Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 240

'We Don't Have The Luxury To Fall Apart': Black Businesses Get Creative To Survive

"Black entrepreneurs have long faced challenges be it getting financial capital, or discrimination in contracting. Now, the pandemic has hit them the hardest and many are trying to find ways to thrive." -- Morning Edition

Soul to Soul at 50: A Look Back at Ghana’s Legendary Music Festival

"On March 6, 1971, a group of some of the top musicians from the United States -– Ike and Tina Turner, Wilson Pickett, the Staple Singers, and more -– boarded a plane bound for Ghana to perform in a musical celebration that was dubbed the “Soul to Soul Festival.” Thousands of audience members filled Accra’s Black Star Square for a continuous 15 hours of music. The festival was planned in part for the annual celebration of Ghana’s independence, but also as an invitation to a “homecoming” for these noted African-American artists to return to Africa. This episode of Afropop Worldwide  revisits the famed music festival on its 50th anniversary and explores the longstanding legacy of cultural exchange with African diasporans originally set forth in the 1950s by Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana, featuring interviews with noted musicologist John Collins, poet, scholar and Duke University Professor Tsitsi Ella Jaji, concert goers and more."

Afropop Worldwide · 829 Soul To Soul At 50

Left of Black S11 · E18 | The Nation of Islam in the Civil Rights Struggle with Garrett Felber

What is the legacy of the Nation of Islam in the struggle for Black equality? The narratives we use to help us look back at the past to celebrate our triumphs over Jim Crow seem to fall short of remembering all that the Nation of Islam did to help lay the foundation. In this episode of Left of Black, host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal sits down with University of Mississippi of History Professor  Garrett Felber to discuss the Black Muslims through the lens of his latest book, Those Who Know Don't Say: The Nation of Islam, the Black Freedom Movement, and the Carceral State, published by UNC Press, 2020.

Lorraine Hansberry and Gwendolyn Brooks: Darlings of the White Liberal Establishment?

"On the 62nd anniversary of the Broadway premiere (March 11, 1959) of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, Tight Rope host Dr. Cornel West and Professor Tricia Rose reflect on the Black literary tradition as they focus on the legacy of both Lorraine Hansberry and Gwendolyn Brooks as revolutionaries and exemplars who are often misunderstood as the “darlings of the white liberal establishment.” The professors discuss the tension between the relation of love and freedom (interpersonal justice) on the one hand and the struggle for political and economic justice on the other, while expertly explaining why and how some of the authors’ most popular works are still misinterpreted in the modern world as less revolutionary than they reveal themselves to be beneath the surface."

'Through The Cracks' Reexamines How An 8-Year-Old Girl Disappeared From A D.C. Homeless Shelter

"Here & Now's Tonya Mosley speaks with Jonquilyn Hill, host of the podcast "Through The Cracks." The podcast revisits the disappearance of 8-year-old Relisha Rudd from a Washington, D.C., homeless shelter seven years ago." -- Here & Now

Invisible Blackness – Double Oppression: the Black Woman, an Interview with Ladybug Mecca

"Digable Planets was the pinnacle of cool for early 1990s hip hop culture. LadyBug Mecca was the sole female voice of this seductive trio of music revolutionaries, waltzing the line between pop crossover culture and conscious hip hop. In this episode of Invisible Blackness, Adrian Younge and LadyBug Mecca discuss the power behind the black female voice in culture's past, present and future."

Soulful Stitching: The Visual Art of The Siddis of Karnataka, India

"The Siddis of Karnataka, India are the descendants of both early African immigrants to South Asia and enslaved Africans brought to Goa on India’s west coast by the Portuguese beginning in the 16th century. Gradually, they escaped slavery and moved southward into the remote Western Ghatt mountains of Northern Karnataka in order to create free, independent African diaspora communities. While they have adopted, adapted, and integrated many aspects of Indian cultures, Siddis have also retained and transformed certain African traditions. In the visual arts, one tradition stands out: the patchwork quilts known as kawandi." -- Cove Street Arts

 

Perspectives on Anti-Blackness in the Arab World

"Anti-Black racism exists all over the globe, but varies according to the context and society. In Arab societies, anti-black racism is pronounced, widespread, and largely denied by the intelligentsia, the ruling elites and clergy despite its roots in either the trans-Saharan slave trade or the Indian Ocean slave trade. his roundtable discussion was coordinated by Duke professor Mbaye Lo, and featured Moses E. Ochonu (Vanderbilt University), Afifa Ltifi (Cornell University), and Yasmin Moll (University of Michigan). The panel was moderated by Muhammed Haron (University of Botswana.)" -- John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University

Music Education In The Pandemic And Beyond

 

"Teaching orchestra, choir or band virtually in a pandemic presents some unique challenges. Even with schools reopening, it's difficult to hold in-person band practice in a way that's safe and socially distant. How has music education changed during the pandemic? And what does its future in U.S. education look like?" -- 1A

Actor Daniel Kaluuya’s Road to Revolutionary

"Actor Daniel Kaluuya -- known for his roles in Get Out and Queen & Slim -- portrays Fred Hampton in the new film, Judas and the Black Messiah, which follows Hampton’s meteoric rise through the party, a multiracial class movement and the series of betrayals that led to his untimely fall. Weeks before he won the Golden Globe award for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture,” Kaluuya joined host Kai Wright to talk about preparing for the role, the legacy of the Black Panther Party and how Hampton’s revolutionary love for his community positioned him as "an enemy of the state"."