Religion & Spirituality

Versatile creative artist Bob Gumbs joins ancestors at 83

By CINQUE BRATH and HERB BOYD

Special to the AmNews

Bob Gumbs was a creative artist who was active in his community for years.

He worked as a graphic artist, photographer, and designer of commemorative emblems, book publisher, painter, author and editor. Bob was one of the handful of Black coin designers in the United States. In 1956, he was one of the founding members of the Jazz-Art Society, later the African Jazz Arts Society and Studios (AJASS), along with Elombe Brath and Kwame Brathwaite. Beginning in 1962, AJASS produced a series of “Black Is Beautiful” natural hair fashion shows featuring the Grandassa Models which set off a global movement.

Bob Gumbs was born in Harlem on March 15, 1939, and raised in the South Bronx. A graduate of New York City Community College, he also studied at The School of Visual Arts, The Arts Students League, New York University and the New School. From 1963 to 1965 Bob was a United States Army photographer.

He designed a series of commemorative coins to honor notable African and African American men and women: Sgt. Cornelious H. Charlton, Doris ‘Dorie’ Miller, Mary McLeod Bethune, Harriet Tubman, Thelonious Monk, Nelson Mandela, The Black Panther Party and the Montford Point Marines. Two of his drawings of Thelonious Monk were featured in a New York City Art Exhibit, to honor the legendary jazz pianist and composer.

One of his most popular publications, “The Harlem Cultural/Political Movements, 1960-1970,” was done in association with Klytus Smith and Abiola Sinclair in 1995. And he was an important editor and advisor on “Elombe Brath—Selected Writings and Essays,” edited by Herb Boyd, and published by the Elombe Brath Foundation.

Bob served on the board of several nonprofit organizations and was responsible for nearly a half dozen street co-namings of jazz artists that took place in the Bronx over the past few decades. He helped define the history of the South Bronx with Professor Mark Naison of Fordham University in “Before the Fires: An Oral History of African American Life in the Bronx from the 1930s to the 1960s.” More recently Bob Gumbs served as the lead commentator for the six award winning documentary by Louise Dente entitled “AJASS: Pioneers of the Black Is Beautiful Movement.”

A mural was created by 320 Arts under the nonprofit organization Uptown Grand Central on 125th Street between Park and Lexington Avenue that prominently features Bob Gumbs.

Bob was recognized as one of the top 50 Black designers and Black graphic artists of the ’60s and ’70s, and he was in the process of helping to commemorate an exhibit of his and fellow AJASS members’ design history with Cooper Union Herb Lubalin Center for Design and topography in 2024. His most famous design is likely the iconic Black Is Beautiful poster he designed using photos of Grandassa Models taken by Kwame Brathwaite. The poster sold out in the Studio Museum in Harlem and has appeared as 20x20 displays in museums and was turned into an 8x5 flag that flew over Rockefeller Center under the flag project in March of 2021.

Bob transitioned due to a sudden heart attack on the morning of October 23, 2022, and he is survived by his wife Ida Gumbs and son Diallo Gumbs.

Joseph Clark

October 17, 1936 ~ October 23, 2022

MEMORIAL SERVICE

Saturday October 29, 2022 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM S.L. Mclaughlin Funeral Home 1226 Broadway Albany, NY 12204

Robert Gumbs pointing to himself on the mural (Cinque Brath photo)

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helping her community because that’s who she is.”

“While we’re here talking about our current D.A., we can’t forget that it was Cy Vance that indicted this case to begin with,” said Deputy Public Advocate for Justice, Health Equity and Safety Solomon Acevedo. “This is a systemic issue when it comes to what we do when people survive domestic violence by any means necessary.

“It’s a complicated issue and the problem that we’re having is that we don’t want to deal with it. We don’t want to deal with the fact that more often than not, it is Black women who are the ones who are being prosecuted for things like this disproportionately.”

An online petition to drop McCarter’s charges with over 21,000 signatures was delivered to Bragg’s office.

The motion-to-dismiss court document delineated Murray’s history with alcoholism, as well as McCarter’s claims of violence against her, which include repeated chokeholds and hair-pulling. Murray arrived at McCarter’s Upper Westside apartment drunk on the date of his death. Her neighbor overheard her yelling for him to “get the f- -k out.” He found McCarter attempting to aid an unresponsive Murray. A bloody kitchen knife was recovered from the scene. Murray was stabbed in the chest. McCarter dialed 911, and her neighbor helped her complete the call.

Since Bragg took office this year, attempts to resolve McCarter’s case without imprisonment were made. In May, an Alford plea agreement— where the defendant can maintain his or her innocence—was proposed for second degree counts of manslaughter and criminal menacing. A judge shot down the proposal, which would mandate McCarter to attend PTSD treatment, and upon completion with the added condition that she avoid rearrest, the manslaughter conviction would be dismissed. A motion to dismiss was also denied by the judge. But the charges remain undropped.

“The dignity and wellbeing of survivors is at the center of the office’s work, and the Special Victims Division leadership supervising this case has deep experience in survivor-centered and trauma-informed practice,” said a spokesperson from the Manhattan D.A.’s office. “Because this case is open and pending, we will have to decline to comment.”

Vocal-NY members stand with Tracy McCarter at Foley Square rally. (Tandy Lau photo) October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. And according to the Vera Institute of Justice, 77% of incarcerated women experienced intimate partner violence. McCarter’s son, Justin, says he moved back with her and serves as her proxy. He says she’s received outpouring support. But it’s a tough situation. “It’s difficult, for sure,” he said. “But she is holding on to that hope. And she’s not letting go. So she’s definitely struggling. But she’s persevering through it.”

There’s more to McCarter than just the case. She’s a mother and a grandmother. At the time of her arrest, she was a nurse and Ivy League grad student. But both pursuits were suspended after her husband’s killing.

“I guess the main takeaway I really get from this is that my mom’s a survivor,” added Justin McCarter. “She’s a victim. She’s not a perpetrator. And we just want an outcome that reflects that and for her to be able to move on with her life.

Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member and writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting: https://bit.ly/amnews1

New Jersey

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Awards on Oct. 12.

DeAnna Minus-Vincent, executive vice president, chief social justice and accountability officer at RWJBarnabas Health, is the awardee for innovation in health care and social justice. Minus-Vincent’s primary responsibility at RWJBarnabas Health calls for pursuing an “intentionally anti-racist, equitable culture” within its walls and in its communities.

She praised RJWB Health for taking on inequality in a real way. “While other companies decreed and pledged, they put their money where their mouth is,” Minus-Vincent said. “It takes courage for a system to look at themselves and change things we didn’t like.”

Jill Johnson, co-founder and CEO of the Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership, is the awardee for innovation in finance and social advancement.

In 2002, Johnson co-founded the Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership, an independent not-for-profit that helps people of color access the knowledge, network and capital required for entrepreneurial success and wealth creation.

“There is a lot of potential among many different populations, but what they often don’t have is the capital and the connections to achieve the entrepreneurial success and create wealth,” Johnson said.

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