Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 86

Quinta Brunson on ‘Abbott Elementary’ Success and How A Breakup Fueled Her | Emerging Hollywood

‘Abbott Elementary star and executive producer Quinta Brunson sat down for the latest episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Emerging Hollywood to discuss being raised as a Jehovah’s Witness in Philadelphia, how a breakup helped fuel her drive for a career in comedy, the praise she’s received for the ABC series, how her former teacher inspired her and more.'

Symposium—Surrealism Beyond Borders | On Black, Brown, & Beige with Fred Moten, Robin D.G. Kelley and Zita Cristina Nunes

'Nearly from its inception, Surrealism has had an international scope, but perspectives on the movement have been formed primarily through a Western European focus. The exhibition "Surrealism Beyond Borders" reconsiders the “movement” of Surrealism across boundaries of geography and chronology. This two-day series of conversations with leading scholars and artists continues to explore the issues raised in the exhibition, especially the blind spots, erasures, and challenges, and their consequences for thinking about Surrealism. Speakers in this panel reflect on the landmark publication Black, Brown, & Beige: Surrealist Writings from Africa and the Diaspora (2009), coedited by Franklin Rosemont and Robin D. G. Kelley, which was the first anthology in English to acquaint readers around the world with Black Surrealists.'

Dr. Renée T. White Explores Afrofuturism in Black Panther | The New School

'In our latest community portrait, we sat down with Dr. Renée T. White, Provost & Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, to talk about her new book Afrofuturism in Black Panther: Gender, Identity, and the Re-Making of Blackness (Lexington Books, 2021).'

One Hundred: The Ed Gordon Podcast with Karen Bass – U.S. Representative for California's 37th Congressional District

'On this episode of One Hundred, Ed Gordon talks with US congresswoman Karen Bass. They talk about her long time congressional career, her connection with the Biden administration, her campaign for the mayoral seat of Los Angeles and why Democrats must ignite their base before the 2022 midterm elections.'

'Black Girl Songbook' – Donna Summer Deserves | Chapter 27

'Host Danyel Smith celebrates the enchanted, soulful voice of Donna Summer and her undeniable contribution to music as inventor of disco and shining pop star. Danyel walks us through the trials and tribulations that Donna endured as she continued to be a creative force in the music world even though American culture attempted to kill a genre she stood at the forefront of.'

The Quarantine Tapes 243: Jason Moran

“The music that [my teachers] would make would always amplify the struggle, but it would also amplify the joy. My teachers did not shy away from these kinds of tough conversations and they laid it into their music. I’ve only been taught by musicians who did that.”

'On episode 243 of The Quarantine Tapes, Paul Holdengräber is joined by musician and composer Jason Moran. This episode comes as part of a partnership with OXY ARTS. Jason and Paul discuss collaboration, improvisation, and what it means to play the room in this thoughtful and illuminating conversation.'

Conversations in Atlantic Theory • Andrea Pitts on Nos/Otras: Gloria E. Anzaldúa, Multiplicitous Agency, and Resistance

'A conversation with Andrea Pitts, who teaches in the Department of Philosophy at University of North Carolina at Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are also affiliated with a number of other programs including the Center for Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Studies, the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, and the Social Aspects of Health Initiative. Andrea has published widely on Latin American and Latinx philosophy, as well as decolonial and postcolonial approaches to European thinkers, with particular emphasis on such how thinkers help us reimagine approaches to gender, race, sexuality, nation, and carcerality. In this conversation, we discuss Andrea’s new book Nos/Otras: Gloria E. Anzaldúa, Multiplicitous Agency, and Resistance, which was published in late-2021 by State University of New York University Press. Our conversation here focuses on the key concepts and arguments in the book about the place of race/gender/nation in the work of Anzaldúa and its implications for the theory and practice of philosophy.'

How A Civil Rights Leader Risked His Life to Investigate Lynchings

'White Lies by author A.J. Baime tells the story of Walter White, a light-skinned Black man whose ancestors had been enslaved. For years White risked his life investigating racial violence in the South.'

Left of Black S12 · E18 | Madam C. J. Walker & Black Philanthropy with Tyrone McKinley Freeman

Madam C.J. Walker is often lauded for the wealth she accumulated as a self-made entrepreneur in the emerging field of beauty care products for Black women, especially being the daughter of former slaves. In this episode of Left of Black, however, guest Dr. Tyrone McKinley Freeman shines a much-needed light on the philanthropic work of Walker throughout her life as he discusses his new book, Madam C. J. Walker's Gospel of Giving: Black Women's Philanthropy during Jim Crow, published by University of Illinois Press.

Cassandra Wilson: Subtle Singer, Subversive Songwriter and 2022 NEA Jazz Master

'This episode of Jazz Night in America travels through Cassandra Wilson's story — from her formative years in Jackson, Miss.; her decades-long friendship with singer-songwriter Rhonda Richmond; to New Orleans, where she apprenticed with legendary drummer James Black and to New York, where she fell in with the "outcasts" in M-BASE. We'll consider how she learned to turn music upside-down with avant-gardists like Henry Threadgill (recently named an NEA Jazz Master in his own right) and we'll hear how she reconnected to her Delta roots while creating the 2002 album Belly of the Sun.'