What If Du Bois had Twitter? Trailer for Black Thought 2.0 Conference

Left of Black S2:E25 | March 26, 2012

The Death of Trayvon Martin and the “Fictions” of Black Leadership

Host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined via Skype© by R.L’Heureux Lewis, Professor of Sociology and Black Studies at the City University of New York and Mary Morten, consultant for the Morten Group in Chicago and producer of the new film Woke Up Black which examines the lives of five Black youth.  Lewis and Morten examine the recent shooting death of Trayvon Martin, taking into account the stereotyping of young black men.  Lewis discusses the devastating effects that the criminalization of Black men has on women.  Lastly, Morten shares reactions to her film.  

Later, Neal is joined via Skype© by Erica Edwards, Professor of English at the University of California at Riverside and author of the new book Charisma: The Fictions of Black Leadership.  Edwards discusses the inspiration for her book – a speech made by singer Erykah Badu at the Million Man March in 2005.  Edwards examines why the leadership of a singular Black male has been deemed so important to the Black community, and explains how different time periods create a yearning for charismatic leadership.  

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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.

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Episodes of Left of Black are also available for free download in HD @ iTunes U

Left of Black S2:E24 | March 19, 2012

Black Masculinity in the Documentary Frame

Host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined via Skype© by filmmaker Ron Chepesiuk, who discusses his new film The Frank Matthews Story: The Rise and Disappearance of America’s Biggest Kingpin. The film will be screened March 23, 2012 at the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham, NC.  Chepesiuk talks about the 1970s drug trade, describes why Matthews is one of America’s lesser known gangsters, despite his successful and brilliant operation, and shares some of the D.B. Cooper-like details of Matthews’ disappearance in 1974.

Later, Neal is joined via Skype© by Jonathan Gayles, professor of African American Studies at Georgia State University and writer, director, and producer of the film White Scripts and Black Supermen: Black Masculinities in American Comic Books(California Newsreel).  Gayles discusses reactions to his movie, which won best documentary feature at the 2010 Urban Media Makers Film Festival and remembers the impact of the late Dwayne McDuffie, founder of Milestone Media. Neal and Gayles also discuss Black Entertainment Television’s ill-fated attempt to bring the animated series Black Panther to television.

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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.

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Episodes of Left of Black are also available for free download in HD @ iTunes U

Left of Black S2:E23 | March 12, 2012

Politics and the Prophetic Vision of the  Black Church

Host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined via Skype© by Professor Obery M. Hendricks, author of The Universe Bends Towards Justice (Orbis Books) and visiting scholar at The Institute of Research and African American Studies in the department of Religion at Columbia University.  Hendricks shares his recent experience at singer Whitney Houston’s home going ceremony, and explains how it gave people access to traditions in the Black church.  Neal and Hendricks discuss why gospel music does not get the same kind of criticism as contemporary R&B and hip-hop for not being conscious and engaged in the world.  Lastly, Hendricks discusses the biblical vision of economic society. 

Later, Neal is joined via Skype© by Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou who is a documentary filmmaker, public intellectual, organizer, pastor, theologian, and author of the book Gods, Gays, and Guns: Essays on Religion and the Future of Democracy (Campbell & Cannon Press).  Rev. Sekou discusses the Prophetic Tradition of the Black Church  and its role in holding President Barack Obama accountable. Rev. Sekou also addresses homophobia and hip-hop in the context of the Black church.

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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.

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Episodes of Left of Black are also available for free download in HD @ iTunes U

Left of Black S2:E22 | March 5, 2012

Black Women’s Hair Matters and Black Queer Erotics in Cuba

Host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined in-studio by actress and playwright Chaunesti Webb, creator and director of the new play I Love My Hair When It’s Good: & Then Again When It Looks Defiant and Impressive.  Neal and Webb discuss the relationship that Black women have with their hair and the broader cultural meanings associated with Black women’s hair.  Webb also talks about her play, which opens at the Manbites Dog Theater in Durham, North Carolina on March 8^th.

Later, Neal is also joined in-studio by Yale University anthropologist Jafari Sinclaire Allen.  Neal talks with Allen about his new book ¡Venceremos?: The Erotics of Black Self-making in Cuba (Duke University Press).  Neal and Allen also discuss the political and cultural significance of Cuba to Blacks in the United States and the power of the Erotic, per the work of the late Audre Lorde.

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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.

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Episodes of Left of Black are also available for free download in HD @ iTunes U

Left of Black S2:E21 | February 27, 2012

The Race-ing and Un-Race-ing of Tiger Woods and Contemporary Black Poetry

Host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined in-studio by Professor Orin Starn and via Skype© by Professor Thabiti Lewis.  Authors of The Passion of Tiger Woods: An Anthropologist Reports on Golf, Race, and Celebrity Scandal (Duke University Press) and Ballers of the New School: Essays on Racism and Sports in America (Third World Press),  respectively, Starn and Lewis analyze how Tiger Woods has differed from many other Black male athletes in terms of how he is un-racialized and re-racialized at various moments.  Later the scholars discuss the meaning of Woods’ identification as Cablinasian.  

Later, Neal is joined also in-studio by poet Darrell Stover who currently a program director at the North Carolina Humanities Council, a position her formerly held at the St. Joseph’s Historic Foundation| Hayti Heritage Center.  Author of  the new collection of poetry Somewhere Deep Down When, Stover considers how history has shaped the meaning of being a poet, shares his poetic influences, and discusses the importance of reaching out to the larger  community through poetry.  Stover and Neal talk about Amiri Baraka’s immersion in multiple art forms, and discuss the legacy of Gil Scott Heron.

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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.

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Episodes of Left of Black are also available for free download in HD @ iTunes U 

Left of Black S2:E20 | February 20, 2012

Redefining Black Power and Re-Thinking Black Male Achievement with Joanne Griffith and Shaun Harper

Host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined via Skype© by journalist Joanne Griffith, editor of the new book Redefining Black Power: Reflections on the State of Black America (City Lights).  Griffith discusses the observations of several of the book’s contributors including historian Vincent Harding, Professor Michele Alexander and MOVE member Ramona Afrika, who cites Fred Hampton Jr.’s recent quote that “Barack Obama is the new crack.”  Griffith also shares about the interview she had with Rev. Jeremiah Wright that was not included in the book, and points out the unfair images of Blacks in the media.

Later, Neal is joined via Skype© by Shaun Harper, Associate Professor of Education at the University of Pennsylvania and Director for the Center for the Study of Race and Equality in Education,.  Recently, Harper released a study entitled “Black Male Student Success in Higher Education.”  Harper discusses the importance of looking at achievement rather than failure, and describes one example of an exceptional Black male role model.  Lastly Harper shares some of the experiences of Black male students in higher education as they navigate through racial hardships.   

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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.

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Episodes of Left of Black are also available for free download in HD @ iTunes U