By Alice J. BernsteinPart 2 of 2 part series I’m excited to look further at the long, surprising, and deeply encouraging life of Inge Hardison (1914-2016), because she represents history as always new. Her family’s journey from slavery to so-called “freedom” in Portsmouth, Virginia, enabled her parents to barely survive. Her father, a chicken farmer, and mother, a teacher of black children, were dedicated to learning from books wherever they could find them. In their studies they found a path to new lives in Brooklyn, NY. In Part 1, I told of Inge’s early work acting on Broadway with distinguished…
Author: Alice Bernstein
Ruth Inge Hardison was an influential American artist born in 1914 in Portsmouth, Virginia to poor Black parents whose own parents had been slaves. After several years, her parents fled Jim Crow’s brutality and segregation settling in Brooklyn, New York. Their daughter, Inge, lived 102 years, and her life says much about American history and art that we should know, value and learn from today. Hardison’s interest in sculpture, the art for which she is best known, began her early career in acting. After graduating from high school, she landed the role of “Topsy,” in the 1936 Broadway production of…
By Alice Bernstein Tennessee Tribune Correspondent I want people to know about Allan Michael (1958-2020), who broke new ground as one of the earliest maritime captains of color in New York Harbor, and as the first black captain at New York Circle Line Sightseeing Yachts, in a career spanning 37 years. In one of the busiest port cities in the U. S., as he captained boats with 600 passengers at a time, he never had an accident. And on that fateful day—September 11, 2001—Captain Michael was among the brave first responders, and used his Circle Line boat from morning to night,…
By Alice Bernstein A new exhibition has just opened at the Philadelphia Museum of Art: “Souls Grown Deep: Artists of the African American South.” It includes sculpture, painting, and some of the amazing Gee’s Bend Quilts. As the public has a new chance to view these quilts, I want people to know of a thrilling class taught by Aesthetic Realism Consultant and artist, Marcia Rackow in which she described the beauty of so many of them and placed their importance as art and for people’s lives. In the museum/gallery classes she teaches, The Visual Arts and the Opposites, the art…
By Alice Bernstein Tribune New York Correspondent Soon I will be in Memphis to report on the MLK50 observance. On April 4th, the thoughts of people all over the world will turn to Memphis where, 50 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered while fighting racism and economic injustice, fighting for the rights and dignity of poor people and striking sanitation workers. As we honor his legacy, I want everyone to know this great, kind poem by Eli Siegel, founder of the education Aesthetic Realism. It was written after news broke of Dr. King’s death in 1968, and…
By Alice Bernstein, Tribune Correspondent On December 15, Dr. Jamye Coleman Williams, friend of The Tennessee Tribune, celebrated her 99th birthday. In her long productive life and legacy as an educator at four Historically Black Colleges and Universities, as a civil rights activist, author, and leader in the A.M.E. Church, she has encouraged so many people, including me. Her energy in behalf of having people’s lives better off, and her desire to keep learning, have been inspiring. I am grateful to The Tennessee Tribune for assignments to interview Jamye Williams and to cover talks by her for my articles which are informed by…