[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 647 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. RES. 647
Designating the last weekend of June 2022 to commemorate the first
weekend of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival and the first full weekend
of May to commemorate the final weekend of the New Orleans Jazz and
Heritage Festival of 1970.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 24, 2022
Mr. Schumer (for himself and Mr. Cassidy) submitted the following
resolution; which was considered and agreed to
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Designating the last weekend of June 2022 to commemorate the first
weekend of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival and the first full weekend
of May to commemorate the final weekend of the New Orleans Jazz and
Heritage Festival of 1970.
Whereas, in the summer of 1969, singer Tony Lawrence, television and video
director Hal Tulchin, New York Mayor John Lindsay, and New York City
Parks Commissioner August Heckscher organized the Harlem Cultural
Festival, where some of the most famous artists of color of the 1960s
performed for free in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park) in
Harlem, New York;
Whereas the Harlem Cultural Festival was the culmination of a movement, in which
Black artists, performers, and activists shared their art with hundreds
of thousands of fellow Americans, entertained the throngs who attended,
and gave voice to the political grievances of the late 1960s;
Whereas, during the weekends of June 29, July 13, July 20, July 27, August 17,
and August 24 in 1969, performers and activists like Nina Simone,
Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, Luther Vandross, Roebuck ``Pops'' Staples,
Edwin Hawkins, Herbie Mann, Abbey Lincoln, Max Roach, Babatunde
Olatunji, Ray Baretto and His Orchestra, Sonny Sharrock, Cal Tjader,
Mongo Santamaria, George Kirby, Don Alias, Weldon Irvine, Larry Willis,
Maurice King and the Soul Music Festival Band, Professor Herman Stevens
and the Voices of Faith, Henry Franklin, Steve Berrios, Sonny Fortune,
Rodgers Grant, Hadley Caliman, William Allen, Chuck Carter, Jackie
``Moms'' Mabley, Dewey ``Pigmeat'' Markham, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.,
and Marcus Garvey Jr. celebrated Black music and culture in the United
States and uplifted the voices of civil rights and local New York and
Louisiana activists;
Whereas the Harlem Cultural Festival served as a stage to express both anger and
hope for change, in the face of racial tensions that had bubbled over
during the months and years prior to the event, and included notable
moments such as--
(1) Tony Lawrence inviting protestors, angered by the building of a
government office in Harlem when the neighborhood sorely needed a new high
school, onto the main stage to highlight their cause;
(2) speakers like Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and Marcus Garvey Jr. calling
for racial justice and progress;
(3) Nina Simone performing her song ``To Be Young, Gifted and Black''
and calling for equity; and
(4) Mahalia Jackson singing ``Take My Hand, Precious Lord'', the song
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's family asked her to sing at his funeral;
Whereas Mahalia Jackson's performance became a defining moment for the festival,
with attendees laughing, dancing, and crying along, mourning and
celebrating the legacy of Dr. King as they acknowledged the end of an
era and the beginning of a new phase in the Civil Rights Movement;
Whereas the Harlem Cultural Festival represented a shift in Black culture,
consciousness, and expression, and the performances of the artists
represented a movement away from performances designed to be palatable
for white audiences and toward freer expression and celebration of Black
art;
Whereas 1969 was a turning point, defined by--
(1) a new generation of Black activists and artists who wanted more
than survival and respect and wanted to flourish;
(2) Harlem, which had long been considered the center of Black culture,
seeing a new cultural explosion; and
(3) the Black Power movement inspiring new styles of fashion, art, and
music that elevated and celebrated African and Black beauty, political
purpose, and pride;
Whereas the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969 captured the spirit of the Black
Power movement, as this festival--
(1) marked the first time many of these artists had performed for such
a large, predominately Black crowd; and
(2) was multi-generational, as the older generation of gospel and blues
artists invited the younger generation of soul, jazz, funk, rock, and pop
artists to join in their performances;
Whereas the Harlem Cultural Festival showcased Black art and music from around
the United States, including Mahalia Jackson, who sang her unique style
of gospel rooted in the Deep South (especially Mississippi and Texas)
and influenced by the blues and jazz that surrounded her in New Orleans,
Louisiana, and B.B. King, who sang the Blues, a genre rooted in New
Orleans that spread throughout the South, whose performances mingled
with the jazz, pop, soul, and psychedelic funk sets of the younger
artists;
Whereas the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival may have inspired similar movements,
such as the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, which was first
organized in 1970 to preserve and promote the music, culture, and
heritage of the people of Louisiana;
Whereas the 1970 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival featured renowned Black
artists such as Mahalia Jackson, Duke Ellington, Peter Fountain, and Al
Hirt;
Whereas the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival continues to showcase the
rich musical heritage of Louisiana as it has continued to grow in
popularity;
Whereas the Harlem Cultural Festival was a way to show that Harlem was more than
the riots that rocked it in the prior years and was a coming together of
unlikely allies, with Black Panthers providing security for the event
and a Republican New York City Mayor enthusiastically supporting the
festival as a peaceful moment after the violence that followed the
assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King;
Whereas the memory of the Harlem Cultural Festival was rescued and resuscitated
by the internationally acclaimed 2021 documentary ``Summer of Soul (. .
. Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)'', which compiled over
40 hours of concert video of the festival recorded by director Hal
Tulchin;
Whereas ``Summer of Soul (. . . Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)''
highlights the cultural and political impacts of this festival by
juxtaposing footage from the 1969 festival with modern-day interviews
and voiceovers about the political environment at the time of the
festival;
Whereas ``Summer of Soul (. . . Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)''
won an Oscar for ``Best Original Documentary'' at the 94th Academy
Awards on March 26, 2022, and a Grammy award for ``Best Music Film'' at
the 64th Annual Grammy Awards Ceremony on April 3, 2022, which brought
further attention and acclaim to the performances at the 1969 Harlem
Cultural Festival; and
Whereas the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival and the 1970 New Orleans Jazz and
Heritage Festival represent historic moments in Black cultural history:
Now, therefore be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) designates the last weekend of June 2022 to commemorate
the first weekend of the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969 and
the first full weekend of May to commemorate the final weekend
of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival of 1970;
(2) recognizes the contributions of the Harlem Cultural
Festival of 1969 and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival
of 1970 to Black art and culture;
(3) encourages Senators to plan appropriate activities that
support the objectives of the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969
and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival of 1970; and
(4) encourages local governments in the United States to
build partnerships with local Black artists, performers, and
activists to further uplift Black culture and art and promote
equal treatment of all people.
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