It is important to mention the diverse fashion of the African continent centuries ago. Many geographic and environmental realities influence fashion. Also, there was trade and cultural influences that changed African fashion too. Many parts of Africa suffered the evils of colonalism and imperialism. Before the European colonialism of Africa, pre-colonial Africa had great clothing, fabric, and popular silhouettes. There were tons of handwoven fabrics in Nigeria with advanced patterns from the 13th century. Many Africans back centuries ago wore less clothing because many Africans lived in the Equator. Europeans colonizers and racists tried to use respectability politics to restrict African's fashion freedoms. The kente cloth in Ghana and other parts of Africa have a long history. The kente cloth came from Ghana with a woven textile that have striped patterns and bright colors with many meanings. How much of African dress has been influenced by colonizers and missionaries has been documented by Madeleine Janz's article of "From Kente to colonialism: African fashion over time" found in the Journal of Fashion Studies. By the 17th century and 18th century, Africa had the raffia cloth. It is a type of textile woven from palm leaves and used for garments, bags, and mats.
During the 19th century, there is the African akwete design. Akwete is a decorative cloth with complex weave designs, intricate geometric patterns, and it has vibrant colors. It is usually made into wrappers for women to wear, and it is made by the Igbo women of Nigeria. By the 1800's, the world saw the growth of the red silk dress. Many of them existed by 1869. This dress has a fitted waist, accented by the bustled overskirt with black lace trimming. There are advanced designs on the dress too. There are many colors of the silhouette too. Clothes had more advanced fabrics like silk, satin, taffeta, faille, moire, silk poplin, velvet, etc. Silk dresses of many colors were worn in picnics, birthdays, and other celebrations throughout the 1800's.
There was a revolutionary transformation of fashion indeed. From the 15th century to the end of the 19th century, we saw kente cloths, advanced silk dresses, top hats, and other displays of monumental fashion styles. By the 1800's, there was the American Civil War, the Prussian War, new scientific inventions, and the abolishment of slavery in many countries of the world (from America to Brazil). There were conservative Victorian gowns and elegant Regency attire. The Industrial Revolution of the 19th century saw new technologies and more methods of production causing more dyes to be used on clothes (filled with silk, cotton, etc.). Many women wore high necklines, long sleeves, and full skirts. Some women wore corsets and crinolines. Men had many utilitarian suits, waistcoats, ties, and hats. The three-piece suit was popularized in the 19th century.
There is no mention of country music without mentioning information about Willie Nelson. Willie Nelson grew to be a rebel against an extremely conservative interpretation of how country music should be displayed. Nelson became a great activist on many social causes and follow his own individuality as America culturally always had a libertarian, individual streak. He was one of the many leaders of the outlaw country genre that was formed by the late 1960s to react to the conservative Nashville sound. He was born in the Deep South in Abbott, Texas. Nelson loved music since he was a young child. He wrote his first song when he was seven years old, and he joined his first band when he was ten years old. He toured with the Bohemian Polka during his time in high school. He graduated from high school in 1950. He joined the U.S. Air Force. Later, he attended Baylor University for two years, worked as a disc jockey at radio stations in Texas, and wrote sounds (like Funny How Time Slips Away, Hello Walls, Pretty Paper, and Crazy). He lived in Nashville in 1960. He signed with people and had his first album called And Then I Wrote in 1962. He had success and joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1964. Willie Nelson moved to Austin, Texas in 1972 to escape the corporate side of the music industry. In 1975, Nelson released the outlaw country album of Wanted! The Outlaws with Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser. He would make more hits in the 1980's and beyond. He toured the world, and he worked in reggae, blues, jazz, and folk music. He was a fighter for marijuana legalization (which was taboo back in the day. It isn't taboo now). Nelson owns the biodiesel brand of Willie Nelson Biodiesel. He is the honorary chairman of the advisory board of the Texas Music Project, the official music charity of the state of Texas. As an advocate of farmers' rights, Willie Nelson performed for Farm Aid for years. He is an American original being a great guitar player too. Recently, I found out that Willie Nelson called the black country music legend Charlie Pride Super N_____. I don't play that, and Willie Nelson is completely wrong. Pride said it was a term of endearment, but it is not. No human being should be called a racist slur, and I want to make that perfectly clear. Folks would dare call a Muslim, a Jewish person, a Hispanic person, and other people slurs. There is no excuse for the usage of that slur period.
The 2nd era of the history of Christianity lasted from 100 A.D. to 313 A.D. This era saw the peak of the Ante-Nicene era or the massive spread of the Christian church. This time saw some of the greatest persecution of Christians in human history. Back then, many Christians lost jobs, were fed to lions and tigers in the Roman Coliseum, were beaten to death, and suffered other forms of excruciating persecution. Yet, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ remained strong. Ironically, Christianity would outlast the Roman Empire. This era saw the religion of Christianity to be more sophisticated. The powers of the bishops in Alexandria, Jerusalem, Rome, Constantinople, and other cities of the world increased. The New Testament says that a bishop can be married, but heresies came about like banning certain clergy people like bishops from being married. These heresies would be found in Roman Catholicism as time went on. Christianity grew rapidly as written by the scholar Pliny. This second and third generation of Christians after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ wrote apologetics, preached the gospel, and focused on spreading spiritual views. Polycarp wrote intellectual books, and he was the disciple of the Apostle John (according to Irenaeus and Tertullian). The Bar Kohba rebellion, the rise of Constantine, and the nearing of the time of the Nicene Creed existed back then. There were new heresies like Marcion of Sinope, who wanted to reject all of the Old Testament. Cyprian wrote that no man is a bishop of bishops. That means that no bishop (that includes the bishop of Rome) should claim total domination of the whole church. The church is headed by Jesus Christ not any bishop. By 313 A.D., the Edict of Milan existed causing toleration of some Christians. The problem is that religious freedom means all people of any faith, or no faith should not experience persecution (beyond just approved people). Therefore, we saw see the growth of Christianity in this 2nd era of the church.
By the 1980's and the 1990's, country music changed to be even more diverse. Western, rock, and pop elements came into country music. There has been a renaissance of new fans of country music by the 1980's and the 1990's. We know about Willie Nelson and Juice Newton. We know about Kenny Rogers with a duet with Dolly Parton in the song Islands in the Stream. There has been the growth of country rock too that existed since the 1960's. Later, by 1980, there was the style of neo country disco music. This music was popularized in the film Urban Cowboy. There was an increase of pop country crossover artists like Bill Medley (of the Righteous Brothers), England Seals, Tom Jones, and Merrill Osmond. Marie Osmond became a country star too. There were the truck driving country and the neotraditionalist movement. By the 1990's, country music expanded into FM radio more. Back in the day, country music was on AM for the most part. One of the most popular country music artists of the 1990's was Garth Brooks. He had one of the most successful careers in country music. We saw a new school group of country music stars with country and a vibe appearing to younger people like Clint Black, John Michael Montgomery, Cleve Francis, Tracy Lawrence, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Brooks and Dunn, and other people. There has been an increase of women country musicians in the 1980's and the 1990's. Their names are Reba McEntire, Patty Loveless, Faith Hill, Martina McBride, Pam Tills, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Lorrie Morgan, Shania Twain, and other women who released platinum-selling albums. By the end of the 1990s, the Chicks had their 1998 debut album Wide Open Spaces being 12 times platinum, and their 1999 album Fly went 10 times platinum. So, this era saw country music reach into new heights from Hootie and the Blowfish to LeAnn Rimes. From line dancing to alternative country, country music reached into another level of cultural prominence. Country music is global too being expressed by artists in Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico (and the rest of Latin America), Ireland, the UK, the Middle East, etc.
We appreciate icons of art prodigiously. Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller was a legendary artist who celebrated Afrocentric themes. She worked in the Harlem Renaissance to be an inspiration for future artists. Warrick was not only a painter and sculptor. During the duration of her life, she was a poet, theater designer, and she expressed the diverse experiences of the black American experience. By the turn of the 20th century, she was the black woman sculptor whose work had spread in Paris, America, and throughout the world. She was born in Philadelphia and passed away in Framingham, Massachusetts to be 90 years old. Warrick was the protegee of Auguste Rodin. As one of the greatest artists of all time, she addressed many social issues like lynching (after Mary Turner was brutally lynched by cowardly racists). She experienced racism and sexism. Yet, Meta Fuller outlined genius to prove to the world that black genius can never be extinguished. Black genius will persist forever in the Universe indeed. The legends of art are appreciated by us. We respect the contributions of Lois Mailou Jones, Sargent Claude Johnson, Jacob Lawrence, Archibald Motley, Romare Bearden, and other people who wanted introspection and a love of truth to persist.
We live in a crossroads in our history. Donald Trump and J.D. Vance are proposing tax cuts mostly for the super-rich that could cost as much as $10.5 trillion over a decade. That number would exceed the combined budgets of every domestic federal agency. That makes them hypocritical because they claim to be part of the party of "fiscal responsibility." The Biden and Harris administration's investments in manufacturing and infrastructure represent a major change in our society. Their investments in working people have caused economic growth. Now, many businesses are spending money to build manufacturing facilities in America. We know that the lowest-paying major corporations spent about $522 billion on stock buybacks from 2019 to 2023. Buybacks artificially boost share prices and inflate CEO pay. The average workers at these companies are only paid just $34,000 a year. The average CEO was paid $14.7 million. This is why many billionaire oligarchs support Trump; they care about their own financial bottom line. Authoritarians and Big Money historically made a dangerous political alliance (filled with giant monopolies, vast inequality, and political corruption) that has ruined societies.
There is a propaganda film directed by former Russia Today documentary filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova. This documentary challenged the Russian atrocities in Bucha, Ukraine. She tries to sugarcoat the Russian war crimes against Ukrainian lands. She said the lie that Russians aren't committing war crimes. Russian military forces used an illegal preemptive invasion against Ukraine in 2022. Russian military forces bombed schools, apartment buildings, and stores in Ukraine. That constitutes a war crime. Meanwhile, Trump threatens his opponents with prison if he feels that they don't promote an election result that he desires. Trump and Putin are overt fascists. Putin led Russian military forces to round up Ukrainian civilians and executed them. Also, Russian drones have violated NATO airspace in Romania. A Russian drone crashed in Latvia. This is more Russian aggression. Latvia is a NATO member state, and this news is not talked about by many in the media. The MAGA cult can't refute a syllable of this information here. Trump is a habitual liar who praised authoritarians like Orban and Xi. Trump also was found legally liable for raping a woman, his companies were found economically corrupt, and he is a convicted felon.
By Timothy
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