Trilogy of events to commemorate history of blacks in America
The year 2019 marks 400 years since the first documented arrival of Africans in the United States. In alignment with a national agenda to recognize the significance of this anniversary, Washington University in St. Louis will host a series of three events throughout the year, beginning Sunday, Feb. 10.
Rediscovering the Black Artists’ Group
Courtesy photoOliver LakeIn the mid- and late 1960s, the Black Arts Movement emerged as the aesthetic and spiritual corollary to the Black Power philosophy. In St. Louis, Black Artists’ Group (BAG), which flourished between 1968 and 1972, gave rise to a host of nationally recognized figures, including Oliver Lake, Julius Hemphill and Hamiet Bluiett of the World Saxophone Quartet. Today, this influential yet little-known collective is undergoing a resurgence of interest, with the reissue of rare BAG recordings on the Ikef, Quakebasket and Atavistic record labels; a new definitive history published by the Missouri Historical Society Press; and an upcoming sypmosium at Washington University in St. Louis.