More on Black History Month media
"My work is all about healing and giving people a sense of hope and nobility," Kadir Nelson says about himself. "I want to show the strength and integrity of the human being and the human spirit.”
In "We Are The Ship," a children's book at the history of the Negro League, Nelson has done exactly what he set out.
"It was really rewarding," Nelson said about doing both the illustrating and writing. "I had never written anything outside of my assignments for college, so it was great for me to be able to use a different part of my brain — the part that I don’t necessarily use while I’m painting. I spoke to Nikki Giovanni, whose work I really admire. We were doing an event together, and someone asked her if she ever had writer’s block. She said that there’s no such thing as writer’s block; there’s only a lack of information. And if you ever come up against a wall, it’s because you don’t have enough information. So I kept that in mind while I was working. I read a ton of books on the leagues, which really helped when it came to composing my own manuscript."
Trying to be true to the Negro League facts, Nelson uses a first-person voice in describing the events -- a voice that talks directly to the reader. Nelson is meticulous about referencing material and including a bibliography, filmography, author's note and index.
He's also amused if anyone notices the one thing he took some artisic license with -- a portrait of Cool Papa Bell playing right field in front of a wall plastered with advertisements. "I am fully aware that Cool Papa played center field, but the right-field wall is so visually interesting that I used a bit of license and place him in front of it," he writes in the author's note. " Perhaps he was playing right field that day, or he'd just chased a fly ball to right and stopped for a photo. This may be why he appears exhaused and is bent over, resting his hands on his knees."
Major League Baseball has commissioned his work in the past, and his paintings have been displayed at galleries around the world, including the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Museum of Tolerance, and the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences, all in L.A.
Cool thing about his website is that he offers limited edition signed prints from the book -- particularily this piece called "Low And Away" of pitcher Stuart "Slim" Jones.
Spinning off from today's Daily News column about Nelson's newest book, we are reminded that there are plenty of Black History sports programming of note to view before February ends:
== “’51 Dons: Pride, Honor and Friendship” : A 30-minute documentary on the 1951 University of San Francisco football team that finished 9-0 and produced nine players who’d go on to the NFL, including Gio Marchetti, Ollie Matson and Bob St. Clair, all future Hall of Famers. The team didn’t go to a bowl game, however. The Orange Bowl showed interest, but made it clear that USF would only get an invitation if they left their two African-American players behind. The team refused the bid.
Fox Sports West debuted the show last week, but there are several repeats planned: Tonight at 7:30 p.m.; Sat., Feb. 23 at 5:30 p.m., Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m., Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. and Feb. 29 at 3:30 p.m.
== “Uninvited”: Another documentary about the 1951 USF Football Team.
CSTV: Tonight, 5:30 p.m.
== “Americans In Focus” : A series of 30-minute specials, hosted by Michael Eaves, that highlight achievement in African American athletics. The series includes a profile of Tom Bradley, Los Angeles’ first black mayor (1974-’94), a former UCLA standout who helped bring the 1984 Olympics to L.A.; Tommy Hawkins, the former Lakers standout who became a Dodgers executive; Tommie Smith, the 1968 Olympic gold medallists; Loretta Thompson Glickman, the first black female mayor of Pasadena.
Fox Sports West: Monday at 2:30 p.m.; Thursday, Feb. 21 at 3 p.m., Feb. 23 at 5:30 p.m., Feb. 25 at 7 p.m., Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m., and Feb. 29 at 3 p.m.
== “Joe Louis: America’s Hero … Betrayed”: The hour-long documentary explains how the grandson of slaves became a true sports icon, one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time, and carried himself with dignity and class despite many setbacks in the 1930s, long before Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier. The Brown Bomber was America’s first true crossover athlete and was referred to by sportswriter Jimmy Cannon as “a credit to his race – the human race.” Those interviewed include his son, Joe Louis Barrow Jr., former president Jimmy Carter and poet Maya Angelou.
HBO: Saturday, Feb. 23 at 9 p.m.; Feb. 24 at 9 p.m.; Feb. 27 at 1 p.m.
== “Say It Loud”: A two-hour documentary narrated by actor Delroy Lino that feature short stories on African-Americans in sports, including pieces of Sylverster Croom, the first black head coach in the SEC; William Powell, the first black to design and construct a professional golf course; Paul Brown, the founder and head coach of the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals who broke the NFL color barrier by having black players on his team; and the legacy of Jackie Robinson in baseball management.
ESPN: Sunday, Feb. 24 at 11 a.m.; Feb. 27 at 6 p.m.
== “SportsCentury: Jackie Robinson” and “Disciples of Jackie Robinson”
ESPN Classic, Sunday, Feb. 24 at 9:30 a.m.
== “Winning Lives: The Story of Ted Ginn Sr.” A documentary about the legendary Ohio state high school football coach (and father of current Miami Dolphins receiver Ted Ginn Jr.) and his efforts to make a positive impact on the inner-city youth in Cleveland beyond.
CSTV: Sunday, Feb. 24 at 5 p.m.
== “Tackling Segregation: The 1970 USC-Alabama Game”
CSTV: Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.
==A variety of features on Willie O’Rea, Joe Gans, Pee Wee Kirkland, Bill Spiller and Irwin Holmes, at this link on ESPN.com
==Also:
"Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes, 1895-1925" by George and Darril Fosty, which covers the time when the sons and grandsons of runaway American slaves formed a league in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, led by a Baptist minister and church laymen. This was 25 years before the Negro Leagues in baseball.
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In wake of Daytona (and Gary Miller giving the win to "Randy" Newman!) and your recent column on Black History Month media, let me offer a glimpse into the mess that is trying to get proper credit to black drivers in NASCAR. And that's after getting past all the jokes and stereotypes...
It's nice to see Willie O'Ree finally getting long overdue recognition and appreciation for being the first black player in the NHL. Were it that it could be the same for NASCAR and Auto Racing, but...
Over the years, NASCAR has listed the "first" African-American driver to drive in it's top series as - Wendell Scott, Joie Ray or Charlie Scott (no relation to Wendell).
For many years, it was believed to be Wendell Scott. He won one race and competed in far more races than all other African-American drivers combined.
Sometime in the 1980's, this was switched to Joie Ray, who drove in the 1952 race on the beach at Daytona.
In 2003, ESPN did a special on African-Americans in Auto Racing. Queried for subjects, I suggested they interview Joie Ray, living in Louisville, Kentucky. The special only ran in 2003, perhaps because of what happened next.
In 2004, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution did a great series of articles on black racing drivers. In one they claimed that Joie Ray was an error perpetuated by racing historians and that Charlie Scott was in fact the "first" when he started the 1956 Daytona race. I wondered about localism, but overwhelming evidence supports this claim. Oops.
In the time since, photographs and even newsreel footage show the Joie Ray that raced at Daytona in 1952 to clearly be white. He also was listed as being from Portland, Oregon. My specialty is West Coast racing history and I have never run across any mention of a Joie Ray on the West Coast (I did wonder how he could have been from Portland and wound up in Louisville, but it was not uncommon for drivers from the West to relocate to the Midwest or South).
Yet, when Bill Lester qualified for the Cup race at Atlanta in March 2006, media reports listed him as anywhere from the 3rd through 6th African-American to drive in NASCAR's top series. Rob Fukuzaki reported Lester as "the second" (where he got that, I do not know). I called Rob and pointed him to a website with the correct listing (not an easy task considering the plethora of inaccurate ones). No correction, but the error was not made in subsequent broadcasts. USA Today also left out some drivers while, to his credit, San Diego Union-Tribune motorsports writer Bill Center had a list of all five drivers that preceeded Lester.
While I did not contact Joie Ray personally, I was in contact with friends of his and he went to lengths to point out that the driver at Daytona in 1952 was not him, but a white driver with the same exact name. To top it all off, no one in the racing history community has any knowledge of or can come up with anything on the "white" Joie Ray (other than he was often in trouble with the law, which caused a lot of difficulties for the "black" Joie Ray, who never had any problems with the law). Identity theft circa 1952?
Google NASCAR Joie Ray or NASCAR Wendell or Charlie Scott and you will still find many errors. When the "black" (I hate using that) Joie Ray passed away April 13, 2007, some obituaries listed him as being the first African-American to race in NASCAR, citing the 1952 Daytona race, including AP and the Jayski.com site (owned by ESPN BTW).
A documentary called "Black Wheels" was done by Tim Reid, and it too cited the 1952 Daytona race, and they interviewed Joie Ray!
Sorry for the length of this, but it is truly an involved situation. I would just like to see the right people get the credit they deserve. If you aren't interested in this, could you please pass it along to someone who might be.