{"id":10885,"date":"2021-12-08T20:27:02","date_gmt":"2021-12-08T20:27:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/media-archive.blackartinamerica.com\/?p=10885"},"modified":"2021-12-30T14:13:52","modified_gmt":"2021-12-30T14:13:52","slug":"thoughts-on-greg-tate-a-black-boy-genius","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earthexhibitions.org\/media-archive\/?p=10885","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on Greg Tate, a Black boy Genius"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Thoughts on Greg Tate, a Black boy Genius<\/h1>\r\n
By Michael Simanga<\/pre>\r\n
Greg Tate was a child of the Black Arts Movement. It is important to remember the foundation of his great contributions. He grew up in the heat of Black cultural production, unparalleled in its influence on every discipline in the arts. His parents, Florence and Charles Tate, were movement people with their lives committed to Black liberation, self-determination, and justice. That knowledge and light is present in everything he wrote. It is not the exclusive place of his learning, but it is the source.<\/p>\r\n
He was a scholar of Black culture and philosophy, speaker of the music, an imaginer, seer of the future, but always present in the present. He slid through time and place, hearing, tasting, seeing the notes, whether written, played, sung, composed, or improvised. Nothing moved outside his curiosity.\u00a0Since birth, Greg Tate bathed in our beautiful darkness, stretching across time and place of the people who made music out of every experience and danced to it. In his life and writings, the sound and movement always held hands in our world.<\/p>\r\n
\"\"
Photo cred: New York Amsterdam News<\/p><\/div>\r\n
\r\n
He curated words, performances, images, and exhibitions, reminding us art is food, worship, medicine, and weapon.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n
Greg Tate nourished his mind and creative hunger because his need to do what he was called to do required endless study, training, sitting at the feet of elders and masters, learning the culture, and standing on solid ground when exploring and learning from the cultures of the world.\u00a0With his great intellect and creativity, Greg Tate could have done anything he wanted. He chose us. He chose his parents and community. He chose Black artists as his family, Black people as his country, and the world as his birthright. He lived beyond the tangibles, traveling between worlds, seeing things we couldn\u2019t get to yet. He unselfishly gifted his gifts to us.<\/p>\r\n
Words flew out of his head, capturing the secrets of the culture and he wrote them down with precise patterns of improvised messages like maps to freedom in a sister\u2019s cornrows.\u00a0We met him as flesh but understand him as a spirit of all of it.<\/p>\r\n
He was writer,\u00a0musician,\u00a0photographer,\u00a0painter,\u00a0and DJ.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
The movement of Black bodies on stage, at house parties, or on the street.<\/p>\r\n
The rapper\u2019s cadence, the poet\u2019s potion, eyes of the filmmakers.<\/p>\r\n
The call and the response.<\/p>\r\n
And we know this because it\u2019s in all those words he wrote for us.<\/p>\r\n
\"\"
Greg Tate attends “I Am Richard Pryor” Premiere during the 2019 SXSW Conference and Festivals at Stateside Theater on March 12, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Sean Mathis\/Getty Images for SXSW)<\/p><\/div>\r\n
Long Live the Spirit of Greg Tate!<\/strong><\/p>\r\n
\"\"<\/p>\r\n
Browse and shop for fine art from our growing network of artists, collectors, estates, galleries \u2014 specializing in works by Black American artists with great values on premier art.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
START COLLECTING ART<\/span><\/h1>\r\n
Sign up for our\u00a0free\u00a0email course<\/strong><\/u><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>on how to begin your collection.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n
Would you buy stock in BAIA if you could?<\/strong> Well we invite you to join us in becoming a monthly supporter, starting at just $3 a month YOU become a stakeholder and begin to help us transform lives through art. We are growing the BAIA team and will use your contributions to hire more team members for the purpose of creating more educational and marketing resources for schools and universities about african american artists both past and present. Such art initiatives and educational programming like Blacklite with Steve Prince, Relating to Art with Dr. Kelli Morgan, and BAIA BITS would not be possible without the ongoing support of our Patreon members. Please consider becoming a monthly Patreon member today!<\/p>\r\n
Review our list of rewards for becoming a BAIA\u00a0Patreon<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\/ patron supporter. Your monthly contribution has lasting benefits. \u2014 \u201cWhat will your legacy be\u201d \u2013 Dr. Margaret Burroughs<\/p>\r\n
Thank you new and recurring monthly<\/span> Patrons<\/h1>\r\n
Deloris and Eddie Young<\/b>,\u00a0<\/b>Esther Silver-Parker<\/b>,\u00a0<\/b>Eugene Foney<\/b>,\u00a0<\/b>Zadig & Voltaire, Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art<\/b>, John and Melanie Guess, Frank Frazier, Houston Museum of African American Culture, Leslie Fields, Jim Nixon, Dr. Michael Butler, Mary \u201cMadea\u201d Jones,\u00a0<\/b>Patrick Stewart, Noreen Winningham, Reg Pugh, Kevin Smokler, Deborah R. Moore, Dr. Skyller Walkes, Jae M, Jocelyne Lamour, Marion Zweig, Shannon DeVaney, Ashlee Jacob, DaNia Childress,\u00a0Rev. Anita Marshall<\/strong>, Mary Ali-Masai, Devera Redmond, Roslyn Valentine, Robin King, Brenda Larnell, Michael, Jeffery Washington, Tricia Konan, Debra L Lacy CHARLES BIBBS, Fredric Isler,\u00a0Silvia Peters<\/strong>,\u00a0 Harold Moore, Shurvon Haynes K.Coleman Shannon Dale Davis Terese L Hawkins M. Rasheed Jamal Love Annette,\u00a0Mason Archie<\/strong>, Manuelita Brown,\u00a0Carolyn L. Mazloomi<\/b>\u00a0 Gale Ross KL Martin michael jacobs Virginia Joy Simmons Christ Van Loan Sr. Cecilia Winters-Morris, Rosie Gordon-Wallace, Pearlie Taylor,\u00a0Danny Jenkins<\/strong>, Sara, Lloyd Goode, Marina Kovic, Sarah Rooney, Mitchell Shohet, Nicole Farley, Cheryl B Blankman, Jocelyn Greene, Laura Di Piazza Petrina Burkard Hannah Diener Sarah Drury Claire Sig Mina Silva Whitney, Sara Friesen, Megan LaCroix, Kellyn Maguire, Sophia Bellin,o Cory Huff, Wilhelmina Barker, Linda Eaddy, Shelley Danzy, Rosalyn D. Elder, Sonia Spencer Karen Pinzolo Desiree Dansan, Deborah Paige-Jackson, ALKEBU LAN IMAGES Bookstore DeLores M Dyer, Shelia, Harry F Banks, Susan Ross, Dr. Diane R. Miles, Carlton Cotton, Andre Mitchell, Joan L. Ward, JOCELYN BENITA SMITH,\u00a0Paul Robinson<\/b>, Janice Orr, Patricia D Dungy, Ethnie Weekes, Shawn Rhea, Duke Windsor, Runez M Bender, Karen Y House, M Belinda Tucker, Dr. Yonette Thomas, Diana Shannon Young, Judith Hamilton, Julia Turner Lowe, Francene Greene, Caryliss R. Weaver, Sharmon Jane Hilfinger, Bill and Deborah Nix, joyce a, Wanda Baker-Smith, Timothy Gandley, Anneke Schwob, Emily M, Rachael horner, Morris Howard, Marie L Johnson, Ayoka Chenzira, Jean Gumpper, Caitlin Charles, Becca H,.\u00a0Dr. Darlene White,<\/b>\u00a0Dr. Sandra Boyce Broomes, Michele C. Mayes,\u00a0<\/b>Rita Crittenden, Reginald Laurent, Jea Delsarte, Brenda Brooks, Suzette Renwick,\u00a0BEVERLY GRANT,<\/b>\u00a0Linda B. Smith, Judith Bergeron, Emily Hegeman Cavanagh, Teri L Lewis, Cooky Goldblatt, Danni Cerezo, Hollis Turner, cdixon06, Freda Davis, Sarah Caputo, jacki rust, Curtis Morrow, Christina Levine, Jessica Beckstrom, Kim Walker, Pamela Hart,\u00a0Ted Ellis,<\/b>\u00a0Louise berner-holmberg, Carla Sonheim, Nicole Bruce, Alison Deas, Monikapi, Ashley Littlefield,\u00a0Reginald Browne\u00a0<\/b>Bill Cook, SylviaWong Lewis, DONNA PAXTON, Kanika Marshall, Cheyenne, Nancy Maignan, Kimberly Smith, Tracy Russ, Gwen Meharg, K Joy Peters, johnnie mae maberry, Lester Marks, Zishan Evans, Anne king, Dianna A. Harris, Arbrie Griffin Bradley, Sandra Sautner,\u00a0Barbara Brown<\/b>, Bronwen Hodgkinson,\u00a0Sonia Deane,<\/b>\u00a0January Hoskin, Quinton Foreman, Key Mosley, Jim Alexander, Terri Pease, Annette Groschke, Richard MacMillan, D T Ray, Camille, Elayne Gross, Ann Tankersley, Samori Augusto, Karen M Hirsch, Jeanne H Chaney, Jacqueline Konan, Jerome Moore, Patricia Andrews-Keenan, India Still, Luna Cascade, Amy Peck, Marnese Barksdale, Elder Bridgette, Ren\u00e9 McCullough, Kevin and Tracy Burton, Raven Burnes, Kim Dubois, Edwina King Diva E, Charlotte Bender,\u00a0Phyllis Stephens,<\/b>\u00a0Alisa R Elliot, Ebony English, Otto Neals, Michael Nix, Terri Bowles, Nelly Maynard, Leslie Smith, Bernard W. Kinsey, Toby Sisson, Raynard Hall, Milton Loupe, Wren Mckinley, Arturo Lindsay, Lindiwe Stovall Lester, Phil,\u00a0Ricki Carroll,\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0 Sherman E Jackson Jr, Janine P Rouson, Raynard Hall, Vickie Townsend-Carter, Peter Prinz, PB Fine Art Appraisal, Alison Woods, Suzette Davis, Carlton Cotton, Art Now After Hours, Diane E Leifheit, Tamara clements, \u00a0lisa tomlinson, vince leal, Deborah BarnwellGarr, Sonia Pollard, Barbara Hayes, Loretta Y Blakely, Gregg Y, Paige Jernigan, Randy McAnulty, raven walthor, Will Johnson, jack, Shameika Ingram, Trina Virginia Brooks, Black Wall Street Gallery, Suzanne Roberts, Faye Edwards, Tara, Crystal Green, Sedonia Phillips Kniskern, \u00a0R Simpson, Kate Gadd, Judy Nyquist, Velma McLaurin-Bell, Frazier and Myra O\u2019Leary, Rosemarie Rogers, Elaine Buchsbaum, Hope Elliott, Renee Williams Jefferson, Atiya Slaughter, <\/strong>Stephanie Stephens, Takisia Whites, Robert Taylor, Christina, Taylor Jackson, Brenda Joyner, Dr. Karen Patricia Williams, Paul Daniel Curtis, Zawadi, DJIBRIL N\u2019DOYE, Monique Johnson, Christine J Vincent, Paige Jernigan,\u00a0Willa Bandler, Valerie A. Cooper, Cordell Boyd, DARRIS L SHAW, Shurvon Haynes, S J, Cynthia Hargrove, THERESA PATTERSON, Kree8tive DJ<\/p>\r\n
 <\/p>\r\n
\"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n
We Appreciate Your Support<\/p>
Share this:<\/h3>