30 Years Of The California African American Museum Experience

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YEARS OF THE

CALIFORNIA MUSEUM EXPERIENCE THIRTY YEARS AGO a group of art and history enthusiasts met to formulate a plan for creating an Afro-American Museum in the State of California. Commitment to this goal resulted in the passage of a bill by the 1977-78 California Legislature authorizing the establishment of a museum for preserving the history, culture and contributions of Afro-Americans. It was scheduled to open in Exposition Park in 1984. The primary goals were to preserve, display, and conduct programs on the contributions of Afro-Americans to the arts, sciences, religion, education, literature, entertainment, politics and sports and to educate, promote awareness of and to create a climate for understanding the global effect on the world’s culture by people of African descent. FAST FORWARD THIRTY YEARS and the name of the museum and the wording on its mission statement have been slightly altered. Now named The California African American Museum (CAAM), the mandate is to collect, preserve and interpret for public enrichment—the history, art and culture of African Americans. It has fulfilled that mission in hundreds of ways—from the epic in size like Artis Lane’s larger than life Emerging First Man to ways as small as the laughter of a child discovering an image in an African mask. One of the most important aspects of the modern day CAAM is that it engages people of all ages and interests because there is always something to do—from the Conversations at CAAM, children’s workshops, Target Sundays--most recently celebrating the life of Bob Marley--lectures, receptions and ever-changing exhibits, plus its Permanent Collection. Anybody who thinks a museum

is where everything moves at a snail’s pace, where paintings from old dead artists hang centered on the wall, needs to think again when it comes to CAAM. Currently on exhibit, “Black Chrome,” a look at the evolution of motorcycle clubs in California, includes several million dollars worth of real motorcycles belonging to club members. There’s also “A Moment In Time: Bingham’s Black Panthers,” “Of Tulips and Shadows, the Visual Metaphors of dewey crumpler” and the Permanent Collection called “The African American Journey West,” which includes items from Ella Fitzgerald and other legends. CAAM is bursting at the seams and plans for needed expansion are underway. In a time when it’s never been more important to preserve and protect our culture, CAAM is moving at warp speed to keep alive that mandate set by a bunch of dreamers thirty years ago. Celebrating that 30-year anniversary this year at CAAM’s annual gala, the museum is saluting three whose contributions to our culture and history are what CAAM finds so important to preserve and protect.

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MUHAMMAD ALI: Forever the Greatest By Ruth A. Robinson

MUHAMMAD ALI HAS BEEN honored many times in his life. He was named “Sportsman of the 20th Century” by Sports Illustrated and “Athlete of the Century” by GQ, was the central figure in two films--the Academy Award-winning documentary “When We Were Kings” and his bio, “Ali.” He was the first fighter to win the world heavyweight championship on three separate occasions; he successfully defended his title 19 times. At the California African American Museum’s annual gala this year, he is being honored for “more than his boxing,” observes CAAM’s Executive Director Charmaine Jefferson. “Here is a man who stood up against wrong and by doing so changed our society.” Such a thing couldn’t have been imagined in 1942 when Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., was born into the very segregated Louisville, Kentucky. His father, Cassius Sr., supported his family by painting billboards and signs. His mother, Odessa Grady Clay, worked as a household domestic. At 12, he took up boxing under Louisville policeman Joe Martin. Then he won a gold medal at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome and began a professional career supported by the Louisville Sponsoring Group, a syndicate composed of 11 wealthy white men. In his early bouts as a professional, Clay sought to raise public interest in his fights praising his own prowess and offering predictions on winning. He told the world that he was “the Greatest.” Clay challenged Sonny Liston for the heavyweight championship of the world. No one thought Clay had a chance against the fearsome Liston-except young Cassius. In one of the most stunning upsets in sports history, Clay knocked out Liston to become the new champion. Two days later, Clay shocked the world by announcing that he had become a Nation of Islam convert and would forever after be known as Muhammad Ali. For the next three years dominated boxing stunning the world in his first-ring knockout in the Liston rematch and then beating eight challengers. Then he shocked everybody by refusing induction into the U.S. Army at the height of the war in Vietnam. He could have run away, but he didn’t and was publicly vilified. He was stripped of his championship and blocked from fighting in the United States. His passport was taken away so he couldn’t fight anywhere outside the country either. In addition, he was criminally indicted and convicted and sentenced to five years in prison. It was four long years before the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overturned his conviction. He had risked everything, lost much, but stood his ground in order to ‘stand for something.’ Ali was allowed to return to boxing, but having been away during his prime years, it was not easy going. He did win two comeback fights, but then came the “Fight of the Century,” against Joe Frazier. Frazier won a unanimous 15-round decision. After that, Ali won ten fights in a row, eight of them against world-class opponents. Then Ken Norton beat Ali and broke his jaw, but Ali won their rematch. His rematch with Joe Frazier was a unanimous 12-round decision in his favor. PAGE

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Then Ali challenged George Foreman, who had taken the title from Frazier while Ali was in exile. Ali was received by the people of Zaire as a conquering hero, and the screams got louder when he knocked Foreman out. Retiring from boxing after his loss to Trevor Berbick, Ali has continued his study of Islam. In the mid-1970s, he began to study the Ou’ran more deeply and became a Sunni Muslim. He also became an activist for peace around the globe. He went to Beirut to help negotiate the release of four American hostages. He met with Saddam Hussein before the Gulf War to successfully secure the release of 15 American hostages. Ali was also appointed United Nations Messenger for Peace. In 1996 he was chosen to light the Olympic flame at the start of the 24th Olympiad in Atlanta, Georgia. President Bill Clinton admits to crying when he saw Ali take the torch, his hand trembling from his Parkinson’s syndrome, but his champion’s heart intact. President Clinton’s sentiments were echoed around the globe by three million viewers. There is no doubt that his status as one of the most beloved athletes in the world remains intact. The United States Government passed the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act to prohibit unfair and anticompetitive practices in professional boxing, the same year that the film “Ali” was released by Sony. He was also presented with a star on Hollywood Boulevard, the first star ever to be displayed on the wall instead of on the sidewalk. Ali’s place in boxing history as one of the greatest fighters ever is secure. His final record of 56 wins and 5 losses with 37 knockouts solidifies his hero status. Outside the ring, he has proven his greatness as well, determined to stand his ground in the face of all obstacles, able to take a punch wherever that blow was coming from. The skinny kid from Louisville who called himself “The Greatest of All Time” was, and remains, all that.

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HOWARD BINGHAM: Tom Bradley Unsung Hero Awardee By Coy L. Oakes

HOWARD BINGHAM IS ONE of America’s most highly regarded photographers. His work has appeared in hundreds of national magazines, newspapers and books, including Time, Sports Illustrated, Life, Newsweek and Ebony. The extraordinary qualities in his work have always been honored, but not so much the person behind the camera. Lately the man himself is being acknowledged in a major way. There are galleries in his name, exhibits of his work and scholarships in his honor. He was just celebrated at the National Black Caucus and now is being honored by the California African American Museum with the “Tom Bradley Unsung Hero” award. He was chosen to receive this honor, according to the Executive Director Charmaine Jefferson, because, “Howard is a true artist. He does much, much more than just take photographs. Almost everybody has seen and appreciated one of his photos, now it is time to salute the artist behind the camera.” The photographer is being honored at CAAM’s annual gala, along with Muhammad Ali and radio station KJLH in Los Angeles. It is fitting that both Bingham and Ali are being honored on the same night, as Bingham has taken more than a million photographs of Ali, which reveal the 40-plus year friendship between the two. They became pals almost by accident when Bingham was a struggling young newspaper photographer and Ali was still Cassius Clay. Bingham was assigned to cover a news conference for an upcoming boxing match in Los Angeles when he first encountered the young boxer and his brother Rudy. Bingham soon had a ringside seat to history as young Cassius became “The Greatest” and was there with his camera to capture Ali’s ascension to true cultural icon. Another professional milestone came with the 2004 publication of “GOAT,” a book of Ali’s life story told in three thousand stunning pictures. The title”GOAT” is an acronym for “greatest of all time,” Muhammad’s nickname. The signed and numbered edition of the Tachen-published book is one of the treasured items up for auction at the CAAM gala on October 18. Bingham didn’t seem destined for photographic greatest in his early beginnings. He flunked his one and only photo class at a community college in Compton. But Howard soon became a master behind the lens, learning his craft working during what he calls “on the job training” at the Los Angeles Sentinel. Being there proved another stroke of good timing. In the mid-60s, Los Angeles was still reeling from the aftermath of the Watts riots and back in the day many major news magazines such as Life had almost no African-American journalists on staff. Bingham got

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the call, and soon he was covering racial unrest across America, recording yet another remarkable chapter of the nation’s history with his camera. That continued until he was assigned to cover a KKK Rally in Los Angeles. Even with armed guards, it was not anything Bingham wanted to experience again. He’s unable to choose favorite subjects or favorite photographers, but he is fond of those taken of Nelson Mandela, Bill Cosby and Bill Clinton. One of his choices, though, does include two of his most iconic subjects. In 1996, he captured President Bill Clinton embracing Muhammad Ali moments after Ali lit the torch at the Olympic cauldron in Atlanta. There is a gallery named in his honor at the Ali Center in Louisville, a scholarship in his name has been funded by Kodak at the Rochester Institute. Another Bingham gallery is in the works at the Watts Labor Community Action Center, where the photographer does “lots of work with kids,” he says. Bingham’s many exhibits include the one currently open at the California African American Museum’s Theatre Gallery: “A Moment in Time: Bingham’s Black Panthers,” which runs now through April, 2009 and coincides with the release of Bingham’s new book on the same subject matter. Bingham’s subjects range from hungry and homeless to giants of politics and entertainment. “Knock on wood, I’ve been a blessed human being,” Bingham says. The world has been blessed also with the images Bingham has captured through the vision in his lens.

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A STATION FOR THE PEOPLE: Radio Free KJLH By Antoinette R. Banks

BACK IN 1965, when L.A. businessman John Lamar Hill started a

little radio station using his own initials as the call letters, the owner of the Angelus Funeral Home wanted to be sure everybody could hear church services. He added a community forum and a source of church news. Hill bought the radio station right after the Watts Riot with the help of Civil Rights activist and future FCC Commissioner Benjamin Hooks. Soon the station became the voice of the people and a place to address community issues. The station became more commercial when Hill hired Rod McGrew as PD and then station manager. McGrew played further on Hill’s initials and created the slogan: Kindness, Joy, Love & Happiness. The station kept growing and making money and Hill soon got offers to sell. He declined them all until finally Hill decided he’d sell the station to the only person he couldn’t resist. In 1979, Stevie Wonder bought the station and solidified KJLH as the rock the community could count on. Stevie’s never wavered from that position. Other stations have come and disappeared, boastful start-ups have slid into oblivion, but KJLH has survived to become Los Angeles’ only African-American owned radio station. When Stevie adopted the slogan “We Are You,” it further solidified the legacy of culturally relevant programming. The outstanding mix of music was anchored by the intimate connection the station maintained with the community. Now some 30 years later years later, the station still takes to the streets promoting Kindness, Joy, Love and Happiness by way of true connections with the people. When there’s a crisis in the community, immediately KJLH moves to effectively put in place town hall meetings that bring together politicians, clergy, activists and everybody else with input to look for a resolution that serves the community. Throughout the year, the station organizes and host events that provide vital information for the wellness of the community. For instance its annual Women’s Health Forum attracts more than 2000 women to the Los Angeles Convention Center for a day of valuable health information, testing and demonstrations. John Mack, chairman, Board of Police Commissioners, former head of LA’s Urban League and a cancer survivor, says the station jumped on the education bandwagon “to alert men to the dangers and signs of prostate cancer.” Mack praised general manager Karen Slade “who served on the Urban League board during my tenure and any time and every time we ever called upon KJLH, they have always been there and not just for the Urban League--not just for me--but for the entire community whatever the cause.” Mack hastened to point out, “Another thing. They don’t pick and

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choose and it’s not one of these situations where they just deal with a select few. It’s like they say to the community: this is your station, your voice, your mouthpiece.” The original impetus behind John Lamar Hill’s tiny station is kept solidly in place with the on-going commitment to the spiritual empowerment of the community. All day Sunday is dedicated to church services, gospel music and topical discussion from a decidedly biblical perspective. The annual Gospel Showcase at Knott’s Berry Farm is known as one of the largest gospel music events on the west coast, attracting upwards of 20,000 people and providing families with a day of wholesome entertainment and thrilling rides. These days Stevie’s “Radio Vision” keeps the station focused on the empowerment and posi-

tive promotion of the community while his Radio-Free format provides a diverse musical presentation that embraces the complete Diaspora of urban/soul/black music. It’s community radio at its finest: 102.3 Radio-Free KJLH!