THE RETURN OF THE EYE

By: Laila Schwin and Valery Warner

February 24, 2022

Alvin Ailey is known for being a choreographer, dancer, and director for various dance companies and later for founding his own dance company, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT). His theater (and later the Ailey School) were created with the focus of highlighting black dancers and displaying African American experiences through dance performances.

Alvin Ailey was born in Rogers, Texas, on January 5, 1931. His father abandoned their family when Ailey was three-months-old. He and his mother were forced to work in cotton fields and as house servants to support themselves. They moved around a lot, and Ailey often stayed with relatives while his mother went out to find other work. 

In 1941, Ailey’s mother moved to Los Angeles, California. A year later, Ailey followed his mother and enrolled in George Washington Carver Junior High School. He then graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School. In 1946, he began to gain an interest in dance after seeing the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and the Katherine Dunham Dance Company perform in Los Angeles. In 1949, Ailey began learning dance from Lester Horton at what was one of the only racially-integrated dance schools at the time. While learning dance, Ailey started studying writing and romance languages at UCLA. In 1951, he moved his studies to San Francisco State University and continued his academic focuses. While in San Francisco, he met Maya Angelou and performed a nightclub act called “Al and Rita” with her. 

In 1953, Ailey made his debut as a dancer in Revue Le Bal Caribe, which was choreographed by his mentor, Lester Horton. Later that same year, Horton passed away, and Ailey filled his role as choreographer and artistic director for the dance company. Ailey started dancing as a pair with Carmen de Lavallade. The pair performed on Broadway in the musical House of Flowers. After that production closed, Ailey performed in a touring production by Harry Belafonte called Sing, Man, Sing. In 1957, he performed in the Broadway production of Jamaica.

In 1958, Aliey founded his own dance theater called the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Alivin created his theater to honor and celebrate black culture.  The company had its debut at the 92nd Street Y. The performance included Ailey’s first masterpiece, Blues Suite. Two years later, he premiered his most popular and critical work, Revelations, again at the 92nd Street Y. After this performance and despite their success, the Ailey company struggled to find consistent bookings. The U.S. State Department sponsored AAADT’s first international tour in 1962, which traveled across Asia—with follow ups to Senegal in 1966 and East & West Africa in 1967. The company was eventually able to book a few American shows per season as well. After a successful week-long engagement at the Billy Rose Theater, the company was invited to become the resident company at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. This relationship did not last long, and Alvin began to struggle with tours again.

In 1970, with few bookings on the radar (and on the eve of a tour to Russia as part of a cultural exchange agreement), Ailey announced at a press conference that he was closing the company. That August, the company toured to Russia, where it was ecstatically-received. Their performances were broadcasted on Moscow television and viewed by over 22 million viewers. On closing night, because the Russian audiences would not stop applauding, the company gave over 30 curtain calls. Returning home, the company performed a two-week engagement at the ANTA Theater. By the end of the January 1971 performance, the entire show was sold out. After 13 years, Alvin Ailey’s American Dance Theater was a monumental success. In August 1972, the company was briefly renamed the Alvin Ailey City Center Dance Theater and became a resident company of the New York City Center. Ailey’s work has been met with popular and critical acclaim. AAADT was formed to celebrate African American culture and to provide performances for black dancers, who were frequently denied opportunities due to race. Ailey proudly employed artists based solely on artistic talent and integrity, regardless of their cultural background.

In 1969, Ailey founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and paired with Fordham University to allow for a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree program through the dance school. The school started off in Brooklyn with 125 students and has continued to grow under various leaderships throughout its history. The Ailey School is now the largest dancing school in New York City. 

Ailey died from an AIDS-related illness on December 1, 1989, at the age of 58. He asked his doctor to announce that his death was caused by terminal blood dyscrasia in order to shield his mother from the stigma associated with HIV and AIDS.

Ailey’s legacy and the work that he put into uplifting black dancers continues today and is an important part of his dance company and school that still continues to teach and impact new generations of dance students. 

{Information retrieved from Biography.com and Pbs.org}

By: Laila Schwin and Valery Warner

February 17, 2022

Bessie Coleman was the first African American woman to hold a pilot’s license. Equally important, she was the first Native American person to hold one, as well. She excelled greatly as a civilian aviator and spent much of her flight career performing airshows. 

Elizabeth (Bessie) Coleman was born in Atlanta, Texas, on January 26, 1892. She was born to Susan Coleman, who was African American, and George Coleman, who was African American and also Cherokee. She grew up with twelve siblings, with her being the tenth of the thirteen children. Ultimately, only eight of her siblings survived their childhood. 

Shortly after Coleman’s birth, her family moved to Waxahachie, Texas. She grew up on sharecropping farmland with her family while attending a small, segregated school. She farmed cotton with her family throughout her childhood as part of supporting their lives as sharecroppers. In 1901, her father left the family to move to modern-day Oklahoma on Native American land to find better opportunities for himself.

At age 12, Coleman was accepted into and started attending the Missionary Baptist Church School on a scholarship that she had earned. When she turned 18, she began attending the Oklahoma Colored Agricultural and Normal University (now known as Langston University) in Langston, Oklahoma. She only completed one term before she ran out of money and had to quit her academic pursuits. 

In 1915, she moved to Chicago, Illinois, with some of her brothers. While there, she worked as a manicurist and also worked as a manager at a chili parlor to help her save money for her newfound dream of becoming a pilot. She ended up being in contact with Robert S. Abbott, the founder of the newspaper (The Chicago Defender). Abbott, as well as businessman Jesse Binga, helped Coleman fund her flight school dreams and were a driving force in her being able to study abroad to get her pilot’s license. 

Because there were no flight school options for African Americans, Native Americans, and women in The United States (with Coleman being a combination of all three), she saved for and gained sponsorships to be able to attend flight school in France. To prepare for her trip, she took a French language class at the Berlitz Language School in Chicago. She traveled to Paris, France, to officially begin her flight training on November 20, 1920. She spent a considerable amount of time in France for pilot training. 

With commercial flights still being over a decade away, Bessie realized in order to keep her position as a civilian aviation professional that she would have to become what is called a “Stunt Flier”. Becoming a stunt flier would require her to take advanced lessons. After returning to Chicago, she had no luck finding someone willing to teach her. In February of 1922, she sailed back to Europe. She spent two months there completing an advanced course in aviation. She also traveled to Germany, where she visited the Fokker Corporation and received additional training from one of the company’s chief pilots. After all her flight training was completed, she returned to the U.S. to start her career in exhibition flying. 

Over the course of the next five years, Bessie created a name for herself being known as “The World’s Greatest Woman Flier”. Drawing such high popularity to herself, she was invited to important events and often interviewed by journalists. “Queen Bessie” was admired by all. She made her first appearance in an American airshow on September 3, 1922, at an event honoring veterans of the All-Black, 369th Infantry Regiment of World War I. Six weeks later, she participated in another Chicago air show to honor World War I’s 370th Infantry Regiment. 

In Los Angeles, she broke a leg and three ribs when her plane stalled and crashed on February 22, 1923. As a professional aviator, Coleman often would be criticized by the press for her opportunistic nature and the flamboyant style that she brought to her exhibition flying, but nothing could stop her from losing sight of her childhood dreams. 

Committed to promoting aviation and combating racism, Coleman spoke to audiences across the country about the pursuit of aviation and goals for African Americans. She absolutely refused to participate in aviation events that prohibited the attendance of African Americans.

On April 30, 1926, Bessie Colman passed away. She had recently purchased a Curtiss JN-4 aircraft that had been poorly maintained. While her friends and family tried to encourage her not to fly the plane, she refused and did so anyway. Ten minutes into the flight, the plane took a dive and spun 3,000 feet towards the ground. Colman was thrown out of the plane at about 2,000 feet, instantly killing her at the age of 34. 

Her legacy as a public figure and media sensation, as well as her outstanding achievements as a pilot, made Bessie Coleman one of the greatest pilots to have ever lived. 

(Information for this article can be found at National Women’s History.)

By: Laila Schwin and Valery Warner

February 11, 2022

Jesse Owens is considered to be one of the best track and field athletes of all time and is well-known for earning four gold medals at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. He also broke several world records for various track and field events throughout his athletic career. 

Jesse Owens was the youngest of ten children, born to Henry Cleveland Owen and Mary Emma Fitzgerald in Oakville, Alabama, on September 12, 1913. Early on in his life, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio. He was moving North in hopes of more opportunities and freedom. Owens attended Fairmont Junior High School. While there, he began to realize his passion for running. Owens attributed the success of his athletic career to the encouragement of Charles Riley, his junior high school track coach. 

He then went on to attend East Technical High School in Cleveland, Ohio.  While in high school, he met his future wife, Minnie Ruth Solomon. Their first daughter was born in 1932, and they went on to get married in 1935, later having two more daughters. They remained married until Owens’ death in 1980.

After high school, he attended Ohio State University. While attending OSU, Owens continued his athletic career and won eight different NCAA championships, four in 1935 and another four in 1936. He became known as the “Buckeye Bullet” for his athletic achievements and speed. Owens strongly solidified his athletic skill at the Big Ten track meet in 1935. During this meet, he broke three world records and tied with a fourth. His world records were in the long jump, 220-yard sprint, and the 220-yard low hurdles. He matched the record time for the 100-yard dash.  

Despite original protests from American athletes about participating in the Berlin Olympics due to discrimination going on in Germany at the time were raised, Owens was one of the athletes who raised the concerns. Ultimately, most of the protests were quelled, and the athletes went on to participate in the Olympics. 

Upon reaching Berlin, Owens was a well-known name within the Olympics with, allegedly, a large number of German fans waiting to cheer for him. Owens was also quickly approached by the founder of Adidas, Adi Dassler, and offered a sponsorship upon convincing Owens to wear his company’s shoes while competing. 

While competing in the Olympics, Jesse Owens won gold in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.3 seconds, gold for the long jump with a distance of 8.06 meters, and gold for the 200-meter sprint with a time of 20.7 seconds. In the following days, Owens was added to the team for the 4×100-meter sprint relay and went on to win gold for this event as well. 

Owens was honored by the German leader Adolph Hitler for his achievements, although there were later reports that Hitler wanted to use the Olympics results as a justification to exclude black athletes from further competitions as they had an “unfair” strength advantage. 

Jesse Owens was also notably rejected by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who did not invite him to the White House to meet him like the other American Olympic athletes were. He was, however, invited to compete in Sweden along with the rest of the American Olympic team. He rejected this offer in favor of endorsements and had his amateur status revoked, which barred him from further participation in the Olympics. 

Owens went on with his life with very little success and little-to-no access to actual participation in sports because of his removed amateur status. He took to racing against horses for money, amongst other events, and would struggle financially until being recognized by President Dwight Eisenhower, who allowed him to travel the world under a designation as a goodwill ambassador who would teach people about athletics.

At the beginning of December in 1979, Owens was hospitalized, on and off, with an extremely aggressive and drug-resistant type of lung cancer. He died from lung cancer at the age 66 in Tucson, Arizona, on March 31, 1980, with his family by his side. He was buried at Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois.

Despite the untimely end to his Olympic career, Jesse Owens had a large influence and countless records for track and field events and will be remembered for his outstanding athletic ability.