SHOCKING: Ralph ellison - What They Never Told You

Black literary luminary Ralph Ellison's works have a new home at Bard College

Bard College in New York's Hudson Valley has opened a center dedicated to Ralph Ellison, a key figure in Black arts and literature

The Independent UK · Oct 30

J Cole: The Fall Off review – rap legend’s final album is a self-obsessed hip-hop history lesson

(Interscope)Bowing out after six consecutive US No 1 albums, Cole references rap greats and even conjures a convo between Biggie and 2Pac – but the lens rarely strays from himself

The Guardian - UK · Feb 10

Derek Owusu: ‘I didn’t read a book until the age of 24’

The writer on bingeing Henry James, his friendship with Benjamin Zephaniah and a confidence-boosting classic

The Guardian - UK · Oct 31, 2025

A century on from Rhapsody in Blue, debates about cultural ‘theft’ rage still

Societies are robbed of subtlety and depth when racism is conflated with the borrowing of ideas

The Guardian - UK · Feb 18, 2024

Advice from a critic: Read 'Erasure' before seeing 'American Fiction'

With the first Percival Everett-inspired screen adaptation American Fiction coming to theaters starting on Dec. 15, we're taking a moment to revisit his provocative and affecting satirical novel.

WEKU · Dec 12, 2023

Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson made a suggestion during the 1963 March on Washington − and it changed a good speech to a majestic sermon on an American dream

Every now and then, a voice can matter. Mahalia Jackson had one of them.

The Conversation · Aug 25, 2023

Cormac McCarthy's fearless approach to writing

Cormac McCarthy, who died on June 13, 2023, at the age of 89, is often characterized rather narrowly as a Southern writer, or perhaps a Southern Gothic writer.

The Conversation · Jun 16, 2023

6 books that explain the history and meaning of Juneteenth

After decades of being celebrated at mostly the local level, Juneteenth – the long-standing holiday that commemorates the arrival of news of emancipation and freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, in 1865 – became a federal holiday in 2021. In honor of this year’s Juneteenth, The Conversation reached…

The Conversation · Jun 9, 2023