Left of Black S2:E3 
w/ Lester Spence and Lawrence P. Jackson 
September 26, 2011 

Left of Black host  and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Lester Spence, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University and author of Stare in the Darkness: The Limits of Hip-Hop and Black Politics.  Spence discusses why people are still apprehensive about hip-hop culture, the role of the “neo-liberal hustler entrepreneur,” and grassroots hip-hop organizations.  Spence also talks about the challenges of studying hip-hop and politics.  

Later Neal is joined by Professor Lawrence P. Jackson, Professor of English and African American Studies at Emory University, author of The Indignant Generation: A Narrative History of African American Writers and Critics, 1934-1960 and Ralph Ellison: The Emergence of Genius.  Jackson considers the period between the Harlem Renaissance and the Black Arts Movement, and addresses the debates among black authors during this period.  Jackson also discusses readers’ initial reaction to Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man and the challenges of publishing scholarly non-fiction with contemporary trade presses.

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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 download @ iTunes U