Left of Black

Jennifer C. Nash, longtime celebrated scholar and the Jean Fox O'Barr Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies at @DukeU joins @LeftOfBlack to discuss her book, 'Birthing Black Mothers' (@DukePress, 2021) youtube.com/watch?v=57lmP_…

J.R. Smith won NBA titles. He’s now a college graduate with a different message nytimes.com/athletic/72650…

Reclaiming the Name of the Black Hero Who Inspired ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ After 42 years of slavery, Josiah Henson escaped to Canada, where he wrote a memoir, founded a school and led others to freedom. But his home long bore the name “Uncle Tom,” to the offense of many nytimes.com/2026/05/06/wor…

Black Moms on TV: From the Strictest to the Messiest As we celebrate Mother’s Day 2026, let’s take a look at how some of favorite Black TV moms evolved over the years from disciplinary and tough to messy and real! theroot.com/black-moms-on-…

"Still, the deeper story sits beneath those comparisons. Studies show Black women report suicidal thoughts at roughly twice the rate in the months after childbirth, while facing steeper barriers to diagnosis, treatment, and consistent care." wordinblack.com/2026/05/mental… | @WordInBlack

"I realized that my mother’s listening practices—the music she played when my father was at work—was as much about her love of music, as it was an attempt at meaning making for her own life. It was about hearing women’s voices who reflected a vision of herself, and the voices of men, who desired that vision of herself." medium.com/p/f86ed858bd6e

In the Black Church, Women’s Hats Still Testify | @DorothyBoulware For generations, Black women’s church hats have blended faith, dignity, resistance, and cultural pride. wordinblack.com/2026/05/in-the… | @WordInBlack

85-Year-Old Charles Whitman Dabbs Receives Doctorate Degree From Tennessee State University An 85-year-old scholar’s walk across the stage at Tennessee State University is a strong example of perseverance. blackenterprise.com/85-year-old-do… | @blackenterprise

North Carolina teachers rally for "a seat at the table" | Ben Humphries "There has always been union organizing in the South," Kelly said. "But also, people have been taught to not use the word union and to feel very disconnected from union organizing here in the South." scalawagmagazine.org/2026/05/north-… | @scalawagmag

She did everything she could to prevent the breakup of a majority-Black congressional district “People didn’t send us here to draw racist maps, they sent us here to figure out how to fix the roads ... and lower our grocery prices," Tennessee state Sen. Charlane Oliver said. 19thnews.org/2026/05/charla…

A Dream Deferred for the Jackson Faction Jesse Jackson’s politics of inclusion, an ongoing project, was spurred by his ascent to two candidacies for the Democratic presidential ticket. inthesetimes.com/article/jesse-…

Legislators Denounce “Appalling and Horrific Treatment” of Mothers in Immigrant Detention More than a hundred pregnant women are still detained. Many are not receiving proper medical care. motherjones.com/politics/2026/…

'In this episode of The Black Rest Podcast, host Dejha Carrington is joined by writer, scholar, poet, and Black feminist love-evangelist Alexis Pauline Gumbs for an ancestral and deeply restorative conversation. Together, they explore how water becomes a teacher, metaphor, and sanctuary for Black people across generations.' podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bla…

Virginia Supreme Court Strikes Down Vote That Was About Representation and Power The ruling is a victory for Republicans as Democrats sought to counter the GOP’s redistricting efforts. capitalbnews.org/virginia-redis…

How Trump’s Deportation Regime Is Reshaping Schools Across the US, students are missing school, falling behind academically, and carrying the trauma of detention and family separation into school each day thenation.com/article/societ… | @thenation

A vivid account of transformation and tenacity in Myanmar, Hilary Oliva Faxon's "Surviving the State" documents the practices that sustain life on the land under authoritarian regimes. Preorder at 40% off with code SPRING26 and read the intro for free now: bit.ly/4u2hQEv

The Supreme Court Ends Multiracial Democracy as We Know It As Tennessee eliminated its only majority-Black district, Ari Berman and Tennessee state Rep. Justin J. Pearson explain how SCOTUS enabled the right’s “power grab.” theintercept.com/2026/05/08/sup…

We’re excited to announce that THE SELENA READER is back in stock! 🎉 A powerful collection of reflections, criticism, and tributes to Selena Quintanilla, the Queen of Tejano, this book is essential reading for fans and scholars.

Decades of Stigmatization Fueled Growing Threat of Pregnancy Criminalization | Grace E. Howard States are weaponizing unrelated laws – or even rejected bills – to police pregnancy. truthout.org/articles/decad… | @Truthout

How to Teach the #BlackRadicalTradition in an undergrad #Caribbean Studies course in Spanish