Video: Dominique Christina reads “Mothers of Murdered Sons”
. Dominique Christina performs her poem “Mothers of Murdered Sons” at the 2016 Split this Rock festival. Dominique Christina is a poet and teacher who lives in Colorado. She is mother … Continue reading
George Yancy: It’s Black History Month. Look in the Mirror.
To many Americans, February, first officially recognized by President Gerald Ford in 1976 as Black History Month, is a time to celebrate African-American achievements, ones that were gained against nearly … Continue reading
Topher Sanders: “Only White People,” Said the Little Girl
Few things are more awesome than listening to kids playing on the playground. There’s magic in that mix of laughter and exhausted breaths — giggle, pant, giggle. Just the other … Continue reading
Margaret Walker: For My People
For my people everywhere singing their slave songs repeatedly: their dirges and their ditties and their blues and jubilees, praying their prayers nightly to an unknown god, bending their knees … Continue reading
The Movement for Black Lives: Resistence and Rebellion
In response to the sustained and increasingly visible violence against Black communities in the U.S. and globally, a collective of more than 50 organizations representing thousands of Black people from … Continue reading
Vanessa German: My People Know about the Tears
sometimes i hate you. sometimes i hate you and i feel it rising up in my throat spine lips acid a neon shaft of rage through a red needle an … Continue reading
George Yancy and Paul Gilroy: What ‘Black Lives’ Means in Britain
George Yancy: In a review of the 2013 movie “12 Years a Slave,” you wrote that neoliberalism — the unquestioning faith in free market values taken to ideological extremes — … Continue reading
Video: Civil Rights Activist Sandra Bland Found Dead In Texas Jail Cell
Sandra Bland was reportedly pulled over on Friday for improperly signaling a lane change. A witness said he saw the arresting officer pull Bland out of the car, throw her … Continue reading
Clifford Thompson: Twin of Blackness
I have come to think of blackness as my twin. The proof is that we came along at the same time: 1963, the year of my birth, also brought the … Continue reading
Video: Lucille Clifton reading two poems at the 2008 Dodge Poetry Festival
Lucille Clifton (1936–2010) reads “What Haunts Him” and “Sorrows.” A prolific and widely respected poet, Lucille Clifton’s work emphasizes endurance and strength through adversity, focusing particularly on African-American experience and … Continue reading
Audio: Lucille Clifton reads “Homage to my Hips”
Lucille Clifton (1936–2010) reads her poem “Homage to my Hips”. A prolific and widely respected poet, Lucille Clifton’s work emphasizes endurance and strength through adversity, focusing particularly on African-American experience … Continue reading
George Yancy and Molefi Kete Asante: Why Afrocentricity?
. Molefi Kete Asante, a professor of African-American studies at Temple University, is known for his pioneering work in the area of Afrocentricity. He is the author of more than … Continue reading
Major Jackson: A Mystifying Silence — Big and Black
Nigger, your breed ain’t metaphysical. —Robert Penn Warren, “Pondy Woods” Beginning in earnest his long and preeminent literary career in the 1930s, it is safe to say poet and novelist … Continue reading
Laura Gottesdiener: A Foreclosure Conveyor Belt
The Continuing Depopulation of Detroit Unlike so many industrial innovations, the revolving door was not developed in Detroit. It took its first spin in Philadelphia in 1888, the brainchild of … Continue reading →