- [Presenter] The following program, "Blacks, Blues, Black!," is made possible by a public service grant from the Olympia Brewing Company.

(Maya singing in foreign language) (rhythmic drumming) - Distances separate bodies, not people.

Ask those who have known sadness or joy.

The bone of feeling is pried open by a song, the elegance of color, a familiar smell, this flower, or the approach of an evening.

All this is now the elegance of memory deeper than the grave, larger than the distance between my country and I.

Things more solid than the rocks with which those sinister thieves tried to break our back.

There are memories between us, deeper than grief.

There are feelings between us, much stronger than the cold enemy machine that breaks the back.

Sister, there are places between us deeper than the ocean.

No distances.

Pry your heart open, brother.

Mine too.

Learn to love the clear voice, the music, in the memory pried open to the bone of feeling.

No distances.

The elegance of memory.

No distances.

The elegance of memory.

(rhythmic drumming continue) Hello, my name is Maya Angelou.

I'm going to speak to you now about African history.

There's a Kikuyu story that's told in Kenya.

It is said that a child asked his mother why he saw photos of men killing lions.

The child said, "Mother, I also know, or rather it's in my experience that lions kill men.

Why don't I see any photos of that?"

And the mother told the child, "Wait, my child, until the lion takes the photo."

Now today, the lion is taking the photo.

Guernier, a historian of questionable reputation, as far as I'm concerned, said that (speaking in foreign language), "Alone of all the continents, Africa has no history."

Well, on the same, for the same reason that when a fool tells you you are wise, you look to your laurels, when a man, a European, who has taken the evidences of your history, tells you you have no history, then you, you are supposed to take that with a maximum of disbelief.

Not a grain of salt, a lake of salt.

The pharaonic tones, the results of the archeological diggings in Africa, tell us that great civilizations lasted, had their day in the sun and moved on.

And finally, became victim to external greed, internal neglect, and time.

Every Black American should own a map of Africa.

I would suggest that every person who would like to consider himself or herself knowledgeable should own a map of Africa.

This map is the modern one.

This has all the new countries.

But if we look at this same physical layout without the boundaries, and consider that, until about 10 years ago, many of these lines were not here.

Now, about a thousand years ago, in the country of Mali, there was a city, Timbuktu.

Timbuktu is still there.

But a thousand years ago, there was a university in Timbuktu.

Scholars from all over the world, scholars from Asia, from Europe, everywhere came there to study.

It was said by Leo Africanus in the 1400s that the king of Timbuktu, of that area, gave monies to scholars.

Now, maybe we're seeing a case of the first scholarships there.

I don't know.

But it was also said by Ibn Battuta, an Arab explorer, that more monies were spent on manuscripts coming from the Barbary, manuscripts from Spain and about, more monies were spent there in that kind of trade than on anything else in Timbuktu.

We hear the word Timbuktu and think immediately that it's a word made up to explain the difference or the distance between the known and the unknown.

Timbuktu is still there today.

Unfortunately, the biting sands of the Sahara have covered those walls of the old university, nearly covered them, and covered the streets where scholars used to go.

But you can still go if you take your time and your money to go to Mali.

At Ouagadougou, here in Upper Volta, it's the capital of Upper Volta.

Many people think the sounds are so un-Western.

They hit our ears with a kind of strange feeling.

Well, that's true.

But the sounds sound like the languages of Africa, which are always rhythmic and certainly tonal.

Now, it would be interesting, I think, for a student of African history to trace the Benin sculpture.

The Benin sculpture in Nigeria has influenced European art.

Modigliani, Braque, Picasso have admitted, I don't mean to imply that they had to admit, but they have said in fact that their art, that the new art that they devised in the early 1900s was influenced by the Benin and the Yoruba sculpture.

The Yoruba are also in Nigeria.

We went to the Lowie Museum the other day and talked with Dr. Bascom there, who is a professor there at the University of California.

We saw some beautiful Yoruba pieces.

- [Dr. Bascom] This is a representation of a page or a messenger of the king of Oyo, the Alaafin of Oyo.

These messengers served as attendants in the palace, running messages.

And they were also stationed in the outlying cities in the kingdom where they collected taxes and did other things to see that the Alaafin's interests were represented.

The headdress is particularly interesting.

There is a braided top-knot at the top, and you'll notice that half of the head has been shaved and the other half is not.

This was done, each half was shaved alternately every fourth day.

And if you read in the early explorers of the 17th and 18th century, particularly in the neighborhood of Dahomey, you will find them speaking of the half-heads- - Yes.

- And this is what they were speaking about.

- Oh.

Now, how old would you say that piece is?

- [Dr. Bascom] I would guess perhaps 50 years.

It's very hard to tell with wood bust because of termites.

If we could pick this up, I could show you, the back has been eaten away with termites.

And several of the pieces have been termite-infested.

Anything that isn't taken good care of will disappear in a year or two.

- Of course, of course.

Now, may I ask you one last thing?

The dress, the tunic, looks very European.

- [Dr. Bascom] It's a very typical Yoruba tunic.

And I might say now that all of the pieces we're going to be seeing today are from the Yoruba who live in southwestern Nigeria and in the eastern part of Dahomey.

The facial marks, which you see on the face, are typical of the Yoruba and one of the things by which it's often possible to recognize their carvings.

But these, the tunic is a short type of gown, which has kind of gone out of style in recent years.

They tend to wear longer gowns today.

- [Maya] This figure holding a bowl, what does it signify?

- [Dr. Bascom] Well this is a container that is used for the 16 palm nuts that are used by the diviners, the Babalawo, the Yoruba most important type of diviners in what is known as the Ifa divination.

The head, the back of the rooster, is removable, and there is a bowl underneath it.

And it is simply kept on the shrine to store the palm nuts in.

- [Maya] Now what do the figures holding up the bowl and in fact holding the person- - Well, these are simply the attendance of the main woman there, the main worshiper.

And it shows one of the distinctive features of Yoruba art style and the style of many other African peoples.

That is the giving of emphasis to the major figures, in this case, the woman and the cock, by reducing the size of the subordinate figures.

In this case, the artist has not even bothered to finish carving the subordinate figures carefully- - Yes, I see.

- [Dr. Bascom] But you can see that he has devoted a great deal of attention to the face of the woman and to the decorations on the back and on the body of the rooster.

- And to her headdress.

- Yes, to her headdress.

- [Maya] I see a similarity in that headdress in some of the Fon headdresses.

- [Dr. Bascom] Yes well, the Fon and the Yoruba were, of course, neighbors and very much influenced from one to another.

In fact, this whole divination cult, Ifa, has spread from Yoruba to the Dahomey and it's known in Fon as Fa, whereas in Yoruba, it's Ifa.

- [Maya] I see.

Among many African tribes, there are superstitions or beliefs about twins.

Some people believe they're very lucky and show a particular kind of virility, and other people feel that they are unlucky and are in fact an insult to God or to their particular God.

What is the case with these twins we're looking at?

- [Dr. Bascom] Well the Yoruba feeling of belief is mainly that twins are very dangerous.

In fact, they felt that the, first of all, that the mother could not suckle, one mother could not suckle two twins at once.

And when twins were born, one of them was simply neglected and allowed to die.

The other one was kept in hopes that it would live to maturity.

In the case when one twin died, the parents would go to a carver and have him fashion a figure such as these.

It would represent the sex accurately and it would be carved with the facial marks of the lineage in which the twin was born.

And it would be dressed and given the same decorations as the living twin.

If the second twin should die, and infant mortality of course was high, then the second figure would be carved and we would have two, in this case.

Here we have a male and female twin pair, but there are some pairs which are two females and some which are two males.

- [Maya] And where do they keep these figures in the house?

- [Dr. Bascom] In a corner of a room near other religious objects.

And they would be fed regularly.

- [Maya] I think this is something we should talk about a minute; how statues or pieces of important works of art are fed.

- [Dr. Bascom] Often with the blood of a chicken or other sacrificial animal, but also with cooked foods of various types.

Each of the Yoruba gods had certain sacrifices that it was especially fond of.

And there were things which the twins were fond of too.

You'll note the beads on the neck, the long blue beads are the famous Seggi beads, which are no longer manufactured but are undoubtedly of African origin.

Supposedly they're glass but I'm not positive of this.

At least they have found places, sites in the city of Ife where they were making glass beads of this type.

And they were traded quite widely in West Africa.

- [Maya] Does this headdress have any particular significance?

- [Dr. Bascom] I have never seen one like that in life- - Nor have I.

- [Dr. Bascom] And it's the only pair of twin figures that I've seen with that representation on it.

It perhaps has some religious significance because there were special headdresses for the various cults, but I cannot identify this one.

- [Maya] The eyes, can you tell me, is that metal?

- [Dr. Bascom] That's a piece of iron being set to represent the pupil.

- Very interesting piece- - And the beads around the waist are miniatures of the waist beads which were worn only by women, of course, but here they've given it to the male twin also.

- [Maya] Well, maybe because they know he can't ever be accused of anything.

- Yes, and he's a twin.

This is a Gelede mask from a Yoruba town in Dahomey.

The Gelede is a cult which propitiates witches.

And here we see the mask itself, is it represents the head of a woman with her cloth head-tie.

And above it is a man with his ax climbing a palm tree either to collect palm nuts or to tap palm wine.

This top part of the mask is removable and is fastened in with a wooden peg.

And this is not the complete mask yet either because in each of these holes here, a palm frond was cut and set in so that the whole mask stood up another four or five feet taller when it was worn.

- Africa has no history?

Really?

Mr. Guernier, shame.

A thousand years ago, people could go by camel caravan from this area across to this area, some 4,000 miles.

It would take them six to eight months to make this journey, from the old Songhai kingdom to the, or from the old Ghana kingdom or Mali kingdom, to Kush, which is now Ethiopia.

Called Ethiopia, and Somali, sort of Somali too.

They could take that trip.

And upon reaching their destination, the traveler could give a banker a talent and be given currency of this new country.

Now there's instruction in that.

What it tells us is that both areas then, the governments of both areas were so stable, the societies were so stable, that the banker at this end of the trip was sure he had time to make that eight months trip back across the continent to get his money back.

No history, huh?

The importance, no, not the importance.

I need a stronger word.

It is imperative that Black American children learn their history.

Obviously, the school systems do not include African history or even Black American history comprehensively in their curriculum.

I'm told now that some universities are including the teaching of African history.

However, if we're being taught history in the higher education, on the higher education level, what good does that do for the dropout?

And this is the person we are seriously talking about influencing.

And the pre-dropout.

All over the States now, there are new little groups giving classes in African history.

And it reminds me of the small Jewish schools or the Chinese, Oriental, schools, where children go to high school or go to proper school, public school in the day, and either later in the afternoon or on Saturdays, they go to a school where they can learn their own history.

If a child, a black child particularly, does not totally believe that black is beautiful, he's not going to believe that white is beautiful.

That follows.

It is logical.

One hand washes the other.

Before I can concern myself seriously with the history of Robinson Crusoe, the legends, the fiction, the myths, the facts of Christopher Columbus, and so, I really must be concerned about myself.

Charity and every other thing that's good starts at home.

We went to the Negro Historical Society in San Francisco and watched the people teach very, very small children from two years to, well, to 18, something about their past so that they could realize they had a future.

- And when they moved away, there was a cooler climate.

They weren't so close to the Equator then.

And so by eating different fruits and getting in a cooler climate, well, their color changed.

- [Teacher] That's right, we were all black at first.

Pamela, what were you going to say?

- Well, I guess because since they moved further and it was cooler, the different things grew and they ate different things.

And some of these things had more melanin or whatever- - Carotene.

- Melanin and carotene.

Well, different foods had more melanin and others had more carotene.

And I think that if all of these people were, I don't think all of them moved in one direction.

They went, and like maybe different tribes went this way, others moved out because maybe someone took their land or something.

Another tribe, they had a fight or something and they had to move to other lands.

- Now you know, in Africa, I've mentioned very often, that in some villages, after the work has been done all day, each child, each member of the family, performing a chore, helping the family, that in the evening, everybody might get together in one of the huts of maybe the person who tells stories in the village.

This is the way in Africa that the history of the people is transmitted from one generation to the other.

Sometimes in the village, there's a man called the talky-talk man.

And you remember we've talked about how the talky-talk man might sit down at the end of the day, as I've said, after all the work has been done and will listen to story.

He will tell stories to the people in the village.

Sometimes he might tell stories and he might have a drum and he might play on this drum.

And the people will sit and listen.

Also with little babies.

This is a way that education starts with children in Africa.

I read a book recently by Jomo Kenyatta called "Facing Mount Kenya."

And in that book, he tells how, in America now, we begin our education maybe your mother might read nursery rhymes to you when you were a little baby or your mother might sing a lullaby to you.

But in Africa now, when the baby is very tiny, the mother sings to this baby songs about the history of the people of Africa.

The mother can tell the child all about what happened to the child, about what happened to his grandparents and his great-grandparents many, many years ago through the songs that she sings.

So that by the time the child gets to be about three or four years old, he knows the history of his people.

And then when this child grows up, he in turn tells this history to his children.

Let's see now, what else we can talk about from Africa that we might know?

Did you know where iron came from?

- Africa.

- That's right.

Iron came from Africa.

Can you think of, Africa is rich in many minerals.

There are many minerals and things found under the ground in Africa.

Can you tell me some of the other things that come from Africa?

- Perry?

- Diamonds?

- [Teacher] That's right, diamonds are in Africa.

Does anyone know where the diamonds are found in Africa?

- [Student] Gold can be found.

- That's right, gold is in Africa.

Where do you think the diamonds are found most of all in Africa?

Perry?

- In Africa.

- [Teacher] That's right, they're found in Africa.

Where in Africa do you think they're found?

Do you know what part of Africa?

(child faintly answering) What?

- They dig it under mountains.

- [Teacher] That's right, they dig down in the ground and they get the diamonds.

Now what else is found in Africa that someone can tell me about?

Yes, Perry Cooper?

- [Student] I don't know.

- [Teacher] I suppose there's a little bit of silver found in Africa too.

Yes, Pamela?

- [Pamela] Gold?

- [Teacher] That's right, gold is, that's right, there's gold in Africa.

Do you know there's something that we drink in the morning that comes from Africa.

- [Students] Water?

- [Teacher] Something else we drink in Africa that tastes real good.

What do you think it might be?

- [Student] Different kinds of milk?

- [Teacher] That's right, but no.

It's a bean.

And from this bean something is made, a powder ground.

Yes?

- Coffee beans?

- [Teacher] Coffee beans, and also cocoa beans.

There was a very famous Greek historian named Herodotus in the fifth century who spoke about the Egyptians.

Hi, how are you today?

- Good- - [Teacher] And did you know that Herodotus referred to these Egyptians as being black, wooly hair, beautiful?

All kinds of hair is beautiful.

We've said this before.

Straight hair is beautiful, kinky hair is beautiful.

- [Student] Ew!

- [Teacher] Kinky hair is pretty.

- [Student] I got kinky hair when I was a baby.

- [Teacher] That's beautiful kinky hair too.

I think it's lovely.

- I got cool- - Kinky hair?

- [Teacher] What kind of hair?

Cool?

- Huh?

- [Teacher] What kind of hair did you say?

- [Student] Yes, uh, (giggling)- - [Teacher] You said cool hair.

Well, I think it's very pretty.

- The history of Africa has been written for the most part in European languages except for the Vai people of Liberia, the Ethiopians, who developed the Amharic script, and the Arabs.

The only history we find is European history.

Of course, the Meroe and the Kush societies had their scripts but they haven't been deciphered yet.

The languages of Africa would make a glorious study for any serious student.

There's a language in South Africa that is spoken by the Xhosa people.

Miriam Makeba has made it quite popular in the States, it's called the click language, it's Xhosa.

The language has three sounds that are not tonal, that is to say, don't come from the vocal box.

The X, which is lateral, it's (clicking tongue); the Q, which is palatal, (clicking tongue) and the C, which is labial, (clicking tongue).

There's a language in Senegal called Tukuluri.

And it's just a plain language except that there is in it the sweet language, le langue doux.

And in the langue doux, you speak to royalty or to family by prefixing every sentence with, "Hm mm."

So you say, "Hm mm, (speaking foreign language), hm mm."

Now obviously that tells us it would be difficult to have an argument with a person if you had to say hm mm in front of everything and hm mm after.

In Ethiopia, one of the languages that is not used very much, it's almost, it's an archaic language, the Bible is written in it.

It's called Ge'ez.

That's spelled G-E apostrophe E-Z, Ge'ez.

And I'm going to sing you a song in Ge'ez.

Now, I better tell you what the song says first.

The song says: Don't tell me how lucky you are, how beautiful you are, how rich you are, how anything you are.

Don't brag to me about yourself.

If you do, you will make me take you to the edge of the world and show you where people much better off than you, have willingly jumped overboard.

And don't think that the earth holds you on top of her because she loves you.

The earth is minding her business.

She's spinning.

And if she stops spinning, ever, once, for a second, you'll slip right off the side, yeah?

And don't feel that then she holds you, she loves you.

She holds you, you are a prisoner.

And even when you die, you're going inside her.

And the song is... (Maya singing in foreign language) (Maya continue singing in foreign language) (Maya continue singing in foreign language) (Maya continue singing in foreign language) (Maya continue singing in foreign language) The Zulus of South Africa have made a great contribution to Great Britain and to many other military societies.

When we look at the creative genius of the British war machines, we are obliged to see the genius of a general, a Zulu general, Shaka.

Shaka created a tactic called the Horn, sometimes called the W Formation.

It looked like a crescent with a large body of men in the center.

He would send his small groups of men up that horn, and then in, to attack the enemy from the enemy's flanks.

Then he would take the large body of men and throw them against the center of the enemy's forces.

Mr. John A. Williams, in a book called "Africa: Her Lands and People," who's also the author of a book called "The Man Who Cried I Am," a very important book.

I would urge every Black American to read it today, as soon as you stop watching this program.

Mr. Williams said of this Horn, of the W Formation, that it was the most important breakthrough in fighting for people who had only arrows, assegais, swords, long swords and short swords, and their bodies.

It was very successful for many, many years.

While we're talking about, or rather while I'm talking about war machines, I'm reminded of an incident some years ago.

Many years ago, I was in Tunis.

And Arabic is one language I tried to deal with.

So meeting some Tunisians, I asked to be shown some of the city.

And they took me to old Roman ruins and began to tell me about Hannibal.

Well I had read about Hannibal, but I never knew that Hannibal had anything to do with me.

I find that Tunisia, the Tunis, the city, is built on the ruins of Carthage.

Or Carthage as it's called in the States.

Hannibal was a Carthaginian.

Hannibal took a group, his army, 90,000 infantry, 30,000 calvary, and 40 elephants over the Alps and fought Rome.

He took the city of Turin.

He had already taken, they were all Carthage, had already controlled Spain.

And he was doing very well in Italy, although he lost some over half of his forces crossing the Alps.

He was repelled at the gates of Rome and defeated there.

But I think it's important to know that the African history includes not only the art, the songs, the dance, but we are human beings.

That is to say, we have all the failures, all the foibles, all the strengths, all the beauty that other human beings have.

If we don't admit that, we put ourselves at a disadvantage.

The Black American has been told, in fact the African has been treated always as a subhuman or a superhuman.

Never as a human.

We have to be either Martin Luther Kings or we are thugs in the street.

There's no in-between.

Now we must indulge for ourselves and in between.

We have done all things.

And we will do all things.

In South Africa, the Zulu people hold a great position.

The Zulus, Shaka sent away a group of people to fight the Hottentots, it is said.

They got lost or they were defeated and they knew better than to come back because Shaka had a policy.

He killed anyone that was defeated and their families.

So the people stayed and married into the Hottentots.

And that's how the language got, the Xhosa language, it really is Zulu.

But that's how it included those three non-tonal sounds, the X, the Q and the C. The program today started with a poem called "The Elegance of Memory."

That's a poem by a very great South African poet, Mr. Willie Kgositsile.

Mr. Kgositsile is here in the studio and I would like very much for him to come and for you to meet him and just be charmed by him.

Hi, my brother, how about you?

- Okay.

- Good, good, good, good.

We were, I'd like to talk with you.

I'd like you to talk a bit about the way African history is carried down through the years.

That was the oral tradition.

- Yeah, the oral tradition was one of the most significant methods through which, or by which, knowledge and information about the where we had been and where we were going was passed through the ages.

It still is to a very significant degree done even in South Africa today with all the Western influences.

That, for instance, the way that as we grow up, we learn pretty early about the distortions that have been made by European historians, is by word of mouth.

It's passed from generation to generation.

- Is it only done in songs?

I mean, is oral tradition passed only down in songs or in myths or- - It is passed down in songs, in myths, in poetry.

Also as stories, where- - How about dance?

- Oh, through dance too.

In fact, African dancers do, are not just entertainment, as you know.

In terms of storytelling, for instance, they are complementary with whatever is being told and descriptive of very specific things.

- Willie, my brother, actually Willie's proper name is Keorapetse Kgositsile.

But I didn't think I'd put that on you right away, I'd do that bit by bit.

(laughing) Willie said when I asked him to come on this program, he said, "Well at last, my name will be pronounced correctly once on American television."

(Maya and Willie laughing) Well, I see you have this.

Would you read a poem to us in Tswana?

Willie, is Tswana?

- Ah ha.

- Hm mm.

- Yeah, I'll do that.

- The Tswanas are in- - Botswana.

- Botswana.

The Botswana people.

It's a beautiful language.

Listen how melodic it is.

- Yeah.

I'll read the poem in Tswana and then read the translation too.

(Willie speaking in Tswana) The poem is dedicated to my wife, Melba.

(Willie speaking in Tswana) (Willie continue speaking in Tswana) - [Maya] I kind of wanted to dance.

- Yeah, "For Melba": Morning smiles in your eye like a coy moment captured by an eternal noon.

And from yesterdays I emerge naked like a Kimberley diamond full like Limpopo after rain, singing your unnumbered charms.

- [Maya] Oh, that's beautiful, Willie.

- Thank you very much.

- Melba must be pleased with it.

- Yeah, I guess she is.

(laughing) - I just want to say one more thing.

Willie, as a poet, is a fine poet.

As a person reading his poetry, well, um, I think of Ossie Davis.

When the late, um, there was a memorial for the late Langston Hughes in June of last year.

And we all went because all of us worship Langston Hughes.

That is to say, black writers have great respect for him.

And Ossie was a particular friend of Langston's.

So he got up at the memorial and said he was a member of two, of an organization of two people.

His wife and himself were the members of the organization, which was anti-Langston Hughes ever reading his own poetry.

Because one thing, he's not dramatic when he reads it.

He doesn't read it with that heavy feeling that an actor can give to the reading.

He just sort of reads it and he reads it free.

So (laughing) Ossie Davis said, well, that he must admit he was a member of that organization.

I think I'm going to be a member of the organization that is anti-Willie Kgositsile reading his own poetry.

Thank you, my brother.

- (indistinct), thank you.

- Go well.

- See you.

(Maya speaking in foreign language) (Willie responding faintly) (Maya laughing) Wow, that was nice.

I'm going to tell you a story, soft, pretty story.

A mouse was running through the forest once.

He was feeling very good, jumping up and down, having a nice time.

And he ran over the foot of a lion.

The lion was sleeping.

So the lion just opened his mouth like that and his paws like that and went... And almost had the poor mouse in his mouth.

When the mouse begged so pitifully to please be let free, the lion said, "Well, all right.

Scram."

A few weeks later, the lion was caught in a trap, a hunter's trap.

And the mouse was running through the bush, still feeling good.

And he heard this noise, this great roar, roar of pain.

So he turned around and went and found the lion all trapped in ropes.

So he just nibbled at the ropes.

It took him all day and all night but he freed the lion.

There's a moral to the story.

The moral is that one good turn deserves another.

That story was written by Aesop, an Aesop fable.

Aesop was a slave.

He was born in Phrygia or in Ethiopia and sold to Iadmon in Europe.

And he became so famous for his folk tales, for his fables, that he was freed.

And it is said that he died in Delphos, getting counsel from the oracle, I suppose, of Delphos and that he was thrown off of a precipice.

It's important that black children know that Aesop was a black man because they can then know something about Anansi and Br'er Rabbit stories and see how there's a connection between the two.

Now there's that game that I'm going to join that's going on over here.

It's a children's game.

(hands clapping) ♪ What can you do ♪ ♪ Punchinello, Punchinello ♪ ♪ What can you do ♪ ♪ Punchinello, little girl ♪ ♪ What can you do ♪ ♪ Punchinello, Punchinello ♪ ♪ What can you do ♪ ♪ Punchinello, little girl ♪ ♪ I can do that too ♪ ♪ Punchinello, Punchinello ♪ ♪ I can do that too ♪ ♪ Punchinello, little girl ♪ ♪ Now choose your love ♪ ♪ Punchinello, Punchinello ♪ ♪ Choose your love ♪ ♪ Punchinello, little girl ♪ ♪ Now look who's here ♪ ♪ Punchinello, Punchinello ♪ ♪ Look who's here ♪ ♪ Punchinello, little boy ♪ ♪ Now what can you do ♪ ♪ Punchinello, Punchinello ♪ ♪ What can you do ♪ ♪ Punchinello, little boy ♪ ♪ I can do that too ♪ ♪ Punchinello, Punchinello ♪ ♪ I can do that too ♪ ♪ Punchinello, little boy ♪ ♪ Now choose your love ♪ ♪ Punchinello, Punchinello ♪ ♪ Choose your love ♪ ♪ Punchinello, little boy ♪ ♪ Now look who's here ♪ ♪ Punchinello, Punchinello ♪ ♪ Look who's here ♪ ♪ Punchinello, little girl ♪ ♪ Now what can you do ♪ ♪ Punchinello, Punchinello ♪ ♪ What can you do ♪ ♪ Punchinello, little girl ♪ (feet shuffling) (fingers clicking) ♪ I can do that too ♪ ♪ Punchinello, Punchinello ♪ ♪ Do that too ♪ ♪ Punchinello, little girl ♪ ♪ Now choose your love ♪ ♪ Punchinello, Punchinello ♪ ♪ Choose your love ♪ ♪ Punchinello, little girl ♪ ♪ Now look who's here ♪ ♪ Punchinello, Punchinello ♪ ♪ Look who's here ♪ ♪ Punchinello, little boy ♪ ♪ What can you sing ♪ ♪ Punchinello, little boy ♪ ♪ What can you sing ♪ (dancers laughing) - Ah, that was fun.

That's one of the ways Black Americans have of learning rhythm and melody, is from the games, of course.

There's a poem called "Harlem Hopscotch."

It says: One foot down, then hop!

It's hot.

Good things for the ones that's got.

Another jump, now to the left.

Everybody for hisself.

On the air, now both feet down.

Since you black, don't stick around.

The food is gone, the rent is due, curse and cry and then jump two.

Everybody's out of work.

Hold for three, now twist and jerk.

Cross the line, they count you out.

But that's what hopping's all about.

Both feet down, the game is done.

They think I lost.

I think I won.

(chuckling) Can you dig it?

(Maya laughing) It's a poem of mine.

Now, I would like to encourage Black Americans to read certain history books.

I have said Basil Davidson, certainly Dr. Du Bois first.

Basil Davidson.

Get Herbert Aptheker.

Let me say that again so you have time to get a pencil.

Get Dr. Du Bois' "Black Folks Then and Now."

Read Herbert Aptheker, documents of American Negroes or the myth of Herskovits, the myth of the Negro past.

Read Basil Davidson, "The Lost Cities of Africa."

Read Armattoe, a Ghanaian historian.

Read de Graft-Johnson, another Ghanaian historian.

One of our programs is going to deal with who has researched African history, what were their motives, and what are the results?

When you go to the library, it's important to understand that you have made a contribution not only to our development but to the development of man.

Terence, the playwright, says, (Maya speaking in foreign language) "I am a man.

Nothing can be alien to me."

I've been using that for 20 years.

It was only when I researched Terence, that I found that his name is Terentius Afer or rather Terence the African.

There are five plays of his in the library today.

In your public library, you can go and find this man who was a Greek, but who was also an African or primarily an African.

It is necessary to get all the little bits and pieces to build up your ego.

After 300 years, we need all the ego-building we can get.

Charlie Brown says, "I need all the friends I can get, even fair-weather friends."

Now I'm going to close with a poem by Jacques Roumain, a Caribbean poet: It's the long road to Guinea, death will take you there.

Here are the boughs, the trees, the forest.

Listen to the sound of the wind in its long hair of eternal night.

It's the long road to Guinea.

Your fathers wait for you without impatience.

Along the road, they talk, they wait.

This is the hour when the streams sounds like bones of beads.

It's the long road to Guinea.

No bright welcome will be made for you in the black land of the black man.

Under a smoky sky pierced by the cries of birds, along the riverbank there, there, a quiet village, the huts of your fathers and the hard ancestral stone where you can rest your head at last.

It's the long road to Guinea.

Thank you.

(Maya singing in foreign language) (Maya continue singing in foreign language) (Maya continue singing in foreign language) (Maya continue singing in foreign language) (Maya continue singing in foreign language) (Maya's singing fading) - [Presenter] The preceding program, "Blacks, Blues, Black!," was made possible by a public service grant from the Olympia Brewing Company.