Happy Birthday to one of my dearest friends and business partner, Thembi.
Once upon a time I taught in a small, tiny classroom in the right wing of the school. Lockers and children crowed the hallways. Parent pushed their contemporary strollers pass my room to the kindergarten and preschool rooms. My room was filled with third graders who rightfully considered themselves older than the young, excited children who looked at my third graders with wonder and respect.
Those hallways took a while to resume to tranquility. There was never a dull moment. All who walked pass wanted to go to the third grade and those in the third grade were popular and most happy.
I was happy too. Young and excited every day about teaching. I taught my children how to bake homemade biscuits and hung their hand made piñatas in the classroom. Their plants sat on each window sill and we read every book we could get our hands on about our history.
Eventually, in that room, walked in classmates from Thembi’s youngest daughter’s class. They all stopped by for a high five. Pretty soon, everyone was slapping fives and when parents would come they had to stop by to slap a five with Ms. Hurley and this is how I eventually met Thembi. By children slapping fives.
While reading A Wrinkle in Time, we meet all sorts of interesting characters from history and literature.
Along the way we meet the White Rabbit a fictional and anthropomorphic character in Lewis Carrol’s book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
When I explained the term anthropomorphic character to my students I understood that the characters are animals with human characteristics, however, they stumped me with the question- are monsters anthropomorphic?
Some sites say they are and others say they aren’t. I am not sure.
I think they should be. So I gave my students credit for animals and monsters.
Standing in front of a giant image of Langston Hughes smoking, is Mrs. Barbara White and her Children, the Calverts, from Milwaukee.
Through open conversations in the intimate space, I gathered that this was the Calverts first time (well some of them) at the Schomburg.
“Look at Langston with that wavy hair! You kinda look like him!”
Mr. Calvert made the family presence known immediately. With him leading the way, they walked in with a gait of humility and joy. His voice echoed throughout the room and the few people there, looked up and laughed lightly.
Amid the friendly chuckle, I glimpsed at the security guard whom he was addressing, who responded by shaking his head as if to say, I heard this a thousand times.
Sometimes in institutions of higher artistic excellence all you need is an ice breaker to get conversations going and as most Black folk do upon meeting each other, we asked each other- where are you from?
Milwaukee. You ever been?
No.
How about Chicago?
No.
You don’t travel?
Yes, but I haven’t been to the midwestern states yet.
When I told the family I was from the Bronx, Mrs. White sang a line from a Jennifer Lopez song, Jenny from the Block, which went right over my head. But I smiled and did the I’ll -fake- it -and -hope- no -one- notice it -thingy. Which I think I did really horrible because Mrs. White said, You know? Jennifer Lopez?
Oh, yeah, her…Humm, She’s from the Bronx as well as…Big Pun and other rappers.
Yeah, Hip Hop was born in the Bronx! Mrs. Calvert chimed in. I should have added that I only knew it because one, I live in the Bronx and all summer you have no other choice but to listen to the Bronx sound tracks…which never seem to include Jennifer Lopez and two, I read. But don’t question me about Hip Hop past or present.
So I ended with, next time ya’ll come, visit the Bronx.
And Go where? Mr. Calvert who seemed to travel the most seemed to be making mental notes.
Oh, there are lots of places to go….like my church.
Oh, Mom, she’s a Church girl like you!
The mom then told me that she’s Jehovah Witness and we both smiled. Then I waited for the others to join in but they all seemed to be intrested in the Bronx and Hip Hop so I continued,
We also have The Botanical Gardens, The Zoo, The Yankee Stadium, and a lot of great West Indian, Spanish and Mexican restaurants.
The young man who was married to one of the Calvert girls asked me a question that was fitting for me and the space.
Do you know about the relationshp between Langston Hughes and Schomburg?
You mean Schomburg the Center or Arturo Schomburg the man?
The man.
I smiled. Arturo Schomburg was a bibliophile who collected all sorts of books to prove that Black History was alive and meaningful. The negative experience he had in Puerto Rico as a Black boy gave him a zeal and vigor to prove that we had our own history and are still making history.
Did the two men every know each other?
Yes, they both lived in Harlem at the same time and would go to shows together. Schomburg was uplifting Black History and Langston was writing the History…
Thanks for clearing that up, he chimied in, that’s all I wanted to know.
I loved their accent. Their dialect reminded me of my friend Donovan from Ohio. They don’t slur their words like people from the Deep South. I am not a linguist to decipher perfectly what I hear but I think their accent have something to do with the long vowel sounds and the tongue.
I was there during Spring Break to lesson plan. They were touring New York celebrating their Mom’s, Mrs. White, 69th birthday. We all learned a little bit more about our people through Langston.
The Langston Hughes’ show at the Schomburg entitled The Ways of Langston Hughes: Griff Davis and Black Artist in the Making celebrates a friendship between two men whose passion was to document the Black Community in a positive and inspiring light. It is running until July 8th, 2024
