Mark Anthony Neal (@NewBlackMan on X)

One Obvious, Underused Child-Care Solution Pay grandparents.

"Americans, meanwhile, are already paying other people—a lot—to care for their children. According to 2022 data from the National Database of Childcare Prices, families with just one child spend 8.9 to 16% of their median income for child care..."
www.theatlantic.com/family/2025/...

YouTube video by John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke U. Left of Black | Black Women's Rage as a Means Towards Justice in Philadelphia with Kali Nicole Gross

What do you do when the justice system you rely on for redress fails you and you have to take matters into your own hands?

Kali Gross discusses her book 'Vengeance Feminism: The Power of Black Women’s Fury in Lawless Times' (Seal Press) via #LeftOfBlack #Season15
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gyZ...

There’s Never Been a Worse Time to Be Authentic at Work Workers have been told to bring themselves to work, only to be disappointed time and time again, argues author Jodi-Ann Burey in her new book.

There’s Never Been a Worse Time to Be Authentic at Work

Workers have been told to bring themselves to work, only to be disappointed time and time again, argues author Jodi-Ann Burey in her new book
www.wired.com/story/theres...

Pew Finds Just 6% of Journalists Are Black as Crisis Grows with Recent Firings BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — the Black voice is too often invited in only to be pushed out when it dares to speak of the nation’s truths. Attiah, the Post’s only Black female opinion writer, said she was terminated after more than a decade at the paper for posts she wrote on social media addressing violence and the dangers of white extremism.

Pew Finds Just 6% of Journalists Are Black as Crisis Grows with Recent Firings | @blackpressusa.bsky.social
blackpressusa.com/pew-finds-ju...

YouTube video by John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University Left of Black with Marcyliena Morgan

The Hiphop Archive and Research Institute the house that the late Dr. Marcyliena Morgan built. I was honored to bring #LeftOfBlack to her house 12 years ago to discuss her vision for the study of HipHop Culture.

‘How much hip-hop iconography would be considered anti-American under this new regime of revisionist history? Where would our legacy live, if banned from the Internet, besides our heads and our hearts? How would we preserve it for future generations?’

Urgent 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ question too

The BET Hip Hop Awards cut the cord as DEI dies The show's suspension comes amid broader efforts to curb diversity at the institutional level. The next attempt to canonize the movement must learn lessons from its successes — and its missteps.

"Mark Anthony Neal notes the unprecedented "accessibility of the archive of contemporary and historical Blackness"...But "laments how digital accessibility has reduced our music to "the ambient background of the continued exploitation & commodification of Black culture."
www.npr.org/2025/10/01/g...

When Bruce Lee Trained With Kareem Abdul-Jabbar When Bruce Lee met Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a month after the 1968 national college basketball championship, he was still known as Lew Alcindor, the most hyped young basketball star in history. Lew was…

"To him, Bruce was as effective a teacher as John Wooden. Both were focused on fundamentals, preparation, and what worked."

When Bruce Lee Trained With Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | Jeff Chang | @lithub.com.web.brid.gy
lithub.com/when-bruce-l...

Spending on AI Is at Epic Levels. Will It Ever Pay Off? Tech companies are pouring hundreds of billions into data centers, taking on heavy debt, but current revenue is relatively tiny. Critics warn of a new dot-com bubble.

Spending on AI Is at Epic Levels. Will It Ever Pay Off?

Tech companies pour hundreds of billions into data centers, taking on heavy debt, but current revenue is relatively tiny; echoes of dot-com bubble
www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-b...

In Memphis, Lead Poisoning Often Goes Unnoticed and Untreated As Trump deploys the National Guard to “make Memphis safe and restore public order,” the health risks from the city’s aging infrastructure, plumbing, and paint continue to be ignored.

In Memphis, Lead Poisoning Often Goes Unnoticed & Untreated | @thenation.com

As Trump deploys the National Guard to “make Memphis safe and restore public order,” health risks from the city’s aging infrastructure, plumbing, and paint continue to be ignored
www.thenation.com/article/soci...

Boston to Pay $150,000 to 2 Black Men Wrongly Accused in White Woman’s Killing

Boston to Pay $150,000 to 2 Black Men Wrongly Accused in White Woman’s Killing

Boston’s mayor, Michelle Wu, apologized in 2023 to Alan Swanson and Willie Bennett for the actions of police after the 1989 killing of Carol Stuart.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/u...

Who Burned the Bronx? Bench Ansfield’s Born in Flames argues that landlords—driven by financialization and the development of insurance “brownlining” in the 1960s and 1970s—are largely to blame.

Who Burned the Bronx?

Bench Ansfield’s Born in Flames argues that landlords—driven by financialization and the development of insurance “brownlining” in the 1960s and 1970s—are largely to blame.
newrepublic.com/article/2007...

Sasha Bonet will be discussing her novel this week in her hometown, Houston. #KindredStories in #ThirdWard is hosting. Hope to see you there on Tuesday. #BookSky

Why Can’t Americans Sleep? Insomnia has become a public-health emergency.

"a fear of sleep loss that itself causes sleep loss that in turn generates an even greater fear of sleep loss that in turn generates even more sleep loss … until the next thing you know, you’re in an insomnia galaxy spiral..."
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

A Searing Memoir of Black Womanhood, Across Generations

A Searing Memoir of Black Womanhood, Across Generations

In “The Waterbearers,” Sasha Bonét weaves her matrilineal history into a larger struggle for survival and self-knowledge.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/b...

The Legendary Children's Librarian of Harlem - JSTOR Daily Raised in a family of storytellers, Augusta Baker continued that tradition, imparting a love of books to readers of all ages.

The Legendary Children’s Librarian of Harlem

Raised in a family of storytellers, Augusta Baker continued that tradition, imparting a love of books to readers of all ages.
daily.jstor.org/legendary-ch...

Yours Sincerely, Lalah Hathaway Lalah Hathaway dazzled at The Anthem last month, showing why she's often called "the first daughter of soul."

"Lalah Hathaway wants everything vantablack — blacker than black, the blackest black, a black that reveals Hathaway’s genealogical relationship to sound, traceable to her father Donny Hathaway’s performance of 'Be Real Black For Me'." -- Joshua Myers
www.capitalbop.com/lalah-hathaw...

L.A. fires burned their block. For each, the disaster was just beginning. The Washington Post spent months with three families from West Las Flores Drive in Altadena, following their struggles to recover and to forge a new future.

'The Los Angeles wildfires leveled entire neighborhoods, but perhaps nowhere suffered more than west Altadena. This is an account of three families’ grueling recovery — the part of the story most people never see.'
wapo.st/46jWqbf

‘The Brothers Size’ Review: A Spare and Poetic Restaging

‘The Brothers Size’ Review: A Spare and Poetic Restaging

In honor of its 20th anniversary, Tarell Alvin McCraney’s play gets a fiercely minimalist production at the Shed.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/t...

Currently reading this! It's a good one.

The amount of unqualified folks with passing grades simply due to AI is going to be huge. Cheating at the highest levels.

Left of Black Digital Series Wins Two Telly Awards for Video Excellence
leftofblack.org/left-of-blac...

Trouble the Archive: Kim Roberts Tells the Story of Hurricane Katrina by Mark Anthony Neal If Hurricane Katrina offered a contemporary example of ethnic cleansing in the United States, then the power of Trouble the Water, the 2008…

Trouble the Archive: Kim Roberts Tells the Story of Hurricane Katrina
medium.com/p/6f08475ff0eb

The demise of curiosity In an era when AI delivers the answer before the question is even asked, the sanctity of wonder is slipping away, and soon the act of asking might vanish entirely.

'In an era when AI delivers the answer before the question is even asked, the sanctity of wonder is slipping away, and soon the act of asking might vanish entirely.'
africasacountry.com/2025/09/the-...

How a Tradition Forged in Slavery Persists Today A new book argues that Black women, from the colonial era through Jim Crow, shaped how America birthed its babies, nursed its sick, and fed its families.

How a Tradition Forged in Slavery Persists Today | Danielle Amir Jackson

A new book argues that conjure—a Black spiritual practice—has touched nearly every corner of American life.
www.theatlantic.com/books/archiv...

Listen to the vanishing sounds of Mali’s legendary music scene Over decades, Mali produced global stars and became a hub for West African guitar. Now, musicians are struggling to hang on amid economic and security crises.

Listen to the vanishing sounds of Mali’s legendary music scene

Over decades, Mali produced global stars and became a hub for West African guitar. Now, musicians are struggling to hang on amid economic and security crises
wapo.st/3JSxmjU

Joseph McNeil, Young Spark in a Civil Rights Battle, Dies at 83

Joseph McNeil, Young Spark in a Civil Rights Battle, Dies at 83

He and his classmates from a historically Black college in Greensboro, N.C., desegregated a Woolworth’s lunch counter in 1960, inspiring similar protests across the nation.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/u...

The hidden history of Africans in Venice Venice's history of African influence is revealed through its art, architecture and cultural exchange.

'From Black gondoliers to art depicting enslaved people, Venice has a long history of cultural exchange with Africa.'
wapo.st/45PISVR

Trump’s D.C. Law Enforcement Takeover Has Black Parents on Edge

'The deployment of federal agents and National Guard troops has caused some Black parents to return to the days of “the talk” about policing that they had hoped was no longer needed to keep their children safe.'
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/u...

YouTube video by John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke U. Left of Black | Derrick E. White and the Legacy of Black College Football

In this episode from #Season11 of #LeftOfBlack Historian Derrick E. White discusses his book 'Blood, Sweat, and Tears: Jake Gaither, Florida A&M, and the History of Black College Football', which was just released in paperback from UNC Press
www.youtube.com/watch?v=babS...