Black Voices Past & Present

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Douglas Turner Ward, A Giant Legacy May 05, 2021

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In February of 2021 the theater world lost Douglas Turner Ward, co-founder of the Negro Ensemble Company, a giant, and an unapologetic trailblazer. As the artistic world reckons with inclusion and diversity, it is fitting that we remember Douglas Tuner Ward who pushed open doors way ahead of his time. BVPP host and producer Steven Anthony Jones was very close to Ward and counts him as one of his biggest mentors as and teachers. In this episode Jones pays tribute to Ward's incredible legacy, the artists that he nurtured, and his unstoppable calling to create even in his last days.

American Hypocrisy & Idiosyncrasy Feb 14, 2021

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In 2021 many America is perhaps finally looking in the mirror-- but the hypocrisies, idiosyncrasies, and cruelties of our "democracy" were built into this country from the moment the union started to form. Steven Anthony Jones reads the words of Archibald Grimké who boldly and unapologetically called out American "heros" like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson for their false promises and thinly veiled racism which set the foundation for hatred being the cornerstone of America.

Positively Angry: A Journey With Audre Lorde Jan 31, 2021

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Anger is a real and potent force that can be used for positive change. Yet the anger that black women and other women of color rightfully feel towards a racist sexist world that actively harms them, is often used as a means to oppress them further. Inspired by contemporary black feminists writers like Adrienne Maree Brown and Brittney Cooper, Kaliswa Brewster reads Audre Lorde's 1981 Keynote from Sister Outsider, "Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism."

Insurrection Jan 16, 2021

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Many Americans are still in disbelief about the Insurrection at The Capitol on January 6th, 2021. While it's easy to scratch our heads and say, "This is not America," and to ask "How Did We Get Here?" it is important to remember that we have been here before. In 1898 White Supremacists overthrew the local government in Wilmington, NC after an election that the White Supremacists felt fortified Blacks' power in the city. Killing 22 Black people and running countless others violently from their homes, the insurrectionists took democracy into their own hands to maintain white power.

Steven Anthony Jones reads Charles S. Morris' account of the Insurrection. Morris' words chillingly echo what happened in The Capitol on the 6th. While the Insurrection D.C. was neither as successful nor as violent, the reasons it occurred were one and the same: racism and white America feeling threatened by black (and now BIPOC) voting power. If we are to move forward we must understand the past. And knowing that we have been here before is an important first step toward any possible healing.

The Things We Carry: Marching into 2021 Jan 02, 2021

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As we say good riddance to 2020, it serves us to look at what we are carrying into 2021. Steven Anthony Jones reads pieces by Langston Hughes, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Gwendolyn B. Bennet, and James Weldon Johnson that celebrate how Black people's feet, voices, spirits, and love, have marched us thus far in the United States-- a country that Black Americans didn't ask to come to but yet built literally brick by brick. A country that Black people hold up every day with pain (and love).

Maude Martha: One "Regular" Black Woman Dec 19, 2020

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Is it possible for Black people to just "live," without the shadows and reverberations of the traumas of racism? Kaliswa Brewster explores this question through the lens of Gwendolyn Brooks' "Maude Martha." Known primarily as a poet, Brooks explores the common, everyday life of a common, everyday Black woman in this 1954 novel. Racism, sexism, colorism, and classism are not the main obstacles for the titular character, Maude. We follow Maude from age 7 into womanhood as she grows up, searches for love, becomes a mother, and survives life's myriad ups, downs, challenges, and joys. A Pulitzer Prize winner, Brook's writing is a treat for the senses. Kaliswa reads excerpts from Maude Martha and invites you to ask- "what is underneath the regular, common, everydayness of Maude Martha's life?"

W.E.B. Du Bois Makes The Case For Art As Activism Dec 05, 2020

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In these dark days as we head into winter and another round of lockdowns and isolation, art is more important than ever. Art serves as a balm to the soul, as a way to cry out against injustice, and as a way to reimagine the future. Yet in our times artists are some of the most grievously affected by Covid-19. And Black artists even more so. In 1926 W.E.B Du Bois gave a speech to the NAACP called "The Criteria of Negro Art" which sounds like a rally cry to all black artists. He impels black artists to create and to tell their stories. Du Bois boldly urges black artists to paint visions of the world that include them, saying, "I do not give damn about any art that is not used for propaganda." Art IS Activism, he says. Steven Anthony Jones reads Du Bois' speech in this episode of Black Voices Past and Present.

A Post-Election Celebration of Blackness Nov 22, 2020

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Americans showed up, voted, and made sure their voices were heard on November 3rd. In an election year where representation mattered maybe more than ever, Black people showed up and said "We Matter, and We WILL be counted." In this celebratory episode Steven Anthony Jones and Kaliswa Brewster read pieces by Margaret Walker, Larry Neal, Langston Hughes, and Mari Evans that joyfully lift up the strength, resistance, and resilience of Black people. While the battle may not be over, this episode is an ode to the faith and power of Blackness.

"Don't Stand Behind Me, Stand WITH me and VOTE" Oct 28, 2020

Show notes

While many of us are literally "on our way" to the polls to vote in this election, we'd like to share an excerpt from Fannie Lou Hamer's speech "We're On Our Way." Hamer came to activism later in her life. No stranger to racism, she was sterilized unknowingly and without consent as part of an inhumane program to control the births of black babies in Mississippi. In another shockingly dehumanizing event, Hamer was beaten unconscious in police custody on her way home from a voter registration workshop. Despite losing vision in an eye and suffering permanent kidney damage as a woman of faith she believed that justice for all was God's will. Fannie Lou Hamer's unflinching defiance was sourced from her faith-- an active faith that she believed called her to not just sit back and "see what God does." She believed that we have to work WITH God to bring about heaven on earth. Hamer truly felt that we were "on our way" to equal rights in 1964 when she gave her speech "We're On Our Way." Remembering that this 2020 moment is in a continuum of struggle, Kaliswa Brewster reads Hamer's raw, real, and truly hopeful (though strong) words.

MLK Presses For the Right To Vote Oct 17, 2020

Show notes

Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech "Give Us the Ballot" was given in 1957 in a tumultuous time in American history that in some ways mirrors what we are going through in 2020. On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, MLK made the case plain for allowing Black people to vote at the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom. He spoke against both fake and empty "liberalism" and the moral bankruptcy of Southern moderates who went along with the status quo of racism to avoid upsetting the power systems that kept them "safe." King also made the case for hope- he believed that we WOULD pull trough; he believed that justice would reign eventually. In preparation for our 2020 election, with many of us wrestling with anxiety and fear, Steven Anthony Jones shares the urgency AND the hope of "Give Us The Ballot." He also reads his own version of "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round"-- a compelling urge for us to keep moving towards justice no matter what slings and arrows 2020 continues to hurl our way.

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