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Posters tell the message of ‘Black Leaders’
Richard Duckett
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Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
A poster exhibition titled “Black Leaders” that just opened at the Levi Heywood Memorial Library, 55 West Lynde St., Gardner, conveys both immediacy and history.
Posters are often used by leaders or movements to win support of people for a cause. “A lot of the political ones frequently have quotes on the posters trying to educate and arouse people to the issues going on like racism,” said Stephen Lewis, who is putting on the “Black Leaders” exhibition from his own collection of over 9,700 labor and politically progressive posters. Lewis, who lives in the Boston area, has an extensive union background.
A powerful exhibition poster from Lewis’ viewpoint has great “graphic art, historical documentation and a message,” he said.
The messages still ring true, even though the posters may be from 50, 60 or more years ago. “It could be timely at any time, but given the the events of the past two years it’s a great time to have the exhibition up,” Lewis said of “Black Leaders.” “Black Leaders” was opened July 6 and runs through July 27. “This exhibit is a tribute to black leaders who rose to prominence and/or leadership positions, often in spite of discrimination, repression, and state sponsored disinformation campaigns,” Lewis writes about the exhibition. “Some were assassinated because of their work on behalf of others. Space does not allow for detailed descriptions of their lives, but interested people are encouraged to read books that have been published about many of them, or to view films that were produced about some of them.”
In an interview prior to the exhibition’s opening, Lewis hadn’t finally decided which of the 35 to 40 posters he would be putting on display, but “Black Leaders” was expected to include well-known figures such as Frederick Douglass, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Paul Robeson and Angela Davis. Also, there will be some people who many may be less familiar, such as Maurice Bishop, Carl Hampton, Fela Kuti, Wangari Maathai and A. Philip Randolph.
Posters can take a historical figure and reprise their message to great effect. For example, a poster of Frederick Douglass implores, “if there is no progress, there is no struggle.”
Lewis recalled he had left some information at a previous “Black Leaders” exhibition and received an email from a woman praising what she had seen. She told Lewis that she was from Saint Kitts and didn’t know who some of the leaders
Frederick Douglass appears in
a poster. SUBMITTED PHOTOS
Stephen Lewis is presenting a poster exhibition titled “Black Leaders” at the Levi Heywood Memorial Library, 55 W. Lynde St., Gardner.
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Fela Kuti was a Nigerian musician, band leader, and political activist. SUBMITTED
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were. “She took photos and looked them up, so she just really appreciated the exhibit,” Lewis said.
“The whole point is to learn something.”
Carl Hampton was a civil rights leader and head of the People’s Party II, a precursor to the Houston chapter of the Black Panther Party. He was killed by Houston police in 1970.
A. Philip Randolph was a train porter who went on to be a labor organizer (the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first mainly African-American labor union), and civil rights activist, leading the March on Washington, D.C., in 1963.
Maurice Bishop was prime minister of Grenada from 1979 until he was assassinated along with several of his supporters by members of his own movement in 1983. Events led to the U.S. invasion of Grenada, which claimed the life of Spec. 4 Philip S. Grenier of Worcester.
Bishop had come to power in a revolution, and supported workers’ rights, women’s rights, and developed close ties to Cuba, Lewis said. When he built a large international airport, there was concern about what it was going to be used for.
“I met Bishop once. He was one of the most articulate speakers I had heard in my life,” Lewis said.
The turmoil that occurred “was very sad. They were all such great people.”
Wangari Maathai (19402011) was an environmental and political activist in Kenya, and was the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She was an elected member of Parliament in Kenya but fought
Carl Hampton was a civil rights leader and head of the People’s Party II, a precursor to the Houston chapter of the Black Panther Party. He was killed by Houston police in 1970.
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Aspire Academy teams with community groups to help middle school students
Veer Mudambi
Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
Luisa Martínez was worried about her son, a rising 8thgrader, who had lost ground academically during the pandemic school year and missed out on social interaction as well. She was motivated to enroll him in summer programs that might help him catch up and was looking for the most appropriate one for him.
When she heard that the Latino Education Institute was partnering with other community organizations to form the Aspire Academy, she knew she had found what she was looking for. Some of the organizations have a historical relationship with LEI such as the Southeast Asian Coalition of Central Massachusetts, but there are others with whom LEI is forging new connections. They are joining with Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester Education Collaborative, Acentria, Worcester Housing Authority, Worcester Community Action Council and African Community Education.
“It was time for all of us to put our heads together to figure deeper ways of learning,” said Hilda Ramirez, executive director of LEI. “We felt that students’ education has been so disrupted and the learning gap has widened, based on what we hear from parents. They are just tired of being on Zoom — for some it worked and for others it didn’t. So we wanted to offer something much more participatory.”
The various community groups will each run different sites with their own topic focuses — such as STEM for LEI or art and culture with SEACMA. Though the activities themselves may have been done in years past, Aspire will allow for a new level of cross promotion, explained Anh Vu Sawyer, executive director of SEACMA. “It will give kids the opportunity to pick and choose what they want to do,” she said. “Agencies will promote the opportunities for other groups.”
To be eligible for Aspire, students need to be in a Worcester middle school and commit to a five-day program — three days in-person and two virtual. Ramirez indicated that they have chosen this particular age group because it doesn’t usually get a chance for customized programs. Children at the middle school age are in a developmental transition and sometimes need extensive support to have a strong start in the school year — summer reading, STEM, critical thinking skills. “All of that will help them not only in school but in life.”
Krystal Barrera, a staff member in training at LEI, is a summer reading specialist who will lead the virtual summer reading program on Mondays and Fridays. It will be her fifth summer working in the LEI program and her first year working with all of the other organizations that are participating in Aspire.
The theme of the Aspire program is “my future self as an agent of change” and is aimed at helping kids find themselves. To further that goal, Barrera plans to use books from the Worcester Schools summer reading list such as “I am Malala” to help kids see themselves as change agents in their own lives. And she will tie in ideas of STEM and environmental awareness.
Barrera is in complete agreement that the LEI focus on middle students is warranted because those grades are such a change from elementary school. In Worcester, students go from sixth grade to a completely new school so having a mentor can help them adjust.
“By relating to students younger than I am, my teaching style has definitely had a lot of development — in the LEI, we focus on building relationships and the way to a successful program is how those are built — you can’t have any success with a student if you don’t know them personally and believe they can achieve something.”
Sawyer concurred that middle school students “are kind of
Students get hands-on ith STEM education during an outdoor activity with LEI. LATINO EDUCATION
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sexism and a bitter divorce from her husband who successfully claimed that she was “too strong-minded for a woman.”
Fela Kuti was a Nigerian musician, band leader and political activist.
“You should try to listen to some of his music. It’s fabulous,” Lewis said.
Lewis was a counselor/case manager coordinating services for clients of the state Department of Mental Health, where he worked many years prior to his retirement.
He also became an active member of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 509.
“I believed strongly in unions,” Lewis said. He was head of the local’s political education committee and later its treasurer.
His involvement led him to attend international labor conferences, which is where his interest in posters developed.
“I’m not an artist. I never set out to collect or exhibit posters,” Lewis said.
However, when Lewis was attending a World Federation of Trade Unions conference in Moscow in 1990, he was struck by the posters that were on display.
“There were these really great posters,” he said. He took some home with him “and stored them in my attic.”
Then he began collecting labor and politically progressive posters in earnest.
“There’s nobody else in Massachusetts that does this, and nationally I don’t think there’s anyone doing quite what I’m doing,” Lewis said.
He has posters from a number of different countries. “I think it’s good for people to see that people are struggling to get better wages — (they can say) ‘Wow, this is happening not just in this country but elsewhere.’”
He has a recent May Day poster from a union in Iraq. “They do posters and they have the same issues as people do in this country,” Lewis said.
With 9,700-plus posters, Lewis can arrange different exhibitions on different themes: “May Day,” “International Women’s Day,” “End War,” “Human Rights,” “Stop Domestic Violence” and more.
Another is “Art For A Cause,” where the posters have “good graphics but not necessarily a unifying theme,” Lewis said.
“May Day: An International Labor Poster Exhibit” is currently running through Aug. 26 at the Forbes LibraryHosmer Gallery in Northampton.
In his retirement, the exhibitions have kept Lewis busy.
“I have to say that I feel like I’m working overtime again,” he said.
But while posters are a physical entity whose messages resonate, they can also be ephemeral. Frequently, posters are created for use for a very brief period and then are discarded and lost forever, Lewis said.
“Unions still generate a lot of posters but the internet is replacing a lot of that, so I get around and try to get the posters when I can,” he said.
With an eye to posterity, an archive of Lewis’ posters is being developed at UMass Boston, and he also has posters being digitalized at the Boston Public Library.
This “Black Leaders” program is supported in part by the Gardner Cultural Council, a local agency supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
The Levi Heywood Memorial Library is open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Friday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Wangari Maathai was an environmental and political activist in Kenya, and was the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. SUBMITTED
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in-between ” and often overlooked, whereas enrichment for high school and elementary students is emphasized. “Middle school students are kind of lost in that blurry space between childhood and adolescence — we don’t have an answer for that but can show that we are there for them. We plan programs to nourish them and give them a safe place to figure out where they are at this age — we want to spur their imagination, enlarge their creativity and allow them to create something of their very own.”
The SEACMA component of Aspire concentrates on Asian culture — Sawyer emphasizes that their students will be mostly children of refugees who will bring a unique perspective. “It is important in a city like Worcester which is so diverse but people of color still face discrimination, misunderstanding and racism in our city.” At the young people’s level, bringing them together and learning from each other is crucial, according to her.
Saw Reh, staff member in training at SEACMA, has been driving children to SEACMA for reading programs for the last four to five years; however, the creation of Aspire prompted him to become more involved. This is his first time as a staff member and he shared that SEACMA has helped him and his family, so he wants to give back. “I want the children and youth of our community to learn more about our cultures and others.”
Reh cares for the Karenni and Karen refugee children from Myanmar and has taken classes about social/emotional skills for working with kids, projectbased learning, and how to help them study. His emphasis will be on helping students read books in different languages and play learning games and hopes to bring his own elementary school age kids to Aspire when they’re old enough.
The Aspire Community Academy has received enough funding to run for the entire year, from groups like Worcester Community Action Council. In the fall, Ramirez hopes that programs can continue on the weekends as a supplement to school classes. Whatever form it takes during the school year, at the end of the five-week period, students will be invited to a celebration where they can show family and friends what they’ve created during their time with Aspire. Martínez is looking forward to this, saying that it “integrates personal identity not only for the child but the parent, so the whole family is growing together.”
Students get hands-on with STEM education during an outdoor activity with LEI.
LATINO EDUCATION INSTITUTE
CONNELL SANDERS
The perks of using a travel agent
Sarah Connell Sanders
Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
When I was 19, I boarded a cheap flight to London with my best friend and embarked on a month of aimless travel across the Atlantic. Unlike some of our other pals, we had bothered to set a rough itinerary. At the time, we applauded our own maturity in having pre-booked airline tickets and packed the proper plug adapters. Looking back, all I can remember are the glorious hijinks of sleeping in airport terminals to save a few Euros, and then stuffing our purses with croissants from the free breakfast on nights we bothered to pay for hostels. I loved every second of that trip, but shamefully, it was the last time I left the country.
For our honeymoon in the spring of 2020, we planned to take a different sort of adventure abroad. You can imagine how that panned out. Luckily, we had trusted our trip to a local travel agent — Tina Sullivan. Tina and I met on the board of the Worcester Public Library Foundation. At our monthly socials, I relished the details of her worldly adventures and made a note to sit down with her and discuss our honeymoon. When I asked about her services, she explained that her own fee is minimal; travel agents make their commissions from the vendors they trust.
We let Sullivan Travel Service do the work and they did it well. Here are the reasons I will never again plan an extended international stay without a travel agent. Forgive the additions from my diary. I couldn’t help myself.
They know the rules
spring 2020 took us on a grand tour of Italy. When the trip was delayed, Tina had to rebook everything more than once. Border regulations, travel advisories, and testing requirements seemed to change every day. Finally, Tina asked us: “Have you ever considered visiting Morocco?” With aggressive vaccine campaigns and open doors to American travelers, she thought Morocco could provide the escape we were looking for. We both replied by quoting Penny Lane and the deal was done. ‘Morocco. Seat by the window, please.’
We rode camels into the Sahara Desert to watch the sunset behind the dunes. SUBMITTED
They plan a well-rounded itinerary
and ended in elegant Marrakech. It would have been a mistake to move in the opposite direction. When we felt energized, there was plenty to explore. When we felt fatigued, there was luxury and comfort.
In Fes, we walked for miles with a scholar named Kamal. I told him I was having the best day of my life and he said, “That means it’s almost time to step back and let someone else have a turn.” At the brass gates of the royal palace, he ran his fingers along the geometric pattern to emphasize its ebbs and flows. “Happiness has to be impermanent for individuals, otherwise it would mean nothing,” he told me. “You can’t just keep going up.”
Kamal was born in the Médina, the biggest walking space in the world, and he knows all 9,400 streets by heart. He said you could live your entire life inside the Médina without ever leaving and you would have everything you need. He pointed out the irony of high society’s recent inclination to create pedestrian friendly urban areas while the Médina has been an exemplar of walkability since 789 with little fanfare.
It’s no accident that the walls of the Médina are all plain. Kamal explained its uniformity reminds us that beauty lies within. He opened the doors to some of the most opulent and serene spaces I have ever visited. Inside, we spoke about religion, addiction, misogyny, education, patience and joy. When we parted he said, “Remember that wisdom exceeds power.” I got schooled.
They connect you with kind individuals
Tina had met most of our guides and our driver on her own trip to Morocco. We felt comfortable trusting strangers on her recommendation, and sure enough, we found meaningful connections everywhere we went.
On our first day in the Sahara, the owner of our hotel, Moha, invited us back to his home for lunch to meet his sister who is hoping to move to America. Their family is Berber, the indigenous people of Morocco. Moha showed us the irrigation system in his village; every family has a palm on the edge of the desert and they’re allotted six hours of water each week. He said people judge your character by the condition of your tree. Aicha, his sister, is getting married soon and the wedding will last three full days. She invited us to attend. I wish we could have stayed.
We stopped at a nomad camp and Moha asked the family if they needed anything from the market. They said no, but offered us mint tea. Fatima and her sister read me their science workbook; they speak Berber and Arabic. We giggled a lot about nothing and when Moha said it was time to go, I felt so sad because I wished I had a book to give them. I thought maybe I could mail an Arabic copy of "Bridge to Terabithia" to the village, but then I realized they would be somewhere else by the time it arrived because they move with the weather, herding goats from the Atlas Mountains to the Sahara. The Berber culture is unique because in over 10,000 years, women were nev-
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er accorded a low societal status. I hope Fatima becomes a famous scientist or whatever she wants to be.
I teased my husband because he said he hoped to discover a fossil in the Sahara, but then he actually found one. Moha said it was probably millions of years old and he finds them all the time.
They provide a sense of security
The nature of international travel is to get outside of your comfort zone. Still, it is possible to explore new limits safely.
We rode into the desert on camels. Our guide, Saeid, taught me to sandboard from the highest dune. After dinner, he played the drums for us and laughed at our dancing. When we finally went to bed it was so silent. We slept under the stars and watched the sunrise in the morning. We kept joking that we must have fallen from our camels and died because the Sahara felt like heaven.
Our driver Omar stood by us for every leg of our trip. Riding through the Atlas Mountains, my husband and I both felt ill. Omar took us to his parents’ house in the Rose Valley where his mother made us tea and biscuits to settle our stomachs. His youngest nephew was shy at first, but by the end of our visit he was sitting beside me and playing peekaboo. The family gave us potpourri made from roses in their garden. I put it in a dish by our front door when we got home because scent is the sense most closely linked to memory and I want to remember Omar’s kindness.
Learn more at https:// sullivantravelservice.com/.
Hoga welcomed us into her family home and cooked us a traditional Berber dish over the wood
burning oven. COURTESY SARAH CONNELL SANDERS
EdwardJ.Arous, MD,MPH
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