African-American culture history in general

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The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain
By Langston Hughes, The Nation, 23 June 1926. A central figure in the Harlem Renaissance urges black intellectuals and artists to break free of the artificial standards set for them by whites.
‘Race Men’ Questions Images of Black Masculinity
By Farhan Haq, IPS, 8 September 1998. Review of Hazel Carby’s Race Men. Carby can be both a subtle and yet strongly ideological writer, who can use feminist theory to bring out new dimensions of even such all-male enclaves as the world of be-bop music. How some African-American men confronted and often rejected the expectations that their roles as public black men imposed on them.
Everybody loves Mike Jordan...but does Mike care about anybody else?
By Doug Casner, 16 January 1999. Michael Jordan’s association with Nike, famous for making billions off the backs of 3rd World workers. He has become wealthy in part from the suffering of others—and there can be no excuse for such a decision.
Review of Redemption Song: Muhammad Ali and the Spirit of the Sixties, by Michael Marqusee
Reviewed by Kofi Natambu, Ishmael Reed’s Konch Magazine, 20 March 2000. The most lucid, succinct, intellectually honest and even-handed account of what Ali and the various black political and cultural movements for radical social change really meant to its massive legions of fans and supporters throughout the world.
Studies Challenge Belief That Black Students’ Esteem Enhances Achievement
By Michael A. Fletcher, Washington Post, 26 March 2000. Studies suggest that African American youth may have a self-esteem at least as great as their white counterparts, for it is more interior than socially-constructed. Egos can be healthy enough because people may not apply societal feelings to themselves. self-esteem as a catchall phrase that perhaps belittles our own children.
A Free-Wheeling Conversation With Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee
In Back Stage, 9 March 2001. They discuss why performing artists are less political today. Now the whole struggle is in disarray. We have freedom. What we don’t have is equality. There is still a patronizing attitude in the media towards African-Americans: most of the time he’s still there to be the white hero’s sidekick or to save a white woman.
Haiti’s upheaval chagrins dancer
By Alva James-Johnson, Sun Sentinal, 24 February 2004. For 69 years, Katherine Dunham has tried to help Haiti. In the 1930s, the famous dancer and anthropologist, considered the matriarch of African-American dance, fell in love with the country and documented its ritual music and dances.
Urban Radio 2001: The Brain Cancer of Black America
By Chuck D, Public Enemy, 18 February 2001. The obvious mind-controlled condition of my so-called black community. The control in any neighborhood are its educational, economic, enforcement, and environmental components. In 2001 these might include black faces but little cultural reflection. Stations don’t support local artists.
Ohio Lawsuit Challenges Harebrained Hairbraiding Regulations
From the Institute for Justice, 31 October 1997. The Ohio State Board of Cosmetology claims that African-style hairbraiders are cosmetologists and as cosmetologists, they must spend 1,500 hours (approximately nine months) and several thousand dollars to go to an approved cosmetology school and then pass a Board examination. Schools, instructors, and salons also must obtain licenses.
What's Love Got To Do With It: Politics, Care, and the New Millennium
By Isaiah Leroy, 29 March 2001. In making the argument that places love and self-esteem in the center, it seems that there is something missing. The fact that we were able to survive through the enslavement, through Jim Crow, and through various and sundry forms of subjugation stands as a testament to our ability to love ourselves. What we don't have enough of, are organized attempts to re-allocate state resources to meet our needs.
A 19th-Century Ghost Awakens to Redefine ‘Soul’
By Molly O'Neill, marxist-leninist-list, 1 December 2007. Southern poverty cooking was mistakenly established as the single and universal African-American cuisine. A slave cook book reflects a complex, cosmopolitan food inspired by European cuisine.