Black Studies @ SIUE and Music

Al Henderson capturing footage for a black studies project  New York City, May 2009

A few years ago, Al Henderson, one of our long-time contributors, became something of a legend among close observers of our program. We were running an online discussion group and our man Henderson was known to make the most intellectual and informative comments. “Who is this dude?” folks would ask. “Where does he hang out? How does he know so much?”

Henderson was a commuter and taking graduate courses in the evenings, so few of the undergraduates came in contact with him. For many of them, he was this invisible figure with a powerful intellectual presence in our circles, always dropping knowledge on the blog. The mysteriousness of it all helped build an aura around the person behind the thoughtful comments.

8 Black Arts Era Poets and 11 Name Changes

He was initially known as Don L. Lee, and during the black arts era, he assumed the name Haki R. Madhubuti.

He was first known as Ronald Snelling. Later, he became known as Askia Toure.

Her name at birth was Yolande Cornelia Giovanni. Over the years, she became known as Nikki Giovanni.

He was born Val Ferdinand III. He became known as Kalamu ya Salaam.

She was initially known as Jewel Latimore. She became known as Johari Amini.

Initially, he published as Laurence P. Neal. Later, it was simply Larry Neal.

She was born as Marguerite Ann Johnson. She became widely known as Maya Angelou.

He was born Everett Leroy Jones. He became known as LeRoi Jones. Later, he became known as Imamu Amiri Baraka and Ameer Baraka, and finally Amiri Baraka.

Related:
A Notebook on the Black Arts Era

A Notebook on the Black Arts Enterprise

Published by the University of Michigan Press in September 2011, my book The Black Arts Enterprise focuses on publishing and social factors associated with African American poetry and the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. As a complement to the book, I blog regularly about the black arts era and figures associated with the movement. 

30 Days of Black Arts Poetry: An Introduction -- As a lead-up to the publication of The Black Arts Enterprise, I published an entry per day in September 2011 related to the black arts era.

The Malcolm X Mixtape

“I'm telling you, the only way you get justice is in the street. The only way you get justice is in the sidewalk. The only way you get justice is when you make justice for yourself.” --Malcolm X

In March 2010, we discovered another way to make justice for yourself: produce a Malcolm X Mixtape. That’s the thought that black studies contributors Adrienne Smith, Dometi Pongo, Al Henderson, and I had as we met and came up with ideas for this black studies project. For us, one goal was to advance black studies by channeling the spirit of Malcolm. We wanted to represent, or perhaps reconfigure, aspects of his vision for modern audiences using new media and innovative delivery styles.

We thought and talked and then thought and talked some more about producing something that might inspire a greater sense of awareness about topics and themes such as politics, anti-black racism, education, slavery, revolution, and justice. The something we came up with was this mixtape, which we released on flash drives. The production contains 10 raps songs by Pongo and 5 original video compositions by Henderson.

Almost all of Pongo’s songs contain samples from Malcolm’s speeches, and more importantly, Pongo continually invokes and projects Malcolm’s black nationalist militancy throughout his compositions. Henderson’s videos remix and ultimately refresh Malcolm’s messages so that we can receive them clearly through these thoughtful compositions.

It has been apparent to listeners and viewers that somewhere along their journeys Pongo and Henderson picked up and polished and now possess all these wonderful and varied fragments of vibrant radicalism, lively ideas, and near magical modes of delivery. It’s like Pongo and Henderson, each in his own way, carry a little Malcolm. The folks who got one of these mixtapes carry a little Malcolm too.

Related:
28 Ways of Thinking about Black Studies & Afrofuturism
The Malcolm X Mixtape
from Pongo’s “Miss Amerikkka”
from Pongo’s “Education (Intro.)”
from Henderson’s “Revolution”
More on the Malcolm X Mixtape
Malcolm Mixtape trailer

Black Studies @ SIUE and Afrofuturism

In the late 1990s, scholar Alondra Nelson organized a listserv discussion group to concentrate on the intersections between race and technology. She called the project “afrofuturism” and encouraged large numbers of artists, scholars, musicians, and students to participate in the conversations. “Afrofuturism is a critical perspective," explained Nelson, "that opens up inquiry into the many overlaps between technoculture and black diasporic histories.”

A few years after the launch of the afrofuturism listserv, I began to participate. I mostly observed and tried to better understand the main concerns of the conversation and developing community. Over the years, I continued to gather information and maintained interest in the many black diasporic and technoculture overlaps.

28 Ways of Thinking about Black Studies & Afrofuturism

"The future is neither an uncritical embrace of the past nor a singular conception of what lies ahead. It's ours for the imagining." --Alondra Nelson

Since becoming director of the program in 2007, I have worked to make technology central to the production of Black Studies @ SIUE. A framework known as afrofuturism, which highlights the intersections between race and technology, served as a crucial guiding force in my approaches to organizing certain kinds of projects and recruiting particular contributors.

For the month of February, we take a look at some of the ways that we have utilized a variety of new media, digital humanities, afrofuturist ideas, and concepts related to speculative narratives to expand knowledge about African American history, culture, and ideas. Perhaps black history month is as good a time as any to reflect on how technology and a framework for understanding African American engagements with the future have shaped our work over the past few years.

Entries:
• 1: Afrofuturism
• 2: The Malcolm X Mixtape
• 3: Music
• 4: Graphic Design
• 5: Listening Devices
• 6: The Black Studies Blog
• 7: The Interactive Reading Group
• 8: Mixed Media exhibits
• 9: Audio recordings 
• 10: Past-future visions
• 11: Blogging about Katherine Dunham
• 12: Blogging about Black Women Poets

Black Studies in February

“The future is always here in the past.” Amiri Baraka

A look at our upcoming programming for February. We'll also run a blog series: 28 Ways of Thinking about Black Studies & Afrofuturism.

• Feb. 1, Wednesday - Black Studies2.0 - An exhibit, which will run through Feb. 16, at the Morris University Art Gallery. The exhibit focuses on how our program has utilized technology, digital humanities, and  a framework known as afrofuturism to shape and invigorate black studies projects. Location: MUC Gallery

• Feb. 1, Wednesday - Public Thinking Activity - 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. - A public thinking exercise for members of the Haley Scholars Program. We also celebrate the opening of our exhibit. All are welcome. Location: MUC Gallery

• Feb. 1, Wednesday - Cindy Lyles & Danielle Hall Reading – 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. - Our program coordinators will participate in a university Black Heritage Month opening celebration. Location: Goshen Lounge 

• Feb. 2, Thursday - Stacey Brown discusses reading - 9:30 - 10:30 a.m. - A listening activity featuring recordings of poet Stacey Brown discussing her approaches to reading as well as her interest in works by major poets. Location: MUC Gallery 

Blogging about Poetry in January 2012

At some point back in early December, I wondered if I would have anything to blog about poetry in 2012. I was probably having one of those writer's...actually blogger's block feelings and unsure whether I could manage. Whatever the case, some ideas came to me, and at least I found some topics worth covering in January.  

[Related content: Blogging about Poetry]

Early on, I discussed unlikely poets such as August Wilson, Malcolm X, and bell hooks. Subjects such as afrofuturism, twitter, and persona poems came up during the month, and recently poet Stacey L. Brown contributed by offering comments on a few poets. I had a good time blogging. Thanks for reading.