Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 334

Jaleel White Experienced A Lot Of No's In His 20s After His Childhood Stardom

'Jaleel White was a household name when he played "Steve Urkel" on the hit sitcom "Family Matters." But in his 20s, Jaleel explains how he had to experience a lot of no's and basically had to start from the bottom.' -- BETNetwork  

The Story of Cold Chillin Records and Juice Crew w/ Marley Marl

'The father of the sample, Marley Marl, joins Peanut Butter Wolf, Cut Chemist, and author Ben Merlis to visit The Artform Studio in Los Angeles in celebration and discussion of the release of Merlis' new book Goin Off: The Story of the Juice Crew and Cold Chillin' Records.' -- artdontsleep
 

UnLadyLike2020 | Bessie Coleman: First African American Aviator

'Bessie Coleman (1892-1926), the daughter of sharecroppers in rural Texas, spent her childhood picking cotton. In 1915, she moved to Chicago as part of the Great Migration of African Americans to escape racial terror and find greater job opportunities in the North. After working as a manicurist in a barber shop, she made up her mind to become an aviator. Coleman was rejected from entering every aviation school in the U.S. for being a woman and for being black. Refusing to take no for an answer, she traveled to France to train as a pilot, and in 1921 became the first African American to obtain an international license to fly. When she returned to the U.S., Coleman became a media sensation with her daredevil performances, and was hailed as “Queen Bess” and “the world’s greatest woman flier.” Throughout her brief career, Coleman refused to perform in American airshows where audiences were segregated.' -- American Masters PBS
 

A History Book That Isn't: Finding A Way To Teach Racism To A New Generation

'Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi team up to investigate the history of racist ideas through a narrative that's aimed at young adult readers. It's called: Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You.'

“Migration Stories and the Hammond Sound" – A Lecture by Ashon Crawley

Duke University alumni Ashon Crawley, Ph.D., ‘13,  presents, “Migration Stories and the Hammond Sound” in the Moyle Room of the newly opened Karsh Alumni and Visitor’s Center. The lecture was organized by the Department of African & African American Studies which is celebrating its 50th anniversary of Black Studies at Duke University. Crawley is associate professor of Religious Studies and African American and African Studies at the University of Virginia and is the author of Blackpentecostal Breath: The Aesthetics of Possibility and a The Lonely Letters described as an exploration of the interrelation of blackness, mysticism, quantum mechanics and love.

Nina Simone: Hip Hop's Secret Weapon

'Nina Simone may not have had the chance herself to enter into conversations with Lauryn Hill, Talib Kweli, Common, Kanye, or Jay Z, but through Hip Hop’s endlessly creative ability to make the musical heroes of its past live again in song, it is as if she is still speaking, singing, and playing to the current generation of black artists—and through them, to the future of Hip Hop.' -- Polyphonic

David Farber Talks 'Crack: Rock Cocaine, Street Capitalism, and the Decade of Greed'

'NPR's Michel Martin speaks with historian David Farber about his new book, Crack: Rock Cocaine, Street Capitalism, and the Decade of Greed .

The New Yorker Radio Hour: A Visit with Thundercat

'Thundercat (né Stephen Lee Bruner) started his career playing with the venerable punk band Suicidal Tendencies, but now he lives and works at the nexus of jazz, pop, and hip-hop. A bassist, producer, and songwriter, Thundercat was a key collaborator with Kendrick Lamar on the album To Pimp a Butterfly, which is widely regarded as a modern classic. His own music, though, is quirkier, marked by a slightly absurdist humor and his vigorous playing of an unusual six-string bass. (“When people see the six-string,” he says, “it immediately denotes that you’re about to play too much.”) Thundercat was also close friends with the rapper Mac Miller, who died, of an overdose, in 2018. Briana Younger, a music editor at The New Yorker, talks with Thundercat about how to process grief in as visible an arena as pop music.' -- The New Yorker Radio Hour

Beyond Florence Price: Finding More Diverse Music Composers

'During Black History Month and Women's History Month, concert halls, music venues, and radio programs  highlight diverse composers and musicians — like Florence Price. The African American composer's work was turned down by many symphonies, but in the past decade, she has started to get some air-time.  WQXR writer James Bennett says, "my concern is that tastemakers will stop at that. You know they'll say, we have our diversity play when we need to inject some melanin into this Beethoven, Tchaikovsky whatever concert".'  -- WNYC News
         
       

How Teranga, a Migrant-run Afrobeats Club in Naples Helps Migrants Overcome Trauma

'Fata and Yankuba are two young Gambians with ambitious dreams, who fled dictatorship and poverty and landed in Naples, only to discover a new kind of violence: a pernicious climate of racism and an unhelpful immigration system. Their only escape from the psychological torture of years spent waiting for documents in squalid camps is a small underground club in the heart of the city. The Teranga nightclub provides a rare safe space for migrants to meet young Italians while dancing and singing away the collective trauma of their journeys to Europe and the discrimination they face in Italy' -- The Guardian