia (USA) he is currently working on a play about the implications of generational legacies as symbolized by efforts to rename the Eugene Talmadge Memorial Bridge.

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Weapons of Choice in Black Americans' Ongoing Battle for Justice and Equality

Harlem Renaissance Revolutionaries and Tools of Protest

Tactics and Influencers

Aberjhani
Co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance
Author of Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah
Creator of Original Silk-Featherbrush Artstyle

Contact Aberjhani at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

Springing Forward with Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah

Connecting and Disconnecting

Aberjhani
100th Anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance

Contact the Author

Tribute to Harlem Renaissance Chronicler Sandra L. West (part 2): Worthy of Our Ancestors' Legacy

Worthy of Our Ancestors' Legacy

In Conclusion

Contact the Author

Tribute to Harlem Renaissance Chronicler Sandra L. West (part 1): Accomplishing Mission Impossible

Mission Impossible Accomplished

Contact the Author

Text and Meaning in Dick Gregory's 'Nigger' (part 1): Laughter and Revolution

‘For Black Folks and White Folks’

‘More Hope in Laughing’

About Aberjhani

Contact Author

Aberjhani

Archives

Categories

Weapons of Choice in Black Americans' Ongoing Battle for Justice and Equality

Harlem Renaissance Revolutionaries and Tools of Protest

Tactics and Influencers

Aberjhani Co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance Author of Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah​ Creator of Original Silk-Featherbrush Artstyle

Contact Aberjhani at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

Springing Forward with Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah

Connecting and Disconnecting

Aberjhani 100th Anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance

Contact the Author

Tribute to Harlem Renaissance Chronicler Sandra L. West (part 2): Worthy of Our Ancestors' Legacy

Worthy of Our Ancestors' Legacy

​In Conclusion

Contact the Author

Tribute to Harlem Renaissance Chronicler Sandra L. West (part 1): Accomplishing Mission Impossible

Mission Impossible Accomplished

Contact the Author

Text and Meaning in Dick Gregory's 'Nigger' (part 1): Laughter and Revolution

‘For Black Folks and White Folks’

‘More Hope in Laughing’

About Aberjhani

Contact Author

Aberjhani

Archives

Categories

Aberjhani
Co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance
Author of Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah
Creator of Original Silk-Featherbrush Artstyle

Aberjhani
100th Anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance

In Conclusion