Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 558

Left of Black S7:E7: Hidden Figures -- The Black Women Mathematicians of the US Space Program

Left of Black S7:E7: Hidden Figures -- The Black Women Mathematicians  of the US Space Program
On this episode of Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Margot Lee Shetterly, author of  Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race.  Shetterly discusses growing up in Virginia amongst the historical figures she examines in the book, her inspiration for writing the book, and the book’s transformation into a film starring Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer and Academy Award nominee Taraji P. Henson.  
This episode was filmed with a live studio audience in the The Ahmadieh Family Conference Hall at the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University with support by the Dean of Trinity College of Arts & Sciences at Duke University.
Left of Black is a weekly Webcast hosted by Mark Anthony Neal and produced in collaboration with the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University and in conjunction with the Center for Arts + Digital Culture + Entrepreneurship (CADCE) and the Duke Council on Race + Ethnicity
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Follow Left of Black on Twitter: @LeftofBlack

Making Contact The Murder of Fred Hampton

'Dec 4th is the anniversary of Fred Hampton's murder. We are presenting this program to provide historical context amidst current media dis-information and government surveillance of groups organizing for Black Lives and Liberation. Trump's legitimization of white supremacist ideas and actions makes Fred Hampton's words from 1969 apt today. The Murder of Fred Hampton began as a film on Hampton and Illinois Black Panthers, but midway through the shoot, Chicago police murdered Hampton. Filmmakers arrived to shoot crime scene footage later used to counter news reports and police testimony. Featuring: Fred Hampton, Bobby Rush, Rennie Davis, Edward Hanrahan.' -- Making Contact  

Maya Angelou: A Life Spent Pushing Boundaries

'For several generations, Dr. Maya Angelou has been revered as an awe inspiring voice that pushed boundaries. She opened the eyes and ears of millions to the continuous struggles facing African-Americans. In a new documentary called "Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise," directors Bob Hercules and Rita Coburn Whack recounts the life of the cultural icon — from her childhood in the Jim Crow Alabama, to her work with Malcolm X in Ghana, to reading her inaugural poem for President Bill Clinton. The film weaves together rare and intimate archival photographs, videos, and recordings painting the picture of a life well lived.' -- The Takeaway  

Through Poetry And TED Talks, Clint Smith Probes Racism In America

'Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) is the 2014 National Poetry Slam champion and has given popular TED Talks on living as an African-American man in the United States. Earlier this fall he published his first book of poetry, "Counting Descent." He joins Here & Now's Robin Young to talk about the book.' -- Here & Now  

The #InnovateYourCool Conversations: Terence Blanchard on Making Political Music in These Times

In this clip from #InnovateYourCool programming at the 2016 #ArtOfCool Festival in Durham, NC, Grammy Award winning musician Terence Blanchard sat down with Duke University's Mark Anthony Neal to discuss the inspiration for his politically driven album Breathless, including the decision to record it as an electric project.

“Can the Master’s Tools Dismantle the Master’s House?”: A Conversation with Architect Mabel O. Wilson

'This is the second conversation of the series complementing the latest issue of The Funambulist Magazine dedicated to Design & Racism.  Professor Mabel O. Wilson teaches architectural design and history/theory courses at Columbia University’s GSAPP. She has authored Negro Building: Black Americans in the World of Fairs and Museums (University of California Press 2012) and Begin with the Past: The Building of National African American Museum of History and Culture published by Smithsonian books in 2016. Professor Wilson is currently the Ailsa Mellon Bruce Senior Fellow (2015-2016) at the National Gallery of Art’s Center for Advanced Study in Visual Art where she is developing the manuscript for Building Race and Nation: How Slavery Influenced the Civic Architecture of Antebellum America.' -- ARCHIPELAGO     

Bill Rhoden On Sports: A Conversation with NBA Great and Renaissance Man Len Elmore

'Bill Rhoden is joined by the great Len Elmore, who talks about his extraordinary life; from dealing with family tragedies, attending Power Memorial high school and then the University of Maryland, to playing in the ABA and NBA, earning a degree from Harvard Law School and working as a Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney, an NBA agent, and finally as a NBA and college basketball analyst.' -- Bill Rhoden on Sports    

Beats on the Page: Lynnée Denise on the Music of Octavia E. Butler's Work

'Lynnée Denise is a writer, cultural historian and DJ. She brings a playlist and her thoughts on how Octavia E. Butler's work translates to the dance floor and other venues of the soul.' -- Radio Imagination from Clockshop   

Wesley Lowery: What the Media Misses About Police Violence

'Here’s what The Washington Post’sWesley Lowery says the media gets wrong about police brutality. "It’s our job to ask hard questions of powerful people and powerful institutions." Lowery is the author of They Can't Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America's Racial Justice Movement.' -- +Fusion 

#UnderTheSoulCovers: “Wichita Lineman” -- Glen Campbell + Dennis Brown

#UnderTheSoulCovers: “Wichita Lineman” -- Glen Campbell + Dennis Brown
by Mark Anthony Neal | @NewBlackMan | NewBlackMan (in Exile)
For a Black boy born and raised in the Bronx, Glen Campbell might seems like an odd choice, but Campbell was one of my dad's favorite singers, so the same Fisher stereo that introduced me to The Might Clouds of Joy, the Soul Stirrers and Bobby “Blue” Bland, introduced me to Glen Campbell. I came to “Wichita Lineman” on my own via a cover by Hammond B-3 player Bobby Pierce, whose version was a favorite of mine during my grad school radio days. The song was written by Jimmy Webb, whose imprint on Soul music in the 1960s and 1970s remains to be more fully explored (The 5th Dimension, Norman Connors, and Isaac Hayes are among those who recorded his songs). What I always appreciated was the song’s focus on the honor of a working class life. That the song tapped into a timeless theme is recognized in no less the example of legendary Reggae balladeer Dennis Brown, who covered the song as a teen in 1972.