Negro Digest - Freedom Archives

which even the traditional "junior
year abroad" could not give him .
And student travel could conceivably
be subsidized in much the
same manner that such programs
are underwritten, and would be
vastly cheaper .
And what about the teachers
themselves? As I said earlier, they
could be Black Humanists or "Specialists
in Slackness ." The Black
Humanists would include black
teachers in the traditional humanities
who have been "cured," so to
speak . They would know Chaucer,
let's say, but they would also know
the Scottish poem, "The Lady with
the Mickle Lips ." They would talk
about blues poetry with a full appreciation
of the ballad making
process which took place in Northern
England and in Appalachia .
The Specialists in Blackness would
include those competent and dedicated
people who, with degrees or
not, have thoroughly acquainted
themselves with the history and culture
of black people in Africa,
Europe, and the Americas . They
would include historians, behavioral
scientists, social scientists, ethnomusicologists,
teachers of languages
and literature, poets, novelists,
composers, teachers of dance
musicians and other performing
artists . Some of these people will
by definition be black people . Others
would be green if they had the
information, and if they had a sym-
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pathetic identification with the real
(as distinguished from the arrogantly
presupposed) purposes of
the Black University . All of these
fields are high-priority fields, so, it
seems to me, that a great emphasis
would have to be placed on identifying
gifted students and imbuing
them with the desire to prepare
themselves for the academic profession
.
The musicians and the other
artists, but especially the musicians,
could provide a basic grass-roots
relationship with the community,
limited only by their talent and
commitment . Poverty and degradation,
aren't necessary for the production
of great art . Why then do
we continue to neglect our great and
tortured musicians, ignoring them
even in death? No one has written
the biography of Clifford Brown or
Fats Navarro? And the blood of
Charlie Parker is still on our hands .
At least half of the Negro colleges
as they exist today could probably
support a gifted jazz group for at
least a semester . The Black University
must make it possible for
such artists to live and create in
dignity .
It must also take a primary responsibility
for doing the kind of
scholarly research into the culture
of black people that only black pea
ple themselves can do . In almost
any discipline that one can conceive
of, there are vital problems of
March 1968 NEGRO DIGEST