'In 1981, Charles Fuller 's A Soldier's Play premiered in New York City, featuring actors who would go on to become household names, like Samuel L. Jackson and Denzel Washington . The following year, Fuller became the second African American in history to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. But, at the time, the play did not transfer to Broadway. Now, though, it's happened: A Soldier's Play opened
'When it comes to studying the feasibility of reparations in the U.S., no name is more called upon than Sandy Darity . Darity is a Duke University professor who has studied reparations for over 30 years. “The idea is that wealth begets wealth. That wealth is something that is acquired cumulatively. And so you can either get on the path of accumulation or you can be on the path of decumulation.” D
'Born to social activist parents in Birmingham, Alabama, just nine years after the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, scholar and author Imani Perry grew up during a time of great change. At age 7, her family relocated to Cambridge, Massachusetts; her mother earned a Harvard doctorate while Perry’s own academic and literary ambitions took root. Today, Perry is the Hughes-Rogers Professor of Afri
'On this episode of National Podcast of Texas , Daina Ramey Berry discusses Texas’s role in black women’s history, how understanding black women’s history adds to our larger understanding of American history, and how black women’s history might inform the way we look at the 2020 election. Professor Berry is coauthor, with Kali Nicole Gross , of A Black Women’s History of the United States .'
by Mark Anthony Neal | @NewBlackMan | NewBlackMan (in Exile) For many, Tryon, NC native Nina Simone was the voice of the Civil Rights Movement. A playlist of the most significant songs of the 1960s protest movement would have to include Simone’s “ Four Women ” (1966), “ I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to be Free ”, (composed and initially recorded by fellow North Carolinian Dr. Billy Taylor), an
'Photographer Dawoud Bey ’s work grapples with history. The artist asks, “How can one visualize African American history and make that history resonate in the contemporary moment?” Here he discusses several series, sited from Harlem to Birmingham to the Underground Railroad routes of northeastern Ohio, each of which works to make histories visible.' -- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
' Sound Field host LA and Nahre travel to Chicago, the birthplace of gospel music. There they meet gospel artist, Donald Lawrence and LA introduces Nahre to drum shed culture at a shed session on the south side. Later LA travels to Orlando to meet singer Tye Tribbett at his church. They talk about the shared exchange between secular and non secular music.'
'Modern genomes from Nigeria and Sierra Leone show signals that scientists call "ghost" DNA — from an unknown human ancestor. That means that prehistoric humans likely procreated with an unknown group.' -- Morning Edition
In this edition of #BackChannel , State of Things contributors Natalie Bullock Brown and Mark Anthony Neal join host Frank Stasio to discuss the Academy Award winning animated short Hair Love , the legacy of Kobe Bryant , and later
