{"id":2885,"date":"2024-11-19T23:24:42","date_gmt":"2024-11-19T23:24:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/?p=2885"},"modified":"2024-11-19T23:27:03","modified_gmt":"2024-11-19T23:27:03","slug":"reclaiming-venus-the-resilience-music-and-memory-of-alvenia-bridges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/reclaiming-venus-the-resilience-music-and-memory-of-alvenia-bridges\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Reclaiming Venus:\u2019 The resilience, music, and memory of Alvenia Bridges"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The cover of “Reclaiming Venus: The Many Lives of Alvenia Bridges.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

African Studies affiliate faculty member <\/span>Maya Smith<\/span><\/a> has recently co-published \u201c<\/span>Reclaiming Venus: The Many Lives of Alvenia Bridges<\/span><\/a>\u201d (Simon & Schuster, 2024). This memoir chronicles the life of Alvenia Bridges beginning in a racially oppressive environment in 1950s Kansas. Despite a tumultuous home life, Bridges graduated high school, left for Los Angeles, and carved out a successful career in the fashion world and the music industry, supporting key figures in the fashion and rock ‘n’ roll scenes of the 1970s and 80s. Along the way, she broke barriers, connected with legends, and navigated predominantly white and male-dominated industries. <\/span><\/p>\n

But \u201c<\/span>Reclaiming Venus<\/span><\/a>\u201d is more than just a memoir. In 2021, Smith brought the story to life as an ethnographic memoir and story map walking tour, creating an immersive experience that helps audiences engage with Bridges\u2019 history in a unique way.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the heart of \u201c<\/span>Reclaiming Venus<\/span><\/a>\u201d is the exploration of the places and people that have shaped Bridges\u2019 life. The memoir unfolds through her relationships \u2014 both global and personal \u2014 and the memorabilia that fills her New York City apartment. These objects, each a tangible connection to her past, serve as touchstones that ground her in the present, allowing her to reflect on her journey thus far.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

African Studies affiliate faculty member Maya Smith has recently co-published \u201cReclaiming Venus: The Many Lives of Alvenia Bridges\u201d (Simon & Schuster, 2024). This memoir chronicles the life of Alvenia Bridges beginning in a racially oppressive environment in 1950s Kansas. Despite a tumultuous home life, Bridges graduated high school, left for Los Angeles, and carved out<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":710,"featured_media":2892,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[17,18,19,20],"class_list":["post-2885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-affiliate-faculty","category-news","tag-alvenia-bridges","tag-maya-smith","tag-reclaiming-venus","tag-reclaiming-venus-the-many-lives-of-alvenia-bridges"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Reclaiming Venus:\u2019 The resilience, music, and memory of Alvenia Bridges - African Studies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/reclaiming-venus-the-resilience-music-and-memory-of-alvenia-bridges\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Reclaiming Venus:\u2019 The resilience, music, and memory of Alvenia Bridges - African Studies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"African Studies affiliate faculty member Maya Smith has recently co-published \u201cReclaiming Venus: The Many Lives of Alvenia Bridges\u201d (Simon & Schuster, 2024). This memoir chronicles the life of Alvenia Bridges beginning in a racially oppressive environment in 1950s Kansas. Despite a tumultuous home life, Bridges graduated high school, left for Los Angeles, and carved out\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/reclaiming-venus-the-resilience-music-and-memory-of-alvenia-bridges\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"African Studies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-19T23:24:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-11-19T23:27:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/processed-E2C3A124-1038-4600-A896-C8E8742D5C03-2-750x999.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1501\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Madison Anne Morgan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Madison Anne Morgan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/reclaiming-venus-the-resilience-music-and-memory-of-alvenia-bridges\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/reclaiming-venus-the-resilience-music-and-memory-of-alvenia-bridges\/\",\"name\":\"\u2018Reclaiming Venus:\u2019 The resilience, music, and memory of Alvenia Bridges - African Studies\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/reclaiming-venus-the-resilience-music-and-memory-of-alvenia-bridges\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/reclaiming-venus-the-resilience-music-and-memory-of-alvenia-bridges\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/processed-E2C3A124-1038-4600-A896-C8E8742D5C03-2-750x999.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-19T23:24:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-19T23:27:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/#\/schema\/person\/0a7587398e1e22120370f1888ecb203d\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/reclaiming-venus-the-resilience-music-and-memory-of-alvenia-bridges\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/reclaiming-venus-the-resilience-music-and-memory-of-alvenia-bridges\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/reclaiming-venus-the-resilience-music-and-memory-of-alvenia-bridges\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/processed-E2C3A124-1038-4600-A896-C8E8742D5C03-2-750x999.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/processed-E2C3A124-1038-4600-A896-C8E8742D5C03-2-750x999.jpeg\",\"width\":1501,\"height\":2000,\"caption\":\"Maya Smith, professor of French and African Studies affiliate, gives a presentation on her newest book, \\\"Reclaiming Venus: The Many Lives of Alvenia Bridge\\\" on Oct. 29 at Third Place Books.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/reclaiming-venus-the-resilience-music-and-memory-of-alvenia-bridges\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"\u2018Reclaiming Venus:\u2019 The resilience, music, and memory of Alvenia Bridges\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/\",\"name\":\"African Studies\",\"description\":\"Jackson School of International Studies\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/#\/schema\/person\/0a7587398e1e22120370f1888ecb203d\",\"name\":\"Madison Anne Morgan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c3fe508c4b6e5674c0ee435a5b9a495?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c3fe508c4b6e5674c0ee435a5b9a495?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Madison Anne Morgan\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/author\/morganma\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\u2018Reclaiming Venus:\u2019 The resilience, music, and memory of Alvenia Bridges - African Studies","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/reclaiming-venus-the-resilience-music-and-memory-of-alvenia-bridges\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\u2018Reclaiming Venus:\u2019 The resilience, music, and memory of Alvenia Bridges - African Studies","og_description":"African Studies affiliate faculty member Maya Smith has recently co-published \u201cReclaiming Venus: The Many Lives of Alvenia Bridges\u201d (Simon & Schuster, 2024). This memoir chronicles the life of Alvenia Bridges beginning in a racially oppressive environment in 1950s Kansas. Despite a tumultuous home life, Bridges graduated high school, left for Los Angeles, and carved out","og_url":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/reclaiming-venus-the-resilience-music-and-memory-of-alvenia-bridges\/","og_site_name":"African Studies","article_published_time":"2024-11-19T23:24:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-11-19T23:27:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1501,"height":2000,"url":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/processed-E2C3A124-1038-4600-A896-C8E8742D5C03-2-750x999.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Madison Anne Morgan","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Madison Anne Morgan","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/reclaiming-venus-the-resilience-music-and-memory-of-alvenia-bridges\/","url":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/reclaiming-venus-the-resilience-music-and-memory-of-alvenia-bridges\/","name":"\u2018Reclaiming Venus:\u2019 The resilience, music, and memory of Alvenia Bridges - African Studies","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/reclaiming-venus-the-resilience-music-and-memory-of-alvenia-bridges\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/reclaiming-venus-the-resilience-music-and-memory-of-alvenia-bridges\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/processed-E2C3A124-1038-4600-A896-C8E8742D5C03-2-750x999.jpeg","datePublished":"2024-11-19T23:24:42+00:00","dateModified":"2024-11-19T23:27:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/#\/schema\/person\/0a7587398e1e22120370f1888ecb203d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/reclaiming-venus-the-resilience-music-and-memory-of-alvenia-bridges\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/reclaiming-venus-the-resilience-music-and-memory-of-alvenia-bridges\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/reclaiming-venus-the-resilience-music-and-memory-of-alvenia-bridges\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/processed-E2C3A124-1038-4600-A896-C8E8742D5C03-2-750x999.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/processed-E2C3A124-1038-4600-A896-C8E8742D5C03-2-750x999.jpeg","width":1501,"height":2000,"caption":"Maya Smith, professor of French and African Studies affiliate, gives a presentation on her newest book, \"Reclaiming Venus: The Many Lives of Alvenia Bridge\" on Oct. 29 at Third Place Books."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/reclaiming-venus-the-resilience-music-and-memory-of-alvenia-bridges\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"\u2018Reclaiming Venus:\u2019 The resilience, music, and memory of Alvenia Bridges"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/","name":"African Studies","description":"Jackson School of International Studies","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/#\/schema\/person\/0a7587398e1e22120370f1888ecb203d","name":"Madison Anne Morgan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c3fe508c4b6e5674c0ee435a5b9a495?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1c3fe508c4b6e5674c0ee435a5b9a495?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Madison Anne Morgan"},"url":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/author\/morganma\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/710"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2885"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2943,"href":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2885\/revisions\/2943"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}