National Exhibition Tour Media Coverage June - September 2014 Part 4 
Funky Turns 40 Heads To Chicago We’d like to send major congratulations to our friends over at the Museum of Uncut Funk for their Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution Exhibition which had a very successful run these last few months at the Schomburg Center For Research In Black Culture in New York City. To date, 73,672 have gone to see this amazing exhibition, which showcased animated works from some of televisions most famous animated Black characters that screened on Saturday mornings. Some of the pieces on display were from cartoon favorites including The Jackson 5, Fat Albert & The Cosby Kids, The Harlem Globetrotters, Josie & The Pussycats and more. The exhibition comes to a close in New York but will be taking up residence in it’s new home at The Dusable Museum in Chicago Illinois. The exhibition will be on display beginning June 27 and will continue on until October 20th, 2014. Be sure to round up the posse and tell a friend to tell a friend about the exhibit and head on over when it hit’s town!
Pamela Thomas, left, and Loreen Williamson, who created the exhibition, have have amassed more than 300 pieces of black animation art from the 1960s and ’70s. Credit Christopher Gregory for The New York Times The revolution that it documents is from stereotype to superhero: “Funky,” which is currently at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem and will travel to museums in Chicago, Seattle and West Reading, Pa., honors the cartoons’ imageaffirming black characters, including those of “The Harlem Globetrotters,” “Kid Power,” “Schoolhouse Rock” and “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.” The programs are more than entertaining nostalgia, the two curators and some cultural historians say. They represent the fruits of a struggle for a say in the representation of blacks in television images, among other rights, and the newfound ability of popular black entertainers to get such programming on the air, based on their own appeal to a wide audience.
The New 411 By: Raymond Ward Story Posted:07/12/2014
HEY, HEY, HEY!: The DuSable Museum of African American History is honored to present a new exhibition, Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution, which provides a nostalgic foray into the animated images of the Black characters of popular cartoons of the 1970s. The exhibition will continue at the Museum until October 19, 2014. Funky Turns 40 contains sixty pieces of Black animated art from the 1970s and featured in popular shows such as Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids, Schoolhouse Rock, and the Harlem Globetrotters. Co-curated by cartoon aficionados Pamela Thomas and Loreen Williamson, Funky Turns 40 includes a dazzling array of pieces of animated art from the Museum Of UnCut Funk, an online collection developed by Thomas and commemorates the 40th anniversary of popular 1970s Saturday morning cartoons that featured positive Black characters for the first time in television history. It was during the late 1960s/early 1970s that Saturday morning television cartoons began to feature Black animated characters in a positive and realistic manner. Fueled by the Civil Rights movement and the overwhelming commercial success of Black musicians and athletes during this time period, television producers began to explore projects with a wide, multicultural appeal. This new generation of Black characters were stars of their own series with a modern look and with contemporary story lines that delivered culturally relevant messages. Bill Cosby’s Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids paved the way for a host of Black characters and shows featuring music icons, sports heroes, and multicultural casts like The Jackson Five, Josie and The Pussy Cats, The Harlem Globetrotters, and I Am The Greatest (featuring Muhammad Ali). Even franchises like the overtly white Hardy Boys series and Super Friends began to introduce positive Black characters who worked side by side with their white counterparts. For the first time, children saw cartoon characters that looked and talked like real Black people, full of warmth, humor and intelligence. These shows empowered a generation of children with cartoon role models who promoted
family values, education, friendship, civic duty, personal responsibility and sportsmanship in fun, vibrant bursts of animation. The production of these cartoons also employed Black animators, musicians and actors – jobs that had traditionally been filled by non-Blacks who often approximated their understanding of Black culture. It was also during this time that prominent African Americans like Bill Cosby and Berry Gordy led the development of animated television programming featuring Black characters, from concept through to art creation and production. 
JUL 9, 2014
DuSable Museum commemorates cartoons By DASCHELL M. PHILLIPS Staff Writer
The DuSable Museum of African American History is commemorating the 40th anniversary of 1970s Saturday morning cartoons that featured positive Black characters for the first time in television history in its exhibit “Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution.” The traveling exhibit opened at the museum on June 27 and will run through Oct. 20. “Prior to the 1970’s, Black characters in cartoons were depicted in a very derogatory manner,” said Pamela Thomas, curator of the Museum Of UnCut Funk, which provided the artifacts for the exhibit. “This 1970s revolution in how Black animation characters were developed and portrayed in Hollywood represents historic change and the ultimate manifestation of Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream.” Thomas said cartoons such as “Harlem Globetrotters,” “The Jackson 5ive,” “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids” and characters such as Valerie Brown in Josie and the Pussy Cats, Lt. Uhura in “Star Trek” and Chuck Clayton in “The U.S. of Archie” represent, “the first time characters of all races lived, played and worked together as equals.” She said practically every piece of art represents a historical first, including the first time that cartoons like Josie and the Pussy Cats and Kid Power and a series like Star Trek featured strong, positive Black female characters. It was also the first time that Black people like Bill Cosby and Berry Gordy led the development of animated television programming featuring Black characters, from concept through art creation and production. She said the exhibit also brings light to the genre’s specific connection to Chicago and surrounding areas, such as The Harlem Globetrotters and Soul Train, which were created in the city. Muhammad Ali lived in Chicago while he voiced his animated character for the
“I Am the Greatest” cartoon. Robin Harris was a Chicago native, and Reggie Hudlin who was the executive producer of the “BeBe’s Kids” film is from Illinois. Oprah Winfrey voiced the Coretta Scott King character in the “Our Friend Martin” film. Mellody Hobson, the first Black female chairman of a major animation studio, DreamWorks Animation, lives in Chicago. “I believe these cartoons are national treasures,” Thomas said. “They were seen by a generation of children and not only changed the way that Black kids saw themselves but the way white kids saw them as well.” Thomas said, “By highlighting this positive aspect of our experience we are able to engage and educate people in a fun and uplifting way.” d.phillips@hpherald.com
On display: A funky, fun side of the Civil Rights Movement By Rosalie Chan // Jul. 9, 2014
“Where are all the black cartoons?” When Pamela Thomas saw the personal collection of animation artwork belonging to her friend Loreen Williamson, the color of the characters stood out. Having grown up watching cartoons like “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids,” “The Jackson 5ive” and “Josie and the Pussycats” on Saturday mornings, Thomas was curious.
“Can you get this type of artwork for them?” The women, founders and curators of the online Museum of UnCut Funk, soon began researching and collecting positive black cartoon characters — and an art exhibit was born. “It’s one of the few untold stories in the civil rights movement,” Thomas said. “Images of black characters affected and changed the lives of the viewers.” "Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution," a traveling exhibit currently on display at the DuSable Museum of African American History from June 27 to Oct. 20, commemorates the fourth decade of positive black cartoon characters appearing on television. The exhibit features original animation artwork, as well as colorful life-size cutouts of characters from shows like “The Jackson 5ive,” which chronicled the adventures of the entertainment family, and Valerie Brown from “Josie and the Pussycats,” which was about an all-girl pop music band. “When I was a kid, I just thought they were great cartoons,” Williamson said. “You kind of got your bowl of cereal, watched these cartoons and then would go out and play. It wasn’t until I got older and started collecting animation — that’s when I realized these are a lot more than cool cartoons. They represent a significant change in history.” Before then, black cartoon characters were often portrayed as barbaric and animalistic, according to Thomas. It wasn’t until the late 1960s and the 1970s that black characters started to look more realistic and didn’t speak in broken dialect. In addition, many of the cartoons were created by African Americans. For example, comedian Bill Cosby created “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids,” a show about the adventures of urban African-American kids. Cosby also voiced the character of Fat Albert. “It was one of the first cartoons where African-American kids could see characters they could relate to, that looked like them and got in the same situations as them, and the cartoons had a moral message,” said Charles Bethea, COO and curator of the DuSable Museum.
! Valerie Brown, of "Josie and the Pussy Cats" (1970-72), and Franklin, of "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" (1973), are part of the "untold stories of the Civil Rights Movement." [Collection of Museum of UnCut Funk]
Bethea, who grew up watching these cartoons, believes the exhibit will allow people to view animation as art. “I did, when the opportunity arose, sit and watch these cartoons endlessly,” Bethea said. “They influenced me. I am an artist and an illustrator, and I got an understanding of how a lot of these were produced. It was one more level of art I was exposed to.” Some cartoons featured in the exhibit contained social and political messages. For example, in the movie “Our Friend Martin” the characters travel through time and learn how Martin Luther King Jr. fought segregation and inequality during the civil rights movement.
Many cartoons showed characters of different races interacting and working together, and some taught lessons about issues such as gang violence, bullying and substance abuse. The change in how black characters were portrayed on TV had a major effect on Thomas. “We were experiencing and witnessing tragedies (of discrimination), and no one was explaining it to me,” Thomas said. “I had self-esteem issues. Why were black people portrayed this way? Even as a child, I knew black people played specific roles. Once the cartoons changed, these images were reflections of you that look more like you, and you felt better about yourself.” And because there were only three networks, viewers of other races were exposed to the same positive images. “Everyone could talk about them, to white friends, to black friends. It helped us come to terms with identity and building relationships,” Thomas said. While the exhibit was on display at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City, Thomas saw that it sparked children’s interest in becoming animators. “One of the things we didn’t realize was we were able to get children to be looking at being an animator as a career,” Thomas said. “Children were amazed with how this art was drawn and what it was drawn on.” According to Thomas and Williamson, a diverse and multigenerational audience of about 73,000 people visited the exhibit in New York. Thomas hopes the exhibit in Chicago will prompt the baby boomer generation to share childhood stories and memories about these cartoons. “I hope that people enjoy it,” Thomas said. “Sometimes museums tell the same stories over and over again. I am very happy these museums are thinking about this, and it’s geared towards children of a specific decade. It had an impact on my life.”
Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution Chicago connections •
Herbie Hancock - Hey, Hey, Hey It’s Fat Albert (1969): Produced Fat Albert Rotunda, soundtrack for the first Fat Albert primetime television special, which was the first positive Black Cast cartoon to appear on television. Herbie Hancock was born in Chicago.
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Bob Crowder - Peter Jones - The Hardy Boys (1969): Played the live action Peter Jones, the first positive Black male and Black musician character in a Saturday morning cartoon series. Bob Crowder attended the University of Chicago and studied the drums at the Chicago Conservatory of Music. He was a session drummer in Chicago during the 1960’s and 1970’s.
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Herb Jeffries - Freight Train - Where’s Huddles (1970): Voiced Freight Train, the first positive Black male and Black athlete character in a primetime cartoon series. Herb Jeffries was a Black actor and singer who was born in Detroit and lived and worked in Chicago.
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Harlem Globetrotters (1970): Featured in the first positive Black cast Saturday morning cartoon series and first featuring Black athletes. The Harlem Globetrotters originated on the south side of Chicago in the 1920’s. All of the members of the original team grew up in Chicago.
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Don Cornelius - Soul Train (1970-2006): Soul Train premiered on WCIU-TV in Chicago on August 17, 1970, as a live show airing weekday afternoons. In 1971, it premiered in syndication and went on to become the longest-running first-run nationally syndicated program in American television history. It was also the first syndicated series to feature an animated opening created and produced by Black people. The animated train opening was conceived by Don Cornelius and created by Black animators. Don Cornelius was born in Chicago.
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Muhammad Ali - I Am The Greatest!: The Adventures Of Muhammad Ali (1977): Voiced his own character in the second positive Black cast Saturday morning cartoon series featuring a Black athlete. The series was created and produced while Muhammad Ali lived in Chicago.
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Robin Harris - Bebe’s Kids (1992): His stand-up comedy routine was the basis for the first positive animated feature film with a Black main cast, second featuring Black characters created from a comedy routine. Robin Harris was born in Chicago.
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Oprah Winfrey - Our Friend Martin (1999): Voiced Coretta Scott King in the second positive animated feature film with a Black main cast. Oprah Winfrey was a longtime Chicago resident.
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Mellody Hobson - DreamWorks Animation (2012): First Black female named as Chairman of a major animation studio. DreamWorks Animation owns the assets of Filmation Associates and Rankin/Bass Productions, which brought many positive Black characters to television through the following 1970‘s Saturday morning cartoon series: Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids, Jackson 5ive, Kid Power, Mission Magic!, Space Sentinels, Star Trek, Superstretch And Microwoman, The Hardy Boys and The U.S. Of Archie. Mellody Hobson was born in and lives in Chicago.
— Source: Museum of UnCut Funk
Taking the Kids -- and making time for smaller museums Let's play! In one room the kids are busy making creatures out of clay and then seeing them come to life in a Claymation movie they create with a computer program and different backdrops; in another, they're performing in music videos. They are working at a LEGO wall and making their faces look silly with Photoshop. "This doesn't feel like a museum," said Ilan Bachmann, 11. "It's like a big indoor playground." Welcome to the Childrens Creativity Museum in downtown San Francisco right at Yerba Buena Gardens, which is unlike any children's museum I've ever seen. For one thing, it appeals to all ages. "I love it here," said Rena Victoria, 16, who was busy meeting a challenge, creating something only with the ingredients in a Mystery Box in the Innovation Lab. "I like how no one has to tell you what to do," said Nyxa Aquina-Thomas, 11. "You let your imagination go free and no one tells you don't touch!" Sure San Francisco has lots of wonderful museums -- the hands-on Exploratorium (read what I wrote about a recent visit here) and the California Academy of Sciences, among them -- that are always packed with families. But I realized when I stopped at the Children's Creativity Museum near where I was staying, how much fun a visit to a smaller museum can be for visiting families.
You're bound to meet local families. You may learn something about the culture and traditions of the city you are visiting. You won't feel guilty if you duck out after an hour -- if you can get the kids to leave. Maybe you have one last weekend -- or week -- before the kids start school. Maybe friends or relatives are visiting -- or maybe you're visiting them. Take the time to explore some museums and attractions, based on the kids' interests -- cars, arts, local history, science and math -- and the neighborhoods that surround them. Sign on for a special workshop. Here are some of my favorites across the country: In New York, don't miss the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side, the place to learn about the history not only of this neighborhood, but of the pivotal role it has played -- and continues to play -- in New York City's immigrant history. The museum tells the stories of the people who have lived and worked at 97 Orchard Street where the museum is located from the time it was built in 1863. Over the years, it was home to nearly 7,000 immigrants -- Germans, Irish, Italians and Irish among them. Another hit with visiting families is the interactive The Museum of Mathematics. In Denver, everyone visiting should stop at History Colorado Center downtown, which makes Colorado history relevant and gives those families visiting a way to connect with Coloradoans past and present, whether "driving" a Model-T, "visiting" a pioneer town or pushing the 7-foot-tall "Time Machines" that Colorado Artist Steven Weitzman created around the Great Map of Colorado that is embedded in the floor of the museum's atrium. As you move the "Time Machine" around and hit a hot spot in the floor, it will tell you stories from that part of the state at different times. (FYI: The Grand Hyatt Denver, just a couple of blocks away, is offering a new Parents Stay Free Package starting at $213 for two adults and two children. The offer is valid now through December 30, 2014.) In Chicago, the DuSable Museum of African American History is the oldest museum dedicated to African-American history, culture and art. The museum is free on Sundays. Check out the exhibit on the history of blacks in the armed services and "Funky Turns 40: Black Characters in Animation Art." Learn all about the Great Chicago Fire or dress up like a Chicago-style hot dog at the Chicago History Museum.
In Los Angeles, the Petersen Automotive Museum is the place where kids can race Hot Wheels cars and, of course, this is the place to see all kinds of cars -- from Model-Ts to buses. There is an entire Discovery Center here just for kids. In Boston, head across the Charles River to Cambridge and the MIT Museum that includes a student showcase of inventions, robots and 5,000 Moving Parts, sculptures that are entirely based with motion. While you're there, check out all the giant sculptures on campus. Kids also like checking out the dazzling glass flowers at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. There are 3,000 of them. At the Children's Creativity Museum in San Francisco kids and their parents were busy "creating" everywhere you looked -- solving puzzles in "mystery boxes," designing creatures they can make come to life in the Claymation Studio and working on computers. "There's a lot to do with your hands everywhere," explained Ilan Bachmann. He and his twin sister, Shira, brought a whole group of friends to celebrate their 11th birthday here. Parents seemed to be having as much fun as the kids. "We come here to create together," said Paul Moraga, here with his 10-year-old daughter Savannah. They were in the Design Studio working side by side at computers. "I'm having as much fun as she is," he said. Museum-going doesn't get better than that. (Follow @TakingtheKids on Twitter and Facebook and read more of Eileen's stories and adventures on TakingtheKids.com; She is the author of The Kid's City Guide series with books designed for kids to lead the way in NYC, Orlando, Washington, DC, Denver, Boston and LA; Three more books in the series will be out this fall.) (c) 2014 EILEEN OGINTZ DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.
1970s Black Animation Collection at the Museum Of UnCut Funk Picking up where comic strips left off in the early 20th century, theatrical cartoon film shorts portrayed Blacks in a racially derogatory and stereotypical manner as cannibals, coons, mammies and Stepin Fetchit characters with exaggerated features and ignorant dialect. From 1900 to 1960, over 600 cartoon shorts featuring Black characters were produced by some of Hollywood’s greatest White animators and biggest film studios. Several famous Black jazz musicians such as Cab Calloway, Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong were also portrayed as stereotypical cari- catures. After sixty years of negative cartoon images, it wasn’t until the early 1970’s that Saturday Morning television car- toons started to feature image affirming Black characters with a modern look and positive story lines that deliv- ered culturally relevant messages. It was during the 1970’s that for the first time Black children could see cartoon characters that looked, talked and acted more realistically like them, such as Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, as well as more positive depictions of their favorite Black music icons and sports heroes like The Jackson 5ive featur- ing Michael Jackson and his brothers, The Harlem Globetrotters and I Am The Greatest featuring Muhammad Ali.
For the first time Black children were able to see their cartoon role models teach positive messages like family val- ues, the importance of education, friendship, civic duty and personal responsibility and sportsmanship. Also, for the first time cartoons like The Hardy Boys and Josie and The Pussycats featured multi-cultural casts where Black and White characters lived, played and worked together, which provided very different images for White chil- dren as well. The Museum Of UnCut Funk Black Animation Collection includes original production cels and drawings and limited edition cels from this turning point in cartoon history where Black and White animators created positive Black characters and Black stories for all to enjoy, including: Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids; The Jackson 5ive; The Harlem Globetrotters; Valerie Brown – Josie and The Pussy Cats; Lt. Uhura – Star Trek Animated Series; Muhammad Ali – I Am The Greatest; Billy Jo Jive – Sesame Street; Verb: That’s What’s Happening – School House Rock and Franklin – Peanuts. The Museum Of UnCut Funk Black Animation Collection includes artwork from many cartoons and characters that are celebrating 40th anniversaries and represents several historical “firsts”, such as: First positive Black character from a TV series to appear as same character in a Saturday morning cartoon series – Lt. Uhura, The Star Trek Animation Series (1972) Longest running positive Black cast Saturday morning cartoon series – Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972) First positive Black female character in a Saturday morning cartoon series – Valerie Brown, Josie And The Pussy- cats (1970) First Black character to appear in a Peanuts TV cartoon special – Franklin Armstrong (1973) For more information on the Museum Of UnCut Funk Collection please visit http:// museumofuncutfunk.com
Funky Turns 40 is Fabulous Fun! Posted by Stephen Best
There were fewer joys in my Midwestern childhood greater then bolting out of bed early and rushing into the family room to enjoy many hours of my staple crop of Saturday Morning Cartoons. With that nod to my ever present nostalgic glee, I approached the new “Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution Animation from the Classic Cartoons of the 70’s” exhibit at the DuSable Museum of African American History with great enthusiasm in my heart. Mixing original animation cells from competing animation studios Filmation, Rankin/Bass and Hanna Barbera, this one of a kind exhibit celebrates the positive achievements and accomplishments of Black characters through animation. The exhibition includes both the original hand drawings as well as original production cells used to create these cartoon classics. The exhibit begins with original hand drawings & painted cells from the Hanna Barbera classics “Hong Kong Phooey” (1974) and “Josie and the Pussycats” featuring the character “Valerie Brown” (1970 and 1972). These were created long before the cartoons of today with their tie in toy lines and coordinated pajamas &t-shirts, but trust me, had there been a line of tie in “Josie and the Pussycats” action figures based on these cartoon mystery adventures, I would have relentlessly worn my mother down to
get them for me. The theme music still runs through my head, “Josie and the Pussycats, long tails and ears for hats, guitars and sharps and flats.” Each week the band (“Josie,” lead singer and guitarist, “Valerie,” the smart one, think “MacGyver” with tambourines, and drummer “Melody”) along with their friends “Alan,” “Alexander”and his sister “Alexandra” would travel to a different exotic country to play a concert and solve a mystery. I was being thoroughly entertained, but also learning a bit about the global community through their misadventures. Who knew there was also a subtle message of tolerance and racial equality? As you continue to negotiate throughout, you come face to face with the iconic animated “Soul Train” engine from 1971, the animated “Harlem Globetrotters” from 1970-1972, the Filmation “Archie” cartoon, complete with good friend “Chuck Clayton” and an entire wall dedicated to the adventures of “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids” with framed original cells dated 1977. Behind that, a collection of arguably the most famous subject matter of the time, the Jackson 5: Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Michael animated from Rankin/ Bass studio. The cartoon version of the Jackson 5 ran from September 11, 1971 through October 14, 1972. And not to be outdone, the Charles Schultz “Peanuts” character “Franklin Armstrong” from “This is America Charlie Brown” playing the drums from 1989. Sincerely, this exhibit has me smiling from ear to ear. The next wall is dedicated to mystery solvers and super heroes. Hanna Barbera sleuths “Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels” featuring “Dee Dee Sykes,” “Taffy” and “Brenda” from 1979-1980, “Lt. Uhura” from the “Star Trek” animated Filmation series dated 1973-1974, The Brown Hornet from the “All New Fat Albert Show” (1979-1981), “Superstretch and Microwoman” of the “Tarzan and the Super 7” Filmation cartoon crafted
1979-1980, heroine Astrea from the Filmation cartoon adventure “Space Sentinels” of 1977, to Hanna Barbrea “Super Friends” hero Black Vulcan dated 1977-1978. For added ambiance, a video loop playing the theme songs to “Fat Albert,” “Josie and the Pussycats,” and the “Jackson 5” plays in the back ground. And while today’s kids may not enjoy the nostalgic walk down memory lane their parents certainly will thoroughly enjoy, there is a kids playroom off of the main exhibit, with painted versions of today’s Black cartoon characters, “Storm” of the X-Men, “Falcon” representing “The Avengers,” “John Stewart’s Green Lantern and Vixen” of “The Justice League,” “Cyborg from Cartoon Network’s “Teen Titans,” hero “Static Shock,” “The Simpson’s Dr. Julius M. Hibbert” and “Kids Next Door Abigail Lincoln.” A little something for everybody. The “Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution Animation from the Classic Cartoons of the 70’s” is a wonderful visual walk down memory lane. I’ve recently and sadly learned the Saturday Morning Cartoon block is over, replaced by infomercials and cable channels. I do not wish to sound like one of those grumpy grown-ups, lamenting about better days passed by, however I challenge anyone to see this exhibit and not have a delightful déjà vu back to their childhood when Saturday morning meant an array of great cartoons from one of just three networks and then an afternoon of bike riding and continued adventures. DuSable Museum of African American History: 740 E 56th Place. Chicago, IL 60637
Fat Albert hits DuSable museum Posted on Sep 15, 2014 by Baxter Barrowcliff Black-positive Saturday morning cartoons will be brought to the forefront at the DuSable Museum of African American History, 740 E. 56th Place, as part of a special exhibit that will run through Oct. 20. “Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution Animation Art from Classic Cartoons of the ‘70s,” features animation cells and drawings from cartoons such as “The Jackson 5ive,” “Harlem Globetrotters” and the beloved “Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids.” The exhibit began after co-curator Pamela Thomas, who has a degree in black history from The City College in New York City, noticed that her friend and co-curator Loreen Williamson had been collecting all these production pieces from the cartoons of their childhood and asked, “Well, what about the black cartoons?” The pair, who met in 1997 and had been working together ever since, had a gallery where they would display all of their collectibles from black culture in the ‘70s. However, they closed the gallery after the tragedy of 9/11. Williamson said she never wanted to open up another brick and mortar, but they both knew that they had to do something with their collection. In 2007, the pair came up with the idea of creating a virtual museum for their collection and gave it the moniker The Museum of Uncut Funk. “We had to do something with [our collection] because we were the only ones seeing it,” Thomas said. “Loreen came up with the idea to create an exhibition of our black animation because it had never been done before.” Animation was produced differently in the ‘70s than today. To make an episode of a show, animators would have to create different cells for each frame, meaning there would be hundreds of drawings produced for a single Saturday morning cartoon, Williamson said. Apart from being featured on the Saturday morning cartoon lineup for children to enjoy, these TV shows marked an important moment in our nation’s history—especially for the black community. “The ‘70s was the first time that you saw positive black characters on television,” Williamson said. “Prior to that, every black character that you saw—and I mean every last one of them—had some kind of
negative stereotype, [in terms of] appearance and the way they talked and the language that was used. The characters in the ‘70s cartoons were actually a part of the ‘gang.’” George Bailey, associate professor in the English Department at Columbia, has a background in visual arts and teaches a class called, “Graphic Narrative: Word, Image, Culture.” Bailey said the cartoons of the ‘70s created a bookmark in our history because they drove a wedge into the economics of the white aesthetic culture by contrasting an image that white people have held onto since the 14th century. “Because this is capitalism, this was an opportunity for black people to control their own image,” Bailey said. “The black people in this country had never been in control of their image because until recently, black people did not have the means of distribution. To make your image is one thing, but to distribute it over a network that you don’t own is another.” These cartoons finally brought to light the struggle to accurately portray members of the black community, which could not be ignored by the masses, a struggle that occurred well before the Civil Rights Movement of the ‘60s. “As early as the ‘30s and ‘40s with comic strips and comic books, [black artists] began to explore their imagery,” Bailey said. “There were a lot of attempts in the comic book industry to present a positive image of the black self. It has always been a journey. It’s always been a hassle because the ‘gatekeepers’ want to represent African Americans in a way that’s pleasing to the white masses.” Most people who have grown up in America following the ‘60s have learned about the Civil Rights Movement, but Thomas and Williamson see their exhibit as a new way to learn about the positive effects the movement has had in America since. “It’s a very cool experience and a different way to consume black history and American history,” Thomas said. “It was not something that just affected black people—it affected everybody.” Thomas and Williamson’s exhibit experienced a great turnout when it was held at Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City and, according to Thomas, the attendance reached more than 70,000 visitors. Chicago’s showing is expected to do the same, but the cocurators have been excited about the interest of young black children who have come to see their collection. “Kids have discovered that they too could be animators and that they can make the decision for their future, and doing this for a career opened them up to something they were never exposed to before,” Thomas said.