Interchange: Jerri Lange: One Woman's Spiritual Journey

Sunday, February 24, as John Handy celebrated his 80th sojourn on the planet in a special concert and tribute hosted by the Jazz Heritage Center in San Francisco, Jerri Lange hosted a special event at the San Francisco Main Library, 100 Larkin Street, in honor of her exhibition on view now through May 2, 2013, Jerri Lange, "One Woman's Spiritual Journey to the Heart."

Her exhibit, which she speaks about at length in a special radio interview, that Friday, February 22, 2013, is also a way to bridge the cultures of the African American and Japanese people. At 88 Ms. Lange has started with this exhibit a new career as a photojournalist, having been one of the first African American women journalists and television talk show hosts in the San Francisco Bay Area from 1969-1979 on KEMO, KBHK, KGO and KQED (where she became the first black woman to host a national talk show, Turnabout and where she served on the board.) She like her predecessor, Belva Davis, interviewed world leaders and entertainers such as, Professor Arnold Toynbee, a historian from the Royal Institute of International Studies in London; Sammy Davis Jr. and Rock Hudson.

She was a professor at San Francisco State University, lectured a graduate class in communications at Stanford University and was the correspondent in Africa for the San Francisco Chronicle, and created the publisher of the magazine Amberstar, in Hawaii.

It was in Hawaii while she worked as a librarian that she met her Japanese adopted daughter who invited her to Kyoto, Japan, and introduced her after several trips in 2006 to Hoju Roshie, a Master Zen Buddhist priest. Her hosts paid for her entire stay which transpired over the four yearly seasons seen in the lovely photographs of the countryside.

The exhibit has large photos--landscapes hanging strategically throughout the African American Center Gallery on the Third Floor in the San Francisco Main Library. In the smaller display cases one can see smaller shots of Ms. Lange and her daughter and priest and intimate views of the sacred place she lived while there.

One fun photo is of Ms. Lange soaking in a warm pool, another is of her meditating with Roshie. With parasol in hand, these photos transport us to a place, which while changed perhaps in the six or seven year since her visit, nonetheless remains the same in these moments captured for our pleasure.

I enjoyed looking at the scrapbooks Ms. Lange has kept with her work, photographs of the many people mentioned in her book, Jerri, A Black Woman's Life in the Media, photos of her three sons, early shots of her as a youngster and an adolescent, photos of her father who was here during the 1906 earthquake and fire in San Francisco, her ancestors migrants from New Orleans to West Oakland.

With Tureeda Mikell serving as emcee, Rafael "Ray" Taliaferro made concluding remarks after Ms. Lange overwhelmed by the magnitude of her program which featured Tarika Lewis, Mary Rudge and others in a program that included dance, song, poetry and music, gave final statements and thanks before meeting us in the rear of the Koret Hall to sign books and then get over to her reception at Rassala's on Fillmore next door to where John was having his concert. Here is a link to a tape of the reception: http://www.internationalmediatv.com/video/broadcasts4.html

It was a weekend of celebrations, too many to get to them all, but I did my best (smile).

Here is a link to the radio interview: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/wandas-picks/2013/02/22/wandas-picks-radio-show


John Handy with his arm on journalist's shoulder, as he speaks to the director of SFJAZZ. John's wife Dell is barely visible in the back.

John surrounded by friends

John Handy's Reception

Participants in Jerri Lange's reception Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013 at
the Koret Auditorium in the San Francisco Main Library.

Participants in Jerri Lange's reception Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013 at
the Koret Auditorium in the San Francisco Main Library.
Tarika Lewis far right; Mary Rudge is in the center.