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.
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
"Always Learning", Part I  This interview with Robbie McCauley, award-winning actress, inaugurates Wylie Avenue Views, a column about art and activism. Wylie Avenue is real and imaginary. It runs down the center of August Wilson’s ten play urban saga and it is forever alive, pulsing with music and ideas and new possibilities.... Read More
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