little black book

S P R I N G 2 0 1 2 | VO LU M E 1 2 | I S S U E 2

SP R I NG 2 0 1 2 | VOLUM E 1 2 | I S SU E 2

CO-EDITORS: SYNAE ALLEN, ‘15

ANTUAN JOHNSON, ‘13 AMAKA OKUNJI, ‘13

SENIOR LAYOUT EDITORS: MARVIN HARRIS, ‘12

RUANI RIBE, ‘12

LAYOUT EDITORS:DOMINYCK ANGLIN, ‘14

KIRBY DIXON, ‘13AURIEL GALLIMORE, ‘13

BUSINESS MANAGER:JOIVONNAH CHILDS, ‘13

UMOJA REPRESENTATIVE:CYDNEY GILLON, ‘14

COVER:BRANDON COPELAND, ‘13

CLARISSA PALMER, ‘14RUANI RIBE, ‘12

JUSTYN WILLIAMS, ‘13I had not realized how jaded I had become to the pervasive inequities festering in our own backyard until I was introduced to parallel injustices at their extremes in

South Africa.

“

I grew up around the corner from Penn on 46th and spruce. As a little child, Penn was like

my little playground...“ ”Student Artwork p. 19

Civil Rights & Advertising p. 11

Artist Spotlight p. 30

C O N T E N T S

Back to Africa 6By Alex Amaniel, ‘13, Haywood Perry, ‘13, Cecelela Tomi, ‘13Forms of Opression 8By Antuan Johnson, 13Advertising, Consumption, & the Civil Rights Movement 11By Ruani Ribe, 12

Articles

PoetryInnocence 16By Kevin Ijoma, ‘15The Musical Me By Azani Pinkney, ‘14Complete Sight 17By Ayinde Alleyne, ‘15Forget Me Not By Clarissa Palmer, ‘14White Privileged 18By Ladynae, ‘15

Featured ArtworkUntitled 19By Gabrielle Patterson, ‘15Untitled 20By Jayde Stewart, ‘12The House of Usher 21By Gregory Almonord, ‘14A Portrait of My Twin Brother 22By Gregory Almonord, ‘14

InterviewsFaculty Spotlight: Barbara Savage 23By Amaka Okunji, ‘13Mr. Quaker: Christopher Griffin 26By Antuan Johnson, ‘13Miss Independent: Mimi Owusu 28By Jayde Stewart, 12Artist Spotlight: Janay Sylvester 30By Marvin Harris, ‘12

Student Athletes 4

”

”Student Artwork p. 19

Civil Rights & Advertising p. 11

p. 6

p. 26

4 The Little Black Book | Spring 2012

AthletesStudent

Ruani Ribe, ‘12It’s definitely not the typical experience because we’re expected to maintain really high academic standards as well as being on top of our game. Especially being a cheerleader, we don’t get as much recognition as other sports and we put in just as much time, practicing, games or workouts, but it’s definitely worth it.

Brandon Copeland, ‘13As an athlete you get less recognition, it’s not like being at a bigger school, you put in a lot of time, the same amount of effort, but you don’t get as much recognition. But you also get the great education; so as an athlete, I couldn’t really ask for anything better except for more people at the games.

What’s it like being a student athlete at Penn?

The Little Black Book | Spring 2012 5

Athletes

Clarissa Palmer, ‘14It’s a lot of fun and because we have such rigorous academics here, being an athlete definitely puts structure in your life.

Justyn Williams, ‘13It’s very exciting. You get the best of both worlds: playing for a successful football team while at the same time getting the opportunity to be a student at one of the top universities in the country.


Three remarkable students took advantage of Penn’s study abroad opportunities and went back to the Motherland to get a taste of another - and little bit of their own - culture. They learned valuable life long lessons. Who knows, their experiences may inspire you to travel to Africa next year!

Cecelela Tomi, ‘13Think back to the last time you felt really uncomfortable. Did you remove yourself from the situation or did you stay and realize that you were growing? For the past six months, I spent my time in Tanzania, where I studied Swahili in Zanzibar through the Boren Scholarship’s African Languages Initiative. Although both my parents emigrated from Tanzania, my first time there was this past June. During my time, I was constantly learning and appreciating the culture whether it was negotiating the prices of everything from food to bus fare, or walking all the way to the Western Union only to be told for the third time that week that the system was down, or even meeting my grandmother for the first time and thinking, what did I do to deserve all this love?

Through everything, I was reminded of how big the world is, and that our time here at Penn is leading to something even bigger. But I also see how the streets of Dar Es Salaam closely resemble 40th and Market, and that as blacks, as humans, we share more problems than we care to admit. I eventually learned to find comfort in my discomfort. Now I am learning how to translate that discomfort into the fuel to make a change.

Back to


Haywood Perry, ‘12There is a danger in complacency. They call it the “broken window effect”—a syndrome where folks become so jaded towards the status quo that the line between acceptable and reprehensible are gradually blurred as chaotic apathy becomes standard. I took a risk last semester. In South Africa, I regained consciousness.

What had started as a three week summer position at the University of Cape Town managing LEAD Global, a business, engineering, and health sciences study abroad program for high school students, ultimately expanded into a trans-formative five month sabbatical.

James Baldwin once described the purpose of education as being “to create in a person the ability to look at the world for himself, to make his own decisions…”

My “courses” were framed around: working full time at a community development firm in Johannesburg, strengthening my faith, and creating a network from scratch comprised of community elders, established business leaders, scholars, young professionals, fellow college students, and local youth. Their guidance inspired me to explore broadly, question liberally, and to learn for learning’s sake.

I had not realized how jaded I had become to the pervasive inequities festering in our own backyard until I was introduced to parallel injustices at their extremes in South Africa. Having now seen “the world,” I am making the conscious decision to mend the often fragmented windows of indifference at Penn and beyond.

Alex Amaniel, ‘13It was 3 P.M. local time as I stepped off the airplane. After negotiating on a fairly good price for a taxi, I was off to what was to be my home for the semester: The American University in Cairo (AUC). The campus was a resort lined with palm trees and fountains, sheltered from the noise of the city. But that did not stop me from experiencing what Cairo had to offer. The more time I spent traversing the city, and the more time I spent with Egyptians, the more connections I made between their experiences and those of many Americans and others all around the world. There were Egyptians who I connected with on a cultural level, students at AUC who knew more about American music than I did. Then there were the ones I connected with at a deeper level, the average Egyptians in Cairo who struggle for economic and educational opportunity from which so many today are shut out. Midan at-Tahrir, or Liberation Square, was and continues to stand as the public center of this struggle, with people staring down acts of police brutality and repression in hopes of bringing about true democracy and opportunity in the country.


In “Gender and Race: (What) Are They and (What) Do We Want Them to Be?” Sally Haslanger argues that gender and race are not physical properties but social classes that depend on perceived bodily markers. Thus gender is the social meaning of sex insofar as it represents the social, economic, and legal meaning of perceived female bodies. Similarly, race is the social meaning of the perceived geographically marked body. Expanding upon theses definitions, she argues that we can experience these types of oppression at the microlevel and at the macrolevel. Although these two forms of oppression operate at different levels, equally considering their harmful effects provides significant insight on how oppression works and what a liberation movement might require to end it. In section I of the paper, I explain the distinction between microlevel and macrolevel oppression in relation to race and gender. In section II of the paper, I offer an analysis that explicates the reasons to consider macrolevel and microlevel oppression as equally important in understanding how to combat structures of inequality. In section III, I anticipate

objections to my argument.

Section I Haslanger’s account of race and gender as social classes is able to distinguish between macrolevel and microlevel oppression. Macrolevel oppression is characterized by the institutions, political, economic or social, which serve to restrict and subjugate a group of people on a large and systematic basis (Haslanger 40). Thus on a macrolevel, for example, black people are oppressed as a class, which is dependent upon physical markers such as skin color and bodily features. In this schema, black people as a class are systematically disadvantaged in comparison to white people as a class. For example, blacks are systematically oppressed through institutions such as the prison system, which is not concerned with the rehabilitation of its prisoners, who are overwhelmingly black, or the prevention of young black children from being sent there. One might appeal to a situation in which it might seem that a black individual is more advantaged than a white individual as evidence that white people are also

OppressionThe Forms of

By Antuan Johnson, ‘13


oppressed, such as a black individual who is of higher economic standing. Perhaps he or she is oppressed as a lower economic class, but in a system that is designed for whites, it cannot be said that a white person is oppressed (as white) because being white is something an individual has going for them. Similarly, women are oppressed as women on a macrolevel because of the institutions in society which place them in a subordinate position to men because of the physical marker of female sex. This plays out in an economic system, for example, in which the workplace is designed for men, for women’s work is not valued, and this forces women to choose between career and family, a choice that

men do not have to make. In this view, oppression is not about the individual because groups of people are not oppressed as individuals. Thus it can be argued that women as a class are oppressed but that does not have to necessarily mean that every woman is oppressed or that every woman is oppressed in the same way. This form of oppression is not concerned with generalizations about women or atypical cases of women who are not oppressed. If macrolevel oppression characterizes the institutions and structures which subordinate groups, then microlevel oppression characterizes the experience of subordination on a much smaller and personal scale. Microlevel oppression is often experienced on an individual and subconscious level (Haslanger 41). For example, a white woman might clutch her purse when walking passed a black person without even consciously recognizing it. Thus, it would seem that even the tiniest social interactions between individuals are suspect to the effects of oppression. Women often experience microlevel oppression through their interactions with men – a man’s condescending approach or invasion of a woman’s personal space without consciously trying to be sexist or invasive serves as a common example.These forms of oppression could also account

for individuals who might be privileged on the macrolevel of oppression but are negatively affected by the microlevel of oppression. For instance, a feminine-looking or -acting man is advantaged on the macrolevel as a man because of the institutions which seek to perpetuate male dominance and disadvantaged by the microlevel because he is perceived as feminine in social situations. However, it is important to note that I am not suggesting that feminine-perceived men are oppressed, but rather that men can be negatively affected by gender oppression. Thus a feminine-perceived man experiences discrimination because of his appearance and mannerisms, but he is not oppressed as a man. To be precise, he is negatively affected because of the fact that women are oppressed or because his feminine mannerisms are a signifier of womanliness.[1]

Section II Although these two forms of oppression function at different levels, if our goal is to challenge oppression rather than simply understand it, then we should equally consider the harmful effects of both forms of oppression. Examining them equally allows us to challenge oppression in a way that the prioritization of macro or micro oppression does not. I identify three commonalities between macrolevel oppression and microlevel oppression that are useful in both understanding and challenging oppression: hierarchy, epistemic closure, and dependence on physical markers. In both models of oppression it is evident that there is always a form of hierarchy present in the oppressor/oppressed relationship; thus to be oppressed is to always be subordinated to the oppressor.[2] In this relationship the oppressor implicitly denies the humanity of the other. For example, as Beauvoir articulates in The Second Sex, man is subject and woman is other, and thus woman is not treated as a self-determining agent. At the microlevel, this hierarchical relationship is also recognized through seemingly contradictory employee relations. For example an employee who harasses his female boss undermines her agency even though she is technically his superior. This

...a white woman might clutch her purse when walking passed a black person...


“

”


castigation of inequality further results in a denial of the oppressed group’s humanity through epistemic closure. Epistemic closure is the narrowing of possibilities for knowledge. At the macrolevel, groups of people are castigated into social classes because of perceived physical markers. Epistemic closure at the macrolevel classifies women as women without needing to know anything about the individual – thus if you’re a woman, that’s all I need to know about where you are in the social class and what your horizons are for the future. For example, on visits to the hospital, men and women alike sometimes assume that their female doctors are nurses. There’s a presumption of possibilities that precludes the possibility of a woman being a doctor. Similarly, at the microlevel, epistemic closure operates to deny the humanity of oppressed individuals. Thus a white person who believes that all black people steal has closed off the possibility to expect anything less from black individuals. For example, a convenience store clerk who believes all black people steal and as a result follows black individuals around the store does not expect anything less. For race and gender, macrolevel oppression and microlevel oppression are dependent upon perceived bodily markers. At the macrolevel, perceived physical markers of sex serve as justification for the disadvantages women face. Similarly, at the microlevel such markers serve as explanation for personal social inequalities experienced by women. By examining the commonalities between macrolevel oppression and microlevel oppression, we can understand why it might be necessary to combat both oppressions simultaneously. If we know that oppression occurs at two levels in very different ways then we know that any strategy to fight oppression must take into account the different ways in which oppression works. If macrolevel oppression and microlevel oppression both function to subordinate particular groups, then it would not seem to be a good strategy to only target one or the other. Thus it would not be enough to focus on combating the institutions of inequality at the macrolevel. It would seem that a successful liberation strategy should

focus on changing both the institutions that maintain systems of oppression and the individuals who subconsciously (or consciously) perpetuate it.

Section III One might argue that macrolevel oppression should be given a primary focus because it is what subjugates an entire group of people and results in the microlevel oppression of individuals. Conversely, one might argue that microlevel oppression can sometimes be worse because it can be manifested on a much more personal level. For the sake of argument, I do not object to the possibility that one level of oppression might be worse than the other; however I argue that focusing on either oppression as a single focal point does not allow for a liberation project that can articulate the modes in which oppression operates. If one focuses entirely on macrolevel oppression as the worse oppression, then one risks losing sight of the way that oppression hurts people on small and individual levels. Conversely, if one focuses entirely on microlevel oppression, then one risks losing sight of the institutions of power which maintain and perpetuate systems of inequality. I argue that only a strategy based on the equal emphasis of both macrolevel oppression and microlevel oppression can serve as an effective strategy for the end of oppression. If it is not solely institutions or individuals that perpetuate oppression, it is not right to focus only on one or the other. An effective strategy to end oppression must attempt to change not only hegemonic institutions but the individual self.

[1] This may be a point of departure from Haslanger’s view which seems to suggest that it is possible for a man to be a “woman” in her definition of gender.[2] This would account for the reason I suggested at the end of section I that men cannot be said to be oppressed as men.


&

Long before African-Americans were considered the powerful consumers they are today, companies completely overlooked the economic power of this group, and racist attitudes usually prevented any open advertising appeals to them.However, this did not mean that African-Americans were excluded from appeals to consumers entirely. In fact, Blacks have been present in advertising in some of its earliest forms. In the 17th and 18th centuries, African-Americans were considered property under the laws of slavery and appeared in ads meant to buy and sell them, and to find those who ran away. Marylin Kern-Foxworth goes as far as to say that “slavery…would not have been such an effective institution without the vehicle of advertising” (Kern-Foxworth 3). Even as slavery became illegal and outdated, racist stereotypes and nostalgia associated with the legacy of the institution continued, and was starkly evident in the advertisements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Advertising, which utilized images of Blacks at this time did so in an extremely derogatory and stereotypical manner. Bulging eyes, large red lips, and wide mouths were used to characterize Black people, and use of racial epithets was commonly tied to product names such as tobacco and stove polish (Kern-Foxworth 30). African cannibalism,

“pickanninny” children, sambos, jezebels, and coons were other typical images found in advertising at this time. Later, these images turned into that of Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, and Rastus, among others, which were used to sell “labor-saving” food products such as ready-made pancake mix or easy to make rice and were degrading because they portrayed Blacks in positions of servitude which “appeal[ed] to the specific needs of the white housewives in a servantless household” as servants were becoming less-common in middle class homes (Manring 351). With advertising up until this time, the problem was that while Blacks were not excluded from advertising, their (often stereotypical and racist) images were being used to appeal exclusively to white consumers.

This finally started to change in the 1940s, as African Americans began to migrate in large numbers

Advertising, Consumption,the Civil Rights Movement

By Ruani Ribe, ‘12


to the north. By the 1950s, the perception of Blacks as “rural, low-wage workers with limited disposable income” changed (Weems 2) as big businesses recognized an “untapped” “Negro market.” During the 1950s, in a more color-blind, assimilationist approach, appeals to Blacks featured images of Blacks that conformed to hegemonic ideals, probably based on the assumption that a product could attract Black consumers if advertisements implicitly promised achievement of white middle-class standards. However, during the 1960s, companies shifted the way they made advertising appeals to Black consumers, aware of their want of equality, and respect which arose out of the Civil Rights movement. On one hand, this shift in appeals and representations of Blacks from the late 1950s to the late 1960s was representative of a general willingness to accept Black-defined standards and culture as a part of the American fabric, and progress on some level of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. Through an analysis of imagery and rhetoric in advertisements appealing to Black audiences from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, I argue that it is because the parallel evolution of marketing practices and the American social climate from the late 1950s to the early 1970s paralleled each other in their changes from emphasis on a singular, unified mainstream identity to emphasis on difference. Further, I argue that the causes of this shift were not so much separate events that coincided as they were a reflection of the inextricable ties between consumption and the structure of American society.

The advertisements of the late 1950s reveal that the troubling ideologies of “whitewashing” and “color-blindness” were utilized by companies as marketing tools in the idealistic and homogenous climate of that time. As companies tried to eke out what profits were left from existing demand in an increasingly saturated market, “they continued to assume the existence of a unified, often referred to as ‘middle-class,’ market where the mass of consumers shared a consistent set of…tastes and desires” (Cohen 294). This was evident in many Black beauty ads for hair straighteners and skin bleaching creams, which defined Black beauty in terms of hegemonic beauty ideals. In this sense, aside from skin color, it was assumed that African-Americans essentially wanted

and needed the same things as whites. “In white companies’ ads especially, but in Black companies’ ads as well, the beauty ideal promoted continued to be one of smooth, shiny hair and light brown skin…Black beauty culture in the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s assumed that all Black women wanted shiny, wavy hair and would not hesitate to straighten and style their hair to achieve this look” (Walker 100).

Living ideals at this time were defined by improved family status, which meant a pleasant roof over one’s head and the consumption of a variety of

material goods to satisfy a higher standawrd of living, which was also meant to increase production of goods, and therefore add jobs which together, would stimulate the economy (Cohen 113). To encourage all people to consume, it was commonly touted that everyone should aspire to this high standard, or “middle-class” style of living. “African-Americans who focused in the postwar era on affirming political rights through assuring equal access to sites of consumption certainly gained the momentum, which not inconsequently had the side effect of channeling


Black consumer ambitions toward white commercial enterprises” (Cohen 189) and, as an extension made them the target of a “mass market whose success depended on attracting consumers previously excluded from it” (Cohen 188), or, in other words, those Blacks who were eager to finally have the opportunity to consume his or her way to a middle class lifestyle. To obtain equal access, then, was to be able to participate in consumption practices at the same level as whites, and therefore, in the ads of the late fifties, the images presented to Black people of Black people are similar to whites in everything but skin color, and the messages they convey present the same ideal of a white-defined middle-class standards and lifestyles.

Beginning in the 1960s, two shifts occurred, one in the way companies marketed to consumers and the other in the social climate of the United States and in the consciousness of African Americans. The “Black Power” movement arose out of the broader Civil Rights movement as African Americans mobilized to demand equal rights and treatment. Unlike the more integrationist approach that the early part of the Civil Rights movement advocated, the Black Power movement was slightly more radical and “encouraged the emergence of new initiatives and organizations that were skeptical about the goals of integration, disenchanted with nonviolent tactics, and less open to building coalitions with whites” (Walker 172), however, it also rejected white capitalism and consumer culture. While not all African Americans took this stance, many embraced this new Black Power consciousness. Because of this, “the key for those who hoped to appeal to the changing urban Black market was to find a way to invoke popular new assertions of Black pride in advertising without putting emphasis on the Black economic nationalist of Marxist dimension of the Black Power movement” (Walker 172). Many companies certainly did find ways to appeal to the Black Power mentality while avoiding the much more politicized aspects, and were successful in attracting Black consumers. Perhaps more conveniently, in doing this, companies did not have to concern themselves with aiming these messages at a mass, integrated market, because around the same time, in 1956, Wendell Smith proposed the idea of market

segmentation, a practice which would move the focus away from targeting a broad, mass market, to looking at “‘smaller, or fringe market segments’” (Cohen 295). Crucial to the emergence of this idea were theories of social differentiation, originating ideas such as “social class,” and “subcultures” (Cohen 299). Further, this is exemplary of the start of the evermore intricate and enduring relationship between consumption and social structuring of society.

Points by both Weems and Cohen make this relationship even more clear. Even in past decades, “the consumer marketplace had long been a crucial site of African-American political assertiveness, in the effort during the 1930s to secure employment opportunities within Black communities and, by the 1940s and 1950s, as a route to demanding access to public accommodations, viewed as a symbolic threshold to equality in the larger society” (Cohen 323).

Later, with the passage of the Civil Rights


Act of 1964, interestingly, “businessmen played an important role in smoothing the passage and the acceptance by whites of [it]. Title II, Section 201 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 focused on issues related to Black consumerism: All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin” (Weems 69). Stuart Ewen suggests that freedom of consumption and access to material goods are a significant part of the basis upon which citizenship is defined (Ewen 91). Thus, change in the American social climate was eased along by new ways to promote consumption among African Americans, and the Black Power movement provided specific imagery and rhetoric for allowing market segmentation to work in attracting Black consumers.

There is a stark and immediate contrast in rhetoric from the ads of the late 1950s and early 1960s. First, there is a race consciousness that was not evident, or was masked, by attempts to render it invisible, in ads of the previous years. In later ads, on the other hand, there are references to Blackness through actual use of the word “Black.” This was relatively new. In fact, before the term “Black” was popularized, “negro” was the more accepted term, as it was more specific to an African-American group identity and connoted racial progress (Smith 498). However, as the Civil Rights movement continued, many argued that the term “negro” was imposed upon Blacks by whites (Smith 499) and “suffered from its association to the racial epithets “Niggah” and “Nigger” (Smith 498). The term “Black”, though, “was used to described those who were progressive, forward-looking, and/or radical” (Smith 499) and was seen as the best term to equally parallel the term “White”, and carried connotations of power and strength from its use in the slogan “Black Power” (Smith 501). These connotations were exactly what companies were aiming for. Their hope was that appealing to a sense of empowerment would push Blacks to purchase that product. This was similar to the adoption of “Black is beautiful” rhetoric in advertisements. These ads expressed the beauty or

success that could be found uniquely in Blackness and not through consumption of products to emulate white standards. There was also the use of language specific to Black culture such as the Swahili, referencing Black men and women as “brothers” and “sisters” and the use of Black colloquial. Special publications and Black consultants were sought after by white companies to understand exactly

what language to and vocabulary to use in order to influence and “speak” to Black consumers, which was not at all the case in the “one-size-fits-all” rhetoric of the late 1950s advertisements. It is important to note, however, that not all language could be used to appeal to Black consumers, especially since many companies wanted to remain as apolitical as possible. Therefore, advertisers borrowed the facet of the Black Power and Civil Rights movement that was “soul,” which was easily commodifiable, easily rendered “hip” and “cool” and easily stripped of any militant undertones that may have given birth to the concept in the first place. As Weems points out, “advertisements


[which used these aspects of “soul”] seemed to offer merely an alternative vision of consumer citizenship; cultural pluralism replaced assimilation” (Weems 174). Perhaps this “alternative vision,” or new treatment of Blacks in the marketplace, was helpful to begin to introduce the idea of equal treatment and participation for Blacks in a way that was accepting of various types of people and lifestyles.

The way Black people were depicted in the advertisements of the late 1960s and early 1970s reflected this new embrace of various types of people and lifestyles. Advertisements from this time period depict men and women with darker skin and non-European features, and exuding, through their styles and appearance, pride, power, and happiness. One notable change is the shift in the aesthetics. In order to speak to a specifically Black audience, companies began to embrace uniquely Black-defined standards of beauty, such as afros, in terms of the models they chose for their advertisements. Black skin and Black, non-European, features were also more prevalent in advertisements catering to Black people. In the past, lighter-skinned Black men and women were considered more beautiful, and had more social mobility in terms of employment and marriage (Craig 42). The “Black is beautiful” movement of the 1960s emerged to combat the self-hatred that came with an appearance which did not conform to beauty ideals. Big companies took notice of these trends and quickly followed suit. Displaying a model with Black features and an Afro in advertisements tied white-owned products to Black pride and to an embrace of Black beauty, which was especially important in cosmetics, fashion, and hair advertisements. “African American companies…were first to do this, but white companies…were soon promoting the ‘Black is beautiful’ idea… Such advertisements helped to expand definitions of beauty in American society” (Walker 171). That the nature of advertisements at this time could transform the social understandings

of beauty is exemplary of the intertwined nature of the social climate and the products of consumer culture, or rather, the social climate as a product of consumer culture.

Through advertisements, it increasingly came to be accepted that Black be defined as beautiful, powerful, or prosperous through its own standards, standards which had to be recognized by capitalists and which were adopted from the images and rhetoric of the Civil Rights movement. Consumption, then, is inextricable from the structure of society or the construction of race because it is through consumption that Black people were able to have an immediate impact on affecting meanings tied to race. The Black consumers of the Civil Rights movement promoted images and rhetoric of themselves as proud, beautiful, and powerful, so these were the most accessible, compelling, and relevant messages to utilize for companies who wanted to attract Black spending. In an industry that is dependent on selling products through purporting to fulfill desires, perhaps this shift in representation is not representative of the progress of the Civil Rights movement alone, but is also social change as a product of corporate propaganda (Ewen 219). In other words, Black became beautiful, Black power became possible, and pride, dignity, and respect, could be defined in Black terms because these things emerged at a time when Black people passionately wanted it, and through market segmentation, capitalists could profit from it.

Works CitedCohen, Lizabeth. A Consumers’ Republic. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003. Print.Craig, Maxine Leeds. Ain’t I A Beauty Queen? Black Women, Beauty, and the Politics of Race. New York: Oxford UP, 2002. Print.Ewen, Stuart. Captains of Consciousness. New York: McGraw-Hill Book, 1976. Print.Kern-Foxworth, Marilyn. Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben, and Rastus Blacks in Advertising, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. Westport: Praeger, 1994. Print.Omi, Michael, and Howard Winant. “Racial Formation.” Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s. New York: Routledge, 1994. 53-76. Print.Smith, Tom W. “Changing Racial Labels: From “Colored” to “Negro” to “Black” to “African American”.” Public Opinion Quarterly 56.4 (1992): 496-514. Oxford Journals. Web. 9 Apr. 2011.Walker, Susannah. Style & Status. Lexington: UP of Kentucky, 2007. Print.Weems, Jr., Robert E. Desegregating the Dollar. New York: New York UP, 1998. Print.


PoetryWho am I?Deep down, I dare say.My soul is the vehicle traveling the wrong way on a one wayWhat’s left of me? It’s leading to disasterNo speed limit, remnants of my spirit moving faster.And here I stand, stranded.No future, no past.Adolescence pillaged.Womanhood stolenSo who will stand trial?

InnocenceBy Kevin Ijoma, ‘15

Who is the witness to uncover the foul?Who am I? I am your child.I am your life.I am what you are, I am your right.I was taken from you that fateful night.God Forbid.Farewell.I am. I am.your innocence.

The Musical MeBy Azani Pinkney, ‘14He must stand for Hypnotic the way that lyrics,Interweaved with bass and harmonic treble, make hips swing likePendulums. With every snap of your fingers the trance is broken.Heads back and forth, emotions trapped in every bar, but the pen is their parole.Oracles, telling stories of pain, pressure, andPrejudices, judged for their profanity but praised for their phonetics, Reprimanded for a talent that few possess, are as misunderstood As a soul whose intentions are good. Parties thrown on Sugar Hills, word of Public Enemies on CNN, and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasies that help me find the Musical Me in the hip-hop, the hippie, the hippie to the hip-hip-hop…Jovial Jazz pianists strike keys with speed and precisionAs the beat rides train tracks laid by the rhythm of aZealous drummer. Charlie Parker on the sax, Gene Harris on piano, and the climacticZen at the high end of a Ray Brown Trio piece, all laid the foundation that holds the Musical Me.Rhythm & Blues: how stories of heartbreak and deception, success & redemption, happiness, yet rejection, all find themselves Breaking down glass walls between those who see but do not hear, and those whoSing but do not feel the Soul. The soul and the rhythm combine like the Opposite charges of two lone atoms pulled together fromUniverses apart. Marvin Gaye, Mary J., the Whispers: few of the many that Lead me to say that without R&B, there would be no Musical Me.


Complete SightBy Ayinde Alleyne, ‘15

Miss African Queen dancing to the beat of the drumYour feet dance around the fire so gracefullyLike my words telling your tale,Constantly playing out of my fingertips into a pen like the African boi drumming.Swaying back and forth with the warm breeze,Your essence is the key to life.Keep dancing to the beat my Queen,Just keep Dancing.But the beat stops and becomes screams of horror.The white man strips you from your home.Forces his manhood between those untouched thighs,The keys of life, based on this first lie.Prevalent then and still today,African American Queens across the country,Used.Beaten.Battered.Your true worth not fully understood.Like the forget-me-not flowers who all live in a bunch,You symbolize faithfulness and enduring love.These inner characteristics suck u dry,Putting yourself in situations where there is no water,No air.U begin to welt as you allow the father of your childrenTo raise his devilish hand to your face,Force his manhood in your sacred place,Taking over your mind, evading you inner space.

Forget Me NotBy Clarissa Palmer, ‘14

If my hands could seeThey would stare from the top to the bottom.Starting with the soft midnight sky,Down through luscious open fields,With fruits near ones found in Eden,To hills as high as valleys are deepEnding finally at the ground,The source of all life,That familiar soil they tillDoing their part to keep such beauty in sight.

And when the day comesThat soil goes dry,The flowers wither and die,My hands will look all at once

Always remembering their love for what was.“Make legs, my hands.Make your way to new land.Till new soil, gaze at more wonders.And when that ends, keep going.

Go until your muscles are sore.‘Til callus grows on your skin,Your bones are brittle and old.Then when the day comes that you can’t go anymore,Look once more to the soil you tilled so long.Fall to it. Greet it as an old friend.And wait ‘til other hands comeTo wonder at the sight of you.”

Maybe the gun he just put into your hand can help erase,Your existence from this earth,But your imprint is already way too deep,To pick the flower from the bunch,And forget you,Yes,Just forget you.Representing a generation of women,Who struggled because of their permanent tan,Who suffered because they lack the parts of a man,Abused when they try to take a stand.African American Queens, take advantage of your bunch,Stick together,And bite the hand that is raised to your face,Help each other,And cut the manhood forced in your sacred place,Support another,And let God be the controller of your inner space.But never forget the struggle.Never forget the pain,Cause if you become too comfortable,The beat of your drums will turn into screams of horror,The warm breeze and innocence becomes tainted,Life as you knew it…vanished.Miss African Queen,I will forget you not.


You know there’s this common misunderstandingmisconception of the phrase “white privileged”This deception in usageThe obsession to prove itIt… being the concept of white privileged

Am I, as a woman of colorthe essence of blacknessthe representation of those held back withthe tag of less than cause of this darker skinnot capable of success

Can I, as a woman of colorthe hard-working diligent baby girlthe one who works to make life feel surrealeven though the notion is far from for realthe one who pushes everything aside and just dealsnot capable of one day becoming the bestnot capable of one day leading the restbecause those before me found themselves leftto use what little they had to pass this testand then forgive and forget

Am I not privileged because my past is filled withDegradationSegregationConfrontationAnd an overall Underestimation of black power

I don’t represent a race in which ruled the world in one point in timeThere’s not one place in which everyone loved usNot one face in which no one hatedAnd there’s not one decent hypothetical phrase in which would have made life perfect

Am I not privileged because I’m not whiteBecause black people are broke, illiterate, and rudeBecause white people are all powerful and have the means to do what they want toBecause these stereotypes define what we can and cannot do

White PrivilegedBy Ladynae, ‘15

Even if and even though they are not true

What if I can articulate and enunciate ideas that give meaning to privilegedWhat if I can demonstrate and correlate the ideas behindThe ideas that have overtimeDefinedPrivileged

What if I were to end by saying these ideas revolve around understanding and knowledgeThe desire to follow itThat these ideas have ignited emotion and devotion in doing what makes me happyWhat makes life worth livingAnd it has nothing to do with the color of my skin,

I’m privileged because I know how to make you see what I seeI know how to make you feel what makes meI know how to summarize my past and create a future that will forever lastIt has nothing to do with being whiteI’m privileged because I know my life regardless of the stereotype will turn out all right


ArtworkFeatured

UntitledBy Gabrielle Patterson, ‘15


UntitledBy Jayde Stewart, ‘12


The House of UsherBy Gregory Almonord, ‘14


A Portrait of My Twin BrotherBy Gregory Almonord, ‘14


Faculty Spotlight:

LBB: What inspired you to go into academia?BS: This is actually a second career for me. I went to law school after I graduated as an undergraduate. So I have a law degree and I worked in Washington on Capital Hill and had done legislative work. I also worked in public interest organizations in DC including the Children’s Defense Fund. There was a point where I felt like I wanted to write and I wanted to teach. I reasoned that if I wanted to spend the next 30 to 40 years working, I wanted to do something that brought me some joy and would

make a contribution to African American history and African American studies. So I basically decided to go to graduate school in my mid thirties. I went to graduate school with a very strong sense of mission and not only wanted to recoup the history of black people in America, but to teach it to new generations of students.

LBB: Was it challenging to be a non-traditional student?BS: Yes, and I am very sympathetic to non-traditional students. In graduate school, I continued to work and go to school at the same time for financial reasons and to test out if that was what I really wanted to do. In all of my classes, I was at least 12-15 years older than the others. There is an advantage, because you have a different perspective and older students have to be more organized and are more highly motivated. On the other hand, younger students have a lot more energy than you do. But I learned a lot from being with younger students. It has helped me to become a better teacher, helped me learn how a different generation thought about different things. I have younger friends who keep me younger; that is not something that I would have typically imagined at that stage in my life. Being older did not deter me at all because I had a pretty strong drive to make the sacrifice to do it and that was always the goal.

By Amaka Okunji, ‘13

Barbara SavageBarbara Savage, an Africana faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania agreed to speak to The Little Black Book about the field and evolution of African American Women’s History. She also provides the reasons and lessons behind her journey to the historian profession and inspires students to enter academia.


LBB: In addition to African American women’s history, what else have you taught?BS: I have taught a fair wide range of courses during my 17 years at Penn. I teach a number of general courses in African American history at the University. I teach the basic survey course of 20th century African American history from the 1890s forward. I have also taught courses on race, media and politics. I teach graduate courses in African American history and have taught undergraduate classes in black intellectual history. I have also taught classes in comparative social movements.

LBB: More specifically, what challenges do you face when teaching African American women’s history because it’s relatively new and it’s excluded from African American History and Women’s History?BS: Yes, it’s still a relatively recent field at a place like Penn. There have always been women historians who choose to focus on black women’s history, but in terms of coming into the mainstream, I’d say that it is a relatively recent development in the last 20 years. When I first started teaching black women’s history here there was so much less scholarship to teach, but there has been a real explosion of books and articles that address issues like slavery, the women’s club movement, the Civil Rights Movement or even women who are involved in black power like the Black Panther Movement. It makes it easier to teach because there is much more material to use, yet it is difficult to design a course because all of this material cannot be contained in one course. There is always a challenge in figuring out how much to highlight, and how much exposure a student has had to the subject and how to meet them where they are.

LBB: How do you foresee the development of the field (African America Women’s History)?BS: If I had to think about the way that the field has developed, my initial emphasis would be on very well-known women who are fairly well educated and who, therefore, were writers or left records. There was a tremendous amount of work done on black women who were writers and novelists and essayists done by black literary scholars which was very important. Historians have now, basically, caught up with the literary historians and we’re beginning to see a lot of work that looks at black women workers; black women who were in cultural production such as singers or artists or who were political writers. There is a lot of new attention on black women as intellectuals, yet also looking at black women who don’t fit the paradigm of respectability such as black women who are imprisoned, black women who are prostitutes, or black women who are engaged in lines of work and life that not only would have been ignored, but have been denied. The full spectrum of their lives is now receiving attention and that is the result of the new scholarship and there is so much work being done.

LBB: Can you speak about the field’s significance?BS: African American women’s history has had a big impact on African American history because it is no longer acceptable to address African American history and only talk about men or the role of men. There has been important attention to black women as leaders or as partners in political struggle and in some cases, they have been absolutely essential to, for example, in the organizing on the ground for the Civil Rights Movement and that work could not be done without black women. In the field of “white” women history, it is no longer acceptable to talk about women’s history as being naturalized as white, that if you’re going to claim to be talking about women’s history, you are no longer talking about women who are white or even women who are black and white because you are really opening up to the diversification that is going on in this country and in history. For example when I teach my survey course in African American history which would usually open up talking about Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois but I rather open up with Ida B. Wells because she is right there with them doing the same kind of work with them, but has been overlooked.


LBB: What challenges has come up with being a black woman in academia and how have you grown from those experiences?BS: One of the projects that I am working on now is a biography of a black woman who was a historian in the 1940s, named Merze Tate, who earned her doctorate from Harvard, studied at Oxford and was on the faculty at Howard University for 40 or 50 years. In looking at her papers and as she tells the story of her life, because she was a diplomatic historian, I see so much of the struggle that she went through because she was a black woman; so much has changed in terms of the opportunities that are available to me and black women who are going into the academic world. Yet, we still have an insider-outsider presence and there are invisible barriers, some of which are meaningful and some which are not. I have never really seen that as a hindrance. I fight against it when it hurts people who have less power than I do. I am always prepared to stand up for what I think is right. There is a different set of expectations and a different set of responsibilities in being a faculty member of color, especially a woman. I do accept them and take them on, but it is wearing.

LBB: What, in your opinion, is the state of black female figures in contemporary society and do you see parallels in their history?BS: Well, I think, perhaps, the most prominent example of black women right now, of course, is Michelle Obama. She, to me, represents someone who’s taking full advantage of her visibility and the power that comes with her position, even though it is not one that she would have chosen because she resisted this very public role with her husband especially out of concern for her children. But if you look at the newspaper coverage and the media coverage of her and ways in which she has had to be so careful at carving out her own image in trying to protect it and still to the kind of questions that are often tossed at her, I think, in some ways, she really stands in for a number of challenges that plague and face ordinary black women too, even though she is in an obviously privileged position. There is always the question of ability due to people pre-judging because of her color and folks have to get comfortable with a black woman in a role that no black woman has held before. But in the contemporary setting, I think that the most invisible black women are black working class women; the women who are on the buses here in Philadelphia at 6 or 7 o’clock in the morning going to work at a hospital or a nursing home or to work in someone else’s home and who, themselves, have children and family responsibility. They are, to me, the most important black women in the contemporary setting though often, at times, the most burdened and the most invisible.

LBB: What advice would you give undergraduate students that are thinking about going into academia or history?Well, first of all, I would welcome and encourage it because there is a tremendous amount of work to do and I think it’s important to have new generations of young, black scholars in this field. There are a number of programs that are designed for students who are interested in going into academia like the Mellon Mays program and the McNair program. They should really begin to develop relationships with professors and if you are interested, at all, in what life as an academic is like, go talk to people who are doing it. I think that many students at Penn are professionally oriented and there is nothing wrong with that, but we still need smart and dedicated people to do the work of writing scholarship about people of color. It is actually a very rewarding profession and you can still bring a sense of mission to it. Not only are you helping students, which is important, but you are also advancing scholarship and knowledge about black people.


Mr. Quaker:

Christopher Griffin

LBB: What made you decide to attend Penn?CG: I grew up around the corner from Penn on 46th and spruce. As a little child, Penn was like my little playground; I rode

my bike up and down locust walk and played on the button. My mom was fixated on me coming to Penn; she works for the Presbyterian hospital. Once I got in high school I got involved with Outward Bound, which was affiliated with Penn. I also did Project C with the American Chemical Society and through that I met the Director of the Educational Opportunities Center here at Penn. He encouraged me to apply and gave me guidelines on how to go through the application process.

LBB: Why did you decide to major in Psychology?CG: My high school was very small and predominantly black and I found that there were limited opportunities to be a part of the collegiate setting and few programs inspiring students to go to college, so with support from home, I started doing my own independent research on summer programs that were offered for high school students. I ended up finding a program with Eastern University and I ended up taking a dual enrollment class in Intro to Psychology. I really enjoyed conversing with other college students and found that I was good at it. I’m a very strategic person, so when I came to Penn, I wanted to make sure that I had all my credits by the time my fourth year came along. I knew from that class that I enjoyed psychology, and I had met some of the faculty members of the psych department through the director of the chemistry department. They seemed real nice, and so I decided freshmen year that I wanted to be a psych major, but I couldn’t declare until sophomore year.

LBB: How did you get involved with QPOC?CG: My freshmen year I took Queer Theory with Heather Love, and I met Tony Thieu, he was also taking the course, and so he introduced himself to me and said I should really become involved with QPOC. It was a little intimidating for me because I didn’t really know anyone and QPOC was a really close knit community. I

The Little Black Book selected College senior, Christopher Griffin, as Mr. Quaker for Winter ‘12. As Co-Chair of QPOC (Queer People of Color), member of Destination Hip Hop, and a McNair Scholar, Griffin exemplifies the balance between academics and extracurriculars. LBB recently met up with Griffin to learn more about his experience at Penn and his plans for the future.



Christopher GriffinBy Antuan Johnson, ‘13

didn’t become involved my freshmen year because I was focused on my academics and I wanted to make sure I could maintain my scholarships and stuff like that.My sophomore year I became more self-confident. I could survive here; I could make my grades work, so sophomore year was all about creating a social life for myself. I started going to QPOC meetings, which was a little awkward at first but Emmanuel, Clarence, Tony, and Terrence, were all involved with QPOC at that time and encouraged me to come to meetings and have conversations. Eventually they started inviting me out with them, just to make me feel part of the group. I started doing the newsletters even before I was on the board. Eventually my junior year they convinced me to run for the board, but it was kind of awkward because I was getting ready to study abroad, so I tried to maintain my leadership responsibilities while I was abroad, sending emails to Diana, Sam, and Marcus. You know little ideas, making sure they had Philadelphia contact, things of that nature.

LBB: How do you feel your identity has impacted your college experience.CG: As a black male, coming to Penn was a little intimidating. I think one of the things I had to learn was that I was not a representative of my race and my mentor kept telling me that I was here for myself and not to represent the black community of Philadelphia. Because of my lack of confidence coming into Penn, I made sure I was very aware of the resources such as the tutoring center and Makuu Center. But I didn’t really become involved with the Makuu Center as much as I had hoped.And also being gay I think that’s one of the reasons I didn’t feel comfortable in the Makuu Center and I spoke to the Director about trying to create a social space for individuals who might identify as gay in the African-American community. When I first came to Penn I was a little self-conscious about coming out, but just having the LGBT center, LGBT faculty, and just seeing a supportive environment for the LGBT community in general was very catering. I think it definitely shaped my experiences and what organizations I became involved with and how I approached my education; my identity made me self-aware of a lot of things that people take for granted.

LBB: What are your plans for the future?CG: I have applied to four PhD programs in higher education, two master degree programs in student affairs. The master programs are more of a back-up; I do want to do a PhD program. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks, I’ll be hearing back from the PhD programs I’ve applied. My research interests are in terms of pre-college programs serving first generation, low income, and underrepresented minority students and evaluating the program services and components that are most beneficial for students in relation to their matriculation rate but also their degree completion rate. Hopefully I’ll be doing a longitudinal study following students from their entry into their pre-college program onto their second year of college, taking those two years and analyzing what program component impacted them positively and enabled them to succeed.


Miss Independent:

Mimi Owusu

LBB: Where are you from?MO: My parents are Ghanaian. They came to the states mid 1970s. I was born in the Bronx and then when I was 5, my parents noticed advertisements for the Pocono’s. I moved to the Pocono’s and lived with my grandmother for 10 years. Another five years later, I moved to Hillsdale, Michigan to live with my parents, where my dad found a job as a cardiologist. So from the Bronx to the Pocono’s to Michigan, but I claim the Bronx.

LBB: How have your parents influenced you?MO: They are similar to most immigrant parents. They are very pre-professional in terms of goals for their kids. My dad is a doctor so he feels as though the way for us to be financially secured is to also be doctors, but, I think he is slowly realizing that we can be successful doing other things. I have a sister that is into journalism. I have another sister that is into psych. I personally went from pre-med to public health to now doing Teach For America. I feel like we trained them to think otherwise.

LBB: So you’ve mentioned how you enjoy working with kids and I know currently you work with kids for CSSP during Recess at Lea Elementary School, in which you started a Dance Class. Can you tell me more about that?MO: You call it a dance class, but I really just let the kids have fun and dance. They just really have a good time. The other day, we just went in, did the cat daddy and the cupid shuffle. So, I don’t know. They do different types of line dances, but it depends, sometimes I make it more structured while some days we’ll just go in and we’ll play freeze dance. They have a lot of fun with it and it’s a good way for them to release their energy. Everyone relates to music, so they enjoy it.

Mimi Owusu is a senior in the School of Arts and Sciences, with a major in Health and Societies. She is currently a member of African Rhythms, where she serves as Secretary on the Executive Board. She is also a Recess Coordinator for Community School Student Partnerships (CSSP) working in conjunction with Dr. Summers, Penn professor, and Lea Elementary School. Mimi also plays a role with the Healthy Newsworks Advisory board, a program started by Marian Uhlman, another affiliate of Lea Elementary School. Mimi plans to work for Teach For America for the next two years in Atlanta, Georgia, where she’ll teach elementary education.

By Jayde Stewart,‘12


Mimi Owusu LBB: So you’ve spent a lot of time working with the CSSP Recess Program, have you noticed any changes in the kids’ behaviors?MO: It’s been really hard to quantify, and just working in urban public schools it’s hard to document a lot of this data. I interviewed the school nurse, and she said the Recess program has really cut down on the number of injuries and people who have come to visit her. I don’t have any objective data but just having me walk in and having the kids ask, “are we doing dance” and just being really excited about it shows me that this makes them happy. I may not be able to control a lot of the external factors that are affecting them but at least for 20 minutes a day we can just let loose and have fun, which means a lot to me.

LBB: I know you’re involved with other activities on campus, such as the African Rhythms Dance Company. Tell us about your role with African Rhythms.MO: African Rhythms has definitely changed my college experience at Penn, hands down. I did not realize that it would have that effect on me. I remember the summer before my junior year I was taking a bunch of dance classes in NY with Luam Keflezgy, who is a Penn Alum and also a former member of African Rhythms. So I was like okay I need to join this group. When I got back to campus I chickened out a bit, but I kept getting flyers. So after a while I was like ok it’s a sign. I tried out and got in, and ever since then I tried to fully immerse myself in the culture. It is just something so wonderful, especially when you see how it is done in different states. The Philly community has such a strong African dance presence, so it has been an amazing experience. It’s been the hardest type of dance that I have ever done. I’ve done ballet, hip-hop, tap, and jazz. I‘ve done all of that, but none of them have been as physically demanding as AR or as complicated. I know sometimes when you see us on stage it looks like we’re jumping around doing a few fun things and it looks like a good work out, but all of the skills that are involved in doing the different movements are incredible.

LBB: How do you think you’ve changed throughout the years?MO: When I first got here, I was pretty shy. I had a hard time, I guess, navigating the social space. I decided on Penn last minute. I thought I was going to Barnard for a long time. So I feel like I didn’t do the research to get involved with things like the whole scholar’s weekend and I missed the memo on the Africana Institute. I saw it and I said “oh that’s great,” but I just thought that ‘s what orientation is for, but then I got here and everyone knew each other and I was on the outskirts. Another thing, I was not doing what I love to do. I wasn’t dancing. Although I did do Penn Latin and Ballroom Dance for a little bit, I spent a lot of time studying and trying to be something that my parents wanted me to be or just what I felt like society deemed as really important. Once I stopped caring about what other people wanted for me and thought about what I wanted for myself and just did what I was passionate about I feel like everything just fell into place. I did AR. I just started to meet a lot of different people, did a little bit of modeling and that was fun. Even Recess, it just gave me the chance to do what I love to do. That is something that definitely changed about me, and I’m happy that it did because it allowed me to really enjoy the Penn experience.

LBB: What advice do you have for underclassmen?MO: Do what you love to do. I feel like there are a lot of people at Penn that aren’t necessarily doing that. I think the pre-professional focus at Penn sometimes inhibits the creativity that a lot of people have. For instance, you will just have people who are pre-med, but they are amazing writers, and I think sometimes people forget that. So I think that you should do what you love to do and don’t do something just because you’re told by society, your family, parents, friends, that that’s something you need to do because that’s not fun at all. Explore outside of Penn’s campus because there is a lot that Philly has to offer. And you can find what you’re into in the various communities at Penn. Also do service in the West Philly community or just in the Philly community in general because I feel like we’re in this position to help people who cannot necessarily help themselves.


Artist Spotlight:

Janay SylvesterCollege Senior Janay Sylvester uses her powerful voice to celebrate the legacy of black music with the premier a capella group, The Inspiration, here on campus. As one of three graduating seniors, Sylvester sits down to talk with The Little Black Book about her experience, her love of music, and her plans after graduation.

LBB: When did your interest in music and singing begin?JS: I have always loved to sing, ever since I was a little girl. I come from a very musically inclined family—all of my Dad’s siblings have been involved in music, mostly in the church. I grew up in a house that collectively shared a love for a variety of music including gospel, R&B, rap, pop, and musicals.

LBB: Where do you get your inspiration? Who are your biggest musical influences?JS: My father was really the person that got me pursuing music. He plays piano, pursued music in college, toured with a few bands, and had his own production company back in the day. Now, he is a music teacher. I’ve attended his concerts since birth and watching the kids perform always made me want to be a part of it.

As far as music influences, I would definitely have to go with Beyoncé. I have grown up on her music, and I have watched her growth as an artist and performer. She is maybe one of three big names of our time that can truly call themselves an entertainer and her live performances are amazing! I could honestly talk about her for hours, but her ability to touch and affect so many lives around the world is such a powerful thing.

LBB: How did you get involved with The Inspiration here on campus?JS: Prior to college I had never performed in a formal setting of any kind. After seeing The Inspiration perform a couple times during my freshman year, I knew I had to try out during my sophomore fall. From the musical style to the consistent caliber of their performances, I wanted so badly to be a part of it.

By: Marvin Harris, ‘12


Janay SylvesterBy: Marvin Harris, ‘12

LBB: And since then, how has The Inspiration influenced your time here at Penn?JS: The Inspiration is a family. It has provided me with a large group of friends that I most likely never would have known had it not been for the group. It has also taken me completely out of my shell. My first solo was nerve-wracking but such an exhilarating experience as I had never performed for a large group before.

It is wonderful to be a part of something with such a growing and positive legacy and to know that when I come back to Penn ten years from now, I will still have a connection with such a supportive family.

LBB: How would you describe the role that The Inspiration plays on campus?JS: The Inspiration is the only a capella group on campus that is dedicated to performing music written and/or performed by a member of the African Diaspora. Our musical repertoire is very diverse—during my time in The Inspiration we have performed the classics of Marvin Gaye, classic spirituals, top 40 contemporary hits, and even Hip Hop & Rap. It goes without saying that we are the best a capella [group] on campus!

LBB: Are you involved with music outside of The Inspiration?JS: Yes, I have a radio show here on campus called “Songs in Ay Minor” where I play some of my favorite music and talk about the entertainment industry. I also work on covers and original songs that I continue to release on my website (songsinayminor.com). Over the summer, I was able to record for the first time in the studio. It was a very cool and unique experience and I hope to have the material released soon. Over the break, I worked on a feature, “Can’t Get Enough,” produced by writer and singer Evan Huggins that will also be released soon.

LBB: How do you see the role of music in your future?JS: I’ve been trying to collaborate with any and every connection I have. As I’ve said, I recently recorded a feature for Evan Huggins which should be released on Valentine’s Day so I’m hoping to continue this type of collaboration after graduation. Hopefully, I will have more time to do some open mic performances and the ultimate goal is to release an EP/Mixtape by next year—a mix of covers and original works. Ultimately, for me, it is less about being famous and more about compiling all of the music I’ve worked on over the years and having something concrete to be proud of. I hope to continue to pursue music in the future and wherever it takes me I’m ready to go.

LBB: Finally, a quick and fun question: What is your favorite song to sing?JS: Hmm…any song on the Dream Girls Soundtrack.

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