Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 760

"Let Me Bang Your Box: The Erotic Life of The Blues"-- A Lecture by Mark Anthony Neal

Has #BlackHistoryMonth been Exploited and Commercialized?

On the segment of The Stream  Dr. Kimberley Ellis (@DrGoddess) and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal (@NewBlackMan) discuss the commercial exploitation of Black History Month and the role that Social Media plays in sustaining interest in Black History.

Frederick Douglass Opie Discusses New Book on Black & Latino Coalitions in New York City

WBAI's Howard Jordan interviews Frederick Douglass Opie, author of UPSETTING the APPLE CART: Black-Latino Coalitions in New York City from Protest to Public Office . Opie is a professor of history and foodways at Babson College. He is the author of HOG and HOMINY: Soul Food from Africa to America.

Truth.Be.Told. (Black Queer Visionaries): Screening & Talk Back with Creator Katina Parker at Duke University on 2/5

Created by Katina Parker, Truth. Be. Told. is a documentary series about Queer Black Visionaries, discussing their lives, loves, and personal callings, as well as the experiences, realities, and identities that fuel them. Interviewees included Staceyann Chin, Darnell Moore, Linda Villarosa (and Justin Robinson (founding member of the Grammy Award-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops). Parker will screen several episodes of  Truth. Be. Told. on Thursday February 5, 2015 at the Duke Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity.  The Screening will be followed by an Artist Chat, hosted by Duke Professor Mark Anthony Neal. Truth. Be. Told. featuring Darnell Moore from Katina Parker on Vimeo.

HuffPost Live: Historian Khalil Muhammad on the Importance of Digitizing Black History

Historian Khalil Gibran Muhammad talks with Mikki Kendall of HuffPost Live to talk about the value of digitizing black history. Dr. Muhammad is Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, which is sponsoring a Black Life Matters Wikipedia Edit-a-thon.

Left of Black S5:E18: Black History and America's Future

Left of Black S5:E18:  Black History and America's Future

Left of Black host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal (@NewBlackMan) is joined via Skype by Howard University Professor Daryl Michael Scott.  Professor Scott is President of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), which was founded by Historian Carter G. Woodson and celebrates its Centennial this year. Scott is the author of Contempt and Pity: Social Policy and the Image of the Damaged Black Psyche, 1880-1996 (UNC Press).
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).
*** Episodes of Left of Black are also available for free download in @ iTunes U*** Follow Left of Black on Twitter: @LeftofBlackFollow The Association for the Study African American Life and History: @ASALH

MOCAtv: Ho99o9--"Casey Jones / Cum Rag"

Inspired by GG Allin's physically confrontational performances, "Casey Jones / Cum Rag" sees the anarchic duo Ho99o9 perform at a club in the industrial outskirts of the city. As a nod to local lowrider culture, the band arrives in a 1976 Monte Carlo driven by legendary photographer Estevan Oriol. The video is directed by Bryan Ray Turcotte (The Art of Punk) and features black-and-white footage shot by Oriol.

One Night in Miami Brings the Meeting of Ali, Malcolm, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown to Life

First-time playwright Kemp Powers illustrates how Cassius Clay, soon to call himself Muhammad Ali, personified the dream of black power in 1964.

One Night in Miami Brings the Meeting of Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown to Lifeby Mark Anthony Neal | The Root.com
In the immediate moments after Cassius Clay shocked the world—defeating notorious bruiser Sonny Liston in Miami Beach, Fla., to win the heavyweight boxing championship in February 1964—he’s joined in the ring by Sam Cooke. Mr. Soul, as Cooke was known, also joined Clay, pro-football great Jim Brown and Malcolm X afterward at the Hampton House hotel in the black section of Miami. And One Night in Miami , which runs at the Center Stage in Baltimore until February 8, is first-time playwright Kemp Powers’ fictionalized account of that historic gathering.
The gathering on the night of Feb. 25, 1964, has drawn curiosity because the very next day, then-Cassius Clay, only 22 at the time, announced that he had converted to Islam, joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali. He had, for all intents, been a member of the NOI for at least two years prior to the Liston fight, and his coming out, as it were, was intended to have its most dramatic effect if and when he won the title.
But One Night in Miami is less focused on Ali’s conversion and instead delves deeply into the fears, ambitions, foibles and contradictions of an iconic group of men who, as quiet as it was kept, were relatively close friends throughout much of 1963 and into early 1964. The gathering has generated its own mystique, in part because within the space of a year, both Malcolm and Cooke would be dead from gunshot wounds.
Though Ali’s victory was the occasion for the gathering, Ali is himself relegated to the play’s background as Malcolm and Cooke—the two eldest members of the collective—take center stage, rehearsing well-known debates in the black community as old as the debates between W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington and Marcus Garvey, and as contemporary as the divergent career arcs of Nas and Jay Z.
Read the Full Essay at The Root.com

Preserving Black Culture at Duke University Through Motion, Words & Sound

As part of Black History Month, Duke University celebrates Duke faculty Thomas DeFrantz , Mark Anthony Neal and John Brown , who help preserve black culture through movement, sound and words.

Footage from New Documentary FRESH DRESSED: The Revolution of Fashion Born on the Streets (dir. Sacha Jenkins)

"What Does It Mean To Be Fresh Dressed?"-- a clip from Sacha Jenkins' FRESH DRESSED: The Revolution of Fashion on the Streets , featuring Big Daddy Kane.