What's the Word? Two half-hour programs celebrating Black History Month

Texts of Resistance
Since the late eighteenth century, writers have addressed the issue of transatlantic slavery. Some of the works are direct calls to abolitionist action; others define resistance more subtly. On this program, John Bugg talks about an eighteenth-century slave narrative, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano; Russ Castronovo tells us about Frederick Douglass’s novella, The Heroic Slave; and Natasha Barnes explores The Known World by Edward P. Jones.

W.E.B. Du Bois
Many consider W.E.B. Du Bois the most important African American leader in the first half of the twentieth century. A sociologist, historian, author, teacher, activist, and co- founder of the NAACP and its magazine The Crisis, his influence was profound. His ground-breaking book, The Souls of Black Folk, has been called the foundational text of African American studies. On this program, Pulitzer prize winner David Levering Lewis tells us about W.E.B. Du Bois’s early life and the years that led up to the publication of The Souls of Black Folk; Marlon B. Ross explores some of the social and political factors that Du Bois responded to in the book; and Sheryl Townsend Gilkes discusses the book’s continuing influence.

If you are interested in these pieces, also see What's the Word? The Blues as Literature - Blues lyrics give us unique insight into the African American experience.

Well-suited to Black History Month in February.
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Texts of Resistance
Since the late eighteenth century, writers have addressed the issue of transatlantic slavery. Some of the works are direct calls to abolitionist action; others define resistance more subtly. On this program, John Bugg talks about an eighteenth-century slave narrative, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano; Russ Castronovo tells us about Frederick Douglass’s novella, The Heroic Slave; and Natasha Barnes explores The Known World by Edward P. Jones.

W.E.B. Du Bois
Many consider W.E.B. Du Bois the most important African American leader in the first half of the twentieth century. A sociologist, historian, author, teacher, activist, and co- founder of the NAACP and its magazine The Crisis, his influence was profound. His ground-breaking book, The... Show full description