Left of Black

Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Liana and Jabari Asim. Liana Asim is a playwright and a librettist. Jabari Asim is an author, poet, and playwright.

Mark Anthony Neal is joined in the studio by WISER-Duke writing fellows Neo Muyanga and Khadija Patel. Muyanga is a composer and musician who is working on a new libretto. Patel is a journalist writing about the Johannesburg suburb, Mayfair.

Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is join in studio by Harry Weinger to talk about producing from an archive and the Marvin Gaye archives. Weinger is a producer, writer and educator who is currently Vice President of A&R for Universal Music Enterprises. Weinger teaches at New York University.

Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Jeffrey Q. McCune to discuss McCune's new book, “Sexual Discretion: Black Masculinity and the Politics of Passing”. McCune is an Associate Professor teaching Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and in the Performing Arts Department at Washington University in St. Louis.

Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined in studio with documentary filmmaker Stanley Nelson. Nelson is known for his films Freedom Riders, The Murder of Emmett Till, and, Sweet Honey in the Rock: Raise Your Voice.

Mark Anthony Neal speaks with Derrick White about the Institute of the Black World. White is a visiting associate professor teaching in the Department of History at Dartmouth College. White is the author of "The Challenge of Blackness: The Institute of the Black World and Political Activism in the 1970s".

Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Cora Daniels and John Jackson to talk about their new book, "Impolite Conversations: On Race, Politics, Sex, Money, and Religion". Daniels is an award-winning journalist and author. Professor Jackson is a cultural anthropologist, filmmaker, and the Dean of the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mark Anthony Neal is joined by writer and filmmaker Felicia Pride to talk about the challenges involved with funding and distributing black media, and her new project, "Openended", and ABC's new sitcom "Blackish". Openended's IndieGoGo Campaign: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/what-s-after-the-end-again-let-s-make-openended

Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Rev. Dr. Calvin Butts to talk about the state of Black ministry, New York politics, and music. Rev. Dr. Butts is the pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church and the president of the State University of New York at Old Westbury.

Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Zandria F. Robinson to talk about her new book, "This Ain't Chicago: Race, Class, and Regional Identity in the Post-Soul South". Robinson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Memphis.

Mark Anthony Neal is joined in the studio by Daryl Atkinson to talk about mass incarceration's impact on America, social justice in Durham, NC and anti-black violence. Atkinson is a senior staff attorney at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice. https://www.southerncoalition.org

Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Karla FC Holloway to talk about her new book, 'Legal Fictions: Constituting Race, Composing Literature', interdisciplinarity within the academy, President Obama and John Hope Franklin. Professor Holloway is the James B. Duke Professor of English at Duke University. She also holds appointments in the Law School, Women's Studies and African & African American Studies. Professor Holloway's book, 'Legal Fictions' is available online: https://www.dukeupress.edu/Legal-Fictions/ http://www.amazon.com/Legal-Fictions-Constituting-Composing-Literature/dp/0822355957/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412604294&sr=1-1&keywords=legal+fictions

Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Walter Kimbrough, the president of Dillard University, to discuss the importance of HBCUs, leading as a member of Generation X, and the challenges facing black men today.

Season 5, Episode 1 Mark Anthony Neal sits down in the studio with Rapsody to talk about her music, influences, and the gender dynamics in hip hop. Rapsody released her new single, 'Hard to Choose' last week, https://soundcloud.com/jamlaarmy/rapsody-hard-to-choose-prod-by-9th-wonder. Rapsody's forthcoming album 'Beauty and The Beast" will be released on October 7th, 2014.

Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Alexis De Veaux to discuss her new novel, Yabo, the passion of learning, and a new generation take on feminism. De Veaux's novel Yabo is available at: http://www.redbonepress.com/products/yabo

Mark Anthony Neal sits down with poet and Yale professor Elizabeth Alexander to discuss African American studies, and hip hop and poetry.

Mark Anthony Neal speaks to Professor Ruth Nicole Brown about her new book, "Hear Our Truths: The Creative Potential of Black Girlhood". Professor Brown is an assistant professor of Gender and Women's Studies, African Studies, and the Ethnography of the University Initiative at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Professor Ali Colleen Neff to talk about her work with Senegalese praise poets, her book "Let the World Listen Right", and Mami Wata's influence on musical traditions. Professor Neff is a a visiting assistant professor at William and Mary College.

Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Professor Emily Lordi to discuss her new book, "Black Resonance: Iconic Women Singers and African American Literature". Professor Lordi is an assistant professor in the English Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Mark Anthony Neal sits down with The Art of Cool Festival's co-founder Cicely Mitchell. The Art of Cool takes place on April 25 & 26, 2014 in Durham, NC.

Mark Anthony Neal is join by Erica Lorraine Williams to discuss her new book, "Sex Tourism in Bahia: Ambiguous Entanglements". Williams is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Spelman College.

Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Julius Bailey and Regina Bradley to talk about the volume, "The Cultural Impact of Kanye West". Bailey edited the volume and Bradley contributed to the work.

Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Professor Guthrie Ramsey Jr. to talk about his new book, "The Amazing Bud Powell", the late Amiri Baraka, and the state of music. Prof. Ramsey is the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Term Professor of Music at the University of Pennsylvania.

Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Professor E. Patrick Johnson to talk about his play, Sweet Tea. Professor Johnson is the Carlos Montezuma Professor of Performance Studies and African American Studies at Northwestern University. Sweet Tea will be touring this spring at Williams College, Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Brown University.

Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Stephane Dunn and Esther Iverem to talk about this year's Academy Awards and the current state of black film. Dunn is an Assistant Professor of English and the Co-Director of Cinema, Television, and Emerging Media Studies at Morehouse College. Iverem is the founder and editor of SeeingBlack.com.

Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Revered Raphael Warnock to discuss his new book, "The Divided Mind of the Black Church: Theology, Piety, and Public Witness". Rev. Warnock is the senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA.

Mark Anthony Neal joins Jawole Willa Jo Zollar at the Reynolds Industries Theater to talk about her dance troupe, Urban Bush Women. Urban Bush Women celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. The troupe spent two weeks in residency at Duke University this fall and will continue its tour through this summer. For more details: http://www.urbanbushwomen.org

Mark Anthony Neal speaks to Professor Shana Redmond about her new book, "Anthem: Social Movements and the Sound of Solidarity in the African Diaspora." Prof. Redmond teaches in the American Studies and Ethnicity program at the University of Southern California.

Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Professor Quincy T. Mills to discuss his book, "Cutting Along the Color Line: Black Barbers and Barber Shops in America". Professor Mills teaches history at Vassar College.

Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Professor David Ikard to discuss his new book, "Blinded by the Whites: Why Race Still Matters in 21st-Century America".

Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Duke professor Claudia Milian to talk about her new book, "Latining America: Black-Brown Passages and the Coloring of Latino/a Studies" Later, Mark is joined by Lakeshia Coffey and Chaunesti Webb to discuss Webb's play, "I Love my Hair." "I Love my Hair" opens at the Manbites Dog Theater January 16, 2014, manbitesdogtheater.org.

Mark Anthony Neal sits down to talk with Rickey Vincent about his new book, "Party Music: The Inside Story of the Black Panthers' Band and How Black Power Transformed Soul Music".

Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal sits down to talk with Davarian Baldwin and Minnkah Makalani. Baldwin and Makalan are the editors of the new volume, Escape from New York: The New Negro Renaissance Beyond Harlem. Later in the episode, Mark is joined by Yaba Blay to feature her new work, (1) Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race.

Mark Anthony Neal is joined by TheRoot.com writer David Swerdlick to discuss his response to Orville Lloyd Douglas' article "Why I hate being a black man", the impact of bi-racial relationships on pop culture and our president, and the future of modern journalism. Later in this episode, Mark is joined by Esther Armah to talk about her Emotional Justice Project and its new holiday campaign, The F-Word.

Left of Black focuses on family on this Thanksgiving Week episode featuring Maya Freelon Asante, M.K. Asante, Chuck D and Gaye Theresa Johnson.

Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Akinyele Umoja to talk about his new book, "We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement".

Mark Anthony Neal is joined in studio with Cedric Harmon and Katina Parker to talk about work with Many Voices. Many Voices is a hub for the black church movement for gay and transgender justice. Later, Mark is joined by MK Asante to talk about his new memoir, Buck.

Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Ericka Blount Danois to discuss her new book, "Love, Peace and Soul Behind the Scenes of America's Favorite Dance Show Soultrain: Classic Moments". In the second half of the show, Devorah Heitner sits down with Mark to talk about her new book, "Black Power TV".

In this special Harvard Hiphop Archive episode, Mark Anthony Neal is join by Pulitzer Prize winning author Diane McWhorter to talk about her work surrounding the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama.

On this special Harvard Hiphop Archive episode, Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Chris Emdin to talk about Hip Hop S.T.E.M education.

Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Marcyliena Morgan, executive director of the HipHop Archive at Harvard University. This interview is the first of a special Left of Black series recorded on location at Harvard's HipHop Archive.

Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Elaine Richardson to talk about her book, PHD to PhD: How Education Changed My Life. Later Mark is joined by some of the members of Brothers Writing to Live, Darnell Moore, Kai Green and Wade Davis to talk about their project.

Left of Black host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined, via Skype, by UC-Santa Barbara Professor Gaye Theresa Johnson, author of 'Spaces of Conflict, Sounds of Solidarity: Music, Race, and Spatial Entitlement in Los Angeles'.

Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined, via Skype, by writer, producer and director Stacey Muhammad. Muhammad discusses her new web-based drama For Colored Boys; The Serieswhich examines contemporary Black Masculinity through the lives of Benjamin Boyd, Sr. (Rob Morgan), who is returning “home” after years of incarceration, and his son Benjamin, Jr., portrayed by Julito McCullum (The Wire).

Mark Anthony Neal sits down to talk with author Kiese Laymon. Laymon will discuss his two new published works, Long Division: a novel and How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, a collect of essays.

Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Tami Navarro and Alondra Nelson. The group talks about the new article "Sitting at the Kitchen Table: Fieldnotes from Women of Color in Anthropology" by Tami Navarro, Bianca Williams and Attiya Ahmed published in the August 2013 edition of Cultural Anthropology. Access the article here: http://www.culanth.org/supp...

Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Camille A. Brown to talk about her new show, Mr. TOL E. RAncE. Check out where Camille A. Brown and Dancers is performing next at http://www.camilleabrown.org

Alondra Nelson switches roles with Mark Anthony Neal as she interviews him about his new book, Looking for Leroy: Illegible Black Masculinities.

Mark Anthony Neal talks with Francesca Royster about her new book, "Sounding Like a No-No: Queer Sounds and Eccentric Acts in the Post-Soul Era".

This week Mark Anthony Neal is joined by sci-fi series director, Keith Josef Adkins to talk about his new series The Abandon. Then Mark sits down to talk with Bettina Love about her new book, "Hip Hop's Li'l Sistas Speak: Negotiating Hip Hop Identities and Politics in the New South".

Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Shola Lynch to talk about her latest documentary project, "Free Angela and All Political Prisoners".