Washington, DC
ADMINISTRATOR SAMANTHA POWER: So great to be here and to see such a full house, knowing we only know a fraction of who's tuning in. Steve [Shih], thanks to you for joining this agency. Glad we could woo you. And for helping us build an agency that is truly representative of the communities and people that we serve. I look forward, in the months ahead, to hearing more recommendations and institutionalizing more of what we have sought to build together, including with Neneh [Diallo], and so many of you here in the room.
Thanks to you Hope [Williams] and all of those who make BIG [Blacks in Government, an employee resource group] such an integral part of USAID and agencies throughout the government. To be honest, I know I can speak for all the incredible leaders who are here with us today – it's our privilege to be a part of this event. And we're really in awe of how you have led and spearheaded a sense of community and brought us back again and again for what we are here to promote. So, really thank you.
I love the theme for this month, we all have our favorite themes. Every year we get to reflect in a different way on Black History Month. And the thinking about African Americans and their contributions to the arts. I find a very moving theme indeed and an inspirational one. I can't think, also, of a better way to kick off discussions of the impacts that African Americans have made in the arts and through the arts then checking out that powerful performance by Vernard Gilmore.
Gilmore, you've heard of course – dances – recognized dances with the Alvin Ailey Dance Company. And I'd like to use my remarks today, really to touch upon actually Alvin Ailey's story and how it relates to our work. As I think it is itself a testament to the ways in which art and culture can build bridges and can advance the cause of individuals in our communities and around the world.
In 1962, just months after President John F. Kennedy founded USAID, he also created a much lesser-known initiative, the “President’s Special International Program for Cultural Presentations.” Building on the legacy of programs that you’re more familiar with, like Jazz Ambassadors and Rhythm Road, this program sent American artists to share their work with countries and communities around the world. And though its work was very different from USAID’s, in many ways our missions were aligned: to build connections and shared understanding across the world and honor the infinite worth and unique potential of every individual.
One of the groups that the Kennedy Administration chose to advance that mission was a dance company started by a man born into rural, segregated Texas in 1931, at the height of Jim Crow.
When Alvin Ailey, a young man, began studying dance, there were few dance schools that were integrated here in the United States. He studied at one of the first of these integrated schools, where students learned everything from ballet fundamentals to Native American movement traditions. After his studies, Alvin Ailey moved to New York and started his own company that honored Black culture through the power of dance.
His most famous work, “Revelations,” told the African American story from slavery to liberation and cemented his legacy as one of the most talented choreographers in the world. So the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater was – speaking of bringing culture to Black History Month, we got a little music going, on the cell phone for those very far away and in other time zones – but the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater back in the day was recruited by the Kennedy Administration to dance across Asia and Australia and Africa. They performed at the Olympic Opening Ceremonies in Mexico. And in 1970, the Theater actually traveled to the Soviet Union, where – in a culture where dance was often strictly dictated by the rigid traditions of classical ballet – its performances were such a hit that on the first closing night alone, audiences gave the Alvin Ailey dancers thirty separate curtain calls. Thirty, in the Soviet Union, at that time – it’s really quite extraordinary.
Alvin Ailey went on, of course, to establish dance schools, ensembles, and programs that promoted the arts in education, especially in under-served communities. He won the United Nations Peace Medal in 1982. And in 2014, President Obama gave Alvin Ailey a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom for his legacy as a cultural ambassador to the world. And we know that that legacy lives on through awareness of Alvin Ailey and their dance impacts in every corner of the world today.
Black cultural heritage is, as Ailey put it: “one of America’s richest treasures… sometimes sorrowing, sometimes jubilant, but always hopeful – [it] has touched, illuminated, and influenced the most remote preserves of world civilization.”
That's how Alvin Ailey put it and I can't think of any better way to put it. I'm really eager to hear from our dream team here, Counselor Clinton White and Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Africa Bureau Maria Price Detherage and to hear them talk more about the extraordinary legacy and its power to help drive diplomacy and development but above all, again, the cause that unites us: dignity. Thank you so much, looking forward to the panel.