Monday, January 21, 2008

MLK Holiday!

Well, it's been quite a while since I posted. My computer was sick with a nasty virus for 2 months but was able to get out of the hospital right before Christmas.
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Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday and I pulled out 2 of my favorite personal memories of Dr. King. He died in 1968 and I was born in 1969... so I have no photos of marching with him, but what I do have is this only authorized version of ...free at last Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. album.

It is by far the most significant album of MLK Jrs's speeches. It includes :
I've Been To The Mountain Top, I Have A Dream and Drum Major Instinct Sermon.

These photos show the album that was recorded in 1968 by Gordy Motown Record Corp. Front cover, middle and back of the album.



PS. I guess you are wondering how did I come to have this collection? My G. Aunt gave it to my mother and I listen to this album while doing a high school essay about Dr. King. Loved it so much I asked my mother if I could keep it, she said yes.
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This is my first scrapbook I did while in high school and in it I gave a tribute to MLK in my own little way. Mind you, this was way before there was a national holiday for him. There was a political newspaper cartoon script that I thought did a wonderful job illustrating the economic gap between blacks and whites at the time. So I recreated it in my scrapbook using my own hand drawing. Hard to see I know because it's in pencils... click on it for a larger view.


The bottom portion of this page was created with cut outs from Ebony articles.




Above is half of the old newspaper script I used as my inspiration.


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Just For Fun!

Here are some more images from this 1983 -1987 high school scrapbook. No laughing... and the condition of the book is bad, but hopeful you can make out these images.

I drew by hand a picture of our high school on the first page. The picture on the right is what the school actually looks like.


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More pages.




I was Essence Affair Junior Princess 1986.

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I received lost of trophies in the 4 years I ran track and cross-country, but my mother didn't keep them after I went away to college. So, as bad as these look, this is all I have left to remember those winning moments with. These are my letters for track and field (never purchased the jackets to attach them to) and 3 metals-- 4 x 100 relay(1st pl), 400 meter ( 4th in state), and 4 x 800 (1st pl).

The newspaper article on the bottom of the page is talking about how the boys cross county team did very well. Margaret Blake was the fastest girl cross country runner in the state and she was on our team yay! She came in first any and every meet, in fact, she was state champion all 4 years ( I wonder how she did in college..humm). The article states that she did not run in this meet and out of 180 girls running I finished 10th place and the rest of the girls on our team finished 16th, 31st, 32nd and 44th place.

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That's me in the middle of the left photo. I am proud to say that all of us in this photo turn out well in life except one who met up with the wrong guy or vise versa and ended up strung out on drugs.
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Mrs. Charolette, as we call her, who presented and signed this 1987 graduation card to me, is the Aunt of one of my friends Charlene.
Years ago Mrs. Charolette's Sister and Brother-in-law where killed in a car accident leaving behind 3 daughters. Mrs. Charolette, a single elementary school teacher, took all 3 girls in with a teachers salary. The youngest of the girls, Charlene, was around 6/7 yrs old when she beginned attending school with me. I am going to keep it real when saying that Charlene gave her sweet Aunt nothing but trouble.
Last year Mrs. Charlette won $1,000,000 dollars (yepper $1 Million Dollars) playing the McDonald's Monopoly Game!!! The first thing out of everyone's mouths who knows her was... she deserves it!!!! I recently saw her on a McDonald's commerical. WTG Mrs. Charolette!!

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I use to love to draw when I was younger! I loved to draw cartoon characters the most. These are a few that I found in this scrapbook.



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This is my all time favorite that I did in my art class 1985. On the back of the page the teacher said "very well done!" grade 13/10 "The highest grade in 4 classes!" I am so happy I still have this.





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Well, that's anoth of 1st scrapbook memory lane. I know I need to do this scrapbook over using acid free products, but I really like it just the way it is... it tells the story just the way it was.
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Oh, one more thing... it snowed not once, but twice last week in Atlanta! WOW!!! Totally unusual.
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Again ... Respectfully saying thanks to MLK Jr. in my own little way Jan. 21st, 2008!




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5 comments:

Adriann said...

Beautiful tribute to MLK! I love your scrapbook...so awesome!!! I don't have many mementos from the past and can really appreciate what you have. I didn't know you could draw so well. You are so talented. I guess that's where the interior decorating comes from.

Thank you for sharing.

Blessings!!!

TanishaRenee said...

What a great tribute to MLK and a great trip down memory lane! Did you see the special Oprah did yesterday? I managed to catch half of it and it gave me chills! It also reminds me that I've wanted to take the civil rights tour for so long! I love all of your art work..are you still really into it? Hope all is well!

Cheryl Wray said...

I just LOVE looking at all your old photos and scrapbook pages from school. HOW fun!!

A wonderful tribute to Dr. King. I truly get goosebumps when I hear his speeches. That man could speak and preach! What a thrill it would have been to hear him in person (I hope I would have been on the frontlines with him!)

We got some snow too. Yay!!!!! (That is a big deal for Alabama!!)

Adriann said...

Hey there! You didn't win the random RAK, but I wanted to send you the card anyway because you were one of my first commenters when I started the blog.

There's two It's Your Birthday's! Give me the color and I will delist it and send it out.

Nnairda's said...

Hey T! It's so nice to hear from you. You've been on my mind. I've always wondered if you ever rec'd your card or not. It took a while to send because I misplaced your address.

Hope all is well with you and don't be a stranger.

Adriann