Papa Lou Donaldson, G.W. Carver Museum

Prior to the presidency of the twice-impeached dictator idol-worshipper Red Barron 45, Florida was the ideal place to be, with sun-filled days and beautiful starry nights. The weather remains superb but now there’s an insane governor who believes in banning books and his deranged rants suggest the Trans-Atlantic slave trade was just a century long, live-in internship program that prepared our ancestors for great jobs as farmers and tradesmen. And all the daily torment, physical and mental abuse, rape, and lynchings were just overzealous slave owners helping their students adapt.

Regardless of the negative “Right” obsessions, what inspires my visits to Florida is spending time with the humorous, charismatic, and renowned alto saxophonist “Sweet Papa” Lou Donaldson. My good friend Scott Thompson (former publicist for Jazz at Lincoln Center, and now an independent publicist) and I take joy in driving down to Fort Lauderdale to visit Donaldson (oh, and did I mention it’s Scott’s car). Visiting him has been our joy for some years. Prior to Dr. Lonnie Smith’s transition, he made our foursome. We would stop and pick up the famed organist and meet Donaldson at the Golden Corral ; at the time he was driving his mean El Dorado that was transported down from New York.

Sweet Lou has since retired his El Dorado and is living in a luxurious assisted living complex with a swimming pool, tennis courts, a health club, and golf course. Jazz is piped in throughout the building; pretty sure Papa Lou had something to do with the choice of music. Of course, the retired saxophonist is a superstar at the complex: all the women giggle like schoolgirls when speaking with him and the guys take time for quick chit chat. And the staff, from what Scott and I saw, all praise his name.

Unfortunately, the Golden Corral, our favorite restaurant, had closed, so we quickly found a substitute: A Chinese restaurant, all you can eat…the food was good and for at least two hours, probably more, the NEA Jazz Master, now 96, astounded us with his captivating jazz tidbits, now history. We were hysterical listening to his jokes; some by Redd Foxx. Lou could have survived as a comedian, which was evident during his six decades of jazz performances riddled with comedy. He and Foxx were friends, as were Slappy White, Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali. And trust, he has stories for all of them. An avid sports fan, he loves Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes. He loved playing alto sax, but his true love was baseball with aspirations of becoming a professional.

That dream was shattered after an injury he suffered while playing as a student at North Carolina A&T State University. Fortunately, when we are together, he allows me to record his in-depth oral history lessons. He always says, “Ron, you recording this, right? This is stuff nobody knows unless they were there.” Book agents should note Donaldson has a completed manuscript with a plethora of information as it relates to his unique experiences as a Black jazz musician from segregation to Harlem; Blue Note Records with dilemmas and triumphs in between. Having read the manuscript, it is well worth reading: fascinating, humorous, and seasoned with the brutal jazz truth.

Donaldson very seldom returns to Gotham these days, but expect to see him at Dizzy’s jazz club celebrating his 97th birthday (November 1), which is usually a week or two before or after the actual date. The evening will include an all-star band featuring a host of special guests and words from Donaldson, maybe even a song. There’s only one Sweet Papa Lou!

Walking into the G.W. Carver Interpretive Museum in Dothan, Alabama, is like entering Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone. The building that now accommodates this onestory cultural institution was originally the Dothan U.S. Post Office during the 1940s. It was a time when Alabama, among other southern states, was committed to a dystopian society, proud of its segregation policies, Jim Crow laws, and domestic terrorist acts against Black citizens. The then-Governor George Sparks (1943-47) believed in “absolute segregation” and said the Ala- bama Democratic Party should “do everything necessary to maintain an all-white party.” George Wallace became governor of Alabama in 1963 and vehemently continued its segregationist practices. Current Governor Kay Ivey is attempting to dilute minority voting in the state by following other Alabama lawmakers who refuse to follow the Supreme Court ruling.

Who was to know that Alabama, with its defiant racial inequality policies, would become a battlefield for the Civil Rights Movement? And that years later in 2000, the segregated Dothan Post Office would be converted into one of the state’s most important Black museums? It was founded by Dr. Francina Williams (member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority), in an effort to use Dr. Carver’s fame and legacy to highlight other African-Americans who have not been as widely recognized, and to highlight positive aspects of Black history throughout the year.

Thanks to Latasha Hyatt, the museum’s director of community programming, the Scott family was given a private tour of the museum for their family reunion in Alabama (spending time with their favorite relatives Claudia and Calvin Porter). The little children were overjoyed to freely run around, and the adolescents and adults were presented with a brief history of the museum and insight into the life of Dr. Carver, a prominent agricultural science genius, botanist, inventor, and a pioneer environmentalist. While walking through this storied space, one will find information on Dr. Carver’s life (on exhibit are his microscope, and some photos from during his professorship at Tuskegee Institute); local African-American ancestry; and notable accomplishments from Black scientists such as Dr. Ernest Just, pioneering biologist; inventors like Dr. Patricia Bath, who begin early studies in laser cataract surgery and invented the cataract laserphaco probe, and who performed the first eye surgery at Harlem Hospital where she was also born; and explorers like Matthew Henson.

“The G.W. Carver Museum is a safe place to have Black conversation, diversity and explore the topic of agriculture that is still an important issue in Alabama,” said Hyatt. “We want to get back into agriculture, and some want to hold on to the land they have. Much of the land is dominated by major corporations; we want to own more land and be productive.”

During his tenure at Tuskegee Institute (now University), Carver was prompted to design the Jesup Agricultural Wagon. Carver used this wagon to travel the Alabama countryside instructing and assisting Black farmers in alternating crops to prevent soil depletion.

Carver is possibly the only Black scientist and inventor to be honored with an album, “Jesup Wagon” (TAO Forms), composed by saxophonist and arranger James Brandon Lewis. As a youngster, Lewis loved science and wrote a paper on Carver, and years later followed up with some intense research. His mother often quoted the scientist: “Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.” The album features Lewis and the Red Lily Quintet exploring Carver’s life through music in a bottomless sea of sounds, raging blues, jazz, and avant garde reflecting the genius of a Black scientist, who was also a painter, musician and intellectual that changed America.

Like “Jesup Wagon,” This G.W. Carver Interpretive Museum exhibit demonstrates the phenomenal impact Blacks had in shaping America and other countries around the globe in their early years. “We want to heal and grow in whatever capacity that may be,” said Hyatt. “We want to flourish and want people in the community and beyond to visit us and spread the word.”

Dothan, Alabama, isn’t a hotspot for most New Yorkers: It is 198 miles south of Birmingham and 161.15 miles from Mobile to Dothan in a northeasterly direction. It’s Alabama’s eighth-largest city, with a population of 71,072 as of the 2020 census. The sweet melodies of chirping birds is the soundtrack for this laid-back, mellow southern town. Their soul food restaurant Thelma’s is exceptional, the cornbread worth fighting for.

Visit the Carver Museum online at gwcarvermuseum.com.

**Correction: This is the correct spelling for the trumpeter and composer Ahmed Abdullah that was misspelled last week.