Garry Bertholf

Just a gentle reminder that Du Bois's Talented Tenth thesis was just a shitty first draft. After some 50 years of self-editing: "Naturally, out of the mass of the working classes, who know life and its bitter struggle, will continually rise the real, unselfish and clear-sighted leadership. This will not be automatic or continuous, but the hope of the future of the Negro race in America and the world lies far more among its workers than among its college graduates, until the time that our higher training is rescued from its sycophantic and cowardly leadership of today, almost wholly dependent as it is on Big Business either in politics or philanthropy." —Willie D.😉, In Battle for Peace (1952) @HammerandHope @AbolitionSchool

Just watched @krystalball’s @BreakingPointsN interview w/ Norm. Throughout the interview he emphasizes the importance of “evidence”-based conclusions & “historical-materialist analysis.” Got it. But then at 36:02 we get neither: “The only thing your generation—people on the Left who call themselves on the Left (I don’t believe they are in most cases)—but the only thing they like is the Black Panthers because it’s so telegenic—you know, the berets, the shades, the leather coats, you know, it’s all theater; but the concrete work of transforming our society in significant ways with the Civil Rights Movement—you know, the people in SNCC… people like Bob Moses… people [who] were really very impressive figures—nobody knows.” 🧐 Reminds me of his July 2025 @BadFaithPod interview w/ @briebriejoy. Norm: “I know the history very well. Believe me. Because I was part of that era. I was a Black Panther groupie, a complete moron, a complete idiot.” 🤔 Looking for a thoughtful counterpoint? I have a few suggestions. Let me know.

Together w/ @wearewijo, @wesleyan_u is sponsoring a night of live 🎶 & convo w/ @T_ClaytonMusic (voice), @cailimusic (piano), @AdiMeyerson (bass), @CoryJeromeCox (drums), & @roxycoss🎷🔥 WHEN: Wed., April 30, 7:00-9:00 p.m. ET. WHERE: 300 High St., Middletown, CT.

This version ⬇️ includes the official @wearewijo logo 🎶❤️🔥

Together w/ @wearewijo, @wesleyan_u’s COE Think Tank on Agency is excited to end AY ’24-’25 w/ a live performance ft. @T_ClaytonMusic (voice), @cailimusic (piano), @AdiMeyerson (bass), @CoryJeromeCox (drums), & our very own Prof. @roxycoss🔥“The Future of Jazz—The Future is Female” will take place in the historic Russell House on Wed., April 30, beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET. Following the concert, Wes Prof. & @RecordingAcad Award-winning artist @roxycoss will lead a discussion on jazz & the politics of gender! @WesCFA @WesCFH @ujamaa_wesu @wes_alumni @mroth78 @wesleyanargus

@arabellakatz @yohelych @lilcontinent @Yale @YALEAFAMstudies @YaleMacMillan @yalemusic @211ParkStreet @Alden_Young @NafeesaSyeed

@arabellakatz @yohelych @lilcontinent @Yale @YALEAFAMstudies @YaleMacMillan @yalemusic @211ParkStreet

@jazzdotorg @JuilliardSchool @NewSchoolJazz @BerkleeCollege @necmusic

@wesleyan students & @wes_alumni w/ @BarnardCollege Prof. & @penguinpress author @nsharmawriter at @211ParkStreet. Again, many thanks to @Yale Prof. @NafeesaSyeed & to @YaleSouthAsia & @YaleMacMillan for making this event possible! 🖤🤎

Hanging out w/ my current @wesleyan students & favorite @wes_alumni at @AtticusCafe before @nsharmawriter’s book talk at @Yale.

Excited to be in convo w/ @BarnardCollege Prof. @nsharmawriter about her debut collection of essays, The Way You Make Me Feel: Love in Black and Brown (@penguinpress 2024). Many thanks to @Yale Prof. @NafeesaSyeed for organizing us & to @YaleSouthAsia & @YaleMacMillan for the invitation to serve as a discussant. When: Mon., Feb. 17, 4:30-6:00 p.m. Where: @211ParkStreet. Also looking forward to catching up w/ my @YALEAFAMstudies homies—@yohelych, @arabellakatz & @lilcontinent 🔥🔥🔥

On the eve of his assassination, MLK delivered his final sermon, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” at the @COGICisLIVE Mason Temple in @CityOfMemphis, TN, on 4/3/68. Today I’ve been thinking about King’s solidarity w/ the historic @MEM_PublicWorks strike & about Du Bois’s monumental book about the “general strike” of Black labor in the South. Interestingly, lyrical echoes of the Union marching song “John Brown’s Body” can be heard at key moments in both King’s 1968 sermon & Du Bois’s 1935 history (e.g., the line “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord” at the very end of King’s speech & at the end of Du Bois’s 4th chapter). So... is anyone out there working on a new battle hymn? Asking for a friend. In memoriam Echol Cole & Robert Walker #mlkday2025

Just got back from Louisiana. Many thanks to all of the scholars, librarians, archivists & curators who took time to meet w/ my students, including @Tulane Prof & fmr @macfound fellow Courtney Bryan, @yale Prof & fmr @the_IAS member @Alden_Young, @UofMaryland Prof & fmr @CFR_org fellow @MikeWoldemariam, @Penn Prof & #MLA First VP Herman Beavers, @AmistadResearch’s Head of Research Services, Lisa Moore, & @LSU’s Special Collections Head of Research & Public Services, Kelly Larson. Also, many thanks to the organizers of #MLA25 & to everyone at @ExploreNOMA, @WhitPlantation & @TABASCO for accommodating us. Finally, a special shout-out to Studio SPONG apprentice Finn Kassell Osborne & to all of the first-year PhD students who served as moderators & respondents at the Africana salon, including @Yale’s @yohelych, @arabellakatz & @lilcontinent, & @DukeU’s Ethan Barrett. @wesleyan_u @wes_alumni @wesleyanargus @YALEAFAMstudies @AfricanaUPenn @DukeAAAS @MLAnews

Many thanks to Profs @CRileySnorton & @BlackPostBlack & to @VanderbiltUP for this beautiful & brilliant gift!

Looking fwd to @USCDornsife Prof @ZIJackson's FGSS lecture at @wesleyan_u this Thurs!🔥 Together w/ the students in @DrHenryWashJr's "Feminist & Queer Methods" & @tyrsttle's "Blackness & Affect" courses, my "Black Literary Theory" students are reading Becoming Human (@NYUpress, 2020) in prep for Prof Jackson's visit--& our 3 classes will come together tmrw to discuss the 1st chapter in her @nwsa, @ACLAorg & @LambdaLiterary Award-winning book. "Losing Manhood" is obligatory reading for those of us thinking & teaching about the violence of humanization & the terrible plasticization of humanity #BlackStudies

Brilliant convo w/ @wesleyan_u Prof. @ZakiyaRS #BlackTheatreAllDay

Excited to attend @UofMaryland Prof. @juliusflemingjr’s book talk today at @wesleyan_u, Thursday, February 8, at 4:30 p.m. ET in 113 Downey House. His first book, Black Patience: Performance, Civil Rights, and the Unfinished Project of Emancipation (@NYUpress, 2022) is a finalist for @ASTRtweets’s Barnard Hewitt Award for Outstanding Research in Theatre History 🔥🔥🔥

Prof. @SimoneZaira & I are co-directing the inaugural Africana Studies Colloquium Series at @wesleyan_u this semester & we’re excited to be in convo w/ @TrinityCollege Profs. @Jordan_T_Camp & @c_heatherton this Wed., Feb. 7, 5:30-6:30 p.m. ET, in the Vanguard Lounge of the Center for African American Studies 🔥🔥🔥

@DrHenryWashJr Hachiroku w/ @tyrsttle and me?

Hanging out w/ @EnglishColumbia Prof. Brent Hayes Edwards, @CUNY @Hunter_College @GC_CUNY Prof. Tanya Agathocleous & @wesleyan_u Prof. @bilbijatheque84, who are discussing/debating Dusé Mohamed Ali's “indexical,” “pedagogical” & “subreptive” approaches to the form of the periodical. Can't wait to read & teach Prof. @bilbijatheque84 & @penn_state Prof. @AlexLubin12’s forthcoming @PlutoPress edition of Ali's Ere Roosevelt Came (1934). Again, many thanks to @AfAm_PSU for making this event possible!