Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Emily Lordi to discuss her new book, Black Resonance: Iconic Women Singers and African American Literature. Lordi is an assistant professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In this excerpt, they focus on the connection between poet Nikki Giovanni and singer Aretha Franklin. Watch:…

In many African-American families, when we have an important issue to discuss, we gather in the kitchen and bring it to the table. That’s especially true of financial discussions, whether about how to pay the bills, how to send Junior to college or where to start looking for a new job. For the next two…

Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Art of Cool Music Festival co-founder Cicely Mitchell to talk about the future of jazz and the festival, which takes place April 25-26 in Durham, N.C., with a stellar lineup of jazz artists. Mitchell explains how the festival builds interest in the artists with a series of…

In many African-American families, when we have an important issue to discuss, we gather in the kitchen and bring it to the table. That’s especially true of financial discussions, whether about how to pay the bills, how to send Junior to college or where to start looking for a new job. For the next three…

Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal talks with Erica Lorraine Williams about her new book, Sex Tourism in Bahia: Ambiguous Entanglements. Williams is an assistant professor in the department of sociology and anthropology at Spelman College. For her book, Williams interviewed sex workers about their aspirations, whether they felt exploited and the discrimination that Afro-Brazilian…

In many African-American families, when we have an important issue to discuss, we gather in the kitchen and bring it to the table. That’s especially true for financial discussions, whether about how to pay the bills, how to send Junior to college or where to start looking for a new job. For the next four…

To celebrate the microblogging site’s own eighth birthday, this week the folks at Twitter unveiled their new #FirstTweet finder page—an easy way to see what your tweeps said when they first jumped into the Twitter fray. It’s also an easy way to see if your favorite notables had any Twitter game when they first joined.…

Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Julius Bailey, assistant professor of philosophy at Wittenberg University, and Regina Bradley, an instructor of English and interdisciplinary studies at Kennesaw State University. They are discussing the importance of hip-hop studies and the use of social media in hip-hop scholarship. Recently Bradley contributed to and…