Art

Book Set in Civil Rights Era Inspires Local Artist, 10

THE BIRMINGHAM TIMES — Dalvin McCollum, a rising fifth grader at Avondale Elementary School, didn’t have to think long about what to do when asked to design a project based on a book his teacher assigned to his class. McCollum, 10, used his love of comics to create a newspaper, “B’HAM NEWS,” that included an article, a drawing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, and a comic strip based on “The Watsons Go to Birmingham 1963.”

Published

6 years ago

June 22, 2019

Oakland Post

By Kathryn Sesser-Dorné

Dalvin McCollum, a rising fifth grader at Avondale Elementary School, didn’t have to think long about what to do when asked to design a project based on a book his teacher assigned to his class.

McCollum, 10, used his love of comics to create a newspaper, “B’HAM NEWS,” that included an article, a drawing of the 16^thStreet Baptist Church, and a comic strip based on “The Watsons Go to Birmingham 1963.”

“One good reason is because I knew I could draw, so I just wanted to do that for fun,” Dalvin said about why he chose to make a newspaper. “And then I really just wanted to write something about it.”

“The Watsons Go to Birmingham 1963,” about a family in Michigan who finds themselves in Alabama around the time of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, is fictional. But author Christopher Paul Curtis based the book on members of his family and many events in the first part of the book are based on his childhood.

“I just liked the book. Some parts made me confused … some parts were funny,” McCollum said.

“There’s this little boy, his name was Kenny. Somehow he thought his sister was in the 16th Street bombing, but somehow she got out … someone took her out before the church blew up.”

McCollum said that part was a little confusing, as well as how someone was able to get the bomb in the church in the first place. But it also made him think about that era in time, and how Birmingham played a big role in the fight for change.

The book, chosen by Maggie Michelson, a fourth grade teacher at Avondale, also inspired students to create characters made out of dough, short stories, and even a board game. Michelson has helped McCollum become more confident this year as well.

“She showed me that if I try my best, I can do something. I can do it.”

The son of Dalvin and Jacquelyne McCollum says his family has also inspired him too. “They just support me if I mess up,” he said. “And they help me when I’m doing stuff.”

McCollum’s Comics

Comics come naturally to McCollum, and he likes to draw things that amuse him.

“That’s my favorite thing to do when I’m drawing,” McCollum said. “I don’t do superhero comics, I just like to do funny ones.”

“I don’t think that’s going to be my thing,” McCollum said when asked about a future in newspapers.

Despite his venture into journalism, McCollum doesn’t see that as his career path, but he does hope he’ll be able to make a living with his art.

“I want to be a character artist for cartoons, or something like that. Or just draw.”

After creating what he did after reading “The Watsons go to Birmingham 1963,” he also hopes that seeing other artist’s works might inspire him as he continues to hone his skills.

“I just asked my Mom when I walked in could I get a book,” he said about the graphic novels that the Avondale branch of the Birmingham Public Library had on hand.

He also hopes to follow in his mother’s footsteps and attend the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “I think it’s just a good college.”

McCollum said he will continue to study about Birmingham’s involvement in the civil rights era, and the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing.

“I like history. I think it helps me learn about my past.”

But for now, he’s just focused on being out of school for the summer.

This article originally appeared in The Birmingham Times.

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Griot Theater Company Presents August Wilson’s Work at Annual Oratorical Featuring Black Authors

The performance explores the legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson whose 10-play Century Cycle chronicles the African American experience across the 20th century, with each play set in a different decade. “Half a Century” journeys through the final five plays of this monumental cycle, bringing Wilson’s richly woven stories to life in a way that celebrates history, resilience, and the human spirit.

Published

3 months ago

February 17, 2025

Oakland Post

Late playwright August Wilson. Wikipedia photo.

By Godfrey Lee

Griot Theater Company will present their Fifth Annual Oratorical with August Wilson’s “Half a Century,” at the Belrose on 1415 Fifth Ave., in San Rafael near the San Rafael Public Library.

The performance explores the legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson whose 10-play Century Cycle chronicles the African American experience across the 20^th century, with each play set in a different decade. “Half a Century” journeys through the final five plays of this monumental cycle, bringing Wilson’s richly woven stories to life in a way that celebrates history, resilience, and the human spirit.

Previous performance highlighting essential Black American authors included Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, and Lorraine Hansberry with Langston Hughes.

The play will be performed at 3:00. p.m. on Feb. 20, 21, 22, 27, and 28 at 7:00 p.m., and on Feb. 23 at 3:00 p.m.

For more information, go to griottheatercompany.squarespace.com/productions-v2

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Activism

MLK Day of Service Volunteers Make Blankets and Art for Locals in Need

“Everyone has an opportunity to participate,” said Glenda Roberts, kinship support care program manager at CCYSB. “Our nonprofit organization and participants recognize how important it is to give back to the community and this is serving. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, ‘Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve.’”

Published

4 months ago

January 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Photo courtesy of the nonprofit.

By Kathy Chouteau
The Richmond Standard

The Contra Costa Youth Service Bureau (CCYSB) and Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church (BMBC) are collaborating with a team of volunteers for a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, Monday, Jan. 20 that will wrap the community’s most vulnerable people in warm blankets and provide them with an uplifting gift of art.

Volunteers will kick off their activities at BMBC at 11 a.m., making blankets for the unhoused people served by the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program (GRIP) and art for those in convalescence in Richmond.

Others will get to work preparing a lunch of chili, salad, a veggie tray, and water for participants, offered courtesy of CCYSB, while supplies last.

“People of all ages are welcome to participate in the MLK Day of Service,” said Roberts. Volunteers can RSVP via phone to Glenda Roberts at 510-215-4670, ext. 125.

CCYSB Boardmember Jackie Marston and her friends donated the materials and supplies to make the blankets and art projects. The nonprofit is also providing the day’s complimentary lunch, as well as employees to volunteer, under the direction of CCYSB Executive Director Marena Brown.

BMBC, led by Rev. Dr. Carole McKindley-Alvarez, is providing the facility for the event and volunteers from the church, which is located at 684 Juliga Woods St. in Richmond.

Located in Richmond, CCYSB is a nonprofit youth advocacy organization that serves eligible children, youth, and low-income families with a variety of wraparound services so they can thrive. Programs include academic achievement, youth mentorship, truancy prevention and direct response.

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Art

Vandalism at Richmond Ferry Terminal Saddens Residents

Residents have been lamenting the destruction online. Ellen Seskin posted photos of the vandalism to the Facebook group, Everybody’s Richmond, on Jan. 12, saying she encountered it while out on a walk. “It was on the sidewalk, the street, the doors to the ferry, even in the art installation and the ‘stone’ benches,” she said. “I reported it but knowing how slow they are about getting things done — I just know that the longer you leave graffiti, the more likely they are to spray it again.”

Published

4 months ago

January 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Graffiti mars the walkway at the Richmond Ferry Terminal. Photo by Kathy Chouteau, The Richmond Standard.

The Richmond Standard

“This is why we can’t have nice things,” stated the post on NextDoor.

The post referenced images of graffiti at the Richmond Ferry Terminal. Not just on the terminal, but also on public artwork, on trail signs, on public benches and the boardwalk.

On Wednesday, the Standard stopped by to see it for ourselves. The good news was that it appears the graffiti on the terminal and on the artwork, called Changing Tide, have been cleaned for the most part. But graffiti remained abundant in the area around the relatively new ferry terminal, which opened to the public just six years ago.

Graffiti artists tagged benches and the boardwalk. Cars that had done doughnuts in the street marked the cul-de-sac just outside the historic Craneway Pavilion.

A ferry worker told us the graffiti had been there since before he started working for the ferry service about a week ago.

A member of the Army Corps of Engineers who did not want to be named in this report called the scene “sad,” as “they’d done such a nice job fixing it up.”

“It’s sad that all this money has been spent and hoodlums just don’t care and are destroying stuff,” he said.

It wasn’t immediately clear how soon the graffiti would be removed. The Standard reported the graffiti to the city’s graffiti abatement hotline. We were prompted to leave a message reporting the address and location of the graffiti.

“It was on the sidewalk, the street, the doors to the ferry, even in the art installation and the ‘stone’ benches,” she said. “I reported it but knowing how slow they are about getting things done — I just know that the longer you leave graffiti, the more likely they are to spray it again.”

In the comment section responding to Seskin’s post, local attorney Daniel Butt questioned why there aren’t cameras in the area.

On Nextdoor, one resident suggested searching to see if the tags match any accounts on Instagram, hoping to identify the perpetrator.

On its website, the City of Richmond says residents should graffiti immediately call Public Works graffiti removal and/or Code Enforcement at 510-965-4905.

Kathy Chouteau contributed to this report.