Another well-dressed Black gentleman from the City of Brooklyn. I absolutely loved his sweater. Don’t you?
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men #874
Another Garberville portrait, July 2015.
Garberville is located in Humbolt County in the heart of the farm belt for California’s major cash crop. I’ll let you guess what it is (and it ain’t cotton).
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men #873
1001 Black Men #872
Garberville, California, July 2015.
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men #871
Black men turn up in the most interesting locations. Four hours north of Oakland, in Humboldt County, Garberville is the last place anyone would expect to see a person of African descent. And yet, while I was there, I crossed paths with several Black men. Perhaps they were pursuing careers in the production and distribution of the local cash crop.
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men #870
I recently attended my family’s biennial reunion. Every two years, the extended family on my dad’s side gathers at a central location to reconnect, to reminisce, and to celebrate those who have gone before us. This year the reunion was in Durham, North Carolina. Though our family is from South Carolina, education and career opportunities have taken a critical mass of our relatives to the Raleigh-Durham area. This area is also known as the Research Triangle, and it’s the home of Duke University, North Carolina State University, North Carolina Central University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The Research Triangle has one of the highest concentrations of PhD.s of any region in the U.S. Despite its current identity, evidence of the area’s agricultural roots is everywhere you look. This drawing depicts a gentleman I noticed during a trip to a local mall. For the background, I modified a 19th-century blueprint of a tobacco barn. Old barns dot the whole region, and I enjoy the challenge of reconciling the higher education-based economy today with the tobacco and cotton plantations in its past.
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men #869
At the Powell Street BART station, San Francisco, California.
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men #868
At the Fruitvale BART station, Oakland, California.
Ajuan Mance
1001 Black Men #867
A portrait of Oakland-based artist Duane Deterville, from a photo I took at the “Our Lives Matter” show at Solespace. Duane and Refa One (see 1001 Black Men #866) have collaborated on at least two pieces I’ve seen, and they’re two of the most interesting, insightful, and talented artists with whom I’ve have the pleasure of showing my work.
Ajuan Mance
