A Cultural Confluence: African-American Literature in Europe |1992-41 The Fabres’ Initiative: “The initial step was ours. We created the occasion,” Genevieve Fabre told me last month in Paris on the campus of the... Read More
Barbara B. Lewis
Barbara Lewis heads the Trotter Institute at UMass Boston, where she is a faculty member in English. As a Francophone scholar, she co-translated Faulkner, Mississippi by Edouard Glissant, published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. As a cultural historian, she has published on lynching in drama, the minstrel stage, and the black arts movement. Dr. Lewis has taught at City, Lehman, New York University, and the University of Kentucky. She also blogs for The Public Humanist, and is a board member at New Federal Theater.
Ashton Springer – Betting on “Lotto” | 1992-43 After a long absence Ashton Springer who made history back in 1970 as the producer of No Place to be Somebody, the first black play to win a Pulitzer Prize, has... Read More
The Dark Past Has Taught Us "Lift every voice and sing, 'Til earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmony of Liberty ... ."... Read More
Fighter Laurence Holder, Back in the Ring – Part II For decades, Laurence Holder has been showing and strengthening his mettle with words on a page, working in the arena of character, meaning, and emotion,... Read More
Remembering Muhammad Ali 7 min read Ali was also aware that his own genes were the carriers of a much confused and convoluted history. “I am America. I am the part you won’t recognize,” Ali said when he announced his name change in the 1960s, following his trip to the continent of Africa with Malcolm X.... Read More
Your work fascinates me, Laurence, because it is so strong in history. It brings what was into now, but that history is not always appreciated. “Your reading is dead on, Barbara. The reason why I’m interested in African American history is because our tales are not told. I was just talking on the phone with a friend and we were amazed that Prince and Michael Jackson coexisted at the same time, doing all of the fantastic music and creating music at the same time. Our artistry and our stories are always being separated out.”... Read More
“Not Tucking Tail This Time” 3 min read It was Shakespeare’s birthday, in the year 2016, 400 years after the poet of the ages passed. I chose to honor April 23 by looking... Read More
“Braving The Odds” & “Under The Elevated” 2 min read Braving the Odds depicts and explores Street Style. Under The Elevated – A Poem. Just before New Year’s Eve, 2016, I took this photograph... Read More