Black History
Singer Etta James and Athlete Archie Williams Inducted Into California Hall of Fame
Iconic singer Etta James and decorated track and field athlete Archie Williams join five other inductees set to receive the honor posthumously during a virtual ceremony, according to Newsom and his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
By Joe W. Bowers Jr. and
Edward Henderson
California Black Media
Two Black Americans are members of the class of California’s 2023 Hall of Fame inductees.
Iconic singer Etta James and decorated track and field athlete Archie Williams join five other inductees set to receive the honor posthumously during a virtual ceremony, according to Newsom and his wife, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
“The outstanding legacy of this group has and will continue to embody what it means to be a Californian,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom in a statement. “There is no doubt their legacies will continue to live on and inspire millions across our state for generations to come.”
Born Jamesetta Hawkins, ‘Etta James’ became the stage name of the Los Angeles-based singer who performed in various genres including blues, jazz, gospel, R&B, soul, and rock n’ roll. Her most popular recordings included “At Last,” “I Just Want to Make Love to You,” and “A Sunday Kind of Love.”
Archie Williams won an Olympic gold medal in 1936 for the 400-meter race in Berlin after completing his freshman year at UC Berkeley. The track star also set a world record at the NCAA Championships running it in 46.1 seconds.
The induction ceremony was held Aug. 22.
Black History
Book Review: ‘The Jazzmen: How Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie Transformed America’
Your toes didn’t wait long before they started tapping. They knew what was coming, almost as soon as the band was seated. They knew before the first notes were played and the hep cats and jazz babies hit the floor to cut a rug. Daddy, it was the bee’s knees but in the new book “The Jazzmen” by Larry Tye, if you were the Sheik on the stage, makin’ cabbage wasn’t all that swank.
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
Your toes didn’t wait long before they started tapping.
They knew what was coming, almost as soon as the band was seated. They knew before the first notes were played and the hep cats and jazz babies hit the floor to cut a rug. Daddy, it was the bee’s knees but in the new book “The Jazzmen” by Larry Tye, if you were the Sheik on the stage, makin’ cabbage wasn’t all that swank.
Louis Armstrong was born in 1900 or thereabouts in a “four-room frame house on an unpaved lane” in a section of New Orleans called “Back o’Town … the Blackest, swampiest, and most impoverished” area of the city. His mother was a “chippie,” and the boy grew up running barefoot and wild, the latter of which led to trouble. At age twelve, Armstrong was sent to the Colored Waif’s Home for recalcitrant Black boys, and that changed his life. At the “home,” he found mentors, father-figures and love, and he discovered music.
For years, Bill “Count” Basie insisted that he’d grown up with “no-drama, no-mystery, and nobody’s business but his,” but the truth was “sanitized.” He hated school and dropped out in junior high, hoping to join the circus. Instead, he landed a job working in a “moving-picture theater” as a general worker. When the theater’s piano player didn’t come to work one day, Basie volunteered to sit in. He ultimately realized that “I had to get out … of Red Bank [New Jersey], and music was my ticket.”
Even as a young teenager, Edward Ellington insisted that he be treated like a superstar. By then, his friends had nicknamed him “Duke,” for his insistence on dressing elegantly and acting like he was royalty. And he surely was — to his mother, and to millions of swooning female fans later in his life.
Three men, born at roughly the same time, had more in common than their ages. Two of them had mothers “who doted” on them. All three were perform-aholics. And, for all three, “Race … fell away as America listened.”
Feel up to a time-trip back a century or more? You won’t even have to leave your seat, just grab “The Jazzmen” and hang on.
In his introduction, author Larry Tye explains why he so badly wanted to tell the story of these three giants of music and how Basie’s, Ellington’s, and Armstrong’s lives intersected and diverged as all three were near-simultaneously performing for audiences world-wide. Their stories fascinated him, and his excitement runs strong in this book. Among other allures, readers used to today’s star-powered gossip will enjoy learning about an almost-forgotten time when performers took the country by storm by bootstrapping without a retinue of dozens.
And the racism the three performers encountered disappeared like magic sometimes, and that’s a good tale all by itself.
This is a musician’s dream book, but it’s also a must-read story if you’ve never heard of Basie, Ellington, or Armstrong. “The Jazzmen” may send you searching your music library, so make note.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of May 15 – 21, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May May 15 – 21, 2024
To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of May 8 – 14, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May May 8 – 14, 2024
To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.
-
City Government2 weeks ago
Court Throws Out Law That Allowed Californians to Build Duplexes, Triplexes and RDUs on Their Properties
-
Activism3 weeks ago
Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024
-
Community4 weeks ago
Oakland WNBA Player to be Inducted Into Hall of Fame
-
Community4 weeks ago
Richmond Nonprofit Helps Ex-Felons Get Back on Their Feet
-
Community4 weeks ago
RPAL to Rename Technology Center for Retired Police Captain Arthur Lee Johnson
-
Alameda County2 weeks ago
An Oakland Homeless Shelter Is Showing How a Housing and Healthcare First Approach Can Work: Part 1
-
Activism2 weeks ago
S.F. Black Leaders Rally to Protest, Discuss ‘Epidemic’ of Racial Slurs Against Black Students in SF Public School System
-
Business4 weeks ago
Black Business Summit Focuses on Equity, Access and Data