Josephine The Madonna

My full name is Simone Jacqueline Tallentire. I am 13 years old and I am about 5’9.5”. I live with my mother, father, brother, and 5 pets. My mother’s name is Yvonne and my father’s name is David. My brother Rhys is 16, and goes to Hinsdale Central. I have 3 cats and 2 dogs. My cat’s names are Guinevere, Freddie, and Merlin. My dogs names are Archie, and Jake. Our family lived in England for 8 years before moving back to America.

Nina Simone was born Eunice Kathleen Waymon, February 21, 1933 in North Carolina. The sixth of eight children, she began playing the piano at the age of three and showed extreme talent for classical music. Due to the poverty of her family, her mother worked as a maid. Nina showed her talent to her mother’s employer, who recognized her great ability and started a fund to pay for Nina’s piano lessons and early education. When she was twelve she performed a classical piano recital. Her parents had taken two front seats to proudly watch their daughter, but were forced to move to the back row in favor of the white attendants of the concert. Nina refused to play a single note until her parents regained their seats. She later cited this incident as one of the main reasons she became a Civil Rights activist.

Scott’s poem, “The Onondaga Madonna”, is such an example of a racist piece of literature that rejects the acceptance of a multicultural and cultural diversity within society. It emphasizes the differences between the Euro-centric society within Canada and the savage society of the Onondagas and promoted Scott’s belief that the death and eradication of Indigenous culture were “beneficial to individual Indians” (Weis 28). He believed that the government could educate and mould Aboriginals into “a fully enfranchised and Westernized member of English-Canadian society” (Weis 30), and he pushed forth his beliefs to his readers through “The Onondaga Madonna.”

Hospitality is defined as the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. Hospitality is something that can be seen everywhere, regardless of geographical location, religion, etc. This initially sparked my interest because hospitality is something does not require anything special to do. Everywhere a person goes, hospitality can be seen in some way, shape, or form.

spread. But with fame came even heavier tasks as she caught the attention of the

“Women have loved before as I love now/ At least, in lively chronicles of the past-” (lines 1-2). These opening lines seem to simultaneously show love as something old, trite, and exciting. In “[Women have loved before as I love now]”, Edna St. Vincent Millay describes the ancient love stories of the past and how she relates to them. She writes how she used to seek out the parts which focused on love, describing the love of past women as something passionate and strong. Millay also goes on to say that out of all the women alive, she feels that only she connects with the love of the past, and that only she truly feels love. “[Women have loved before as I love now]” shows that passionate love is a joyful burden that is shared by both sexes.

The Madonna was a very important event in Italian Harlem. This started in the street parallels of 115th. Madonna lived in the immigrant’s neighborhoods, while she was forced to go to mass in the basement with the poor people. She didn’t like the idea that she was forced to go to the Catholic Church with the immigrants. The Italians were very powerful people and started to take over Harlem. Since the Italians were taking the political and social life the Madonna were forced to get out of the basement.

Born Freda Josephine McDonald on June 3, 1906 in St. Louis, Missouri, Josephine Baker spent her youth in poverty before learning to dance and finding success on Broadway. Josephine was apart of the first black musical in New York. She took her stand against racism when she, refused to perform for segregated audiences and devoted the rest of her life to the civil right movement. Baker became famous for her theatrical performances, but she devoted her life to the idea that people of all nationalities can live peacefully together.

Danticat writes about a daughter and her mother, who has been accused of being a witch. The mother had to cross the river separating Haiti and the Dominican Republic to save herself and her daughter. This real event was a massive massacre with very few survivors. “My mother had escaped El Generalissimo's soldiers, leaving her own mother behind. From the Haitian side of the river, she could still see the soldiers chopping up her mother’s body and throwing it into the river along with many others,” (40). Despite surviving, the mother saw her own mother die in this massacre and likely many more people that she knew. She lost everything while trying to escape, except for her own daughter. This forced them to start their life over in Haiti. And while she did get a chance to start a new life, she went through immense suffering trying to escape and even once she did escape and got to Haiti. After moving to the city, the mother is accused of being a witch and

Raphael Sanzio known primarily by his first name alone was an Italian High Renaissance artist known for his drawings and paintings. Raphael lived from 1843 until 1520. He along with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci are considered the greatest artist of their time. He spent the early years of his career in Umbria and Florence, but spent his later years in Rome. He produced art for two different Popes during his time in Rome before dying at the age of thirty seven. One of his highest celebrated pieces is The Alba Madonna completed in 1509. This painting depicts the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus who is grasping at a cross being held by his cousin, a young John the Baptist. All three subjects are focused on the cross

The only thing more powerful in mobilizing symbols, sentiments, and sensibilities than popular culture, is personal and shared experiences. What is so potent about pop culture however, is the ability of its participants to share their personal experiences to audiences than can both empathize and relate to the realities these artists present. This extended period of the civil rights and black power era can arguably be defined as the mobilization of the larger public by popular black figures whose individual charismas and drive inspired collective action. Some of these figures were exclusively political, many of which prominent intellects of race academia and/or known for their discourses that captivated thousands. And then there were figures that used their influence as musicians or writers who, with access beyond those with a conscious interest in politics, could incite people to think and reevaluate their lived realities through song and performance. Nina Simone is perhaps the most politically significant figure of the latter group, as she not only actively participated as a proponent of civil rights efforts, but became a pioneer in black power and feminist ideology.

Throughout time, jazz music has always been a very popular genre of music, especially in the early 1900’s. It was famous towards African Americans mostly and had many incredible artists. Artists such as Billie Holiday, Miles Davis and the famous Louis Armstrong are some of the fan favorites. Their smooth, peaceful melodies kept people of all races listening to the beat. Although jazz music is not as popular as it used to be, the artist’s legacy will always be strong.

A young, married couple, part of this family also, is also struggling because the man is thinking on leaving. His wife is pregnant, but he believes the child is not his. She was rape, and this has drawn them apart. Two more women, are part of this family. They come to the island from the main land on the day the movie describes. One of them is religious; she believes in Jesus Crist. This is another struggle between religious traditions. The other women left the Island long ago to live in the main land. In this day she was coming back to her land to stay, to rediscover herself. However, she got rejected by many women in the family. They consider her a traitor because she left. The younger women accept her because they are more open-minded.

Although Jan Van Eyck was one of the most influential artists during his time period, his work, Lucca Madonna is fairly unknown. Whilst researching Jan Van Eyck the work rarely appeared unless one research specifically the name.

“The Met’s very own Mona Lisa” (Tomkins 9). That is what Duccio di Buoninsegna’s Madonna and Child painting is known as today. “The Metropolitan Museum of Art bought the Madonna and Child for forty-five to fifty million dollars” (Tomkins 1). However, the painting was not always in public hands; in fact, the Met purchased the last known work of Duccio in private hands. Originally, the painting was held in the private hands of Adolphe Stoclet and his wife. When the couple died, their house and their collection went to their son, Jacques who held onto the painting, and passed it down to his daughters who lent it to an exhibition in Siena of Duccio and his school. The painting was eventually withdrawn from the exhibition and sold