Artists & Reviews

In 1908 his first one-man exhibition of religious paintings in the United States was held at the American Art Galleries in New York. Two years later, Tanner was elected a member of the National Academy of Design. In 1923 he was made an honorary chevalier of the Order of the Legion of Honor, France’s highest honor, and in 1927 he became a full academician of the National Academy of Design, the first African American to receive that honor. In his later years, Tanner was a symbol of hope and inspiration for African-American leaders and young black artists, many of whom visited him in Paris. On May 25, 1937, Tanner died at his home in Paris.2.

Henry Ossawa Tanner a brilliant and acclaimed African American Painter

September 19, 2020 admin2Great, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Painter0 comment

By Dag Walker Where I grew up in a small town in the Rocky Mountains a few years after the end of World War Two, there were no bookstores, no music stores, and no such thing as an art gallery or museum. It was a fine life for a boy, a life of fishing and mountain climbing and fist fighting with the neighborhood bully. There was little of the life of the mind, though, aside from the occasional book to be found, paperbacks, spines broken, pages torn out,…

Nvasekie N. Konneh is a writer, and nine year veteran of the United States Navy. He is the author of two books of poetry, Going To War for America, The Love of Liberty Brought Us Together and The Land of My Father’s Birth, memoir of the Liberian civil wars. Nvasekie Konneh can be reached at 267 826 3952 or through email @ nvaskon1@gmail.com

Artists & Reviews

The Land of My Father’s Birth, a review

September 18, 2020September 18, 2020 admin20 comment

By Hawa Donzo My name is Hawa and I currently reside in Western Australia with my family. Originally, my family and I are of Liberian decent, although my older sister and I were both born in Guinea, Conakry. Having spent the last few years tracing my family’s Mandingo history and asking uncomfortable questions, Nvasekie’s novel The Land of My Father’s Birth has shed a beaming light on my findings. The first and second parts of this book really helped to round-up my understanding and overall knowledge of life in Liberia as a…

Contemporary South African poet Koleka Putuma lovingly recounts memories of happiness and childhood innocence in her poem Black Joy, published in the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Anthology (Vol.6) in 2017. The refreshing text makes a point to change the narrative of an African childhood, which is too often associated with pain, struggle and suffering as Putuma focuses on describing a time of peace, playfulness and family. “Isn’t it funny? / that when they ask about black childhood / all they are interested in is our pain / as if the joy-parts were accidental,” she writes. There is a common tendency to erase positivity when discussing the black experience, particularly in Africa. This poem acts as a symbol of all the good that simply never makes the literary cut.

Artists & Reviews

7 Poems That Perfectly Depict The Beauty Of The Black Experience

August 31, 2020 admin2Black Voices, Literature, poetry0 comment

BY SAGAL MOHAMMED From literary giants such as Audre Lorde to emerging Sudanese-American poet Dalia Elhassan, we travel the diaspora to discover poetry that shows the strength, resilience and poise of the black experience. Beauty, resilience, pain and identity are just a few common themes used to articulate the black experience in literature. For centuries, poetry has acted as an artistic release for the black community to express our authentic take on the world. Felicitously put by American writer Audre Lorde, “Poetry is the way we help give name to the…

Artists & Reviews

If Saclepea Could Speak: book excerpt, —from “The Land of My Father’s Birth”

July 29, 2020July 29, 2020 admin2Book Excerpt, Liberia, Nvasekie konneh0 comment

“Until my recent visit, my last time of visiting Saclepea, my birthplace, was November 1989, just a month before the war started. As the rumor became a reality, my folks fled the town, with some coming to Monrovia and others going to Guinea and Ivory Coast. Most of them left, thinking that things would be over soon and they would return home. Since then, many have not made it back. Some like my father, Ngoamilleh Konneh, died longing for the home they couldn’t go back to. Some went back to…

“2. Interview: “Dr. Patricia Wesley & Comrade Cherbo Geeplay”. Liberian Listener. August 14, 2019 https://www.liberianlistener.com/2019/08/14/interview-dr-patricia-wesley-comrade-cherbo-geeplay/ “3 Wen Wryte, “Dismantling the cancel culture.” American Thinker. July 6, 2020. https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/07/dismantling_the_cancel_culture.html “4. Trudier Harris, “African American Protest Poetry.” National Humanistic Center, 1917 http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/freedom/1917beyond/essays/aaprotestpoetry.html

Artists & Reviews

Cherbo Geeplay: Understanding his poetry and politics

July 20, 2020July 24, 2020 admin2Africa, Cherbo Geeplay, poetry0 comment

By Dag Walker Thirteen years of civil conflict nearly destroyed the small West African nation of Liberia in the late 20th century. The period of reconstruction that followed in 2003 has surprisingly resulted in an explosion of local literature, some of it world-class in quality. A nation destroyed by war has suddenly produced writers of world-renown and hope for its literature lies on the horizon. “Usually wars or crises provide a new germination, if you will, like a forest that burns down and where new vegetation sprouts,” notes Liberian poet,…

Artists & Reviews

A Scholar, an Activist and Adventurer Memoirs of a Venture Novelist Charla M Burnet

May 11, 2020 admin2Charla Burnett, Review0 comment

A Scholar, an Activist and Adventurer Memoirs of a Venture Novelist Charla M Burnet 280 pp Reviewed by Nvasekie N. Konneh To write a memoir is a brave act. It simply means to bare your soul to the world. To lay it all out there about you, your family and friends, some of your innermost secrets. If you decide to write a memoir, you will be confronted with question as which part of your life experiences to be exposed in a book or which part to leave out. Are…

Wisher, now cochair of the committee that selects the poet laureate, said in a statement that Mayson’s “lovingly crafted poems have fed, held, and awakened many of us already. She has long been a beloved artist and educator in Philadelphia, and we are honored by her desire to serve as Poet Laureate," Wisher said. “Trapeta’s commitment to this city and its people is brilliantly evident in her work, art, and life.”

Artists & Reviews

Philadelphia Poet Laureate is Liberian born Trapeta B. Mayson

April 26, 2020April 26, 2020 admin2Liberian, poet, Trapeta Mayson0 comment

Trapeta B. Mayson, a Liberian-born poet, teacher, and licensed social worker, will be Philadelphia’s next poet laureate, for 2020 and 2021, the Free Library of Philadelphia announced Thursday. She will succeed Raquel Salas Rivera, who won a prestigious $50,000 award from the Academy of American Poets while serving in the post. The poet laureate post is a two-year position with some ceremonial and community-outreach duties. Mayson will be expected to participate in at least one reading a year at the Free Library and participate in a school program, workshop, or…

Artists & Reviews

Just Sam [Samantha Diaz] on ‘American Idol’: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

February 25, 2020 admin2American Idol, Just Sam, Samantha Diaz0 comment

American Idol returns for Season 18 on Sunday night and during the two-hour premiere on ABC, viewers will not only get reacquainted with the show’s three all-star judges – Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, and Luke Bryant, but will be introduced to a slew of fresh talent. With Ryan Seacrest returning as the series’ host, American Idol is kicking things off with a strong start, and one of the premiere episode’s standout contestants is Samantha Diaz, who goes by the stage name Just Sam. Adopted and raised by her…

Moran has interesting passages on the social institutions of southeastern Liberia and on understandings of elections, but her general argument is less than fully persuasive. This is so not least because it is based on memories of Liberia as it was more than twenty years ago and on a reading of Glebo political institutions that, while instructive, is predicated on a liberal view of society whose applicability to Liberia is not beyond question.

Artists & Reviews

Liberia: The Violence of Democracy, Review

February 21, 2020February 21, 2020 admin2Democracy, Liberia, Mary moran0 comment

Mary Moran, an anthropologist, did fieldwork in the southeast of Liberia in 1982–83. Since that time she has continued to follow the twists and turns of Liberian affairs from her vantage point in the United States, benefiting from the possibilities offered by modern communication and by the presence of an important Liberian diaspora. This book was provoked by her frustration at the ways in which Liberia has been represented in international media since its descent into war in 1989. In her view, moreover, proponents of some academic disciplines—political…

The Fervent Global Love of Lives Award under Chou Ta-Kuan Cultural and Educational Foundation was founded in 1997 and annually invites institutions, organizations, schools or individuals to recommend candidates who are brave, benevolent and diligent fighters in life.

Artists & Reviews

11 yrs Nigerian hyper-realistic artist, Waris Olamilekan wins International Art award

February 4, 2020 admin2Nigeian waris Olamilekan Kareem0 comment

Famed 11-year-old Nigerian hyper-realist artist Kareem Waris Olamilekan triumphed over 2,723 international candidates to win Taiwan’s 22nd Fervent Global Love of Lives Award. The Fervent Global Love of Lives Award under Chou Ta-Kuan Cultural and Educational Foundation was founded in 1997 and annually invites institutions, organizations, schools or individuals to recommend candidates who are brave, benevolent and diligent fighters in life. The foundation promotes the ‘Global Love of Lives movement’ and believes that ‘Everyone is Good at Something’. This year Nigerian sensation 11-year-old, Kareem Waris Olamilekan was one in approx.…