http://www.thedefendersonline.com A civil rights blog promoting informed discourse on issues of race, justice, equality and democracy. Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:17:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/06/04/1920s-heyday-the-harlem-renaissance-remembered/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/06/04/1920s-heyday-the-harlem-renaissance-remembered/#comments Sat, 05 Jun 2010 03:12:06 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=13777 Eisa Nefertari Ulen The Harlem Renaissance Remembered is an innovative compilation of poetry, sound, and substance. Featuring Jonathan Gross, Ph.D., a Professor of English at DePaul University, and musician “Mack” Jay Jordan, who played with Ramsey Lewis and Nat King Cole during a decades-long career that took him around the world, this CD will appeal to jazz enthusiasts and educators, poets and poetry lovers, avid readers and admirers of all things Renaissance. ]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/06/04/1920s-heyday-the-harlem-renaissance-remembered/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/06/04/parallel-worlds-black-americasfortunate-tenth/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/06/04/parallel-worlds-black-americasfortunate-tenth/#comments Sat, 05 Jun 2010 03:11:34 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=13789 Lee A. Daniels Parallel Worlds: The Remarkable Gibbs-Hunts and the Enduring (In)significance of Melanin fleshes out this much-maligned group by focusing on two individuals whose lives as much as any in the small black haute-bourgeoisie that existed from the 1860s to the 1950s embodied the groups’ remarkable status.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/06/04/parallel-worlds-black-americasfortunate-tenth/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/06/03/%e2%80%9cto-kill-a-mockingbird%e2%80%9d-who-does-atticus-finch-represent/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/06/03/%e2%80%9cto-kill-a-mockingbird%e2%80%9d-who-does-atticus-finch-represent/#comments Thu, 03 Jun 2010 11:54:49 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=13758 Lee A. Daniels Why is there so much focus on the “heroism” of Atticus Finch in confronting the racism of the town’s (and region’s) legal system and so little discussion of the fact that he lost.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/06/03/%e2%80%9cto-kill-a-mockingbird%e2%80%9d-who-does-atticus-finch-represent/feed/ 4 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/05/28/damon-wayans-pens-novel-of-transformation/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/05/28/damon-wayans-pens-novel-of-transformation/#comments Sat, 29 May 2010 02:43:29 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=13701 Eisa Nefertari Ulen Damon Wayans, the second-eldest son in one of Black Hollywood’s most successful family dynasties has written the perfect summer beach read novel with surprising insights into and empathy for a demographic very different than his own.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/05/28/damon-wayans-pens-novel-of-transformation/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/04/16/henrietta-lacks-how-a-black-woman%e2%80%99s-cells-fueled-medical-progress/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/04/16/henrietta-lacks-how-a-black-woman%e2%80%99s-cells-fueled-medical-progress/#comments Fri, 16 Apr 2010 17:34:33 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=13164 Janet Singleton Throughout much of her childhood Deborah Lacks had no idea what became of her mother. Yet her mother even then, in the 50s and 60s, was famous. Random readers, undergrad science students, and ordinary lab technicians knew of HeLa: a still-growing cell line obtained from the cancerous cervical tumor of Henrietta Lacks, a black woman who died from the malignancy in 1951. ]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/04/16/henrietta-lacks-how-a-black-woman%e2%80%99s-cells-fueled-medical-progress/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/23/%e2%80%9cbacking-down-was-simply-not-an-option%e2%80%9d-terrence-roberts-and-lessons-from-little-rock/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/23/%e2%80%9cbacking-down-was-simply-not-an-option%e2%80%9d-terrence-roberts-and-lessons-from-little-rock/#comments Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:37:40 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12775 By Lee A. Daniels Lessons provides the important benefit of understanding, in full measure, the spirit that drove thousands of black Americans from the most ordinary of circumstances to forcefully but nonviolently confront white southerners’ threats and use of physical and economic reprisals]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/23/%e2%80%9cbacking-down-was-simply-not-an-option%e2%80%9d-terrence-roberts-and-lessons-from-little-rock/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/16/new-book-explores-link-between-blackness-and-crime/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/16/new-book-explores-link-between-blackness-and-crime/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:31:40 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12672 Imani Perry Khalil Gibran Muhammad introduces his book, The Condemnation of Blackness: Race Crime and the Making of Modern America, with a contemporary lens. He cites the dire reality that “Nearly half of the more than two million Americans behind bars are African American…” and describes the commonplace of associating blackness with crime in the contemporary United States.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/16/new-book-explores-link-between-blackness-and-crime/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/09/hollyhood-real-life-in-la-la-land/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/09/hollyhood-real-life-in-la-la-land/#comments Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:05:13 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12583 Eisa Nefertari Ulen As we digest and debate the results of the 82nd Annual Academy Awards—including the racial aspects of various wins and nominations—Hollywood insider Valerie Joyner’s debut novel, Hollyhood, has special resonance and relevance.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/03/09/hollyhood-real-life-in-la-la-land/feed/ 2 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/23/tara-betts-arc-hue/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/23/tara-betts-arc-hue/#comments Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:44:11 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12445 Eisa Nefertari Ulen In her debut collection of poetry, Arc & Hue, Tara Betts articulates deeply-felt human emotion in a lyrical, beautiful way. Betts is a poet for the people.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/23/tara-betts-arc-hue/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/12/a-wish-after-midnight-young-adult-novel-with-lessons-for-all-ages/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/12/a-wish-after-midnight-young-adult-novel-with-lessons-for-all-ages/#comments Fri, 12 Feb 2010 21:35:42 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12346 Paula L. Woods A Wish After Midnight is written with a lyrical grace that many authors of what passes for adult literature would envy as it examines universal themes of finding lost love, belief in one’s dreams and the power of friendship.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/12/a-wish-after-midnight-young-adult-novel-with-lessons-for-all-ages/feed/ 5 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/09/the-black-book-at-35-still-rich-relevant-and-revealing/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/09/the-black-book-at-35-still-rich-relevant-and-revealing/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:24:40 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12291 Eisa Nefertari Ulen In his introduction to The Black Book, Bill Cosby called it “a scrapbook…a folk journey of Black America…beautiful, haunting, curious, informative, and human,” and it is as intimate, revealing, heartbreaking, and uplifting as any treasured family album can be.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/09/the-black-book-at-35-still-rich-relevant-and-revealing/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/02/david-ruggles-frederick-douglass%e2%80%99-first-professor-of-abolitionism/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/02/david-ruggles-frederick-douglass%e2%80%99-first-professor-of-abolitionism/#comments Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:30:06 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12192 Graham Hodges In early September, 1838, the man who would become Frederick Douglass, the foremost black abolitionist of the nineteenth century, arrived in New York City, well aware that he still faced danger from the “slave catchers” who roamed the streets seeking to kidnap unwary blacks. Through fortuitous circumstance, Frederick Bailey, as he was then called, soon met David Ruggles, the city’s leading black abolitionist—and Frederick Douglass’ first and perhaps most influential professor of radical abolitionism.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/02/02/david-ruggles-frederick-douglass%e2%80%99-first-professor-of-abolitionism/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/26/ringshout-literary-salon-on-push-precious-and-erasure/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/26/ringshout-literary-salon-on-push-precious-and-erasure/#comments Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:19:59 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=12080 Eisa Nefertari Ulen The controversial film Precious, released to great acclaim in November, is still making news. With Mo’Nique’s Golden Globe Awards win for Best Supporting Actress (with Oscar nods expected to follow), and eight NAACP Image Award nominations, the story of a teen abused every which way by both her mother and father provides fertile ground for introspection and discussion.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/26/ringshout-literary-salon-on-push-precious-and-erasure/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/15/the-cornel-west-you-don%e2%80%99t-know/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/15/the-cornel-west-you-don%e2%80%99t-know/#comments Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:15:26 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11893 George E. Curry I thought I knew Cornel West, the most public of public intellectuals. But it was not until I read his memoir, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud that I realized how much I didn’t know about my friend.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/15/the-cornel-west-you-don%e2%80%99t-know/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/05/bound-to-cotton/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/05/bound-to-cotton/#comments Tue, 05 Jan 2010 21:54:44 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11743 Lee A. Daniels In 1865, the North’s victory in the Civil War freed black Americans from slavery. But it did not free them from cotton.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2010/01/05/bound-to-cotton/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/12/18/a-conversation-with-jabari-asim/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/12/18/a-conversation-with-jabari-asim/#comments Sat, 19 Dec 2009 02:17:29 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11553 Eisa Nefertari Ulen It is entirely fitting that Jabari Asim’s debut fiction, A Taste of Honey, is published in this, the year after Change. Everything is different now that the President of the United States is a black man. Everything changes in Asim’s collection of connected short stories, too—not because a leader is on the rise, but because one is shot down.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/12/18/a-conversation-with-jabari-asim/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/12/08/the-thrill-is-on-attica-locke%e2%80%99s-black-water-rising/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/12/08/the-thrill-is-on-attica-locke%e2%80%99s-black-water-rising/#comments Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:24:57 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11457 Eisa Nefertari Ulen Attica Locke has added her name to the list of best black genre fiction with her debut thriller, Black Water Rising, acclaimed by many, from The New York Times to The Seattle Times, and named Booklist Best Debut Crime Novel of 2009.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/12/08/the-thrill-is-on-attica-locke%e2%80%99s-black-water-rising/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/12/01/funny-literary-funky-hip-victor-lavalle%e2%80%99s-big-machine/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/12/01/funny-literary-funky-hip-victor-lavalle%e2%80%99s-big-machine/#comments Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:02:34 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11350 By Eisa Nefertari Ulen Victor LaValle’s third book belongs on your shelf if you enjoy fine literary work from African-American writers. Or if you like to kick back on a wild ride with a fast read. Or if you dig genre fiction.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/12/01/funny-literary-funky-hip-victor-lavalle%e2%80%99s-big-machine/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/11/20/remembering-scottsboro/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/11/20/remembering-scottsboro/#comments Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:25:02 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11264 Ellen Feldman In March, 1931, as the Depression was deepening and 200,000 young people under the age of twenty-one were hoboing the country in search of an odd job, or a few scraps of food, or the little bit of fun that was supposed to be the birthright of youth, a group of young black and white men got into a fight on a freight train going from Chattanooga to Memphis, Tennessee, by way of northern Alabama. No crime in America, let alone a crime never committed, has resulted in as many trials, convictions, reversals, retrials, and Supreme Court decisions, including a seminal 1935 ruling. Collectively, the nine young men spent more than a hundred years in some of the worst jails and prisons in Depression-era America. Only one of them lived to be pardoned.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/11/20/remembering-scottsboro/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/29/%e2%80%98our-need-to-belong%e2%80%99-elizabeth-nunez-and-anna-in-between/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/29/%e2%80%98our-need-to-belong%e2%80%99-elizabeth-nunez-and-anna-in-between/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:43:22 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=11010 Eisa Nefertari Ulen Anna In-Between, the seventh book from acclaimed author Elizabeth Nunez, is one of the finest novels published this year. Nunez has made each word choice with the economy of a poet. The result is elegant prose: substantive, meaningful, but never wordy or clunky, just beautifully satisfying and thought-provoking.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/29/%e2%80%98our-need-to-belong%e2%80%99-elizabeth-nunez-and-anna-in-between/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/21/nelson-mandela-the-authorized-comic-book/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/21/nelson-mandela-the-authorized-comic-book/#comments Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:00:36 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=10922 Paula L. Woods “Young people read comics,” Mandela said in a 2005 speech that launched the autobiographical series on his life. “The hope is that the elementary reading of comics will lead them to the joy of reading good books….If the comic reaches new readers, then the project will have been worthwhile.”]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/10/21/nelson-mandela-the-authorized-comic-book/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/09/11/stormy-weather-the-rich-rough-road-of-lena-horne/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/09/11/stormy-weather-the-rich-rough-road-of-lena-horne/#comments Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:25:07 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=10384 Eisa Nefertari Ulen In many ways, James Gavin’s book tells the story of black America from the last lights of the Harlem Renaissance to the shining star that is the nation’s first black president. By focusing on Lena Horne, the trailblazer / activist / singer / actor/ dancer / icon, her rough road from the indignities of the segregated Cotton Club to an Upper East Side home is made clear.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/09/11/stormy-weather-the-rich-rough-road-of-lena-horne/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/09/04/working-for-freedom-the-naacp-and-the-making-of-the-civil-rights-movement%e2%80%9d/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/09/04/working-for-freedom-the-naacp-and-the-making-of-the-civil-rights-movement%e2%80%9d/#comments Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:59:08 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=10263 Lee A. Daniels Writing with an easy command of a mountain of material that encompasses six decades of enormous changes in America, Sullivan shows how critical the NAACP, now celebrating its centennial, was to the Civil Rights Movement’s ultimate legal and legislative victories that made the United States a democracy in fact not just in rhetoric.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/09/04/working-for-freedom-the-naacp-and-the-making-of-the-civil-rights-movement%e2%80%9d/feed/ 0 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/08/19/street-lit-kindle-and-the-exotic-other-interview-with-mosaic-magazine-founder-ron-kavanaugh/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/08/19/street-lit-kindle-and-the-exotic-other-interview-with-mosaic-magazine-founder-ron-kavanaugh/#comments Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:36:44 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=9965 Eisa Nefertari Ulen In 1998, Ron Kavanaugh founded Mosaic, a literary magazine that celebrates the work of contemporary African-American and Latino writers. Ten years later, Mosaic still publishes reviews of literary work, interviews with important writers, and art that folk can dig. Recent covers include first time novelist Marlon James, Dark Room Collective Co- Founder Thomas Sayers Ellis, and author of The Beautiful Struggle, Ta-Nehisi Coates.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/08/19/street-lit-kindle-and-the-exotic-other-interview-with-mosaic-magazine-founder-ron-kavanaugh/feed/ 1 http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/06/23/an-unsettling-peek-into-the-heart-of-america%e2%80%99s-darkness%e2%80%94a-review-of-danzy-senna%e2%80%99s-where-did-you-sleep-last-night-a-personal-history/ http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/06/23/an-unsettling-peek-into-the-heart-of-america%e2%80%99s-darkness%e2%80%94a-review-of-danzy-senna%e2%80%99s-where-did-you-sleep-last-night-a-personal-history/#comments Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:58:42 +0000 The Editors http://www.thedefendersonline.com/?p=8644 Pamela Newkirk Senna's characters are not the stuff of fiction, but are drawn from her real life. From shards of truths, half-truths, legend, and a searing search into her personal history, Senna reveals a larger truth of America's character of racial mixing, undue pride and shame, and unreconciled identities.]]> http://www.thedefendersonline.com/2009/06/23/an-unsettling-peek-into-the-heart-of-america%e2%80%99s-darkness%e2%80%94a-review-of-danzy-senna%e2%80%99s-where-did-you-sleep-last-night-a-personal-history/feed/ 1