4AM NEWS-Black History Edition

The House of Jazz Proudly Presents

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The Black History

The “N” Word The First Slave Owner was a Black Man

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at The House of Jazz

The Underground

Railroad

History of the N word

Jackie Robinson

Black AVIATION History The History of the Jheri Curl

Story 42

Slavery in the West Indies Fried Chicken & Watermelon

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House of Jazz Premier Show and Herself

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Corinne Asseraf, patron of the House of Jazz for many years, expresses the pride she feels, as she becomes a House of Jazz ambassador: ‘’My father always said have art and soul. The art inhabiting my gallery (Galerie 203) and the soul, the music, I found at the House of Jazz.’’

Ms. Asseraf is a Montreal socialite, art agent, event planner and gallery owner. She frequently visited Georges Durst’s famous clubs as such as Le Bijoux, L’air du temps, the Monte Carlo and the finally House of Jazzover the years. Through these establishments, she got to know the jazz scene and to meet important figures of the music world. The House of Jazz is a landmark of Montreal’s music history: “Astonishing performances, incredible music, this place sings the city’s soul.” Ms. Asseraf knew very well Charles Briddle senior to the point of saying that he was a father figure to her. All the artists from the black community who performed at the House of Jazz did put Montreal on the map.

“Therefore, I’m honored to participate in the activities celebrating black history this February.”

“I am overall privileged to be officially involved with the House of Jazz, since Georges and I have been close friends for many years.”

Bob Ricci

houseofjazz.ca

Every Sunday night (MTL)

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John Beaudine Monday night (MTL)

Colin Hunter

ceo Sunwing airlines

Dawn Tyler Watson Barbara Diab Snooksta Wensday (MTL) Sunday (LV)

Miosa

2060 Aylmer St, Montreal, QC Tél. : (514) 842-8656

Carolyn Fe Blue collective

Michelle Sweeney

Felix

Stussi Trio

Laval early show 6 pm -9pm

1639 Boul. de l’Avenir, Laval, QC tel: (450) 669-3000

New Single

Belly Dancer Coming This Spring

Table Of Contents Corinne Asseraf, House Of Jazz Ambassador . . . . . . 3 House Of Jazz Acts . . . . . . 4 Living History Legends Ranee Lee & Oliver Jones . . . . . . 7 Black History In Aviation Oscars - Halle And Denzel . . . . . . 8 1St Black Slave Master Roots & Kunte Kinte Was A Hoax . . . . . . 9 Nelson Mandela Tribute Afro-Cuban Is Black Mtl’s 1St Jazz Festival . . . . . 10 Black Firsts . . . . . . 11 Jackie Robinson Brooklyn . . . . . . 12 Jackie Robinson Montreal . . . . . . 13 Slavery In The West Indies Haitian Black History The Haiti - Louisiana Connection . . . . . . 14 Martin Luther King Jr. & Malcom X Tribute Tupac And Biggie . . . . . . 15 President Obama Roots P.K. Subban A Negro Hockey League Rev. Darryl Gray . . . . . 16 Fried Chicken And Watermelon Viola Desmond & Rosa Parks Nova Scotia Black History Black Life Matters . . . . . . 17

The Underground Railroad Story Run DMC Makes Hip-Hop History . . . . . . 18 Rockhead Paradise Montreal’s Negro Community Center . . . . . . 19 The N Word The History Of The Jheri Curl Union United Church . . . . . 20 Charle “Reid” Biddle George Durst Tribute . . . . . . 21 Oscar Peterson Café St. Mitchel . . . . . . 22 Black History 101 Black Art - Mask On A Mask By Sharon Davidson . . . . . . 23

Thanks to Montreal’s 39th Mayor, Jean Doré working alongside our black community leaders a permanent Round Table was set up on Black History Month.

The goal is to ensure that the contributions of black Quebecers to the province’s culture, history and society would be recognized, celebrated and shared to Montreal every February for the entire month.

We would like to thank Corinne Asseraf for her contribution and work to the making of this issue

4am News Black History contributor and sponsor

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227 Notre Dame O, Montreal, QC 514 439-4203 read us online

Look 4 our Spring issue out April 2016 Publisher's Note: I am very proud of the achievement in creating this special Black History issue. Our history is so rich and long that in 24 pages we can’t possibly cover it all. I did want to take you the reader into a various glimpse of our history to learn somethings about the struggle Black people have endured to arrive here today. Enjoy your Black History issue and remember

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4AM News Publisher: Spark | Creative Editor: Sasha Chaa | Editor: Ikram Ouanassa Belbahri | Multi Media Editor: James Mcquaid Associate Editor: Matthew Collins | Office Manager: Compton MClean | Design and Layout: Alex Buga | Writers: Da Dream Team | Photography: Leigh Anderson | Stylist: Soulyne Michel | L.A. Co-Publisher: Buddah Black | Promotions; Obie One

MONTRÉAL CELEBRATES 25 YEARS

AVAILABLE HERE: UPTOWN - COTE DES NEIGES: The Caribbean Curry House Auto iV Car Dealership King Kutz Barbershop Uptown Tattoos Kuts Barbershop R.E.A.L Bagel S.W.A.G Boutique Habib Boulangerie Java U And Car Wash Uptown Sports Spices Patties Frontline Restaurant Ghost Barbershop Swiss Tech Cell Repair Citronic Vapes K. Stylz Barbershop Mixed Express Carlton Fashions

DORVAL: JD’s Car Stereo Chows Dorval Car Wash Hobby Junction Dorval Pizza CHABANEL CLOTHING DIST: TAZ Clothing Store 433 Chabanel 555 Chabanel ST-LAURENT BLVD: Crooks And Castles Buns Burgers ST-HENRI: Robot Vapes New System Restaurant Crossover Over Comics OLD MONTREAL: Dépanneur McGill

Golan Studios Hitlab 203 Art Galleries Stefanie Cookies LASALLE: Walter Rivera Dance Studio Dance 123 Chester’s Fried Chicken Super Kutz Barbershop Mint Barbershop LAVAL: Faybee’s Food Pointe Sourires Teeth Whitening NDG: Bofinger Doghaus NDG Hot Dog McW Bicycles Class Cutz

Pablo's Food MTL WEST: L’oeufrier Westminister DOWNTOWN MTL: King Kutz Barbershop City Styles 5Ieme Avenue Suit Stores Little Burgundy Dep VILLE ST-LAURENT: Decarie Hot Dog The Brothers Barbershop SNOWDON: Snowdon Deli Live Zen Omega barbershop Exclusif hair salon WESTMOUNT: Le Café-Crème We don't stop — We don't sleep

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A T R I B U T E TO L I V I N G M O N T R E A L B L AC K H I STO RY —They call me OLIVER

JONES

RANEE LEE

—A world class act to follow

Little girls dream of being singers and some dreams come true. This is the story of Ranee Lee. She was Born in Brooklyn and moved to Montreal at the age of 18 in 1970. She could sing with no doubt and began recording as a vocalist, releasing her first album Live At The Bijou in 1984. A woman with many talents, Ranee Lee is also a children’s book writer (author of Nana, What Do You Say?).

She was named a member of the Order of Canada in 2006. She received the International Association of Jazz Educators award in 2004 and 2008. She won a 2010 Juno Award for her album Ranee Lee - Lives Upstairs. She subsequently landed a starring role playing Billie Holiday in Lady Day, and won a Dora Mavor Moore Award for her performance. Also an educator, long associated with the

University of Laval in Quebec City and the Schulich School of Music of McGill University; Ranee Lee also hosted the television series The Performers. Ranee Lee continues to wow audiences with her brand of vocal class, she is world class performer and singer that deserves all the recognition for her accomplishments.

She is truly a role model for all women to look up to nothing comes easy she has worked hard to acquire her level of performance we wish her all the continued success and keep on waking them up and making black history.

Oliver Theophilus Jones OC, CQ (born September 11, 1934 in Little Burgundy, Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian jazz pianist, organist, composer and arranger.

In 1990 Oliver became the second recipient of the Oscar Peterson Award after Oscar himself. It is presented by the Montreal International Jazz Festival, recognizing a performer’s musicianship and for exceptional contribution to the development of Canadian jazz.

The most recent being in 2012, with his album Live in Baden.

Oliver Jones was named Officer of the Order of Canada in October 1993 and in 1994 Jones was bestowed the National Order of Québec, with the rank of Chevalier (Knight).

Oliver Jones received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award in 2005, Canada’s highest honor in the performing arts In 1986 Jones won a Juno Award for his album titled Lights

of Burgundy, and again in 2009 for Second Time around. Oliver Jones received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award in 2005, Canada’s highest honor in the performing arts. Jones was voted keyboardist of the year, from the National Jazz Awards in 2006.

He has been a multiple recipient of the Félix Award, receiving his first one for his 1989 album Just Friends, then wins in 1994, 2007 and 2008.

He has been nominated 9 other times, the most recent being in 2012, with his album Live in Baden. We wanted to showcase Oliver’s accomplishments and pay tribute to a man that has lived more music than most of aspiring producer and artists of today could dream of. Not shaken or stirred, Oliver Jones is the last of a few world class Jazz originators and we are proud to recognize his accomplishments by sharing them with the public in this black History issue.

Continue making history Mr. Jones.

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Black History In Aviation Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman

Dec. 1912-July 4, 2002

On June 15, 1921 Bessie Coleman became the first woman of African-American descent to earn an aviation pilot’s license and the first person of African-American descent to earn an international aviation license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. Coleman returned to the US and had purchased her first plane a Curtiss JN-4 (Jenny) in Dallas.

However on April 30, 1926 Coleman and her mechanic William Wills did a test flight to look over the terrain in which she would do a parachute jump from the following day in an air show. Her plane Jenny unexpectedly dived, then spun around. Coleman was thrown from the plane at 2,000 ft and died instantly when she hit the ground, she hadn’t worn her seatbelt because she was looking at the terrain. William Wills was unable to regain control of the plane and died upon impact also. A wrench used to service the plane was later found to be the cause of the crash, it had slid into the gearbox and jammed it. Bessie was only 34 years old when she died and Wills was 24. There is a street named after her in Orlando, Florida.

In 1941, Roosevelt ordered the War Department to create an all Black flying unit. In Mar. 1942, he earned his wings as one of first five Black officers to complete the course. He was the first Black officer to solo an Army Air Corps aircraft. Promoted to lieutenant colonel, he was named commander of the first all-black air unit, the 99th Pursuit Squadron. In Sep. 1943, Davis was put in charge to take command of the 332nd Fighter Group, a larger all-black unit preparing to go overseas more commonly known as the Red-Tails.

Soon after his arrival, Senior officers in the Army Air Forces recommended to the Army chief of staff, General George Marshall, that the 99th (Davis’s old unit) be removed from combat operations as it had performed poorly. Marshall ordered an inquiry but allowed the 99th unit to continue fighting. In Jan. 1944, all questions were answered when its Black pilots shot down 12 German planes in two days while protecting the Anzio beachhead.

Davis would become a General in the army and later move onto being decorated as a 4 star General by President Clinton. Gen Davis died at 89 years of age July 4th 2002.

Jan. 26, 1892 – April 30, 1926

Benjamin O. Davis

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Guion Stewart Bluford, Jr., Ph.D

Johnathan Strickland

... is an American aerospace engineer, retired U.S. Air Force officer fighter pilot. He took part in 4 Shuttle flights between 19 8 3 and 1992 . In 19 8 3 , he was on the Challenger mission STS- 8 . He then became the first African American in space.

Bluford was a mission specialist on STS-8, STS-61A, STS-39 and STS-53. Bluford’s first mission was on August 30, 1983. During the mission, the STS-8 completed 98 orbits of the Earth in 145 hours before landing on September 5, 1983.

Bluford then served on the crew of STS-61-A and it completed 111 orbits of the Earth in 160 hours, Challenger landed on November 6, 1985. On April 28, 1991 STS-39 launched completing 134 orbits of the Earth and 199 hours in space, Discovery landed on May 6, 1991.

Bluford’s last mission was STS-53, which launched on December 2, 1992 and after completing 115 orbits of the Earth in 175 hours, Discovery landed at Edwards Air Force Base on December 9, 1992. Bluford has logged over 688 hours in space.

On June 22nd, 2006, just two weeks after graduating from the eighth grade, Jonathan departed on his historical flight. With Robin Petgrave in a Robinson R-44 helicopter, Jonathan lifted off at 6:53 a.m. headed for Boundary Bay Airport outside Vancouver B.C. Canada and landed successfully at 1:35 p.m. PST in Canada with a few stops and a overnight stop.

He became the youngest person to pilot a helicopter internationally. Six days later still in Canada on June 29th, 2006, Jonathan at only 14 flew solo in a Cessna-l52 airplane at the Pacific Flying Club, located at the Boundary Bay Airport. He also made a solo flight in a Robinson R22 helicopter and set two world records; becoming the youngest person to solo both a helicopter and airplane on the same day. Jonathan’s unprecedented trip came to a successful end when he landed at Compton - Woodley Airport on July 1 st 2006, setting his fourth world record by becoming the youngest person to pilot a helicopter round trip internationally.

Nov 22, 1942

LAST YEAR’S OSCAR NOMINATIONS DREW HOWLS OF PROTESTS FOR THEIR LACK OF DIVERSITY. THIS YEAR, IT’S EVEN WORSE

Will Smith / Jason Mitchell / Michael B. Jordan / Emmanuel Affadzi

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“Creed” was written and directed by the black Ryan Coogler and starred a black man, but the only nominee was a white man.

“Straight Outta Compton” had a great acting ensemble of mostly young, black unknowns, and was directed by the black F. Gary Gray. But the film’s only nomination: for its screenplay, written by two Caucasians. Just saying...

Halle Maria Berry (born Maria Halle Berry).

She won an Academy Award in 2002 for her performance in the romantic drama Monster’s Ball (2001), which made her the only woman of color to win a Best Actress Academy Award to date, as of 2016.

Denzel Washington won twice, for Glory and Training Day.

KUNTA KINTE was not a real slave Alex Haley’s story ROOTS was a hoax!!!!

THE FIRST SLAVE MASTER WASN’T A WHITE MAN IT WAS A BLACK MAN NAMED

ANTHONY JOHNSON Kunta Kinte (also known as Toby Waller) is a character in the novel Roots. Haley claimed that Kunta Kinte was based on one of his ancestors, a Gambian man who was born in 1750, enslaved and taken to America and who died in 1822.

Haley said that his account of Kunta Kinte’s life in Roots was a mixture of fact and fiction.

However, doubts on the claimed factual aspects arose when it was discovered that Haley had plagiarized Kunta Kinte’s story from another author’s work.

Kunta Kinte’s life story also figured in Roots a TV miniseries based on the book portrayed as a teenager

by LeVar Burton and as an adult by John Amos. Haley’s book became nationally famous, American author Harold Courlander noted that the section describing Kinte’s life was

apparently taken from Courlander’s book The African. Haley at first dismissed the charge, but later issued a public statement affirming that Courlander’s book had been the source, Haley attributed the error to a mistake of one of his assistant researchers. Courlander sued Haley for breach of copyright, which Haley settled out of court. In a later interview with BBC Television, the trial judge stated, “Alex Haley perpetrated a hoax on the public”. During the trial, Alex Haley had maintained that he had not read The African before writing Roots. Shortly after the trial, however, a minority studies teacher at Skidmore College, Joseph Bruchac, came forward and swore in an affidavit that he had discussed The African with Haley in 1970 or 1971 and had given his own personal copy.

According to colonial records, Anthony Johnson was the first slave owner in the United States and he was a black man.

Prior to 1655 all masters were required to free their servants after their time was up. Seven years was the limit that an indentured servant could be held. Upon their release they were granted 50 acres of land. This included any Negro purchased from slave traders. Anthony Johnson was a Negro from modern-day Angola. He was brought to the US to work on a tobacco farm in 1619.

When Anthony was released he was legally recognized as a “free Negro” ran a successful farm. In 1651 he held 250 acres and five black indentured servants.

Johnson first enters the legal record as a free man when he purchased a calf in 1647. On 24 July 1651, he acquired 250 acres (100 ha) of land under the headright system by buying the contracts of five indentured servants, the land was located inNorthampton County, Virginia.

In 1654, it was time for Anthony to release John Casor, a black indentured servant. Instead Anthony told Casor he was extending his time.

Casor left and became employed by the free white man Robert Parker.

Anthony Johnson sued Robert Parker in the Northampton Court in 1654. In 1655, the court ruled that Anthony Johnson could hold John Casor indefinitely. The court gave judicial sanction for blacks to own slaves of their own race. Thus Casor became the first permanent slave and Johnson the first slave owner.

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Nelson Mandela ONE MAN CAN MAKE A CHANGE

A Xhosa born to the Thembu royal family, he served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country’s first black chief executive and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. He declined to run for a second term.

Mandela attended Fort Hare University and the University of Witwatersrand, where he studied law was a South-African anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician and philanthropist. He co-founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe in 1961, leading a sabotage campaign against

Afro-Cuban is all black The term refers to Cubans who mostly have West African ancestry, and to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community.

According to a 2002 national census which surveyed 11.2 million Cubans, 1.1 million Cubans described themselves as Black, while 2.8 million considered themselves to be “Mulatto”.

Thus a significant proportion of those living on the island affirm some African ancestry.

Although Afro-Cubans can be found throughout Cuba, Eastern Cuba has a higher concentration of blacks than other parts of the island, and Havana has the largest population of blacks of any city in Cuba

the government. In 1962, he was arrested, convicted of conspiracy to overthrow the state and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia Trial.

Mandela served 27 years in prison, initially on Robben Island and later in Pollsmoor Prison and Victor Verster Prison. An international campaign lobbied for his release, which was granted in 1990 amid escalating civil strife. Mandela joined negotiations with President F. W. de Klerk to abolish apartheid and establish multiracial elections in 1994.

Having received more than

The

250 honors, including the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Soviet Lenin Peace Prize.

After suffering from a prolonged respiratory infection, Mandela died on 5 December 2013 at the age of 95. He died at his home in Houghton, Johannesburg, surrounded by his family. Mandela was married three times, fathered six children, had 17 grandchildren.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013

Doudou Boicel

True Story of Montreal’s

Jazz festivals origins

If you lived in the 80’s in Montreal, you knew the city’s hottest jazz club, The Rising sun. Doudou Boicel, is the man in charge of the formerly named, Rockhead; he bought it directly from Rufus Rockhead.

He was the originator of Montreal’s first international

jazz and blues festival, the Rising Sun Festijazz, which was held at Place des Arts in 1978. The Festijazz was the inspiration behind major jazz and blues festivals all over the globe to come later.

Read Doudou Boicel’s new book titled The Rising Sun, available online

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1909, explorer Matthew Henson accompanied Robert E. Peary on the first successful U.S. expedition to the North Pole.

1st Black female M.D degree: Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first black woman to receive an M.D. degree. She graduated from the New England Female Medical College in 1864.

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1st Black patent holder: Thomas L. Jennings, 1821, for a dry-cleaning process.

1 st Black male M.D. degree: James McCune Smith, 1837, University of Glasgow.

South Pole: George Gibbs, 1939–1941 accompanied Richard Byrd.

1st Black male Grammy Award winner 1958: Count Basie

1st NFL Black quarterback 1953: Willie Thrower playing for Chicago Bears

Network television show host: Nat King Cole, 1956, “The Nat King Cole Show”

College graduate B.A.: Alexander Lucius Twilight, 1823, Middlebury College.

1 Black man to Invent the blood bank 1940: Dr. Charles Drew was an American Physician surgeon and medical researcher in blood transfusion and storage. He attended McGill University in Montreal and worked as intern and residency in Montreal hospitals. st

1st black woman to receive a B.A. degree: Mary Jane Patterson, 1862, Oberlin College.

His full name is Michael Jeffrey Jordan better known as MJ. Jordan is the first athlete in history to become a billioanaire. Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time.

Feb. 5, 1938, Barbara Howard is 1st Black female athlete to represent Canada in international competition, at British Empire Games in Australia.

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1st Black Nobel Peace Prize winner: Ralph J. Bunche received the prize in 1950 for mediating the Arab-Israeli truce.

1st Black female Grammy Award winner 1958: Ella Fitzgerald.

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1st Black woman television host in 1986: “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”

July 27, 1996: Donovan Bailey becomes World’s Fastest Man, wins 100 m gold at Atlanta Olympic games with a world record time of 9.84 seconds.

Also noted Robert Esmie, Glenroy Gilbert, Bruny Surin and Bailey win gold in 4 x 100 m relay.

Fritz Pollard became the co-head coach Akron Pros making him the 1st Black NFL coach, 1921.

1st Black NHL player: Willie O’Ree, 1958, Boston Bruins 1st Black police officer in Montreal January 1, 1974 Edouard Anglade becomes first black police officer in Montreal.

Frank Davidson was the first black man to sell high end ladies fashion lines for the biggest sales agency’s in Montreal like Jack Liebman and Harry Taub. Selling at The Royal York hotel showroooms in Toronto Frank Davidson was the best dressed and most requested salesman by the finest stores ladies stores in Ontario with the highest in sales.

Frank Vincent Davidson Nov 16, 1927 - Nov 07, 2002

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Miss America: Vanessa Williams, 1984, representing New York.

When controversial photos surfaced and Williams resigned, Suzette Charles, the runner-up and also an African-American, assumed the title.

She represented New Jersey.

Nicknamed “The Greatest”, Ali is one of the most recognized sports figures of the past 100 years, He won the world heavyweight championship in 1964 from Sonny Liston.

Ali remains the first and only three-time lineal world heavyweight champion; Ali s the undisputed heavyweight boxing champion.

Pelé is the most successful league goal scorer in the world, with 541 league goals.

Pelé scored 1281 goals in 1363 career games,he was listed in the Guinness World Records for most career goals scored in football. first to become a millionaire in soccer. these names and find our more on their increadible history.

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JACKIE ROBINSON AS A BK DODGER The very first Black man to be able to play professional baseball in the major leagues

Jackie Robinson was born on Jan 31 1919 as Jack Roosevelt. Robinson made Black History, becoming the very first Black man to be able to play professional baseball in the major leagues.

The Brooklyn owner Branch Rickey, defied all laws, rules and codes going outside the boundaries of a white owned sport and accepting to sign a black player. Against everything and putting himself in harms way complete with death threats and signed Robinson and started him at first base on April 15, 1947.

Ironically this move ended racial segregation, up untill that day, blacks had only been allowed blacks to play baseball in the Negro leagues since the 1880’s. Following his signing to the majors for 10 years, Robinson dominated baseball and put fear into every pitchers heart at bat and on base.

He was the best and helped change the world through baseball without even knowing his true Impact at the time.

He went on to become the recipient of the inaugural MLB Rookie of the Year Award in 1947, was an All-Star for six consecutive seasons from 1949 through 1954. He won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1949, the first black player so honored. Robinson played in six World Series and contributed to the Dodgers’ 1955 World Series championship.

In 1997, MLB Jackie Robinson received the highest acclaim in any history of sports by retiring his jersey in every team’s stadium. Jackie Robinson can be thanked for every Black player and ethnic player wearing a uniform in today’s major leagues, his shirt in every stadium is a reminder of his sacrifice.

On April 15th, 2004 the MLB started “Jackie Robinson Day” and on this day every player in the MLB wears #42.

Robinson was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and The Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

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Montreal loved Jackie 1928, George Stallings, a former Major League Baseball executive and Southern United States plantation owner, formed a partnership with Montreal lawyer and politician, Athanase David, and Montreal businessman, Ernest Savard, to resurrect the Montreal Royals. Among the team’s other local affluent notables were close

friends Lucien Beauregard, Romeo Gauvreau, Hector H. Racine, and Charles E. Trudeau. Charles Trudeau, businessman and father of former Canadian Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau would remain on the Montreal Baseball Club Inc. Board of Directors until his death in 1935. Together these men financed and built Delorimier Stadium.

The team holds a unique place in baseball history for being the first major-league affiliate to break the socalled “baseball color barrier”. On October 23, 1945, two members of the Brooklyn National League Baseball Club Inc. Board of Directors, Montreal Royals owner and team president, Hector Racine, and Brooklyn Dodgers general manager, Branch Rickey, signed Jackie Robinson, an AfricanAmerican. Robinson played with the Royals during the 1946 season. John Wright and Roy Partlow, black pitchers, also played with the Royals that year.

During that season, Robinson faced the race-related resistance from his manager, Mississippian Clay Hopper, and teammates but soon won them over with his masterful play (beginning with his spectacular debut in the opening game against the Jersey City Giants) and courage facing hostile crowds and opponents. As for his home city, he was welcomed immediately by the public, who followed his performance that season with intense adoration. For the rest of his life, Robinson remained grateful to the people of Montreal for making the city a welcoming oasis for him and his wife during that difficult 1946 season.

They lived in an apartment in a white neighborhood of Montreal that summer. Robinson then left to play for the Dodgers the following year but not before winning the Little World series and being chased by exultant Montreal fans right to the train as he left. Pittsburgh Courier: “It was probably the only day in history

that a black man ran from a white mob with love instead of lynching on its mind.”

The franchise was relocated to Syracuse, New York for 1961, where it has played as the Syracuse Chiefs since.

Montreal would gain an MLB team, the Expos, in 1969.

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SLAVERY WAS HARD IN DA WEST INDIES….

In the Caribbean, Barbados became an English Colony in 1624 and Jamaica in 1655.

These and other Caribbean colonies became the center of wealth and the focus of the slave trade for the growing English empire as of 1778, the French were importing approximately 13,000 Africans for enslavement to the French West Indies.

Sugar and slavery went hand in hand and European planters thought Africans would be more suited to the conditions than their own countrymen, as the climate resembled that the climate of their homeland in West Africa. Enslaved Africans were also much less expensive to maintain. In 1650 an African

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slave could be bought for as little as £7 and a century later between £40 and £50.In the 1650’s, when sugar started to take over from tobacco as the main cash crop on Nevis, enslaved Africans formed only 20% of the population. By the early 18th century when sugar production was fully established, nearly 80% of the population was Black.

One recent estimate is that 12% of all Africans transported on British ships between 1701 and 1807, died en route to the West Indies and North America; others put the figure as high as 25%. Nearly 350,000 Africans were transported to the Leeward Islands by 1810 but many died on the voyage through disease or ill-treatment, some were driven by despair to commit suicide by jumping into the sea. Once they arrived in the Caribbean islands, the Africans were prepared for sale. They were washed and their skin

HAITIAN BLACK HISTORY

HAITIAN PEOPLE ARE BLACK AND PROUD

The name Haiti originated from the indigenous people who cultivated the land. It means “Land of the Mountain” because the island is surrounded by great landscapes and mountains.

Although, most of the Africans who came to Haiti were first brought in as slaves they were able to maintain their tradition throughout the centuries. In doing so, the people of Haiti being Haitian are very well aware of their cultural back-

grounds and roots. Africa has influenced on many of the Haitian traditions including paintings, dance, music, food, the language Creole, and the spiritual belief system in the island we love to call Haiti.

Haitians have also played a part in the History of the United States. Did you know that a Haitian Jean Baptiste Point Du

Sable was the founder of Chicago. Although Chicago was not chartered as a city until 1837, its founding took place many years before when Du Sable opened his trading post beside the Chicago River. From this humble start came an important city, and Du Sable’s life there in its early days is an important part of that heritage.

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was oiled and finally they were sold to local buyers. Often parents were separated from children, and husbands. The work in the fields was grueling, with long hours spent in the hot sun, supervised by overseers who were quick to use the whip. Tasks ranged from clearing land, planting cane, and harvesting canes by hand, to manuring and weeding. Inside the plantation works, the conditions were often worse, especially the heat of the boiling house. Many plantation owners preferred to import new slaves rather than providing the means and conditions for the survival of their existing slaves.

Until the Amelioration Act was passed in 1798, which forced planters to improve conditions for enslaved workers, many owners simply replaced the casualties by importing more slaves.

LOUISIANA & HAITI CONNECTION When Haiti gained its independence, Napoleon’s plan collapsed, forcing French troops to return home defeated, preventing them from reaching their ultimate destination, Louisiana — and from being able to defend it. As Napoleon’s New World Empire disintegrated, the loss of Haiti made Louisiana unnecessary. By doing so, the French had decided to sell Louisiana to America for $11,250,000 and assumed claims of its own citizens against France up to $3,750,000, for a total purchase price of $15,000,000.

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JR NG KI ER TH LU IN RT MA There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance next time.

M OL LC MA

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.

Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies - or else? The chain reaction of evil — hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars· must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.

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X TUPAC AND BIGGIE ARE TWO OF THE GREATEST MCS EVER

June 16, 1971 September 13, 1996

Born in New York City in 1971, Tupac Shakur, known by his stage name 2Pac, was an American rapper. Shakur has sold more than 75 million albums worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world. . The son of Black Panther activists, Shakur was raised by his mother Afeni Shakur.

Only as an adult did he have contact with his biological father, Billy Garland.

During his solo music reign he dropped 5 albums on us d that have all become iconic albums to our black music history.

1991 2Pacalypse Now 1993 Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z...1995 Me Against the World 1996 All Eyez on Me 1994: Collaboration album Thug Life: Volume 1 (with Thug Life).

“Tupac Amaru” means “shining serpent.”

Tupac was tragically shot and killed in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1996. He murder has yet to be resolved.

Raised in the bourugh of Brooklyn, New York, Biggie Smalls aka Big Papa transformed the sound in Hip Hop as he was that specially gifted as an lyricost and MC. He was the movement and no one could stop him, specially in New York. The Notorious B.I.G. had released three studio albums produced by Puff Daddy at the time now Diddy, on Bad Boy Records Ready to Die (1994), Conspiracy(1995), and Life After Death (1997) In 1995 Biggie won the billboard awards for the best rap artist of the year and the best rap single of the year Mo money Mo problems.

His life was too tragically cut short when after an after party in los Angeles and Biggie leaving a Chevrolet Impala, with a black male dressed in a blue shirt and bow tie shot at his SUV. Four bullets hit Biggie rushed to the hospital it was too late and by 1:15 a.m. P.S.T Biggie was gone.

Sadly both were killed within six months from each other.

May 21, 1972 March 9, 1997

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PK Subban makes black history Subban’s parents both immigrated to Ontario from the Caribbean in the 1970s. His father Karl moved from Jamaica to Sudbury, and his mother, Maria, came from Montserrat to Hamilton.

P.K. was born in Toronto and has four siblings: Nastassia, Natasha, Jordan and Malcolm.

He earned his first call-up to the Canadiens on February 11, 2010, and, on the following day, registered his first career NHL point, an assist, in his debut against the Philadelphiaa Flyers on February 12. On January 28, 2013, however, Subban eventually signed a two-year, $ 5.75 million deal with Montreal He scored 11 goals and 27 assists, matching his career-high 38 points despite playing in only 42 games due to the lockout. At the end of the season, he was awarded with the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s defenceman of the year, on August 2, it was announced that Subban and the Habs had agreed to term on an eightyear, $72 million contract, running through the 2021–22 season.

A Negro Hockey League was 23 years before a National Hockey League.

In 1894, an all-negro ice hockey league, known as the Coloured Hockey League, was founded in Nova Scotia. Black players from Canada’s Maritime provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island) partici-pated in competition.

The league began to play 23 years before the National Hockey League was founded.

The contract made him the highest-paid defenceman in the NHL and third-highest paid League player overall at the time.

On September 15, 2014, Subban was named an alternate captain of the Canadiens along with Max Pacioretty, Tomáš Plekanec and Andrei Markov as Montreal Head Coach Michel Therrien, elected not to award a captaincy following Brian Gionta’s departure in off-season. Before the 2015–16 season, on September 16, 2015, Subban announced his donation of $10 million to the Montreal Children’s Hospital.

The hospital called it “the biggest philanthropic commitment by a sports figure in Canadian history.

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Jan 20th 2009 President Barack Obama swears in Barack Obama was born on Aug 4 1961 at Kapiʻolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital (now Kapiʻolani Medical Center for Women and Children) in Honolulu, Hawaii.

He made black history becoming the first Black president and serving as the 44th President of the United States. Obama was reelected president in November 2012, defeating Republican nominee Mitt Romney, and was sworn in for a second term on January 20, 2013.

Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School.

His mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, born in Wichita, Kansas, was of mostly English ancestry. His father, Barack Obama, Sr., was a Luo from Nyang’oma Kogelo, Kenya. Obama’s parents met in 1960 in a Russian language class, given at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa.

Tracing the President’s African roots: President Obama is traditionally viewed as an African American because of his father’s heritage in Kenya. However, when tracing his Caucasian mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, roots genealogists found her to have African heritage as well. DNA analysis helped confirm that Dunham’s ancestors, known as white landowners in Colonial Virginia, actually descended from an African man.

Existing records suggest that this man, John Punch, had children with a white woman who then passed her free status on to their offspring. Some of Punch’s descendants went on to be free, successful land owners in a Virginia entrenched in slavery.

We honor Rev. Darryl Gray for his dedication to serving and enriching our Black community in MTL. Since arriving in Montreal, Rev. Darryl Gray has been compared to New York’s Rev. Al Sharpton. He’s one of the biggest voices in our Black community and has had the hardest job of burying the majority of our blacks, murdered to violence in Montreal. Rev. Gray was the minister of Montreal’s Union United from 1998 to June 30, 2005 and hired by the Montreal Presbytery of the United Church of Canada. Following his term Rev. Gray started his new ministry called “The Imani Church” and has built a large Christian ministry of Montreal followers to it. From politics to coaching basketball, Rev Gray does it all, including now working closely with The Black Life Matters movement in the U.S.; doing speeches and counseling. We are proud to honor Rev. Darryl Gray by acknowledging his tireless work and dedication.

Rev. Darryl Gray

Search Imani family on facebook.

FRIED CHICKEN & WATERMELON

US MO N FA E S CK K’ HI AR D C SP RIE F

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espite popular perception, as early as 1730‘s fried chicken was a rare and special dish in the African-American community. Lard was used for almost all cooking and was a fundamental component in many common homestead foods like biscuits and pies. In the 19th century, cast iron became widely available for use in cooking. The combination of flour, lard, chicken and a heavy pan placed over a relatively controllable flame marked the beginning of today’s fried chicken. Africans were put to work on southern plantations, and the slaves who became cooks incorporated seasonings and spices that were absent in traditional Scottish cuisine, enriching thereby the flavor. Since most slaves were unable to raise expensive meats, but were generally allowed to keep chickens, frying chicken on special occasions continued in the African-American communities in the south.

Fried chicken traveled well in hot weather before refrigeration was commonplace. Although also being acknowledged positively as “soul food” today, fried chicken and Blacks has been considered a delicate, often pejorative issue.

Ironically the biggest seller of fried chicken was a white man named Col.Sanders with his Kentucky fried chicken franchise recipe and chain.

W

atermelons have been viewed as a major symbol in the iconography of racism in the United States, since as early as the nineteenth century. African-Americans and watermelon goes back to the time of slavery in the United States.

Slaves were happy when provided watermelon and a little rest. In early 1915-20 song titles were popular for using watermelon and Black folk stereotypes. The script for Gone with the Wind (1939) contained a scene in which Scarlett O’Hara’s slave Prissy, played by Butterfly McQueen was supposed to eat watermelon; however the actress refused to perform in it. Watermelons also provided a theme for many racial jokes in the 2000s.

The truth is that we all love watermelon, so we all need to get over it....

BLACK LIFE MATTERS IN CANADA TOO The Black Life Matters organization operates as an international activist movement and campaigns for violence against the black community.

The BLM is at all the protests for killings by law enforcement, police brutality and racial in justice is now present in the United States, Europe and now Canada and spreading to other countries all around the world.

NOVA SCOTIAN BLACK HISTORY Slaves or Freemen

Settled in Nova Scotia, Canada during the 18th and early 19th centuries. The first Black person in Nova Scotia arrived with the founding of Port Royal (1605). Black people were then brought as slaves to Nova Scotia during the founding of Louisbourg and Halifax. The first major migration of Blacks to Nova Scotia happened during the American Revolution, where Blacks were fleeing slavery in America.

Viola Irene Desmond July 6, 1914 February 7, 1965

She was a Black Nova Scotian business woman who challenged racial segregation at a film theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia in 1946.

She refused to leave a whites-only area of the Roseland Theatre and was unjustly convicted of a minor tax violation used to enforce segregation.

Desmond’s case is one of the most publicized incidents of racial discrimination in Canadian history and helped start the modern civil rights movement in Canada.

Rosa Parks

On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James F. Blake’s order to give up her seat in the colored section to a white passenger, after the white section was filled.

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from da south up north to Detroit to Ontario, Quebec and all the way to Nova Scotia blacks fled for their freedom...

Places had code names to help keep the routes secret.

-Detroit, from which most left the United States, was known as “Midnight” -The Detroit River was called “Jordan,” a biblical reference to the river that led to the promised land.

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etween 1840 and 1860, before the American Civil War, enslaved Africans followed the North Star on the Underground Railroad to find freedom in Canada. It was not an actual railroad but a secret network of routes and safe houses that helped people escape slavery and reach free states or Canada. Sometimes there were guides to help people find their way to the next stop along the way. The “railroad” actually began operating in the 1780s, but

became known as the Underground Railroad in the 1830s. The organization used railroad terms as code words. For instance those who helped people move from place to place were known as “conductors”. The fleeing refugees were called “passengers” or “cargo.” Safe places to stop to rest were called “stations.” Conductors were also abolitionists, people who wanted slavery abolished. They were Blacks and Whites, men and women.

-The end of the journey also had a code name, such as “Dawn.”

-People could communicate without being specific: “Take the railroad from Midnight to Dawn.”As many as 30,000 refugees arrived all across Canada, from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, but most came to what is now southwestern Ontario. The railroad’s traffic’s peak was between 1840 and 1860, especially after the US passed its Fugitive Slave Act in 1850. The new law allowed slave hunters to pursue and capture and kidnap escapees in Canada and return them to former owners in the Southern States. Harriet Tubman, Mary Ann Shadd and Josiah Henson are some of the famous conductors we’ve read about.

I just got a call from the Grammys!!

They shocked me!! We’re the first rappers to get this award!! Shocked!

Grateful! God is good!!! tweeted by Joseph “Reverend Run” Simmons

Iconic rap group Run D.M.C will be honored as one of the acts receiving the Grammy’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

RUN DMC was Darryl McDaniels for the “D.M.C” , and Joseph Simmons making up “Reverend Run” and the late Jason “Jam Master Jay” was their DJ. The press release announcing the news was amazing for the group to hear or read I could only imagine as it read.

“Each year, The Academy has the distinct privilege of honoring those who have greatly contributed to our industry and cultural heritage, and this year we have a gifted and brilliant group of

RUN

DMC

honorees. Their exceptional accomplishments, contributions, and artistry will continue to influence and inspire generations to come.”

RUN DMC was the first rap act to land a gold album with their self-titled

JAM MASTER JAY

1984 debut and to be nominated for a Grammy.

They made Black History in Hip Hop more than once.

Simply Legends and the Pioneers.

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Rockhead Paradise

Rufus Rockhead - Owner

Photo by Louis Jaques, © Library and Archives Canada

Rockhead’s Paradise was located at 1254 St. Antoine Street, was the most popular night club spot, During its fifty-year tenure, numerous renowned jazz players including played here to the like of Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Leadbelly, Nina Simone, Dizzy Gillespie and Sammy Davis Jr. Founded in 1928

by Rufus, Nathaniel Rockhead, a Jamaican - born railway porter, Rufus opened the club with the income he earned on the rails as a porter, and then later as a bootlegger, allegedly running booze for Al Capone. Even though African

Canadians were unable to get liquor licenses, Rufus used what sway he had among friends to help him get the license. After three years of running the Mountain Tavern, Rufus parlayed the tavern into the jazz club Rockhead’s Paradise. The club was known for producing talented jazz musicians, most notably Oscar Peterson and Oliver Jones. During its last years of

operation, the club was the Home of Rising Sun (Soleil Levant), which was a jazz, blues, and reggae club. In 2012, 32 years after Rockhead’s Paradise was demolished. Rufus Rockhead died Sept 23 1981.

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Negro Community Centre

In February 1927 in the living room of the Reverend Charles Humphrey Este, the Negro Community Centre (NCC) was born. With the eleven members of the congregation of the Union United Church, the mission was to “improve the social and economic conditions of the black community in Montreal.”

The Financial Federation of Montreal granted funds to get started, in July 1955 they merged the Negro Community Centre and the Iverley Community Centre together.

From 1955 to 1957, the community will reap $50,000 grant to build a gym on the fourth floor. Beyond the various mayors of Montreal who visited repeatedly Negro Center, it was in June 1990 that the center will receive in its walls its most famous visitor: Nelson Mandela. The Negro Comumunity Center would be the only place he accepts or wants to visit during his trip. After several years to find

Coralie Elvira Preston Davidson May 13, 1925 - Feb 1, 2009 A NCC daycare teacher for 20 years plus

a solution. The center was officially closed in 1994 and on Nov ,20 2014 it was demolished for good.

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NIGGA — a black man with a chain around his neck, Said Tupac.

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NIGGER — a black man with a slavery chain around his neck.

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The “N” Word Nigga (/ˈnɪɡə/, pronounced is a term used in Black English that began as a dialect form of the word nigger (a word originated as a term used in a neutral context to refer to black people, as a variation of the Spanish, Portuguese noun Negro, a descendant of the Latin adjective Niger, meaning the color “black”). Presently, the word Nigga is used more liberall among younger members of all races and ethnicities in the United States and around the world as slang. Many Black people consider the both terms to be equally pejorative, and the use of Nigga both in and out derogative.

Many believe replacing the ‘er’ with an ‘a’ changes nothing other than the pronunciation. Any form of Nigger was and still is a word of disrespect.”

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a civil rights group, condemns use of both Nigga and Nigger.

Nigga is generally used by blacks to other blacks. the term may indicate “solidarity or affection”, similar to the usage of the words dude, homeboy.

The history of the Jheri Curl

Michael Joseph Jackson August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009 World’s greatest entertainer ever!!!

UNION UNITED CHURCH The Union United Church of Montreal is Montreal, Canada’s oldest Black congregation. It was founded in 1907 by several members of Montreal’s Black community who experienced racial

The Jheri curl (often spelled Jerry curl or Jeri Curl) is a permed hairstyle that was popular among African American, Black Canadian, and Black British during the 1980s. Invented by the hairdresser Jheri Redding. A Jheri curl required a two-part application that con-

sisted of a softener (often called a “rearranging cream”) to loosen the hair and a solution to set the curls. The rearranging cream used pungent chemicals, causing the naturally tight curls to loosen and hang. To maintain the look of the Jheri curl, you apply

a curl activator spray and heavy moisturizers daily and sleep with a plastic cap on your head to keep the hairstyle from drying out. A trend-setting jheri curl image was the cover of Michael Jackson’s album Thriller, which was released in 1982. Also notably, actor Sam-

uel L. Jackson (as the character Jules Winnfield) wore a jheri-curled wig in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. The style was also worn in the late 1980s and early 1990s by rappers DJ Quik, Eazy-E, along with other members of the hip-hop group N.W.A, such as Ice Cube.

ada as part of the amalgamation of many Presbyterian, Congregationalist and Methodist churches across the country to form the denomination.

conflict and were banned from entering all-White churches. Union was started with a treasury of just $1.83. In July 1907, a group of African Canadian railway porters and their wives met to establish a Christian church where they could freely worship in their own style after having been forced entry into other churches in Montreal. In September 1 of that year, Union Congregational Church was founded on $2 and held its first service with 26 attendees. The first pastor of the congregation was Rev. F.E. Bowser.

It was assisted by the Colored Women’s Club, the oldest Black Women’s club in Canada which was founded in 1902 by black Québécois women. In 1925, the church joined the United Church of Can-

Today, the church is pastored by Rev. Emmanuel Kwadwo Ofori of Ghana. Although the congregation has always been predominantly African-Canadian, it has members from 50 different nations. The church has celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2007.

The Railroad served as the best means to secure a steady job in Montreal, the church was natural for the men to be apart of building. Many Blacks were workers as porters red caps and even sky caps at the airport later on. From back home as black say in Nova Scotia across Canada to Vancouver blacks worked on the trains.

The House of Jazz story starts with the creator Mr. George Durst himself.

His vision for the House of Jazz is as deep as the music itself....

Charles Reed “Charlie” Biddle July 28, 1926 – February 4, 2003

Born in Philadelphia, Biddle In 1948, arrived in Montreal while touring with Vernon Isaac’s Three Jacks and a Jill.

Biddle was fascinated by the fact that in Canada, particularly Quebec. Impressed with the opened - mindedness of the people of Canada in matters of race, he decided to settle down in Montreal, and fell in love with a French-Canadian woman, Constance. The two eventually married and raised three daughters – Sonya, Stephanie and Tracy, and a son, Charles Biddle Jr. Biddle was employed as a car salesman from 1954 to 1972, while performing in local Montreal nightclubs. As a promoter, he booked musicians and he and fellow guitarist Nelson Symonds performed off and on between 1959 and 1978.

Charlie Biddle was a great contributor and a icon we can all you thank for the Jazz Festival we have today as he pioneered

Jazz in Montreal. 1979 and 1983 he started Nous, a 3-day Jazz Festival which was the beginning foundation for the Montreal International Jazz Festival. In 1981 Montreal’s very successful ex disco club and giant restaurant owner George Durst was a genius in the business anything he touched would turn to gold. It was time to open a world class jazz restaurant and bar with Charlie Biddle lending his name to it and that the two of them ventured into and successfully launched Biddle’s Jazz Restaurant and Bar together.

Biddle’s club remained at the heart of jazz culture in Montreal during his lifetime. When performing at the club he would use the title, ‘Charlie Biddle on the fiddle’, and led trios at the club on a regular basis, along with pianists Oliver Jones, Steve Holt, Wray Downes, and Jon Ballantyne.

He played at the club weekly

up until the last months before his death, on February 4, 2003.

Biddle’s club was located in downtown Montreal on Aylmer Street corner of President Kennedy, the restaurant and bar still operate successfully but are now known as The House of Jazz.

Biddle recorded LPs with Milt Sealey, Ted Curson, and Oliver Jones. He also performed on the big-screen in such feature films as The Whole Nine Yards, 2000; The Moderns, 1988; and the French-Canadian film Les Portes Tournantes, 1988.

Biddle received the Oscar Peterson Prize in 2000, was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 2003, and was honored with the Prix Calixa-Lavallée in 2003. The Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society stated that: “Without him, Québecers might not have developed their love for jazz that has made Montreal a host of one of the greatest jazz festivals in the world.”

MOTOWN CHANGED BLACK MUSIC...

By a chance meeting in 1958, with an upcoming local singing group called the Miracles, this meeting led to his ability to teach songwriting to the quintet’s lead singer, William “Smokey” Robinson. These two would form the foundation of Motown, a name taken from Detroit’s nickname, “the Motor City”. Robinson was a perfect writer/composer for the Miracles and other acts and Gordy was set to go into full swing with his business Motown.

With an $800 loan from his family, Berry Gordy Jr. established Motown Records in January 1959 and kicked off with the Tamla label, leasing Marv Johnson’s “Come To Me” to UA; Barrett Strong, who cut “Money (That’s What I Want),” had the company’s first national hit. Within a few years, this Detroit-based outfit was selling more singles and releasing more hits than any other record company.

George Durst is, yes a business mogul but also a humble man that enjoys beautiful things as he says. He has been very excited to be apart of this issue, 4AM NEWS is proud to have Mr. George Durst and both the House of Jazz locations, as sponsors of this Black History Issue.

Mr. Durst has been in the Jazz business for over 40 years, dating back to booking the legendary acts that for most of us can only see on the Internet.

From owning Biddle’s with long time associate, partner and friend, Charlie Biddle who has booked the legends, including Ella Fitzgerald to Oscar Peterson, Renee Lee and Oliver Jones. He’s been in clubs, restaurants and a respected man in Montreal for his whole life and has been part of the black history of jazz music to our city.

The House of Jazz is ready to do it all over again, with a new line up of stars appearing, that Mr. Durst is behind. Singers like, Michelle Sweeney and Dawn Tyler Watson have been with Mr. Durst for over 30 years while others are newer, none of the music has any signs of turning down anytime soon.

The House of jazz is all the atmosphere you will want. The downtown location is more like the New Orleans vibe with ribs and chicken, while Laval is more upscale and fine dining. Both jazz and dinner experiences will satisfy and entertain you fully.

Jazz up your night at The House of Jazz.

Smokey Robinson And The Miracles.

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Always Remembered As One Of Da Greatest

Oscar Emmanuel Peterson August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007

One day he heard Art Tatum, another pianist, who would take his skills to school. He actually stopped playing piano after hearing Art Tatum.

During the 1940’s and 1950’s, Tatum became Oscar Peterson’s musicianship mentor and role model.

Oscar Peterson would meet Norman Granz, a man that heard Peterson on a radio broadcasting live from a local night club, in a cab ride to the airport. He immediately ordered the driver to take him to the club to meet Peterson.

In 1949, Granz introduced Peterson at a Carnegie Hall Jazz at the Philharmonic show in New York . Granz would remain Oscar Peterson’s manager and bring him around the world.

Duke Ellington called him the “Maharaja of the keyboard” but back home in Montreal, Oscar Peterson was simply “O.P.” What he did in his time was not too shabby for a kid from little Burgundy. He released over 200 recordings, won eight Grammy Awards, plus countless other awards and honours. By far he is one of the greatest jazz pianists and musicians ever having performed for millions of ears his career lasted for more than 60 years. Peterson was born to immigrants from the West Indies.

Oscar started off with trumpet at age five but suffering tuberculosis by the time he was 7, he had to switch to piano. It’s here that Oscar Peterson’s sister Daisy Peterson Sweeney became a major impact in his life harnessing his musical ability.

By the age of 14, Oscar had won the national music competition organized by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

After winning he decided to quit school and become a professional pianist playing in clubs, gigs and shows, he was notably cocky.

Peterson made numerous duo performances and recordings with bassists Ray Brown, Sam Jones, and Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, guitarists Joe Pass, Irving Ashby, Herb Ellis, and Barney Kessel, pianists Count Basie,Herbie Hancock, Benny Green, Oliver Jones, and Keith Emerson, trumpeters Clark Terry and Louis Armstrong, and many other important jazz players.

Most notably was his trio the Oscar Peterson trio with Ray Brown and guitarist Herb Ellis. This music by Oscar and his trio marked the formation of one of the longest lasting partnerships in the history of jazz.

After health issues including a stroke that left his left hand affected, Oscar put more playing emphasis on his right hand and

thereby managed to make a come back.

In 1995, he returned to public performances on a limited basis and also made several lives and studio recordings for Telarc.

In 1997, he received a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement and an International Jazz Hall of Fame Award. Canadian politician, friend, and amateur pianist Bob Rae contends that “a one-handed Oscar was better than just about anyone with two hands”.

Sadly after more health issues on December 23, 2007, Montreal Jazz legend and Black History icon Oscar Peterson died of kidney failure at his home in Mississauga, Ontario. He left seven children, his fourth wife Kelly, and their daughter, Celine (born 1991).

Café St-Michel Was Rocking In The 30’s & 40’s Era The American musician Louis Metcalf moved to Montreal in 1946 and will host the Café St-Michel for nearly 10 years. It forms the International Band, first set to play the new style bebop in Montreal and Canada. The

fame of Louis Metcalf makes Café St-Michel the center of the jazz community in Montreal for several years. This is the period during which Oscar Peterson became a recognized jazz pianist.

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Mulatto arguably has the ugliest roots of the antiquated terms on this list.

Historically used to describe the child of a black person and a white person, the term reportedly originates from the Spanish word “mulato,” which, in turn, originates from the word “mula,” or mule—the offspring of a horse and a donkey. Clearly, this term is offensive, as it compares the union of human beings to that of animals.

Arabs and African Slavery go way back The number of people enslaved by Muslims has been a hotly debated topic, especially when the millions of Africans forced from their homelands are considered.

Some historians estimate that between A.D. 650 and 1900, 10 to 20 million people were enslaved by Arab slave traders. Others believe over 20 million enslaved Africans alone had been delivered through the trans-Sahara route alone to the Islamic world.

Dr. John Alembellah Azumah in his 2001 book, The Legacy of Arab-Islam in Africa estimates that over 80 million Black people died en route.

The word “Ghetto” is Italian and comes from Jewish History, not Black Communities Ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially because of social, legal, or economic pressure. The term was originally used in Venice to describe the part of the city to which Jews were restricted and segregated.

Two main factors ensured further separation between races and classes, and ultimately the development of contemporary ghettos: the relocation of industrial enterprises and the movement of middle to upper class residents into suburban neighborhoods.

Ceramic sculpture by Sharon Davidson (1981) was exhibited in Montreal during 1980’s and 1990’s This sawdust fired, narrative sculpture represents the black man’s emotion of his plight in his journey from Africa.. the East, to America… the West. The mask, shows his mask of emotion of pain and sadness of his past world is hidden.

The head of the body, of our body, is a circular sphere relating to earth, also symbolizes eternity. The mask covers his eyes as he’s torn away from his known homeland, Africa to live in an unknown land, North America.

African origins to Martial arts Actor and Martial arts superstar Michael Jai White

Mask on a Mask

"The Nuba of Sudan, Africa practiced a form of martial arts wrestling over 2,800 years before Christ. There are no other records in any corner of the world that can claim such a long, and unbroken martial arts tradition. This form of martial arts, which included weapons as well as fortification, and certainly empty hand self-defense blossomed in 12th Dynasty Egypt.

Nuba Wrestling is the original martial art that all of Africa, Asia, and Europe later came to benefit from".

His hand symbolizes the continent of Africa, with its finger spears represents different native tribes, the palm outlines Africa’s western coastline. From behind the mask, one tear of his pain and disappointment of his journey, falls into North America’s eastern coastline at the tip of Florida.

Mask.

Small model by Sharon Davidson (1981) Small ceramic model was sawdust fired: helped the artist to create the larger sculpture “Mask on a Mask”