Black History Archives - Public Seminar

Politics

Nonviolence, Black Power, and “the Citizens of Pompeii”: James Baldwin’s 1968

The radicalization of an unparalleled figure in American literature and African American cultural politics

October 4, 2022 • by Ed Pavlić

On the third Sunday after the march, September 15, 1963, six Black children were killed in three separate incidents—one of which was the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church—in Birmingham. That day marked the end of Baldwin’s brief career as a literary celebrity and the beginning of his radicalization, ...

Nonviolence, Black Power, and “the Citizens of Pompeii”: James Baldwin’s 1968

Literature

Introducing the Latest Issue of James Baldwin Review

Honoring Baldwin’s legacy in a new volume of academic research, criticism, and personal essays

October 3, 2022 • by Justin A. Joyce

As we continue to bring together a mixture of scholarship, reviews, and reflections—from a variety of voices—it is our humble aim to continue to grow our readership and expand the legacy and impact of our namesake author’s moving works and searing insights. ...

Introducing the Latest Issue of <em>James Baldwin Review</em>

Race

I Am a Man

As the nation looks for justice in the George Floyd murder, activists embrace the world Martin Luther King, Jr. envisioned during the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers strike

March 18, 2021 • by Mark Allan Williams

_____ Martin Luther King encapsulated all that Black Americans demand and deserve from their country into one sentence: “All we say to America is, ‘Be true to what you said on paper.’” King spoke those words on April 3. 1968, during what is remembered as the “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech, ...

Activism

Georgia On My Mind

The Democratic Party in Georgia has come a long way since the 1965 Voting Rights Act

January 28, 2021 • by Jo Freeman

“The concept of political equality...can mean only one thing—one person, one vote." ...

History

Let’s Build a Monument to Anastácia

An enslaved woman’s image that has traveled around the hemisphere can help us rethink slavery and memorialization

July 30, 2020 • by Marc Hertzman and Giovana Xavier

In May 2020, as the social movement to remove racist monuments grew and the COVID-19 pandemic spiraled out of control, two white women protesting against social distancing and masks were photographed with a sign. It read: “Muzzles are for dogs and slaves. I am a free human being.” It featured ...

Activism

Protestors Aren’t Destroying History, They Are Recasting It

When monuments to racism, slavery, and empire come down, new possibilities rise up

June 25, 2020 • by Durba Ghosh and Kelly King-O’Brien

In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of police, the movement to remove Confederate monuments has accelerated rapidly as part of a new wave of Black Lives Matter demonstrations. Protestors argue these monuments represent institutional racism and should be removed immediately. Many governors and local politicians readily ...

Protestors Aren’t Destroying History, They Are Recasting It

Public Health

How Dog-Whistle Racism Is Sabotaging the Postal Service

And threatening to gut the Black middle class

May 7, 2020 • by Amy Traub

Since Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first Postmaster General by the Continental Congress in 1775, the United States Postal Service has survived wars, depressions, natural disasters, and crises of all kinds. But it may not survive Donald Trump. The Postal Service faces a $13 billion revenue loss this fiscal year alone, as Americans send fewer letters and packages in ...

How Dog-Whistle Racism Is Sabotaging the Postal Service

Feature

The Power of Black Women’s Political Labor Remembered

Bennett College and the Civil Rights Movement

March 9, 2018 • by Jennifer Ash

Greensboro, North Carolina, is best known for the 1960 sit-ins that sparked a massive student movement to desegregate the South. Despite not being fully acknowledged as leaders in that movement, Black women students from Bennett College were vital to the political climate that made the sit-ins possible and sustained the ...

The Power of Black Women’s Political Labor Remembered

Feature

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Greater Vision

Bending the arc of time towards justice

January 15, 2018 • by Kristopher Burrell

When I sat down to write this essay, I began a process of learning, re-learning, and un-learning about Dr. King. As I began to read a sampling of the works that other scholars have written about him, as well as his speeches and other writings, I once again encountered the ...

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Greater Vision

Feature

LIVE! Libraries, the Hamptons, and the Summer of Love

Past Present Episode 93

August 2, 2017 • by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Neil J. Young and Nicole Hemmer

In this week's special live episode, Niki, Neil, and Natalia debate funding cuts for libraries, the history of the Hamptons, and the legacy of the Summer of Love.

...

LIVE! Libraries, the Hamptons, and the Summer of Love

Multi Media

Valentine’s Day, Obama & Black History, and Andrew Jackson

Past Present: Episode 70

February 16, 2017 • by Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela and Neil J. Young

In this week's episode, Natalia, Niki, and Neil discuss the bawdy history of Valentine's Day, Obama's role in elevating black history, and the parallels between Andrew Jackson and Donald Trump.

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