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18 The 21st Century-Making the Connection! MARCH 1999 MBC Wolverine OBSERVER
HIGH
MUSEUM
(Downtown)
CONTINUED
BLACKHISTORY
“I Made
This Jar...”
The Life and Works
of the Enslaved
African-American
Potter, Dave
May 16-July 31, 1999
Dave is one of a small number of
identified African-American craftsmen
who worked in the Edgefield District
of South Carolina during the antebel
lum period. “I made this jar... "fea
tures 25-30 pots turned by Dave and
includes a few vessels by other potters
from the Edgefield District in order to
document further Dave’s historical
and aesthetic place among his peers.
Highlights of the show come from the
collection of the McKissick Museum,
as well as additional public and pri
vate collections.
The exhibition interprets Dave’s
works within the context of the relig
ious, political and cultural climate of
the period, C 18lp.-187.Q addresses
issues of identity, literacy and creativ
ity. Dave was both a potter $nd a
poet, inscribing verse onto his .enor
mous vessels.
This show explores the implications
of his poetry in addition to his pottery,
asking and answering questions in an
attempt to give the artist pro-per rec
ognition for his important contribution
to American ceramic history. “7 made
this jar...” The life and works of the
enslaved African-American potter,
Dave was organized by the McKissick
Museum of the University of South
Carolina.
Benton’s
Comer
Washington,
DC-based label,
Dark City
Records, inks
major distribu
tion deal with
Tommy Boy
Music
ATLANTA, GA - Dark City Records,
a Washington, DC-based record label,
has secured a major distribution deal
through Tommy Boy Music. The la
bel’s premiere act, rap trio Section 8
Mob, will be the first group to release
an album on Dark C^ty'Records.
& L-to-R: Po, Montana
NOTICE: Due to an obscene jester which was not acceptable and very dis
respectful to his African American brothers and sisters - Midnight (a group member) - was
deleted from the photograph. Dark City/Tommy Boy wake up it's 1999 - no more.
Racial divide in TV Viewership
Steve Harvey Show - Touched by
an Angel - Monday Night Football - The Jamie
Foxx Show - ER - 60 Minutes
ABSURDITY
By Michael Ralph
Question: Would a political system built
on our exploitation really want us to con
trol our destination?
Would a people who prosper from
making us poor ever really turn their lives
around and what for?
Why would someone who gets up by
holding you down ever try to turn the
world around?
Should a people who separate church
and state ever control our fate?
Even though I pose the question, should
there even be a debate?
If we party together, why can’t we build
organizations?
Are we scared to build ties with Black
people in other nations?
By Tiff ini Barrens
T he racial divide between TV
viewers appears to be slowly
narrowing, but there is still a
sizable chasm between blacks and
non-blacks regarding program tastes
and viewing patterns, a new survey
shows.
Overall African Americans watch
more TV than non-blacks, but there,
too, the margin of difference is
smaller than a year ago. The study
by TN Media, a media buying firm,
said in the fourth quarter of 1998,
black households watched 40 percent
more TV than non black homes every
week, 70.4 hours compared with 50.2
hours. Whites make up 96 percent of
non-black TV households. The year
before, blacks watched 43 percent
more TV a week than non blacks. In
1994, that figure was 51 percent.
The difference in viewing habits is
most apparent in show rankings for
each group. The common ground has
expanded in the last two years.
From October to December, six shows
“ER”, “60 Minutes,” “Monday Night
Football,” “Touched by an Angel,”
“NYPD Blue” and the “CBS Sunday
Movie” ranked among the Top 20
shows for blacks and whites. In fall
1997, only four shows overlapped.
In 1996, only one show, ABC’s
“Monday Night Football,” fell into
both Top 20’s.
Still, the popularity of shows in
black and white homes is wildly dif
ferent. In black homes, WB’s “Steve
Harvey Show” was the top-ranked
series, but was No. 127 with white
viewers. No. 2, “The Jamie Foxx
Show” on WB, was No. 120 in white
homes, “ER” was NO. l, but No. 15 in
black homes, and “Friends” was No.
2, but No. 88 with black viewers.
Some of these differences are
strongly linked to programming
strategies at the various networks.
For example, when UPN and the WB
began, they targeted urban audi
ences by offering several series with
mostly black casts, creating ready
made TV enclaves. “That’s certainly
is the case,” said TN Media’s Stacey
Lynn. “Both the WB and UPN have
been programming full steam ahead
for that audience...there are many
more options than there used to be.
Audiences go where they feel they
can connect.”
Indeed, seven of the Top 10 and 12
of the Top 20 shows among black
viewers last fall had black casts or
black leading characters. However,
that was fewer than the previous fall,
when 17 of 20 favorite black shows
had black casts or leads.