ACTOR TEACHES CHILDREN ABOUT GREAT BLACK AMERICANS

Ibrahim Al-jahizz tells about accomplishments of historical figures from Frederick Douglass to Martin Luther King Jr.

Ibrahim Al-jahizz brings history to life. Whether he's Frederick Douglass or Malcolm X, and whether he's working as an actor or a teacher, Al-jahizz presents information in a dramatic way.

He has performed for schoolchildren and paying audiences. Besides statesman Douglass and activist Malcolm X, he has played civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and chemist George Washington Carver.

"Artistic educator"

Al-jahizz, born Michael M. Smith Sr., considers himself "an artistic educator." He has acted in several stage plays and also works as a substitute teacher in the Indianapolis Public Schools system.

He views both jobs similarly. "One becomes a teacher when he is dramatizing truth or dramatizing information," he told Children's Express.

In a typical performance as Douglass, which he mostly does for elementary students, he begins with a film about Douglass' life, first as a slave, then writer-orator and statesman. After the film, Al-jahizz appears in a spotlight on stage as a youthful Douglass, sporting bushy hair and dressed in an 1800s- style black suit with high-collar shirt. In a bold voice, he tells of his early years and struggles. Al-jahizz later appears as Douglass as an old man, reflecting on his rich, productive life.

Al-jahizz does a lot of research for the roles he plays.

"I try to get in touch with everything that I can get in touch with concerning Frederick Douglass," he said. "I would like to go to his home and spend the night to feel his surroundings _ where he slept, where he sat, where he ate, where he studied _ to get in touch with those spiritual properties that I believe still exist there."

Children are open-minded

He said he likes performing for kids because they have open minds, and he feels he can make a difference in their thinking.

"They haven't been brainwashed," he said. "They're pliable, their innocence is still there."

Al-jahizz wasn't always so interested in education. He said that as a child, school didn't mean much to him. He spent a lot of time cutting classes, fighting and drinking wine.

But he had an English teacher at Arsenal Technical High School who said to him: "Michael, I just can't give you a grade, you know; you've got to do something for a grade."

"She says, `I tell you what _ I want you to go home, and I want you to just write your experiences down that you're having at home, just write what you see, write what you feel.' And I did."

She inspired him to write poetry, which he still does. He went on to graduate from Aenon Bible College and Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, and Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass.

He knew from his earliest days that he wanted to be a performer. He started out singing around the house, and acting was a natural evolution, he said.

Roles on stage

During the past few years, on stages in Columbus and Dayton, Ohio, and in Indianapolis, he has portrayed Sweet Meat in Five on the Black Hand Side, Troy Maxson in Fences, Jess B. Simple in Simply Heavenly, and Herald Loomis in Joe Turner's Come and Gone.

While Al-jahizz has made a name for himself portraying black historical figures, he believes the term "black history" is a misnomer.

"Black history becomes important only because of what I perceive to be white racism, which excludes the contributions of black people from the history textbooks," he said.

"Our history is ancient."

Nonetheless, Al-Jahizz is touched by the works of a white 19th-century philosopher-poet.

"Ralph Waldo Emerson is somebody that I hope to write a one-man show about," he said. "Even though Ralph Waldo Emerson's skin was white, his thoughts were beyond color."

Al-Jahizz tries to live up to what Emerson wrote:

"Success is to laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and affection of children. . . ."