Noire History

If you're interested in learning about a woman of many firsts, the most prominent achievement being the first Black woman judge in America then my Jane Bolin Black History Short is for you. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/jane-bolin.

A review of "Black Fortunes" by Shomari Wills which tells the story of the first six Black Americans who became millionaires in the years following slavery. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/black-fortunes-book-review.

If you're interested in learning about the activist who co-founded CORE and helped to organize the 1961 Freedom Riders campaign, then my James Farmer Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/james-farmer.

A review of "40 Years a Prisoner", a documentary about the events leading up to and following the 1978 Philadelphia police department's raid of the MOVE organization's home. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/40-years-a-prisoner-movie-review.

If you're interested in learning about the first Black woman in NASA's astronaut training program, America's first Black woman astronaut, and the first Black woman in space, then my Mae C. Jemison Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/mae-c-jemison.

A review of "His Only Wife" by Peace Adzo Medie which takes place in Ghana and tells the story of a young woman who enters an arranged marriage with the son of a wealthy family. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/his-only-wife-book-review.

If you're interested in learning about the songwriter who co-wrote "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and led the NAACP during the 1920s, then my James Weldon Johnson Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/james-weldon-johnson.

A review of "Soul Food", a 1997 George Tillman Jr. drama about the Joseph family's descent into dysfunction after the matriarch goes into a coma. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/soul-food-movie-review.

If you're interested in learning about an armed resistance in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania where a local resistance group of free and formerly enslaved Black people repelled an effort to recapture four escaped slaves, then my Christiana Resistance Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/christiana-resistance.

A review of "The Color of Law" by Richard Rothstein which charts the history of how local, state, and federal government policies and programs segregated cities across America. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/color-of-law-book-review.

If you're interested in learning about the first Black female surgeon in the South and the first Black woman to be a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, then my Dorothy Lavinia Brown Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/dorothy-lavinia-brown.

A review of "Confirmation", a 2016 HBO film about the hearings for Judge Clarence Thomas' (Wendell Pierce) nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. In Washington, D.C. Thomas seems likely to be confirmed until a former employee, Anita Hill (Kerry Washington), surfaces with allegations of sexual harassment. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/confirmation-movie-review.

If you're interested in learning about the first Black graduate of West Point and the army's first Black commissioned officer, then my Henry Flipper Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/henry-flipper.

A review of "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a book about immigrants leaving and coming home but also finding fulfillment as well as romantic, familial, and platonic relationships. It's a whole bunch of different stuff that somehow all fits together. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/americanah-book-review.

If you're interested in learning about the Mason-Dixon Line and how the border it created between Northern and Southern states played a role in defining the land of freedom versus bondage, then my Fugitive Slave Acts Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/fugitive-slave-laws.

A review of "Atlanta's Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children", a 2020 five-part HBO miniseries about the Atlanta Child Murders. Show notes are available on http://noirehistoir.com/blog/atlantas-missing-and-murdered-the-lost-children-movie-review.

If you're interested in learning about the Black woman whose research contributed to connecting the relationship between cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and the clogging of arteries, then my Marie Maynard Daly Black History Short is for you. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/marie-maynard-daly.

A review of "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" by Michelle Alexander which tackles the complex issues of mass incarceration. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/new-jim-crow-book-review.

If you're interested in learning about the circumstances leading up to Steve Biko's murder and the attempt to cover up what happened, then my Steve Biko Murder & Aftermath Black History Short is for you. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/steve-biko.

A review of Driving Miss Daisy, a 1989 dramedy film about the 25-year relationship between a rude older woman and her chauffeur. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/driving-miss-daisy-movie-review.

If you're interested in learning how Steve Biko's arrest and expulsion from high school led to him becoming an activist, then my Steve Biko Early Life Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/steve-biko.

A review of "Jubilee" by Margaret Walker which follows the life of Vyry through the antebellum period, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/jubilee-book-review.

If you're interested in learning about the rollercoaster of Zora Neale Hurston's work being published and receiving rewards while she experienced constant financial issues, then my Black History Short about Zora Neale Hurston's later life is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/zora-neale-hurston.

A review of New Jack City, a 1991 Mario Van Peebles film about a Harlem drug kingpin and the local police force that is intent on bringing him down. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/new-jack-city-movie-review.

If you're interested in learning about how Zora Neale Hurston's early life of striving to get an education set her on a path to writing, then my Black History Short about Zora Neale Hurston's early life is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/zora-neale-hurston.

A review of "We Cast a Shadow" by Maurice Carlos Ruffin, a dark comedy about a man who goes to desperate lengths to shield his son from a dystopian society. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/we-cast-a-shadow-book-review.

If you're interested in learning about the union organizer who led pushes to desegregate the military, outlaw race-based employment discrimination within military departments, and provided the framework for the March on Washington, then my A. Philip Randolph Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/a-philip-randolph.

A review of "Dead Presidents", a 1995 Hughes Brothers film about Anthony Curtis (Larenz Tate), a young man who serves in the Vietnam War with hopes of charting his path in the world but is instead scarred by the atrocities of war. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/dead-presidents-movie-review.

If you're interested in learning about the first Black woman in America to charter a bank, then my Black History Short about Maggie Lena Walker's later life is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/maggie-lena-walker.

A review of "Behold the Dreamers" by Imbolo Mbue, the story of a couple who emigrate from Cameroon with their young son in hopes of a better life in New York City. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/behold-the-dreamers-book-review.

If you're interested in learning about the childhood experiences that led to a fraternal order becoming part of a mission to help achieve Black economic independence, then my Black History Short about Maggie Lena Walker's early life is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/maggie-lena-walker.

A review of School Daze, a 1988 Spike Lee film (or shall I say "joint") about the divisions between various factions on the campus of a fictional HBCU. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/school-daze-movie-review.

If you're interested in learning about an acclaimed photographer who was a successful fashion photographer but is most well known for his photo essays and portraits from during the Civil Rights Movement, then my Gordon Parks Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/gordon-parks/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=media&utm_campaign=bhs_gordon_parks&utm_content=general.

A review of "The Girl Who Smiled Beads" by Clemantine Wamariya, which charts her and her sister's experience as refugees during the Rwandan genocide. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/the-girl-who-smiled-beads-book-review.

If you're interested in learning about the second woman overall and the first Black woman to brave the elements, bandits, and wild animals to serve as a United States Post Office Star Route Carrier, then my "Stagecoach" Mary Fields Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/stagecoach-mary-fields.

A review of "4 Little Girls", a 1997 Spike Lee documentary about the 1963 bombing of Birmingham, Alabama's 16th Street Baptist Church which resulted in the deaths of four little girls. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/4-little-girls-movie-review.

If you're interested in learning about the organizer of the Mississippi Freedom Summer voter registration campaign and co-founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), then my Bob Moses Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available http://noirehistoir.com/blog/bob-moses.

A review of "The Underground Railroad Records" by William Still, a vitally important book that shares the experiences of people who escaped or attempted to escape slavery via the Underground Railroad. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/the-underground-railroad-records-book-review.

If you're interested in learning about the founder of the first newspaper to be published by and for Black women, then my Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/josephine-st-pierre-ruffin.

A review of "Boyz n the Hood", John Singleton's 1991 film debut about a boy growing up with his father and friends in South Central, Los Angeles. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/boyz-n-the-hood-movie-review.

If you're interested in learning about the events that led to the destruction of the predominantly Black town of Rosewood, Florida and its aftermath, my Rosewood Massacre Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available http://noirehistoir.com/blog/rosewood-massacre.

A review of "A Kind of Freedom" by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, the story of three family members which provides a glimpse into issues such as Jim Crow, drug addiction, and mass incarceration that have plagued the Black community. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/a-kind-of-freedom-book-review.

If you're interested in learning about a legendary jazz musician whose playing and singing style were a major influence on other musicians and singers in the genre and beyond, my Louis Armstrong Later Life Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/louis-armstrong.

A review of "Tina", a 2021 HBO documentary about the life and career of Anna Mae Bullock better known as the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", Tina Turner. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/tina-movie-review.

If you're interested in learning about how a boy born into poverty and instability in a rough New Orleans neighborhood turned his life around after finding positive male role models and music, my Louis Armstrong Early Life Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/louis-armstrong.

A review of "I Put a Spell on You," an autobiography about the life and career of the singer, songwriter, and pianist known professionally as Nina Simone. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/i-put-a-spell-on-you-book-review.

If you're interested in learning about the blues singer and songwriter who inspired August Wilson's play "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" and Alice Walker's Shug Avery character in "The Color Purple", then my Ma Rainey Black History Short is for you. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/ma-rainey.

A review of "Standing in the Shadows of Motown", a documentary about the Funk Brothers, musicians who played Motown's studio sessions. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/standing-in-the-shadows-of-motown-movie-review.

A profile of W.C. Handy, a musician, and songwriter whose publishing company turned out hit blues compositions that helped launch the genre. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/w-c-handy.

A review of the book "My Life with Earth, Wind, & Fire" by Maurice White which tells his life story and the story of Earth Wind & Fire. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/my-life-with-earth-wind-fire-book-review.