Announcements & Tidbits

1) Vivian Raineri Dies
2) Help Keep Chicago Residents In Their Homes!
3) Ohio Museum To Honor Jackie Robinson
4) Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration and
   Black Heritage Celebration
5) Exhibition Explores African and Native
   American Shared History

(1)

VIVIAN RAINERI

I am sad to report that Vivian Raineri, longtime
political activist in the San Francisco area, has
passed away.

Vivian was born in Roseburg, OR to Henry and Muriel
McGuckin. The family moved to Napa, California, where
Vivian completed her schooling and began her career as
a journalist and author. A longtime member of the
Communist Party, she wrote for the Bay Area Bureau of
the Peoples' World Newspaper. She was politically
astute and active with the Women for Peace in Berkeley,
CA, where she lived most of her life. Among her many
achievements, Vivian authored the book "The Red Angel",
a biography of Elaine Black Yoneda who, along with her
husband Karl Yoneda, served time in an internment camp
during World War II. Vivian was a founding member of
the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and
Socialism.

Her son Ben remembers Vivian as follows:

"She was a wife, a mother, a reporter, an author. She
was an office worker and she was Rosie the Riveter. She
was a strong supporter, of causes dear to her, and most
important to a son - she supported both of hers with
all her soul. In that, she was there when her older one
got arrested blocking the entrance to the Oakland
Induction center, and she was there another day with
the younger one who wanted to vent his rage at the
injustice of that drafting of this country's youth. She
will be remembered with love by all who knew her."

The familiy is planning a memorial service for her on
April 2 at a place to be determined in the East Bay.
They like to see all those who knew her turn out to
remember her and share those remembrances with all. I
will post a message with the details when they are
arranged. In the meantime, those wishing to leave
memories and condolences may do so at
www.allenmortuary.com.

Steve Willett
Berkeley. Ca.
___________

(2)

Help Keep Chicago Residents In Their Homes!
Canvass to inform tenants and former homeowners
of their rights!

Outreach to foreclosed homeowners and tenants

What: Door-to-Door Foreclosure Canvassing with the
Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign

When: King Day of Service Saturday, January 15th, 2011
10am - 3pm

Please complete this form to RSVP before Thursday,
January, 13th

(the link for the form is at
http://tinyurl.com/266h69y)

For more information, please e-mail
[log in to unmask]

Hit the streets with a nationally recognized grassroots
campaign and support a dynamic community effort
recently featured on CANTV, CBS Chicago, ABC Chicago,
and Chicago Now.

(3)

Ohio Museum To Honor Jackie Robinson

Minority News
January 5, 2011

http://www.blackradionetwork.com/ohio_museum_to_honor_jackie_robinson

Delaware, OH

The Richard M. Ross Art Museum's latest exhibit is
sure to hit a home run with fans of baseball, fine art,
and even history.

The exhibit honors the legacy and partnership of Branch
Rickey, a 1904 OWU graduate, and Jackie Robinson in
breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier. It
also features 20 photographs from David Levinthal's
"Baseball" book and a selection of stadium
photographs from Jim Dow.

The exhibit, "Branch Rickey & Jackie Robinson: A
Partnership in Vision and Courage," will be on display
from Jan. 13-Feb. 20 at the Ross Art Museum, 60 S.
Sandusky St. Admission is always free.

"This exhibit is exciting for the breadth of pieces
that will be on display," said Justin Kronewetter,
M.F.A., museum director. "It includes letters and
contracts signed by Branch Rickey, a replica of his
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum plaque in
Cooperstown, and even the second base used by the
Cleveland Indians on April 16, 2007 - the 60th
anniversary of Jackie Robinson's first Major League
game."

A highlight of the exhibit will be 20 photographs from
Levinthal's "Baseball" book. The New York-based
artist uses toy figurines and meticulously created
backdrops to recreate legendary moments in baseball
history, such as Jackie Robinson stealing home or Nolan
Ryan firing a fastball. Other players represented in
Levinthal''s photographs include Mickey Mantle, Yogi
Berra, Duke Snider, and Roy Campanella.

Levinthal uses a large format Polaroid 20x24 camera for
his unique works. "The large format of the Polaroid
camera completely removes the sense of scale from the
objects that I am photographing, leaving the viewer
without any sense of the actual size of the toy or
figure being photographed," he states. "This further
enhances the power of the images and increases their
ability to force viewers to rethink and reimagine what
toys are perhaps really about."

From players to stadiums, the Ross Art Museum exhibit
also features stadium photographs by Boston-born artist
Jim Dow.

Dow creates highly detailed panoramic images using
multiple color images captured with an 8x10 camera. The
images capture America''s ballparks from a fan''s point
of view. "I have an old-fashioned, romantic approach
to picture-making and architecture," Dow states. "But
I''m not interested in making specimens; I'm
interested in synthesizing an experience."

Included in the Ohio Wesleyan show are Dow's visions
of stadiums in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, and
St. Louis.

The "Partnership in Vision and Courage" exhibit also
will feature vintage baseball cards and additional
memorabilia representing Branch Rickey, Jackie
Robinson, and their shared legacy. As president and
general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Rickey signed
Robinson to a professional contract, effectively
breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier. Their
shared courage and vision helped to end racial
segregation in professional sports and set the stage
for the U.S. Civil Rights movement.

The art exhibit is part of a larger Ohio Wesleyan
celebration of the Rickey-Robinson legacy. For more
information about the celebration and free community
events, visit rickeyrobinson.owu.edu.

Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation's
premier small, private universities, with more than 90
undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study,
and 23 Division III varsity sports. Located in
Delaware, Ohio, just minutes north of Ohio''s capital
and largest city, Columbus, the university combines a
globally focused curriculum with off-campus learning
and leadership opportunities that translate classroom
theory into real-world practice. OWU's close-knit
community of 1,850 students represents 45 states and 52
countries. Ohio Wesleyan earned a 2009 Presidential
Award for Excellence in General Community Service, is
featured in the book "Colleges That Change Lives,"
and is included on the "best colleges'" lists of U.S.
News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn
more at owu.edu.

(4)

Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration and Black Heritage
Celebration

MLK Celebration

University of Chicago

Celebrate Black heritage with OMSA and
the University! We begin with the annual MLK
Commemoration Service on Friday, January 14. This year
we welcome Judith Jamison, Artistic Director of the
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, as our keynote
speaker.

    * More about the Commemoration Service (poster)
      http://omsa.uchicago.edu/img/MLK_Celebration.jpg

    * Further details available soon at
    http://mlk.uchicago.edu/

 (5)

 Exhibition Explores African and Native American Shared
 History

 Minority News
 January 4, 2011

 http://www.blackradionetwork.com/exhibition_explores_african_and_native_american_shared_history_+

 Since the first arrival of African slaves in North
 America, the interactions between people of African and  Native
American heritage has been a combined story of  conflict, cooperation,
cultural growth, destruction and  survival. Since 2001, the Museum has
pioneered  research on this subject and has drawn together important
art and artifacts that demonstrate shared  traditions found in
history, genealogy, food, dress,  music and occupation. Some American
Indians held black  slaves and others helped them escape. Sometimes
there  was intermarriage and a blending of traditions.

 The exhibition will explore the stories of individuals
 and groups that highlight the allied and adversarial
 relationship between blacks and American Indians. One
 such story talks about the life of Lucinda Davis. She
 was interviewed by historians in the 1930s. Davis had
 been born a slave around 1848 and was owned by a Creek
 Indian family. She spent her life in what is now
 Oklahoma. She spoke the Creek language, and after
 gaining her emancipation following the Civil War, had
 difficulty adapting to freedom. There were many who,
 like Davis, were owned by Native Americans and who
 struggled with emancipation.

 Also found in the exhibit is the story of Charlie
 Grant. In 1901, Baltimore Orioles manager John J.
 McGraw tested the color line in professional baseball
 by trying to pass off Grant, a Negro League second
 baseman, who had high cheekbones and straight hair, as
 Charlie Tokohama, a Native American, which was more
 palatable to baseball fans.

 Red/Black also explores issues of race and personal
 identity and the question: "Who am I and who gets to
 say so?" The exhibit will illustrate the complexity of
 racial identity and why judgments about race can so
 easily be misguided.

 Red/Black: Related Through History includes dynamic
programming and runs through Aug. 9.

___________________________________________

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