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Academic Insights for the Thinking World
Cereal commercials, nutritionists, and your mother all agree—breakfast is the most important meal of the day. That’s why Congress has declared September to be "All American Breakfast Month!" That begs the question: what is the all-American breakfast, anyway? The answer to that question has changed over the years. A cowboy in the 1880s may have […]
The prevailing wisdom of most African Americanists, is that due to the distinctive history and acculturation of Africans in the British colonies in North America, African-American literature is most meaningfully assessed in the context of multiple geographical, oral, and literary heritages.
On this date in 1877, Chief Crazy Horse rode into Fort Robinson in what is now Nebraska. Although he had been a major force in the resistance to the white man, he had finally surrended the previous May and was trying to adapt to life on the reservation. Unfortunately he had enemies within the Lakota […]
We interrupt this academic blog for a tale of murder, murder most foul. On 31 August in 1888 Mr. Charles Cross was walking to work through Buck’s Row, a dingy and poorly-lit alleyway in the heart of London’s East End. It was around 3:40 in the morning when he spied what looked like a bundle […]
Today we’ll look at the spoken word roots of hip hop by examining the life and career of one of the greatest stand-up comedians of all time; Richard Pryor. Here is the entry on Richard Pryor from upcoming eight-volume ‘African American National Biography’.
In this post, we look at rapper Ice-T, and his influence on the development of hip hop. A prolific and outspoken Rap artist, Ice-T helped pioneer the ‘gangsta’ musical style, in which the turmoil of urban street life is exposed through blunt, explicit lyrics and a bass-heavy, fluid musical style.
Mount Cuba was the home of Lammot du Pont Copeland and his wife Pamela from 1937 until her death in 2001. They sited their Georgian house (Victorin and Samuel Homsey, architects) atop one of Delaware’s highest hills with magnificent views across steep hills and deep valleys of the Eastern American Piedmont, to the Delaware river […]
Today we’ll look at the jazz roots of hip hop by examining the charismatic stage presence and dapper style of the great Cab Calloway. As a pioneer of the genre, Calloway was described by President Bill Clinton as a ‘true legend among the musicians of this century’ – and his legacy lives on today.
Today, we’ll look at one of the literary forerunners of the hip hop revolution; Iceberg Slim. Slim’s works are marked by a criticism of American justice, devotion to the politics of the Black Panthers, frank language, and a combination of violence and sexuality. They remain influential to this day.
Today, we’ll look at a towering figure in 1970s soul music and a forebear of modern hip hop and rap; Isaac Hayes. His classic 1969 record, the sumptuous, deep-grooving ‘Hot Buttered Soul’, made Hayes a star and cemented his image in the minds of a generation of young African Americans.
On this date in 1786 David "Davy" Crockett—hunter, frontiersman, politician, and soldier—was born in a rough-hewn cabin in Tennessee. It can be difficult to separate the myth from the man, including the famous story that he "killed him a bear when he was only three." His extraordinary life, however, hardly needs embellishment. He was a […]
Here is a discussion of the music, biography and inspirations of the one-and-only James Brown; the legendary African American soul and funk singer – who has been invariably called the ‘Godfather of Soul’, ‘Soul Brother Number One’, ‘Mr. Dynamite’, and the ‘Hardest Working Man in Show Business’.
President Bush will read David Oshinsky’s Polio: An American Story.
Golden Gate Park was established in 1872 on a site of 410 hectares/1,013 acres, and is one of the finest city parks in the country. The long rectangular park has two distinct sections. The western section adjoining the Pacific Ocean is buffeted by fierce winds and salt-laden air, while the more sheltered eastern section is […]
Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the editor in chief of The Oxford African American Studies Center. In this New York Times op-ed, Dr. Gates uses a little-known story about the Revolutionary War to demonstrate the role of black patriots in the birth of our nation: ON June 11, 1823, a man named John Redman […]
Frederick G. Kilgour, author of The Evolution of the Book (Oxford University Press | 1998) passed away on Monday, July 31st at his home in Chapel Hill, N.C.