June 28 & 29, 1969~ the Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village

WE ALL ENDED UP TOGETHER AT A PLACE CALLED THE STONEWALL.
Mother Stonewall and the Golden Rats by Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt~

The first gay riots in history took place during the pre-dawn hours of Saturday and Sunday, June 28-29 in New York’s Greenwich Village. The demonstrations were touched off by a police raid on the popular Stonewall Club, 53 Christopher Street. This was the last (to date) in a series of harassments which plagued the Village area for the last several weeks. =>
The 1969 Advocate Article on the Stonewall Riots~

Art After Stonewall~
http://www.columbusmuseum.org/art-after-stonewall/

The Battle of Stonewall – 1969 / Sandow Birk, 1999;
Collection of Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California

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Josephine Baker: Born on June 3, 1906

JBJoséphine Baker (June 3, 1906-April 12, 1975) was an American-born French entertainer, French Resistance agent, and civil rights activist.

“Baker flourished as a dancer in several Vaudeville shows, which was a popular theatre genre in the 20th century. She eventually moved to New York City and participated in the celebration of black life and art now known as the Harlem Renaissance. A few years later her success took her to Paris. Baker became one of the most sought-after performers due to her distinct dancing style and unique costumes. Although her audiences were mostly white, Baker’s performances followed African themes and style. In her famed show Danse Sauvage she danced across stage in a banana skirt. Baker was multitalented, known for her dancing and singing she even played in several successful major motion pictures released in Europe.
FROM https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/josephine-baker

JBfamilyOfficial Site~ http://www.cmgww.com/stars/baker/

JBDCSpeech at the March on Washington~http://www.blackpast.org/1963-josephine-baker-speech-march-washington
FBI files~ http://vault.fbi.gov/josephine-baker

Discography~ http://www.discogs.com/artist/378436-Josephine-Baker

May 15, 1970~ Tragedy at Jackson State

The shootings at Mississippi’s Jackson State University still linger in the shadow of Kent State. Less than two weeks after Kent, two black students were killed and 12 others wounded by state troopers on May 15, 1970.

The incident started after student demonstrators, protesting the Vietnam War and seeking more rights at the historically black college, responded to an order to disperse by throwing stones and bottles. It ended as police opened fire outside a women’s dormitory.

Phillip Gibbs, 21, a junior preparing for law school, who had a child and a pregnant wife, and James Earl Green, 17, a high school track star on his way home from his job at a grocery store, were killed.

A presidential commission later found the shootings at Jackson and Kent “completely unjustified.” No one was indicted.
FROM May 15th, 1970: 2 Black Students Killed & 12 Wounded by Police During Vietnam Antiwar Protest~ http://may1970project.org/?p=18

Remembering What Happened At Jackson State College In 1970~
http://wyso.org/post/remembering-what-happened-jackson-state-college-1970
Gibbs-Green shooting: May 15, 1970~
http://www.jsums.edu/universitycommunications/gibbs-green-shooting-may-15-1970/

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William Grant Still~ Born May 11, 1895


William Grant Still (1895-1978)
“African American Composer, Arranger, Conductor & Oboist
Dean of African American Composers”
http://chevalierdesaintgeorges.homestead.com/still.html

On this date in 1895, William Grant Still was born. He was an African American musician and composer.

Still was the first African American to conduct a major symphony orchestra, the first African-American to have an opera, “Troubled Island” (1949) performed by a major opera company, and the first to have an opera, “A Bayou Legend,” performed on national television (1981).

https://aaregistry.org/story/william-grant-still-a-symphonic-composer/

Richard D’Oyly Carte: Born May 3, 1844

Richard D’Oyly Carte, born 1844, died 1901; was theatrical manager of the Royalty Theatre, London, where Trial by Jury was produced in 1875, when he became the originator and promoter of a scheme for English “comedy-opera,” of which the first-fruit was The Sorcerer, brought out at the Opéra Comique, London, on November 17, 1877. H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, and Patience followed at the same theatre, under the same auspices. In October, 1881, Patience was transferred to the Savoy Theatre, which Richard D’Oyly Carte had built specially for the production of Gilbert-Sullivan pieces, and of which he remained the owner and director, at the same time owning and directing numerous travelling companies both in the British provinces and in America. In January, 1891, he opened, in Cambridge Circus, London,–with Sullivan’s Ivanhoe specially written for the occasion–the English Opera House, of which he had been the projector, but which, in December, 1892, was re-christened the Palace Theatre, and later devoted, under other management, to “variety” performances. D’Oyly Carte himself wrote the music for two dramatic pieces entitled Dr. Ambrosias, his Secret (1887) and Maria (1871).
http://www.theatrehistory.com/british/richard_doyly_carte_001.html

(Click images to enlarge)

Richard D’Oyly Carte~  http://www.gsarchive.net/carte/burleigh.html

Savoy Hotel~  http://www.fairmont.com/savoy-london/hotelhistory/

Savoy Theatre~  http://grimsdyke.com/savoy-theatre-home-gilbert-sullivan/

Savoy Scaffolding etching by James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), D’Oyly Carte was a strong supporter of Whistler and a close friend.

Leonardo da Vinci: Died May 2, 1519

deathFrancis I Receives the Last Breaths of Leonardo da Vinci
by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1818 • Petit Palais, Paris, France

We know that Leonardo, who had come to France at the invitation of Francis I, died in Amboise in 1519. The undoubtedly fictitious story of his death in the presence of the king comes from The Lives by Vasari. This work, which appeared in 1550, celebrates the excellence of Italian painting following an ascending curve that starts with Cimabue and ends with Michelangelo and Raphael.
FROM http://www.petitpalais.paris.fr/en/oeuvre/francis-i-receives-last-breaths-leonardo-da-vinci

Theo van Gogh: Born May 1, 1857

Theo van Gogh *1882Theo van Gogh (1857-1891) first worked as an art dealer in 1873 in the Brussels art gallery owned by his uncle Hendrick van Gogh. A few months later, he was sent to the Hague as an employee of Goupil & Co., an internationally-known Parisian merchant…

Vincent, his brother and elder by four years, preceded him in this career as early as TvG21869. He acted as Theo’s mentor…These exchanges continued in Paris, where Theo was sent for the 1878 World Fair. He settled there and around 1880 he became director of the Paris branch of Goupil & Co. As for Vincent, he left Goupil & Co. in 1876 and decided, after much hesitation, to become a painter. In 1886 he came to Paris, staying with his brother, before going two years later to the south of France.TvG3
FROM Theo van Gogh : art-dealer, collector, Vincent’s brother  ~Musée d’Orsay

The Letters From Vincent to Theo~
http://www.vggallery.com/letters/to_theo_main.htm

The Letters From Theo to Vincent~ http://www.vggallery.com/letters/to_vincent.htm