Author Archives: Hannah Leiseth

The Regal Theater: Then and Now

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“Built to serve citizens of all races,” the Regal Theater in downtown Chicago was a sight to behold in 1928. Styled with Moorish architecture – which if you didn’t know is a type of Islamic architecture – it was complete with a canopy overhead, a hydraulic curtain, and an electric organ that could rise and fall at the front of the stage.

“Drawing of the Regal Theater. Chicago Defender, 1927”

Throughout the years, this theater was used for many performances, covering diverse forms of music, dance, and comedy, including an orchestra well known for playing at a Show Boat cafe in downtown Chicago. 

“Cass Simpson’s “Radio Orchestra,” Chicago Defender, 1931”

This venue was also important to the time known as the “Chitlin’ Circuit” which housed performances by many well-known artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Nat “King” Cole, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington between 1920 and 1940. The Regal Theater was a major influence on black culture, as it was one of the first entertainment buildings open to black audiences. 

“The Regal Theater, Library of Congress, 1941”

With the development of technology like radio and television, the Regal Theater filed for bankruptcy and shut down in 1968, but it wasn’t over yet. The Avalon Theater opened within a year of the Regal Theater in 1927 but operated solely as a movie theater until it closed in 1967. After a few years, it was bought and refurnished in honor of the original Regal Theater, and renamed “The New Regal Theater.” You’ll note below how these renovations look similar to the first image in this post.

“The New Regal Theater, Chicago Architecture Center”

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A Stands for Adam

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Published under the name of “Iron Gray,” The Gospel of Slavery was a book ahead of its time. At first glance, the typical person today would grimace at the amount of detail this book goes into. After a bit more research though, the narrative changes.

Thomas, Abel C. (Abel Charles). The gospel of slavery: a primer of freedom. By Iron Gray.

Abel C. Thomas was an antislavery activist from Philidelphia. In 1864, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, he wrote this alphabet book to help the children of the African American populations who had been freed to learn to read. The reason why the pseudonym “Iron Gray” was used is unknown, though I can only assume that it was for protectionary purposes.

Thomas, Abel C. (Abel Charles). The gospel of slavery: a primer of freedom. By Iron Gray.

In order to make these books more accessible to these people, especially children, he used situations that these former slaves knew all too well to help teach the letters of the English alphabet.

Thomas, Abel C. (Abel Charles). The gospel of slavery: a primer of freedom. By Iron Gray.

While the details of some pages can make the average person today feel uncomfortable, this was the reality for so many freed slaves in the 1860s. I would greatly recommend giving this book a read-through and seeing for yourself the complete contents of this book.

Thomas, Abel C. (Abel Charles). The gospel of slavery: a primer of freedom. By Iron Gray.

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“El Movimiento” and its Music

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“El Movimiento,” also known as the “Chicano Movement,” emerged out of political and economic discourse against Mexican Americans in the 1960s. The Chicano Movement was primarily inspired by the civil rights movement, the antiwar movement, and most importantly, the farmworkers movement.

Chicano movement poster with “Chicano Power” and “Viva La Raza” over a Mexican flag, ca. 1970s. [Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture © Platt Poster Company] latinoamerican2.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/2267122

The beginnings of the Chicano Movement and its music can be traced to the formation of the United Farm Workers (UFW) labor union in 1965 in rural central California. The UFW was a movement co-founded by César Chávez and Dolores Huerta to fight for better social and economic conditions for Mexicans in America. Chicano studies scholar, J. Francisco Hidalgo, states in a 1972 interview with the University of Southern California that, “There was a dormant desire to organize around the issues of education, economic exploitation, police brutality, over-proportionate number of Chicanos in Vietnam, suppression of the language, and culture, unemployment, the farm worker issue, Chicano Studies, the increasing number of Chicanos on campuses, political representation, health services, and so forth.”

Dolores Huerta (left) and César Chávez (right). Co-founders of the UFW. www.history.com/news/chicano-movement

The Chicano movement sparked many different genres drawn from Mexican folk and popular music. But most commonly from this movement, huelga songs were used and created to inspire others to rise up against these abusive farm bosses and were typically played on the picket lines and at meetings. These huelga songs were written in forms such as marches, corridos, and rancheras. On top of these forms, some huelga songs were adaptations of other tunes. For example, the civil rights song and text from “We Shall Overcome” was translated to become “Nosotros Venceremos.”

A comparison of the two songs, “We Shall Overcome” and “Nosotros Venceremos” and their lyrics.

Of all these songs that were inspired by this movement, the one song that was most well-known was a folk song called “De Colores,” which actually came from Spain, and the Cursillo movement in the Spanish Catholic Church in the 1940s. This song is still well known today.

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The Gathering of Nations: North America’s Biggest Powwow

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The Gathering of Nations is North America’s biggest powwow in history. They have been celebrating their history and culture all as one for the past 41 years (1). Along with the Powwow, this now three-day celebration also includes events like Miss Indian World, a Horse Parade, and the Indian Trading Market. 

One of the first logos for The Gathering of Nations (Akwasasne Notes, Vol. 21, No. 6, Dec. 1989.) (5)

The Gathering of Nations was started back in 1983 by a man named Derek Mathews, who still manages the event today along with his wife and daughter. After hosting for so long, and at the level this event rose in popularity, many Native Americans were curious and outraged why Derek, an African American, was managing such a big cultural event. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, he states that “They [Lakota holy men he met with in South Dakota] said I was the one to carry it forward. It needed to be somebody outside of the tribal boundaries,” he recalled. “That way it could be entrusted to someone who would carry it for all tribes” (2). In this article, he later states that he did indeed have Native ancestors, relatives of the Cherokee Nation, that he did not know about until he went searching. 

Written in the Akwesasne Notes Vol. 17, No. 6 in 1985, attendance after the first two years of hosting was over 1,000 dancers from more than 200 Native American Reservations and Reserves (3). Derek states in an interview with the Gathering of Nations Powwow team, the following year from the Akwesasne Notes article in 1985 was the year they needed to move to a new venue since their current place was too small (4, 1:09). Still taking place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Gathering of Nations is the largest Powwow in North America today with over 70,000 attendees from over 565 tribes.

An advertisement, and change of dates and venue, for the 1986 Gathering of Nations. (Akwasasne Notes, Vol. 17, No. 6, Dec. 1985.)

Sources:

  1. “Gon History.” Gathering of Nations, 9 Sept. 2023, www.gatheringofnations.com/history/#:~:text=The%20Gathering%20of%20Nations%20is%20produced%20and%20managed%20by%20Derek,%26%20Melonie%20Mathews.
  2. “Impresario Creates Controversy with Powwow Success.” Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 21 Aug. 2021, www.chicagotribune.com/2003/06/25/impresario-creates-controversy-with-powwow-success/.
  3. The Akwasasne Notes, Vol. 17, No. 6, Page 15. Published December, 1985. The Newberry Library, Rooseveltown, NY. https://www.indigenoushistoriesandcultures.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Detail/akwesasne-notes-vol.-17-no.-6/7027181?item=7027189
  4. “Inside GON with Derek Mathews.” Youtube, Gathering of Nations Powwow, 5 Nov. 2012, youtu.be/XDT45cjhZxQ?si=cICvAqLpyI4O0GKc.
  5. The Akwasasne Notes, Vol. 21, No. 6. Published December, 1989. The Newberry Library, Rooseveltown, NY. https://www.indigenoushistoriesandcultures.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Detail/akwesasne-notes-vol.-21-no.-6/7027271?item=7027287