New York celebrates African-American culture and heritage

Jared McCallister in Daily News:

Black“The Black Power Mixtape: 1967–1975,” a new book by Sweden-born filmmaker Göran Hugo Olsson and based on his 2011 documentary, looks at the Black Power Movement in America through archival information, color photographs, and historical speeches and interviews with Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Eldridge Cleaver, Bobby Seale, Huey Newton, Emile de Antonio, and Angela Davis. There is also new commentary in the book from Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli, Harry Belafonte, Kathleen Cleaver, Angela Davis, Robin D. G. Kelley, Abiodun Oyewole, Sonia Sanchez, Bobby Seale, John Forte, and Questlove, in addition to a preface by actor/activist Danny Glover. “We have much to learn from these visionary organizers who sought to redefine and re-imagine democracy, whose sense of empowerment derived from the belief that the people could be the architects for change,” wrote Glover in the preface. The documentary was shot by Swedish journalists chronicling the Black Power Movement in the U.S., and edited by Olsson. In a review of the film, which screened in theaters and aired in PBS’ Independent Lens series, the Hollywood Reporter said, “If one of the roles of documentaries is to record and preserve history, The Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975 admirably performs its duty. Assembled from extraordinary footage uncovered in the Swedish Television archives and augmented by contemporary audio interviews, the film presents a powerful reminder of the black power movement, often neglected, misrepresented or forgotten in this country. This is a film that should be seen by anyone who wants to learn where we’ve come from as a nation. The Black Power Mixtape is not a static, talking heads record of the past.”

Picture: The art work “Malcolm Little “is a creation of Warren Lyons.

More here. (Note: One post throughout February will be dedicated to Black History Month.)