• Review and Commentary from Frederick B. Hudson

  AGBM is proud to present distinguished author, poet, screenwriter and educator Frederick B. Hudson. Mr. Hudson shares his film and book reviews as well as political commentary in his regular AGBM feature, The World In Review. Click the links below to see the complete submissions.

  Fresh Air In The Tunnel: Garrett Morgan's Path
  In the midst of panic and death, the businessman strode through a ten foot wide tunnel. Twenty-one persons had already died from the natural gas fumes that choked bystanders. But the businessman had a defense-a safety helmet of his own invention. He handed out models of his helmet to his brother and several firemen. The helmeted crew was able to save six unconscious people.[more]

  A Long Dignity Runner
  The headstrong, athletically gifted junior high school student in Harlem didn't care much for reading. But when he looked up at the movie screen one day he found a role model. A man wearing green tights. Not Green Lantern. Robin Hood. [more]

  Nonviolent Africa-One Man's Quest
  A white Columbia University graduate student, Matt Mayer, announces his plans to resist President Jimmy Carter's new Selective Service registration program in 1980. After significant media attention including an interview in Rolling Stone magazine, he finds himself at a War Resisters International convocation in 1982, hoping to meet resisters from every spot on the globe. [more]

  He Colored the Shapes of Struggle
  The small boy crawled around the floor of his new apartment in Harlem. Newly arrived from Philadelphia he felt alienated in a neighborhood with few lots to pay in. His sensitive eyes caught and captured the designs of the rugs, curtains, and dollies that furnished their small home. [more]

  He Is Our Malcolm
  Some three years ago, when I was selling cultural artifacts on the streets of Harlem, a Puerto Rican tattoo artist who had purchased items from me in the past saw my display of photos of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Marcus Garvey, Nelson Mandala, Betty Shabazz, and other black heroes and sheroes, the man told me, “If you get a picture of Albizu Campos, I’ll buy it.” [more]

  Huey P. Newton Story: A Movie for Our Times
  The poignancy of the story is more telling since the man telling the story is himself in a cage and is surrounded by a live audience being filmed for a made for television movie, "A Huey P. Newton Story." The actor, Roger Guenveur Smith, has challenged himself by portraying the former Minister of Defense of the Black Panther Party in the tumultuous 60's and 70's. [more]

  Three Tenors Find A Stage
  In a just world, the immaculately dressed tenor would be singing operatic arias from Verdi and Puccini to his love interests -- passions which consume almost all of the repertoire of the romantic Italian composers. [more]

• The Civil Life Diaries

  "For a Civil Life": Rescuing the Community of Rose and Ashland Streets in Baltimore City

  Introduction:  The community surrounding the corner of North Rose Street and Ashland Avenue has the distinction of having a notorious public drug market - but one whose citizens are taking it back, one day at a time. For over one hundred eight-five nights in a row they have stayed and often slept on the corner, in defiance of the drug culture; in spite of the narcoleptic indifference of politicians and civil authority.

  There have been violence and the threats of violence; on May 14 the Rose Street Community Center was burned down, by arson.  Young and old were learning to live with fear. [more]

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