Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 468

Zócalo Public Square: Will Black Panther Really Change Hollywood?

'The global success of, and acclaim for, the film Black Panther reflect greater inclusiveness and openness to different stories within Hollywood—and could inspire even more changes within the industry. That was the cautiously optimistic conclusion of a panel—including scholars Darnell Hunt (UCLA) and Mark Anthony Neal (Duke), Afrofuturist novelist and screenwriter Tananarive Due, moderator Claudia Puig, a National Public Radio film critic and president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and Black Panther executive producer Nate Moore—at a Zócalo/UCLA event, “Will Black Panther Really Change Hollywood?” held at ArcLight Hollywood in Los Angeles.' -- Zócalo/UCLA

Like a Study in Black History -- Chester Higgins and The Black Photographers Annual

'Many people think about photography as a way of stopping time, preserving what we are seeing in the moment the picture is made. But Chester Higgins uses his camera to search for the unseen and make it visible. He challenges what we think we know and asks us to see the spirit, giving visual definition to the lived human experience. Higgins’ works are currently on view at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts as part two of a series of exhibitions showing images from the Black Photographers Annual, a 4-part publication that was inspired by the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s.' -- LookSEE

#BackChannel: Women At The Helm In Film To Hip-Hop And Beyond

'With the new Disney release A Wrinkle In Time,  Ava DuVernay became the first African-American woman to direct a film with a budget over $100 million. State of Things Host Frank Stasio reviews the film with Natalie Bullock Brown, professor of film and broadcast media at St. Augustine’s University in Raleigh, and Mark Anthony Neal , chair of the department of African and African American studies at Duke University in Durham. They also discuss the new rhythm and blues tribute album Ventriloquism from artist Meshell Ndegeocello . Twenty-five years after her debut release, the artist created an 11-track LP that pays tribute to artists from Janet Jackson and George Clinton, to Prince and Force MDs. Also this month, the biopic Roxanne Roxanne is out on Netflix. It profiles teen battle rap champion Roxanne Shanté, who paved the way for women in hip-hop.' 

Helga: Studio Museum in Harlem's Thelma Golden

'Thelma Golden is the director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, an appointee to President Obama's Committee for the Preservation of the White House, and the recipient of the 2016 Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence. In this conversation with Helga Davis, the first of the second season of our Helga podcast, Golden discusses being taught canon revision with her father growing up, her first memories of seeing the world through art, and the rituals she need to get through the day.' -- WNYC

No Filter: Amy Sherald

'Her portrait of Michelle Obama went viral. Painter Amy Sherald dismisses the haters: “Some people want their poetry to rhyme.” -- Note to Self/WNYC

The Death of Marielle Franco and the Life of Afro-diasporic Radicalism

'Journalist Jaimee Swift connects the assassination of Brazilian politician and activist Marielle Franco to a larger history of police violence against Black women and LGBTQ+ people across the global African diaspora, and links Franco's life and work to the shared international struggle against the mechanisms White supremacy, in all its forms and locations. Swift wrote the article "Marielle Franco, Black Queer Women, and Police Violence in Brazil" for Black Perspectives . -- This is Hell! Radio

Reforming America's Prisons: A Conversation with Reginald Dwayne Betts and Pat Nolan

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. Sing Sing Prison, interior view.'Americans comprise about 5 percent of the world’s population but more than 20 percent of its prison population. The United States also leads the planet in its levels of incarcerated youth. And while the overall rate of youth incarceration in this country has declined more than 50 percent in the 21st century, the rate of Black youths put in prison has increased by 22 percent—of all young people in prison, 69 percent of them are people of color. Anthony Marx asks Reginald Dwayne Betts and Pat Nolan how the tragedies of American incarceration continue to be sustained and what action is needed in order to correct them.' -- NYPL

ART21 -- Jack Whitten: An Artist's Life

'Renowned abstract painter Jack Whitten (1939-2018) discusses the personal philosophies that drove his work over the course of nearly six decades, chronicling his development as an artist and his relentless innovation in painting. "I can build anything I want to build," said the artist. "It's all about the materiality of the paint." Filmed at work on what would become his final painting, Whitten spent his life pushing abstraction into new territories. He passed away shortly after this interview.'  -- Art21

John Edgar Wideman's Story of America, and Himself

'John Edgar Wideman, MacArthur Fellow, two-time winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award, and finalist for both the NBCC and National Book Awards, talks about his book American Histories. The new collection weaves together historical fact, philosophical wisdom, and personal vignettes to tell stories about love, death and struggle.' -- Midday on WNYC
                  

Left of Black S8:E15: Break Beats in the Bronx -- Rediscovering Hip-Hop's Early Years

Left of Black S8:E15:  Break Beats in the Bronx -- Rediscovering Hip-Hop's Early Years
Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined in the Left of Black studio by Joseph C. Ewoodzie, Jr., the  Malcolm O. Partin Assistant Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies at Davidson College.  Professor Ewoodizie is the author of Break Beats in the Bronx: Rediscovering Hip-Hop's Early Years (University of North Carolina Press).