[ By: Meleah Perez ] Melvin Van Peebles passed away Sept. 21, 2021, at the age of 89, but his legacy lives on in the Project on the History of Black Writing database. Many in the cinema industry regard him as a pioneer, a trailblazer, a giant, but before Van Peebles was the godfather of Black cinema, he was Van Peebles, the writer. Like many […]
[By: Kai Hansen, BLS Co-Chair 2020] As HBW’s 9th annual Black Literary Suite is coming to an end, I find myself reflecting on HBW’s team and all the hard work that has gone into this event. In order to highlight our amazing staff members, and give you all a better idea of what all goes into BLS, I interviewed the team responsible for the 2020 […]
[By C. Liegh McInnis] The film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, which chronicles the life of television icon Fred Rogers (aka Mister Rogers), reminded me that the “what” or the “subject” of art is equally as important as the “how” or the “crafting” of it. However, what gives Queen and Slim its power and beauty is the manner in which Lena Waithe and Melina […]
[By: Jade Harrison] On October 24th, 2019, Oscar award-winning director, screenwriter, and KU Film and Media Studies Professor, Kevin Willmott, delivered the 2019 Bill Tuttle Distinguished Lecture in American Studies. Established in 2008, the Tuttle Lecture honors the teaching legacy of Professor Emeritus Bill Tuttle, who taught in KU’s American Studies department, and focuses on his main research interests which include African-American history and culture […]
[by Meredith Wiggins] KU’s Langston Hughes Center sponsored a screening of recent Best Picture nominee Selma followed by a panel discussion about the film and its resonances to current-day issues on Wednesday, March 25. More than 200 students, faculty, and community members attended the screening in Wescoe Hall. Selma depicts the 1965 civil rights marches from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital of Montgomery, and […]
January 19, 2015 will be an ordinary day. It will not be, as a person from Maine might say, a “wicked good” day. It will be twenty-four hours occupying a square on a calendar, another SNAFU day in the United States of America. Nothing that is mind-shattering, body-alarming or soul-fracking will occur that did not already happen. There will be no mail delivery, of course, […]
[By Meredith Wiggins] Here at the HBW offices, we’re working through the much-needed process of taking a complete re-inventory of our large collections of novels, plays, books of poetry, pamphlets, critical works, and other assorted African American cultural productions. It’s a fairly massive undertaking, but it’s led to some fantastic (re-)discoveries–especially for me, since I’m still fairly new to staff and haven’t had much of […]