Catalog ID:
OH-0082
Archives Field 21:
Scope & Content:
Professor Yohuru Williams discusses his participation in the Bridgeport Cultural Arts Center, a community learning center dedicated to offering children and adults instruction in a variety of artistic media such as painting and drawing, photography, music, dance, sculpture, writing and much more. A.B.C.D (Action for Bridgeport Community Development) spearheaded the formation of the Center and procured funding for its programs.
Professor Williams' father, Ralph Williams, taught music at the Center and the young Dr. Williams attended classes there from the mid-1970s until its closing in 1989. In particular, he remembers sculpture and drum instruction and being impressed with some of his very talented peers who showed great promise early on as painters or musicians. As a professor of history and African American studies, Williams provides insightful analysis of the period in which the Arts Center operated and its relationship to larger socio-economic and political trends in American history.
The Arts Center served as an important vehicle for self- expression and learning in the Bridgeport community and mirrored trends in the Black Arts movement taking place on a national level.
Professor Williams' father, Ralph Williams, taught music at the Center and the young Dr. Williams attended classes there from the mid-1970s until its closing in 1989. In particular, he remembers sculpture and drum instruction and being impressed with some of his very talented peers who showed great promise early on as painters or musicians. As a professor of history and African American studies, Williams provides insightful analysis of the period in which the Arts Center operated and its relationship to larger socio-economic and political trends in American history.
The Arts Center served as an important vehicle for self- expression and learning in the Bridgeport community and mirrored trends in the Black Arts movement taking place on a national level.
Click to Enlarge
Williams, Professor Yohuru
Williams, Professor Yohuru