On the Yard

Enacting Social Change by Looking to the Past with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi

On the season one finale of On the Yard, MSRC Director Dr. Benjamin Talton sits down with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, historian, author, and the inaugural Carter G. Woodson Endowed Chair in History for the College of Arts and Sciences at Howard University.  The conversation covers Dr. Kendi’s new book, Chain of Ideas, which examines the origin and rise of “the great replacement theory” as a dominant political idea. They also discuss Dr. Kendi’s new position at Howard, his groundbreaking work studying anti-Black racism, and his goals for advancing influential scholarship on Black history, social justice, and American policy. Episode Guide: * 00:00 Episode and Guest Intro * 01:59 The Inaugural Carter G. Woodson Endowed Chair * 04:01 Making History Accessible and Building an Institute * 09:45 Dr. Kendi’s Howard Journey * 14:20 Imagining A World Without Whiteness * 21:25 From Queens to Manassas * 24:25 Finding Pride at FAMU * 31:09 Replacement Theory Roots * 42:37 Howard Legacy Plans On the Yard is a production of The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University and is produced by University FM. [https://university.fm/] EPISODE QUOTES: White is a race too 18:25: I think it's important to distinguish between white or even Black as a racial category and Black and white as a color. So that's the main reason. And the other reason, particularly as it relates to capitalizing white, is we're living in a moment in which racist theorists are pushing the idea that white people are not racialized, that majority-white districts are not about race, but majority-Black districts are. And so, I'm just normal. I'm human, right? And so I think that by ensuring that people understand that white is a race too. Historians as storytellers 03:38: Historians, at our core, we should be storytellers, right? And, you know, part of, I think, what makes us, to me, the best storytellers of the past is that we're able to share the nuance and complexity and the context. But there's a way in which we can clarify that nuance, that context, that complexity in ways that people can understand.  Can you imagine a world without whiteness?  14:12: Well, first, I would say that for the better part of human history, whiteness as this construct didn't exist. And so the construct of whiteness really only started to emerge in the 15th century. And so I think, to me, someone who can't imagine a world without whiteness is someone whose own conception of history is only a modern conception of history. SHOW LINKS:  * Chain of Ideas by Ibram X. Kendi [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/778233/chain-of-ideas-by-ibram-x-kendi/] * How to Be an AntiRacist by Ibram X. Kendi [https://www.ibramxkendi.com/how-to-be-an-antiracist] * “Howard University Announces Dr. Ibram X. Kendi as the Inaugural Carter G. Woodson Endowed Chair in History” | Howard University [https://thedig.howard.edu/all-stories/howard-university-announces-dr-ibram-x-kendi-inaugural-carter-g-woodson-endowed-chair-history] * The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center [https://msrc.howard.edu/] * Follow MSRC on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/moorlandhu/?igshid=NDk5N2NlZjQ%3D] and YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@MSRCtv] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Haile Gerima and the Power of Storytelling

Just across the street from The Yard, sits Sankofa Video, Books, and Cafe. For nearly 30 years, Sankofa has provided an expansive selection of film and literature on the global Black experience, but it has also long been a community center for Howard University students and residents of northwest D.C.  For this episode of On The Yard, MSRC Director Dr. Benjamin Talton pays a visit to Sankofa Cafe and sits down with owner, storyteller, renowned filmmaker, and Howard alum Haile Gerima. They discuss Gerima’s films focused on the lives and experiences of people of African descent, including titles such as Black Lions, Roman Wolves and the cafe’s namesake, Sankofa. The conversation also delves into the commodification of Black stories by the film industry, Gerima’s experience filming in Ethiopia during the 1974 upheaval, and his experience teaching at Howard University.    Episode Guide: 00:00 Welcome to Sankofa Cafe 01:09 Meet Haile Gerima 01:46 Storytelling vs. Filmmaking 07:35 Black Cinema And ‘The Plantation Economy’ 11:44 Sankofa Film And Symbol 15:23 Building A Community Institution 16:36 Haile’s Picks 21:04 Howard Years 25:36 Filming During Revolution 29:27 Ethiopia Identity Politics 31:36 Sankofa Community Power 34:38 Black Lions, Roman Wolves 38:17 Black Press Solidarity 39:42 Sankofa Cafe Farewell On the Yard is a production of The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University and is produced by University FM. [https://university.fm/]   EPISODE QUOTES: Black stories aren’t made to be for entertainment 04:35: Entertainment is an industry by itself, but I think when you think of our story as entertainment, we do injustice to it, in my view, because we have not begun to tell our story. We have been people who've been robbed our stories. Our stories have been completely undermined, dwarfed, and to reclaim our story, I don't think we can do justice to it if we keep thinking entertainment. I think our story should be just a story, and the outcome should be it's from its own inherent originality and genuineness instead of forced entertainment.  Storytelling is the real battleground for Black stories 10:03: The issue here is, I think, especially Black people cannot afford to be entertaining because, fundamentally, all the contradictions are from the very idea of robbed people of their story. The story is the battleground. To me, the issue of race in America, and its crux, the crux of that issue is story, not being in charge of your story in the end. Films as a staircase for growth 11:54: Every movie is a staircase of my own evolution and growth. And so, for me, without the films, the short films I did that are very dear to me in the sense they are my vehicle of growth in spelling cinema, trying to put my story cinematically.   SHOW LINKS:  * The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center [https://msrc.howard.edu/] * Follow MSRC on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/moorlandhu/?igshid=NDk5N2NlZjQ%3D] and YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@MSRCtv] * Sankofa [https://www.sankofa.com/] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Chocolate City

By the early 1970s, Black residents comprised nearly 73% of Washington, D.C.’s population, making it one of the most prominent majority Black cities in America.  As a testament to that identity, residents in D.C. nicknamed it “Chocolate City.”  Chocolate City was a rare urban space in the 1970s where Black-owned businesses thrived, go-go music dominated the radio stations, and Black people held genuine political power. Standing at the intellectual heart of this world was Howard University, the nation's most prominent HBCU, which featured as a crown jewel of Black academic and cultural life training generations of lawyers, physicians, artists, and activists who shaped the city and the broader African diaspora. On this episode of On the Yard, MSRC Director Dr. Benjamin Talton sits down with Sonja Woods, university historian at MSRC, Howard alum Abdur-Rahman Muhammad, and Dr. George Derek Musgrove, associate professor of history at the University of Maryland and co-author of Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation's Capital. The discussion covers the cultural touchstones that built Chocolate City and the figures who were transformative to D.C., cementing it as not just a political capital, but as a capital of Black intellectual life. They also discuss Howard University’s place in the city as a gathering ground for some of the most consequential Black thinkers, writers and scholars in the world. Episode Guide: 00:00 Chocolate City Origins & Guest Introduction 03:34 Defining Chocolate City 05:12 Democracy Returns 08:45 The Art, Music, and Culture of Chocolate City 16:31 Howard University Shapes the City 18:13 Black Flight Tipping Point 22:15 Remaking Howard in 1968 26:28 Three-Year Campus Struggle 28:53 President James E. Cheek’s Howard Legacy 34:45 Working Beyond Political Party Lines 37:45 Reagan Visit and 1983 Protests 42:37 Jesse Jackson and D.C. Statehood 45:22 Final Reflections and Wrap On the Yard is a production of The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University and is produced by University FM. [https://university.fm/]   EPISODE QUOTES: The triple threat of Chocolate City 10:22 [Dr. George Derek Musgrove]: It's just an exciting place to be Black. So, it's those three things. It's all of these people, the fact that they're beginning to vote for themselves and put together this really remarkably robust Black Power government, and they're just producing all this artwork. And I'll just add, to put a cherry on top, that Parliament, when it came out with "Chocolate City" in 1975, you know, is really acknowledging all of this. It's saying, look, this is the city where we have the biggest crowds. We do three or four shows a year, and they're all packed and sold out. Blackness on everyday frequency 13:41 [Abdur-Rahman Muhammad]: When I stepped foot in Washington, D.C. I first came here on a high school trip, I believe it was '78, and '79 is when I actually visited the campus for the first time, and to say it was a culture shock is an absolute understatement. All of these radio stations, no matter where you flip the dial, Black music came out. You turn on the television, the news anchors are Black, the weather person is Black. You're hearing Black music everywhere, Black bookstores, Black little coffee shops. A global vision for the Mecca 40:05 [Abdur-Rahman Muhammad]: He saw [James Cheek] Howard University as a great institution that could compete with the greatest institutions of the world, and he had a huge vision. His dedication to equity and healthcare, and the medical school and the hospital, he fought great battles, you know, to inaugurate those programs, the Sickle Cell Center, and what have you. He loved Black people. He loved his community, but he didn't tolerate nonsense either.   SHOW LINKS:  * The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center [https://msrc.howard.edu/] * Follow MSRC on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/moorlandhu/?igshid=NDk5N2NlZjQ%3D] and YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@MSRCtv] * Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation's Capital [https://www.amazon.com/Chocolate-City-History-Democracy-Nations/dp/1469635860] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Spectre on Stage

Theater, as a medium, has historically offered unique and groundbreaking ways to illuminate singular visions of and insights into Black life that challenge and move beyond more accessible or commodified forms of representation. On this episode of On the Yard, MarQuis Bullock, Head of Collections in MSRC’s Manuscripts Division, is joined by special guest Dominique Morriseau, award-winning playwright and author. Morriseau’s work includes the Tony Award-nominated play Skeleton Crew, Paradise Blue, Detroit 67, Confederates, Pipeline, Sunset Baby, Blood at the Root, and Follow Me to Nellie’s.  She's also the Tony Award-nominated book writer on the Broadway musical, Ain't Too Proud – The Life and Times of The Temptations. Morriseau and Bullock explore  the creative tensions Black playwrights and theater makers may be confronted with as they navigate the impact of historical precedent, what cultural expectations are imposed upon them and their work, how the ordinary rhythms of Black life intersect with the enduring weight of history, and how Black imagination and creativity within theater can accommodate, question, or even resist that entanglement.   Episode Guide: 00:00 Introduction 04:47 Literary Influences and Inspirations 07:01 The Influence of Poetry on Playwriting 08:30 Black Aesthetic and Language in Theater 10:58 Accountability to the Past in Black Theater 14:22 Challenges and Realities of Black Playwriting 23:09 The Politics and Ideology of Black Plays 31:56 The Unique Power of Theater 37:30 Balancing Past and Present in Black Life 42:58 Sources of Artistic Inspiration On the Yard is a production of The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University and is produced by University FM. [https://university.fm/]   EPISODE QUOTES: The power of theater to reveal unseen realities 03:52:  By interrogating the unique possibilities of theater as a medium, I'm hoping that today we can illuminate how black theater, black creativity, offers singular visions of and insights into black life that challenge and move beyond more accessible or commodified forms of representation. There is no path to black liberation without confronting black pain 28:42:  There is no path to black liberation or black joy without confronting black pain. And telling black storytellers to skip the pain part is like telling your doctor to skip the journey of the medicine into the healing. That's crazy talk. We are not going to heal if we are not going to deal. Art always rebuilds broken civilizations 33:16:  Because theater, like it has always done, like art has always done in the past. This is why the past does matter because the past will teach you that art always rebuilds broken civilizations. It's always been the answer. And will again. And so theater is necessary to be a part of that movement of civilization mending and rebuilding.   SHOW LINKS:  * The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center [https://msrc.howard.edu/] * Follow MSRC on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/moorlandhu/?igshid=NDk5N2NlZjQ%3D] and YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@MSRCtv] * Follow playwright Dominique Morisseau on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/domorisseau/?hl=en] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Meteoric Rise of Howard’s Swim and Dive Program

For more than a decade, Howard University’s swim and dive team was plagued with a losing streak they just couldn’t seem to shake. But that all changed in 2014, when Howard swim team alum Nicholas Askew took over the program. By Coach Nic’s second season, the swim and dive team won its first dual meet in 15 years. Since then, he’s catapulted the program into success with record-breaking, undefeated seasons and even a cover feature in Sports Illustrated. While today it’s the only NCAA Division I swimming and diving program from an HBCU, it also happens to be one of the best in the country. Just last month, the program made history yet again with dual Northeast Conference Swimming and Diving Championship titles for the men’s and women’s teams.  On this episode, Dr. Benjamin Talton, director of MSRC and On the Yard host, sits down with Nicholas Askew, director of swimming & diving and tennis, to talk about the remarkable transformation of the swim and dive team. They discuss Coach Nic’s blueprint to rebuilding the program, his own swimming legacy at Howard, and what Howard’s swim and dive team means for representation in a sport that’s historically lacked diversity.    Episode Guide: 00:00 Howard’s Swim Team Hits Rock Bottom: The Losing Streak Begins 01:40 Coach Nicholas Askew Steps Up: Why He Wanted the Program Cut (and What Changed) 06:35 Taking Over in 2014: Rebuilding the Team From the Ground Up 08:11 Changing the Environment: Staff, Facilities, and Athlete Buy-In 12:06 Winning in the Classroom: GPA Standards, Study Hall, and Full-Time Coaching 17:46 Sports Illustrated & ‘Battle at the Burr’: How the Hype Became History 22:03 Why Stay at Howard? Legacy, 100 Years of History, and Nic’s Origin Story 26:40 Bigger Than Howard: HBCU Swim History and Representation in the Sport 32:10 Building the Pipeline: Camps, Learn-to-Swim, Community Impact On the Yard is a production of The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University and is produced by University FM. [https://university.fm/]   EPISODE QUOTES: Why academics comes first in this program 14:31: Academic success is the number one priority of this program, and if you're only coming to be an athlete here, then this is not a good choice for you. Because we're going to be, you know, really expecting high academic marks, because at the end of the day, Howard's love language is academics. On Coach Nick’s Howard Journey 25:53: When I got to Howard, to get that feeling of being really filled up in a space that I didn't even know that it was a void there, it was amazing to be around this Black excellence in the pool, in the classroom, on the Yard. And that's really what helped me continue to thrive in this environment, because when you're on campus, you need some motivation and inspiration, and you don't have to look far when you're at Howard. What’s really holding swimming back? 29:03: One is that there's that underlying myth that Black people don't swim. Two is really this country's ugly history with people of color and water and water spaces. And three is really looking at the accessibility of not just having a community pool, but also having spaces where you can continue to develop through the pathways.   SHOW LINKS:  * The Moorland-Spingarn Research Center [https://msrc.howard.edu/] * Follow MSRC on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/moorlandhu/?igshid=NDk5N2NlZjQ%3D] and YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@MSRCtv] * “Howard Swimming and Diving Makes History with Dual NEC Championships” | The Dig [https://thedig.howard.edu/all-stories/howard-swimming-and-diving-makes-history-dual-nec-championships] * Battle at the Burr [https://battleattheburr.com/] * “How the Only All-Black Team in College Swimming Became the Sport's Hottest Ticket” | Sports Illustrated  [https://www.si.com/college/2023/02/01/howard-swimming-daily-cover] * Follow the Swim and Dive team on Instagram  [https://www.instagram.com/huswimminganddive/?hl=en] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.