How Wattstax Ushered in a New Era of Black Art
Organized in the aftermath of the 1965 Watts uprising, the music festival showed that something powerful was happening in the Black community.
The Scholars Charting Black Music’s Timeline: Earl Stewart and Michael Veal
Earl Stewart and Michael Veal explore African American music from the Civil War and the evolving sounds of the Black Atlantic.
Challenging Race and Gender Roles, One Photo at a Time
Florestine Perrault Collins escaped the bounds of prescribed gender roles and racial segregation to run a successful photography studio in 1920s New Orleans.
Octavia Butler’s Roots in Black History
The Parable books seem different yet familiar, their plots framed by a world shattered by racism, economic inequality, and climate change.
The Los Angeles Renaissance
Black composers Bruce Forsythe and Claudius Wilson transcended barriers to create concert and classical music during this West Coast art movement.
How Black Radio Changed the Dial
Black-appeal stations were instrumental in propelling R&B into the mainstream while broadcasting news of the ever-growing civil rights movement.
The Hidden History of Black Catholic Nuns
The lives and roles of African-descended women who joined predominantly white Catholic convents was deliberately hidden by congregational historians.
The Scholars Who Charted Black Music’s Timeline: Tony Bolden
Tony Bolden explores the spiritual principles that inform the foundation of Afrofuturist music.
The Cosmopolitan Culture of the Gullah/Geechees
Emphasizing the isolation enforced by Lowcountry geography erases the agency of Gullah/Geechee communities in the preservation of African culture.
How an Unrealized Art Show Created an Archive of Black Women’s Art
Records from a cancelled exhibition reveal the challenges faced by Black feminist artists and curators in the 1970s.