Black History Month is ending this week, but that doesn’t mean we should stop supporting Black creators or leave off educating ourselves about being Black in America. These films, books, podcasts and music recommendations by Boston University faculty will spur you to make a point to support Black artists all year long.
Watch: African Queens “Two recent film projects [seek] to show precolonial Africa and its engagement with the slave trade. The Netflix miniseries African Queens (four episodes) features the life of Queen Njinga of Ndongo and Matamba in Angola in the 17th century. It is the first attempt to create an actual event-based story of a precolonial African political figure.”
Read: South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry “A must-read narrative of a southern woman’s profound reexamination of her place of origin, the South. The book offers a tapestry of stories that give voice to her own family as well as those who laid the foundation of Black resistance and courage despite the brutality of their experiences in the only place they could call home.”
Listen: Seizing Freedom, hosted by historian Kidada E. Williams “In its two seasons, the engaging podcast takes us from Reconstruction into the 21st century, centering narratives of Black people of all ages in the United States as they seized and defined their freedom and joy, against, in some cases, monumental oppressive forces. It features interviews with scholars, artists, and activists, including Rhiannon Giddens, Mariame Kaba, and Deborah Willis.”