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THURSDAY, September 12, 1996
1BIARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Black church’s history at Afro Center
By Winfred B. Cross
THE CHARLOTTE POST
“You can’t have black history
without the black church,”
says Harry Harrison. “We’ve
tried to, but it just doesn’t
work that way.”
That’s why Harrison, direc
tor of programs at the Afro-
American Cultural Center,
feels the center’s latest exhib
it, “Climbing Jacob’s Ladder:
The rise of Black Churches in
Eastern American Cities,
1740 - 1877,” is so important.
“Because of the historical
content, people will come away
well informed about the black
church in America,” he said.
“That’s what it gives you, a
sense of where we came from.”
The exhibit, on loan from the
Smithsonian Institution’s
Anacostia Museum, chronicles
the black church’s humble
beginnings from the Great
Awakening to the end of
Reconstructio)!.
Wall plaques containing
information on some of black
history’s most respected mem
bers Frederick Douglass,
Richard Allen, James Varick
and Sojourner Truth.’
“You see the origins of uni
versities (Livingstone College),
the civil rights movement, the
freedom fighters - they laid
the foundation,” Harrison
said.
Some of the plaques are
shaped as stained glass win
dows. A few are free-standing.
Cover
Cover
The Fisk Jubillee Singers were chiefly responsible for introducing black religious music.
All contain paints, litho
graphs, drawings or photos.
Ironically, the text of the
exhibits points out black
churches actually started in
the South, despite fears of
whites. The first congregations
were formed from plantation
slaves in Lunenburg and
Williamsburg, Va., and Silver
Bluff, S. C.
Between 18()0 and 1860 the
African Union Methodist,
African Methodist Episcopal
Church, African Methodist
Episcopal Zion Church and the
American Baptist Missionary
Convention all flourished.
Allen’s A.M.E. denomination
grew the fastest. It also led the
way in establishing indepen
dent black congregations
throughout smaller towns.
The Afro Center could not
have asked for better publicity
Evangelist Billy Graham will
preach what will probably be
part of his final crusade in
Ericsson Stadium later this
month. “That’s probably going
lo bring some people down
here," said Harry Harrison,
program director for the cen
ter.
But Harrison wishes the
other topic - church burnings
- would go away.
ing the opening’s reception
Friday,” he said. “Not just on
what’s happening but on the
fact that it’s never stopped.
Church burning has always
been a problem.”
The center has even localized
the exhibit. Photos of
Matthews-Murkland
Presbyterian Church, recently
burned by a l.l-year-old white
I'omale, are lucked discretely
in a corner on the bottom floor.
Sitting in front of the photos is
a glass case containing debris
of the burned church.
But Harrison is quick to
point out the traveling
“It was mentioned a lot dur- See LADDER Page 2B
By Jeri Young
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Good Hair; A Novel
Benilde Little
$22
Simon & Schuster
Benilde Little wanted to pen a work about the black middle
class. She wanted it to be funny, honest and a best seller.
She accomplishes all of her goals with “Good Hair.”
Excerpted in magazines long before it’s publication, “Good
Hair” is a good read.
The book borrows its title from the old African American
misconception that there is such a thing as ‘good hair,’ is an
in-depth look into the pretensions of the world of the BUPPIE '
- black urban professional - by Alice Andrews, who admits
from the jump that she does not have good hair.
In spite of her upscale appearance and education, she is a
Mount Holyoke grad, Alice remains at the periphery of New
York’s black bourgeoise. She hails from Newark, a city that
buppies look down on.
Alice’s precarious position is further intensified by her rela
tionship with Jack, a true African American blueblood. Jack
hails from a long line of doctors.
Of course, Alice and Jack’s relationships takes the normal
twists and turns, but the book does manage to end on a rela
tively happy note.
“Good Hair,” is also one of the funniest books out.
Harris takes on all of the bastions of Buppiedom, from fancy
restaurants to boring parties, with BAPs (black American
princesses), personified by Jack’s ex-girlfriend. Sherry
Steptoe.
Like all of the new ‘black girlfriend’ novels, there is a lot of
disappointment for Alice and her best friend Cheryl, a suc
cessful college grad who gives up everything to follow a man,
but overall, the book works.
Of course, there are some pitfalls.
There are really no great black men. Jack commits a cardi
nal sin and his best friend Jeff abuses his wife in a fit of rage.
But overall the book is great and well worth a glance.
We want the funk!
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION /MARK PENDERGRASS AND MONTY RAMSUER
By Myron K. Williams
SPECIAL TO THE POST
Ihe anticipation of the P-Funk concert started when I woke
up Sunday morning and it continued building throughout
the day.
When I pulled into the Blockbuster Pavilion parking lot that
evening, I could hear the crowd and feel it pulsating. Making my
way to my seat I knew the mothership was going to land because
everyone was there with the same purpose — to tear the roof off
the mutha.
George Clinton, king of all the funk he surveys, is from
Kannapolis, and he always gives extra when he comes home.
King George brought some of the key Funk mobsters with him -
Bernie Worrell (no other keyboardist can touch him), Bootsy (five-
star rock star of a monster baby). Junie Morris and the Brides of
Funkenstein. Darn! It took me back to my first P-Funk concert in
the early ‘70s; George in his ever-present robe, Bootsy in his red
splendor (pants and feather hat) and my boy in the white wed
ding dress. The band was tight, hitting all the right notes and
kicking the vocals. It reminded me of playing all their albums on
my parent’s Hi-fi.
I haven’t missed a P-Funk concert since the early ‘70s. I
thought last year’s Fort Mill concert was the ultimate because I
ended up on stage. No, it wasn’t. This year they landed the
mothership not once, but twice. Collins emerged the second time
signifying the Funk Opera was not over. Once finished, Collins
made his way down the aisle giving out high fives. Naturally,
being the funkateer I am, I threw a high five Bootsy’s way. He
grabbed my hand and we proceeded to hop toward the stage as
the crowd chanted “We Want Bootsy.” That was the ultimate. I’ll
tell my grandkids about it.
The opera started at 7 p.m. and ended somewhere near 11:15.
This was the best P-Funk concert I’ve attended. It proved we are
still “One Nation Under A Groove.”
GEORGE CLINTON
WGIV personality
Sunny White dies
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON- Sunny Joe White, an African American radio
personality who started his career with WGIV-FM Charlotte
died this week of an apparent heart attack.
The former WXKS-FM (Boston) program director popular
ized that station’s disco format in the late 1970s
When White began his career in Charlotte with WGIV-FM,
it was the first with an African American format. He worked
with such radio legends as “Genial” Gene Potts, “Rockin’”
Ray Gooding and “Chattie” Hattie Deeper.
“He was one of my beloved proteges,” Deeper said. “I taught
him a great deal about radio. He was very young when he
started with the station. He was always interested in any
thing to do with records and the industry.”
Deeper, chairman of Gaston College’s communication
department, said White once worked in a record shop she
owned. She was shocked at his death.
“I had heard through the grapevine he was sick, but you
never get used to death,” Deeper said. “He was a sweet,
sweet person.”
WGIV is now WBAV-FM.
White started and ended his Boston radio career at WILD-
AM, as an innovator in the music world.
“He did things before people thought they should be done,”
said fellow disc jockey and longtime friend Diana Steele,
“Lady D” on WJMN-FM. White hired Steele as an intern at
WXKS, “KISS,” 15 years ago.
“He could see the future, I think; he knew what direction
to go in,” she said.
Friends said White, who grew up in Charlotte, was hospi
talized after a heart attack last week, but returned to his
Boston home. He was pronounced dead there late Saturday.
“He was just the nicest guy,” said “Kid Da vid” Corey, whom
White also hired at WXKS.
“He was always smiling, even when he was mad at you or
didn’t like something you did on the air, he was smiling,”
Corey, who still works at the .station, .said.
"Sunny joked around a lot about how he started the careers
of many people ... but he really did,” said WILD program
director Ken Johnson, whose own career is among them. “He
called them his kids and he got a lot of kids in the business.”
“Sunny slept, ate and drank radio,” Johnson said. “He
loved the business and he loved music and this was defi
nitely the business for him to be in.”
White began his career in Boston at WILD in 1978 and
moved to WXKS in 1979 as its program director. He stayed
there, hosting morning and night shows, until 1990. He then
worked at the former WZOU-FM, now WJMN, until 1992.
He was a programming consultant for WILD and had an on-
air show there at the time of his death.
“It’s really impacting this city in a tremendous way,” Steele
said of White’s death. “People looked toward him as an inno
vator.
“He was a really nice guy — a sweetheart. He was good to
people.”
Winfred B.Cross also contributed to this story.