We spent Saturday afternoon in the dark of Toronto theatres, taking in two interesting films which probably won't make it to these parts. One was Crazy Heart, the story of a broken down country musician. Jeff Bridges is excellent in the role of Bad Blake. The other is the story of an angry teenage girl who lives in a housing complex in a bleak, nameless city in Britain. The film is Fish Tank and both the story and the acting are very real.
We would have liked to see the documentary Soundtrack for a Revolution as well. As the name suggests, it is about the music which was at the core of the civil rights movement in the United States during the fifties and sixties. A fair amount of this music was Christian, which makes sense because churches were the places of inspiration for so many people who participated in change. These Christians felt that it was literally their God-given right to live as free and equal partners in society. While Martin Luther King Jr. pointed out that "It is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o'clock on Sunday morning..." change happened through the black churches and the music of those congregations poured out into the streets.
I'm never sure how to respond to Black History Month in our predominately white community but I have pointed out before that the late, great pianist Oscar Peterson wrote "Hymn to Freedom," a piece that was important during the civil rights movement.
Thoughts about the importance of music as a motivator for change, and what we can do to honour this month? Teachers, has anything happened in your schools?
3 comments:
Music was indeed at the heart of that change. In addition to those you've mentioned, musicians like Richie Havens, Bob Dylan, and most notably Pete Seeger took to their guitars as a means to feed the fire and advance the cause.
Black history month at my school has been celebrated by the reading of small biographies of prominent Afro-Canadians over the morning announcements. I've even learned at thing or two; such as how Canada didn't have its first black female MP until 1963.
I owe so much of my musical direction to the influence of Black America, and Black Canada and its stories form some of the most interesting and courageous in all of Canadian history.
I'm glad we have Black History Month to celebrate this aspect of our common history.
In our school we have linked Black History to two themes. Primary to the character trait of perserverance and how so many blacks through history had to perservere throughout their lives. In Junior/Intermediate we have linked it to the big idea of Freedom. Freedom of speach, religion, to read, to write, to laugh, right to go to school, to play, etc. etc. We too have daily announcements about prominent Afro-Canadians.
I really enjoy hearing what happens in our school system to help children be more socially aware. Other readers can be heartened by this.
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