Poetic Tongues/Fabu
Soaking Up a Summer of Soul
My best memories of family, and I mean Black folks, is when we all get together in large numbers around worship at church, community celebrations like Juneteenth, food events like summer BBQs and music concerts with our favorite African American singers and musicians. Ahmir Thompson — better known as “Questlove” — has inspired our summer this year with the new film, Summer of Soul, on Hulu. Questlove, a renowned DJ, drummer, producer and bandleader with the group The Roots, has done a great job in unearthing a beautiful part of the African American experience from 1969 and giving it back to all of us to enjoy.
Over the course of six weeks during the summer of 1969, more than 300,000 people attended six free concerts called the Harlem Cultural Festival, held in the space now known as Marcus Garvey Park, to celebrate us, our history, culture, music and fashion. In short, we gathered to celebrate the best of us in song and music, collectively.
One disheartening reality of being Black in America is that we as a people, along with our accomplishments and contributions, are often ignored, minimized or obscured. The Harlem Cultural Festival took place near the same time that the Woodstock Festival took place in 1969. Woodstock was a music festival held August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, 40 miles southwest of the town of Woodstock. The white press focused all their news attention on Woodstock then and the news “whiteout” continued until 2021 until the footage became the film, Summer of Soul.
The Woodstock Festival completely overshadowed the Harlem Cultural Festival. Director Hal Tulchin filmed all the performances of the Harlem Cultural Festival, six different free shows over six weeks. When Tulchin tried to sell the footage to a film or TV outlet, no one wanted it. He even tried labeling it as the “Black Woodstock.” But despite Black Music being famous throughout the world, he could find no one interested in purchasing the film, so it laid forgotten for 50 years. Questlove is quoted in the film’s press materials, “The fact that 40 hours of this footage was kept from the public is living proof that revisionist history exists. I want to make sure Black erasure doesn’t happen in my lifetime…and the film was an opportunity to work towards that cause.” Black erasure is when our presence, our accomplishments and our contributions are removed from public records, accurate history, and the national cultural narratives. This film makes us understand that there are other important testimonies of our culture, our history and our lives that lie dormant in someone’s basement, attic or archives.
Summer of Soul is an incredible glimpse into 1969 Black America. It captures the joy, the happiness and the unity that results when Black people are gathered, but it also records the resurgence of Black power and Black pride that the sixties promoted. 1969 was a pivotal year after the murders of Malcolm X and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The film also uses the music as the backdrop to discuss everything from non-violence versus violence in civil rights work to Harlem as an oasis for Black people. The film also reflects significant shifts in Black culture and expression, including transitioning from use of the word "negro" to "Black.”
This event was filled with numerous stars playing soul, R&B, blues and jazz for the festival, which drew performers like Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, The Staples Singers, B.B. King, Ray Barretto, The Temptations' former front man David Ruffin, The 5th Dimension, and more. I’ve seen Summer of Soul three times on Hulu. Every time, I jump up to dance at my favorite parts. I want to see all of the footage, it is so exceptional.
Questlove in his first directorial debut, has returned an important piece of the story of our collective lives in 1969 Black America, transporting us back to a time when some of us were younger, more hopeful and full of great music that supported and heralded the Black experience.
