DETROIT ORIGINS Many members of the first-team African American fine-and-portrait artists who earned professional commissions from a wealthy White clientele came from Detroit and were friends and associates of mine at then Wayne (and later) Wayne State University.
My Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity brother, Carl Owens, who, perhaps, along with Artis Lane, who later migrated to Los Angeles, immediately became two of America's most famous artists. In fact, the beautiful Ms. Lane gifted me with her original Rosa Parks Portrait that I still host in my personal collection, along with a “First Man” Carl Owens original.
The African origins of the title of this blog were immediately obvious to me from the moment I entered Jon Lockard’s Barbershop on Woodward Avenue in Detroit, near the academic center of Wayne University in 1982. Lockard, as the natural portrait-artist, would gradually reveal his indigenous talent and future role for teaching and prophecy -- especially about the African origin of our world as an academic professor in Art at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
The setting of this drama coincided with my arrival in Detroit. Michigan in 1951, America’s epicenter of both automobile manufacturing and the production of, perhaps, America’s first Black generation of commissioned professional artists. This distinction made it difficult to overlook the fact that the workforce skills will require higher wages and produce a higher standard of living for its population. Thus, Henry Ford's automobile factories paid higher wages and provided a higher standard of living.
As a result, African Americans in Detroit provided a greater opportunity for African-American migrants, mostly from the Deep South. In fact, when I moved from Detroit to New York in 1970 to assume the Executive Producer role of Black Journal, Detroit had the highest percentage of Black home ownership in the U. S.
I distinctly remember studying Sociology at Wayne State University which provided factual evidence that reminded me of the exceptional focus on English grammar at the famous all-Black Garnet High School in Charleston, West Virginia that I attended. In higher education circles where these learning subjects are examined and evaluated for accreditation purposes, they constitute the academy’s fund of information on this unsettled science. At best, we are currently dealing in a make-it-up-as-you-go-along atmosphere of the fundamentals required for research and leadership in the advanced and more competitive international marketplace.
As recent as 2022, the “gods” of education at the elementary level are still depending on the fundamental requirements of producing a workforce that can afford to feed, clothe and house its own population. Yet, the necessary changes required for this realignment remain fixated on the color of the skin as the classification for human qualification.
Dr. Sigmund Freud, leader of the Austrian Jewish community of medical doctors, centuries earlier, translated this fundamental theory into medical practice, ultimately understood as Freudian Psycho-Analytic Theory and Human Behavior. His daughter, Dr. Ana Freud, amended this excellent work to include “Defense Mechanisms,” which identifies two major categories, higher and lower, that explain the brain’s propensity to function on a “higher level,” which indicates a healthy pattern, or a “lower level” which suggested a path toward a mental breakdown.
THE AFRICAN ORIGINS OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND CHRISTIANITY
“HOLY OR HISTORY: HOW DO YOU READ THE CHRISTAIN BIBLE?” (TBJ show #2418) Gary Greenberg, president of the Biblical Archaeology Society of New York, has written two powerful books that examine the foundations of Judaism and Christianity. Mr. Greenberg discusses the influence of Egyptian history on the Christian Bible. Greenberg is also the author of The Bible Myth: The African Origins of The Jewish People, in which he writes of these African origins. And what does this esteemed scholar think?
The African Genesis of Jewish Ancestry and Culture Christians are usually very proud of their Hebrew and Jewish origins, but not of the African heritage that underpins their ancestry. This book makes clear the subject about which Greenberg writes. He focuses on the patriarchal history. Greenberg writes, “I plan to show how the patriarchal history is pure myth, derived from Egypt stories about the god Osiris and his family, and that Ancient Israel had no genealogical history prior to the Exodus.”
He explains, “According to the Christian Bible, when Moses led his followers out of Egypt, they would have naturally brought with them many of the tales and legends about Black Egyptian gods who were thought to be the ancestors of the Egyptian people. Atenists, however, didn’t believe in those other Egyptian deities. Therefore, they transformed these well-known stories about ancestral gods with magical powers into tales about human forefathers who interacted with the one and only supernatural being in their Hebraic belief system.
“After several centuries of living in their new homeland, Canaan, the Israelites took on more and more of the cultural trappings of their Canaanite neighbors. The Egyptian characters accumulated more and more Canaanite cultural features as Canaanite-trained scribes reworked the stories. Over time, the locales changed from Egypt to Canaan,” – and the focus of world civilization from Black human sentients to alleged White people.
GIVE yourself an inclusive Black history month every day!
SUBSCRIBE TO THE TBJ VIDEO & FILM COLLECTION: www.TonyBrownsJournal.com/subscribe for $9.99 annually
FEATURED THIS WEEK ON TonyBrownsJournal.com: “HOLY OR HISTORY: HOW DO YOU READ THE CHRISTAIN BIBLE?” (TBJ show #2418) Gary Greenberg, president of the Biblical Archaeology Society of New York, has written two powerful books that examine the foundations of Judaism and Christianity. Mr. Greenberg discusses the influence of Egyptian history on the Christian Bible. Greenberg is also the author of The Bible Myth: The African Origins of The Jewish People, in which he writes of these African origins. And what does this esteemed scholar think?
Tony Brown’s Journal, “the most complete and thoughtful record of African-American opinion,” is in the process of offering one of the most cutting-edge educational tools for streaming to educators, homeschoolers, students and parents.
The entire digitally re-mastered TonyBrownsJournal.com collection of nearly 1,000 historical, health and public affairs video and film content that was produced by award-winning journalist Tony Brown on national television for over 40 years (1968-2008) is now being offered in this rare cutting-edge educationally purposeful opportunity for as little as $9.99 per year.
BLACK REALITY RATINGS These latest numbers as of JULY 22, 2022 document a significant growth in the size of the audience of Tony Brown’s Journal on Facebook and it amplifies META/Facebook’s own previous citation of Tony Brown’s Journal as “one of the well-known public pages with a large following that has been verified as having an authentic identity.”
J. A. Rogers: "Africa's Gift To America:" During the week of July 15 – July 22, Dr. Henrik Clarke discussed the great works of J. A. Rogers with the TonyBrownsJournal.com viewers. This Tony Brown's Journal blog reached 114,390 NEW VIEWS and ADDED 1,371 NEW SHARES (with an average of 1,500 new viewers per additional website = 1,500 x 1,371 = 2,056,500 new website viewers of Tony Brown's Journal).
Khalid al-Mansour: Has Black Leadership Betrayed Its Own Community? During the week of July 8 – July 14, Dr. Khalid Al-Mansour asked the TonyBrownsJournal.com viewers who was responsible for the Black community? This Tony Brown's Journal blog reached 114,903 NEW VIEWS and added 1,203 NEW SHARES (with an average of 1,500 new viewers per additional website = 1,500 x 1,203 = 1,804,500 new website viewers of Tony Brown's Journal).
Frederick Douglass: Orator, Statesman, Abolitionist: The July 4TH Blog Special on TonyBrownsJournal.com Featuring Frederick Douglass: Orator, Statesman and Abolitionist achieved new viewership highs with a TBJ record of 131,862 NEW VIEWS and a record of 2,122 NEW SHARES (with an average of 1,500 new viewers per additional website = 1,500 x 2,122 = 3,183,000 new website viewers of Tony Brown's Journal).
Black College Day & The Tuskegee Airmen: TonyBrownsJournal.com revealed that in the 14 days following the “Black Royalty: The Black Princess Series,” the TBJ posts on “BLACK COLLEGE DAY” AND “THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN” advanced the total to another record of 221,595 NEW VIEWS AND 1,021 NEW SHARES (with an average of 1,500 new viewers per additional website = 1,500 x 1,021 = 1,518,000 new website viewers of Tony Brown's Journal).
The Black Princess Series ... TonyBrownsJournal.com in the first 22 days of the Tony Brown’s Journal blog and post on “Black Royalty: The Black Princess Series,” featuring Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll and Freda Payne received 289,353 new views. During the same 22-day period, the posts on The Black Princess Series attracted 961 new shares (with an average of 1,500 new viewers per additional website = 1,500 x 961 = 1,441,500 new website viewers oF Tony Brown's Journal).
HISTORICALLY, TONY BROWN IS also …
- Coordinator of the “Walk To Freedom with Martin Luther King, Jr.” in Detroit (1963), according to the July 29, 1963 edition of Business Week magazine, “the largest civil rights march in history.”
- WINNER of the prestigious Silver Circle Award from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
- Dean Emeritus and Professor, Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications, Hampton University
- First and Founding Dean and Professor, School of Communications, Howard University
- Founder, BLACK COLLEGE DAY, 1980
- 2015-2016 National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame Inductee
- Black Emmy Nominee – 1989 Special Recognition Award Winner
- Distinguished Visiting Professor, Honorary Degree – American University, Paris, France
- Distinguished Visiting Professor, Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA
- Talker’s, Radio Trade Magazine: Selected as “One Of The 100 Most Important Radio Talk Show Hosts In America”
- “Tony Brown Chicago,” WLS-AM Radio (Chicago)
- “Tony Brown,” WLIB-AM Radio (New York) “Tony Brown at Daybreak,” WRC-TV (Washington, DC)
- “Tony Brown’s Journal”/“Black Journal” (TV series: 1968-2008): “The Most Complete and Thoughtful Record of African-American Opinion.”
- U. S. Army 272 field artillery (s-1 Intelligence) battalion and cadre (1953-1955). Neu-Ülm, GERMANY. Honorable discharge.
BLACK HISTORY
- Great Events In African-American History
- Tony Brown Donates $100,000 to Hampton University Scholarship Fund and sows the seeds of success for future journalists www.TonyBrownsJournal.com/blog/Tony-Brown-Donates-100k
- Tony Brown with Hampton University Journalism Students Make History At The New York Times Harvard, Columbia, Syracuse Place Second In Competition www.TonyBrownsJournal.com/blog/Tony-Brown-With-HU-Makes-history
HAS THE BLACK LEADERSHIP BETRAYED ITS OWN COMMUNITY?
WE STOOD WITH MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
“I was there 50 years ago, in 1963, one of the last two Directors left standing, where 500,000 marchers once stood.” --Tony Brown
“LARGEST CIVIL RIGHTS MARCH IN HISTORY”
The following week, in its July 29, 1963 edition, Business Week magazine called the Detroit event the “largest civil rights march in history.” Subsequently, an official police source, in an affidavit, confirmed an attendance of “no fewer than 250,000 and as many as 500,000 people.” Black people came mostly from throughout the nearby Midwest region.
More official confirmation has been forthcoming since then. Nearly 40 years later, in 2003, The Wall Street Journal would report on page one that the famed King Dream Speech may have had its roots -- not at the March on Washington (which drew 250,000), on August 28, 1963, but elsewhere, perhaps 66 days before in Detroit, Michigan where the attendance may have reached, according to an official police affidavit, 500,000 people.
Although I had no official role in the Washington March, I did witness it as a Detroit correspondent for the national Pittsburgh Courier newspaper chain of African-American local publications throughout the United States, an affiliate of the Black Press, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial within a few feet of Dr. King and I was included in Life magazine’s limited photo coverage of this historic event.
All of this in only 66 days! My head was spinning with excitement and wonderment. It seemed that my Detroit decision to choose activism as a way of life had become my destiny.
2013 – 50th Anniversary “Walk to Freedom March” – Detroit, MI
Tony Brown (center) Grand Marshal of the 2nd and final Detroit March on June 22, 2013 that drew 200,000, with his grandson Remy Harris (left) and Jesse Jackson (right).
TONY BROWN OFFERS EDUCATORS, STUDENTS, HOMESCHOOLERS AND PARENTS access to a new visual streaming learning tool for Black history and culture
Tony Brown’s Journal, “the most complete and thoughtful record of African-American opinion,” is in the process of offering one of the most cutting-edge educational tools for streaming to educators, homeschoolers, students and parents. The entire digitally re-mastered TonyBrownsJournal.com collection of nearly 1,000 historical, health and public affairs video and film content that was produced by award-winning journalist Tony Brown on national television for over 40 years (1968-2008) is now being offered in this rare cutting-edge educationally purposeful opportunity for as little as $9.99 per year.
Free streamed copy of “THE WHITE GIRL" movie with each annual subscription is a streamed copy of “The White Girl,” a full-length anti-drug feature movie directed by Tony Brown that was released via commercial syndication in movie theaters in 1995 with a PG-13 rating. The opening inaugural debut of “The White Girl” at the Liberty Theatre in Hamilton, Bermuda (Bahamas) broke the house box-office gross record, according to Hollywood Reporter, a trade magazine.
BLACK COLLEGE DAY BILL- White House cabinet members and advocates of equal education look on as President Reagan signs Executive Order 12320, just one year after the first historic Black College Day rally in Washington, DC, that increased the amount of federal funds to these institutions by $9.6 million. From left to right are: Education Secretary Terrell Bell, Tony Brown, Founder and Chief Coordinator of Black College Day, Thelma Duggan, Coordinator of Minority Affairs at the Department of Transportation; and Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole.
LEADERS OF THE BLACK COLLEGE DAY MARCH IN 1980; THE ULTIMATE UNITY RALLY. Supporters of Black colleges from around the country demonstrated to save Black colleges from new federal and state desegregation plans that threatened their historic role. This 1983 Black College Day massive march and rally in Savannah, Georgia, protested the merger plans of two Black colleges in Georgia.