The Slap Heard Round the World, or What is the Sound of One Hand Clapping?
The Oscars have figured out how to make this long, boring show interesting: Have the participants assault each other.
By Gerald Early
The Rise, Fall, and Rise of One of the Most Remarkable Jews in America
James Traub’s short biography of Judah Benjamin is a fine, highly accessible introduction not only to Benjamin but to the subject of southern Jews, their relationship to the Confederacy, and their experience as slaveholders.
Black History Month: An Origin Story
This was a hard lesson. But I was not traumatized by it. I had learned enough from Negro History Week to know that there were Black people who had it a lot tougher and had learned harder lessons in a harder way. They soldiered on. I would not be much of a Black person if I let something like this really get me down.
Whoopi Goldberg and Why Blacks See Jews in the Way They Do
Goldberg's views about Jews and race have nothing to do with the Holocaust or Nazi Germany and everything to do with Blacks and Jews in the United States.
Fifty Songs Featuring Cities and Urban Life
For almost every metropolis—and even a few towns—with streets, neighborhoods, and businesses there is a song with melody, harmony, and a beat.
Fifty Songs Featuring Cities and Urban Life
For almost every metropolis—and even a few towns—with streets, neighborhoods, and businesses there is a song with melody, harmony, and a beat.
Ninety-eight Years Ago on January 27, India’s Most Famous Film Star Was Born
His screen tests bowled over Korda, Flaherty, and everyone connected with the film. He was absolutely the most winning child they had ever encountered. He was, well, utterly gorgeous, not just his looks, but his manner, his air, his aura. Selar Shalik, who would come to be known simply as "Sabu," did not speak a word of English.
The Flame and the Arrow
All the Young Men became my equivalent of Burt Lancaster’s The Flame and the Arrow, the Black boy’s fantasy movie about an impossibly heroic person, an impossibly competent person, who fights for king and country. Poitier’s character made me proud to be an American, made me feel as if I was an American without any hesitation or crippling doubt.
Twelfth Night Blues
For Black Americans, the questions might be asked, what does Christmas mean to us? And how can we make Christmas something usable for us? If, as Frederick Douglass argues, Christmas was tainted by the power politics of slavery, as the stories in Collier-Thomas’s collection make clear, it was equally tainted by Jim Crow and segregation.
Jungle Boogie: Some Reflections on Nick Stewart, Victor Millan and the “Minority” Actor
Millan had some of the same challenges as Black actor in dealing with certain types of “minority” roles, but he also had some advantages in getting more roles. Latino actors were often all-purpose “minority” actors, playing East Indians, Native Americans, Spaniards, Mexicans, any of a wide swath of so-called “people of color.”
Earning the Faith
I was so stunned the first time I heard “And the Glory of the Lord” that I thought I would faint. My heart pounded like a runaway train. It was for me at that young age the most beautiful thing I ever heard in my life. And I heard it that day and thought, “If I could be a Christian as beautiful as that music; if I could, as a Christian, help make the world as beautiful as that music, that would be something!”
Goldfinger and How James Bond Becomes a Cultural Behemoth
As all the commentators have noted, "Goldfinger" provided the template for future Bond movies. First, a title song played over the opening credits. Second, a pre-credits action sequence which has become the sine qua non of the Bond movie. Third, "Goldfinger" made technological and mechanical gadgets a permanent aspect of the Bond film effect.