Sheldon Taylor's Souls of Black Notes

                                                                                                                                                    "Understand while you dance"                                               --- Kenny Gamble: Message in the Music (1976) Circa 1986-87, Christian conservatism offered America a respite from strident 60s and 70s liberalism. Libya and Palestine were considered global pariahs. East and West were locked in a battle between good and evil. In the midst of conflict, 17-year-old William Michael Griffin from Wyandanch, Long Island forged a new identity inspired by Egypt's spiritual deity (Amen-Ra) and its ancient name (Kemet). Boldly stepping to the mic and professing his Islamic faith: all praise due to Allah/and that's a blessin.'   Forever known as Rakim, he would cast an influential shadow over rap music.            A few towns over in Roosevelt, a 26-year-old Carlton Ridenour aka Chuck D was doing the same with

                                                As countless tributes pour in celebrating the life and career of  Chadwick Boseman, his Black Panther cast mates eulogize their film anchor with the ultimate tribute: How do you honor a king? I'll humbly offer mine. Simply put, Boseman represents the totality of Black history's Holy Trinity ---past, present and future.   He also evokes another regal film super hero: Sidney Poitier. While faces of Gable and Grant, Bogart and Wayne were being etched on the granite of Hollywood's Mt Rushmore, Poitier changed the depiction of Black actors onscreen, slowly moving a film industry that was in lockstep with American conservative views on race. Subservient roles as inept servants and buffoonish comic relief cloaked the true talents of Black performers of the 1930s and 1940s they way vaudeville comedian Bert Williams' genius was masked by the burnt cork of blackface.  During the decade of Poitier's arrival, Hollywood still stru