Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 280

Playwright at Work: Lorraine Hansberry

'This 1961 episode  of Playwright at Work, shows writer Lorraine Hansberry fresh off her success from "A Raisin in the Sun." We see a scene, directed by Lloyd Richards, from a play she's writing about Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture. Her untimely death from pancreatic cancer at age 35 prevented her from finishing the play, but in this scene we see her mastery in creating art out of everyday life.' -- WNET

Dr. Anthony Fauci: The Real-Life Superhero Who Has Literally Saved Millions of Lives

'Anthony Fauci, M.D. delivers a prescription of hope in the midst of this global pandemic and sets the record straight after getting name-checked twice during the presidential debate.' -- The Tight Rope

Book Trailer: 'Madam C.J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving Black Women’s Philanthropy during Jim Crow' by Tyrone Freeman

“African Americans in particular have been very generous and have been donors in their community since the beginning. It’s not something that’s new, but something that is very deeply rooted. It was important to highlight this to add to the larger conversation about what philanthropy is and who counts as a philanthropist.”—Author Tyrone McKinley Freeman

Being Seen 04: Creating Space with Eddie Ndopu

Artwork by Olivia Fields

'Spaces. Space. The places we occupy and a trip that takes us beyond to a point where we can transcend. Eddie Ndopu plans to be the first disabled person to go to space, the first Black queer disabled person. This quest is confirmation of what we should all already know, that people like Eddie are magnificent in all of their multiplicities.'

Bettina Love Discusses "We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom"

'On this episode of Coffee and Books, host Marc Lamont Hill talks with professor Bettina Love, the author of We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom. Marc and Bettina discuss how comedy and fiction impact her nonfiction writing, what book changed everything for her, and why she identifies as a writer more than an author.'

#BackChannel: The Power Of 'Being Seen,' Media Portrayals Of Police & 'Driving While Black'

Artwork by Ronald Jackson

'How much does it matter to see people who look and identify like you in the media that you consume? In the new podcast "Being Seen" host Darnell Moore examines what it means to have culturally accurate and responsible depictions of the Black, male, queer experience. He joins host Frank Stasio and contributors Natalie Bullock Brown and Mark Anthony Neal on this edition of #BackChannel.  Stasio, Brown and Neal also look at the way police officers have been cast in the media and dig into Megan Thee Stallion’s New York Times opinion piece on why the phrase "protect Black women" shouldn’t be controversial. Plus, they look at the racial disparity in who gets funding and support in the documentary community and examine the new PBS documentary "Driving While Black" as a case study.' -- WUNC

Driving While Black: Race, Space and Mobility in America [Extended Trailer]

'Discover how the advent of the automobile brought new mobility and freedom for African Americans but also exposed them to discrimination and deadly violence, and how that history resonates today.'

In the Studio with Visual Artist Dr. Fahamu Pecou

'Go behind the scenes with artist and scholar Dr. Fahamu Pecou as he explains his process and his vision for bringing the characters of Grand Army to life through his art.'

Poet Kevin Young Says Thinking About Black Culture, Like Writing Poetry, Is A Calling

'Kevin Young will take over as the next director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in January. He tells Morning Edition, "We're in this really exciting Black renaissance".'

Jasmine Nichole Cobb | Tactility and the Texture of Racial Capitalism

'Coming out of the Civil Rights Movement and political struggles of the middle-twentieth century, the Afro has endured as an icon of Black liberation aesthetics. Through a mixed-media archive of photojournalism and print advertisements, this particular Black hairstyle has often been associated with the term "freedom" without sufficient exploration of hair's suppression in public culture and visual representation. Professor Jasmine Cobb explores the historical and cultural contexts informing repression where Black hair is a stand in for Black aesthetics. She argues that the shifting significations associated with "natural hair"--the concept and characteristics of black hair textures in the absence of chemical and mechanical straighteners--begins with slavery, but endures through racial capitalism.' -- Duke Franklin Humanities Institute