Mark Anthony Neal (@NewBlackMan on X)

The Brotherhood? Duke Basketball and the Legacy of Black Durham by Mark Anthony Neal Few of Duke University Basketball’s most fervent fans, or haters, I imagine are as knowledgeable of Dr. John Hope Franklin, as they are…

Duke Basketball is the # 1 ranked college basketball team in the nation, but are they #1 in the hearts of Black Durham?

The Brotherhood? Duke Basketball and the Legacy of Black Durham | Mark Anthony Neal
medium.com/p/e5dd14b8f10e

The Bronx Slave Market Ella Baker, the great socialist and civil rights organizer, was born this day in 1903. Here's her classic 1935 article on economic exploitation and black domestic workers in Great Depression–era New Y...

'Ella Baker, the great socialist and civil rights organizer, was born this day in 1903. Here's her classic 1935 article on economic exploitation and black domestic workers in Great Depression–era New York.'

The Bronx Slave Market | Ella Baker & Marvel Cooke
jacobin.com/2018/12/ella...

This just reminded me that I have this vinyl.

*blasts Portuguese Love*

The Story of Lady T: Remembering Teena Marie by Mark Anthony Neal In a 1985 profile in People Magazine, the late Rick James called Teena Marie “the most important White female singer since Barbara…

'15-plus years after her death at the age of 54, Teena Marie is remembered as an important contributor to R&B and Soul music, who against all logic sustained a 30-year-plus singing career with an overwhelmingly Black audience base.'

medium.com/p/1631ae97989a
#BlackSkyOver50

Left of Black | Black Women of the Southhampton Slave Revolt with Vanessa M. Holden YouTube video by John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke U.

Historian Vanessa M. Holden visited #LeftOfBlack to discuss her book, 'Surviving Southampton: African American Women and Resistance in Nat Turner's Community'
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGeQ...

#WomensHistoryMonth
#BlackWomensHistory
@illinoispress.bsky.social

The Black Male Teacher Pipeline is Broken: Solutions from the Community Increasing diversity among teachers is more complicated than is often portrayed.

"Black men now represent only about 2% of teachers nationwide—a noticeable drop from 6.5% in the 2017-2018 school year. The declining presence of Black male teachers...tells us in no uncertain terms: the nation struggles to recruit & keep male teachers of color."
www.theeduledger.com/views/articl...

Blackout in Cuba leaves millions without power amid US oil chokehold Latest outage darkens island facing dwindling oil reserves and increasing pressure from Washington

Blackout in Cuba leaves millions without power amid US oil chokehold

Latest outage darkens island facing dwindling oil reserves and increasing pressure from Washington
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Left of Black | Small Talk with DJ Lynnée Denise on Rock Legend Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton YouTube video by John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke U.

Before there was Elvis's "Hound Dog", there was "Big Mama" Thornton's "Hound Dog"

DJ Lynnée Denise on the Legacy of Rock 'n Roll Pioneer Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton
www.youtube.com/watch?v=syKZ...

#LeftOfBlack
#WomensHistoryMonth
#BlackWomensHistory

Delroy Lindo on the cultural impact of 'Sinners' and his Oscar-nominated performance "Sinners," directed by Ryan Coogler, made Academy Awards history recently when it garnered a record 16 Oscar nominations. One, for Best Supporting Actor, went to Delroy Lindo, a 73-year-old now receiv...

"it always resonated in terms of it being a story about a community that is infiltrated, a vibrant community, a vibrant self-sustaining community.

What happens when that community is infiltrated? And from that standpoint, it felt very, very, very contemporary to me."
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

What Will Be Left After the University of Texas Destroys Itself? UT-Austin has collapsed its race, ethnic, and gender studies into a single program while a new policy asks faculty to avoid “controversial” topics. But the attacks won’t end there.

What Will Be Left After the University of Texas Destroys Itself?

UT-Austin has collapsed its race, ethnic, and gender studies into a single program while a new policy asks faculty to avoid “controversial” topics. But the attacks won’t end there.
www.thenation.com/article/soci... | @thenation.com

Maya Angelou & James Baldwin in Conversation | THIRTEEN YouTube video by THIRTEEN

'Novelist, essayist and outspoken civil rights activist James Baldwin sat down with Maya Angelou, his longtime friend and fellow author, for an intimate, wide-ranging exchange in 1975.'
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut-Z... | @thirteenwnet.bsky.social

An enslaved potter left messages for the future, inscribed in clay Several groups lay claim to artisan David Drake: a museum, a county, and his descendants. His work serves to illuminate America’s fractured past.

An enslaved potter left messages for the future, inscribed in clay
www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/...

New York City’s tab for police misconduct settlements: Nearly $800 million since 2019 New York City paid more than $117 million last year to settle police misconduct lawsuits in cases ranging from the violent arrests of protesters in 2020 to bad police work that led to wrongful convict...

New York City’s tab for police misconduct settlements: Nearly $800 million since 2019
apnews.com/article/poli... | @apnews.com

Left of Black | Erica R. Edwards on Black Women and U.S. Empire YouTube video by John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke U.

Erica Edwards joined #LeftOfBlack to discuss her book 'The Other Side of Terror: Black Women and the Culture of US Empire' (@nyupress.bsky.social)

#WomensHistoryMonth
#BlackWomensHistory
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Obus...

How would you feel if a foreign country dropped a bomb on a school in Washington DC and killed 165 schoolchildren?

That’s the question we need to be asking our Congressmen right now.

How James Bernard and 'The Source' defined 1990s hip-hop - Andscape A requiem for the man, The Source magazine, and the 1990s era of hip-hop

How James Bernard and ‘The Source’ defined 1990s hip-hop | Jesse Washington

A requiem for the man, the magazine, and the era
andscape.com/features/jam...

Improbably Famous, Then Perpetually Forgotten. Now, the Renaissance of Edmonia Lewis

Improbably Famous, Then Perpetually Forgotten. Now, the Renaissance of Edmonia Lewis

A 19th-century sculptor of Black and Indigenous ancestry was acclaimed, then overlooked. But a groundswell of scholars and artists are keeping her flame alive in new projects.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/a...

Duke’s Kara Lawson Doesn’t Care If You Underestimate Her Duke’s women’s basketball team has turned its season around, but its coach is under more pressure than ever ahead of the 2028 Olympics.

Duke's Kara Lawson Doesn’t Care If You Underestimate Her

Duke’s women’s basketball team has turned its season around, but its coach is under more pressure than ever ahead of the 2028 Olympics.
www.theassemblync.com/news/culture... | @theassemblync.bsky.social

The better version of Survivor is on this soundtrack.

Also, I'm prone to say-sing "No, no, no, no! I don't wanna, I don't wanna, I don't wanna go!" anytime my spirit's opposed to doing something.

Black Teens Lead in AI Use for Schoolwork, Pew Survey Shows 60% of Black teens use AI chatbots to help them with their schoolwork.

Black Teens Lead in AI Use for Schoolwork, Pew Survey Shows

A new Pew Research Center survey finds Black teenagers are more likely than their peers to use AI chatbots like ChatGPT.
wordinblack.com/2026/02/blac...

The academic freedom fight has entered the classroom From public syllabi to surveillance, universities across the country are embracing unprecedented policies that professors say are undermining their academic freedom.

"From public syllabi to surveillance, universities across the country are embracing unprecedented policies that professors say are undermining their academic freedom. And North Carolina is front and center."
www.wunc.org/podcast/the-... | @wunc.org

We Must Defend Black History — It Fuels Freedom Dreams of Students Under Attack Historian Elizabeth Todd-Breland discusses how schools have become a key site of struggle amid rising fascism in the US.

We Must Defend Black History — It Fuels Freedom Dreams of Students Under Attack | George Yancy

Historian Elizabeth Todd-Breland discusses how schools have become a key site of struggle amid rising fascism in the US.
truthout.org/articles/we-... | @truthout.org

Henrietta Lacks’ family settles suit with Novartis over use of her cells - The Boston Globe Lacks' cells were taken from her without her consent in 1951, when she was dying of cervical cancer in a segregated ward at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

"Novartis has reached a settlement with the family of Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman whose cells were taken from her without her consent in 1951, when she was dying of cervical cancer in a segregated ward at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore."
www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/27/n...

At 85, Candi Staton is living her best life | CBC Arts Candi Staton’s career has taken her everywhere from segregated Alabama churches to ’90s dance floors. But her journey has also been marked by hardship. Now, after seven decades in music, the legendary...

At 85, Candi Staton is living her best life

With a recent Grammy nomination, the legendary gospel, soul and disco singer is finally getting her flowers
www.cbc.ca/arts/q/at-85...

When Fear Becomes a Health Risk Nearly 6 in 10 Black women delay breast cancer screening.

When Fear Becomes a Health Risk | Jennifer Porter Gore

A @wordinblacknews.bsky.social survey finds many Black women delay breast cancer screening and mammograms due to fear, cost, and gaps in provider communication.
wordinblack.com/2026/02/when...

Here is a stark reminder of just what conservatives want to “conserve:”

White supremacy.

White men, and ONLY white men, have NEVER had their human or civil rights abrogated or even questioned on this continent, and “conservatism” is their tool for maintaining their power.

They want Jim Crow.

The Proof is in The Covers: Why Aretha Franklin is the Greatest American Vocalist of the 20th… by Mark Anthony Neal

"Some of Franklin’s most inventive covers would be found on a string of studio albums that she released between 1970 and 1974—albums that did not match the commercial success of her earlier Atlantic albums, but may represent her best, if not most underrated, work."
medium.com/@tnimixtape/...

Americans Are Leaving the U.S. in Record Numbers More citizens are replanting overseas, drawn by a quality of life made easily affordable by the U.S.’s enviable salaries.

Americans Are Leaving the U.S. in Record Numbers

More citizens are replanting overseas, drawn by a quality of life made easily affordable by the U.S.’s enviable salaries. “I wasn’t expecting to be surrounded by this many Americans.”
www.wsj.com/us-news/amer...

Mississippi’s Black Voters Brace for Ruling That Could Gut Election Clout Black Mississippians won a Voting Rights Act case that challenges how the state elects supreme court justices. But that victory may be in jeopardy.

Mississippi’s Black Voters Brace for Elections Ruling That Could Gut Supreme Court Clout

Black Mississippians won a Voting Rights Act case that challenges how the state elects supreme court justices. But that victory may be in jeopardy.
www.themarshallproject.org/2026/02/26/m...

Delroy Lindo on ‘Sinners,’ Speaking Up and the Power of Affirmation

"When I was just starting out, I hadn’t done anything, my résumé was blank. And a casting person said, what do you want for your career in five, 10 years? And I said well, I want to be respected for my work...But that’s what I’ve got. Being respected for my work."
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/m...