News

Richard Turner Profiled by the University of Iowa: "Soundtrack to a career"

The scholarship of an African American religious history professor at the University of Iowa has come full circle with a book that examines the relationship between African American Islam and jazz.

Venise Berry Interviewed by KCRG: "Teaching kids about race under Iowa's new law"

Dr. Venise Berry was interviewed by KCRG, Channel 9 in Cedar Rapids, after speaking to a group of kindergarteners at Nixon Elementary School. In 2021, Iowa passed a law banning teaching certain concepts about race. “It’s very important that we understand that all experience isn’t the same,” Dr. Berry said. “And the only way that we can know how to treat each other is to understand each other’s experience. And to me, that is what teaching race is about.”

Victor Ray Op-Ed on CNN: "The White moderates MLK warned us about"

"In [Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter from Birmingham jail], King differentiated between just and unjust laws, citing measures that prevented Black Americans from voting as a form of legalized injustice.... By blocking voting reform today, Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are the White moderates Dr. King warned us about."

Victor Ray on FiveThirtyEight: "White Backlash Is A Type Of Racial Reckoning, Too"

"Instead, these moments [of racial reckoning] are often met with violent responses. They are also often met with new laws that attempt to weaken the political power of Black people while strengthening the political power of white people. And, yes, these moments are also often met by attempts to ensure a particular telling of American history that helps to maintain the mythology of racial progress that so many Americans find so deeply attractive."
No More Apologies by Damani Phillips

Dr. George Wolfe Reviews Dr. Damani Phillips' New Album

Tuesday, December 28, 2021
Dr. George Wolfe, Professor Emeritus of Music Performance at Ball State University, reviews Dr. Damani Phillips' newest album, No More Apologies.
Whaley Workshop

Deborah Whaley Discusses Comics and Social Change in Iowa Magazine

African American Studies Professor Deborah Whaley, an expert on race and gender in graphic novels and comics, explains why the genre can be an inviting medium for complex conversations in Iowa Magazine.
Soundtrack to a Movement: African American Islam, Jazz, and Black Internationalism

Richard Turner Interviewed on "Left of Black" To Discuss His New Book

Thursday, December 2, 2021
What is the interesting, yet too little explored, intersection between the golden age of jazz and Islam in the African American community? How did one inform and influence the other? Dr. Richard Brent Turner joined Prof. Mark Anthony Neal to discuss his latest book, "Soundtrack to a Movement: African American Islam, Jazz, and Black Internationalism," published by NYU Press.

Louise Seamster on the New York Times' Ezra Klein Show Podcast

Public policy in the United States often overlooks wealth. We tend to design, debate and measure our economic policies with regard to income alone, which blinds us to the ways prosperity and precarity tangibly function in people’s lives. And that blind spot can ultimately prevent us from addressing social inequality at its roots.

Faculty in the News

Monday, June 14, 2021
Faculty in African American Studies have been interviewed, presented awards, published articles, and much more over the past year.

Ashley Howard Given the Communicating Ideas Award

Friday, April 30, 2021
Ashley Howard, Assistant Professor of African American Studies and History, has been given the Communicating Ideas Award. This award recognizes excellence in communication about research and scholarship in the sciences and humanities and the study of creative, visual and performing arts to a general audience directly or via print and electronic media.