Ashawnta Jackson

My grandparents grew it on their farm and whenever we would visit, my uncles would cut stalks of it for us. It's one of my favorite memories

Readers: keep buying, sharing, and talking about books, esp by marginalized authors. Put in purchase requests at your library. Buy from your local bookstore. Preorders are ideal. Don't wait for the series to finish before buying. Read widely and more often. Read trad pub, small press, and self-pub.

Here are your rights if ICE knocks on your door

When women vanish from history, it’s rarely because they weren’t there. More often, their work was ignored or erased. Recovering women’s history means reading sideways, piecing fragments, and asking: whose voices were recorded—and whose were silenced? 🗃️
Do you have someone we all need to know about?

"The difference isn’t in the quality of the music, it’s in who was listening." This whole project is amazing, but this line is so perfect and just gets to the heart of it. Jazz is beautiful and so very American in all the best and worst ways

YouTube video by Curb Stomp Radio Jimmy Cliff - Guns Of Brixton

I meant to listen to Many Rivers to Cross over and over today but it wasn't the best day to bring myself to those particular depths. I went with Jimmy Cliff's version of Guns of Brixton instead Great cover, great voice. Thanks for the music, Jimmy youtu.be/x5YTKzVvTTM?...

Here's where I admit that I don't know a thing about Harry Potter. Never read the books. Never saw the movies. I guess I always thought that they took place in ye olde times? I think that's because of the capes. The ye olde times are the 1990s??

NYC Directory Of Resources and Aid A directory of aid resources in NYC

dora.nyc

this is OUTSTANDING. super navigatable directory for food distros, resources. and easy to remember because it’s like the explorer but also—

directory
of
resources &
aid

congratulations!

It's amazing music. And yeah, having a term to describe it all is tough. People have been batting around soul folk as a genre name for a long time, but it hasn't really stuck. As a label, I think it's both too big and too small for this music

No, unfortunately. It would have been amazing to see him live

Me too! He started me down this soul-folk path

Listener Guide to Soul-Folk — Ashawnta Jackson

Also, be sure to check out my website for a listening guide for the book. Lots of good music there (and I'm kicking myself for not including something from Givin' It Back!) www.heyjackson.net/listener-gui...

On 'Soul-Folk', with author Ashawnta Jackson These days, the too-often ignored history of Black artists making country music looks like positively well-trodden territory compared to the story of Black artists and folk. Enter Ashawnta Jackson's S...

ICYMI: I was interviewed by @natalieweiner.bsky.social at Don't Rock the Inbox about my book Soul-Folk (@3313books.bsky.social). Among the many, many things I hope you take away from it is that you need to listen to the Isley Brothers' Givin' It Back www.dontrocktheinbox.com/on-soul-folk...

I absolutely loved talking with Natalie! Thank you so much for having me. And if you don't already, be sure to subscribe to Don't Rock The Inbox when you head over there!

Steve McQueen is coming to talk 'Small Axe.' Here are his insights before Harvard hears them. - Cambridge Day The Harvard Film Archive is running free screenings of English filmmaker Steve McQueen's “Small Axe” series, celebrating his appointment as Harvard's Charles Eliot Norton professor of poetry. We spoke...

Cambridge and Boston folks,
Steve McQueen is 2025-26 Norton Professor of Poetry

Norton Lecture 2 of 6: Small Axe is TODAY

Discussants: Tracey Scoffield, Producer;
Hazel V. Carby, Yale University
Moderator: Ashley Clark, Criterion

Tickets free mahindrahumanities.harvard.edu/steve-mcquee...
🎬

Mental Health Is Real Wealth: how Black men prioritize healing in a Los Angeles community The bi-monthly group gives Black men a safe space to share, reflect and support each other

Ten years after losing a close friend to suicide, Desmond Carter turned pain into purpose.

Through his group Mental Health is Real Wealth, he’s giving men a space to be honest and unguarded.

My latest story explores how Carter’s work helps men heal.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

The Bills are getting a $1.4bn stadium, but taxpayers will pick up the tab The Bills are becoming a case study in how property deals get struck between power brokers and politicians, laying bare the question of what, if anything, a team owes its community

Highmark Stadium in Buffalo www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/o...

I am ready for Tilted to give me some proper ear damage. You can only do so much at home

after kent state only to keep his little fear he kills his cities and his trees even his children people white ways are the way of death come into the black and live

A good time to re-read this Lucille Clifton poem, always a good time.

Actually, Slavery Was Very Bad The president’s latest criticism of museums is a thinly veiled attempt to erase Black history.

I debated writing this. It can feel tempting, upon encountering yet another instance of this administration’s racism, to let it be. How many ways can you say the same thing over and over again? And yet we have to write it down, if for nothing else, so those who come after us know we were against it.

Thank you! Enjoy!

I grew up in a tiny town but knew the big city was for me because of Sesame Street. We didn't have buses (except for school buses. the bus stop was the end of my driveway) but I couldn't wait to ride one because of this song. A bus! To the zoo! Yay for public transportation! youtu.be/mMgqQkZtjyY?...

I know that you can't generally tell goodness/badness just by looking, but it's really something that every person currently making life miserable looks like a villain trying to shut down a community center. And if 80s movies taught me anything, it's being able to spot those folks from a mile away

YouTube video by Frank Wilson - Topic Look Out Your Window

Let the bonding begin youtu.be/2dm5gXcVEuA?...

I'm looking to speak with a Detroit historian (early-mid 20th century, particularly Black history). Bonus if you know a lot about music. I had someone lined up, but that fell through. We wouldn't need to talk very long unless we end up bonding over Frank Wilson's Look Out Your Window, then who knows

Even if you can’t give… do me a solid

Repost & reply

Shameless self-promo, but check out my book if you're looking to read about race, folk music & the complications of genre. And during this sale, it's only $13.37. Not bad. The price, not the book. But the book's alright too. At least that's what my friends tell me www.bloomsbury.com/us/soulfolk-...

Posting this again because it’s hot as HELL in NYC today.

Two can play this game. A Muslim woman was attacked on the subway for being Muslim. What are you doing to ensure the safety of Muslim New Yorkers?

Protestors are being attacked by police for executing first amendment righta contesting US policy in Gaza. How are you ensuring their safety?