African American / Black Studies - Columbia University Press Blog

November 11, 2008

Who Was Hubert Harrison?: A Post by Jeffrey B. Perry

The following post is by Jeffrey B. Perry, author of the just-published Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1883-1918: Hubert Harrison (1883-1927) is one of the truly important figures of early twentieth-century America. A brilliant writer, orator, educator, critic,...

October 22, 2008

Frederick Douglass Opie Discusses Soul Food on NPR

Is soul food healthy? What was the connection between soul food and the Black Power movement of the 1960s? How did European exploration affect West African food? These are just some of the questions that Frederick Douglass Opie, author of...

September 4, 2008

Interview with Houston Baker on Open Salon

“[I]n the present economy black intellectuals are invited to the grand salon and are asked to sit down at the table, and discuss the next issue of neoconservative declaration of bad black behavior. It’s kind of astonishing from a perspective...

May 16, 2008

An Interview with Houston Baker in Diverse Magazine

Interest in Houston Baker’s Betrayal: How Black Intellectuals Have Abandoned the Ideals of the Civil Rights Movement continues as evidenced by the interview he gave to Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. You can hear or read the interview. In the...

April 21, 2008

Review of Betrayal from the Los Angeles Times

Friday’s Los Angeles Times had a review of Houston Baker’s Betrayal: How Black Intellectuals Have Abandoned the Ideals of the Civil Rights Era. The review offers a very good summary of Baker’s argument and his critiques of prominent Black intellectuals:...

April 17, 2008

Review of Betrayal

The blog Prometheus 6 has posted an interesting review of Houston Baker’s Betrayal: How Black Intellectuals Have Abandoned the Ideals of the Civil Rights Era. There is also a video available of Houston Baker participating on a special panel with...

April 8, 2008

Houston Baker on National Public Radio

Houston Baker appeared on NPR’s News and Notes yesterday to discuss his book Betrayal: How Black Intellectuals Have Abandoned the Ideals of the Civil Rights Era. In the interview Baker discusses his upbringing in Louisville’s Little Africa, how Shelby Steele...

April 7, 2008

Houston Baker on Martin Luther King

This past weekend on the occasion of the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination, many commentators explored the legacy on Martin Luther King. In his new book Betrayal: How Black Intellectuals Have Abandoned the Ideals of the Civil Rights Era,...

March 14, 2008

Houston Baker on the "Prison-Industrial" Complex

According to a new report from the Pew Center on the States, for the first time in the nation’s history, more than one in 100 American adults are now in prison. For minority groups the rate is even higher: one...

February 26, 2008

Black History Month: The Education of Booker T. Washington

Continuing our series of postings on Black History Month, we turn to Michael West’s The Education of Booker T. Washington: American Democracy and the Idea of Race Relations. In the book, West explores the power and influence of Washington’s ideas...

February 12, 2008

Black History Month II: Focus on Literature

In The Columbia Guide to Contemporary African American Literature, winner of the Before Columbus Foundations 2006 American Book Awards, Darryl Dickson-Carr has written a definitive guide to contemporary African American literature from Ishmael Reed and Toni Morrison to Colson Whitehead...

Category: African American / Black Studies