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Peninsula
92-25 Rockaway Beach Boulevard, Rockaway Beach
What We Bring: Numu Blacksmith’s Bellows
Kewulay Kamara
“What sitting will not solve, travel will resolve.”9
Pomonok
158-21 Jewel Avenue, Flushing
The Migration Series Panel 53 (1940-41)
Jacob Lawrence
This is a panel from Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series. The caption reads, "African Americans, long-time residents of northern cities, met the migrants with aloofness and disdain."
Almost 80 years ago, young artist Jacob Lawrence set to work on an ambitious 60-panel series portraying the Great Migration, the flight of more than a million African Americans from the rural South to the industrial North following the outbreak of World War I. Before painting the series, Lawrence researched the subject and wrote captions to accompany each panel. Like the storyboards of a film, he saw the panels as one unit, painting all 60 simultaneously, color by color, to ensure their visual unity. The poetry of Lawrence's epic statement emerges from its staccato-like rhythms and repetitive symbols of movement: the train, the station, ladders, stairs, windows, and the surge of people on the move. Following the example of the West African storyteller, who spins tales of the past that have meaning for the present and the future, Lawrence tells a story that reminds us of our shared history and at the same time invites us to reflect on the universal theme of struggle in the world today.
Source: The Phillips Collection phillipscollection.org3
Poppenhusen
121-23 14 Avenue, College Point
What We Bring: Sankofa Fabric Print Resist
n’Ketiah Brakohiapa
“Forgetfulness is not an abomination if you return to reclaim the good teachings you learned in life.”9
Queens Village
94-11 217 Street, Queens Village
Kora
The kora is a long-necked harp lute of the Malinke (Mandinka) people of western Africa. The instrument’s body is composed of a long hardwood neck that passes through a calabash gourd resonator, itself covered by a leather soundboard. Twenty-one leather or nylon strings are attached to the top of the neck with leather tuning rings. The strings pass over a notched bridge (10 strings on one side of the bridge, 11 on the other) and are anchored to the bottom of the neck with a metal ring. In performance the instrument rests on the ground in a vertical position, and the musician plays the instrument while seated. He plucks the strings with the thumb and forefinger of each hand, while the remaining fingers hold two hand posts drilled through the top of the gourd.
The Gambia River valley is one of the main centres for the playing of this instrument. Its origins are obscure, but it is traditionally associated with royalty, the ruling classes, or religious practices. The kora is used by male musicians mainly to accompany narrations, recitations, and songs in honour of a patron.
Source: Encyclopedia Britannica
Queensboro Hill
60-05 Main Street, Flushing
Untitled
Queens Library Book Bus, Queens, circa 1965.10
Rego Park
91-41 63 Drive, Rego Park
What We Bring: Krin Log Drum
Sidiki Conde
“Don’t think too much about your disability. Think about what you can do for society and be grateful for this life.”9
Richmond Hill
118-14 Hillside Avenue, Richmond Hill
The Migration Series Panel 10 (1940-41)
Jacob Lawrence
This is a panel from Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series. The caption reads, "They were very poor."
Almost 80 years ago, young artist Jacob Lawrence set to work on an ambitious 60-panel series portraying the Great Migration, the flight of more than a million African Americans from the rural South to the industrial North following the outbreak of World War I. Before painting the series, Lawrence researched the subject and wrote captions to accompany each panel. Like the storyboards of a film, he saw the panels as one unit, painting all 60 simultaneously, color by color, to ensure their visual unity. The poetry of Lawrence's epic statement emerges from its staccato-like rhythms and repetitive symbols of movement: the train, the station, ladders, stairs, windows, and the surge of people on the move. Following the example of the West African storyteller, who spins tales of the past that have meaning for the present and the future, Lawrence tells a story that reminds us of our shared history and at the same time invites us to reflect on the universal theme of struggle in the world today.
Source: The Phillips Collection phillipscollection.org4
Ridgewood
20-12 Madison Street, Ridgewood
Untitled
Head Start program, Queens Library Book Bus, 1965.10
Rochdale Village
169-09 137 Avenue, Jamaica
The Migration Series Panel 58 (1940-41)
Jacob Lawrence
This is a panel from Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series. The caption reads, "In the North the African American had more educational opportunities."
Almost 80 years ago, young artist Jacob Lawrence set to work on an ambitious 60-panel series portraying the Great Migration, the flight of more than a million African Americans from the rural South to the industrial North following the outbreak of World War I. Before painting the series, Lawrence researched the subject and wrote captions to accompany each panel. Like the storyboards of a film, he saw the panels as one unit, painting all 60 simultaneously, color by color, to ensure their visual unity. The poetry of Lawrence's epic statement emerges from its staccato-like rhythms and repetitive symbols of movement: the train, the station, ladders, stairs, windows, and the surge of people on the move. Following the example of the West African storyteller, who spins tales of the past that have meaning for the present and the future, Lawrence tells a story that reminds us of our shared history and at the same time invites us to reflect on the universal theme of struggle in the world today.
Source: The Phillips Collection phillipscollection.org4
Rosedale
144-20 243 Street, Rosedale
Mbira
The mbira consists of a series of tuned metal or bamboo tongues (lamellae) attached at one end to a soundboard that often has a calabash or box resonator. At the fixed end, the tongues are pressed down over two bridges by a metal bar. Tuning is adjusted by sliding the tongues to alter their vibrating length. The mbira is one of several idiophones that are plucked rather than vibrated by percussion, shaken, or scraped. In performance, the player holds the instrument in his hands and plucks the tongues with his thumbs and forefingers. For a rattling tone color, the tongues are often fitted with buzzing metal cuffs, or metal bottle caps may be affixed to the soundboard or resonator. Reported by European travelers as early as 1586, the mbira is found in the same areas as the xylophone, to which its tuning is similar and with which it shares several local names. It was taken by enslaved Africans to Latin America, where it developed into a number of unique forms.
Source: Encyclopedia Britannica
1 Courtesy of the Fine Arts Collection, U.S. General Services Administration Federal Art Project NYC WPA. On extended loan to Queens Library. Contact digitalarchives@queenslibrary.org for research and reproduction requests.
2 Courtesy of the Fine Arts Collection, U.S. General Services Administration New Deal Art Project. On extended loan to Queens Library. Contact digitalarchives@queenslibrary.org for research and reproduction requests.
3 1940–41, Casein tempera on hardboard, 12 x 18 in. The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, Acquired 1942. phillipscollection.org.
4 1940–41, Casein tempera on hardboard, 12 x 18 in. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Mrs. David M. Levy.
5 Courtesy of the Fine Arts Collection, U.S. General Services Administration New York City WPA Art Project. On extended loan to Queens Library. Contact digitalarchives@queenslibrary.org for research and reproduction requests.
6 Courtesy of the Queens Library, Archives, Storefront Museum Collection.
7 This replica of Augusta Savage’s The Harp is part of the Langston Hughes Community Library’s Black Heritage Reference Center.
8 Harvey Wang, Courtesy of the Queens Library, Archives, Queens Council on the Arts Collection. Copyright: Harvey Wang.
9 Courtesy of City Lore, What We Bring: Immigrant Gifts exhibit, on view at Central Library until March 2. Cosponsored by City Lore, Center for Traditional Music and Dance, the Brooklyn Arts Council, and the CATCH consortium. Curated by Tom Van Buren and Steve Zeitlin. Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation with additional support from the New York State Council on the Arts and the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. Photography by Tom Pich.
10 Queens Library, Archives, Queens Borough Public Library Photographs.
11 Courtesy of the Queens Library, Archives, Frederick J. Weber Photographs. Copyright: Estate of Frederick J. Weber.
