Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 20

The Trayvon Generation: A Celebration and Conversation with Elizabeth Alexander | Whitney Museum of American Art

'This program with Elizabeth Alexander is a conversation about her new book The Trayvon Generation, a meditation on the power of art and culture to illuminate America’s unresolved problem with race. Alexander invites artists and writers Reginald Dwayne Betts, Mitchell S. Jackson, Julie Mehretu, and Jacqueline Woodson, to reflect on how they confront and embrace, as artists and parents, the challenges facing young Black Americans. This program explores the act of imagination and how it converges and diverges with practices of care.'

Notes from America with Kai Wright: Faith Ringgold Creates Space for Black Americans

'Faith Ringgold’s art is an intimate dialogue and debate between generations of Black women, stretching from the formerly enslaved to today. Producer Rahima Nasa takes host Kai Wright to an exhibit displaying artist Faith Ringgold’s work. We learn about Ringgold’s story and the political beliefs that shaped her art, plus we hear about the impact of Ringgold’s work from her daughter, art historian and feminist scholar Michele Wallace.'

Helga: Jazz Vocalist Somi on Finding Your Voice

"Once I could feel grounded in an East African context and value who I am in an American context - suddenly it was so apparent that music was where I was supposed to be." 

'The dynamic, ascendant jazz singer Somi has been celebrated for her artistry as much as her activism. She became the first African woman ever nominated in any of the Grammy’s Jazz categories last year, and she has performed at the United Nations’ General Assembly by invitation from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. Somi describes herself as a “East African Midwestern girl who loves family, poetry, and freedom” and yet hers is a story of survival, adversity, and transformation. In this episode, she discusses what happens when a teacher steals your joy, the power of a meditative practice that connects her to her ancestors, and how she is still finding her voice.'

The Takeaway: Malcolm-Jamal Warner's No Longer Hiding

 

'Emmy nominated actor and Grammy award winning poet and musician Malcolm-Jamal Warner has spent over 40 years sharing parts of himself with the public. His latest album Hiding in Plain View is also nominated for a Grammy and it’s some of his most vulnerable work to date. In it, he shares reflections on his journey to radical self-acceptance and explores his hopes and dreams surrounding Black masculinity and Black futures.'

Let Us (Take Our Time) – Jazzmeia Horn and Her Noble Force

 

Sounds and visuals for "Let Us (Take Our Time)" from Jazzmeia Horn and Her Noble Force's Dear Love.

"The Embrace": Hank Willis Thomas' Monument to Love

'"The Embrace," a 22-foot-tall bronze sculpture to be unveiled at Boston Common on January 13, was inspired by a photograph of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King hugging after they learned the civil rights leader had won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. CBS Correspondent Nancy Giles talks with sculptor Hank Willis Thomas, and with Imari Paris Jeffries, executive director of Embrace Boston, about the effort to create a monument to love, belonging and hope.'

A Star Without A Star: The Untold Juanita Moore Story (Trailer)

"Kirk E. Kelleykahn’s heartfelt documentary “A Star Without a Star: The Untold Juanita Moore Story” builds the case for Moore — the director’s grandmother and an Oscar nominee, whose work spans eight decades — to be recognized on the Hollywood Walk of Fame." -- Bill Edelstein, Variety.

'Juanita Moore began her stage career dancing in the chorus of numerous shows ranging from the thriving nightclubs of Harlem in the 1930’s to the London Palladium and the Moulin Rouge in Paris. Moore became a founding member of the Cambridge Players (named for actor-director Edmund J. Cambridge) which also included Esther Rolle, Helen Martin, Lynn Hamilton and Royce Wallace, with supporting players, Isabel Sanford, Maya Angelou and Beah Richards.'

Into America with Trymaine Lee: Bethesda's Lost Colony

'When Marsha Coleman-Adebayo heard a rumor that members of her church might be buried under a parking lot for a high-rise apartment building, she couldn’t believe it. This small plot of land in the wealthy, white suburb of Bethesda, Maryland, had once been part of the Black community that flourished here after emancipation and was now dwindling due to development and gentrification. The land was now worth tens of millions of dollars, and developers were eyeing it for further construction. So Marsha became part of a years-long fight between the county and former residents of River Road, the once-thriving Black community within Bethesda, to save and memorialize the Moses Macedonia African Cemetery. Trymaine Lee traveled to River Road to meet with Marsha and Harvey Mathews, a descendant of the community who can still remember what once was. They visit the site of the former cemetery and the tiny church fighting to preserve the memory of their ancestors.'

Erroll Garner Uncovered with Robin D.G. Kelley: Terri Lyne Carrington / A New Kind Of Love

“I hear the thread between his sound, his touches, his articulation and the way he phrased eighth notes as very contemporary and especially the way he played behind the beat. And I don’t know of anybody else that mastered that the way that he did.” -- Terri Lyne Carrington

'Terri Lyne Carrington and host Robin D.G. Kelley step inside Erroll's Garner's underrated opus, A New Kind of Love. Carrington is the only drummer to appear on the Uncovered podcast, and she brings her own nuanced perspective on Garner's unique rhythmic approach.'

Mona Scott-Young | The Blackprint with Detavio Samuels

'The Blackprint with Detavio Samuels sits down with revered television producer and entrepreneur Mona Scott-Young (creator of the “Love & Hip Hop” reality franchise) to talk about how her mother’s functional illiteracy gave her perspective and motivation, why “healthy competition” made ‘90s and ‘00s hip hop culture better, building Monami Productions, and more.'