Original Fountainhead® Tanz Théâtre Logo, ca.1980
Design by Prof. Gayle McKinney Griffith

Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799-1837)
"The Father of Russian Literature",
considered one of the great literary geniuses in history

Prof. Gayle McKinney Griffith / co-founder/director
Fountainhead® Tanz Théâtre /
Black International Cinema Berlin /
The Collegium - Forum & TelevisionProgram Berlin /
"Footprints in the Sand?" Exhibition / Cultural Zephyr e.V.

Lou Blackburn "Mombasa"

Dr. Ralph J. Bunche and Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt in 1949
photo: United Nations

Dr. Ralph J. Bunche in 1949 for Collier's Magazine
photo: Dan Weiner, courtesy Sandra Weiner

"I have a deep-seated bias against hate and intolerance. I have a bias against racial and religious bigotry. I have a bias against war and a bias for peace. I have a bias that leads me to believe in the essential goodness of my fellow man, which leads me to believe that no problem of human relations is ever insoluble."

Ralph J. Bunche, Nobel Laureate, 1950

In 1949, Ralph Johnson Bunche (1903-1971) successfuly negotiated armistice agreements between Israel and four neighbouring Arab nations. For this outstanding feat, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. It was the first time ever that the prestigious prize had been awarded to a person of color and it catapulted Bunche into worldwide celebrity. However, it was not the first or the last time that Ralph Bunche would make history. The global reach of his work can be seen today in the peacekeeping strategies and operations which he created as United Nations Under-Secretary General. Bunche's living legacy also includes major contributions to world decolonization, conflict resolution and advancements in human and civil rights at home and abroad.

THE DUKE OF ELLINGTON

THE BUDDHA

One of the world’s most prolific philosophical and religious leaders was the great sage called the Buddha. At different stages of his development he was also referred to as Sakyamuni, Siddartha and Siddartha Gautama. The Buddha’s origin is traced back to India, yet his philosophical doctrines spread throughout Southeast Asia, Tibet, China and Japan. India had an indigenous Black population which found its way into the subcontinent about 50,000 years ago from Ethiopia, ultimately establishing a great empire known as the Indus Valley civilization. "There were two Ethiopias, one to the east of the Red Sea, and the other to the west of it, and a very great nation of Blacks from India, did rule over almost all Asia in a very remote era, in fact beyond the reach of history or any of our records," says Godfrey Higgins, British archaeologist, author and historian. In 1500 B.C. this great empire was invaded by a tribe of barbarians from the north of India, igniting a series of wars upon the Indian subcontinent which lasted nearly a thousand years. (The Rig Veda, the most ancient of India’s sacred works, describes this confrontation.) The conclusion of these classic battles ushered in India’s first historical golden age, the age in which the Buddha was born ( 563 B.C.). Through cultural and racial assimilation, the face of India and the face of Buddha began to change. Yet the Buddha in his most original appearance, with flattened nose, powerful lips, and the curling hair falling in locks, can still be found. Godfrey Higgins states in his classic text The Anacalipsis, "The religion of Buddha, of India, is well known to have been very ancient. In the most ancient temples scattered throughout Asia, where his worship is yet continued, he is found Black as jet, with the flat face, thick lips and curly hair of the Negro." The photo depicted here is characteristic of the many splendid Black Buddhas found throughout Indochina. Without a doubt, the Buddha was the most influential spiritual force in the east. After his death in 473 B.C., the religion he inspired, Buddhism, spread throughout Asia.

Jessey Norman

Kathleen Battle

AMISTAD

Opera in two acts in English

Music by Anthony Davis
Libretto by Thulani Davis

First performed by Lyric Opera of Chicago
on November 29, 1997

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