mickey
02-26-2012, 11:11 AM
Greettings,
Commonly called, "The Black Woodstock",(an appellation also given to WATTSTAX), The Harlem Cultural Festival took place on weekends in Mt Morris Park (now called Marcus Garvey Park), during the summers of 1968 and 1969. The first event took place in July 1968, one month before Woodstock. Stars such as B.B. King, Aretha Franklin, The Fifth Dimension, Bobby Blue Bland, Nina Simone, and a host of others helped bring blessings of love and healing during incredibly turbulent times. This event began a few months after the assassination of Martin Luther King, and one month after the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. That compounded the feelings of loss, hopelessness and anger established by the earlier assassinations of John F. Kennedy (a lot Black people LOVED the Kennedys, my family included) and Malcolm X. Now add the turbulence of the Vietnam war and drugs, you get a pretty wicked picture of the shearing actions that were taking place at the fibers of our existence at that time. This event helped keep the summer of 1968 from getting HOT. And I think that Woodstock was very helpful in that regard as well
I have been looking for footage of this event for many years. I recently learned over the internet that over 50 hours of film footage exists in some vault somewhere. I hope it can be fully released to dvd some time soon. It is a piece of American history that should be brought forward and shared.
This event may have been what inspired the incredible performances that took place in Kinchasa Zaire that happened before the Ali Foreman fight [This event included Celia Cruz and the Fania All Stars, Bill Withers, Miriam Makeba, James Brown and many more. This event was sat on until a few years ago, released as Soul Power. I do not know if it is complete; but, I have read that it includes the entire set of James Brown's performance, nearly one hour, that was released earlier last decade on limited edition cd.]
Just a small sharing,
mickey
Commonly called, "The Black Woodstock",(an appellation also given to WATTSTAX), The Harlem Cultural Festival took place on weekends in Mt Morris Park (now called Marcus Garvey Park), during the summers of 1968 and 1969. The first event took place in July 1968, one month before Woodstock. Stars such as B.B. King, Aretha Franklin, The Fifth Dimension, Bobby Blue Bland, Nina Simone, and a host of others helped bring blessings of love and healing during incredibly turbulent times. This event began a few months after the assassination of Martin Luther King, and one month after the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. That compounded the feelings of loss, hopelessness and anger established by the earlier assassinations of John F. Kennedy (a lot Black people LOVED the Kennedys, my family included) and Malcolm X. Now add the turbulence of the Vietnam war and drugs, you get a pretty wicked picture of the shearing actions that were taking place at the fibers of our existence at that time. This event helped keep the summer of 1968 from getting HOT. And I think that Woodstock was very helpful in that regard as well
I have been looking for footage of this event for many years. I recently learned over the internet that over 50 hours of film footage exists in some vault somewhere. I hope it can be fully released to dvd some time soon. It is a piece of American history that should be brought forward and shared.
This event may have been what inspired the incredible performances that took place in Kinchasa Zaire that happened before the Ali Foreman fight [This event included Celia Cruz and the Fania All Stars, Bill Withers, Miriam Makeba, James Brown and many more. This event was sat on until a few years ago, released as Soul Power. I do not know if it is complete; but, I have read that it includes the entire set of James Brown's performance, nearly one hour, that was released earlier last decade on limited edition cd.]
Just a small sharing,
mickey