Author: Rachel Stoler

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Dr. Marion Antoinette Richards Myles, a scientist with expertise in plant physiology, including the effects of drugs and hormones on plant growth, played a significant role in integrating higher education in the American south. In 1965, she became the first African American faculty member of the University of Mississippi Medical School, with an appointment as an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Research. Prior to accepting the position at Mississippi, Myles had both taught at numerous other colleges and universities and been awarded research fellowships to study at the California Institute of Technology and at the Institute of Nuclear Studies at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1917, Myles came from a large family with several brothers and sisters. Her father, Alfred Richards, an immigrant from Bermuda, worked as a rigger on the city wharves, while her mother Helen, was a native of Pennsylvania. According to census records, at about age 12, the Peterson family, also of Philadelphia, likely adopted Myles. Following high school graduation, she attended the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1937. She then completed a master’s degree at Atlanta University in Georgia in 1939.

From 1941 to 1943, Myles lived in Little Rock, Arkansas, teaching biology at Philander Smith College. In 1943, she began her doctoral studies at Iowa State University, receiving a research fellowship to support her scholarship in the area of plant physiology. In 1935, Iowa State had also awarded a PhD in Botany to Jesse Jarue Mark, among the first African Americans to receive a doctorate in the field.

Over the next two decades, Myles taught biology, botany, agronomy, and zoology, at several institutions including Tennessee State University, Fort Valley State College (now university) in Georgia, and Alcorn State University in Mississippi. In 1950, while serving as an Associate Professor of Agronomy at Tennessee State, she completed a special course on radioisotopes at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, planning to apply the technique to studies of plant nutrition and photosynthesis. In 1952, she won a Carnegie Foundation Research Grant and between 1959 and 1961, she served as a Research Associate in Enzymology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Professionally, Myles was active in many scientific societies and organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Botanical Society of America, the American Society of Plant Physiologists, and the National Education Association.

In 1965, Myles gained international attention when the University of Mississippi named her as its first African American faculty member. According to a July 15, 1965 article in Jet, her appointment as an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology in the Medical School came over the objections of some members of the board of trustees of the State Institutions of Higher Learning, who opposed the selection of any black faculty. However, as a result of such discriminatory behavior, the school risked losing federal funding, as it was in violation of nondiscriminatory provisions of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Myles passed away on October 18, 1969 at the age of 52. Her husband, Frank J. Myles, preceded her in death.

Marion Antoinette Richards Myles (1917-1969)

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Dewey Decimal Decolonizer

In 1932, Dorothy Porter earned an M.S. in library science from Columbia University and became their library school’s first black graduate. However, she may be best known as the librarian who changed how works by black writers are classified. Overall, Porter’s classification method challenged the inherent racism and colonial gatekeeping of knowledge within the Dewey Decimal System.

Most of Porter’s library career was spent building the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University into a world-class research collection on Black/Africana history and culture. A substantial portion of the library’s collection was gifted by Howard alumnus, Reverend Jesse E. Moorland and NAACP’s legal committee chairman Arthur B. Spingarn. These acquisitions were the backbone of the university’s library. Porter was concerned with assigning proper value and classification to the collection. However, at the time of acquisition, no other library in the country had expertise in properly classifying works by black authors.

Every library Porter consulted for classification guidance relied solely on the Dewey Decimal Classification. In that system, black scholarly work was classified using either the number 326 that meant slavery or the number 325 for colonization. For Porter, it became necessary to develop a satisfactory classification workaround for this collection that did not reimpose stereotypes of black culture that prevailed within the Dewey Decimal System. Porter classified works within the collection by genre and author in order to highlight the role of black people in all subject areas like art, education, history, medicine, music, and even literature. This approach helped to combat racist stereotypes and false narratives while celebrating black self-representation.

During her over 40-year library career, Dorothy Porter devoted herself to developing a modern research library at Howard University. Not only did she build a world-renowned library for special collections of the global black experience, she also became a pioneer in the field of library science through her challenge of the racial bias within the Dewey Decimal System.

13 Pioneering Black American Librarians You Oughta Know

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Willard Johnson, bacteriologist, science educator, and business proprietor, was born in Leavenworth Kansas, the third of the eleven children of Joseph Johnson and Hattie McClanahan. Taught by his high school’s founder, Blanche Kelso Bruce, nephew of the Reconstruction era Senator of the same name, he was the first in his family to go to college. Johnson attended Kansas University (KU), where he joined the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. In 1922, he was admitted to the Kansas University Medical School. Probably the second African American ever admitted, Willard struggled through nearly three years of medical course work but did not transfer to a black medical school to finish as KU required at the time.

Willard Johnson was awarded his Bachelor’s at KU in 1924 and then taught biological science courses at Rust College in Mississippi. In 1928 he completed a year of graduate work in bacteriology at the University of Chicago. In 1929, he joined the faculty of Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial College in Nashville where he and his bride, Dorothy N. Stovall, of Humboldt, Kansas, had their first son, Richard E. He headed the Biology Department and taught zoology, comparative vertebrate anatomy, physiology, botany, hygiene, and bacteriology. In 1932 he did further graduate study at Emporia State College in Kansas.

The People’s Hospital of St. Louis, Missouri enticed him to move there in 1933, to establish and operate a private diagnostic laboratory. Soon thereafter, he assisted specialists sent from Washington, D.C., in combating an outbreak of sleeping sickness disease. Their second son, Willard R., and twin daughters, Alberta M., and D. Roberta, were born there. Then Johnson taught a variety of science courses at Stowe Teachers College, a predominately black institution in St. Louis. Soon thereafter, in 1937, placing at the very top of those taking the U.S. Health Service exams, but requiring the intervention of Eleanor Roosevelt to actually get hired, he became the first black professional staff person at the Jefferson Barracks (Veteran’s) Hospital, in St. Louis. The hospital’s leadership rather quickly maneuvered to have him reassigned to the (Black) Veteran’s Hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama, where he achieved several promotions.

After WWII, Johnson was unsuccessful in seeking reassignment within the US Public Health Service. He resigned and moved to Pasadena, California where he helped establish and became sole proprietor of the private Avalon Boulevard Medical Diagnostic Laboratory in nearby Los Angeles which served African American physicians throughout the area. After nearly two decades, its profitable operations were disrupted by the “Watts Riots.” Shortly thereafter Johnson retired and closed the lab. Willard Johnson died in 1969 of cancer and is buried in Pasadena, with his wife Dorothy, who died of cancer ten years later.

Willard Johnson Sr. (1901-1969)

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Philip Louis Ulric Cross DSO DFC (1 May 1917 – 4 October 2013) was a Trinidadian jurist, diplomat and Royal Air Force (RAF) Navigator, recognised as possibly the most decorated West Indian of World War II.^[1][2] He is credited with helping to prevent some two hundred bombers from being shot down in a raid over Germany in 1943.^[3] He subsequently studied law at London’s Middle Temple, and went on to fulfil a distinguished international career as a jurist across Africa and within Trinidad and Tobago. He also served as a diplomat for Trinidad and Tobago to the United Kingdom.

Early years

Ulric Cross was born on 1 May 1917, in Belmont, Port of Spain, Trinidad, to Reginald Rufus and Maud Iris Cross.^[4] He was the second child in a family of nine.^[5] At the age of 11, he came first in Trinidad’s Government Exhibition Scholarship Examination, thus qualifying for five years of free secondary education,^[5] and went on to attend St Mary’s College.^[6] He was devastated by his mother’s death when he was just 13 years old.^[5][7][8] His academic focus was completely derailed, and so, after completing five years of college education, he left school. His first job was with the Trinidad Guardian as a copy editor. Then he worked for about four years as a clerk to Leo Pujadas, Solicitor. When Cross turned 21, he joined the Civil Service and worked for a while with the Trinidad Government Railways. In this job, his close colleague was J. O’Neil “Scottie” Lewis.^[9]

World War II service

In 1941, aged 24, Cross left Trinidad to join Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF). He served with RAF Bomber Command during World War II, attaining the rank of Squadron Leader.^[10] In June 1944 he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and in January 1945, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order^[2][11] in recognition of his “fine example of keenness and devotion to duty” and “exceptional navigational ability”.^[1] He was a member of the elite Pathfinder Force that perfected techniques for precision main force bombing. In his own words: “We did a lot of low-level daylight bombing. We flew at just 50 feet instead of the normal 25,000 feet. We dropped four 500-pound bombs. You flew in to your target at 50 feet and as you approached it you went up to 1,200 feet. You then did a shallow dive onto the target and released your bombs. The bomb had an 11-second delay, so you shot up to avoid the bomb blast. We went over in formation and we bombed in formation, but we came back independently.” Cross flew 80 missions over Germany and occupied Europe as Navigator of a Mosquito fighter-bomber,^[9] and was the model for the Black character, Squadron Leader Charles Ford, in Ken Follett‘s novel Hornet Flight.^[12][13][14]

Distinguished legal career

After the war, Cross studied law and was called to the Bar under the aegis of the Middle Temple, London, on 26 January 1949.^[15]

He then returned to Trinidad where, from 1949 to 1953, he was Legal Adviser to the Comptroller of Imports and Exports, Trinidad and Tobago. He also lectured in Trade Union History and Trade Union Law at the Extra-Mural Department of the University of the West Indies, located in Trinidad.^[4] He subsequently returned to London, and worked for some time as a Talks Producer with the BBC (1953–1957).^[4]

Then Ulric Cross’ career took an entirely different turn. He went off to practise law in Ghana, Cameroon and Tanzania for many years. Between 1958 and 1960 he worked closely with Nkrumah in Ghana, where he was Crown Counsel and Senior Crown Counsel, and lectured in Criminal Law at the Ghana School of Law.^[4] Continuing his African journey, he served in West Cameroon (1960–1966), where he was elevated to Senior Crown Counsel and Attorney General, was a Member of the Cabinet, the House of Chiefs and the House of Assembly Avocat-General at the Federal Court of Justice of the Republic of Cameroon.^[4] In 1967, Cross became a High Court judge in Tanzania, where from 1968 to 1970 he was Chairman of the Permanent Labour Tribunal.^[4] He also served as a Professor of Law at the University of Dar es Salaam.

Once again, Ulric Cross returned to Trinidad; this time in 1971 to serve as a High Court judge.^[2] In 1979, he was elevated to the Court of Appeal.^[16] He then became Chairman of the Law Reform Commission of Trinidad and Tobago from 1982 to 1983, in this position he made a significant contribution towards furthering the revision and development of the country’s laws.^[2][17] On his death, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, acknowledged his years spent on the judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago “Some of his judgments changed the landscape of Trinidad and Tobago”.^[18]

Diplomatic postings

In the United Kingdom, from 1990 to 1993, Ulric Cross served as High Commissioner for Trinidad and Tobago at the Court of St James’s, UK, combining the position with that of Ambassador to both Germany and France.^[1] Previously, he had been appointed Chairman of the Commonwealth Foundation in 1983.^[4]

Community service

During his final return to Trinidad and Tobago, Ulric Cross co-founded — with his colleague, Desmond Allum SC in April 1993 — the charitable non-profit organization called the Cotton Tree Foundation (CTF),^[19] that still today works with some of the most deprived communities in Port-of-Spain in order to combat high levels of poverty and unemployment through counselling, self-help, education and training projects. On his 90th birthday in 2007, the Ulric Cross Cotton Tree Endowment Fund was launched,^[5] expanding the work of the Cotton Tree Foundation to include a legal aid clinic, a community sports programme and an art and music programme.^[20]

During these years also, as Squadron Leader Cross, he served as President of the Royal Air Forces Association Trinidad and Tobago Branch No. 1075 (established on 17 April 1953) from 2009 until his death in 2013.^[21] As President he was very active in running the Branch and inspired the vision to build a Military Veterans Complex for all veterans of military service on the Branch’s property at 20 Queen’s Park East, Belmont, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.^[22]

Awards and honours

Ulric Cross was the recipient of many awards and accolades. In 2011, at Trinidad and Tobago’s 49th Independence Day celebrations,^[23] he received the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the nation’s highest award,^[24] for distinguished and outstanding service in the sphere of law.^[25][26][27] In June 2011, the Piarco Air Station was renamed the Ulric Cross Air Station.^[26][28] In July 2011 the President of Trinidad and Tobago. George Maxwell Richards, presented Cross with the Heroes Foundation first heroes medallion,^[26] and in 2012 a comic book entitled And Justice For All, The True Story Of A Local Hero was published in his honour by the Heroes Foundation, in their “Heroes of a Nation” series.^[8][29]

Ulric Cross’ remarkable life and career achievements are chronicled in a feature film that has won several international awards. Directed by Frances-Anne Solomon^[30][31] and entitled Hero: Inspired by the Extraordinary Life and Times of Mr. Ulric Cross, it was first released in 2019.^{[32][33][34][35][36]}

Personal life

Cross had two daughters — Nicola Cross, a filmmaker, and Susan Woodford-Hollick, an arts administrator — and a son, Richard Finch, an educator who works in South Africa.^[37]

Death

Ulric Cross died, aged 96, on 4 October 2013 at his home on Dere Street, Port of Spain, where, in his retirement, he lived with his daughter Nicola.^[37][38][39] A memorial service in his honour was held at Memorial Park, Port of Spain, on 10 October 2013.^[40][41] Paying tribute to Cross at the service, the British High Commissioner said: “Without the help of servicemen from the Commonwealth (like Cross), the outcome of World War II would have been entirely different.”^[42]

On 8 February 2014, a tribute to Ulric Cross was held in London by the Trinidad and Tobago High Commission at St Peter’s Church, Eaton Square,^[43] where the High Commissioner, His Excellency Garvin Nicholas spoke, saying: “Justice Ulric Cross was a man who not only served Trinidad and Tobago tirelessly, but dedicated his existence to the preservation of justice and democracy on an international scale … His was a distinguished life, a life very well lived. Now more than ever, our society dearly needs role models like Justice Ulric Cross.”^[44]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulric_Cross

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“We Are Needed”: A Counselor At Mississippi’s Only Abortion Clinic Shares Her Story

In the mid-1990s, Miss Betty Thompson retired from her job in state government, and started a second career working at the Jackson Women’s Health Organization as a counselor. By 2004, it was the only remaining abortion clinic in Mississippi.

Often faced with incredibly long distances to travel, and protesters on the ground upon their arrival, Betty helped all those who walked through the doors. 

In 2022, the clinic would become the center of the pending U.S. Supreme Court case challenging Roe v. Wade.

Betty worked there at the clinic for almost 25 years, but it was her own experiences as a teenager that brought her to the work. 

In 2016, she came to StoryCorps to share her story.

Transcript:

Kamilah Kashanie: 74-year-old Betty Thompson…is known as “Miss Betty” at the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, where she worked for almost twenty-five years. 

In 2004, it became the only remaining abortion clinic in Mississippi…and in 2022 it centered in the Supreme Court case aimed at overturning Roe v. Wade. 

She started working there as a counselor, soon after it opened in the mid-90s…

…and she came to StoryCorps to talk about what led her there…

Betty Thompson (BT): When I was 16, I didn’t tell my parents that I was pregnant. They told me. 

At that moment, my mom started to cry and said, ‘Girl, you’re pregnant’. My mouth flew open. I was devastated. 

You know, there are times when you want the floor to swallow you up. Well, that was so past embarrassing and nothing was swallowing me up. 

And then she sat me down in that chair to comb my hair, which she never combed my hair. She couldn’t say it was okay, but a touch can mean so much sometimes. And I think she forgave me at that moment she touched me. 

I kept my son, but my mom was the main caregiver. And so because of my family, I went back to finish high school and went to college.

It made me want to excel in a lot of things. However, I wish I had had the choice.

After 25 years, I retired from state government. And I happened to run into a friend that knew that this clinic was being opened. I suppose because of my background, I felt like I had something to give. So I jumped right in. 

You know, everybody can’t do this work. You have to be made for it. You have to love people.

So, I try to reach that teenager to let them know that it’s going to be okay. And I make sure I encourage the mom or the dad that’s with that teenager, you’re going to get through this – you love your daughter. She needs you now more than ever.

Sometimes I can see the mother look over at the daughter. Almost as if for the first time. It takes me back to that moment when my mom was doing my hair. 

We know that we are the only clinic in Mississippi and we are needed. And that’s why I’m here.

“We Are Needed”: A Counselor At Mississippi’s Only Abortion Clinic Shares Her Story

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Senate approves Lisa Cook as first Black woman on Federal Reserve board of governors

WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed economist Lisa Cook on Tuesday to serve on the Federal Reserve’s board of governors, making her the first Black woman to do so in the institution’s 108-year history.

Her approval was on a narrow, party-line vote of 51-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the decisive vote.

Senate Republicans argued that she is unqualified for the position, saying she doesn’t have sufficient experience with interest rate policy. They also said her testimony before the Senate Banking Committee suggested she wasn’t sufficiently committed to fighting inflation, which is running at four-decade highs.

Cook has a doctorate in economics from the University of California, Berkeley, and has been a professor of economics and international relations at Michigan State since 2005. She was also a staff economist on the White House Council of Economic Advisers from 2011 to 2012 and was an adviser to President Biden’s transition team on the Fed and bank regulatory polic

Some of her most well-known research has focused on the impact of lynchings and racial violence on African American innovation.

Cook is only the second of Biden’s five nominees for the Fed to win Senate confirmation. His Fed choices have faced an unusual level of partisan opposition, given the Fed’s history as an independent agency that seeks to remain above politics.

Some critics charge, however, that the Fed has contributed to the increased scrutiny by addressing a broader range of issues in recent years, such as the role of climate change on financial stability and racial disparities in employment.

Biden called on the Senate early Tuesday to approve his nominees as the Fed seeks to combat inflation.

“I will never interfere with the Fed,” Biden said. “The Fed should do its job and will do its job, I’m convinced.”

Fed Chair Jerome Powell is currently serving in a temporary capacity after his term ended in February. He was approved by the Senate Banking Committee by a nearly unanimous vote in March.

Fed governor Lael Brainard was confirmed two weeks ago for the Fed’s influential vice chair position by a 52-43 vote.

Philip Jefferson, a economics professor and dean at Davidson College in North Carolina, has also been nominated by Biden for a governor slot and was approved unanimously by the Finance Committee. He would be the fourth Black man to serve on the Fed’s board.

Biden has also nominated Michael Barr, a former Treasury Department official, to be Fed’s top banking regulator, after a previous choice, Sarah Bloom Raskin, faced opposition from West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin.

Cook, Jefferson, and Barr would join Brainard as Democratic appointees to the Fed. Yet most economists expect the Fed will continue on its path of steep rate hikes this year.

https://www.npr.org/2022/05/10/1098105334/lisa-cook-federal-reserve

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Elton Clay Fax, a prolific African-American cartoonist, author, and illustrator, was born on October 9, 1909, in Baltimore, Maryland. His parents were Mark Oakland Fax, a clerk, and Willie Estelle Fax, a seamstress. Elton’s younger brother, Mark, was a music prodigy who worked as a composer later in life. Elton attended Claflin College, a historically black college in South Carolina and then transferred to Syracuse University in New York where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in 1931. In 1929 he married Grace Elizabeth Turner, with whom he had three children.

In 1935 Fax returned to Claflin College to teach art. After one year, he left Claflin and began teaching with the federal government’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) in New York City until 1940, at which point he became a freelancer. Fax’s work gathered attention at several art showings, including a 1932 solo exhibition in Baltimore where two nude paintings stirred controversy; the Baltimore Art Museum in 1939; and the 1940 American Negro Exposition in Chicago, Illinois.

Several black newspapers ran Susabelle, Fax’s popular newspaper comic strip, starting in 1942. From 1949, Fax spent seven years delivering “chalk-talks,” stories accompanied by live illustrations. Fax and his family frequently traveled, living in Mexico from 1953 to 1956 and later visiting South America. During the following decades, Fax’s travels took him around the world, particularly to Africa. In his visits to African nations, he delivered his famous “chalk-talks,” often on the topic of the American civil rights struggle.

Throughout his career, Fax illustrated over thirty books and numerous magazine articles. He wrote extensively on black culture as well, publishing several books and regularly contributing essays to a variety of magazines and newspapers. West African Vignettes (1960), his first book, detailed his African travels; later, he wrote Through Black Eyes (1974) about his journeys in East Africa and the Soviet Union. Other notable books include Garvey (1972), a biography of Black Nationalist Marcus Garvey, and Seventeen Black Artists (1971), for which he won the Coretta Scott King Award.

Many of Fax’s writings and artwork from 1930–1972 were compiled into the Elton Fax Papers, located in the archives of the New York Public Library, Boston University in Massachusetts, and Syracuse University. Elton Fax passed away on May 13, 1993, in Queens, New York.

Elton Fax (1909-1993)

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Nellie Morrow Parker (1902-1998) was the first African American public school teacher in Hackensack, Bergen County.

As a young woman, Nellie taught fifth and sixth grade in the Hackensack public schools. The initial circumstances surrounding her appointment as a teacher were quite controversial. The district Superintendent William Stark acted against popular opinion at the time by hiring Parker. Consequently, Stark’s professional career suffered; the day after he hired Parker, Superintendent Stark resigned from his position.

During her early years of teaching, Parker and her family were subject to criticism by the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Knights of Columbus, and subject to harassment by the Ku Klux Klan. The community held town meetings, the press voiced disapproval, and friends and strangers rebuked the Morrow family. Despite the tumultuous start to her teaching career, Parker remained in the Hackensack school system for 42 years. Parker was also a founding member of Black Women’s Business and Professional Organization and helped establish the Mary McLeod Bethune Scholarship Fund.

https://njwomenshistory.org/discover/biographies/nellie-morrow-parker/

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Black Sands Entertainment Founder, Manuel Godoy, Crafts an Immersive Comic Book Universe That Stands Out among the Rest

Countless storytelling mediums have evolved over the years, but none have ever come as far as holding a tight grip on our modern popular culture as much as comic books have. The love for comic books as a visual medium is a form of affection that is universally felt. However, it is clear that the field has been predominantly white for many years now. Manuel Godoy stands at the forefront of change for the comic book industry, forging his own career by creating comic books as an African American citizen.

Manuel Godoy is the only African American comic book publisher in our modern world. The heavy responsibility that his title entails means that he is giving it his all to represent his community. He fully intends to add to his current success by inspiring more people of color to consider the comic book industry as a promising endeavor. 

His company Black Sands Entertainment has been a massively lucrative venture for the esteemed comic book publisher. After years and years of hard work, sleepless nights, and countless challenges, Manuel Godoy is proud to say that his company has amassed massive revenues over the years. 

“I originally wanted to be a video game developer, but I did not have the means to finish my first project, so I pivoted to a more sustainable career in comics,” explained Manuel. “Little did I know it would turn out so well.”

Manuel Godoy is a US Army veteran and an Economics major who began writing comic books once he finished college. His original creation, “Black Sands, the Seven Kingdoms,” became an instant hit, allowing him to carve out his legacy within the comic book industry. For several years, Manuel’s company only maintained four core members, who worked night and day to sustain the demands of the business. Together, these four core members helped Manuel create the visuals of the Black Sands universe. 

The company’s growth has been nothing short of astounding. Nowadays, from its humble beginnings of just having four people, Black Sands Entertainment has several dozens of employees working diligently to maintain the brand’s status. Manuel Godoy maintains a set of principles and values that remind him of why he initially started his business in the first place.

He prioritizes controlling costs, attracting customers by offering reasonable rates, and recruiting exceptional talents at affordable rates. Growing together with the rest of his team is of utmost importance to him as a leader. He sees his own success to be the success of the entire team as well. Manuel is only truly fulfilled once he sees the same level of fulfillment within his employees. He hopes to elevate the lives of every single employee that is working with him, so they can further elevate Black Sands Entertainment. 

Manuel Godoy is making great strides towards transitioning the immersive universe of Black Sands into modern visual media. Plans for having “Black Sands: the Anime” are already in the works, and Manuel is extremely confident that licensing alone would greatly help his company.

From zero to hero, Manuel Godoy has come a long way from being the small-time comic book creator that he was. As the only African American comic book publisher in the world today, he is carrying the hopes of his people with him, much like a comic book hero. 

To know more about Black Sands Entertainment, make sure to drop by the company’s official website. Follow Black Sands Entertainment on Instagram and TikTok for more live updates.

Black Sands Entertainment Founder, Manuel Godoy, Crafts an Immersive Comic Book Universe That Stands Out among the Rest

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Can classical music really be inclusive? Composer Jessie Montgomery thinks so

Jessie Montgomery is having a moment. Several moments at once, actually.

In the past several years, the 40-year-old composer and violinist has rapidly become a poster child for the shifting classical music canon — an artist who aims to overcome an institutional dependence on old dead white men by leveling the field for women and composers of color. In the upcoming concert season, her works will be performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where she is currently the Mead Composer-in-Residence, appointed by Music Director Riccardo Muti.

On April 28, Muti leads the CSO in the world premiere of Montgomery’s Hymn for Everyone, one of three new pieces she’s writing for the orchestra during her tenure in Chicago.

Growing up with artistic parents in New York, Montgomery began writing little piano trios when she was around 11. She took lessons and continued composing throughout high school, and in her late teens began an association with the Sphinx Organization, a Detroit-based institution dedicated to supporting young Black and Latinx musicians. In 2008, while teaching at a summer music camp in Rhode Island, Montgomery realized life as a composer could be “a thing.” A colleague walked in on her in the middle of composing and told her she had a “spark” in her eye for writing music.

Montgomery is in an exceptional position, not only as a composer whose works are suddenly skyrocketing in demand, but one who feels the responsibility to help lead as her field faces sharper questions of diversity and inclusion. While the brighter spotlight comes with pressure, she relishes the opportunity to help reframe American music and the institutions that present it.

From her apartment in New York City, Montgomery sat down for a video chat to talk about the canon and where classical music might be heading, as well as the role her own work plays in that journey.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

---

Tom Huizenga, NPR Music: The New York Times published a profile of you in the fall of 2021. The headline was: “The Changing American Canon Sounds Like Jessie Montgomery.” That sounds like a lot to live up to, frankly.

Jessie Montgomery: Yes, it sure does. I didn’t write it! [Laughs] With something like that you just say, I’m so grateful for the recognition and for what it means for other composers coming down the pike. It is a hard thing to live up to, so to speak, but I wouldn’t dare try. It’s interesting because it kind of reframes — and strengthens — the idea that American classical music actually matters and is actually of interest to a greater audience. That’s really special, and I’m really honored to participate in that legacy and that history.

But do you actually feel a change in the air in the past couple of years? Is the canon really shifting toward more women composers and composers of color?

We’ll have to see. According to programs around the country, it does seem to be changing. It does seem that orchestras, chamber groups and opera companies are embracing composers that they wouldn’t traditionally embrace: myself, and composers like Carlos Simon whose work has been programmed a ton. Shawn Okpebholo, another great colleague of mine in Chicago, he’s getting a lot of play right now.

With any new kind of programming and endeavor, you take a leap of faith that the audiences are going to be into it. I find audiences show up because they want to experience live music, live theater, something that sparks their imagination and soothes their pain. That’s how it functions, really, at the end of the day. There’s so much weight on this word “canon” — something that’s absolute and fixed. I think that’s why I have a little bit of a reaction to that “changing canon” remark because it’s evolving and I don’t know if it will be fixed or not. But I think this moment is really great. It’s exciting to see more different kinds of music being embraced and presented.

I think one of your pieces was performed over 100 times in 2021 alone?

Yes, that was Starburst — 114 times.

But let’s hope this isn’t just a moment. What will it take to make this shift last?

It’s a commitment from organizations to partner with composers. And to decide, “Every year we will do Beethoven [Symphony] Seven, and we’ll also do a Simon or a Montgomery or a [Caroline] Shaw.” And those relationships are built carefully. I have some friends who are conductors and I am slowly building relationships with these larger organizations.

That’s another thing about our industry; it is really about relationships and how we agree on what makes sense for programming. I see a lot of organizations, orchestras in particular, working with curatorial roles for composers to design programs. That’s a really interesting way of setting some of the values and wishes for programming down the line.

You’re the composer-in-residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra through the 2024 season, and part of your job is to program the Music Now contemporary music concerts. While the orchestra has had a solid track record of inviting women to be composers-in-residence, it hasn’t always been so good at programming music by women. In the 2018-2019 season, the CSO presented music by 54 different composers, none of which were women. Same for the Philadelphia Orchestra that season. I can imagine you might see this as a problem.

I certainly did. At the CSO, I can speak to some of the work that Missy Mazzoli did while she was there — she was the previous composer-in-residence. She shared that fact with me, and it became her mission, as part of her curatorial role, to have way more women composers on her Music Now concerts. And that became a vehicle for the CSO to actually look at that number and get to know more women composers, bringing more women composers into the fold so that they can actually become more aware of who’s out there and how to program these works and shift the scale.

The upcoming season at the CSO offers music by 53 different composers and six are women. It’s getting marginally better. What kinds of things are getting in the way of a more level playing field for women composers in our high-profile symphony orchestras?

Programming is hard. It takes work to think through these things and to do the research to find the composers and music that you think will work for your audiences. A lot of it is trying to make sure the audience feels okay, and not surprising them with too much new stuff. There’s a lot of that feeling within the presenting world, where they’re sort of afraid to offend anyone with anything out of the ordinary.

It’s quite possible that what presenters are afraid to offer is any brand-new music.

I think that’s a big issue, actually. They know that programming 54 white male composers works, so why reinvent the wheel? And it’s the same with Black composers and other minority composers. It’s the field of classical music itself, and its history. It’s shown its face, pretty overtly, and we’re trying to adapt to a new world. It’s exciting to be a part of it at this point.

Even organizations like the Sphinx Organization — that I’ve been a part of since 1999, and they’ve been a tremendous supporter of my career — that is committed to diversity in classical music, just this year had their first program of all Black and Latinx composers. There was always this need or belief that we had to have a “real” classical piece on there by an old traditional composer in order to legitimize the program. And I don’t know whether that comes from the presenters’ side, which I can easily imagine, or if it was a true desire within the institution. And so those are the difficult things that you realize, that the actual institution of classical music itself has had such a stronghold on how people perceive what is legit and what’s worthy of being performed.

And now you’re in this curatorial role with the CSO. I’m wondering if you’re putting pressure on yourself, or have pressure from others, about what to program. That’s got to be tricky, right?

Yes, I certainly have to consider some of the values that came before me — like, for example, Missy Mazzoli wanting to make sure that there’s enough female representation. So I want to help carry that torch. I also want there to be more people of color performing, and their music being performed. And then I also have my own general music tastes that have nothing to do with any of those things. So I’m trying to find a happy balance — program a concert that I would want to go to. It’s not easy to come up with a program that fits all the boxes. But luckily I have three seasons in which I hope to balance the scale as much as I can.

Are you still teaching? What are you telling your students about the so-called “canon?”

I find that students are really interested in this discussion and in programming pieces that are not traditionally part of the canon. I feel like they’re seeking it out. And composers too, writing from a more personal place, like wanting to write about their experience as a Black person, for example, or their experience with trauma or things of that nature. They’re very much connected to wanting to explore and feel like they’re doing something new — something different from the previous generation. Whereas when I was growing up, I had zero thoughts like that. Zero. I was like, “I’ve got to practice my Wieniawski and I’ve got to practice my Brahms.” I didn’t know of any Black composers until I joined Sphinx, and I was 17 or 18 years old.

There’s a much broader curiosity from the younger generation, for sure. There’s great representation out there now for people to get to know and start incorporating these pieces, hopefully, into their repertoire. I have students coming up to me saying they’re practicing my piece with their teacher. And it’s such a good feeling to know that it’s being taught. It makes me feel old.

I’m standing on the shoulders of, in particular, all the Black composers in America who didn’t really get to have the kind of attention that I’m receiving right now. I’m very aware of that.

Because now you’re the shoulders they can stand on. It comes full circle. Speaking of full circle, I’m wondering if you think at all about lineage, whose shoulders you feel like you’re standing on at this point?

Lineage and legacy is all very important to me. And I’m standing on the shoulders of, in particular, all the Black composers in America who didn’t really get to have the kind of attention that I’m receiving right now. I’m very aware of that. I’m very aware of how different this is in comparison to the experiences of a lot of Black composers in the early 20th century. I feel a responsibility, but also a joy. I feel excited about the opportunity and I hope that this moment becomes more of a model for how we move forward and who we celebrate and how we celebrate music in general.

I’m wondering if you feel like you are following in any tradition — an American tradition perhaps? I’m thinking of your music: of Coincident Dances, where the orchestra is a kind of DJ, playing multicultural sounds of New York, or Banner, which is a terrific stew of national anthems.

The fact that America is a multicultural society itself plays into the sort of multifaceted influences that go into American music. American composers have been doing this for centuries. I certainly follow in that tradition in many ways, but then a lot of my works will also follow a pretty rigid classical form. For example, the piece I just completed, called Rounds, for piano — that’s a rondo. There are these formal classical traditional models that I also play around with. So it’s really the combination of those influences where I’m finding a little sweet spot in my work. https://www.youtube.com/embed/eUeTCoHOYEQ?rel=0 YouTube

In the Times piece you mentioned going for a sound that is “a culmination, like the smashing together of different styles and influences. I don’t know that I’ve achieved that yet.” When I read that, I wondered if you could still be searching for your composer’s voice? And if so, how do you do that?

I think you just keep trying over and over. I am aware that I do feel like there’s a particular sound that my music has now at this point, that there are modes in which I feel comfortable writing. I’m starting to notice certain patterns that come back from one piece to the next and that there’s actually a consistency there.

For example, a piece like Coincident Dances is very much like, OK, here’s the samba-ish section and here’s the techno-ish section, here’s the waltz section. And they are sort of stacked on top of each other and obvious in their own identities. But then I think what I’m really looking for is: What does the assemblage of all of those things sound like if you distill it down to one simple musical impulse or gesture? And that might be an impossible task, but that’s, you know, that’s the search.

I guess it’s a sort of philosophical approach too. I believe there’s a universality to music. People are drawn to music in ways that they might not even be drawn to the culture that the music stands for. And that’s problematic. But still, there’s something about music itself that brings people together, and I feel like it would be interesting to find a way for the music itself to also represent the commonality of multiple styles or influences.

Do you want to give away any secrets of how you write your music? A lot of times, especially at this point in your career, it all starts with a commission, right? But then where do you go for inspiration?

I had some great advice by [composer] Gabriela Lena Frank early on, where she said keep a scrapbook of all of your ideas and keep it like a treasure chest. And whenever a commission comes up, go into your treasure chest and pick out something that you think might work, and go from there.

Musical ideas, and ideas for gesture, come kind of randomly sometimes — even in the midst of writing another piece. I realize there’s a section that I don’t want to use in that piece anymore, but I’m going to save it and use it for something else. They’re like little quilt patches, and so at this stage I have a fair amount of those patches to work with.

For inspiration, I go to museums. I get really excited by visual stimulus and so I like to go to the movies. I get inspired by just going to concerts and seeing the work that’s being put in and the amount of layers and the work that goes into each performance.

Keeping a scrapbook is refreshingly old-fashioned. And it reminds me of the inspiration for this latest orchestral piece that you’ve written for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra called Hymn for Everyone. You’ve mentioned that it came while you were out on a hike, which sounds so 19th century romantic, so like Beethoven out in the woods.

It was during the pandemic, so there was a lot of walking in the woods, trying to clear the mind. I have a friend who’s a writer and they described the poem always coming in one gesture. It’s the manifestation of an intuitive kind of realization, like an epiphany. And that’s how this piece came, and it’s the only time that’s ever really happened.

I was also very influenced by all of the discussions and reactions to the George Floyd murder. There were a lot of groups who had put on performances of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and I had that song sort of resonating. When you hear Hymn for Everyone, the very first few gestures have a similarity to “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” So I wonder if I was being inspired by that moment as well. There was a sense of catharsis, actually when I finished writing this tune, because it was surprising to me that it came out. I did feel a kind of evolution somehow from before I wrote it to actually having written it down. And it was a tool for my own reflection on what was going on.

Sounds like it’s a piece that’s trying to pull people together in a time when there are so many things getting in the way to divide us.

Exactly. And so I’ll share that my mother passed away, sadly. She was a writer, and as we were going through her papers, I found that she had written a short prose style poem called “Poem for Everyone.” And that was the moment, actually, when I decided to go back to the Hymn and turn it into an orchestra piece. Because I thought, yes, she taught me about how to think about the world, but it was sweet that I had, on my own, written this this hymn. Her poem was more political in nature and also kind of funny — poking fun at certain political mishaps and incongruous things that have been going on.

Thank you for sharing that. If it were me, I would tend to think of it as mom reaching out. I’m so sorry for your loss.

Thank you. I appreciate that.

Do you feel like you’re taking your music down any new paths? Or could your music be taking you somewhere?

This is a hard question because I feel like right now I’ve found something that I feel comfortable with in terms of my approach to writing — how I write, when I actually sit down to write, the process of actually doing it, how much time I write and what times in the day. That’s all starting to balance in a new way. But stylistically, I always talk about this one composer who I’m super inspired by — her name’s Anna Meredith.

The English composer and performer?

Yes, she is super great. There’s something about her, just her big-energy dynamism, that is so inspiring to me. And I feel like that’s a thing that I need to sort of unlock with my writing.

You listen to other people’s music and you say, “What’s so attractive about that?” And I use my piece Coincident Dances as an example because there is a kind of restraint. Even though it’s exploring different styles, I think the restraint part is what I want to start to break open a little bit. I don’t know what that sounds like yet, but that’s something I want to start to explore.

I’m thinking of one of your teachers, whose music to me is always so refreshingly bold, and that is Joan Tower.

I knew you were going to say Joan. Yes, 100%. She remains a total inspiration in that way. Also, not being afraid. We were talking about this idea of classical music having this strong hold on people’s psyche, about how they’re even thinking about not wanting to challenge the norm. There is something about that, that exists in my music, that I’m trying to, as I said, unlock or fight against.

Because, especially as a Black person, you sit down to write and you think, oh, these rhythms are going to be too, air quotes, “jazzy” — which is not even accurate — or too hyper-rhythmic. Or, maybe I shouldn’t put these bends in — it’s going to sound too Black or something. And that is unfortunately something that I have struggled with in my own thinking about my own music. I’ve had these conversations with close friends of mine, and it’s a personal, hard thing to face, and realize I’ve been holding myself back because somehow there’s an aspect of my identity that I’m afraid to let fully form in this context. Whereas in any other context, it’s not an issue, you know, walking around my whole life as me.

Thanks for articulating that. That’s kind of deep.

I think it’s not uncommon, in conversation with other Black composers in particular. That thought does cross the mind some at some point.

Maybe, when you have time, you need to experiment in your music with just letting it rip, and see what happens.

Exactly. And I think that’s where I’m at now, where I’m like, “OK, I can do this. I have the headspace to do it.”

https://www.npr.org/2022/04/28/1094807744/can-classical-music-really-be-inclusive-composer-jessie-montgomery-thinks-so