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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Exploring the Avant-Garde Architectural Manifesto
More than a century later, the architectural manifesto continues to hold our attention, emphasizing a charged moment when society was breaking with the past.
Isabel Allende’s “Two Words”
Many have tried to guess the two magical words whispered by Allende’s character Belisa Crepusculario, but the author has yet to reveal them.
Remembering Her Memories: Lucille Clifton’s Generations in Our Time
The poet stares history down in an artful, Whitman-infused exploration of traumas her family endured and survived.