January of 2017 marked the 40th anniversary of the groundbreaking television mini-series Roots. On this episode of Left of Black, historian Wesley Hogan discusses with host Mark Anthony Neal the enduring legacy of Roots, including the impact that Alex Haley’s text has on the field of oral history. Hogan directs the Center for Documentary Studies […]
On this episode of Left of Black Award winning dancer and choreographer Kyle Abraham talks with host Mark Anthony Neal about his work When the Wolves Came In Which was inspired by We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite, and collaborating with figures like visual artist Glenn Ligon and musician Robert Glasper. Abraham is Artistic […]
On this episode of Left of Black noted photo-conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas, joins host Mark Anthony Neal on the occasion of the Annual Barbra and Andrew Rothschild Lecture at the Nasher Museum at Duke University. Thomas discusses his installation “Black Righteous Space” which is featured in the exhibit Southern Accent: Seeking the American South […]
On this episode of Left of Black activist and scholar Tim’m West joins host Mark Anthony Neal in a frank conversation about Black Queer identity and erasure in Black communities. West is an artists author, activist and founding member of the groundbreaking Hip-Hop group The Deep Dickollective (DDC).
On this episode of Left of Black Political Scientist Kerry L. Haynie joins host Mark Anthony Neal in a discussion of the 2016 Election season and the impact of its outcomes on Black and Latino/a voters across the nation and in the state of North Carolina. Haynie is Associate Professor of Political Science at Duke […]
On this episode of Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Margot Shetterly, author of Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race. Shetterly discusses growing up in Virginia amongst the historical figures she examines in the book, her […]
In this clip from #InnovateYourCool programming at the 2016 #ArtOfCool Festival in Durham, NC, Grammy Award winning musician Terence Blanchard sat down with Duke University’s Mark Anthony Neal to discuss the inspiration for his politically driven album Breathless, including the decision to record it as an electric project.
On this episode of Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined in studio by Joseph R. Winters Author Hope Draped in Black: Race, Melancholy, and the Agony of Progress (Duke University Press). Joseph R. Winters is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Duke University.
On this episode of Left of Black, filmed with a live audience at the University of Carolina at Chapel Hill, host Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Musician, composer and Berklee School of Music Professor William C. Banfield in a wide ranging conversation about the legacy of Black Composers. The conversation served as the opening […]
On this episode of Left of Black, host Mark Anthony Neal is joined in-studio by curator Shantrelle P. Lewis In a conversation about her forthcoming book based on The Dandy Lion Project, the Dutch blackface tradition embodied in Zwarte Piet and the role of Black Studies in inspiring her interest in Black Visual Culture.