Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 218

The Music Show with Andrew Ford: Marvin Gaye's Masterpiece at 50 with Guest Mark Anthony Neal

'Marvin Gaye’s album What’s Going On turned 50 this week; it was an instant commercial success in 1971, helping to summarise the hopes and despairs of Black Americans against a backdrop of the Vietnam War and ongoing fight for racial equality. But could the album be even more relevant today? Rolling Stone thinks so (it jumped from #6 to #1 on their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list when revised in 2020). Mark Anthony Neal is the James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of African & African American Studies at Duke University and is on The Music Show to pull apart the album (from the distinctive vocal techniques to how it flows as a song cycle) and to talk about its influence on Motown, soul music, and beyond.'

Soul Expressions 2.0 · The Music Show with Andrew Ford: Marvin Gaye's Masterpiece at 50 with Guest Mark Anthony Neal

Remaining Tulsa Massacre Survivors Demand Justice

'The three known survivors of the Tulsa Massacre, Viola Ford Fletcher, Hughes Van Ellis, and Lessie Benningfield Randle who were all children in 1921, offered their firsthand accounts of the race massacre at a congressional hearing in Washington.'

A Black Woman Says She Had To Hide Her Race To Get A Fair Home Appraisal

'Two low home appraisals spurred a Black woman in Indianapolis to administer her own fair housing test. The result led her to file a complaint alleging housing discrimination.' --WFYI Public Radio

Actor John Boyega On 'Star Wars', 'Small Axe' And Telling 'Stories Of The Untold'

'John Boyega has been outspoken about systemic racism in Hollywood. He has talked about how his character in Star Wars was sidelined, along with the other characters played by actors of color. Boyega  won a Golden Globe for his performance in the anthology series Small Axe, as a Black British police officer who joined the force in the 1980s to try to change the system.'

Why Is Everyone Talking About Newsletters?

'In the last ten years, it seems like newsletters have replaced blogs as the platform du jour. And Substack helps writers profit off their own work. But the platform's success isn't without controversy.  The main criticism being who they allow on the platform. 1A digs into newsletters and what they mean for our media landscape.'

How the Mainstream Media Abandoned the Working Class

'As the sometimes breathless coverage of the union vote in Bessemer, Alabama showed, labor stories are having a moment — in part due to the work of digital outlets since the Occupy movement, as well as increased attention on essential workers more broadly during the pandemic. But this surge in coverage is happening amid half a century of neglect of the labor beat, according to Christopher R. Martin, author of No Longer Newsworthy: How the Mainstream Media Abandoned the Working Class.' -- On the Media

Jennifer Redfearn's 'Apart'

'The documentary, Apart, follows three mothers who prepare to return to their families after being incarcerated. Director Jennifer Redfearn joins All Of It to discuss the film.'

What Is Activism? Carl Hancock Rux Talks With Lara Downes

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'The poet and playwright Carl Hancock Rux wrestles with the idea of being an activist in America today in its various forms, meanings and misunderstandings.' -- Amplify With Lara Downes 

How Barbers are Looking out for Their Clients' Mental Health

'Black men are crying out. Suicide is one of the leading causes of death for young Black Americans; and our young men are at particular risk. Stigmas, health care access, and social pressures to appear hyper-masculine stop a lot of Black men from getting help. But a grassroots program known as The Confess Project is trying to break this pattern. Trymaine Lee talks to the founder of The Confess Project, Lorenzo Lewis; and Louisville barber J. Divine Alexander breaks down how the program has helped him support his clients, and, been good for his own mental health.' -- Into America

Invisible Blackness – Interview with Roy Choi

'Roy Choi is the son of Korean immigrants and a hip hop aficionado. His culinary food truck empire built a bridge between race and socio economic class by normalizing eating in the streets of LA. In this episode Roy and host Adrian Younge discuss the power of food justice as a path to social equality and the meaningful dance between food and identity.'