Martin and Mahalia
This week in AFRO 215: The American Civil Rights Movement, we are discussing the tactics of the CRM vis-a-vis performance. We have so far been thinking of music’s role in the movement as well as the elements of theater that…
Reading Hip Hop: Black Lives, Black Protest
This week’s playlist from my course, Reading Hip Hop, provides a sample of music we engage in our conversations about Black Lives and Black Protest. Students also watched the film, Do the Right Thing, and discussed readings by Robin D.G….
What Great Things Conferences Bring: Global Black Girlhood and the Fellowship/Scholarship of Black Women
This past weekend, I had the opportunity to participate in the Global History of Black Girlhood Conference at the University of Virginia, organized by Cori Fields and LaKisha Simmons. My head is still buzzing with all of the ideas that…
Singing the Nation Into Being: Anthems and the Politics of Black Female Performance
This project focuses on black women’s performance of James Weldon Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing” to examine what these evocations might reveal about black subjectivities, diaspora, and identity formation vis-a-vis discourses on national belonging. Part of a larger Omeka-based project called…
Slaves, 1969 (film)
The 1969 film stars Dionne Warwick in her acting debut. Summary (from Wikipedia): “Set in the 1850s South, the film follows Cassy and Luke, two black slaves who are sold to the sadistic plantation owner MacKay….