Powhatan Beaty: Fighter and Thespian

Happy Friday! I have a crazy weekend ahead of me, starting this afternoon giving a tours at Findlay Market and again Saturday morning; then I'm off to volunteer at the Books by the Banks at Duke Energy Convention Center. Before all of that goes down, I just needed to regroup and walk through Washington Park. This park is super rich in history.

In the early 1800s, Washington Park was a cemetery. However, with the growing public health issues, particularly the vapor rising from the grounds of the property, the City of Cincinnati acquired the land in the 1850s and transferred the remains north to and reinterred in Spring Grove Cemetery, which is the third largest cemetery in the United States. The park slowly declined during the Great Depression and World War II, but underwent renovations in the early 2010s. It reopened in July 2012 in time for the World Choir Games, with a performance from a choir from Gifu, Japan, one of Cincinnati's ten sister cities.

Parrott gun

There are so many stunning features at this park, but one that really caught my attention is the cannon (Parrott gun) that dates back to the Civil War in homage to the soldiers inducted in the park. One of the soldiers was an African American, Powhatan Beaty.

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Powhatan Beaty was the 1st Sergeant, Company G of the 5th U.S. Colored Troops. Born a slave in Richmond, Virginia, he moved to Cincinnati when he was twelve years old. He gain his freedom in the early 1860s, and as a student, he participated in theater and made his public acting debut in a school production.

Now, the Civil War breaks out. Beaty enlists from Cincinnati in June 1863. The department of War grants permission for Ohio to form an African American regiment. Beaty and his squad became the 127th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which was later redesignated as the 5th United States Colored Troops.  Beaty took command of his company at the Battle at Chaffin's Farm in New Market Heights, Virginia after all the officers had been killed and/or wounded. For his bravery, he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

After the war, he returned to Cincinnati, raised a family, and pursued acting and public speaking full time. He gave public readings for charity and was known as a elocutionist for Cincinnati's African American community. In 1884, he and Henrietta Vinton Davis put on a musical and drama festival in Melodeon Hall in Rushville, Indiana; that festival proved to be successful.

Due to the success of the Melodeon Hall festival, opportunity came calling for Beaty  in Washington, D.C. He was invited to do Shakespearean productions, with his work taking him particularly to Ford's Theater, and even toured with Davis in Philadelphia before moving back to Cincinnati to live the rest of his life. Upon his return to Cincinnati, he helped form the Literary and Dramatic Club and became the organizations dramatic director in 1888.

His son A. Lee. Beaty became an Ohio state legislator and an assistant U.S. District Attorney for southern Ohio under Haveth E Mau.

DeHart Hubbard

Last weekend during BLINK, the Riverfront Transit Center was put to use to accommodate roughly one million attendees. Typically, this is closed to the public except on rare occasions such as this, so I took a photo of this plaque of William DeHart Hubbard.

DeHart Hubbard was the first African American to win an Olympic gold medal in a single event: the long jump. Named after Douglass School's former principal A. J. DeHart, he was born in Cincinnati and attended the aforementioned school and Walnut Hills High School in the city. His father was a chauffeur for a well to do newspaper publisher. His father's employer held a contest to see who could sell the most newspaper subscriptions, with the prize being a college scholarship. Not only did he win the scholarship, but also his achievements both on the track field and in the classroom caught the attention of Lon Barringer of the University of Michigan. Upon graduation, Barringer convinced Hubbard to attend the university.1n 1924, Hubbard ran in the Paris Olympics, where he won his gold medal. The following year, he set the world record in the long jump, and and in 1926, tied the world record in the 100 yd dash. He then represented the United States at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

After his Olympic career ended, he became a supervisor of the Department of Colored Work at the Cincinnati Public Recreation Commission and worked there until 1941. He was also a manager of Valley Homes, a public housing project in Cincinnati and also worked for the Federal Housing Authority in Cleveland, Ohio. He was also friends with fellow realtor Donald Spencer, husband of civil rights activist Marian Spencer. According to his niece Dana Hubbard Blackwell, he rarely talked about his Olympic medals and records. There is even a letter that Hubbard wrote to his mother in 1924 on record at the Cincinnati History Library and Archives at the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal.

In addition to his track and field, he was an avid bowler and served as president of the National Bowling Association in the 1950s. In 1934, he founded the Cincinnati Tigers (not to be confused with the 1981-82 minor league ice hockey team), a professional baseball team that joined the Negro American League in 1937. The Tigers used Cincinnati Reds hand-me down uniforms and played at the now defunct Crosley Field. Hubbard was elected to the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1957 and inducted posthumously in 1979.

Happy Birthday, Hamilton County Courthouse!

Before I volunteered at the visitor center today, I stopped by the Hamilton County Courthouse for its 100th birthday celebration. This very day, October 18, 1919, this institution came into being. This is the sixth installation of the courthouse and the fourth one on Main St since 1819. The three buildings before this suffered through fires and riots.

Among the speakers at the celebration were Gov Mike Dewine, Warren G Harding III, and Judge Melba Marsh, the first African American female judge of the Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. A luncheon and presentation of "Spirit of the Courthouse " Awards followed. Among the honorees was retired Judge Jack Sherman, Jr., who was a graduate of the Salmon P Chase College of Law and went on to serve as a magistrate on the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

Rewind to 1842. Salmon P Chase got his legal start here. One of the cases he tried here was Jones vs. Van Zandt case. Former Kentucky slave holder John Van Zandt was accused and convicted of transporting fugitive African American slaves from Walnut Hills to Glendale, OH, but he died in 1847 before the case was even tried.

Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge William Mallory was also the first African American judge of the Hamilton County First District Court of Appeals.

Saya Woolfalk: A Cabinet of Anticipation

Sorry, but I had to get my Saya fix on today! I visited the Contemporary Arts Center to see the Saya Woolfalk: A Cabinet of Anticipation exhibit, and this exhibit does not disappoint! On this dreary day, yours truly needed a dose of color to get through my day, and I'm pretty sure we can all use some color in our lives! Here are some of the images from the exhibit. Make it a great day!

Cabinet of Anticipation, title exhibit

 

Saya Woolfalk

Visionary Reality Threshold (formerly What's Happening Downtown)

Alright, I still can't stop talking about BLINK! There has been artwork that made me want to do crazy things and there's artwork that makes made me want to dream of beautiful and better things in my life. This one just made me want to be and be comfortable in my own skin. This is hands down, my favorite mural! Even long before this mural was official unveiled, I would just look at it, smile, and it made me let go of any concerns that I had for the day.


Visionary Reality Threshold by Brooklyn based artist Saya Woolfalk, in collaboration with Brave Berlin, was officially unveiled Saturday afternoon at BLINK. Born to a Japanese mother and a mixed race African American and Caucasian father in Gifu, Japan (one of Cincinnati's ten sister cities), she is known for portraying feminism, science fiction, and fantasy to reimagine the world in her work. Afrofuturism originated in 1993 by Mark Dery and explored in the late 1990s through conversations lead by American writer and professor Alondra Nelson. Sun Ra was an American jazz composer and bandleader who would feature performers in futuristic costumes inspired by ancient Egypt attire and the Space Age. Afrofuturism slowly grew in popularity with the introduction of The Black Panther in Captain America: Civil War in 2016 and then his stand alone film in 2018.

Previously, What's Happening Downtown mural was featured in this very spot.

Saturday afternoon really brought this mural to life. After the unveiling, a dance performance followed, and all we can do is just let it be.

Saya and Artworks apprentices

BLINK, and ye shall find!

This past weekend, Cincinnati's premier art and light show, BLINK, graced 30 blocks of downtown Cincinnati, Over-The-Rhine,  and Covington, Kentucky. Spanning the Cincinnati Bell Connector route and downtown Covington, this one of a kind show decorated some of our most iconic landmarks. It all kicked off with the Future City Light Spectacular parade, and for four days, millions of spectators, artists, and performers reveled and basked in this surreal wonderland--- Greater Cincinnati in an alternate universe!

This is the party that we will all be talking about for a very long time! Sadly, we all have to return back to our home planet Cincinnati and to our realities, but it doesn't all have to be that bad. Here are some of the sights and sounds to help you slay the new week!

Aliennati

Aliennati

Community made mural near Findlay Market

Dress Up, Speak Up: Regalia and Resistance

It's Hump Day, y'all! Two weeks ago tomorrow, I learned that my supposed temp-to-hire position at a regional security company ended. My supervisor gave me the impression that I was a great candidate to be hired on, given the other temps had attendance issues and not so good numbers. I and two other temps were informed that night that it would be our final night there. Of the roughly twenty temps brought on for the project, only two were hired on. Now, I'm back to square one. I will soldier through and be on the quest for my next opportunity.

I wasn't going to let my free time go to waste. This morning, I attended the BLINK information session this morning at the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber offices. This outdoor art and light festival, the only one of its kind in the United States, returns for the second year next weekend, which I will post about in the future.

After the meeting, I headed to the 21c Museum Hotel to check out Dress Up, Speak Up: Regalia and Resistance.  This exhibit combines the experiences of Africa and the African Diaspora with modern issues such as sexuality, gender identity and equality and portrays these with unusual mediums such as tapestry, beading, and fabric. Pulling from different eras in history, such as the Enlightenment-era Europe, this exhibit tells of the African, African American, and LGBTQ reality for what it is and what it could be. Being an introvert myself, I felt it very fitting to go check out this exhibit and see myself in these pieces of work. Some highlights from today's visit. Make it a great day and handle your business!

Three Kings, 2018

The Anthropophagic Effect, Helmuts 1 & 3, Jeffery Gibson, 2019

Proposed Model of Francois Benga, Athl-Patra Ruga, 2018

Imaginary Best Friend, Jody Paulsen, 2017

Sisterhood, Beverly McIver, 2018

Brella Krew, Ebony G Patterson, 2013

Brella Krew, Ebony G Patterson, 2013

Brella Krew, Ebony G Patterson, 2013

Untitled, from the series of 72, Ebony G Patterson, 2011

Prism, Jeffery Gibson, 2018

For Sarah-The African Princess, Dagmar van Wegghel