Visionary Vibes: A Blog by Aberjhani

African Americans Far from Home (part 1): In Search of Dreams Deferred

2/17/2022

“These clients taught me that, no matter one’s ethnicity or cultural background, most people around the world share similar traits or concerns such as money, health, family and love.”
––author Darrell Gartrell

The African-American identity within the international community is much like a global brand which historically has helped enable the career success of Black U.S. citizens outside their homeland. That is less surprising than it first might seem when considering: the heroic roles American Blacks have played in events such as World Wars I and II in Europe; or when acting as ambassadors of the cultural arts worldwide; or, when coaching voters in South Africa on how to elect Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (1918–2013) as the country’s first Black and democratically-elected president.

The body of literature on African Americans’ adventures outside the United States is extensive and among the world’s richest and most entertaining. The significance of such explorations has been well documented in volumes like Tyler Stovall’s Paris Noir: African Americans in the City of Light (1996); and, in musician Stew’s and Heidi Rodewald’s 2008 award-winning musical, Passing Strange (adapted for the screen by director Spike Lee in 2009).

Fans of iconic author James Baldwin’s famous 1953 essay, “Stranger in the Village,” will recall his blues-flavored musings, while staying in a snow-covered hamlet in Switzerland, on the evolution of racial identities in America. Contemporary author Darrell Gartrell’s 2016 memoir, 21 Years of Wisdom: One Man's Extraordinary Odyssey in Japan, contains equally-compelling insights but presented, obviously, through a very different lens.

Baldwin was an American Black Man self-removed from his beloved community of Harlem in New York City to escape the toxic atmosphere of Jim Crow racism and further develop as a writer. Gartrell did something many techno-charged Millennials accustomed to the practice of working remotely at home might find intriguing: he left his home in South-Central Los Angeles with the intention of seeking and claiming his fortune in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Journey to a Distant Shore

Gartrell introduces readers to his life in the city of Osaka, Japan, 1990s, as he is driving home on a mostly deserted street at 4 a.m. and pulled over by a policeman––on a bicycle. (The scene is more gently humorous than foreboding; yet, for readers unable to shake scenes of fatal encounters between Black people and American policemen over the past decade, it makes a strong contrast.) What starts out as a routine traffic stop for running a red light on a street absent of any other traffic evolves into a requirement for the author to upgrade his international driver’s permit to a valid Japanese license. As he begins to accomplish this, he is reminded of a lesson in survival particularly valuable for the millions of people today immigrating, or fleeing as refugees, from one country to another:

“I would discover in the most blatant way that the driving exam itself had little to do with actual driving, but rather, how well you could take an ass kick’n and keep on tick’n—or at least smiling––a fundamental theme in Japanese society and culture called gaman” (21 Years of Wisdom, pbk ed p. 8).

In the pages which follow, as he experiences a series of thrilling ups and painful humbling downs, it become clear this ability to survive in order to thrive has served him well more than once. And very likely will do so again.

Before delving deeper into the narrative detailing his rise to eminence in Japan’s language school, or “eikaiwa (ae-kai-wa)” industry, Gartrell takes us back in time. Readers are treated first to the thoroughly American story of his mixed ancestry. We are then steered through scenes from his youth, including a visit to Savannah, Georgia, at the age of six with his father, Barnet Gartrell.

From Tragedy to Triumph

Thanks to the entrepreneurial “hustling” of Barnet Gartrell, our narrator’s family had the good fortune of living in relative upper middle class comfort next door to Harlem Renaissance great Flournoy Miller (a celebrated performer whom this writer wrote about in Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance). Comfort, however, did not mean immunity from disruptions such as some of the most violent race riots in American history, harrowing confrontations with members of L.A.’s notorious street gangs, and death. As he points out regarding one fateful season in his adolescence:

“There was a lot to ponder that summer: losing my father to cancer, my best friend and two classmates to murder, even the dog was killed” (p. 30).

The very elements which shade his youth with a sense of tragedy also push him to earn a B.S. degree in finance from California State University and begin exploring possibilities of establishing a life for himself in Europe, or elsewhere, outside the United States. A series of almost mystical encounters eventually find him negotiating his way through the intricacies of Japanese language and customs.

Striving for Success

There is little Gartrell does not cover in his memoir, a book which could also serve as an important college classroom text on business ethics or cultural literacy. From the kind of quirky racial biases and distinct social preferences found in most countries, to observations regarding cultural r/evolutions and his own sexscapades, he paints a large, detailed, and frequently fascinating picture.

Since he is writing about a Black American living in Japan, readers might expect accounts similar in tone to the first chapter’s. Such stories are in fact delivered in a style which effectively blends rhythms of the author’s personal anxieties with the kind of detached observations one might expect from an anthropologist. This becomes less surprising when noting his basic personal philosophy: “…My main beliefs were and continue to be rooted in science. A scientific mind and a refined intuition constitute the perfect balance for any self-respecting Libra” (p. 166).

Anchored by the convictions of his beliefs and his Cal State degree, Gartrell takes his first steps as a “certified sensei,” or teacher, shortly after his arrival in Osaka during Black History Month 1991. In addition to working with a prestigious business college, he pulls double duty by offering private English lessons on the second floor of a McDonald’s restaurant while also managing to learn the Japanese language largely on his own.

By page 102, he is conducting lessons in his apartment. Then, rather “improbably” as Barack Obama described his election to the U.S. presidency, only 78 pages later he is opening his first Wisdom21 school. “I settled on the name ‘Wisdom21,’” he writes, “to reflect all the knowledge I had gleaned from reading New Age books, as well as the new millennium just a few years away” (p. 180)

The various obstacles he overcomes to expand this eikaiwa enterprise teaching English as a second language take their emotional and physical tolls. Keeping his eyes on a long-sought prize, he eventually manages to open a sixth branch in Japan’s capitol city and one of the major financial centers of the world: Tokyo.

NEXT: African Americans Far from Home (part 2): Intimacy, Ethics, and Take-Aways

By Aberjhani
Co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance
Author of Greeting Flannery O’Connor at the Back Door of My Mind
Creator of Original Silk-Featherbrush Artstyle

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Red Summer: Text and Meaning in Claude McKay’s poem 'If We Must Die' (Part 1)

7/16/2021

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This essay was first published in 2015 to commemorate the 95th anniversary of McKay’s literary milestone and in remembrance of the extraordinary Red Summer of 1919. It is now part of an ongoing series of re-posts intended to encourage reflections on Americans’ collective pursuit of racial equality and inspire actions most likely to help achieve it with dignity and intelligence.

As it stands at this moment: One hundred and two years after the initial publication of Harlem Renaissance author Claude McKay’s masterful poem, “If We Must Die,” America finds itself “reckoning” with the consequences of racial inequality allowed to fester for centuries. It doesn’t take a PhD in antiracism to understand how the highly-publicized violent deaths of African Americans over the past 10 years, and the disproportionate number of Black lives lost to COVID-19 from 2020-2021, dramatically mirror the kinds of systemic racism which prompted McKay to pen his classic lines.

Particularly interesting in 2021, however, is how African Americans’ collective refusal to “die” without fighting back in a variety of ways, has motivated populations in different countries around the world to do the same. Ironically, the tensions driving unrest among different populations “of color” on the global front often have more to do with economic inequalities and charges of political corruption than racial factors. Such, apparently, has been the case recently in South Africa, Haiti, Hong Kong, Myanmar, and Russia. Nevertheless, the motivation behind their will to “fight back” has often been linked via social media and other channels to the ongoing struggles of African Americans to refine practices of democracy in their homeland.

Idea of Post-Racialism a Dream Deferred

There were many good reasons to believe America had entered––or at least was about to enter––a golden era of post-racialism following the election of Barack Obama in 2008. Among them was the election of the country’s first African-American president itself, an increasingly diverse American population, and a sociopolitical landscape made more democratic (in appearance at least) by the various influences of technological innovation.

Unfortunately, none of those good noble reasons were able to withstand the onslaught of reality as the number of hate groups in the country began to increase almost immediately, even while the Black prison population and Black unemployment rates continued to do the same. In a word, the country was nowhere near “there” yet.

Red Summers of Yesterday and Today

The growing number of cities where protest demonstrations have occurred over the past few years in response to extreme uses of force by policemen against African Americans, and the very oppressive conditions under which many African Americans continue to live, is eerily similar to another riot-filled time in U.S. history. The period which might first come to mind for most people is the 1960s, a decade in which “race riots” flared up every other year in places such as Greensboro, N.C. (1960), Los Angeles (Watts), Calif. (1964), Detroit, Michigan (1967), and Baltimore (1968).

Art detail from "Blackness as Taught by My Father" by Aberjhani. Available for sale at Fine Art America and on Pixels.com)

However, the historical moment which possibly resembles the current [1915-2021] intense state of racial affairs the most is that of the period leading up to the Red Summer of 1919. As pointed out in Facts on File’s Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance:

“Riots throughout the summer of 1919 occurred in 25 U.S. cities, including Omaha, Nebraska; Washington, D.C.; Longview, Texas; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Knoxville, Tennessee; and Chicago, Illinois; creating the most destructive confrontations between Americans since the Civil War. Nearly a hundred African Americans lost their lives and countless others were injured during this period, which writer and composer James Weldon Johnson described as the Red Summer.” (Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance p. 277)

The conditions leading up to that Red Summer were not very different from those many identify as responsible for the racial tensions America continued to experience in 2015 [and later in 2020]. Back in 1919, the country was in the midst of a major demographic shift, now referred to as the Great Migration, following a horrific war. At that time, African Americans had started moving almost en masse out of the rural areas of the South and making their way to urban centers of the North and Midwest.

At present [referring to 2015], the country is again, following two controversial wars, experiencing history-changing demographic evolutions on multiple fronts. This time it is the heavy immigration of Latinos, Asians, and Indian populations into the country. In addition, an aging U.S. population and the simultaneous maturation of the country’s youngest generation are also redefining America’s social and political landscapes. The parallels, however, between 1919 and 2015 do not end there.

By Aberjhani

CHECK OUT THE ENTIRE 4-PART SERIES:
Poems Matter: Text and Meaning in Claude McKay’s 'If We Must Die' part 2
Fighting Back: Text and Meaning in Claude McKay’s 'If We Must Die' part 3
Timelines: Text and Meaning in Claude McKay's 'If We Must die' part 4

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Rediscovering the Writings of Kahlil Gibran in the Age of COVID-19

1/3/2021

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(“Blossoms of Freedom for Kahlil” art graphic by Aberjhani for Bright Skylark Literary Productions C2021)

All controversies and debates over wearing face masks to the side, medical science played a powerful role in the ability of people around the world to survive the tumultuous rollercoaster of cataclysmic events now forever known as the year 2020. Although less spectacular when it came to taking over news headlines, the comfort provided by the timeless voices of cherished literary heroes also helped us endure mandated and self-imposed quarantines. Included among such voices was that of the Lebanese-American poet and artist Khalil Gibran (January 6, 1883 - April 10, 1931).

That is not at all surprising considering how generations continue to discover and rediscover the value of Gibran’s shared insights on such subjects as: Pain, Death, Work, Teaching, Joy, and Sorrow. His words embroider with uncommon wisdom and beauty the fabric of life as experienced on levels which transcend single personalities or cultures.

Two Important Titles

With the approach of the 100th anniversary of his classic bestselling book, THE PROPHET (first published in 1923), a number of works by and/or about Gibran were republished this past year. Two of the most important were: Beloved Prophet 2020, The Abridged Love Letters of Kahlil Gibran and Mary Haskell Her Private Journals; plus, And the Prophet Said: Kahlil Gibran's Classic Text with Newly Discovered Writings, both edited by Dalton Hilu Einhorn. (My own Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah published in 2019 includes a chapter on Gibran and the artists Claude Monet and Luther E. Vann as featured at the Telfair Museum in Savannah, Georgia.)

In his foreword to And the Prophet Said, poet Daniel Ladinsky describes the Arabic word “wali” as one which has “a range of meanings: custodian, protector, helper, friend of the Beloved, friend of all, or saint.” He then adds: “A book can become a wali.” It was my good fortune many years ago while working as a bookseller to come across a 11th-edition copy of Beloved Prophet. It became for me a much-treasured wali. I later, around 2008, published a review of it on Amazon (it can now be read on Goodreads). Several years after that, I was pleasantly surprised to receive the following inquiry about it:

Dear Aberjhani, you posted a review on Amazon of Beloved Prophet edited by Virginia Hilu. Virginia Hilu was my mother, and she died at a young age when I was very young. I know very little about this book and wondered if you could share with me your impression on what she did and what was significant about her book. Thanks!

--Dalton Einhorn

The Letter that Became an Essay

Einhorn’s request made me realize how important the book was not only to me but within the expanded context of several important legacies defined by creative spiritual visions of art and love. With that in mind, I responded to his short query with a longer letter which evolved into a personal essay:

Hello Dalton Einhorn--

Sharing my impressions of the full implications of what your mother accomplished with Beloved Prophet would require much more than a single email response. As it is, you might want to print this out and read it at your leisure.

Beloved Prophet’s impact carries a definitive weight in several important areas, including that of my personal life. I first came across the book at a public library in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where I was working on a novel and job-hunting around 1988, shortly after leaving the Air Force. I didn’t get a chance to finish reading it at that time because a family emergency forced me to move back to Savannah. But then more than half a decade later I was working as the sales floor manager for Books A Million and discovered a hardback edition of the book on the bottom shelf of one of our bargain tables. This amazing find came at an extremely important time in my life because Savannah was not where I wanted to be, but then I got to finish reading the book I had started in Fort Lauderdale and toward its end discovered Mary Haskell had also returned to Savannah, and her letters to Gibran from the city along with his to her gave me a sense of purpose and destiny for being there. It also gave me a direct cultural connection to Gibran.

Although there are no references that I recall in Beloved Prophet to Mary Haskell donating to Savannah’s Telfair Museum the largest collection of drawings by Gibran possessed by any American museum, (perhaps of any period) she did in fact do exactly that. Such a collection would obviously represent a major prize for any museum and when scholars lecture on it, they invariably reference Beloved Prophet to verify and even sanctify, if you will, the Savannah/Kahlil Gibran connection. The deluxe brochure entitled “To Discover Beauty, the Art of Kahlil Gibran” begins with one of the letters from Mary Haskell taken from the book. And the footnotes at the end of the brochure’s opening essay do acknowledge the book with your mother’s name in 4 out of 7 notes.

To put the historical literary impact of Beloved Prophet in proper perspective, I believe one has to recognize that Gibran’s works in the mid-twentieth century, in both the Arabic and English-speaking world, were for many people not just books of literary excellence but spiritual/philosophical texts they employed to help them achieve personal spiritual integrity. In short, he really was a prophet/saint whom they placed beyond human passions and many of those who wrote about him before the publication of Beloved Prophet placed any accounts of would-be romantic relationships in this context as well. Your mother may not have been the one to first discover the letters themselves but her book very gently and yet very firmly destroyed the image of Gibran as a spiritual ascetic who had risen completely above earthly needs or desires––even though many still prefer denial over the reality–– and gave the world the authentic man as well as the real Mary Haskell. Yet I suspect her purpose was larger than this.

The American mind has generally been one in which spirituality and sexuality generated personal ambivalence and conflict. It seems to me that Virginia Hilu wanted to help resolve the conflict by presenting one of the most iconic spiritual literary figures along with one of the most revered educators and philanthropists as human beings who in one sense indulged their passions while in another balanced and channeled their energies to achieve something greater than temporary satisfaction.

Moreover, her portrait of Haskell as a woman in command of the sexual, intellectual, and social choices that shaped her life even as she empowered the life of a major creative artist, a portrait sculpted from the letters she chose and sometimes “telescoped to one or two pages,” is a major contribution to American women’s biography. In more practical terms, a lot of biographers and scholars knew nothing about these letters and diaries until your mother revealed their existence in book form and it’s now virtually impossible for anyone to attempt a serious biography of Gibran without reference to them.

At the time that I acquired my 11th edition copy of the book, around 1995, the resurgence of “New Age” ideology had become strong enough that much of it began to blend into popular culture and Gibran was often cited as one of the early authors of such metaphysical perspectives in America. I happened to be writing in those years a column called Visionary Vibes and Beloved Prophet actually helped me to clarify some of the ideas and issues I addressed in different installments. Ironically, people who attended my open mic poetry readings often commented that some of my poems reminded them of Gibran when the truth is my poetry at that time was more heavily influenced by Rumi and it was my prose that was more influenced by Gibran’s and Mary Haskell’s voices speaking through the letters in Beloved Prophet. If anyone (You?) chooses to republish a hardback edition of Beloved Prophet, I hope you will consider adding an index–– that would be extremely helpful.

Take care,
Aberjhani

In Conclusion

While Einhorn’s Beloved Prophet 2020 has been abridged to accommodate contemporary reading tastes, his centennial edition of The Prophet has been expanded in a way that intensifies the text of the original. Both represent important extensions of the legacies previously noted. Possibly of greatest significance in regard to Beloved Prophet 2020 is the portrait it provides at this time in history of two people whose love and compassion for each other served as a kind of shelter and empowerment when desperately needed. More than a few souls on different continents can attest to the value of such life-saving connections during the age of COVID-19.

Aberjhani

Co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance
Author of Greeting Flannery O'Connor at the Back Door of My Mind
Creator of Silk-Featherbrush Artstyle

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Encouraging Conscious Coexistence: Conversations with the World 102

9/10/2020

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Postered Chromatic Poetics title art graphic by Aberjhani.

Many of my blogs on the Charter for Compassion website address an international audience on why the practice of conscious global coexistence is crucial to humanity’s survival and how we can work towards achieving it. It is something diplomats from different countries have been trying to help nations accomplish for centuries, so the concept is not new. But we continue to get blindsided in the 21st century by biases and phobias which do more to perpetuate divisions than strengthen unity.

Among the quotations from my work employed the most to help transform international antagonism into global cooperation is the following:

“Individual cultures and ideologies have their appropriate uses but none of them erase or replace the universal experiences, like love and weeping and laughter, common to all human beings.” (from Splendid Literarium: A Treasury of Stories, Aphorisms, Poems, and Essays)

These words were first published as part of the essay “For Love of Paris and a More Compassionate World” following terrorist attacks on the city November 13, 2015. The quotation has since been adopted by groups ranging from students’ civic clubs and online study groups to social service nonprofits and political organizations. It has proven particularly popular in different countries on the continent of Africa. Here are two examples:

Individual Cultures quotation social graphic posted in South Africa

Sign featuring quote on Individual Cultures by Aberjhani created by Facebook user in Kenya.

This third social graphic comes from the United States’ Kearsarge Food Hub in New Hampshire.

Many additional artsy social graphics employing the same words indicate a hunger for something other than the tensions which exist between members of different demographics on different continents in different communities. More importantly, educators, conference speakers, various thought leaders, and men and women from diverse backgrounds are not just quoting the words. They are living the truth behind them and demonstrating the greater unifying possibilities which come with embracing our shared humanity. Few realizations could be considered more important during a COVID-19 pandemic which apparently does not play favorites.

Aberjhani
Author, Poet, Artist
Harlem Renaissance Centennial 2020

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Launch Schedule for Greeting Flannery O'Connor at the Back Door of My Mind

8/30/2020

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Detail "Greeting Flannery O'Connor at the Back Door of My Mind" poster art featuring quote from poem "History and Prophets' Prerogatives." Artwork by Aberjhani now available on Fine Art America and Pixels.com.

Working around the different restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic set back the publication of Greeting Flannery O’Connor at the Back Door of My Mind in more ways than I could have anticipated by almost 6 months. Let’s face, production under these circumstances is a big issue for everybody. The intense events and mounting urgencies of #TheYear2020, however, reemphasized repeatedly the need to keep pushing forward and get the job done. So with the help of a few friends I have done exactly that and am pleased to announce the date of the planned global launch for the title is Labor Day September 7.

Some of you know already that a soft launch recently kicked off with 3 events: 1) the Greeting Flannery (GF) book info page published at Bright Skylark Literary Productions; 2) corresponding artwork posted for sale at Fine Art America and Pixels.com; and 3) fun-type trivia and quiz questions posted on Goodreads.
Here’s the current extended schedule of planned launch events:

Schedule of Events

SEPTEMBER 1 - 30: GF artwork available at 35 percent off using PROMO Code GFGJZH at Fine Art America and Pixels.com. Prints so far include “Converging Grace” with and without quotation text; and, a mixed media visual incorporating the cover of the book into a collage composed of different symbolic pieces. Please Note: THE IMAGE SEEN WITH THIS POST IS A DETAIL FROM “CONVERGING GRACE” WITH QUOTATION TEXT (the quote being from the book and by me).

SEPT 1: Multi-language “Conversations with the World” series kicks off with focus on posters featuring in different languages quotes from my writings which have become, or which are becoming, parts of international dialogues on our human condition.

SEPT 1: New GF artwork posting on noted websites plus pages here on FB and at Bright Skylark.

Sept 4: Quote from GF posts at Goodreads.

SEPT 7: Selected excerpt from GF posts at Bright Skylark #Literary Prods Website.
SEPT 10-11: “Conversations with the World” series continues.

SEPT 15: “Thoughts Unspoken on Flannery O’Connor” excerpt from COVID19-canceled lecture posted.

SEPT 16: Greeting Flannery O’Connor at the Back Door of My Mind (ISBN 1-716-68481-1) book launches globally and becomes available online via diverse booksellers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.

SEPT 22: New GF #artwork unveiled on Fine Art America and on Pixels.com

SEPT 22: “Conversations with the World” series continues.

SEPT 29: Selected excerpt from GF posts at Bright Skylark Literary Productions Website.

SEPT 29: “Conversations with the World” series continues.

SEPT 29: More “Thoughts Unspoken on Flannery O’Connor” excerpt from COVID19-canceled lecture posted.

Like all calendars of events for launching major new works, this one is subject to change with additions or deletions but this is where we stand right now.
Thank you for checking it out.

Aberjhani
Author, Poet, Artist, Historian

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African Americans Far from Home (part 1): In Search of Dreams Deferred

Journey to a Distant Shore

From Tragedy to Triumph

Striving for Success

By Aberjhani
Co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance
Author of Greeting Flannery O’Connor at the Back Door of My Mind
Creator of Original Silk-Featherbrush Artstyle

Contact Aberjhani at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

Red Summer: Text and Meaning in Claude McKay’s poem 'If We Must Die' (Part 1)

Idea of Post-Racialism a Dream Deferred

Red Summers of Yesterday and Today

Contact Aberjhani at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

Rediscovering the Writings of Kahlil Gibran in the Age of COVID-19

Two Important Titles

The Letter that Became an Essay

In Conclusion

Aberjhani

Encouraging Conscious Coexistence: Conversations with the World 102

Aberjhani
Author, Poet, Artist
Harlem Renaissance Centennial 2020

Contact the Author

Launch Schedule for Greeting Flannery O'Connor at the Back Door of My Mind

Schedule of Events

Aberjhani
Author, Poet, Artist, Historian

Contact the Author

Aberjhani

Archives

Categories

African Americans Far from Home (part 1): In Search of Dreams Deferred

​Journey to a Distant Shore

From Tragedy to Triumph

Striving for Success

By AberjhaniCo-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem RenaissanceAuthor of Greeting Flannery O’Connor at the Back Door of My MindCreator of Original Silk-Featherbrush Artstyle

Contact Aberjhani at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

Red Summer: Text and Meaning in Claude McKay’s poem 'If We Must Die' (Part 1)

Idea of Post-Racialism a Dream Deferred

​Red Summers of Yesterday and Today

Contact Aberjhani at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

Rediscovering the Writings of Kahlil Gibran in the Age of COVID-19

Two Important Titles

​The Letter that Became an Essay

​In Conclusion

Aberjhani

Encouraging Conscious Coexistence: Conversations with the World 102

AberjhaniAuthor, Poet, ArtistHarlem Renaissance Centennial 2020

Contact the Author

Launch Schedule for Greeting Flannery O'Connor at the Back Door of My Mind

​Schedule of Events

AberjhaniAuthor, Poet, Artist, Historian

Contact the Author

Aberjhani

Archives

Categories

Journey to a Distant Shore

By Aberjhani
Co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance
Author of Greeting Flannery O’Connor at the Back Door of My Mind
Creator of Original Silk-Featherbrush Artstyle

Red Summers of Yesterday and Today

The Letter that Became an Essay

In Conclusion

Aberjhani
Author, Poet, Artist
Harlem Renaissance Centennial 2020

Schedule of Events

Aberjhani
Author, Poet, Artist, Historian