Mark Anthony Neal (@NewBlackMan on X)
@markanthonyneal.bsky.social
Aggregator of Black Culture. James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of African & African American Studies at Duke University. Host of the Webby-nominated Left of Black. Author of several books, including forthcoming SAVE A SEAT FOR ME (on Black Fatherhood).
Pinned
The Eleven Books that Change(d) My Life by Mark Anthony Neal
My mother was intentional about making sure that reading would be a fundamental part of my life. I still have memories of running my…
medium.com
"My mother was intentional about making sure that reading would be a fundamental part of my life. I still have memories of running my fingers over the pages The Berenstain Bears’ The Bike Lesson or reading periodicals like Weekly Reader..."
For a Distinctive Black Culture, a Rerouted Parade Feels Like Erasure
The annual Penn Center Heritage Day Parade in South Carolina draws hundreds to celebrate the Gullah Geechee people. But a new route has Black residents feeling as if their legacy is vanishing.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/u...
The annual Penn Center Heritage Day Parade in South Carolina draws hundreds to celebrate the Gullah Geechee people. But a new route has Black residents feeling as if their legacy is vanishing.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/u...
For a Distinctive Black Culture, a Rerouted Parade Feels Like Erasure
www.nytimes.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:49 AM
For a Distinctive Black Culture, a Rerouted Parade Feels Like Erasure
The annual Penn Center Heritage Day Parade in South Carolina draws hundreds to celebrate the Gullah Geechee people. But a new route has Black residents feeling as if their legacy is vanishing.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/u...
The annual Penn Center Heritage Day Parade in South Carolina draws hundreds to celebrate the Gullah Geechee people. But a new route has Black residents feeling as if their legacy is vanishing.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/u...
November 9, 2025 at 8:44 PM
"preserving and amplifying civil rights history in the Deep South has always been fraught. But museum officials and civic leaders in Atlanta said providing an unvarnished depiction of the movement required a renewed level of perseverance in the current climate."
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/a...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/a...
As Trump Recasts History, a Civil Rights Museum Sticks to a Messy Past
www.nytimes.com
November 9, 2025 at 1:11 AM
"preserving and amplifying civil rights history in the Deep South has always been fraught. But museum officials and civic leaders in Atlanta said providing an unvarnished depiction of the movement required a renewed level of perseverance in the current climate."
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/a...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/a...
Black-Owned Farms Fill Gaps Left by SNAP Funding Delays | @aallyahpatrice.bsky.social
From North Carolina to Mississippi, small businesses work to feed their communities while benefits are paused.
capitalbnews.org/snap-crisis-... | @capitalb.bsky.social
From North Carolina to Mississippi, small businesses work to feed their communities while benefits are paused.
capitalbnews.org/snap-crisis-... | @capitalb.bsky.social
Black-Owned Farms Fill Gaps Left by SNAP Funding Delays
From North Carolina to Mississippi, small businesses work to feed their communities while benefits are paused.
capitalbnews.org
November 9, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Black-Owned Farms Fill Gaps Left by SNAP Funding Delays | @aallyahpatrice.bsky.social
From North Carolina to Mississippi, small businesses work to feed their communities while benefits are paused.
capitalbnews.org/snap-crisis-... | @capitalb.bsky.social
From North Carolina to Mississippi, small businesses work to feed their communities while benefits are paused.
capitalbnews.org/snap-crisis-... | @capitalb.bsky.social
A Retrospective of Trailblazing Artist Faith Ringgold Centers Narratives of Black Americans
www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/11/fait...
www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/11/fait...
A Retrospective of Trailblazing Artist Faith Ringgold Centers Narratives of Black Americans
Faith Ringgold is renowned for her story quilts, which combine fabric and embroidery with painted tableaux of scenes around Harlem and beyond.
www.thisiscolossal.com
November 8, 2025 at 11:37 PM
A Retrospective of Trailblazing Artist Faith Ringgold Centers Narratives of Black Americans
www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/11/fait...
www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/11/fait...
"If you donate enough cash to Trump, you may receive favorable treatment, including immunity from the law. If you oppose Trump, you may be prosecuted.
This is not how a representative government works. It is how the Mafia works."
theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1... | @theatlantic.com
This is not how a representative government works. It is how the Mafia works."
theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1... | @theatlantic.com
The Mafia Presidency
Trump is saying, essentially, If you don’t want to get hurt, you’ll do what I say.
theatlantic.com
November 8, 2025 at 11:18 PM
"If you donate enough cash to Trump, you may receive favorable treatment, including immunity from the law. If you oppose Trump, you may be prosecuted.
This is not how a representative government works. It is how the Mafia works."
theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1... | @theatlantic.com
This is not how a representative government works. It is how the Mafia works."
theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1... | @theatlantic.com
How Trump’s government shutdown is fueling anti-Black propaganda
Under the boot of an administration that would rather foment racism than end its manufactured crisis, the authoritarian president is willing to let millions of real people—regardless of race—starve.
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/06/o...
Under the boot of an administration that would rather foment racism than end its manufactured crisis, the authoritarian president is willing to let millions of real people—regardless of race—starve.
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/06/o...
How Trump’s government shutdown is fueling anti-Black propaganda - The Boston Globe
Under the boot of an administration that would rather foment racism than end its manufactured crisis, the authoritarian president is willing to let millions real people — regardless of race — starve.
www.bostonglobe.com
November 8, 2025 at 3:56 PM
How Trump’s government shutdown is fueling anti-Black propaganda
Under the boot of an administration that would rather foment racism than end its manufactured crisis, the authoritarian president is willing to let millions of real people—regardless of race—starve.
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/06/o...
Under the boot of an administration that would rather foment racism than end its manufactured crisis, the authoritarian president is willing to let millions of real people—regardless of race—starve.
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/06/o...
The Spiritual Jazz of Alice Coltrane | Adam Shatz
Alice Coltrane reinvented her adoptive Hinduism by interweaving it with the music of the Black church.
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
Alice Coltrane reinvented her adoptive Hinduism by interweaving it with the music of the Black church.
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
The Spiritual Jazz of Alice Coltrane | Adam Shatz
Alice Coltrane reinvented her adoptive Hinduism by interweaving it with the music of the Black church.
www.nybooks.com
November 6, 2025 at 1:44 PM
The Spiritual Jazz of Alice Coltrane | Adam Shatz
Alice Coltrane reinvented her adoptive Hinduism by interweaving it with the music of the Black church.
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
Alice Coltrane reinvented her adoptive Hinduism by interweaving it with the music of the Black church.
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
"But the question of how to thoughtfully transform a historic island into a functioning town is not just about the self-determination of small places. It is also increasingly about fighting gentrification..."
csmonitor.com/USA/Society/... | @csmonitor.bsky.social
csmonitor.com/USA/Society/... | @csmonitor.bsky.social
On a South Carolina island, could local control help preserve Gullah heritage?
South Carolina’s Daufuskie Island retains a Lowcountry heritage as a home to descendants of enslaved people. Amid development pressures, residents are trying to chart their future.
csmonitor.com
November 5, 2025 at 12:56 PM
"But the question of how to thoughtfully transform a historic island into a functioning town is not just about the self-determination of small places. It is also increasingly about fighting gentrification..."
csmonitor.com/USA/Society/... | @csmonitor.bsky.social
csmonitor.com/USA/Society/... | @csmonitor.bsky.social
After Smithsonian controversy, Amy Sherald opens to fanfare in Baltimore
“There’s no downcast eyes. There’s no one looking away...There is not a single figure that we encounter in her work that carries a gaze of ‘I don’t belong.’”
wapo.st/4i0ukaB
“There’s no downcast eyes. There’s no one looking away...There is not a single figure that we encounter in her work that carries a gaze of ‘I don’t belong.’”
wapo.st/4i0ukaB
After Smithsonian controversy, Amy Sherald opens to fanfare in Baltimore
Baltimoreans flocked to opening day of “American Sublime,” the exhibition Amy Sherald removed from the National Portrait Gallery this summer.
wapo.st
November 4, 2025 at 9:35 PM
After Smithsonian controversy, Amy Sherald opens to fanfare in Baltimore
“There’s no downcast eyes. There’s no one looking away...There is not a single figure that we encounter in her work that carries a gaze of ‘I don’t belong.’”
wapo.st/4i0ukaB
“There’s no downcast eyes. There’s no one looking away...There is not a single figure that we encounter in her work that carries a gaze of ‘I don’t belong.’”
wapo.st/4i0ukaB
'Cameron and Cayden Boozer didn’t always want to follow their father, Carlos, to Durham. Now that they did, another promising Blue Devils season is in their hands.'
The twin sons of a former Duke star are the program’s next great hope
wapo.st/47xUv4R
The twin sons of a former Duke star are the program’s next great hope
wapo.st/47xUv4R
The twin sons of a former Duke star are the program’s next great hope
Cameron and Cayden Boozer didn’t always want to follow their father, Carlos, to Durham. Now that they did, another promising Blue Devils season is in their hands.
wapo.st
November 4, 2025 at 8:01 PM
'Cameron and Cayden Boozer didn’t always want to follow their father, Carlos, to Durham. Now that they did, another promising Blue Devils season is in their hands.'
The twin sons of a former Duke star are the program’s next great hope
wapo.st/47xUv4R
The twin sons of a former Duke star are the program’s next great hope
wapo.st/47xUv4R
"I’m becoming a mother at the same time that I’m becoming a Black feminist. And what I knew is that I wanted something different for my sons."
‘Freeing Black Girls’ and ‘Loving Black Boys’: Tamura Lomax on Revolutionary Mothering During Troubled Times
msmagazine.com/2025/10/23/b...
‘Freeing Black Girls’ and ‘Loving Black Boys’: Tamura Lomax on Revolutionary Mothering During Troubled Times
msmagazine.com/2025/10/23/b...
'Freeing Black Girls' and 'Loving Black Boys': Tamura Lomax on Revolutionary Mothering During Troubled Times
Black Feminist in Public: Author of Freeing Black Girls and Loving Black Boys Tamura Lomax in Revolutionary Mothering During Troubled Times
msmagazine.com
November 3, 2025 at 11:07 PM
"I’m becoming a mother at the same time that I’m becoming a Black feminist. And what I knew is that I wanted something different for my sons."
‘Freeing Black Girls’ and ‘Loving Black Boys’: Tamura Lomax on Revolutionary Mothering During Troubled Times
msmagazine.com/2025/10/23/b...
‘Freeing Black Girls’ and ‘Loving Black Boys’: Tamura Lomax on Revolutionary Mothering During Troubled Times
msmagazine.com/2025/10/23/b...
How Grace Jones and Ming Smith Met as Models and Became Artistic Allies | Uri McMillan
www.artnews.com/art-in-ameri...
www.artnews.com/art-in-ameri...
How Grace Jones and Ming Smith Met as Models and Became Artistic Allies
A sense of triumph is evident in the photographic magic Smith and Jones conjured. Excerpt from <em>Mavericks of Style: The Seventies in Color</em>.
www.artnews.com
November 3, 2025 at 6:26 PM
How Grace Jones and Ming Smith Met as Models and Became Artistic Allies | Uri McMillan
www.artnews.com/art-in-ameri...
www.artnews.com/art-in-ameri...
The Complex Role of Slavery in Building America’s Wealth
The world’s largest slave society was a crucial factor in the country’s economic takeoff beyond what’s commonly assumed
www.wsj.com/economy/slav... | @wsj.com
The world’s largest slave society was a crucial factor in the country’s economic takeoff beyond what’s commonly assumed
www.wsj.com/economy/slav... | @wsj.com
The Complex Role of Slavery in Building America’s Wealth
It was a crucial factor in the country’s economic takeoff well beyond what’s commonly assumed.
www.wsj.com
November 3, 2025 at 2:48 AM
The Complex Role of Slavery in Building America’s Wealth
The world’s largest slave society was a crucial factor in the country’s economic takeoff beyond what’s commonly assumed
www.wsj.com/economy/slav... | @wsj.com
The world’s largest slave society was a crucial factor in the country’s economic takeoff beyond what’s commonly assumed
www.wsj.com/economy/slav... | @wsj.com
"Groove Theory’s approach to the love song is, instead, to ask the question: What if the spectacle is patience? Or what if the spectacle is slow, consistent sacrifice?"
30 Years Later: Groove Theory, “Groove Theory” | Hanif Abdurraqib | @longreads.com
longreads.com/2025/10/23/g...
30 Years Later: Groove Theory, “Groove Theory” | Hanif Abdurraqib | @longreads.com
longreads.com/2025/10/23/g...
30 Years Later: Groove Theory, “Groove Theory” - Longreads
"Groove Theory" tries to make the work of staying in love feel as easy as possible, even when it isn’t.
longreads.com
November 2, 2025 at 4:47 PM
"Groove Theory’s approach to the love song is, instead, to ask the question: What if the spectacle is patience? Or what if the spectacle is slow, consistent sacrifice?"
30 Years Later: Groove Theory, “Groove Theory” | Hanif Abdurraqib | @longreads.com
longreads.com/2025/10/23/g...
30 Years Later: Groove Theory, “Groove Theory” | Hanif Abdurraqib | @longreads.com
longreads.com/2025/10/23/g...
How to Lose the Hounds: Maroon Geographies and a World Beyond Policing | Left of Black with critical geographer Celeste Winston
How have 20th century examples of marronage offered a glimpse into a what life could be with police abolition?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W0A...
How have 20th century examples of marronage offered a glimpse into a what life could be with police abolition?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W0A...
Left of Black | A World Beyond Policing with Celeste Winston on Black Maroons
YouTube video by John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke U.
www.youtube.com
November 2, 2025 at 4:24 PM
How to Lose the Hounds: Maroon Geographies and a World Beyond Policing | Left of Black with critical geographer Celeste Winston
How have 20th century examples of marronage offered a glimpse into a what life could be with police abolition?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W0A...
How have 20th century examples of marronage offered a glimpse into a what life could be with police abolition?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W0A...
"When I first heard Sam Cooke’s music, I had no idea that he had a legacy, that his voice had been tragically silenced in the prime of his life or that he once sang with one of my father’s favorite Gospel groups."
medium.com/p/441275a6f258
medium.com/p/441275a6f258
“Nearer to Thee”: The Still Evolving Legacy and Politics of Sam Cooke by Mark Anthony Neal
All I knew was that there was something that I heard in the man’s voice. This was me, in the mid-1970s watching TV in our South Bronx…
medium.com
November 2, 2025 at 3:41 PM
"When I first heard Sam Cooke’s music, I had no idea that he had a legacy, that his voice had been tragically silenced in the prime of his life or that he once sang with one of my father’s favorite Gospel groups."
medium.com/p/441275a6f258
medium.com/p/441275a6f258
The Next Era of the American University | Aziz Huq | @theatlantic.com
Higher education can—and should—fight the Trump administration, but the age of lavish government support is coming to a close
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Higher education can—and should—fight the Trump administration, but the age of lavish government support is coming to a close
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
The Next Era of the American University
Higher education can—and should—fight the Trump administration, but the age of lavish government support is coming to a close.
www.theatlantic.com
November 2, 2025 at 3:23 PM
The Next Era of the American University | Aziz Huq | @theatlantic.com
Higher education can—and should—fight the Trump administration, but the age of lavish government support is coming to a close
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Higher education can—and should—fight the Trump administration, but the age of lavish government support is coming to a close
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Marcyliena Morgan, Founder of Harvard’s Hip-Hop Archive, Dies at 75
Her university’s vast collection of albums, scholarly essays and other ephemera helped establish rap as a course of serious study on a par with classical music
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/01/a...
Her university’s vast collection of albums, scholarly essays and other ephemera helped establish rap as a course of serious study on a par with classical music
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/01/a...
Marcyliena Morgan, Founder of Harvard’s Hip-Hop Archive, Dies at 75
www.nytimes.com
November 2, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Marcyliena Morgan, Founder of Harvard’s Hip-Hop Archive, Dies at 75
Her university’s vast collection of albums, scholarly essays and other ephemera helped establish rap as a course of serious study on a par with classical music
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/01/a...
Her university’s vast collection of albums, scholarly essays and other ephemera helped establish rap as a course of serious study on a par with classical music
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/01/a...
"We’re living in the time of “big Black data”—a term coined by Mark Anthony Neal...to describe this era in which historical and present-day Black cultural archives have never been more accessible—and yet American fascism is turning our web pages into 404 errors."
hammerandhope.org/article/vibe...
hammerandhope.org/article/vibe...
Props for Vibe Magazine’s “Props” Column
The recurring feature was a bold curatorial endeavor that gave critics of color the freedom to articulate and archive culture on their terms.
hammerandhope.org
November 2, 2025 at 3:14 AM
"We’re living in the time of “big Black data”—a term coined by Mark Anthony Neal...to describe this era in which historical and present-day Black cultural archives have never been more accessible—and yet American fascism is turning our web pages into 404 errors."
hammerandhope.org/article/vibe...
hammerandhope.org/article/vibe...
Reposted by Mark Anthony Neal (@NewBlackMan on X)
Anyone recall where they were when they first heard this?
#blackskyover40
##blackskyover50
youtu.be/PmCQHWa0AEk?...
#blackskyover40
##blackskyover50
youtu.be/PmCQHWa0AEk?...
The Deele - Sweet November
YouTube video by UnidiscMusic
youtu.be
November 1, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Anyone recall where they were when they first heard this?
#blackskyover40
##blackskyover50
youtu.be/PmCQHWa0AEk?...
#blackskyover40
##blackskyover50
youtu.be/PmCQHWa0AEk?...
'Marcus Miller breaks down Luther Vandross: Never Too Much: Greatest Hits, reflecting on his time working with Luther and the making of some of R&B’s most timeless songs.'
#BlackSkyOver40
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKTo...
#BlackSkyOver40
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKTo...
Marcus Miller Breaks Down Luther Vandross’s Greatest Hits
YouTube video by Luther Vandross
www.youtube.com
November 1, 2025 at 2:46 PM
'Marcus Miller breaks down Luther Vandross: Never Too Much: Greatest Hits, reflecting on his time working with Luther and the making of some of R&B’s most timeless songs.'
#BlackSkyOver40
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKTo...
#BlackSkyOver40
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKTo...
"The first time I saw a photograph of Omar ibn Said, when I was a young photographer, I felt as if he was speaking to me. I took away one simple instruction: Remember." -- Laylah Amatullah Barrayn
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/26/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/26/o...
Opinion | The Wish to Be Seen
www.nytimes.com
November 1, 2025 at 12:43 PM
"The first time I saw a photograph of Omar ibn Said, when I was a young photographer, I felt as if he was speaking to me. I took away one simple instruction: Remember." -- Laylah Amatullah Barrayn
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/26/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/26/o...
