Lessons of Heritage and Motherhood from the African American Museum
The African American Museum featured the exhibits, Generations: A Women’s Conversation and David Newtown’s Facing the Rising Sun Freedman’s Cemetery. The pieces from A Women’s Conversation were from local artists such as Valerie Gillespie, Marilu Flores Gruben, Annette Lawrence, Anita Knox and Executive Director of the South Dallas Cultural Center Vicki Meek.
Dallas’ historical Freedman’s Memorial was established in 1991 where David Newton’s vision of African slaves, both free and enslaved would have a place of retrospection for the living and dignity for the dead. It is evident that the “classic spirit” of Newton’s work as described by museum curator and artist Emmanuel Gillespie, through “mythology, heroes [and] The Bible” permeate throughout the collection of stoic and languid sculptures.
Regretfully, upon the sudden death of David’s mother in Detroit, he could not oblige the audience with his presence. However, his work represented him well. And with the conversation of motherhood and women’s role in the world, such events seemed uncanny.
An artist’s muse has the power to cultivate work of vast and inspiring potential. Valerie Gillespie told The Dallas Weekly her inspiration is “[her] three month old daughter.” Before her pregnancy Valerie was working on pieces dealing with “human nature” called “The Great Divide;” however, as pregnancy became a greater realization in her life she began to “paint on what [she] felt about becoming a mother.” Valerie conveys these feelings through “acrylic on canvas and mixed medium,” using markers, wood pieces, pages from books and “anything [she] used in [her] daily life.”
What also attributed to the dramatic switch in Gillespie’s projects were the conversations she had with her mother and grandmother about motherhood. “I knew I was about to embark on this huge, monumental journey with this other little being, so that in itself is pretty intense, but I think that sparked everything for me,” said Gillespie.
In light of knowing that children are watching their mother’s actions to determine how they should behave, Gillespie states she wants to “be the best person [she] can be for her [child].” Valerie plans to endeavor through the “motherhood series and see where it takes [her].”
Throughout history, the charm of a newborn baby cycles through adolescence and matures into adulthood, where in the African American experience, this process has been altered into sordid proportions. Vicki Meek’s work pertains to “sexuality and sensuality and how that got warped into what is essentially voyeurism, and an inability to see one self in a respectful way as a mere sex object.” There is a generational gap between Meek and the present generation of women who are “embracing [the role of sex objectification] willingly, and “raising the next generation of young women.”
It is seen in daily life that little girls are not seen as little girls anymore because their dress suggests another kind of sensibility with which their age does not compute. “I think a lot of this stems from the fact that we failed them – because we’re the ones that educated them or didn’t educate them about whose shoulders they stand on,” said Meek. The names of “Ida B.Wells, and Harriet Tubman, and Ella Baker,” were recalled and remembered for their strivings to ensure “that we would never be objectified again,” which at this point seems in vain. “For [the women of today] to readily embrace [sexual objectification] and flaunt it is beyond disturbing,” said Meek. Highly contrary to the rearing of today’s mothers, Vicki spoke about her mothering experience: “I look at my own daughter who I raised and I know how I raised her – she didn’t turn out like that.”
Although some may blame the media, that approach reinforces a “scapegoat” mentality. In order to combat the issue of voyeurism effectively, it must come through the “personal responsibility that we as women have to take regarding how these young women are being enculturated.”
After the stories of Valerie, a young mother who wants the best for her new baby girl, and Vicki’s concern that the next generation of young girls will not perpetuate the values necessary to become upright women of color, another reference comes to mind from Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go [and in keeping with his individual gift or bent], and when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Amplified). Even the scriptures written over 2,000 years ago speak to the necessity of parents rearing their child accordingly.
For young mothers who want the best for their babies, and the seasoned mothers who need an education in how to become better role models, the verse from Proverbs and women with likeminded views conveyed through Valerie, Vicki, and their art work can shift the next generation into the prosperous living that was intended, by those who died so that future generations could truly live.
