Page 13 - Florida Sentinel 9-18-15 Edition

FLORIDA SENTINEL FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2015
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National Organization Celebrates 100th Anniversary
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
On September 9, 1915, Dr. Carter G. Woodson established The Asso- ciation for the Study of African Amer- ican Life and History. Known by the acronym ASALH, the national organ- ization is celebrating its 100th An- niversary this month.
The national theme for the cele- bration is “A Century of Black Life, History, and Culture 1915 - -- 2015.” Chapters of the organiza- tion throughout the nation are hosting celebratory events.
In Tampa, the Tampa Bay Branch of ASALH will host their celebration on Sunday, September 20th. The event will take place from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., at the Church Of God In Christ Family Enrichment Center, 1002 E. Dr. Mar- tin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
Ms. Tyna Middleton, president of the Tampa Bay Branch of ASALH said the organization introduces peo-
MS. TYNE MIDDLETON President, Tampa Branch ASALH
ple of African descent who are in- volved in the American culture and the international culture.
“A proclamation from Mayor Bob Buckhorn and a letter from the Hillsborough County Commissioners
DR. CARTER G. WOODSON Founder of The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH)
will be read by youth representatives,” Ms. Middleton said.
She further stated that the general public is invited to attend the celebra- tion. “We want everyone to come out and be a part of the celebration. We
will have a presentation as a way of saying ‘thank you,’ to those who sup- port the program.”
The local chapter was founded by Mrs. Frances Alexander, its first president, on April 24, 2004. It is one of four Florida branches. The organi- zation meets the 4th Saturday of each month at 1 p.m.
Since its inception, local ASALH members have hosted events that fea- tured guest speakers, videos, poetry, music, dance, and song.
ASALH was originally founded as the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. Dr. Woodson founded the organization and devoted his time to research, educate and doc- ument the status of culture and his- tory of people of African descent.
A not-for-profit organization, its headquarters is in Washington, D. C. For additional information about ASALH of Tampa Bay, contact Ms. Middleton at teenah22@aol.com.
Successful Black Woman’s Journey To Find Her Grandfather Leads Her To Family In China
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
For most people, retirement means retreating from the daily grind of working and quietly shrinking away to enjoy pastimes or volunteer. But Paula Madison is not most people.
Instead of slowing down, Ms. Madison went to work piecing together her family’s history – a rich legacy spread over two continents and three coun- tries – published a book and made a film about it.
A former journalist and news executive, Madi- son was in the Tampa Bay area last week to promote her documentary, “Finding Samuel Lowe.” The film is based on Ms. Madison’s book of memoirs, Finding Samuel Lowe: China, Jamaica, Harlem.
Both the book and the film address Ms. Madi- son’s search for her maternal grandfather, Samuel Lowe.
On last Wednesday, Ms. Madison hosted a screening of the film at the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg as part of the second annual Story Days in Tampa Bay Festival. The Festival, sponsored by nonprofit, Your Real Stories, was a week-long event that celebrates storytelling.
Ms. Madison told the audience that the story about her family was one that “...transcends race, space, and time. This is a story about a family formed together because of circumstance and love,” she said.
Ms. Madison also hosted on Thursday a film screening in Tampa at the University of South Florida’s School of Music.
Ms. Madison, who once owned the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks, grew up knowing that her mother was from Jamaica and her mother’s father was Chi- nese. But it wasn’t until after she retired as NBC Uni- versal’s chief diversity officer in 2011 that Ms. Madison began devoting serious time and effort to research her family history.
Madison’s grandfather, Samuel Lowe trav- elled to Jamaica at the age of 15. Over time, he be- came a successful businessman and merchant. He became romantically involved with Ms. Madison’s grandmother – a Black Jamaican woman – and the two had her mother, Nell Vera Lowe.
Madison’s grandparents split when her mother was a small child, after her grandfather announced that he was marrying a Chinese woman, arranged by his family. Spiteful, Madison’ grandmother cut off
Paula Madison is the former owner of the WNBA’s L.A. Sparks and retired executive of NBC Universal, is shown with her grandfather Samuel Lowe.
all contact. Her mother never saw her father again. In 1945, Madison’s mother left Jamaica and came to the United States, where she was admitted into the country under the Chinese immigration
quota, Ms. Madison said.
Madison’s mother married Elrick Williams,
Sr., and had three children: Ms. Madison, and her brothers, Elrick Jr., and Howard.
When she was three, her parents divorced and she and her brothers lived with their mother and visited their father on weekends.
Although the family would at times live on wel- fare, Madison’s mom instilled in her children the importance of doing well in school and becoming successful so that they could become wealthy, Ms. Madison said in the film.
“Mother would say, ‘you will not be poor, you will be rich – that’s what I came here for,’” she said.
Growing up in Harlem, Ms. Madison said the sight of her mother – with her Chinese features – would garner looks and stares.
While Madison’s mother knew she looked dif- ferent from the other women in the community, there was no doubt in her mind that she was a black woman, Ms. Madison said.
“My mother identified with her children,” she said. “We gave her something she didn’t have – a racial identity, a clan.”
Ms. Madison’s search would take her to Jamaica, where she found family members, learned that all eight of her grandfather’s (Samuel Lowe) children were born on the island, and located the replacement shop that her grandfather built after fire destroyed
the original business.
Ms. Madison learned that Lowe was Hakka
Chinese. Hakka, which means “guest”, are a group of people who originated in northern China, but were forced to relocate to the southern part of the country, Ms. Madison said.
Hakka women were known to fight alongside the men in battle and are one of few groups of Chinese people who never practiced the tradition of foot bind- ing, Ms. Madison said.
It was at a Hakka reunion in Toronto where Ms. Madison made a major breakthrough. Conference organizer Keith Lowe had an uncle whose father was Samuel Lowe. Ms. Madison would soon learn that her grandfather’s children – aunts and un- cles – and a host of cousins were living in Shenzhen, China.
It was that key connection that unraveled the mystery about Samuel Lowe – a family history that had eluded her mother throughout her life, Ms. Madison said.
In a phone interview, Ms. Madison said memo- ries of her mother are of a woman filled with sadness because of her lack of knowledge about her father and family. “I never saw my mother as a happy per- son,” she said.
Today, Ms. Madison said she believes she has satisfied her mother’s longing to know her family. After traveling to China in August 2012 to visit her family, Ms. Madison returned inDecember with nearly 20 relatives from the United States and Ja- maica for a Lowe family reunion.
At one point during her search, Ms. Madison said her husband had cautioned her that she may not get a warm reception when she met her Chinese rela- tives. “He said, ‘Paula, you know you’re Black, right?’”, she said.
But Ms. Madison said she never felt that she and her brothers would be rejected by their Chinese relatives. “Family was family,” she said.
Ms. Madison was right. The Lowe family has embraced Ms. Madison and her brothers, and she now regularly makes trips to China to visit them. “You have to know that our uncle Chow Woo Lowe loves us unconditionally,” she said.
Ms. Madison said one of the goals she had when making the film was to show that the family histories of Black people goes beyond slavery and, as in her case, can include a connection to Asia.