Bessie Smith poses for a portrait circa 1924.

The Flood Behind Bessie Smith’s “Back-Water Blues”

The Mississippi River flood that Smith allegedly memorialized happened weeks after she'd written and released her song. Where was the real “Back Water”?
The covers of Oscar Hijuelos’s The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (1989), Edwidge Danticat’s The Dew Breaker (2004), and Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007).

American Immigrant Literature Gets an Update

Despite the historical gulf between canonical and recent immigrant writing, one constant is the mark that new immigrant artists leave on US literature.
Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting join hands in Romeo and Juliet, 1967

Her Bounty Is Boundless

From the first actor—a man—to play Juliet to the “girl boss” version on Broadway, Shakespeare’s young lover offers something new in every iteration.
(Clockwise from bottom left) Flavor Flav, Professor Griff, Terminator X, S1W and Chuck D of the rap group Public Enemy pose for a portrait in a studio, 1988

How Rap Taught (Some of) the Hip Hop Generation Black History

For members of the Hip Hop generation who came of age during the Black Power era, “reality rap” was an entry into the political power of Black history.
The first edition cover of "Red Cavalry" by Isaac Babel

Isaac Babel’s Red Cavalry

Set during the Polish-Soviet War of 1919–1920, Babel’s novel captured the indiscriminate violence and injustice of warfare.
Samuel Delany at the St. Mark's Poetry Project in New York

Ode to Samuel Delany

Composed half-a-century ago, The Ballad of Beta-2 was a science-fiction vision of the future that speaks directly to our present.
A large poster for the film Ebony Parade with a blue background and an off-white border. Across the blue background are red musical notes and stars outlined in white. At the top center in red lettering is "20 Great Stars". Printed in the center in small black type is "Astor Pictures presents" followed by "EBONY PARADE" in large yellow letters over a red background. Surrounding the title are color photographic portraits of the stars of the film. At the top left are the faces of Mantan Moreland, Dorothy Dandridge and Ruby Hill, followed by a full portrait of a seated Mabel Lee and in the bottom left corner is an image of the Mills Brothers gathered around two microphones. On the right side are the faces of Cab Calloway, Vanita Smythe, Francine Everett, and Count Basie. At the bottom right is a yellow box bordered in black with red text that reads "featuring / Cab Calloway * Count Basie / His Band His Band / Mills. Bros. * Vanita Smythe / Mantan Moreland * Mable Lee/ Ruby Hill * Francine Everett / Dorothy Dandridge * Pat Flowers / and / Day, Dawn, and Dusk * Jubilaries".

Mills Panoram and Soundies

In the 1940s, these short films set to music transgressed Hollywood’s racial mythology to create space for Black artists to experiment—and have fun.
Portrait of Margaret Bonds, 1956

Keeping Scores: Unearthing the Works of Black Women Composers

Black women composers have been active in the US since at least the mid-nineteenth century, yet they’re largely omitted from scholarship on women musicians.
From left to right: Valery Larbaud, Léon-Paul Fargue, Marie Monnier, Sylvia Beach, and Adrienne Monnier in 1924 the fair at the Quai d’Orsay in Paris

The Short-Lived Le Navire d’Argent

Despite its short run, Adrienne Monnier’s literary review made its mark on modernist literature, publishing the work of James Joyce, T. S. Eliot, and Walt Whitman.

Principles of Composition in Art and Design

An artist combines repetition, balance, proportion, movement, and other design elements to form the whole of a visual composition.