Posted in Uncategorized

Dr. G’s “Top 22” Books of 2022

Keeping up with my tradition from 2020 and 2021 I have compiled my ‘Top 22’ books from this year!! I feel like I always have an endless supply of books, you can never have too many! Plus I love seeing my library grow!!

This year I added a few graphic novels that caught my attention during one of my many travels this year!!

All in all, I love sharing some of my top reading faves!! As I always say, ‘sharing is caring.’

So in no particular order, here is my Top 22 List of Books for 2022!!

  • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever the Courage to Dream ~Frederick Joseph
  • The Keeper ~Tananarive Due & Steven Barnes
  • Take My Hand ~Dolen Perkins-Valdez
  • Red Lip Theology: For Church Girls Who’ve Considered Tithing to the Beauty Supply Store When Sunday Morning Isn’t Enough ~Candice Marie Benbow
  • The Silent Twins ~Marjorie Wallace
  • The Light We Carry ~Michelle Obama
  • Black Disability Politics ~Sami Schalk
  • Riding Jane Crow:African American Women on the American Railroad ~Miriam Thaggert
  • Finding Me ~Viola Davis
  • Walking in My Joy In These Streets ~Jenifer Lewis
  • Surviving Southampton: African American Women and Resistance in Nat Turner’s Community ~Vanessa M. Holden
  • Tuskegee Ghost ~Benjamin Von Eckartsberg
  • I Rise ~Marie Arnold
  • Black Cake ~Charmaine Wilkerson
  • Memphis ~Tara M. Stringfellow
  • Pet ~Akwaeke Emezi
  • Trust ~Daines L. Reed
  • The Final Revival of Opal & Nev ~Dawnie Walton
  • The Sweetness of Water ~Nathan Harris
  • Don’t Cry For Me ~Daniel Black
  • The ABCs of Black History ~Rio Cortez
  • We Travel the Spaceways ~Victor LaValle
Posted in A Professor's Thoughts..., Conversations with Beloved & Kindred

Conversations with Beloved & Kindred-S2: Episode 1 Recap!!

Missed last week’s Season 2 premiere of Conversations with Beloved & Kindred?? Fear not I got you covered!!

Check out our first episode where Dr. Robinson and I jump in feet first to discuss the films Horror Noire: A Black History of Black Horror (2019) and Ganja & Hess (1973)

Tune into our discussion below:

And as a little bonus check out these post-episode resources:

  • Films:
    • Night of the Living Dead (1968) [Available to stream and view on Peacock, Tubi, Amazon Prime Video, and HBO Max)
    • Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971)
    • Ganja and Hess (1973) [Available to view on Showtime]
    • Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (2014) [Available on Showtime]
    • Get Out (2017)  [Available to stream on Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video]
    • Horror Noire: A Black History of Black Horror (2019) [Available to view on Shudder]
  • Books:
    • Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from the 1890s to Present (2011)  ~Robin R. Means, PhD
    • The Good House (2003) ` Tananarive Due
    • Brown Girl in the Ring (1998) ~Nalo Hopkinson
  • Articles:
    • “As Black horror rises in popularity, horror writers discuss its evolution” ~Carolyn Copeland [See Here]
    • “How Black Horror Became America’s Most Powerful Cinematic Genre”~ Gabrielle Bellot [See Here]
Posted in Conversations with Beloved & Kindred, On The Radar

Guess Who’s Back…Season 2 of “Conversations With Beloved and Kindred”

“Sit back and wait to hear a slammin track…Rockin jams by popular demand, I’m back” ~Rakim, ‘Guess Who’s Back’

WE ARE BACK for another season of “Conversations with Beloved and Kindred!” And we are hyped and excited to get back to it!! Did you miss us?!! Well we missed you!!

Kicking off Black History Month, in this second season Dr. Robinson and I are looking forward to bringing you more intellectual commentary as we dive into the Horror and Thriller film genre!

In the past five years since Jordan Peele’s 2017 film Get Out debut on Hollywood screens the genre horror has really picked up steam and garnered new audiences. But what about Black horror and thrillers specifically?? Although not a new genre it has not received the same amount of attention as other horror films. So Dr. Robinson and I want to shed light on some seminal, classic Black horror and thriller films as well as some newcomers that are worthy of your viewing!!

As noted by horror writer and educator Tananarive Due “We’ve always loved horror, it’s just that, unfortunately, horror has not always loved us”. Well we hope that with each episode we can bring to you this season we share some love and appreciation to the Blackness in horror!!

And just in case you need a little refresher or you are new to the series, Conversations with Beloved & Kindred  is a web series in collaboration with the Program & Outreach Division at Auburn Avenue Research Library (Atlanta, GA) hosted by two Black feminist creatives myself Dr. Grace D. Gipson (Virginia Commonwealth University) and Dr. Kaniqua Robinson (Furman University). Through each episode, we talk about creative works (i.e. literature, film, television, and art) that are grounded in the Black experience. Following in the footsteps of two legendary women Toni Morrison and Octavia Butler, Gipson and Robinson seek to fill in the gaps of Black history by reimagining a supernatural Black past and present, while giving voice to the silenced narratives.

So stay tuned!! Mark your calendars and save the date, February 10th will be here before you know it!!

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Pexels.com