Jaquira Díaz witnesses her father’s rebellious fight for a better life, and her homeland’s fight for its place in the world.
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Posted inUncategorized
This Month in Books: ‘The Minor Figure Yields to the Chorus’
I’m reading this book right now called “The Manuscript Found in Saragossa.” It’s a recursive story-within-a-story sort of thing, and it’s giving me nightmares.
Posted inNonfiction
Why Mr. Bauer Didn’t Like Me
As a child, Blaise Allysen Kearsley tried, in vain, to win over a white friend’s father.
Posted inHistory, Quotes
Oral History Project Grounds Story of Monticello in the Lives of the Enslaved
“Monticello was a Black space. People of African descent shaped the entire landscape: how the food tasted, what the place sounded and felt like.”
Posted inCulture, Current Events, Nonfiction, Quote Posts, Quotes
Home Is a Mixed Bag, Like America
Why would a successful black woman move from the Bay Area back to Mississippi?
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Long History Behind the Racist Attacks on Serena Williams
“For the past two centuries, degrading visual caricatures of black figures — particularly women of African descent — have played a powerful role in shaping debates about slavery, race and citizenship.”
Posted inStory
‘I Was Interested in the People Who Are Stuck With These Memories.’
Steph Cha discusses her new novel “Your House Will Pay,” the LA Riots, the Korean American Angeleno community, her 3,600 Yelp reviews, and pushing back against gatekeepers in publishing.
Posted inBooks, Essays & Criticism, History, Member Pick, Nonfiction, Story
America’s Post-Frontier Hangover
America binged on expansion, relying on land grabs as an engine of growth and a way to externalize racial hatred. Historian Greg Grandin asks, without a frontier, what can America be?
Posted inArts & Culture, Blog Post, Commentary, Culture
The Enduring Legacy of the Willie Lynch Hoax
Why Kanye referenced a nonexistent slave owner.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Story
Bowie Knives, Concealed Rifles, and Caning Charles Sumner
As the Civil War loomed, weapons — like the recently invented bowie knife and rifles that were shipped to Kansas hidden in crates labeled as bibles — became complex political symbols.
