Over six weekends in the summer of 1969, the Harlem Cultural Festival drew more than 300,000 people. Terms of Use Summer of Soul follows in the spirit of equally empowering black concert films like Soul to Soul (1971) (organized to celebrate 14 years of Ghanaian independence) and Wattstax (1973), a community fundraiser arranged by Stax Records and Jesse Jackson to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the Watts riots in Los Angeles. Summer of Soul co-producer Robert Fyvolent eventually acquired the rights from original producer Hal Tulchin, who failed in his own attempt to sell the material as a television special in 1969. Wry humor is thus shown to be far from out of place in these overtly political films. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter. Summer of Soul executive producer Joseph Patel commented on the announcement of the HFC, saying, One of the things we hoped would happen with Summer of Soul is that it would open the door for other stories to be told, in all their forms, especially by people from Harlem. The venue is today known as the Marcus Garvey Park. The total attendance was some 300,000 people strong. The 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival brought over 300,000 people to Harlem's 20-acre Mount Morris Park from June 29 to August 24, 1969 against a backdrop of enormous political, cultural. The Roots drummer and songwriter Ahmir Thompson a.k.a. Jackson continued, Being rooted, watered, and grown in this village of Harlem, I believe HFC is our moment to show the world the vibrancy of todays Harlem the music, the food, the look, all of it! As a freelance writer he contributes regularly to various film and literary publications. Total attendance for the concert. He owns a good deal of Ed Sullivan material and provided most of the film for Martin Scorsese's recent Bob Dylan documentary. We want people to understand that this festival is being built by the people who are from, live, and work in this community. However, the political reality of the time is thoroughly discussed, interspersed with concert footage in a seamless style that makes the documentary as informative as it is entertaining. Free to the public Scottish fun for the whole family! The emotional energy of the film, in both archival footage and new commentaries, makes this a very powerful documentary. The Harlem Festival of Culture (HFC) will take place in Marcus Garvey Park, formerly known as Mount Morris Park, the same site as the original festival. At this concert, Nina Simone sang about being young, gifted, and Black while encouraging people to fight hard for their rights. This led to a job with New Yorks Parks Department, where he pitched his idea for cultural festivals in 1967. King, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and Stevie Wonder were among those to perform during the festival, with performances on Sundays at 3 p.m. in Harlems Mount Morris Park (which is now Marcus Garvey Park). The Harlem Cultural Festival was arguably one of the first of its kind to promote black pop as transformative urban event, as a site to be inhabited as well as a sound to be experienced, and the key to new neighborhood connections and collaborations. "Often, art and culture are one and the same with political statements," he said. Questlove has said that he believes the fact that no one bought and compiled these landmark performances into a music documentary before now represents an attempt to deliberately ignore or erase important Black cultural activity. As musician and filmmaker Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson's strategic direction makes clear, these concerts were organized to reveal and encourage a new Pan-African push for social justice. Before Afropunk, Nina Simone, Sly Stone, Mahalia Jackson and more graced a Harlem stage in 1969. SHARES. We're excited to share this valuable resource! NowPlayingUtah.com is an event promoter and does not plan any of the events you see here. The Harlem Festival of Culture will host a yearlong series of events leading up to the multi-day 2023 festival. May we celebrate and honor the Harlem Cultural Festival across America from this point forward. Admission was free. Only one professional videographer, Hal Tuchin, came to film the event. Sadly, LBJ chose to ignore the findings of the so called "Kerner Commission" which warned in part: "What white Americans have never fully understoodbut what the Negro can never forget is that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. Curiosity has been growing since Lauro leaked some footage onto a Nina Simone DVD/CD last summer, mentioning the festival in the liner notes. Instead, security came from the Black Panthers, 21 of whom had been indicted for plotting to mark Martin Luther King's assassination by bombing Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Abercrombie & Fitch and other stores across Manhattan. The 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival took place the year after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated and the summer before Black Panther revolutionary Fred Hampton was assassinated. A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials. Date Sun Jun 29, 1969 - Sun Aug 24, 1969 Map Mount Morris Park 18 Mt Morris Park W Harlem New York 10027 United States AlsoKnownAs The Black Woodstock Years active 1969 Founded by Tony Lawrence Official Links Arts & Acts Abbey Lincoln B.B. Professor of African-American Studies at Yale University. The Harlem Cultural Festival took place on six Sundays beginning June 29 and ending August 24, 1969, in Mount Morris Park (now named Marcus Garvey Park). The sheer volume of talent at the time was overwhelming. Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park) during the summer of 1969, featuring 25 artists that played to over 300,000 attendees. In fact, Dr. Kings friend and fellow activist Jesse Jackson spoke at the Harlem Cultural Festival. With the Caribbean singer Tony Lawrence at its helm, the festival was a sustained, communal activity and cultural interaction where enterprising street vendors got what The New York Times referred to as their legitimate hustle on. "But I knew it was going to be like real estate, and sooner or later someone would have interest in it.". NowPlayingUtah.com is an event promoter and does not plan any of the events you see here. Staged in Harlem's Mount Morris Park in summer 1969, weeks before Woodstock festival in upstate New York, the event attracted trailblazing Black artists including Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone,. And New York is still a city of first-class citizens and second-class schools. Destructive 'Super Pigs' From Canada Threaten the Northern U.S. Did an Ancient Magnetic Field Reversal Cause Chaos for Life on Earth 42,000 Years Ago? The Harlem Cultural Festival, also known as "Black Woodstock", was a series of music concerts held in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City during the summer of 1969 to celebrate African American Read allThe Harlem Cultural Festival, also known as "Black Woodstock", was a series of music concerts held in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City during the summer of 1969 to celebrate African American music and culture and to promote the continued politics of Black pride.The Harlem Cultural Festival, also known as "Black Woodstock", was a series of music concerts held in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City during the summer of 1969 to celebrate African American music and culture and to promote the continued politics of Black pride. When August 24, 2019 at 8:00pm 3 hrs 59 mins. In the film, viewers are introduced to the event's promoter and organiser, Tony Lawrence. The Harlem Cultural Festival, with its six free shows from June 29 to August 24, 1969, was different; it appealed to a large cross-section of the community, drawing families and churchgoers as well as the youth of New York City. A lone review of this film may not do justice in attempting to describe the raw energy and magic of the performers. Mavis Staples and Mahalia Jackson perform at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival in Summer of Soul. And the crowds responded looking on reverentially, dancing with one another around the edges of the park. Singer Abbey Lincoln performing at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival in a scene from the new concert film Summer of Soul. Besides Sly, the festival's roster included B.B. For specifics about any event please see contact info provided with event listing or contact the host organization directly. People pushed back against housing discrimination and built their communities to be self-sustaining, even though they had fewer resources and less access to funding. Theres an inexplicable power and comfort in being in a sea of Black faces and enjoying a freeing experience together. Think about it; anyone can go onto YouTube and easily find video of iconic performances at Woodstock or clips from a documentary. Despite the controversy surrounding the Black Panthers all the concerts passed of peacefully. A new 'guide' can help. It was incredibly important for me to get that history right.". 'Summer of Soul' documents the diverse nature and rich history of Black music during the tumultuous time for Black people that was 1969. This is not a movie. He began to use his minor fame for good, founding programs and doing civic work in Harlem. Director Questlove makes certain we experience near complete performances from many of the musicians onscreen. July 27, 1967. John Lindsay, a liberal Republican, was the Mayor of New York City from 1966-1973, and a staunch ally of the embattled black and brown residents of his city. Musa Jackson attended the festival as a small child and recalled, "It was the ultimate Black BBQ and then there was the music that made you feel it was so much bigger.". Then, after the 1968 Festival, Lawrence worked during the off-season to secure funding to help expand it for 1969, and he planned to have it broadcast on national television. They were the living embodiment of Sly and the Family Stones everyday people. From 1972s Wattstax in Los Angeles to 1973s Soul at the Center events at Lincoln Center, from Diana Rosss heroic 1983 rain-soaked performance in Central Park to Dave Chappelles 2004 rousing neo-soul-fights-neoliberal-gentrification Block Party, the idea of the large-scale African-American pop concert as community revival, sustenance, triumph and renewal is a recurring phenomenon. A grand unearthing of an event all but lost to wider cultural memory, Summer of Soul 's opening introduction of 1969's Harlem Cultural Festival the "Black Woodstock" is explosive . South African musician Hugh Masekela joined African American performers in the 3rd edition of the Harlem Cultural Festival's celebration of Black creativity and international solidarity. Singer Abbey Lincoln performing at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival in a scene from the new concert film Summer of Soul. The 1960s were undoubtedly a turbulent yet pivotal decade for Black people. On the surface, the new concert film Summer of Soul may easily read as a black alternative to the well-documented four days of Woodstock the predominantly white music festival that got so much attention in August of 1969. King and 100,000 spectators gathered for a concert worth remembering. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. The lineup featured some of the most influential artists in music history including B.B. Swinging evangelical combos delivered encouraging yet sardonic sermons over funky backbeats. Finding a bit of shade at Mount Morris Park. The festival took place from June 29 to August 24, 1969. The Harlem Cultural Festival should be a highlight of American music history and a cultural milestone for Black people. Ethel Beaty-Barnes, then an 18-year-old fresh from her high-school graduation, still remembers what she wore to the Sly & The Family Stone concert in Harlem in 1969: a floral halter top and . He began by staging the Love Festival in Newark, New Jersey, in the Fall of 1969, and it attracted more than 60,000 fans. The Harlem Cultural Festival was a free, peaceful gathering in the midst of a very radical and sometimes violent time in history. The festival got its start in 1967, when the citys Parks Department hired Tony Lawrence, a local entertainer, to put together summer programming in Harlem. The Harlem Cultural Festival, also known as "Black Woodstock", was a series of music concerts held in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City during the summer of 1969 to celebrate African American music and culture and to promote the continued politics of Black pride. Summer of Soul contains an abundance of awe-inspiring material. Surely some of the seeds for such a movement were planted back in 69, particularly when Simone chose as her final song a felt and pointed rendition of another new number, one shed written in honor of her dear friend, the playwright Lorraine Hansberry, who had died some four years earlier. The free festivals total combined attendance boasted nearly 300,000 people; however, it has (unsurprisingly) not been heralded or iconized as similar fests of the era have. Experiencing the film up close on a big screen will enable viewers to feel as if they have been transported back to 1969 Harlem, surrounded by vibrancy, art, culture, and community. It wasnt just about the music. Lawrence tried to recreate the festival in 1974, calling it the International Harlem Cultural Festival, but it never happened. Jackson also noted what an impact it was to see 50,000 Black people gathered in one place celebrating Black culture. Isn't that right? The white interviewees all express pride and excitement but the Black interviewees point out how that money could have been better spent helping African American communities. King, David Ruffin, the Chambers Brothers, Mongo Santamara, the Edwin Hawkins Singers, and a nineteen-year-old Stevie Wonder, who masters the drums in addition to the keyboards. 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