(soft music) (upbeat music) - [Earl] Hello everybody, and welcome to the February edition of "Black Nouveau," virtual style.

I'm Earl Arms, and thank you so much for joining us.

This of course is Black History Month, and while we at "Black Nouveau" celebrate Black history and culture all year long, there are many activities and events going on this month that you might want to consider.

Geraud Blanks, chief innovation officer for Milwaukee Film tells us about the Black Lens movies and events that you can still attend this month.

Alexandria Mack takes you on a tour of Antonia's 365 Hip Hop Museum.

And reflecting on an American icon, three Milawaukeeans share the impact that the late Sidney Poitier had on their lives and careers.

But we begin with America's Black Holocaust Museum.

The Milwaukee landmark's new building is officially opening on February 25th, the birthday of its founder, Dr. James Cameron, who was the only known survivor of a lynching.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the museum was hoping to open before the end of 2019.

That's when our Everett Marshburn got a tour from Dr. Robert "Bert" Davis, who had returned to Milwaukee to lead the museum.

- [Robert] When you're an ambassador, you say "This is important to me, and this should be important to you."

My time in Milwaukee was very well spent.

I had the opportunity to work at one of the county's primary assets, that is the Zoological Society of Milwaukee, which is the business partner with Milwaukee County Zoo.

I enjoyed the nearly 11 years that I was here, and was very, very happy to know that we successfully touched the hearts of thousands of students, now millions of visitors, but more specifically thousands of students.

So this first initial exhibit talks about the cradle of life and where life began, which we know was the continent of Africa.

- [Everett] Dr. Robert "Bert" Davis is back in Milwaukee as the president and CEO of America's Black Holocaust Museum.

- It is significant and it is relevant that we reemerge this museum, not only in his memory, but in the fact that America needs this.

And this is America's Black Holocaust Museum.

This is just not Milwaukee's Black Holocaust Museum.

- [Everett] Since leaving Milwaukee, Dr. Bert served as president and CEO of two Iowa organizations, the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium and the Dubuque County Historical Society.

He is a board member of the Association of African American Museums.

He was recruited for this position at the museum.

One of his main objectives is to educate and enlighten.

- But when I told my friends the legacy and the story of Dr. Cameron, being one of the only known survivors of a public lynching, and then the only person in the United States to ever write about it, their reactions to the person is, "What?"

And their second reaction is, "How did I not know about this?"

That's why I'm back.

- [Everett] He gave us a brief tour.

Some of the exhibits reflect the horror of the Black Holocaust.

- Okay, this is by far the most significant exhibit of this entire museum because this brings Dr. Cameron's book, "A Time of Terror," illustrated through a campaign of terror exhibit, to life.

So this is a depiction of what his actual experience was, being one of the only known survivors of a lynching, and then to write a book about it.

So this is significant for not only chronicling his life, but it's also very significant because it demonstrates that throughout the United States, for a period of at least two to three generations, not only were people of color, especially Black people, denied certain unalienable rights, they were terrorized to a point that they couldn't have...

They didn't want... We were not able to vote.

We weren't able to prosper.

So it's one thing to deny me an opportunity.

It's another to terrorize me and my family and keep me in a certain place in life.

So this is a continuation of the lynching exhibit.

This is extraordinarily significant because this depiction of a tree and the song "Strange Fruit," which was written by Abel Meeropol, but performed by the legendary Billie Holiday, it speaks to the fact that Black men hanging from trees are strange fruit.

The more significant part of this is not only the depiction of a tree, but this particular photograph right here, because this was when...

This is the photograph that was taken on August 7th, 1930 in Marion, Indiana.

This is in fact the lynching that Dr. Cameron survived.

- [Everett] And some reflect the history and resilience of a people.

- [Robert] A lot of the history that we have chronicled in the exhibit space does not have any direct effect on a lot of our visitors, but this one actually does.

So number one, it primarily shows you and demonstrates the basic migration patterns, primarily from the Deep South, although there were migration patterns from the east.

But this is primarily from the Deep South.

And what's very significant is that you can see that many people that came to Milwaukee started in Mississippi, traveled through Tennessee, up through Kentucky.

They either went west, I mean east over to Ohio, and then extending up into Pennsylvania and Michigan and the Virginias.

But then what we also see is a lot of the people went left or west, went in through Indianapolis, stopped off in Chicago, and ended up here in Milwaukee.

So it not only demonstrates the migration patterns throughout the United States, primarily of African-Americans, but more specifically, we can trace... A lot of the people who are Milawaukeeans can trace their roots to the Deep South.

- And joining us from America's Black Holocaust Museum is the president and CEO, Dr. Robert Davis, also known as Bert.

Dr. Bert, thank you so much for joining us.

Do please talk about the special occasion that this is.

What can the community expect once the museum opens up?

- Well thanks, Earl, for the invitation, and also to my good friend Everett.

Well, we want this to be a celebration.

We're excited and we're nervous.

We're anticipating the reopening.

We're one of three African-American museums in the history of the United States to reopen our doors after being closed.

So that Sunday we're gonna have a member preview.

So if you are a member, and you can become a member by going to our virtual museum website, so there will be a tour, a special tour for members on Sunday.

On Wednesday, we will have a panel discussion, led by Dr.

Rob Smith, who is a professor at Marquette, and is the historian at the museum.

And there will be several issues around race, race in America, race here in Milwaukee.

That evening we'll have some special VIP receptions, based upon our donors and the level and categorization of the donations that they've made.

And then we'll have our grand opening, our grand reopening on that Friday morning.

So there will be a very brief presentation and program at 9:00, and then we'll have a ribbon cutting, and then we'll open our doors at 10:00.

The museum will be open from 10:00 to 5:00.

And then later that night, at the Saint Kate, we will have an invitation only reception.

It's black tie optional.

It's not a sit-down dinner.

It's just a reception.

So if you want to get on the list for that reception also, please go to our virtual museum and our website.

- So now that we have all this going on and the museum is set to open, what is the community's role in supporting the museum?

What can the community do to sustain this effort?

- Well, I mean I can...

I can be pretty practical and say something that one of my donors and dear friends and was a board member when I was at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, all roads lead to money.

If you really want to support the museum, we need your financial resources.

And that's true for any nonprofit especially, but most especially a museum of our kind.

But the other thing that I think is equally as important, and I actually know is equally as important is to utilize the museum.

So as we grow, because we're going to not have a series of projects, because projects have beginnings and ends, a series of programs.

So for the first six to nine months, we're gonna just have virtual tours.

I mean virtual tours and actual tours because we still are hiring staff.

I don't have a director of education.

But at some point, we're gonna be doing programs.

So we like for people to participate in those programs.

And then eventually, we'll be doing outreach programs.

We'll be going into schools and churches and community centers and the boys and girls clubs.

Museum participation through our programs is really going to help us in two ways.

It'll help us create programs that fit the needs and the desires and the wants of our constituents.

Based on their feedback, we can continue to evolve our program.

But also it helps us with future exhibits.

So those are the two ways in which I know the community can immediately get involved, and that is come to the museum.

Tell everyone about your experience in the museum.

We do have a small area in the museum where you can leave your personal thoughts and we video tape it.

And you can be part of our national archive, or you can say, "I just want to do this, and it's only for people from the museum to see."

But you become a part of the living legacy of the museum, and we can utilize that information as well.

- Now, talk about the website too, and ways folks can find you.

Is it still interactive?

Just talk about how folks can learn about the museum, even without going or before they go.

- What we want to do is we also... We always want to what I call cross fertilize.

We want people that visit the virtual museum to be driven to come to the physical space, and people from the physical space to then go home and seek and look at the virtual museum.

So the virtual museum was created back after the museum closed in 2008, and it is...

I mean, it is packed with all kinds of scholastic information.

I mean, this has all been vetted through college interns and academic research.

So it is really like a virtual classroom.

It is like a virtual museum that has over 3,300 pages of information.

It is packed with information about all things around not only Dr. Cameron's life, but history, previous history and current history.

So I suggest squarely that people go to both.

Please visit the website.

Visit the virtual museum, excuse me.

And then come to our museum and then vice versa.

- We have a few seconds left.

Is there anything else you want to share about the museum?

Anything that the community needs to know or any thoughts that you have?

- I am just excited because we are continuing the legacy of Dr. James Cameron, who distinguishes this museum because he's one of the only known survivors of a public lynching at the age of 16 in Marion, Indiana in 1930, the only person to write a book about it, and then found a museum around his life experiences.

That experience crafted his life.

So in the spirit of Dr. Cameron, we are honored.

We are honored and humbled to be able to reemerge this museum and continue his legacy.

- Looking forward to the opening.

Dr. Bert, thank you so much for joining us here on "Black Nouveau."

- Thank you.

(upbeat music) - [Antonia] My love for hip hop started back in the 1980s.

- [Alexandria] A love story that starts with a needle drop.

(record crackles) (upbeat hip hop music) - [Antonia] And it was when we had Run DMC, we had Houdini, we had Salt-N-Pepa, we had the folks that were really coming out, talking about education and making positive changes in their community with the youth.

- [Alexandria] By day, Antonia Anderson is a social worker assistant with Milwaukee public schools.

But once you walk into her apartment on the north side of Milwaukee, her nostalgic passion for hip hop collectibles is as loud and clear as the 808s on her records.

- [Antonia] I grew up in the era where my uncles had The Temptations' music, Marvin Gaye, the message music, so I want to call it.

So when I seeked out to get my vinyl albums, I started with R&B, and that just rolled me over into hip hop.

Actually, The Last Poets were really one of the first hip hop folks with the message music.

- [Alexandria] Last year, she opened her collection and apartment for others in the community to enjoy.

She calls it Antonia's 365 Hip Hop Museum.

- My museum, I opened it to better connect with the students and the community in Milwaukee, Wisconsin through various resources.

They can expect to see a lot of our people, a lot of our color, and a lot of the innovators that came before me and at the current time.

- [Alexandria] Antonia's collection of hip hop memorabilia started with just vinyl records.

Now with so many other items added to her inventory, the nostalgia is certified platinum.

- [Antonia] I would say somewhere, at least about 5,000.

That's including the cassettes, the books, the DVDs, the action figures and the vinyl albums.

There could be more, but I would roughly say 5,000.

My Public Enemy action figures, I'm crazy about those.

I want more Pubic Enemy action figures.

- [Alexandria] But while some older generations want to fight the power of hip hop in popular culture, Antonia sees the value in giving young people an outlet.

- [Antonia] It gives them a chance to express themselves, put down, on paper, however they want to get across what's going on within them 'cause a lot of times we don't listen to kids.

We don't let them talk.

It's a way that they can express themselves.

- [Alexandria] In her role as a social worker assistant, she sees the challenges students face, and when they may be tempted to drift down the wrong path.

But with different themes, such as her Black History Month exhibit, she works to provide positive depictions of African-Americans.

- I just want to make sure that I have enough stuff on African-Americans that when they do come in, they can feel good about themselves.

'Cause a lot of people don't know our past and our stories, so I'm just here to share that with them.

And not just looking at it.

I have information that I'm ready to really verbally get into with them and have discussions about it.

- [Alexandria] And beyond the music, Antonia wants to be the change she needed as a teen.

- I'm actually at the school that I was a high school dropout at.

I think if everybody does something, then we can be a better community with the youth.

We have to do something.

We all have to try, and this is my passion.

I think my passion is gonna be able to help the kids find their passion.

(upbeat music) ♪ Well I'm walking and talking ♪ - [Jeffery] If I make the statement to you, America was founded on white supremacy, ♪ I'm walking and talking ♪ you could say, "Jeff, that's an extreme statement."

And what I would say to you is don't believe a word I say about it.

All you have to do is go look.

- [Man] Slavery had nothing to do with the war because they were treated as family.

- [Jeffery] I don't know if he can be reached.

But if no one tries, he definitely won't change.

- Well, that's a clip from "Who We Are," a documentary airing during the Milwaukee Film's fourth annual Black Lens Black History Month celebration.

Geraud Blanks is the chief innovation officer of Milwaukee Film, and he joins us now to tell us more about "Who We Are."

Geraud, please.

- Yeah, so "Who We Are" is actually a film.

I believe it won our audience award at the Milwaukee Film Festival in 2021.

It is now getting a national release.

But here's what's cool.

So it actually...

The film is a documentary about Jeffery Robinson, who chronicles history of racism in America.

And it's an interesting mix of him lecturing at a talk, and then him, and then more of the traditional documentary.

But it's a really interesting film.

We've had people reach out to us a lot about it, about bringing the film back.

So the fact that it's now being released nationally is great, but we are doing a preview.

So we're actually gonna screen it the night before it goes national.

So that Thursday, I believe it's February 17th, we'll be showing who we are at the Oriental Theater.

- Let's talk a little bit more about the Black R&B Film Trivia contest and party.

Make it sound as fun as you did before the interview.

- (laughs) Well, it's...

It's gonna be fun because there's gonna be a lot of Black folks in there that don't know their trivia.

And it's gonna be fun because they don't know their trivia when it comes to their culture and their history.

'Cause we all think we know.

We think 'cause we wake up Black, we know our history.

We're really gonna challenge people.

It's gonna be '80s and '90s films, pop culture.

It's just gonna be a mix of things.

And we've done this in the past, and it's a lot of fun.

So your team loses, no big deal, right?

It's all fun, baby.

There's gonna be great prizes.

We had a lot of local organizations donate prizes.

So we'll have first, second and third prize packages.

You can come down.

Teams of I believe four or five people, roughly.

And then after it's over, DJ's just gonna spin the night away, '80s and '90s hip hop and R&B.

I mean, come on, man.

I'm an '80s/'90s baby, so this is like heaven for me.

- Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

Before we wrap it up though, talk more about "Sankofa" You've got a special screening of that happening, right?

- Yeah, and that's a... Like I said, that's a really special collaboration with America's Black Holocaust Museum.

This is a reissue of the film.

It's an older film.

It came out in 1993, but it's been remastered and re-released by Ava DuVernay's distribution company called ARRAY.

And they're doing this around the country.

We're lucky enough to be one of the locations that was picked to have this screening.

And then to do it in collaboration with the reopening of America's Black Holocaust was just great.

So partnering with these two Black entities to bring this film and then this reception, post-screening reception has just been, it's been great.

I mean, this is why I love my job, because I get to put together events like this and get to work in collaboration with organizations like America's Black Holocaust Museum.

And just lastly, how do people get more information?

- [Geraud] Go to milkwaukeefilm.org.

Black History Month will pop up on your screen.

You click on it.

All the information's there.

Or you go up to the Black Lens Facebook page.

- [Earl] Geraud Blanks of Milwaukee Film, thank you so much for joining us here on "Black Nouveau."

- Thank you for having me.

(upbeat music) - All I want is to make a future for this family.

All I want is to be able to stand in front of my boy, like my father never was able to do to me, and tell him that he'll be somebody in this world besides a servant and a chauffer.

You tell me that.

Was Mr. Culbert ever in this greenhouse, say last night about midnight?

(hands slapping) - [Everett] For many of us, Sidney Poitier was the man.

He was one of the first Black male superstars and he chose his roles and projects carefully.

He helped open doors for future generations.

We spoke with three Milawaukeeans whose lives were impacted by his career.

- Sidney Poitier meant pride.

He meant dignity.

He meant beauty 'cause he certainly (laughs) was handsome to watch.

He meant, I'm gonna say racial identity.

He just made you proud, looking at him on the screen.

So the body should always...

It's subtle movements in the body.

But it's, if you've ever ridden on a bus.

- [Everett] Sheri Williams Pannell has written or directed for most of the dramatic organizations in Milwaukee.

She also teaches drama at UWM.

- One of the greatest impacts or influences is how to wisely choose, much like Cicely Tyson, how to choose wisely the roles that I accept, as well as the projects that I direct.

As a director, how is it going to impact the community?

- He was that lighthouse.

He was that beacon that you could point at, and be like, there's somebody on camera that looks like me.

There's somebody.

As a young man, I had no idea that I would turn out to be an actor.

That was not my goal.

But it was always great to be able to go to the movie theater and see somebody who was Black, particularly your skin color, in roles that showed a lot of dignity, showed a lot of strength.

He was somebody that I looked up to.

Goes to show you what women understand about the world.

Baby, don't nothing happen for you in this world, lest you pay somebody off.

- [Everett] Chike Johnson was in the Milwaukee Rep's production of "A Raisin In The Sun."

He's been a professional actor for more than two decades, performing on stage and screen.

- He was able to say no to roles that would make Black people look bad, and that is, that's a tough thing to do, especially when you're out of work, and you need to pay those bills.

He stuck to his guns.

- [Andre] Go out and clean up.

Really clean up.

Don't spend time with your buddy talking, unless y'all are cleaning up.

And bring back the trash.

Somebody collect the cans.

- [Everett] Many Milawaukeeans think of Andre Lee Ellis as the founder of We Got This, the garden at 9th and Ring.

But years before he started that, Andre had his own acting troupe, and most recently was seen in a local production of "Driving Miss Daisy."

- As a young movie goer, what Sidney Poitier meant to me was that seeing him dark-skinned like that on the screen made me feel as if I could be that too because I knew at a young age that I wanted to be an actor, that I wanted to be a performer.

I could sing and recite poetry at the age of seven in church.

Sidney Poitier, Sidney Poitier gave me hope and made me believe that I could do it.

In a world where dark-skinned people were second rated or looked at as second rate, Sidney Poitier was topnotch, and his legacy will be that if you believe in yourself, that you cannot be denied when you're great at who you are.

- And as we close this month, a reminder to check out our website milwaukeepbs.org.

We've got a list of special programs celebrating African-American history.

And we've also got a web exclusive of events, and African-American artists at the Mahogany Gallery in Racine, and links to many other events as well.

For "Black Nouveau," I'm Earl Arms.

Have a happy Black History Month.

- Is there any itching or discomfort or anything?

That's no problem.

We can get that cleared up with this anti-fungal preparation.

Apply a very thin film using a Q-tip.

Part the hair.

Apply three times a day.

Shampoo it twice a week with just any cleansing shampoo.

Doesn't have to be any expensive medicated.

Just something to keep it clean.

- [James] This is Dr. Lester Carter's trademark, his personal interest in his customers and their concerns.

It's the kind of medicine he administered since he opened up his pharmacy on the corner of 24th and Burleigh in 1968.

- [Lester] The people who have medical challenges and all types of other challenges, I felt this area was where I was mostly needed.

And with the education that I was fortunate enough to get at Creighton, I figured this would be the ideal place to use that education to help restore the health of the people and to maintain the health of the people.

(soft music)