1. Saturday, February 6, 2016 E
Living With Children
Teen who has problems
prioritizing needs help from
parents.
»See Page E2
Editor: Kyleen Kendall, 574-6276, kkendall@dnronline.com
WEEK
END
Nikki Fox / DN-R File
Harrisonburg City Police escort marchers across the bridge on Martin Luther King Jr., Way during the annual People’s Day celebration on MLK Day last month. Each February during Black History
Month, city residents reflect on those, like King, who espoused equal rights in the name of freedom.
Honoring The Past
N
ot everyone can
say they’ve at-
tended an iconic
civil rights event. Doris
Allen can.
Allen, 88, of Harrison-
burg, stood at the foot of the
Lincoln Memorial steps,
among a sea of humanity,as
civil rights activists de-
manded equal rights for
blacks during the March on
Washington for Jobs and
Freedom.
But it was the young
Baptist minister who first
told the world about his
“dream” with whom Allen
most connected.
“Martin Luther King
[Jr.]’s speech made me feel
like I was somebody,” said
Allen, raised in the city’s
historically black neighbor-
hood of Newtown. “He
touched my struggles.”
Each February during
Black History Month, Allen
reflects on those, like King,
who espoused equal rights
in the name of freedom. And
she’s far from alone.
Area residents, black and
white, honor these key fig-
ures — from activists to ath-
letes — while cognizant of
the obstacles that remain
for black Americans.
Prominent Figures
Formally recognized in
1976, Black History Month
is an annual observation
during which black Ameri-
cans’ achievements are rec-
ognized.
President Gerald Ford
called it a chance for Ameri-
cans to “seize the opportuni-
ty to honor the too-often ne-
glected accomplishments of
black Americans in every
area of endeavor throughout
our history.”
And there are plenty of
accomplishments. In 1940,
Hattie McDaniel became
the first black actor to win
an Academy Award. In 1908,
Jack Johnson became the
first black boxer crowned
heavyweight champion. And
in 1947, Jackie Robinson be-
came the first black Ameri-
can to play in Major League
Baseball, breaking the color
barrier and changing the
face of sports forever.
“Jesse Owens winning
the gold medal at the [1936
Summer] Olympics in Ger-
many stands out to me,”
said Phillip Watson, trea-
surer for the Black Student
Union at Eastern Mennon-
ite University.
Owens, a black track and
field athlete, collected four
gold medals as German
chancellor Adolph Hitler
watched from the stands.
The Ohio State University
alum is widely considered
one of the greatest track
athletes of all time.
“He just took over,” said
Watson, of Owens.
Celeste Thomas, student
adviser for athletics and
multicultural services at
EMU, said she admires the
bravery of Harriet Tubman,
the slave-turned-
abolitionist who rescued
nearly 70 enslaved families
through the Underground
Railroad.
“She had the faith, the
fortitude and the heart to
know that being enslaved
was wrong,” said Thomas.
“And she risked her life for
those she was trying to help
to freedom.”
One hundred years later,
during the fight for civil
rights, revered black Ameri-
cans like King, Malcolm X,
and current U.S. Rep. John
Lewis spoke out against
racial injustices in America.
But there were lesser-
known activists who helped
shape the movement.
Claudette Colvin was the
first person arrested for re-
sisting bus segregation,
nine months before Rosa
Parks. Civil rights activist
Whitney Young pushed ma-
jor corporations to hire more
black workers. And Bayard
Rustin, a political organizer,
helped design the March on
Washington.
“Bayard Rustin stands
out to me because he was a
political organizer but also a
gay man fighting for gay
rights,” said Kathryn Hob-
son, associate professor of
cultural communication at
James Madison University.
“That’s an important story
to hear about.”
Black History Month is a
time to honor those, both
See PAST, Page E3
Story by MATT GONZALES / DN-R
During Black History Month, Residents Reflect On Key Figures Who Fought For Equality
Nikki Fox / DN-R File
Author Doris Allen of Harrisonburg
attended the March on Washington
for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. It was
there, she says, that the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr.’s speech “made me feel
like I was somebody.”
Preston Knight / DN-R File
In 2013, Cantrell Avenue in Harrisonburg was renamed for civil rights activist the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The
street is one of several landmarks in the city honoring black leaders.
‘THESE PEOPLE STOOD UP FOR OUR BELIEFS’

2. Harrisonburg, Va. WEEKEND Saturday, February 6, 2016 E3
Ancient Japanese Crafts
Updated In N.Y. Exhibit
By KATHERINE ROTH
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Traditional
Japanese crafts like tea ceremony
bowls, statuary, ornate lacquer-
ware and precious dolls are given
an edgy, individualistic update in
an exhibit at the Museum of Arts
and Design.
Twelve masters of these ancient
crafts —or kogei —take them in
new directions, inspired by contem-
porary design, Japanese manga,
anime and other modern art forms.
“There is a technical ability in-
herent in kogei that has the capac-
ity to unleash intense, future-ori-
ented visual imagery,”curator Yuji
Akimoto, director of Japan’s 21st
Century Museum of Contemporary
Art, says in the accompanying cat-
alog.
The show, “Japanese Kogei: Fu-
ture Forward,”was first shown at
that museum in Kanazawa, Japan,
and is now on view in New York
through Feb. 7.
The ancient crafts’“own special,
original richness and beauty ... give
voice to the concerns of our time,”
Akimoto says.
For instance, inspired in part by
Japanese horror films, Kutsuyo
Aoki’s ceramics combine rococo ele-
ments with spooky skeletal forms
that “might perhaps be viewed as
prayers or exorcisms, with the pow-
er to dispel the indefinable feelings
of anxiety that proliferate in con-
temporary society,”Akimoto says.
Yuki Hayama’s painstakingly
precise works in ceramic reflect a
haunting blend of manga, dystopi-
an vision and ancient myth. The
work is so detailed it requires ultra-
high definition 8k technology —a
screen image allowing for a resolu-
tion of about 33 million pixels, 16
times higher than current HD
broadcasts —to fully appreciate.
Tea bowls in the show are bold-
ly graphic, sometimes shown up-
side down (Yuri Takemura), in
bright colors featuring contrasting
drippy dots of color (Takuro Kuwa-
ta), or made with an eye to tran-
scending physical and cultural
boundaries by incorporating clays
and techniques from around the
world, as in works by Toshio Ohi.
Kohei Nakamura’s works in
porcelain and iron reference sci-
ence fiction or apocalyptic scenar-
ios. And Kuwata’s enormous ves-
sels feature chunky, glitzy glazes
that appear to be breaking apart
and descending from his vessels,
with decorative elements resem-
bling scraps of demolished build-
ings.
Other artists take new ap-
proaches to the ancient crafts of fig-
urative sculpture or kutaniyaki (a
style of glazed pottery from the Edo
period).
Two lacquer artists are also fea-
tured. Shin’ya Yamamura balances
fine lacquer techniques with new
forms using unusual materials,
while Tatsuo Kitamura and his
studio use newly rediscovered lac-
quer techniques and apply them to
atypical forms, including ornate
wooden eggs and Jewish and
Christian religious items.
The exhibit, with wall texts in
Japanese and English, features a
brief biography of each artist and,
in some cases, videos showing them
at work.
Taku Saiki / Museum of Art and Design / AP
A yellow green-slipped gold Kairagi
Shino bowl by Takuro Kuwata is
included in the exhibit, “Japanese
Kogei: Future Forward,” in New York.
The bowl is from the 21st Century
Museum of Contemporary Art,
Kanazawa.
Nikki Fox / DN-R File
Stan Maclin speaks on People’s Day in 2015, an event held by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Way Coalition.
Maclin, 62, is campaigning to have an early learning/education center named after Elon Walter Rhodes,
the first black resident to serve on the Harrisonburg School Board.
well-known and unheralded,
who built the foundation on
whichblack Americans stand
today, said Devantae Dews, co-
president of the Black Student
Union at EMU.
“These people stood up for
our beliefs and our potential to
be equals,” he said.
Black History Made Every Day
Harrisonburg residents can
see black history simply by
strolling about town.
The Lucy F. Simms Contin-
uing Education Center, named
after a black educator who
served the city for a half-cen-
tury, stands in the Northeast
part of town. Nearby is the
Newtown Cemetery, a resting
place for many black Civil
War-era troops and prominent
city figures, including Simms.
Cantrell Avenue, a central
Harrisonburg street, was re-
named Martin Luther King,
Jr. Way in 2013 — an idea
spearheaded by city resident
Stan Maclin.
“The Rev. Martin Luther
King Jr. is a global icon, an
apostle of peacemaking and
nonviolence,” said Maclin,
president of the Harriet Tub-
man Cultural Center in down-
town Harrisonburg. “I’m really
proud of how Harrisonburg
embraced [the renaming].”
Maclin, 62, is campaigning
to have an early learning/edu-
cation center named after
Elon Walter
Rhodes, the first
black resident to
serve on the Har-
risonburg School
Board. Rhodes’
name is under con-
sideration by the
board and has a
groundswell of sup-
port from the local
community, said
Maclin.
“There is no reflection of
him at all in the city,” he said.
“History like that cannot be
overlooked.”
Nor should the struggles
blacks continue to endure to-
day, he said. Though society
has made strides in the last
half-century, Maclin main-
tains that “we still have a long
way to go” before truly achiev-
ing racial equality.
Racism still exists, he not-
ed. Black incarceration rates
are through the roof and un-
employment rates double that
of whites, according to the Pew
Research Center.
Modern movements like
Black Lives Matter — which
brings to light violence against
blacks —as well as protests at
the University of Missouri and
this year’s Academy Awards
have sprung forth to
combat perceived
societal racism.
“I hope [people]
take the time to
learn about the
struggles and op-
pression black folks
face rather than just
celebrating the
past,” explained
Hobson, who is
white. “I feel it is my
job to listen to these political
movements and see how I can
be supportive.”
Black history is made every
day and should be commemo-
rated, said Maclin, but the
road to true equality remains
long and winding.
“It’s good to honor the
[black] leaders of our past,”
added Allen. “But the door
hasn’t opened up all the way
for us.”
Contact Matt Gonzales at
(540) 574-6265 or
mgonzales@dnronline.com
Maclin Working To Honor City Trailblazer
Past FROM PAGE E1
“I hope [people]
take the time to
learn about the
struggles and
oppression black
folks face.”
— KATHRYN HOBSON
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
AT JMU