36 Search results for "renaissance"

What Black History Month Doesn’t Teach You About the Harlem Renaissance
As one looks more into the politics of respectability—a discourse that displays how many members of the black middle class strive to silence what they deem to be the moral inadequacies of those most marginalized—we are able to identify historical instances that were stifled in their time period and still today. We must reclaim the […]
Print Never Left: Black Writers on Archiving and Self-Published Print Media
by Dr. Ravynn K. Stringfield Social media is currently flooded with messages from people encouraging others online to “get into print media” or “go analog,” while simultaneously bemoaning the loss of politically aware print media that centered marginalized voices—RIP Bitch Media—and a dearth of media that represent our experiences. However, for Black artists, writers and […]
BYP x AIRGO
Black Youth Project joins forces with Chicago podcast, AIRGO, for a year-long series featuring our favorite Black academics and activists. Stay tuned for a new episode each month! COMING SOON! More About AIRGO AirGo is a weekly podcast and cultural media hub in Chicago, showcasing the artists, rappers, poets, musicians, organizers, and changemakers reshaping the […]
How hip-hop helped reimagine Black presence in horror
by Andrew Keahey I can remember the exact moment that hip-hop and the horror genre intersected for me. I was spending the night with a friend. We had played some games and listened to the local chart-topper radio station, then he suggested we watch The Fly (1986). I recall telling him that I wasn’t sure […]
The excellence of Black Hollywood doesn’t need to be validated by mainstream awards
by Khaaliq Crowder As a Black millennial, I sometimes forget about the advantage that folks of my generation have as opposed to our grandparents and older relatives when it comes to media representation. Black people weren’t always in movies, and when we were, our presence was seldom. My grandparents, who grew in the 1930s and […]
Why do so many others want to claim Blackness if it means oppression?
By Inigo Laguda It is the most enthralling and excruciating time to be Black. Recently, it seems, some have managed access to glide through avenues that were previously concealed from us—to break down walls that were once erected to ostracize us. We are in the belly of a Black artistic renaissance and some of these […]
Saying “I am not my ancestors” blatantly disrespects how they lived and died for us
Ja’Loni Amor Owens In 2016, arguably the peak of activist apparel’s popularity, a number of businesses began to sell t-shirts, crewnecks, tote bags, buttons, pins and stickers with variations of the following: “I am not my ancestors; you can catch these hands”. It is understandable why variations of this phrase caught on so quickly. The […]
National Geographic and the New York Times own up to racist, sexist legacies
It’s not everyday that mainstream publications constructively critique where they went wrong in the past, but recently two high-readership organizations shared their focus on more sensitive coverage moving forward. Both National Geographic and the New York Times admitted recently that their staffs produced coverage that often affirmed and celebrated the lived experiences of powerful white men at […]
Waiting for Wakanda: Black joy on film as epic resistance
*A note from our Deputy Editor: The themes at Black Youth Project during the month of February are Black Joy and Black Love. It is also Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month. We are interested in publishing works that address these topics, the connections thereof, and the things surrounding them* Since the birth of film, we […]
Pre-NOI Malcolm X and Redd Foxx’s misadventures to be explored in new comedic cartoon, ‘Little Red’
Kenan Weaver and Darren Williams are set to premiere their new cartoon, Little Red, which follows a pre-Nation of Islam Malcolm Little (Malcolm X) and John Sanford (Redd Foxx) backed by Emmy-winning Titmouse Productions. The title is a nod to the pair’s names during that period of their lives as Little went by Detroit Red […]
Twitter bans some white supremacists from their platform, but efforts still feel hollow
Twitter took the step Monday of banning some white supremacists and groups from using its platform, most of them connected with the anti-immigrant Britain First group that Donald Trump recently retweeted to instant and swift backlash. Also included in the sweeping bans were individuals connected with League of the South and American Renaissance. This move […]
NPR releases Best Books of 2017 app, here are some picks by Black writers
If you’re a book lover, a literature lover, or a writer of any sort who needs recommendations on what to read, you’re in luck because NPR has released a “best of” list of over three hundred books in several different genres. I have gone through the trouble of looking through the list for work by […]