Season 9

Episode 25: Vernacular Archives of Afro-Asia

Left of Black co-host Sasha Panaram is joined in the studio by American Studies scholar, Tao Leigh Goff. Goffe is an Assistant Professor of Africana and Feminist, Gender, Sexuality Studies at Cornell University. She received her PhD in American Studies from Yale University in 2015. Her work examines the vernacular cultures that emerge from the […]

Episode 24 | Jason Moran on James Reese Europe, The Great Migration and Living in Harlem

Left off Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined in the studio by musician Jason Moran. Jason Moran is one of modern music’s most vital forces. Through a series of ambitious projects meant to bring jazz to a wider audience — such as the 2007 Duke Performances commission In My Mind, which reimagined Thelonious Monk’s […]

Episode 23 | Tony Award Nominee Camille A. Brown and Grammy Award Winner 9th Wonder in Conversation

In this special episode of Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal and Grammy Award Winning Producer 9th Wonder are joined by choreographer, dancer, and director Camille A. Brown Brown was visiting Duke University as part of her year-long residency at the University with Duke Performances. Camille A. Brown is a prolific Black female choreographer […]

Episode 22 | The Incarceration of African American Women from Harriet Tubman to Sandra Bland  

Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined in the studio by professor and poet DaMaris B. Hill Author of A Bound Woman is a Dangerous Thing: The Incarceration of African American Women from Harriet Tubman to Sandra Bland (Bloomsbury, 2019), which Roxanne Gay says, “What you will read here is not just poetry, though. […]

Episode 21 | The Best of Enemies

Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined in the studio with film director Robin Bissell to talk about his latest project, The Best of Enemies. Robin Bissell made his directorial debut with the film The Best of Enemies which tells the true story of civil rights activist, Ann Atwater and the leader of […]

Episode 20 | Stew & The Negro Problem – Notes of a Native Song

Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined in the studio by Stew Stewart of Stew & The Negro Problem to discuss his music, his work on James Baldwin, and his teaching. Stew & The Negro Problem recently performed Notes of a Native Song – written for Harlem Stage’s Baldwin centenary celebration and named for […]

Episode 19 | Sylvia Chan-Malik on A Cultural History of Women of Color and American Islam

Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined in the studio by professor Sylvia Chan-Malik Author of Being Muslim: A Cultural History of Women of Color and American Islam  (New York University Press, 2018), which Zareena Grewal describes as a “ fascinating cultural history of Islam in the United States will surprise readers with […]

Episode 18 | E .Patrick Johnson on the Oral Histories of Black. Queer. Southern. Women

Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined in the studio by professor and artist, E. Patrick Johnson Author of innumerable books including two award-winning books, Appropriating Blackness: Performance and the Politics of Authenticity (Duke University Press, 2003), and Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South – An Oral History (University of North […]

Episode 17 | Curating The Legacy of Dick Gregory

Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined in the studio by Dr. Christian Gregory  A chiropractor in Washington, DC, Dr. Gregory is one of the eleven children of the legendary comedian, civil rights activist, and social critic, Dr. Gregory joined Neal to discuss the life and legacy of his father.

Episode 16 | Retelling Black Radicalism for the 21st Century with Kehinde Andrews

Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined in the studio by professor Kehinde Andrews , author of Back to Black: Retelling Black Radicalism for the 21st Century (ZED, 2018) Afua Hirsch says “takes the concepts that underpin so much of our woolly, contemporary talk about blackness, structural racism, pan-Africanism and – most of […]