Black History (Audio)

In 2002, a UC Santa Cruz college with the theme of social justice and community opened with distinguished professors, politically engaged students, and a number for a name: College Ten. That changed for good, and for better, in 2023 when College Ten was named for John R. Lewis, the late American civil rights leader and politician who stood up to Jim Crow–era segregation in the 1960s. He was one of the key organizers of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The son of Alabama sharecroppers, Lewis went on to become a longstanding congressman. He was elected in 1986 to the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Georgia’s fifth congressional district. He held his post until his death in 2020. The naming endowment will allow the college to advance its mission of justice and social equity with a number of potential projects including the Good Trouble Academy, social justice internships and support, and expansion of programs geared toward the graduates of historically black colleges. Series: "UC Santa Cruz News" [Humanities] [Education] [Show ID: 39283]

Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner and U.S. Representative Barbara Lee speak from the heart about how the Black Church has helped to build African American electoral power. It’s a powerful story with practical lessons for present times. Dr. Williams-Skinner is head of the Skinner Institute and Co-convener of the African American Clergy Network. Rep. Lee represents Berkeley, California. She is a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and now Chair of the House of Representatives’ foreign affairs appropriations subcommittee. Series: "Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 36988]

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" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [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 this UCLA Faculty Lecture. Series: "UCLA Faculty Research Lectures" [Humanities] [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" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [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]

Peter Biggs experienced the transition from slavery to freedom a decade before the outbreak of the Civil War. Jarred Webb portrays the historical figure who lived in Los Angeles and was one of only twelve people in Los Angeles marked 'Black' on the 1850 US Census. Webb is then joined Dan Lynch (UCLA History) to discuss the high (and low) points of his life. Series: "Innovator Stories: Creating Something from Nothing" [Humanities] [Business] [Show ID: 34370]

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]

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Harvard Professor Annette Gordon-Reed for a discussion of her work as a lawyer/historian focusing on the contradictions in the life of Thomas Jefferson. Topics covered in the conversation include how her training as a lawyer empowered her to overturn the conventional historical view of the relationship between Jefferson and Sally Hemings. Professor Gordon-Reed highlights the racism embedded in Jeffersonian historiography; ignoring, for example, factual evidence, which confirmed that Jefferson was the father of Sally Heming’s children. In examining the evolution of Jefferson’s ideas on slavery, Professor Gordon-Reed emphasizes how Jefferson’s theory of slavery evolved as he adapted to the reality of American social and political life. She concludes with an the implications of her work for understanding the present turmoil over black/ white relations in the U.S. today. Series: "Conversations with History" [Humanities] [Show ID: 31519]

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]

Jazz made its path abroad in 1918 during the “Great War” when one black officer, Lt. James Reese Europe, volunteered for service with members of his Harlem Society Orchestra, forming the 369th Regimental Band. Because the U.S. Army did not allow black soldiers to fight alongside white comrades, the soldiers instead fought with the French and earned the moniker “Hellfighters,” along with the Croix de Guerre for their heroism. The Harlem Hellfighters also brought jazz with them, and from Paris the music spread around the globe, becoming the rhythm of the 20th century. The 19th Annual Lytle Benefit Concert pays homage to the Harlem Hellfighters’ enduring legacy and raises scholarship funds for promising students attending the Preuss School at UC San Diego. Series: "Rebecca Lytle Memorial Concerts" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 29489]

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" [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]

MSNBC commentator, columnist for The Nation, and Professor of Political Science at Tulane University, where she serves as founding director of the Project on Gender, Race, and Politics in the South, Melissa Harris-Perry examines black women’s political and emotional responses to pervasive negative race and gender images in her new book, “Sister Citizen.” With wit and family anecdotes, Harris-Perry elaborates on how the shared struggle to preserve an authentic self and secure recognition as a citizen links black women together in America. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 23035]

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]