Black History
Blues singer Bessie Smith shines in a new novel in memoir form
January 7, 2022If Bessie Smith’s story itself is an American phenomenon worthy of recapitulating in any number of artistic forms, it’s as a writer that Crittendon shines.
Read more‘Fire Shut Up in My Bones’: First Black composer at Metropolitan Opera
October 29, 2021History was made at New York City’s world-famous Metropolitan Opera when it opened the season on September 27 with its first work written by a Black composer, jazz musician, and well-known scorer of many Spike Lee...
Read moreHonors for Hugh Mulzac, the captain who fought Jim Crow, Hitler, and McCarthy
September 29, 2021In 1942, Hugh Mulzac became the first African American man of Caribbean descent to captain a U.S. Merchant Marine ship, the S.S. Booker T. Washington.
Read moreBeing Black and gay in the USA: Interview with dancer Diego Mugler
June 29, 2021“I was afraid of being feminine. I just mastered this balancing act at 32 years of age. The things you may hide from some people are the same things that other people will celebrate and love,...
Read moreThe Colescott Chronicles Part 2: Expanding Black representation, critiquing consumerism and colonialism
June 25, 2021[caption id="attachment_110481" align="alignright" width="430"] "George Washington Carver Crossing the Delaware." Seattle Art Museum[/caption] Robert Colescott’s satire of Americana George Washington Carver Crossing the Delaware has now become the centerpiece of L.A.’s new Lucas Museum of American...
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