In the telling of American history, African American history is vitally important. Find out more with UCTV programs about American history in all its complexity.
UCTV
Twentieth-Century African American Freedom Struggles transformed both US and World History. These seminal liberation struggles include the important yet relatively unknown series of early twentieth-century southern African American streetcar boycotts as well as the iconic Civil Rights-Black Power Insurgency (1935-75). First, Waldo Martin examines why and how these foundational freedom struggles proved essential to the making of the modern African American Freedom Movement. Second, he examines the centrality of the modern African American Freedom Movement to both the creation of the modern United States and the development of the modern world. Waldo Martin is the Alexander F. & May T. Morrison Professor of American History & Citizenship at the University of California, Berkeley. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Show ID: 35148]
Opera News has called UC San Diego Music Professor Anthony Davis A National Treasure, for his pioneering work in opera. His six operas include works centered on recent historical figures & events, including Malcolm X and Patty Hearst. Davis' latest opera The Central Park Five, an exploration of the wrongful conviction of five teenagers of color in NYC in the 1980s, premiered at Long Beach Opera in 2019 to international acclaim. In this conversation with UC San Diego Music Professor Emeritus Cecil Lytle, Davis explains the genesis of The Central Park Five, and the challenges that ensue when art collides with current events. Series: "Contemporary Composers (1900-Present)" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 35078]
UCLA history professor Brenda Stevenson studies slavery and the Antebellum South, some of our country’s most painful moments and eras. Because there is not much in the way of documentary evidence of the lives of women of color, enslaved women and women from the South, Stevenson must work as an investigator to discover their inner lives and experiences. This is often done through stories told through the age, some of which she shares in the UCLA Faculty Lecture. Series: "UCLA Faculty Research Lectures" [Show ID: 35126]
By virtually any measure, prisons have not worked. They are sites of cruelty, dehumanization, and violence, as well as subordination by race, class, and gender. Prisons traumatize virtually all who come into contact with them. Abolition of prison could be the ultimate reform. Georgetown Law Professor Paul Bulter explores what would replace prisons, how people who cause harm could be dealt with in the absence of incarceration, and why abolition would make everyone safer and our society more just. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Show ID: 35147]
More recently known for her Black Panther and Wakanda Forever Marvel Comics, Nnedi Okorafor is an international award-winning novelist of African-based science fiction, fantasy and magical realism for both children and adults. Born in the United States to two Nigerian immigrant parents, Nnedi is known for weaving African culture into creative evocative settings and memorable characters. In a profile of Nnedi’s work titled, “Weapons of Mass Creation,” The New York Times called Nnedi’s imagination “stunning.” Game of Thrones author, George R.R. Martin and HBO are currently developing a show based on her World Fantasy Award Winning novel, Who Fears Death. Ta-Nehisi Coates has passed the torch on writing the Black Panther comics to Nnedi, and the women warriors from the mega-hit movie were such fan favorites that Marvel has tasked Nnedi to create a new spinoff comic, Wakanda Forever. Series: "Writer's Symposium By The Sea" [Humanities] [Show ID: 33945]
One of the most important composers in jazz history, Charles Mingus documented his lively impressions of Tijuana in "Tijuana Moods," a rarely performed suite. Join Grammy-winning jazz author Ashley Kahn; eminent alto saxophonist Charles McPherson, a longstanding member of Charles Mingus' band; Anthony Davis, UC San Diego professor of music and noted composer, pianist and improviser; and Steven Schick, UC San Diego professor of music, percussionist, and conductor, for an exploration of the legacy of African-American composer Charles Mingus and his historic Tijuana Moods album. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 32750]
UCSB faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students discuss what we have learned over the last six years from research about what worked in stimulating achievement among Black children and what challenges African American learners face. Keynote speakers Na’ilah Suad Nasir from UC Berkeley and Tyrone Howard from UCLA. Moderated by UC Santa Barbara Professor Jeffrey Stewart. Series: "Voices" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Education] [Show ID: 29327]
From the moment Myrlie Evers-Williams faced the murder of her husband, civil rights activist Medgar Evers, she became a pivotal figure in the civil rights movement. For more than five decades, she has fought to carry on his legacy, never relenting in her determination to change the face of race relations in this country. She reflects here on the impact of the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, and calls on today’s Americans to continue her quest to quash racism and bring equality for all. This heartfelt talk was presented by Thurgood Marshall College, the Helen Edison Lecture Series and the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at UC San Diego. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 29259]
Former UCSB professor Gerald Horne, the award-winning author of more than thirty books, discusses his book “The Counter-Revolution of 1776” which argues that for the country's forefathers, "freedom" meant the right to keep others enslaved—and that the consequences of this definition continue into the present in the form of a racialized conservatism and a persistent racism targeting the descendants of the enslaved. Series: "Voices" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 28602]
Social psychologist and author Jack Glaser makes a compelling case against racial profiling in law enforcement, arguing that it’s not only wrong, but can lead to more crimes being committed by non-profiled groups in this timely conversation on race, shooter bias and stereotypes with Oakland Assistant Police Chief Paul Figueroa and Henry E. Brady, dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley. Series: "Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 29096]
Angela Davis visited UC Santa Barbara for a screening of "Free Angela and All Political Prisoners," a documentary by Shola Lynch that chronicles Davis's life as a young, outspoken UCLA professor. Angela Davis and producer Sidra Smith answer questions from the audience. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 25917]
Joan Y. Reede, MD, MPH, MS, MBA, Associate Professor of Medicine, Dean for Diversity and Community Partnership, Harvard Medical School, examines the role that children have played in advancing civil rights and justice and how that struggle impacts education and health care today. Series: "Lenoir/Hamburger Memorial Lecture" [Public Affairs] [Health and Medicine] [Humanities] [Show ID: 24855]
Join contributors to “Black Nature,” the First Anthology of Nature Writing by African-American Poets including the writers Harryette Mullen, Ed Roberson, Evie Shockley, Natasha Tretheway, Camille Dungy and Al Young. They read from their work and participate in a discussion on the literary and environmental issues raised by the new anthology. Series: "Writers" [Humanities] [Show ID: 18356]
Celebrate forty years of the Bunche Center with key individuals who were instrumental in shaping the Center’s legacy. Part two explores the later year of adjustment sand revision from 1986 to the present. Speakers include former UCLA administrators Chancellor Charles Young and Vice Chancellor C.Z. Wilson and past Bunche Center directors Bob Singleton, Molefi K. Asante, Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, M. Belinda Tucker and Richard Yarborough. [Humanities] [Show ID: 18210]
Celebrate forty years of the Bunche Center with key individuals who were instrumental in shaping the Center’s legacy. Part one the early years of the center and its emergence and institutionalization from 1969 to 1985. Speakers include former UCLA administrators Chancellor Charles Young and Vice Chancellor C.Z. Wilson and past Bunche Center directors Bob Singleton, Molefi K. Asante, Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, M. Belinda Tucker and Richard Yarborough. [Humanities] [Show ID: 18123]
Dr. Milmon Harrison, African American and African Studies, and singer Mavis Staples consider the role of music in the 1960s Civil Rights movement. Series: "Mondavi Center Presents" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 16082]
Author Laura Pulido traces the roots of third world radicalism in Southern California during the 1960s and 1970s. Focusing on the Black Panther Party, El Centro de Accin Social y Autonomo (CASA), and East Wind, a Japanese American collective, she explores how these groups sought to realize their ideas about race and class, gender relations, and multiracial alliances. Series: "Voices" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 14997]
Revolutionary poet, playwright, and activist Amiri Baraka is recognized as the founder of the Black Arts Movement, a literary period that began in Harlem in the 1960s and forever changed the look, sound, and feel of American poetry. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 13561]
Trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos and a stellar ensemble pay tribute to the art and legacy of jazz legend Miles Davis, with a guest appearance by pianist Cecil Lytle. Series: "Rebecca Lytle Memorial Concerts" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 13691]
Civil Rights leader Julian Bond looks at the social ramifications of school desegregation in the last 50 years since nine African-American students made history by enrolling in the then all-white Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Series: "Reconsidering Little Rock: 50 Years After the Start of School Integration " [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 13428]
Terrence Roberts, one of the original nine African-American students who desegregated Little Rock Central High School in 1957, looks back on the lessons learned about race and education in the last 50 years. Series: "Reconsidering Little Rock: 50 Years After the Start of School Integration " [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 13430]
Robert Maxwell, one of the renowned African American pilots who fought in World War II, recalls the heroes of the “Tuskegee Experience” whose valor on the battlefield was finally acknowledged with the Congressional Gold Medal in March, 2007. Series: "Osher UC San Diego Distinguished Lecture Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 13000]
From radical rebel to university professor, Angela Davis has dedicated her life to social activism. In this talk, Angela Davis reflects on her successes and shares her insights on the strategies for change that have made -- and will make -- history. Sponsored by the Women's Resources and Research Center at UC Davis [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 12069]
The Arts Research Center at UC Berkeley presents a panel of scholars and artists exploring the impact of the African diaspora on various forms of historical and contemporary music and dance. [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 11708]
The Afro Inventions featured in this program were inspired by the jazz baroque of the Modern Jazz Quartet, the contrapuntal stylings of jazz pianist Billy Taylor and, of course, the inventions of Johann Sebastian Bach. This concert features works, both music and written, by Earl Stewart, Professor in the Department of Black Studies at UC Santa Barbara. Series: "Soundscape" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 11462]
With the publication of 1992’s In My Father’s House, Kwame Anthony Appiah claimed his place at the forefront of African-American literary and cultural studies. A professor of philosophy at Princeton, he discusses how Western intellectuals and leaders have exaggerated the power of difference while neglecting the power of commonality. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 11468]
Angela Davis, Professor in the History of Human Consciousness department at UC Santa Cruz and holder of a UC Presidential Chair in African-American and Feminist Studies explores the issues concerning criminal justice and race in the 21st century, in light of the history of the Black Panther movement. This presentation is part of UCSB’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Center series "Blow Back: Responding to the 1960's”. Series: "Humanitas" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 11346]
Racial justice has been a major theme in the life of John Perkins–two of his books are Let Justice Roll Down and With Justice for All. Perkins discusses justice as it relates to his own pilgrimage in Mississippi, as well as his national efforts to speak about racial justice to our nation in this interview with Douglas Daniels of UC Santa Barbara. Series: "Let There Be Light" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 11085]
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that declared racially segregated schools unconstitutional, The Haunting of Jim Crow examines the events surrounding that momentous decision by weaving together the personal stories and reflections of two key protagonists, civil rights attorney (later Supreme Court Justice) Thurgood Marshall and segregationist Senator Strom Thurmond. The result is a multi-layered, multi-dimensional, and intensely personal interpretation of history. The play was written by UCSD Theatre professor Allan Havis. [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 9386]
Cedric Robinson reflects on his early years at UC Santa Barbara and then deals with current research he is conducting on images of Blacks and other minorities in early Hollywood films. Series: "Voices" [Humanities] [Show ID: 9301]
Former New York Times columnist and Pulitzer-Prize winner Anthony Lewis recounts the Supreme Court's historical role in allowing discrimination up through the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision that outlawed segregation in public schools. Series: "City Club Presents" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 8746]
Elaine Jones, the vivacious president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund calls on the nation to recommit itself to ensuring equal education opportunities for all students, regardless of race, creed or gender in keynote address to the Center for Social Justice at UC Berkeley. Series: "Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 8464]
In this presentation from the Legacy of Slavery series, UC Berkeley Professor and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Leon Litwack, deals with "Trouble in Mind: African Americans From Emancipation to the 1990's." Litwack talks about the racist treatment of African Americans using examples from the Roaring 20's with lynching occurring weekly to World War II where German soldiers caught by allied troops were treated better than American black soldiers to the Civil Rights' movement of Post World II. Series: "Legacy of Slavery" [Humanities] [Show ID: 8112]
In this presentation from the Legacy of Slavery series, Professor Charles Long reflects upon the historical introduction of Africans onto the North American landscape and its impact not only on African Americans but Europeans as well. He discusses the creation of wealth in North American, the historical inequalities involved with that wealth, the implications of slavery, and the controversy over reparations on modern-day American culture and society. Series: "Legacy of Slavery" [Humanities] [Show ID: 8110]
Author and political scientist Peter Irons marks the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education case with "Jim Crow's Children: The Broken Promise of the Brown Decision," a riveting talk detailing how efforts to desegregate schools have failed. Sponsored by Thurgood Marshall College at UCSD. [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 8388]
The Legacy of Slavery: Unequal Exchange Conference resulted from the passage of Senate Bills 2199 and 1737 in 2000 and was meant to address a number of issues related to the economic and political legacy of slavery, the roles of governments and businesses in this enterprise, and the question of reparations for the descendants of slaves. This panel discusses the issue of Racism and Discrimination After Emancipation. Series: "Legacy of Slavery" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 8096]
Legacy of Slavery...Unequal Exchange Conference: Panel 4: Life and Labor Among Enslaved Women Series: "Legacy of Slavery" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 8102]
Charismatic poet Cornelius Eady uses deft paradoxes to meet the world's absurdities head-on. In a powerful reading of his own work, Eady recites like a jazz singer croons, emphasizing his poetry's hard-hitting content. Series: "Lunch Poems Reading Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 7952]
A major address charting the evolution of Black Feminist Studies as an academic discipline by one of its foremost founders, Dr. Akasha Gloria Hull. Professor Hull reads from her new novel. Professor Hull is Professor Emerita of Women's Studies and Literature at UC Santa Cruz and Visiting Professor of Black Studies at UC Santa Barbara. Series: "Voices" [Humanities] [Show ID: 7914]
A panel of faculty and students discusses the movie Barbershop and the controversial themes depicted in this film. Among the issues discussed are: the responsibility of Black filmmakers to their communities; the issue of Black stereotypes as shown in the movie; and the issue of reparations. Series: "Voices" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 7460]
Author and syndicated columnist Julianne Malveaux gives an inspiring talk on the contributions of W.E.B. DuBois and other African-American scholars in this event marking UCSD's celebration of Black History Month. [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 7166]
In the United States, anyone with even a trace of African American ancestry has been considered Black. Even as the twenty-first century opens, a racial hierarchy still prevents people of color, including individuals of mixed race, from enjoying the same privileges as Euro-Americans. In his book, G. Reginald Daniel argues that we are at a cross-roads, with members of a new multiracial movement pointing the way toward equality. Presented as part of the Humanitas Lecture Series at UC Santa Barbara. Series: "Humanitas" [Humanities] [Show ID: 7094]
Biographer Douglas Daniels discusses his groundbreaking biography of Lester Young, the legendary tenor saxaphonist whose career spanned swing and bebop eras. Series: "Humanitas" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 6893]
Yusef Komunyakaa is known as a "jazz poet," a Southern writer and a "soldier poet." Author of nine books and winner of a Pulitzer Prize for poetry, Komunyakaa sets a provocative stage by rejecting the "write what you know" model in favor of the defying "write what you are willing to discover" premise. Series: "Helen Edison Lecture Series" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 5640]
Activist and author Elaine Brown, the first and only woman to lead the Black Panther Party speaks on issues of race with reference to her new book New Age Racism. She discusses the Black experience throughout American history and the issue of reparations for all descendants of slaves. Series: "Voices" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 5720]
Angela Davis, now of UC Santa Cruz, returns to her alma mater to deliver an engaging talk on "Wars Against Women - Past, Present, and Future?" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 4865]
Edward Ball, recipient of the 1998 National Book Award, delivers the keynote speech at the annual meeting of the San Diego Historical Society. A descendent of plantation owners, Mr. Ball's book Slaves in the Family is the result of extensive research into family archives and historical sources. [Humanities] [Show ID: 4455]
Poet Quincy Troupe and jazz guitarist Phil Upchurch combine spoken word and music in a fluid, dynamic performance centering on the African-American experience. Series: "Artists on the Cutting Edge" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 2787]