For over three decades the African American Cultural Alliance (AACA) has provided a powerful festival experience for the community to immerse itself in African and African American culture. The festival, September 20–22, unites three of Nashville’s finest visual artists displaying their works about black men in motion.
Organizer Kwame Leo Lillard says the AACA “will host a very unique art exhibit this year at the 31st annual African Street Festival at the Hadley Park Community Center . . . Michael McBride, James Threalkill, and Joseph Love.” Touring their studio, Atelier 427, Lillard observed that “on one wall was the painting of the Mercedes grand prix race cars driven by Herman Lang [1930s] and the black English driver Lewis Hamilton [current]. On another wall were black jockeys winning the Kentucky Derby, and on the other wall was a brilliant, head-on painting of a black Olympic bicyclist.
“An art exhibit featuring black jockeys, black bicyclists, and black grand prix drivers,” it occurred to Lillard, “this ethnic exhibit utters destruction of stereotypes limiting African Americans’ successful progress to only basketball, football, or baseball.”
“The sports art exhibit at the 2013 African Street Festival represents another facet of African American history that is not widely known among the general public,” says James Threalkill. “Major Taylor was a cycling champion who battled not only his competitors on the track, but the hostile conditions that existed in society for a black man attempting to succeed in a sport dominated by white athletes for so many years. His signature racing style . . . revolutionized bicycle racing. I also painted modern-day African American cyclists who continue to benefit from the legacy established by Major Taylor. I am excited about the educational component of the exhibit and the insight and awareness it will generate among the community and especially our youth.”
Michael J. McBride’s current body of work titled Too Black Too Fast is a traveling exhibition of art about African American jockeys and trainers.
“In my latest series I take the viewer on a journey back in time with paintings from two of my passions, which are cars and racing,” says Joseph Love. “These series of paintings are to enlighten and inform that blacks have been involved in open wheel racing from the beginning but were not allowed to race at the Indy 500 or any other venue with white drivers. Sit back and enjoy the ride.”