HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC – VOA’s radio magazine in SpecialEnglish.
(THEME)
This is Doug Johnson. On our program today we:
Play some songs for the Olympic Games …
Answer a question about Carnival in the United States …
And report about a museum show for Black History Month.
African American Hairstyle Exhibit
HOST:
A show about the history of African American hair is taking placeat a museum near Washington, D.C. The expressive nature of AfricanAmerican hairstyles is celebrated through pictures, drawings andhistorical objects. Barbara Klein tells us about it.
ANNCR:
The exhibit is at the Montpelier Cultural Arts Center in Laurel,Maryland. It shows many different ways African Americans have worntheir hair during different periods in history. In Africa, as inother parts of the world, hairstyles are linked to culturalidentity. They show an individual’s group, age, sex, social positionand profession.
Traditional African hairstyles include braids and twists. Some ofthe more complex designs were produced with bones, shells or seeds.Well-kept hair was important in African societies.
Hairstyling traditions of Africans greatly changed after theywere brought to America as slaves. Long hours of work in the fieldsleft blacks too tired to produce traditional hairstyles. So theydeveloped new ways to wear their hair. Records show that slaves woretheir hair in ways that established a link to their African past.
After slavery ended, blacks began accepting European ideas ofbeauty as a way to gain social acceptance and to get jobs. However,attempts to straighten their curly hair were difficult and oftendangerous. In the early Nineteen-Hundreds, Madam C.J. Walkerdeveloped a product called the hot comb which made it easier forblacks to straighten their hair. Her efforts made her very rich andalso created thousands of jobs for women.
In the Nineteen-Sixties, the American civil rights movement ledto a renewed interest in African culture. Blacks began to celebratetheir African appearance by wearing more natural hairstyles. Forexample, a natural hairstyle called the Afro became very popular.The Afro also became linked with the Black Power Movement.
African Americans have continuedto wear their hair in many different natural styles linked toAfrica. One example is a twisted hairstyle called dreadlocks.Dreadlocks were first worn in Africa. The name dreadlocks came fromearly European travelers. They thought the style was ugly or”dreadful” because it was not combed and grew into rope-like pieces.The hairstyle is popular in Jamaica among members of a religiousgroup called Rastafarians.
Experts say African-American hairstyles such as braids anddreadlocks have led to social tensions, problems in the workplaceand legal action. Exhibit organizers suggest this may be becausesome people have not fully accepted the appearance of AfricanAmerican hair in any style.
Carnival
HOST:
Our VOA listener question this week comes from Brazil. ValmecirJose de Souza asks about Carnival celebrations in the United States.
The Carnival celebrations in Brazil are world famous. Each year,hundreds of thousands of people gather in the city of Rio deJaneiro. They enjoy a series of lively parties and parades.
Carnival is a traditional time of celebration before theChristian season of Lent. Lent is a forty-day period of spiritualrenewal before the holiday of Easter. Carnival ends with a wildcelebration on Mardi Gras, the Tuesday before the start of Lent.This year, Mardi Gras was celebrated on February twelfth.
Traditionally, Mardi Gras is celebrated in many Roman Catholiccountries and other communities. French colonists first celebratedMardi Gras in what is now the United States in theSeventeen-Hundreds. Mardi Gras means “Fat Tuesday” in French. Thetradition became popular in New Orleans, Louisiana and spread tonearby areas. Today, Mardi Gras is a legal holiday in the states ofAlabama, Florida and parts of Louisiana.
New Orleans is the oldest major city in the southern UnitedStates. It is known for its music, food, and noisy celebrations. NewOrleans has one of the world’s biggest Mardi Gras celebrations.Different groups called krewes have parades. People wear strange,colorful clothes. Beautiful, sometimes frightening, masks covertheir faces. Dances and a huge party end the celebration on thenight before Lent begins.
Several other American cities hadtheir own celebrations this year. For example, the Braziliancommunity in New York planned its own Carnival celebration. Part ofSaint Louis, Missouri, held almost four weeks of parties andcelebrations. The main event was a parade last Saturday.
Another celebration was held in the Florida city of Leesburg.This was the fifth year for Leesburg’s Mardi Gras celebration andparade. The celebration included music shows, dancers, food anddrinks. Organizers of the Leesburg event chose a man and a woman tohelp lead the parade. They also named two dogs to lead a Mardi Grasparade for animals. Money raised from the event went to the LeesburgArts Center.
Olympics Music
HOST:
Athletes from around the world have come to the United States andare taking part in the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.American television has been using a popular song to communicatethis message. It is “America,” written and performed by NeilDiamond.
((CUT 1: AMERICA))
Here is Shep O’Neal with some more Olympics music.
ANNCR:
American songwriter and conductor John Williams wrote music forthe Olympic Games that were held in Los Angeles, California, andAtlanta, Georgia. The theme from the Atlanta Games is called “Summonthe Heroes.”
((CUT 2: SUMMON THE HEROES))
John Williams also wrote the music for the Salt Lake CityOlympics. He recorded it with the Utah Symphony Orchestra. At thestart, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings the three-word Olympicmessage, “Citius, Altius, Fortius.” The words are Latin for”swifter, higher, stronger.” We leave you now with the official SaltLake City Olympics theme, “Call of the Champions.”
((CUT 3: CALL OF THE CHAMPIONS))
HOST:
This is Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. And Ihope you will join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC – VOA’sradio magazine in Special English.
This AMERICAN MOSAIC program was written by George Grow, CynthiaKirk and Nancy Steinbach. Our studio engineer was Tom Verba. And ourproducer was Caty Weaver.