america

12Jan

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BOOKS

The Final Novel Of One Of America’s Most Beloved Writers

A Penguin Classic The final novel of one of America’s most beloved writers—a tale of degeneration, corruption, and spiritual crisis In awarding John Steinbeck the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Nobel committee stated that with The Winter of Our Discontent, he had “resumed his position as an independent expounder of the truth, with an unbiased instinct for what is genuinely American.” Ethan Allen Hawley, the protagonist of Steinbeck’s last novel, works as a clerk in a grocery store that his family once owned. With Ethan no longer a member of Long Island’s aristocratic class, his wife is restless, and his teenage children are hungry for the tantalizing material comforts he cannot provide. Then one day, in a moment of moral crisis, Ethan decides to take a holiday from his own scrupulous ...

In 19th-century America A Black Writer Used Humor To Combat White Supremacy

9Dec

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AMPLIFYING DIVERSE VOICES

In 19th-century America A Black Writer Used Humor To Combat White Supremacy

Any writer has to struggle with the dilemma of staying true to their vision or giving editors and readers what they want. A number of factors might influence the latter: the market, trends and sensibilities. But in the decades after the Civil War, Black writers looking to faithfully depict the horrors of slavery had to contend with readers whose worldviews were colored by racism, as well as an entire swath of the country eager to paper over the past. Charles Chesnutt was one of those writers. Forced to work with skeptical editors and within the confines of popular forms, Chesnutt nonetheless worked to shine a light on the legacy of slavery. His 1899 collection of stories, “The Conjure Woman,” took place on a Southern plantation and sold well. At first glance, the stories seemed to mimic...

Black History Month: Past Movements For Civil Rights – What America’s Voting Rights Activists Can Learn

14Nov

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AMPLIFYING DIVERSE VOICES

Black History Month: Past Movements For Civil Rights – What America’s Voting Rights Activists Can Learn

With Congress failing to pass new voting rights legislation, it’s worth remembering that throughout U.S. history, new civil rights laws designed to end racial inequities across American life have been met by stubborn resistance. Senate Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona joined Senate Republicans in blocking both the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. These bills would have combated voter suppression by creating a national automatic voter registration system, and they also would have banned partisan gerrymandering. In the wake of the vote, President Joe Biden said he was “profoundly disappointed that the United States Senate has failed to stand up for democracy.” These setbacks in Congress come on the heels of millions ...

A Visual Timeline Of Black Life In America From The Mighty To The Mundane

14Dec

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AMPLIFYING DIVERSE VOICES

A Visual Timeline Of Black Life In America From The Mighty To The Mundane

For nearly a century, Black History Month has been a time to celebrate the achievements of groundbreaking people who have shaped our country’s history. Much of this focus is on trailblazers like Kamala Harris, civil rights pioneers, advocates, politicians, policymakers and entertainers from Beyoncé to Cardi B. But as those leaders spoke to crowds and infiltrated halls of power, millions of Black people lived their lives and made their own history. Often those contributions were more humble. Even simply celebrating the things and people closest to them in ways that might not have been accessible to previous generations — from birthday and retirement parties to navigating grief or simply having a picnic at a park — served as markers of progress. This Black History Month, in addition to hig...

14Dec

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AMPLIFYING DIVERSE VOICES

Growing Up Black In America

I grew up in a home with both parents having a heritage rooted in black America. My father was born in Mississippi to parents who operated a farm their entire lives. He had 2 sisters and a brother. Once he was grown he moved to Illinois, took a job, married and raised a family. My mother was born in Louisiana to a father who was of direct African descent and a mother who was of direct native Indian. They moved to California and made a home having just one daughter and many sons. Her brothers ended up joining the military and made a career serving and protecting our country. As a child we never had a lot of money but my family still managed to purchase a home, my father always keep a nice car and he worked every day to support his family. I learned from my father the importance of a great...

The Water Dancer: A Potent Book About America’s Most Disgraceful Sin

12Feb

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BOOKS

The Water Dancer: A Potent Book About America’s Most Disgraceful Sin

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • From the National Book Award–winning author of Between the World and Me, a boldly conjured debut novel about a magical gift, a devastating loss, and an underground war for freedom. “This potent book about America’s most disgraceful sin establishes [Ta-Nehisi Coates] as a first-rate novelist.”—San Francisco Chronicle NOMINATED FOR THE NAACP IMAGE AWARD • NAMED ONE OF PASTE’S BEST NOVELS OF THE DECADE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Time • NPR • The Washington Post • Chicago Tribune • Vanity Fair • Esquire • Good Housekeeping • Paste • Town & Country • The New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews • Library Journal “Nearly every paragraph is laced through with dense, gorgeously evocative descriptions of a vanished wor...

America’s First Known Black Master Distiller – The Story Of Nearest Green

11Dec

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America’s First Known Black Master Distiller – The Story Of Nearest Green

On The Record Stefanie Benjamin, University of Tennessee When you hear the name Jack Daniel, whiskey probably comes to mind. But what about the name Nathan “Uncle Nearest” Green? In 2016, The New York Times published a story about the distiller’s “hidden ingredient” – “help from a slave.” In the article, the brand officially acknowledged that an enslaved man, Nearest Green, taught Jack Daniel how to make whiskey. Since then, scholars, researchers and journalists have descended upon Lynchburg, Tennessee, hoping to learn more about a man who, until then, had appeared as a mere appendage in the story of the country’s most popular whiskey brand. As a scholar of tourism whose research involves highlighting marginalized populations and counternarratives, I followed these developments with k...

13Dec

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SEX-CAPADES

The Hidden World Of America’s Handmade Pornography

“To live among the handmade,” philosopher and antiques dealer Leon Rosenstein once said, “is to live among the human.” Soldiers used spent shells and casings to make trench art, like this brass bottle opener that was made during World War II. Michael Riordan, CC BY-SA Well, there’s nothing more human than handmade pornography. When you hear “pornography,” you might think of Playboy and Penthouse, X-rated movies and internet porn. But one type that has been largely hidden and forgotten is the pornography people make for themselves. Unlike pornography for profit, handmade pornography is crude and funny and subtle. It, too, contains multitudes. Over the past decade, I’ve visited archives and museums, met with collectors and antiques dealers, and talked with artists and scholars to reconst...

9Dec

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MOVIES

Danny Glover on New Film “Sorry to Bother You” and the Myth of Postracial America

What the actor wants that “White voice” to tell us and how we’ve gotten the American Dream so wrong. Boots Riley’s debut film, Sorry to Bother You, offers a renewed sense of urgency in how we respond to the racist and capitalist divides that impact us all. Satirical, dystopian, part sci-fi. Emotionally and intellectually, it’s everything we didn’t know we needed. Cassius “Cash” Green represents many unemployed young Black males looking for work and their subsequent climb to the top after they finally land a job. After getting a low-level telemarketing position, Cash learns the secret to how many people of color get ahead—assimilation. His “White voice” talent propels him to success, and after being struck in the head by a soda can thrown by a protestor, he eventually becomes a viral ...

Mobsters in America – Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson – The Godfather of Harlem

10Dec

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TELEVISION

Mobsters in America – Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson – The Godfather of Harlem

Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson was known as a murderous policy numbers baron in Harlem during the 1930's, but he was, in fact, the conduit between the Italian Mob and the Harlem rackets for almost three decades. Ellsworth Johnson was born in Charleston, South Carolina on October 31, 1905. He got the nickname "Bumpy" because he had a huge dump on the back of his head. Johnson was said to be a brilliant child, and by the time he was eight years old, he had already skipped two grades. When Johnson was ten years old, his brother Willie was accused of killing a white man. Afraid of a lynch mob for Willie, Johnson's parents sent Willie to live up north. Bumpy Johnson was a proud black man, who was defiant of the segregation and violence perpetrated on the blacks in the deep south. Johnson's parents ...