Thursday, March 26, 2015

Marvin X goin ta University of Chicago for Sun Ra Conference, May 22, 2015

Marvin X will be heading to the University of Chicago for the Sun Ra Conference, May 22, 2015. He will probably tour the area, will stops in Detroit and Milwaukee. Who knows, he may drop down to St. Louis, visit Ferguson, Black Lives Matter! But he is deeply honored sax man David Boykin invited him to participate in this celebration of Sun Ra, the supreme BAM artistic freedom fighter whose influence was widespread in the music world, transcending socalled Jazz, influencing George Clinton, Gladys Knight and many others with his space mythology, costumes, poetry, dance and music.

Marvin X has agreed to participate in a conference on his friend and mentor, Sun Ra. He was invited to be a panelist by Chicago musician David Boykin:

Greetings Brother Marvin X - I'm a saxophonist in Chicago interested in bringing you to Chciago to participate in a panel discussion during a conference on Sun Ra and possibly arranging some other speaking engagements and possibly performing together in May of 2015, around sun Ra's Birthday May 22..... Peace. David

Marvin X and Sun Ra outside Marvin's Black Educational Theatre, San Francisco, 1972. Both were also teaching in Black Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Marvin X, David Murray and Earle Davis performed with Sun Ra's Arkestra

Sun Ra's influence on Marvin X is clear when MX created the BAM Poet's Choir and Arkestra on the spot at the University of California, Merced, BAM Conference, 2014.

Amiri Baraka and Marvin X were both influenced by Sun Ra who was a member of The Harlem Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School, 1966. Sun Ra's poetry appears in the BAM anthology Black Fire, edited by Baraka, aka LeRoi Jones and Larry Neal.

Sun Ra arranged the music for Baraka's Black Mass, also the music for Marvin X's musical version of Flowers for the Trashman, renamed Take Care of Business.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Black Bird Press News & Review: The Black Arts Movement Wish List

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Marvin X at Sacramento Black Book Fair, June 5-7, 2015

Community Read-In

Download Community Read-In Flyer

In 2015 the Sacramento Black Book Fair (SBBF) is introducing two new innovative “literary community participatory projects” highlighting books by authors of African descent. We are seeking the community’s participation with the following fun projects below.
2015 National African American Read-In sponsored by the Black Caucus of National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). During the month of February, schools, churches, libraries, bookstores, community and professional organizations, and interested citizens are urged to make literacy a significant part of Black History Month by hosting an African American Read-In. Hosting an event can be as simple as bringing together friends to share a book, or as elaborate as arranging public readings and media presentations that feature professional African American writers. For more information please visit http://www.ncte.org/aari.

2015 Community Read–In March through May sponsored by the Sacramento Black Book Fair (SBBF). Our sub- themes for 2015 “Reading, a Pathway to Freedom” 50th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act.” Therefore we are encouraging schools, churches, libraries, bookstores, community and professional organizations, and interested citizens to read and discuss at least one book selected by the SBBF planning committee based on our theme. You can purchase the books at underground bookstore, 2814 35th Street, Sacramento, CA 95817 (916) 737-3333. Tuesday through Saturday.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Dr. Maya Angelou (For adults and college students)
Child of the Civil Rights Movement by Paula Young Shelton and Raul Colon (For Preschool-2nd grade)
The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963, by Christopher Paul Curtis (For elementary school age)
A Guide for using The Watsons Go To Birmingham—1963 in the Classroom
Warriors Don’t Cry: The Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High by: Melba Pattillo Beals. (For middle and high school age students)

The Community Read–In will kick-off in March and run through May 2015. Hosting a Community Read-In event can be as simple as bringing together friends to share a book, or as elaborate as arranging public readings. We are calling on parents, grandparents, students, youth groups, schools, colleges, children’s programs, and places of worship, book clubs, libraries, literary groups, bookstores, and the general public to read with us in 2015. For more information please visit our website at: http://www.sacramentoblackbookfair.com.
For more information please contact: Faye Wilson Kennedy at (916) 484-3750 or by e-mail: faye@bluenilepress.com

Endorsed by:

Co-Sponsors:

Marvin X Poem: Let A Million Men March

Powerful Poetry

The New Black Panther Party in Texas at the state capitol

Black Arts Movement artistic freedom fighters at University of California, Merced, BAM Conference, 2014, produced by Kim McMillan and Marvin X

BAM/Black Power freedom fighters Angela Davis, Marvin X and Sonia Sanchez

BAM/Black Power freedom fighters Amiri Baraka (RIP), Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale, BAM baby Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, BAM baby Ahi Baraka and Marvin X at Academy of da Corner, downtown Oakland, 14th and Broadway, renamed the Black Arts Movement District.

Free Imam Jamil Al Amin, H. Rap Brown--free all the Black Liberation Army freedom fighters!

Marvin X fought to teach Black Studies at Fresno State University, 1969, but was removed on orders of Gov. Ronald Reagan. He also had Angela Davis removed from teaching at UCLA the same year because she was a Black Communist. Marvin X was a Black Muslim. photo Fresno Bee

Marvin X and Danny Glover were students at San Francisco State University, 1964-66. Danny was an actor in Marvin's Black Arts West Theatre on Fillmore Street, 1966.
photo South Park Kenny Johnson

Amiri Baraka's Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School, Harlem NY 1965

UC Berkeley Black Revolutionary students Black Out!

General Sun Ra, artistic freedom fighter

Ancestor Revolutionary scholars Dr. John Henry Clarke and Dr. Ben

Bay Area Black artistic freedom fighters outside Joyce Gordon Gallery, in the Black Arts District, 14th and Franklin, downtown Oakland.

photo Gene Hazzard and Adam Turner

Black Arts Movement generals, Amiri Baraka and Marvin X

Black Airmen in World War II

The Black Arts Repertory Theatre/school in Harlem, NY, founded by Amiri Baraka, Askia Toure, Larry Neal, Sun Ra, et al., 1965

Student Menhuaim at Academy of da Corner, 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland, renamed the Black Arts Movement District, celebrating the return of Master Teacher Marvin X.

Let A Million Men March

Black American soldiers in World War I. Marvin X's father fought in World War I

Let A Million Men March
let them march
one million strong
march their fears out the sands of time
march four hundred years of
american slime and mud off their feet
march chains off their brains
march insane to sane
march for ancestors of middle passage and triangular trade
for nat turner, vesey, prosser, tubman
for the living and the yet unborn
for wives and children forgotten, abused, abandoned
for the joy of reconciliation and reunion
for brotherhood sorely lacking and urgently requested
march for a new community of respect, peace and unconditional love
transcending hate and violence
violence in the streets and violence in the home
march against drive-by killings and turf wars
yu want turf my brother?
march for land and reparations
let them march, let them parade
for spiritual and material satisfaction
for sober thoughts and sober actions
march to end mind altered states
march to the White House gates
announce the new man has arrived
the slave died an unnatural death
the clown is dead
tom is dead
we have de cupped the beggars, tying their hands
those who oppose us, get back in the alley, shut up your chatter
let them march home refreshed by the waterfall of unity
the sun of brotherhood
the river of responsibility.
8/2/95

from Love and War Poems by Marvin X
Blackbird Press. 1995

Cover art by Emory Douglas, Black Panther Party Minister of Culture

“There comes a time,” Marvin X wrote, “when a man’s conscience will no longer allow him to participate in the absurd!” (Black Scholar. April-May 1971)