National Exhibition Tour Media Coverage December 2013 - February 2014 
December
24,
2013 7:57 AM Birds Eye View Animator Leo Sullivan helped develop some of the characters and storylines on Fat Albert. "Doing the cartoons and developing those shows and working on them in those early days was exciting," he says. "It was more personal, it took more people to do them, it was more expensive, and in my day we had to individually develop characters." Sullivan started working as an animator in 1961, and over the years worked on lots of what I watched while sitting cross-legged in front of the TV on Saturday mornings, including The Flintstones, Scooby Doo, Captain Caveman, Richie Rich and the Laff-A-Lympics, just to name a few. Today, at 71, he teaches kids about the technology and animation for the games they play. "We felt what better way to introduce kids to the science fields, because they play these games, but they don't know how that stuff works," Sullivan says. "We teach them in these classes how the technology works and how they can be a part of it, giving them the skills in case they want to continue doing it in high school, college, or at a trade or technical school." -------As a kid growing up during the 1970s and '80s, I would often spend the night at my cousin Chris' house. On Friday nights after my aunt sent us to bed and turned off the light, we would lay in our respective bunk beds whispering to each other — not about school, or friends or toys (well, OK, sometimes about toys), no, we were locking down our cartoon watching plan for the next morning. Top of the list? Hey, hey, heyyyyy, it's Faaaaat Albert! Yep, that catchy phrase kicked off each episode of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. Actor and comedian Bill Cosby created and produced the show, which aired from 1972 to 1985, and based it loosely on his childhood. Fat Albert and the gang (which included a character named Mushmouth and another named Dumb Donald — I'm guessing that wouldn't fly today) hung out in North Philadelphia and faced many moral crises. Chris and I (and a bunch of you, too, you know it!) loved the kids' various shenanigans and the life lessons. Most episodes ended with a similar catchy tune from the cobbled together instruments of the Junkyard Band. In fact, music was a common theme among many of the new entries to that era's Saturday morning cartoon lineup.
UnCut Funk! Pamela Thomas was particularly captivated by the animated images of African-Americans on Fat Albert and other shows from that era, including The Jackson 5ive, Josie and The Pussycats and Harlem Globetrotters. "I was born in the '60s, so I was growing up in the '70s and I remember all of these cartoons — not all of them — but this is the first time that all of these positive animated images were on TV," says Thomas, a preschool teacher who grew up in the Bronx. "Their stories were like your stories, their experiences were like your experience," says Thomas, who has a black history degree from The City College of New York. "Bill Cosby's cartoon was so groundbreaking, it just dealt with so many issues — smoking, cheating in school, playing hooky, divorce, what happens when you steal from others. You don't realize it when you're watching it that you're getting all of these messages in a form that children can understand." Twelve years ago, Thomas started collecting black animation art, and a few years later she started the online Museum of UnCut Funk! Now, she has acquired enough pieces for a traveling show, Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution Exhibition, which makes its first stop in January at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Thomas explains, "the whole overview of this collection is not so much that it's cartoons and black — these are groundbreaking because they were all the first, and they took place from 1969 to 1979." From Civil Rights To Black Power But it wasn't easy to build the collection. "It was really hard to find black animation; there was really no market for it," says Thomas. "Everything was about Disney and Warner Bros. and the Looney Tunes characters, Bugs Bunny and Tweety Bird." Thomas and friends put the word out to various art galleries, and when curators heard about a piece that might interest her, they would let her know. "This aspect of black popular culture, I think there is such a significant story to tell there, coming out of the 1960s civil rights movement and shifting to the 1970s black power movement," she says, "to come into our own and to have all of these images that were not derogatory to come on the television and in the news, and children not seeing their grandmothers' cartoons with the derogatory images, like [Little Black] Sambo that came out of the 1940s." http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/12/24/256555149/hey-hey-hey-historian-draws-attention-to-70s-black-animation-art
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"The broader 1970’s Black animation collection also includes additional pieces of original artwork from adult animated feature films such as Coonskin and Hey Good Lookin’, as well as opening sequence to the dance television show Soul Train. Other pieces in the collection include racially stereotypical art from 1930’s and 1940’s cartoon shorts. At one time, thousands of hand-painted cels were created and used under the camera to animate every TV and theatrical cartoon. Today’s animation is all computer generated, so hand painted cels represent a lost art form. As relatively little Black animation was produced in the 1970’s and beyond, original production artwork is scarce and rare. Although limited edition reprints of selected scenes from many cartoons and films have been produced, there are very few that have been created from Black animation.” - Sista ToFunky ——————————————————————— AWESOME. *SIDEBAR* Animation today is not “ALL computer generated” (not sure what she means). It is still designed and hand-drawn animated on paper in the larger, international animation industry.* Although, as a black man myself, I am not fond of the term “Black Animation.” My reason being is simply because we’re Americans and animation is a medium, not something “owned” by a particular group, ethnic or not. you can tell what ethnic group the animation is catering to by the stories, culture and ethnicities of the characters within the medium of animation. The average viewer knows something is for a “black audience” by simply watching it. I think labeling anything “black” first, limits the wider exposure especially in a cultural melting pot like America. However, props for this video! Source: http://museumofuncutfunk.com/2011/10/04/black-animation-colection/ http://leseanthomas.tumblr.com/post/71668080746/the-broader-1970s-black-animation-collection
REACTOR Online Museum Celebrates Pioneering Black Animation by Jillian Steinhauer on December 26, 2013 An ad for “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids” (via Museum of UnCut Funk) Think of trailblazing black TV shows, and The Cosby Show immediately comes to mind. But before the Cliff Huxtable, there was Fat Albert, Bill Cosby’s beloved animated creation that became famous for his catchphrase, “Hey, hey, hey!” Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids began airing in 1972, around the same time that other cartoons and animated shows finally began featuring black characters that weren’t all embodiments of negative stereotypes. “It wasn’t until the early 1970’s that Saturday Morning television cartoons started to feature image affirming Black characters with a modern look and positive story lines that delivered culturally relevant messages,” writes Pamela Thomas, aka Sista ToFunky, on the website of her online Museum of UnCut Funk. The museum, which I discovered thanks to a recent NPR story, is a treasure trove of African-American pop cultural artifacts and ephemera, from Blaxploitation movie posters to black comic books. Perhaps the most extensive is the black animation collection, which includes extensive explanatory texts, YouTube links, and original production cels and drawings. Thomas, who has a degree in black history from City College and is a former art dealer, focuses not just on shows with all-black casts, like Fat Albert and The Jackson 5ive cartoon, but on black characters that popped up in other shows, like Josie and the Pusscats’ Valerie Brown, whom she dubs the “first positive Black female character in a Saturday morning cartoon series”; and the “first Black male superhero character in a Saturday morning cartoon,” Schoolhouse Rock’s Verb (“I can question like: What is it? / Verb, you’re so demanding,” the song goes)
Production cel for “Schoolhouse Rock! Verb! That’s What’s Happening” episode (via Museum of UnCut Funk) The Museum of UnCut Funk is an internet rabbit hole that you can (and should) easily get lost in for hours. It has no physical home yet, but I can only hope it will one day. In the meantime, Thomas has organized a physical exhibition, Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution, focused on black characters in Saturday morning cartoons. It opens at New York’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in February, and will travel to Chicago’s DuSable Museum of African American History and Seattle’s Northwest African American Museum afterwards. Tagged as: black animation, Fat Albert, Museum of UnCut Funk, Pamela Thomas http://hyperallergic.com/100308/online-museum-celebrates-pioneering-black-animation/
http://hyperallergic.tumblr.com/post/71220398644/onlinemuseum-celebrates-pioneering-black
Think of trailblazing black TV shows, and The Cosby Show immediately comes to mind. But before the Cliff Huxtable, there was Fat Albert, Bill Cosby’s beloved animated creation that became famous for his catchphrase, “Hey, hey, hey!” Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids began airing in 1972, around the same time that other cartoons and animated shows finally began featuring black characters that weren’t all embodiments of negative stereotypes. “It wasn’t until the early 1970’s that Saturday Morning television cartoons started to feature image affirming Black characters with a modern look and positive story lines that delivered culturally relevant messages,” writes Pamela Thomas, aka SistaToFunky, on the website of her online Museum of UnCut Funk. The museum, which I discovered thanks to a recent NPR story, is a treasure trove of African-American pop cultural artifacts and ephemera, from Blaxploitation movie posters to black comic books. Perhaps the most extensive is the black animation collection, which includes extensive explanatory texts, YouTube links, and original production cels and drawings. Thomas, who has a degree in black history from City College and is a former art dealer, focuses not just on shows with all-black casts, like Fat Albert and The Jackson 5ive cartoon, but on black characters that popped up in other shows, like Josie and the Pusscats’ Valerie Brown, whom she dubs the “first positive Black female character in a Saturday morning cartoon series”; and the “first Black male superhero character in a Saturday morning cartoon,” Schoolhouse Rock’s Verb (“I can question like: What is it? / Verb, you’re so demanding,” the song goes).
Production cel for “Schoolhouse Rock! Verb! That’s What’s Happening” episode The Museum of UnCut Funk is an internet rabbit hole that you can (and should) easily get lost in for hours. It has no physical home yet, but I can only hope it will one day. In the meantime, Thomas has organized a physical exhibition, Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution, focused on black characters in Saturday morning cartoons. It opens at New York’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in February, and will travel to Chicago’s DuSable Museum of African American History and Seattle’s Northwest African American Museum afterwards. article by Jillian Steinhauer via hyperallergic.com Share this: http://goodblacknews.org/tag/museum-of-uncut-funk/
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http://theobamacrat.com/2013/12/28/online-museum-celebratespioneering-black-animation/ Via: Hyperallergic
http://www.radiofree.org/us/online-museum-celebrates-pioneeringblack-animation/
! The Museum of UnCut Funk Preserves the History of Black Animation and Culture BY ANDREW LASANE | DEC 27, 2013 | 3:19 PM | PERMALINK
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The mission of the Museum of UnCut Funk is to "preserve funky Black Cultural artifacts and history for future generations." The online museum boasts a collection of over 5000 pieces including film posters, album covers, coins, Broadway musical window cards, comic books, sports memorabilia, and various other artifacts. Their Black Animation Collection and it's Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids pieces were recently profiled on NPR in an interview with museum curator Sista ToFunky (Pamela Thomas). As a resource, the collection is incredible. There are animation cells, YouTube links, and pages devoted to specific shows, specials, and important milestone episodes in Black pop culture history. As if that wasn't cool enough, the museum also presents real world exhibitions. "Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution," an
exhibition about Black characters from Saturday morning cartoons, will be coming to New York City on February 1 at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.Â
Check out Sista ToFunky's interview with Collector's Quest about the collection and mark your calendars: http://www.complex.com/art-design/2013/12/museum-of-uncut-funk-preserves-the-history-of-black-animation
http://radishreviews.com/2014/01/03/linkspam-010314/
Harlem // ’70s Black Animated Character Exhibit @ The Schomburg | Feb. 5 – Jun. 14 Dec 27, 2013 Posted by theComplex In Art, Events, Featured, On TV, Upcoming & Current Events From the early 1900s to the late 1960s, Hollywood produced over 600 racist cartoon depictions of Black people as “cannibals, coons, mammies and Stepin Fetchit characters with exaggerated features and ignorant dialect.” The 1970s ushered in an era that boasted “25 Saturday morning cartoon series, one primetime cartoon series, one weekday cartoon series, two after school cartoons and 16 cartoon specials starring positive Black characters, 17 of which had a predominately Black cast.” Replacing several banned Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons were shows like Bill Cosby‘s Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, The Jackson 5ive featuring Michael Jackson and his brothers, The Harlem Globetrotters, and I Am The Greatest featuring Muhammad Ali. Realistic and affirming storylines changed the way Black children saw themselves. Strong Black female characters and multicultural casts were also introduced in Josie and The Pussycats, Star Trek and Kid Power. To celebrate the legacy of this revolutionary time period in animation and television, the Museum Of UnCut Funk is bringing its traveling retrospective exhibit, Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution to Harlem’s Schomburg Center starting February 5th.
Originally launched at the Lou Schiemer Gallery at ToonSeum in Pittsburgh, PA last year, the show included 40 pieces of art commemorating the 40th anniversaries of these Black characters and cartoons. Curator Sista ToFunky reflects on the importance of the showcase: “As a kid growing up in the 1960’s, I saw images of Blacks being beaten and tortured. I saw the aftermath of the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and I couldn’t understand why people who looked like me had been treated in this manner. Then the 1970’s arrived and brought an explosion of color to Saturday Morning cartoons. As a pre-teen, I could see positive Black characters that looked like me and real people that I admired, like the Jackson Five and The Harlem Globetrotters. I was glued to the television. I couldn’t wait to see these animated characters fill the small screen. These cartoons changed my life…filling me with pride and self esteem. They brought adventure, mayhem and fun to a generation of Black children. Forty years later, my perspective on these cartoons is a little different. Besides being an integral part of Black children’s lives, these cartoons also benefited white children and the broader society as a whole. A number of these cartoons addressed issues like cultural differences, racism and multiculturalism. It is my belief
that these cartoons are national treasures. They are an important part of American culture, and in particular the Black experience. I fondly remember the decade when these revolutionary Black cartoon characters made their mark on animation history.” The exhibit features original production cels, drawings and limited edition cels of Fat Albert And The Cosby Kids, The Jackson 5ive, The Harlem Globetrotters, Valerie (Josie and The Pussy Cats), Lt. Uhura (Star Trek Animated Series), Muhammad Ali (I Am The Greatest), Billy Jo Jive (Sesame Street), Verb: That’s What’s Happening (School House Rock) and Franklin (Peanuts). Following its Harlem run, the Funky Turns 40 will hit the DuSable Museum For African American History in Chicago (July 13 – October 20, 2014) and the Northwest African American Museum in Seattle, WA (November 22 – March 1, 2015). See NYC exhibition details below and check out a full character introduction timeline at museumofuncutfunk.com. When Exhibit: Wednesday, February 5, 2014 – Saturday, June 14, 2014 Hours: Monday through Saturday | 10:00 am – 6:00 pm Where Schomburg Center For Research In Black Culture Latimer/Edison Gallery 515 Malcolm X Blvd New York, NY 10037 Cost Free
http://www.sinuousmag.com/2013/12/ harlem-1970s-black-animated-characterexhibit-schomburg/


[spotted via AfroPunk/npr.org]
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The Museum of Uncut Funk Presents: The Golden Age of Black Animation Racial diversity is once again on the rise in TV animation, with Black, Asian and Latino characters playing a major part of such recently launched series as Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe, Nickelodeon’s Sanjay and Craig and Disney’s Sofia the First. Is this merely a fleeting trend, or the it’s-about-time actualization of The King of Cartoons‘ ‘I Have A Dream’ speech? Your guess is as good as mine. This isn’t the first time this has happened, after all. Way, way back in the 1970s, it appeared that minority cartoon characters were finally catching up to their Caucasian counterparts. Shows like Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, Josie and the Pussycats and Star Trek: The Animated Series featured multicultural cartoon characters who doubled as role models, teaching positive messages and presenting inspiring images of smart, strong men AND women of color. Less than ten years later though, things were back to their previously pathetic state, with Black, Latino and Asian characters being tacked onto cartoon casts as almost an afterthought. (See: Strawberry Shortcake, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Beverly Hills Teens, etc.) The Museum of Uncut Funk is an online resource dedicated to the preservation of Black Animation and its place in cartoon history. For the past thirteen years, the virtual museum’s creator and curator, Sista ToFunky, has been collecting drawings, storyboards and cels from TV’s ‘golden age’ of Black Animation, the 1970s. This year, Sista ToFunky is taking her 200+ piece collection on the road, doing a crosscountry museum tour titled Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution Exhibition. Listed below are some of the historical “firsts” in Black Animation featured in Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution Exhibition. 1. 2.
First positive Black character, Black male character in a Saturday morning cartoon series – Peter Jones, The Hardy Boys – the cartoon and real life drummer in the Hardy Boys band (1969) First positive Black female character in a Saturday morning cartoon series – Valerie Brown, Josie And The Pussycats (1970)
First positive Black cast Saturday morning cartoon series – Harlem Globetrotters (1970) First positive Black cast Saturday morning cartoon series featuring Black musicians – The Jackson 5ive (1971) 5. Longest running positive Black cast Saturday morning cartoon series – Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972) 6. First truly multicultural Saturday morning cartoon series – Kid Power - based upon Morrie Turners Wee Pals comic strips and books (1972) 7. First Black male superhero character in a Saturday morning cartoon - School House Rock – Verb (1974) 8. First Black female superhero character in a Saturday morning cartoon series – Astrea, The Space Sentinels (1977) 9. First Black female superhero character in a Saturday morning cartoon series – Astrea, The Space Sentinels (1977) 10. First Black superhero duo to appear in a Saturday morning cartoon series – Micro Woman and Super Stretch, Tarzan And The Super 7 (1978) 11. First team of Black superheroes in a Saturday morning cartoon series – The Super Globetrotters (1979) To see when Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution Exhibition will be in your area, click the pic below. 3. 4.
http://skunkandburningtires.com/the-museum-of-uncut-funk-presents-the-golden-age-of-blackanimation/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-museum-of-uncut-funk-presents-thegolden-age-of-black-animation


Pre-Boomerang/Cartoon Network, when there were only three major networks (CBS, NBC and ABC), part of the television ritual for kids during the 1970s was Saturday morning cartoons. Indeed, while I could sleep like a rock on school day mornings, ignoring both the alarm and my mother’s high-pitched screams, on Saturday mornings I was up at dawn, transfixed in front of the boob tube
Of course I had no idea that the cartoon racket was merely set up to sell kids sugary cereals and cheap toys, because I was too busy having misadventures with the Wacky Racers, roaming through haunted houses with Scooby-Doo and bopping to the cool Henry Mancini music on The Pink Panther. While in my 1960s childhood, most of the human characters were still White (with the exception of a few racist Warner Bros. shorts), an absolute revelation occurred in Toontown by 1970. After the demonstrations, riots and deaths of the civil-rights era, surprisingly one the first fertile grounds of that mixed integration and imagination was found in animation programming. With Fat Albert, the Harlem Globetrotters, the Jackson 5 and Valerie Brown from Josie and the Pussycats broadcast into our lives on a weekly basis, we were watching a revolution without realizing it. “These cartoons changed the lives of a generation of children,” says Museum of UnCut Funk cocurator Pamela Thomas. Along with her business partner Loreen Williamson, she began collecting animation cels (the transparent sheets on which objects were drawn or painted for animation in the days before computers) to add to their collection of Black memorabilia that includes blaxploitation posters, comic books and advertising art. “We feel these cartoons are national treasures, and it’s up to us to get the word out.”
Opening February 5 at Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Thomas and Williamson’s much anticipated animation exhibit—The Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution— includes 60 pieces of animation art from their Museum Of UnCut Funk collection. A fun, colorful, nostalgic experience culturally and historically relevant for the Black community, the show will also appeal to a broader audience who takes this brand of pop culture seriously. The show closes in mid June. Williamson, who started buying cels in the ’90s, cites The Jackson 5ive as one of her passions from back in the day. “Like most kids, Bugs Bunny was an early joy, with Chuck Jones being my favorite animator,” she says. “But the Jackson 5 was something else altogether. I had their posters on my wall. I was in love.” Owning one of the world's most extensive collections of 1970s Black animation art, the UnCut Funk exhibition focuses on one of the positive outcomes of the Civil Rights Movement, a story that to this point has not been told. “Bill Cosby’s Fat Albert was another important milestone,” Pamela Thomas says. “Many people don’t understand the dynamics of what he did with that show in terms of the heavy messages and powerful stories he presented each week. That show was very important.” While Cosby and the Jackson 5 are represented in the show, other characters of color on display include Billy Jo Jive (a Black kid detective from Sesame Street), Franklin from the Charlie Brown movies, Verb from Schoolhouse Rock and Astrea of NBC’s Space Sentinels, the first Black female superhero character on a Saturday morning cartoon series. As collectors, Thomas and Williamson have learned to be patient as they search for the perfect piece. “It took us three months to get a cel of Franklin,” Thomas says. Still, even after waiting, the price to obtain a quality piece can be rather steep. “When we started collecting, we could find the cels for $600 or $700. Today, prices are in the thousands.” While some might have trouble equating the material in this show with “real art,” these images are as important to the legacy of Black pop culture as Octavia Butler novels, Jean-Michel Basquiat paintings, the music of Sly Stone and Pam Grier movies. “It is important for us to collect and archive this work,” Thomas adds. “Otherwise, it disappears into collections that the public has no excess to and no one ever sees them.” Determined that The Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution be seen, the show will be travelling to the DuSable Museum of African-American History in Chicago (July 13-October 20, 2014) and the Northwest African American Museum in Seattle, Washington. That’s all folks… For more information, go to TheMuseumOfUncutFunk.com. Cultural critic Michael A. Gonzales has written cover stories for Vibe, Uptown, Essence, XXL, Wax Poetics and elsewhere. He’s also written for New York and The Village Voice. Read him at Blackadelic Pop and follow him on Twitter @gonzomike.
Read more at EBONY http://www.ebony.com/ entertainment-culture/vintage-vision-black-cartoonrevolution-333#ixzz2tEqYVT1R Follow us: @EbonyMag on Twitter | EbonyMag on Facebook
EXHIBIT FEATURING ARTWORK FROM ‘HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS,’ ‘THE JACKSON 5IVE” AND ‘FAT ALBERT AND THE COSBY KIDS’ OPENS FEBRUARY 5 AT THE SCHOMBURG CENTER Over the past 15 years, Pamela Thomas, a member of The City College of New York Class of 1996, and business partner Loreen Williamson have assembled one of the most extensive collections of 1970s black animation art in the United States. They have made it accessible to the public through their virtual Museum of UnCut Funk, and, now, a traveling exhibit, “Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution,” which opens February 5 at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. The collection consists of more than 300 original production cels, production drawings and storyboards, mainly from animated series that aired during the 1970s. Among the programs represented are “Harlem Globetrotters” (1970), “The Jackson 5ive” (1971) and “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids” (1972 – 1985). Ms. Thomas and Ms. Williamson culled approximately 60 pieces from the collection to include in the “Funk Turns 40” show. “We focused on the 1970s because this was the first time there was a group of cartoons with positive images of blacks, and black children as well as other children could see these images on television,” said Ms. Thomas, a black studies major at CCNY who now teaches pre-school in Plainfield, N.J. “As a baby boomer, this was the first time I got to see images I could relate to.” Ms. Thomas and Ms. Williamson began collecting animation art when they were partners in an art gallery in Summit, N.J. Seeing strong demand for art from Disney and Warner Brothers cartoons, they identified an untapped niche in animation that featured black characters. They developed a network of galleries, dealers and private collectors to alert them when items of interest came on the market.
“These series represent an incredible story that needs to be told. We want to start a conversation on why these cartoons are national treasures on tour,” Ms. Thomas added. She noted that many of the programs dealt with real-life issues such as family values, education, friendship, civic duty, personal responsibility and sportsmanship, “but seen through the eyes of children.” The exhibit at the Schomburg runs through June 14. Afterwards, it goes on display at the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago and, then, the Northwest African American Museum in Seattle. Ms. Thomas is currently negotiating exhibitions for 2015 and 2016 in other cities. The Museum of UnCut Funk describes itself as the “planet’s first virtual museum dedicated to the celebration and preservation of the FUNK!” and the “foremost authority and archive of 1970’s Black culture and all things FUNKY!” Its collection of more than 5,000 items includes, in addition to black animation art, black advertising tins, black Broadway window cards, black coins, black comic books, black movie poster art, black movie press kits and black stamps. About The City College of New York Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided low-cost, high-quality education for New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. More than 16,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in: the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture; the School of Education; the Grove School of Engineering; the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, and the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership. U.S. News, Princeton Review and Forbes all rank City College among the best colleges and universities in the United States.
« BACK TO NEWS MEDIA CONTACT Ellis Simon p: 212.650.6460 e:esimon@ccny.cuny.edu http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/forum/2014/01/29/ alumna-pamela-thomas-makes-mark-collectingblack-animation-art/
How Fat Albert Helped Change Cartoons Forever FOR DECADES, BLACK CARTOON CHARACTERS WERE MOSTLY REDUCED TO RACIST CARICATURES. A NEW EXHIBITION SHOWS HOW ALL THAT CHANGED WITH A 1970S CARTOON REVOLUTION. Fat Albert, Schoolhouse Rock, The Harlem Globetrotters: with their retro animation styles, these 1970s cartoons seem dated now, but in their time, they were groundbreaking. Before the 1960s, black characters in cartoons were uniformly reduced to racist caricatures--the more than 600 cartoon shorts featuring black characters from 1900 to 1960 were basically animated minstrel shows. But with the Civil Rights Movement came Saturday morning cartoons that featured black animated characters in a more positive light. Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution, a new exhibit from the Museum of Uncut Funk at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, takes viewers on a tour of the cartoons and animations
of the 1970s that were among the first to present positive black characters, helping to chip away at entrenched stereotypes. Space Sentinels Astrea Original Production Cel "I believe these cartoons are national treasures,” curator Pamela Thomas said in a statement. “They were seen by a generation of children and not only changed the way that black kids saw themselves but the way white kids saw them as well.” “WITH THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT CAME SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS THAT FEATURED BLACK ANIMATED CHARACTERS IN A MORE POSITIVE LIGHT. ” Many characters celebrated in Funky Turns 40 were the first of their kind: Peter Jones of The Hardy Boys in 1969 and Valerie Brown of Josie and the Pussy Cats in 1970 were the first positive Black characters in Saturday morning cartoon series. The Harlem Globetrotters and The Jackson 5ive brought viewers the first positive black cartoon casts in 1970 and 1971. The character Verb on Schoolhouse Rock, with his theme song “That’s What’s Happening!”--a parody of Shaft and other Blaxploitation films--was the first black male superhero character in a cartoon. The first black female superhero, Astrea, in Space Sentinels, didn’t come along until 1977. For children, these characters were empowering instead of denigrating. These cartoons also gave voices to black animators, musicians, and actors, like Bill Cosby and Berry Gordy.Harlem Globetrotters Original Production Cel Forty years later, there’s still some work to be done. The first black Disney princess didn’t show up until five years ago, when Tiana made her overdue debut in The Princess and the Frog. Still, the legacy of the cartoons in Funky Turns 40 paved the way for their modern counterparts, like The Proud Family, Little Bill, Static Shock, Fillmore, and Doc McStuffins, which feature characters full of insight and wit. Funky Turns Forty: Black Character Revolution is on view at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Latimer/Edison Gallery in Manhattan until June 14th.
[*The headline on this article originally read How Fat Albert Changed Cartoons Forever] CAREY DUNNE http://www.fastcodesign.com/3026149/how-fatalbert-changed-cartoons-forever
Pamela Thomas, a member of the City College of New York class of 1996, and business partner Loreen Williamson have assembled one of the most extensive collections of 1970s Black animation art in the United States. They have made it accessible to the public through their virtual Museum of UnCut Funk and, now, a traveling exhibit, “Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution,” which opens Feb. 5 at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The collection consists of more than 300 original production cells, production drawings and storyboards, mainly from animated series that aired during the 1970s, including “The Harlem Globetrotters,” “The Jackson 5ive” and “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.” The exhibit runs from Feb. 5 through June 1
http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2014/jan/31/xhibit-schomburg-center-featuresartwork-black-car/ 
Fat Albert Made a Way For The New Generation? haleemakhan | February 12, 2014 | 0 Comments
There are those times in history that changed our society forever. Civil Rights is one of those movements that changed everything when it comes to racism and double standards for black people. Even if black cartoon characters were shown in programs through 1900 to 1960, they were reduced to racism. Until the Civil Rights movement came along from which then came along a Saturday morning cartoon. Showing black cartoon characters in more positive light to help the young black kids to view themselves in a better light as well how the white kids viewed them. Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution, a new exhibit from the Museum of Uncut Funk at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, takes viewers on a tour of the cartoons and animations of the 1970s that were some of the first to present positive black characters helping to get away from the typical stereotypes. “I believe these cartoons are national treasures,” curator Pamela Thomas said in a statement. “They were seen by a generation of children and not only changed the way that black kids saw themselves but the way white kids saw them as well.” Here are some of the first few black animated characters to see black people is a positive light back in 1970. Animated characters like these empowered black musicians, cartoonists, and actors. Here some of the few that are shown in the Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution exhibit from the Museum of
Uncut Funk at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The viewing for the exhibition is at Latimer/Edison Gallery in Manhattan until June 14th. If your in the city go check it out!
Valerie Brown of Josie and the Pussy Cats in 1970 was on of the first positive Black characters in Saturday morning cartoon series.
The Jackson 5ive brought viewers the first positive black cartoon casts in 1970 and 1971.
The first black female superhero, Astrea, in Space Sentinels came along in 1977.
Tags: 1900, 1960, 1970, black characters, cartoons, civil rights, Fat Albert, revoluton Category: Art, LifestyleBeing a fan of black animation like... all my life, I find this new exhibit exciting!
In Harlem, New York, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture has an exhibit that looks at the appearance of black characters on Saturday morning cartoons in the 70s, through drawing and production cells. As NY1's Roger Clark reports, "Strong, positive black characters like Lt. Uhura from "Star Trek", Peter Jones from "The Hardy Boys" and Verb from "Schoolhouse Rock" became cartoon favorites along with animated real life entertainers and athletes like The Jackson Five, Muhamed Ali and The Harlem Globetrotters." Some people may not realize how painstaking and tedious it is to make a cartoon and in the past that process was used to depict black people in derogatory ways. "The animator may produce hundreds of [cells] to get an actual frame under the camera to film a cartoon," says the exhibit "Funky Turns 40" Curator Pamela Thomas. Thomas further states: "The images were so derogatory, either the black character had very big lips or extremely bulging eyes or their body parts were elongated."
Schomburg Center Assistant Curator Steven Fullwood added about the 70s themed exhibit, "It was the first time that children as well as black America and white America were looking at images of black people that were both naturalistic and realistic, they weren't these stereotypes." "Funky Turns 40" runs at the Schomburg Center through June 14. For more information, visit museumofuncutfunk.com.
Being a fan of black animation like... all my life, I find this new exhibit exciting! In Harlem, New York, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture has an exhibit that looks at the appearance of black characters on Saturday morning cartoons in the 70s, through drawing and production cells.
As NY1's Roger Clark reports, "Strong, positive black characters like Lt. Uhura from "Star Trek", Peter Jones from "The Hardy Boys" and Verb from "Schoolhouse Rock" became cartoon favorites along with animated real life entertainers and athletes like The Jackson Five, Muhamed Ali and The Harlem Globetrotters." Some people may not realize how painstaking and tedious it is to make a cartoon and in the past that process was used to depict black people in derogatory ways. "The animator may produce hundreds of [cells] to get an actual frame under the camera to film a cartoon," says the exhibit "Funky Turns 40" Curator Pamela Thomas. Thomas further states: "The images were so derogatory, either the black character had very big lips or extremely bulging eyes or their body parts were elongated." Schomburg Center Assistant Curator Steven Fullwood added about the 70s themed exhibit, "It was the first time that children as well as black America and white America were looking at images of black people that were both naturalistic and realistic, they weren't these stereotypes." "Funky Turns 40" runs at the Schomburg Center through June 14. For more information, visit museumofuncutfunk.com. http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/funky-exhibit-looks-at-black-animation-icons-of-the-70s-atschomburg-center-nyc See the TV1 report below, as well as the 1941 cartoon "Scrub Me Mama with a Boogie Beat" that depicts those "derogatory images" and you can see how far we have come in animation.
Through my research I also found this Indiewire article from last month: http://blogs.indiewire.com/ animationscoop/museum-of-uncut-funk-paystribute-to-black-animation-stars. 
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The Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution exhibition includes 60 pieces of animation art from the Museum Of UnCut Funk collection that feature Black characters from 1970's Saturday morning cartoons. The original production cels and drawings in the exhibition were actually used under the camera to produce these cartoons. The hand drawn and inked cels used in the animation production process of the 1970's represent a lost art form compared to today's digitally created cartoons. The Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution exhibition is a fun, colorful, nostalgic experience that is culturally and historically relevant for the Black community but also appeals to a broader audience. Back in the 1970's, before the explosion of cable TV channels, everybody watched the same cartoons. Since then, many of these cartoons have re-aired on cable networks reaching new generations of children. This exhibition will definitely bring back fond memories for anyone who watched these cartoons. What makes the Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution Exhibition unique is both the breadth of the artwork that we feature and the historically important story that it tells. We own one of the world's most extensive collections of 1970's Black Animation art, which allows us to create a truly unique exhibition experience. More importantly, our exhibition focuses on one of the positive outcomes of the Civil Rights Movement, a story that to this point has not been told. The art in the exhibition commemorates the 40th anniversaries of 1970's Saturday morning cartoons that featured positive Black characters for the first time in television history. This 1970‘s revolution in how Black animation characters were developed and portrayed in Hollywood represents historic change and the ultimate manifestation of Dr. Martin Luther King's dream. For the first time characters of all races lived, played and worked together as equals. By highlighting this positive aspect of our experience we are able to engage and educate people in a fun and uplifting way. Practically every piece of art represents a historical first, such as: • • • • • • •
Peter Jones - The Hardy Boys (1969) - First positive Black male character in a Saturdaymorning cartoon series Hey, Hey, Hey, It’s Fat Albert (1969) - First positive Black cast cartoon to appear in a primetime television special and to be created from a comedy routine, Bill Cosby's 1967 Buck, Buck routine from his Revenge Album Valerie Brown - Josie And The Pussy Cats (1970) - First positive Black female character in a Saturday morning cartoon series Harlem Globetrotters (1970) - First positive Black cast Saturday morning cartoon series and the first featuring Black athletes The Jackson 5ive (1971) - First positive Black cast Saturday morning cartoon series featuring Black musicians Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972-1985) - Longest running positive Black cast Saturdaymorning cartoon series Kid Power (1972) - First truly multicultural Saturday morning cartoon series and the first featuring Black characters to be created from a syndicated comic strip, Morrie Turner's Wee Pals comic strip
• • • • •
Clerow Wilson - Clerow Wilson And The Miracle of PS 14 (1972) - First positive Black characters from a television series, The Flip Wilson Show, to appear as the same chartacters in a primetime cartoon special Lt. Uhura - Star Trek (1973) - First positive Black character from a television series to appear as the same character in a Saturday morning cartoon series Verb - Schoolhouse Rock (1974) - First Black male superhero character in a cartoon - second Schoolhouse Rock episode to feature Black Characters Astrea - Space Sentinels (1977) - First Black female superhero character in a Saturdaymorning cartoon series Billy Jo Jive - Billy Jo Jive (1978) - First positive cartoon series featuring Black characters to be created from a series of children’s books - Ted and John Shearer's Billy Jo Jive book series - Aired as segment during Sesame Street
It was the first time that cartoons like Josie and the Pussy Cats, Star Trek and Kid Power featured strong, positive Black female characters. It was also the first time that Black people like Bill Cosby and Berry Gordy led the development of animated television programming featuring Black characters, from concept through to art creation and production. I believe these cartoons are national treasures. They were seen by a generation of children and not only changed the way that Black kids saw themselves but the way white kids saw them as well. Prior to the 1970's, Black characters in cartoons were depicted in a very derogatory manner. The Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution Exhibition will be touring to the following museums in 2014-early 2015: •February 5-June 14, 2014 - The Schomburg Center For Research in Black Culture – New York, NY •July 13-October 20, 2014 - DuSable Museum Of African American History Chicago, IL •November 22, 2014 -March 1, 2015 Northwest African American Museum Seattle, WA
You can learn more about the exhibition at their website - http://museumofuncutfunk.com/2012/01/08/ funky-turns-40-black-character-revolution-animation-exhibition/ and at the Schomburg website - http:// www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/funky-turns-40-black-character-revolution. They are doing a Curator's talk on the evening of February 4th starting at 6pm. The exhibition opens to the public on February 5th. They are currently booking more museums for 2015 - 2016. You can learn more about the Curator's Talk at the Schomburg Center Website - http://www.nypl.org/ locations/tid/64/node/234824?lref=64%2Fcalendar, and you can register for the event at Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.com/e/curators-talk-funky-turns-40-tickets-9485402093. http://blogs.indiewire.com/animationscoop/museum-of-uncut-funk-paystribute-to-black-animation-stars
Just in time for Black History Month, a new exhibition in Harlem looks at the rise of black characters on classic Saturday morning cartoons. NY1's Roger Clark filed the following report. If you grew up in the 1970's, or had kids or grandkids who did, you know who these guys are: "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids", created of course by Bill Cosby. "He developed Fat Albert and it's based on his childhood, he had a staff of black animators and other people of color working on this," said "Funky Turns 40" Curator Pamela Thomas. The big man is one of the stars of the new exhibition at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. It looks at the appearance of black characters on Saturday morning cartoons in the 70s, through dozens of drawings and production celluloids or cells.
"The animator may produce hundreds of these to get an actual frame under the camera to film a cartoon," Thomas said. Strong, positive black characters like Lt. Uhura from "Star Trek", Peter Jones from "The Hardy Boys" and Verb from "Schoolhouse Rock" became cartoon favorites along with animated real life entertainers and athletes like The Jackson Five, Muhamed Ali and The Harlem Globetrotters. Before that, the depiction of blacks in animation was very different. "The images were so derogatory either the black character had very big lips or extremely bulging eyes or their body parts were elongated," Thomas said. "It was the first time that children as well as black America and white America were looking at images of black people that were both naturalistic and realistic, they weren't these stereotypes," Schomburg Center Assistant Curator Steven Fullwood. And the cartoons did more than entertain. They sent positive messages on a variety of issues relevant to the young people watching. "You can sit down and watch these cartoons with your children and they can get a life lesson learned right there in 30 minutes," Thomas added. Thomas hopes visitors will first and foremost have fun. "Because this is a fun exhibition and we wanted to do something that was out of the box and sort of strays away from what we do when we celebrate black history," she said. The exhibit is called "Funky Turns 40" and it runs at the Schomburg Center through June 14. For more information, visit museumofuncutfunk.com. http://www.ny1.com/content/news/203056/-funky--exhibit-looks-at-black-animation-icons-of-the-70-s
http:// uptownmagazine.com/ event/nyc-funky-turns-40black-character-revolutionopens-feb-5/ 
The world of Saturday morning cartoons changed for good in the 1970s. For the better part of the 20th century, black characters in animated features and films only reinforced degrading racial stereotypes. Animators and producers parodied and portrayed them as subhuman minstrel characters. But in the late 1960s and early 1970s, observing the runaway commercial success of black musicians and athletes, TV producers slowly began to broach new territory; they began to introduce realistic and positive black characters into animated shows for the first time. Franklin joined “Peanuts.” The Jackson 5 scored a Saturday morning cartoon series. Fat Albert and his crew worked together to solve everyday problems on “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.” Prepubescent private eye Billy Jo Jive fought crime on “Sesame Street.” These cartoons and cultural icons weren’t just entertaining – they were revolutionary.
The exhibit features 60 cels from beloved 1970s cartoon shows. (Photo by Antonia Massa/Voices of NY) “Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution,” presented by the Museum of UnCut Funk at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, celebrates the very first positive black cartoon characters. The exhibit pays homage to the warm, funny, curious, courageous and relatable black characters that began to populate Saturday morning cartoons in the 1970s. The exhibit features dozens of cels, or transparent sheets with hand-drawn animation, from beloved shows. Black superheroes, crime fighters, shape-shifters and school kids appear suspended in time, in frames plucked from episodes of their various TV series. Loreen Williamson, who co-curated “Funky Turns 40” with Pamela Thomas, grew up with Saturday morning cartoons like “Fat Albert” and “The Jackson 5ive.” She said the shows instilled her with a sense of pride as they shifted the status quo. “These were colorful, fun characters who were true to what black people looked like and acted like and talked like,” Williamson said. “I don’t think people think about how revolutionary that was. Back then all kids watched the same cartoons, so it really influenced people.”
Billy Jo Jive, a prepubescent super sleuth, and his sidekick Smart Susie Sunset, appeared in animated segments on Sesame Street in the 1970s and 1980s. (Photo via the Museum of UnCut Funk collection) Williamson has collected cels for about 15 years. A lifelong fan of cartoons of all genres, Williamson said that when she first began to visit animation galleries, she noticed something odd: It was much easier to find and buy cels from, say, Looney Toons or Disney animations than it was to get cels from shows with predominantly black characters. She dug deeper, contacting studios directly, and began to amass a collection of cels with some of the most popular black cartoon characters of the 1970s and beyond. “To find cels from shows with all-black characters, it’s a little more difficult. It takes a lot more work. But it’s possible,” she said. Cels from the Museum of UnCut Funk collection provide the bulk of the exhibit’s content. To add historical perspective, acting curator Mei Tei Sing also used the Schomburg Center’s richly varied archives to showcase some of the quintessential Jim Crow-era caricatures that positive black cartoon characters broke away from. She also displayed magazine covers that show the rising fame of real-life black heroes of the time period, like Muhammad Ali and Berry Gordy.
Astrea was the first black female superhero to be featured in a Saturday morning cartoon series. (Photo via the Museum of UnCut Funk collection) “We were able to put this era of black animation into a meaningful context,” said Sing. Sing arranged the cels against colorful walls with what she calls an “old-school animation film background” to make each image pop. Williamson said that as visitors browse the exhibit’s cels, from Schoolhouse Rock’s “Verbs” to the Harlem Globetrotters’ TV series, she hopes it may pique their interest in collecting cels of their own.
“They’re great things to own,” she said. “The important thing is just for people to collect their culture. It’s important for us to tell our own stories in our own context.” “Funky Turns 40″ will be on display at the Schomburg Center until June 14. It will be go on tour to the DuSable Museum For African American History in Chicago from July 13 – October 20, and to the Northwest African American Museum in Seattle from November 22 – March 1, 2015. http://www.voicesofny.org/2014/02/funky-turns-40-highlights-revolutionary-black-cartoons/
http://www.mediachannel.org/funkyturns-40′-highlights-revolutionary-blackcartoons/
http://www.usatoday.com/ story/news/nation/ 2014/02/13/black-historyonline-exhibits/5468059/
http://www.blackgirlnerds.com/2014/02/heyhey-hey-new-animation-exhibit-to.html#
Animated and funky Story by Robin Elisabeth Kilmer
It’s time to get your funk on. More than 60 animation cels of black animation cartoons from the private collection of City College alumna Pamela Thomas and her business partner, Loreen Williamson, will be on display at the Schomburg Center for Research and Black Culture’s new exhibit, “Funky at 40: Black Character Revolution.”
“This is a fun exhibit,” says collector and organizer Pamela Thomas. Photo: The Museum of UnCut Funk Over the past 15 years, Thomas, a member of the City College class of 1996, and Williamson have assembled one of the most extensive collections of 1970’s black animation art in the United States. They have made it accessible to the public through their virtual Museum of UnCut Funk, and, now, a traveling exhibit, “Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution,” which opened earlier this month the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. Thomas explained that the cartoon characters endeared themselves to her when she was a child growing up in the 70’s. Among her favorites were Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, The Jackson 5ive and Billy Jo Jive.
The cartoons demonstrated how “we can work [and play] together,” says Thomas. Photo: From The Hardy Boys/The Museum of UnCut Funk She and Williamson started calling galleries, private collectors and auctions, until they had more than just a cast of colorful characters on their hands. They developed a network of galleries, dealers and private collectors to alert them when items of interest came on the market. “One thing led to another, and it snowballed. And we’re still collecting,” said Thomas, with a chuckle. They have described their online presence, The Museum of UnCut Funk, as the “planet’s first virtual museum dedicated to the celebration and preservation of the FUNK!” and the “foremost authority and archive of 1970’s Black culture and all things FUNKY!” Its collection of more than 5,000 items includes, in addition to black animation art, black advertising tins, black Broadway window cards, black coins, black comic books, black movie poster art, black movie press kits and black stamps. Thomas and Williamson now have more than 300 animation cels, or stills, in their collection, which will begin a tour of the country after the exhibit at the Schomberg Center ends on June 14.
“It’s the perfect place for this to open,” said collector Loreen Williamson of the Schomburg Center. It is the collection’s debut at a non-digital venue. “I’m very excited that it’s opening in New York City at the Schomburg Center,” said Williamson, who had been collecting cartoon cels separately before deciding to specialize with Thomas. “It’s the perfect place for this to open. It’s not a traditional thing you would see in a museum, but they understood the historical importance. We’re excited about this opportunity to share a passion and an obsession with a lot of people.” Williamson and Thomas, who owned and operated a gallery in New Jersey, will be curating the exhibit together.
Dr. Kara Olidge, the Deputy Director at the Schomburg Center, wanted to display images distinct from the oft-used black and white images of struggles from the civil rights era for this year’s Black History Month exhibit. “What I wanted to do was not talk about the same narrative we always do,” she said. “I wanted to see some of the outcomes of the civil rights movement.”
Animation cel from Billy Jo Jive. Photo: The Museum of UnCut Funk While many of the African-American figures captured in film or in print prior to the civil rights movement were more likely to represent caricature, the cartoons of 70’s, often the work of black artists and producers, were more a more realistic and positive representation. As much a source of entertainment as of inspiration, the cartoons also provided a demonstration of agency and power. “I was very interested that the civil rights movement had this different vehicle, this different mode to explain the story,” said Dr. Olidge. “This is a time when we were going into the Black Power movement,” explained Thomas. “This is a fun exhibit. This is not anything that will turn people off.” One of Thomas’s favorite characters from the era is Billy Jo Jive, from a show of the same name. Jive is a smart and savvy kid detective living in New York City. Episodes always began by zooming in on New York City, then into a block of tenement apartments until zeroing in on Billy in his bedroom filled with posters and other décor. Thomas, who grew up in the Bronx, loved how she could relate to Billy.
Valerie from Josie and The Pussycats. Photo: The Museum of UnCut Funk “There was a big Shaft poster (in his room), and I thought it was the coolest thing ever to see that poster in a cartoon,” she recalled.
The cartoons also addressed issues that children across the country were facing, including divorced parents, drugs, cheating on tests, and dealing with bullies. “They taught children how to be, in a sense,” said Thomas. In Billy Jo Jive and many of the other cartoons, children of all colors collaborate, cooperate and coexist with each other. The cartoons, said Thomas, are a “manifestation of Martin Luther King’s dream.” “We can work together, we can play together and it will be okay,” she said. “These cartoons are a national treasure, in my mind.” The organizers hope that the exhibit will raise awareness among younger generations of the breakthrough animation and offer a model of media success to follow. And many will simply enjoy the blast from the past. “It’s a phenomenal show,” said Dr. Olidge. “Full of color, full of life.” The Schomburg Center is located at 515 Malcolm X Boulevard. For more information, call 212.491.2200 or visit http://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/funkyturns-40-black-character-revolution.
http://manhattantimesnews.com/animated-and-funky-animado-y-funky/
Animado y funky Story by Robin Elisabeth Kilmer
Es el momento de obtener su funk. Más de 60 celuloides de dibujos animados negros de la colección privada de la alumna del City College Pamela Thomas, y su socia de negocios, Loreen Williamson, se exhibirán en el Centro Schomburg para la Investigación y la Cultura Negra en la nueva exposición de “Funky at 40: Black Character Revolution”. Durante los últimos 15 años, Thomas, miembro de la generación de 1996 del City College, y Williamson han reunido una de las más extensas colecciones de arte animado negro de los 70 en Estados Unidos. Ellas la han hecho accesible al público a través de su Museo virtual UnCut Funk, y, ahora, una exposición itinerante, “Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution”, que abrió sus puertas a principios de este mes en el Centro Schomburg para la Investigación de la Cultura Negra en Harlem. Thomas explicó que los personajes de dibujos animados se ganaron su cariño cuando ella era una niña que crecía en la década de los 70. Entre sus favoritos estaban Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, The Jackson 5ive y Billy Jo Jive. Franklin de Peanuts. Foto: Museo de UnCut Funk Ella y Williamson comenzaron a llamar a galerías, coleccionistas privados y subastas, hasta que tuvieran algo más que un grupo de personajes de colores en sus manos. Ellas desarrollaron una red de galerías, distribuidores y coleccionistas privados para que las alertaran cuando salieran al mercado productos de su interés. “Una cosa llevó a la otra, y ésta se convirtió en una bola de nieve. Y todavía estamos coleccionando”, dijo Thomas con una risita.
Han descrito su presencia en línea, el Museo UnCut Funk, como el “primer museo virtual del planeta dedicado a celebrar y preservar el FUNK!” Y la “máxima autoridad y archivo de la cultura negra de los 70 y todas las cosas FUNKY!” Su colección de más de 5,000 artículos incluye, además del arte de animación negra, latas de publicidad negra, tarjetas de ventana de Broadway negro, monedas negras, revistas cómicas negras, carteles de películas de arte negro, paquetes de prensa de cine negro y estampillas negras. Thomas y Williamson tienen ahora más de 300 celuloides de animación o fotografías en su colección, que hará una gira por el país después de que la exposición en el Centro Schomberg termine el 14 de junio. Valerie de Josie and The Pussycats. Foto: Museo de UnCut Funk Es el debut de la colección en un lugar no-digital. “Estoy muy emocionada de su apertura en la ciudad de Nueva York en el Centro Schomburg”, dijo Williamson, quien había estado coleccionando celuloides animados por separado, antes de decidir especializarse con Thomas. “Es el lugar perfecto para que esto se muestre. No es una cosa tradicional que se vería en un museo, pero entendieron la importancia histórica. Estamos muy entusiasmadas con esta oportunidad de compartir una pasión y una obsesión con un montón de gente”. Williamson, quien es dueña y opera una galería en Nueva Jersey con Thomas, estará curando la exposición. La Dra. Kara Olidge, directora adjunta en el Centro Schomburg, quería mostrar imágenes distintas a las imágenes empleadas a menudo en blanco y negro de las luchas de la época de los derechos civiles para la exposición del mes de la historia negra de este año. “No quería hablar de lo mismo,” dijo ella. “Quería ver algunos de los resultados del movimiento de los derechos civiles”.
Celuloide animado de Billy Jo Jive. Foto: Museo de UnCut Funk Aunque muchas de las figuras afroamericanas capturadas en el cine o impresas, antes del movimiento de derechos civiles, eran más propensas a representar caricaturas, los dibujos animados de los años 70 -a menudo trabajo de artistas negros y productores- eran una representación más realista y positiva. Tanto una fuente de entretenimiento como de inspiración, las caricaturas también proporcionan una demostración de medio y poder. “Yo estaba muy interesada en este vehículo diferente que tuvo el movimiento de derechos civiles, este modo diferente de explicar la historia”, dijo la Dra. Olidge. “Era un momento en el que íbamos hacia el movimiento del Poder Negro”, explicó Thomas. “Se trata de una exposición divertida. Esto no es algo que aburrirá a la gente”. Uno de los personajes favoritos de Thomas de la época es Billy Jo Jive, de un programa del mismo nombre. Jive es un chico inteligente y despabilado detective que vive en la ciudad de Nueva York. Los episodios siempre empezaban con un zoom sobre la ciudad de Nueva York, y luego en un edificio de departamentos hasta la reducción a cero sobre Billy, en su dormitorio lleno de pósters, y otra decoración. A Thomas, quien creció en el Bronx, le encantaba cómo podía relacionarse con Billy.
“Es el lugar ideal para que esta exposición se exhiba” dijo la coleccionista Loreen Williamson del Centro Schomburg. “Había un cartel grande de Shaft (en su habitación), y pensaba que era la cosa más genial en el mundo el ver ese cartel en un dibujo animado”, recordó. Las caricaturas también abordaban cuestiones que los niños de todo el país estaban enfrentando, como padres divorciados, drogas, hacer trampa en exámenes, y hacer frente a los matones. “Ellos enseñaron a los niños cómo ser, en cierto sentido,” dijo Thomas.
En Billy Jo Jive y muchos de los otros dibujos animados, los niños de todos los colores colaboraban, cooperaban y convivían con los demás. Las caricaturas, dijo Thomas, son una “manifestación del sueño de Martin Luther King”. “Podemos trabajar juntos, podemos jugar juntos y todo va a estar bien”, dijo. “Estos dibujos animados son un tesoro nacional, en mi mente”. Los organizadores esperan que la exposición aumente la conciencia entre las generaciones más jóvenes sobre la animación de vanguardia, y que sirva como modelo de éxito mediático a seguir. Y muchos simplemente disfrutan de los recuerdos del pasado. “Es un show fenomenal”, dijo la Dra. Olidge. “Lleno de color, lleno de vida.” El centro Schomburg está ubicado en el 515 de Malcolm X Boulevard. Para más información llame al 212.491.2200 o visite http://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/funkyturns-40-black-character-revolution. http://thebronxfreepress.com/2014/02/12/animated-and-funky/
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The Flappy Bird Funk Episode Feat. The Museum Of Uncut Funk (FanBrosShow) The Flappy Bird Funk Episode Feat. The Museum Of Uncut Funk? On this week’s episode of FanBrosShow we welcome Loreen Williamson and Pamela Thomas, the curators of Funky Turns 40, from the Museum of Uncut Funk a new show at the Schomburg Center in Harlem. They discuss what it’s like to be black in the art collecting world, why we should focus on other narratives other than the struggle, and what is their most valued pieces of art. http://fanbros.com/
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Legendary comedian Bill Cosby may be 76 but would like to let you know he's "far from finished." That also happens to be the name of his current one-man show which he'll be bringing to a city near you this year. All dates are listed below, but the New York area will get a few chances to catch him: New Jersey PAC on March 7, Staten Island's St. George Theatre on May 16, and two shows at Long Island's Paramount Theatre on October 18 (5:30 and 8:45 PM). Tickets for all these NYarea shows are on sale now. If the Cos' is not coming to a town near you, you can get "Far From Finished" on DVD. You can watch a trailer for it below. In related news, Cosby's '70s/'80s cartoon series, Fat Albert & the Cosby Kids, is part of a travelling art exhibit titled "Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution" which features animation art from classic cartoons of the 1970s. While animation house Filmation, who did Fat Albert, and "art" are words not often used in the same sentence, the show did have style (though "Dumb" Donald's personal style still confuses me) and was better written than most cartoons. "Funky Turns 40" (which includes animation cels from Charlie Brown specials, Josie & the Pussycats, Super Friends, the Soul Train opening credits and more) is currently in NYC at the NYPL Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture where it will be on display through June 14. One chance to see it might be during their First Friday event this Friday (2/7) which is free with RSVP. "Funky Turns 40" exhibition schedule and Bill Cosby tour dates are listed below... Funky Turns 40 - 2014 Exhibition Schedule January 15 - June 14 Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture - New York, NY July 13 - October 20 Dusable Museum of African American History - Chicago, IL November 22 - February 28, 2014 Northwest African American Museum - Seattle, WA http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2014/02/bill_cosby_on_t.html
The exhibit contains over 60 pieces of black animated art from the 1970s from popular shows like Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, Schoolhouse Rock, and the Harlem Globetrotters The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is pleased to present its latest exhibition, Funky Turns 40: Black Character Revolution, a nostalgic foray into the animated images of the black characters of popular cartoons of the 1970s. The Schomburg Center is located at 515 Malcolm X Boulevard at 135th Street in Harlem, New York; the exhibit will be housed in the Center’s Latimer Gallery, on display from February 5 to June 14, 2014. Co-curated by cartoon aficionados Pamela Thomas and Loreen Williamson, Funky Turns 40 includes over sixty pieces of animated art from the Museum Of UnCut Funk, an online collection developed by Thomas and commemorates the 40th anniversaries of popular 1970′s Saturday morning cartoons that featured positive Black characters for the first time in television history. “I believe these cartoons are national treasures,” says Thomas. “They were seen by a generation of children and not only changed the way that Black kids saw themselves but the way White kids saw them as well”. It was during the late 1960s / early 1970s that Saturday morning television cartoons began to feature Black animated characters in a positive and realistic manner. Fueled by the Civil Rights movement and the over-whelming commercial success of Black musicians and athletes during this time period, television producers began to explore projects with a wide, multicultural appeal. This new generation of Black characters were stars of their own series with a modern look and with contemporary story lines that delivered culturally relevant messages. Bill Cosby’s Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids paved the way for a host of Black characters and shows featuring music icons, sports
heroes, and multicultural casts like The Jackson 5ive, Josie and The Pussy Cats, The Harlem Globetrotters, and I Am The Greatest (featuring Muhammad Ali). Even franchises like the overtly white Hardy Boys series and Super Friends began to introduce positive Black characters who worked side by side with their white counterparts. For the first time, children saw cartoon characters that looked and talked like real Black people, full of warmth, humor, and intelligence. These shows empowered a generation of children with cartoon role models who promoted family values, education, friendship, civic duty, personal responsibility and sportsmanship in fun, vibrant bursts of animation. The production of these cartoons also employed Black animators, musicians and actors – jobs that had traditionally been filled by non-blacks who often approximated their understanding of Black culture. It was also during this time that prominent African Americans like Bill Cosby and Berry Gordy led the development of animated television programming featuring Black characters, from concept through to art creation and production. Practically every piece of art in Funky Turns 40 features many black characters achieving historic firsts in television: Peter Jones - The Hardy Boys (1969) – First positive Black male character in a Saturday morning cartoon series Valerie Brown - Josie And The Pussy Cats (1970) – First positive Black female character in a Saturday morning cartoon series Harlem Globetrotters (1970) – First positive Black cast Saturday morning cartoon series and first positive Black cast Saturday morning cartoon series featuring Black athletes The Jackson 5ive (1971) – First positive Black cast Saturday morning cartoon series featuring Black musicians Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972-1985) – Longest running positive Black cast Saturday morning cartoon series Verb - Schoolhouse Rock (1974) – First Black male superhero character in a cartoon – second Schoolhouse Rock episode to feature Black Characters
Astrea - Space Sentinels (1977) – First Black female superhero character in a Saturday morning cartoon series This revolution in how Black animation characters were developed and portrayed represents historic change and the ultimate manifestation of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream. Forty years later, the legacy of these revolutionary cartoons has eclipsed the stereotypical images that came before and have paved the way for a new generation of Black animation like The Proud Family, Little Bill, Static Shock, Fillmore and Doc McStuffins! For more information, please contact: Adenike Olanrewaju; 212-592-7008; adenikeolanrewaju@nypl.org Visit website here: http://www.nypl.org/locations/schomburg http://artlibrarydeco.wordpress.com