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July 26, 2021

“Colored Conventions Show Us Where Democracy Really Happens”, Democracy Works Podcast featuring P. Gabrielle Foreman and Jim Casey

In April, P. Gabrielle Foreman and Jim Casey, contributors to The Colored Conventions Movement: Black Organizing in the Nineteenth Century, were featured on Penn State’s Democracy Works podcast. If you’re not already familiar with these two, they’ve been doing some incredible work to detail the history of The Colored Conventions movement, the nineteenth century’s longest campaign for Black civil rights. The Colored Conventions… Continue Reading “Colored Conventions Show Us Where Democracy Really Happens”, Democracy Works Podcast featuring P. Gabrielle Foreman and Jim Casey

Categories African American Studies/Political Science
July 16, 2021

Mount Vernon’s Virtual Book Talk with Author Tamika Nunley

Tamika Nunley, author of At the Threshold of Liberty: Women, Slavery, and Shifting Identities in Washington, D.C., was featured on Mount Vernon’s virtual book talk series earlier this year. During the talk, Tamika discusses her book, the portrait of Elizabeth Keckley used as the books cover, the tradition of education amongst enslaved people and even answers some questions asked by… Continue Reading Mount Vernon’s Virtual Book Talk with Author Tamika Nunley

Categories African American Studies/Gender Studies/Sociology/Women's Studies
July 13, 2021

Harriet, the Moses of Her People: Preface

In celebration of Disability Pride Month, I decided to post an excerpt from one of the titles from our recommended reading list published last week. This excerpt is the preface from Sarah Hopkins Bradford’s Harriet, the Moses of Her People. The title I have given my black heroine, in this second edition of her story, viz.: THE MOSES OF HER… Continue Reading Harriet, the Moses of Her People: Preface

Categories African American Studies/Biography / Autobiography
July 7, 2021

Happy Disability Pride Month! A Recommended Reading List

If you didn’t know already, July is Disability Pride month. The celebration of Disability Pride began in 1990 and has held on strong ever since. “This annual observance is used to promote visibility and mainstream awareness of the positive pride felt by people with disabilities.” Below are a few titles that align with that point of view; shedding light on… Continue Reading Happy Disability Pride Month! A Recommended Reading List

Categories African American Studies/American Studies/Biography / Autobiography/History/Labor Studies/Sociology/Women's Studies
July 6, 2021

Time to Reset Your Syllabi, Vast Early America

Guest blog post by Catherine E. Kelly of the Omohundro Institute I came to the project that would become Thirteen Clocks: How Race United the Colonies and Made the Declaration of Independence the hard way – through the college classroom. Before joining the Omohundro Institute, I taught American history first at Case Western Reserve University and then at the University of Oklahoma.… Continue Reading Time to Reset Your Syllabi, Vast Early America

Categories African American Studies/American History/History/Political Science/Politics
June 30, 2021

Capitalism and Slavery: The Development Of The Negro Slave Trade

For our last bit of JuneTeenth celebration this month, I decided to pull an excerpt from one of the books featured in our two part commemorative JuneTeenth recommended reading list (Part One, Part Two). This excerpt is from Eric Williams and Colin A. Palmer’s Capitalism and Slavery, Third Edition.  The negro slaves were “the strength and sinews of this western world.”… Continue Reading Capitalism and Slavery: The Development Of The Negro Slave Trade

Categories Africa & African Diaspora/African American History/African American Studies/American History/Business/Economics/Latin American/Caribbean Hist.
June 28, 2021

Princess Noire: We Knew She Was a Genius

With a few more days left to celebrate Black Music Month, we chose to post this excerpt from Nadine Cohodas’ Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone. This book and a few other titles were featured on a recommended reading list commemorating some of the incredible things black people have brought to music as a whole. John Irvin sang… Continue Reading Princess Noire: We Knew She Was a Genius

Categories African American Studies/Biography / Autobiography/Music
June 25, 2021

Pauli Murray: A Child of Destiny or A Nobody Without Identity, 1910–1926

To further celebrate Pride Month, the following is an excerpt from Troy R. Saxby’s Pauli Murray: A Personal And Political Life. This book is one of five titles from a reading list we created in commemoration of Pride Month; view the entire reading list here. Pauli Murray long believed that she was born on November 20, 1910, and named Anna Pauline Murray.… Continue Reading Pauli Murray: A Child of Destiny or A Nobody Without Identity, 1910–1926

Categories African American Studies/Biography / Autobiography/Gender Studies/LGBT Studies
June 24, 2021

Author B. Brian Foster in Conversation with Author William Ferris, Hosted by Square Books

In late January, Oxford, MS-based indie bookstore Square Books hosted a virtual conversation between B. Brian Foster, author of I Don’t Like The Blues: Race, Black and Backbeat of Black Life, and William Ferris, author of Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues. Watch as Foster and Ferris discuss a history of black people’s involvement in sociology,… Continue Reading Author B. Brian Foster in Conversation with Author William Ferris, Hosted by Square Books

Categories African American Studies/Anthropology/Music/Sociology/Southern Studies
June 22, 2021

Happy Black Music Month: A Recommended Reading List

Fresh off the heels of our JuneTeenth reading lists (Part One and Part Two) , I’m back with another celebration of black culture; Black Music Month. “Created by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, this month celebrates the African American musical influences that comprise an essential part of our nation’s treasured cultural heritage.” Black people have had a hand in basically… Continue Reading Happy Black Music Month: A Recommended Reading List

Categories African American Studies/American Studies/Biography / Autobiography/Music
June 19, 2021

Juneteenth, Our Newest National Holiday: A Recipe for Celebration

Happy Juneteenth! This recipe from Adrian Miller’s 2014 Beard Foundation Award winning Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time also appears in Southern Holidays: a Savor the South Cookbook by Debbie Moose, whose headnote from that book follows. Adrian Miller’s book Soul Food is a detailed and fascinating exploration of the history and… Continue Reading Juneteenth, Our Newest National Holiday: A Recipe for Celebration

Categories African American History/African American Studies/Food Studies
June 18, 2021

Happy (early) Juneteenth! A Reading List, Part Two

Happy early JuneTeenth again! I’m back with part two of the recommended reading list in celebration of JuneTeenth, “the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.” Part one of the recommended reading list focused on the experiences of black American slaves whose labor helped shape the fabric of America. Part two of the reading… Continue Reading Happy (early) Juneteenth! A Reading List, Part Two

Categories African American Studies/Environmental Studies/Gender Studies/Literature/Music/Political Science/Politics/Sociology/Southern Studies/Women's Studies
June 16, 2021

African American Children: Some of the Last Recipients of Emancipation

Guest blog post by Crystal Lynn Webster, author of Beyond the Boundaries of Childhood: African American Children in the Antebellum North This author’s book was also featured in part one of our JuneTeenth recommended reading list. Juneteenth is day in which we celebrate freedom. But it is also a recognition that for many African Americans freedom was delayed and unfulfilled.… Continue Reading African American Children: Some of the Last Recipients of Emancipation

Categories African American Studies/American Studies
June 14, 2021

Happy (early) Juneteenth! A Reading List, Part One

Happy early Juneteenth! If you don’t know, June 19th is “the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. From its Galveston, Texas origin in 1865, the observance of June 19th as the African American Emancipation Day has spread across the United States and beyond. Today Juneteenth commemorates African American freedom and emphasizes education and… Continue Reading Happy (early) Juneteenth! A Reading List, Part One

Categories Africa & African Diaspora/African American History/African American Studies/American Studies/Economics/Gender Studies/History/Latin American/Caribbean Hist./Religion/Women's Studies
June 11, 2021

Not Straight, Not White: Untangling Black Pathology

To further celebrate Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, Asexual (LGBTQIA+) Pride Month, the following is an excerpt from Kevin Mumford’s Not Straight, Not White: Black Gay Men from the March on Washington to the AIDS Crisis. This book is one of five titles from a reading list we created in commemoration of Pride Month; view the entire reading list here.… Continue Reading Not Straight, Not White: Untangling Black Pathology

Categories African American Studies/LGBT Studies
June 10, 2021

UNC Press authors Regina N. Bradley & Imani Perry speak at IASPM’s Popular Music Books in Process Series

In April, author of Chronicling Stankonia: The Rise of the Hip-Hop South Regina Bradley and Imani Perry, author of May We Forever Stand: A History of the Black National Anthem (available in paperback October 2021), spoke during one of the sessions for IASPM’s Popular Music Books in Process Series. The series started in June 2020 and “offer writers and scholars… Continue Reading UNC Press authors Regina N. Bradley & Imani Perry speak at IASPM’s Popular Music Books in Process Series

Categories African American Studies/American Studies/Literature/Music
June 7, 2021

Dr. Monica White, Author of Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement, on the Healthy Food Movement’s Spilt Milk: The Food Trust Podcast

In February, author of Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement Dr. Monica M. White was featured on the first episode of the Healthy Food Movement’s new podcast called Spilt Milk: The Food Trust podcast. Spilt Milk helps consumers make sense of our food system by intersecting food with our mental, physical and environmental health. Dr. White and… Continue Reading Dr. Monica White, Author of Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement, on the Healthy Food Movement’s Spilt Milk: The Food Trust Podcast

Categories African American Studies/Environmental Studies/Southern Studies
June 3, 2021

Reckoning with our past means commemorating violent histories

Reblogged with permission from Washington Post; Blog Post by K. Stephen Prince, author of The Ballad of Robert Charles: Searching For The New Orleans Riot On a gray afternoon in December, a small group gathered in the Central City neighborhood of New Orleans. They came together to dedicate a historical marker to the events of late July 1900, when a confrontation… Continue Reading Reckoning with our past means commemorating violent histories

Categories African American History/African American Studies/Biography / Autobiography/History/Southern Studies
June 2, 2021

How the Controversy Over Confederate Monuments is Linked to Voter Suppression

Guest blog post by Karen L. Cox, author of No Common Ground: Confederate Monuments and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice Last summer, in the days following the murder of George Floyd, Americans watched as Black Lives Matter protests in the South turned on Confederate monuments, vandalizing them, tearing them down, spraying them with graffiti with messages to end police… Continue Reading How the Controversy Over Confederate Monuments is Linked to Voter Suppression

Categories African American Studies/Civil War/History/Southern Studies
May 28, 2021

P&P Live! Anthea Butler discusses White Evangelical Racism with Jeff Sharlet

Just a day ago, author of Ferris & Ferris book White Evangelical Racism, Anthea Butler spoke with Book People, but today we have footage from Anthea’s discussion with Jeff Sharlet, author and associate professor of English and creative writing at Dartmouth, hosted by Washington, D.C.-based independent bookstore Politics & Prose. Anthea and Jeff discuss White Evangelical Racism and everything from… Continue Reading P&P Live! Anthea Butler discusses White Evangelical Racism with Jeff Sharlet

Categories African American Studies/Political Science/Politics/Religion