W.E.B. Du Bois in Perspective: The Nation, the City, the Church

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A Black History Month Event at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church and Pro-Cathedral

https://www.stannholytrinity.org/event/w-e-b-du-bois-in-perspective-the-nation-the-city-the-church/

Date and Time: February 2, 2025, from 1:30 to 3:00pm
Location: In-person in the sanctuary (157 Montague Street)
Livestream:  Click here to watch the livestream on YouTube 

Before there was a Black History Month, W.E.B. Du Bois brought Negro History Week to Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, now St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church and Pro-Cathedral. Du Bois was a major figure in twentieth-century America as a civil rights activist, scholar, and founding member of the NAACP. 

Historians Phillip Luke Sinitiere, Lavelle Porter, and Craig Townsend will offer perspectives on Du Bois’ national importance, his later career and circle of friends and fellow activists when he lived in Brooklyn, and his friendship with the Rev. William Howard Melish, the last priest in charge of Holy Trinity. 

The program will include musical performances by classical musicians Emily Kalish and Kyle Walker and the Gospel choir East Coast Inspirational Singers. 

Samuel R. Delany: A Reference Guide to His Life and Works

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We have a cover!

(Thanks to artist Mia Wolff)

Samuel R. Delany: A Reference Guide to His Life and Works by Elizabeth Mannion, Ann Matsuuchi, Lavelle Porter, and Kenny Roggenkamp.

Forthcoming from Rowman & Littlefield Publishers in December 2024.

More information:
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9798881801083/Samuel-R-Delany-A-Reference-Guide-to-His-Life-and-Works

On Erasure and American Fiction

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If you’ve been following my writing at all, then you know I was excited to see American Fiction, the newly released film adaptation of Percival Everett’s Erasure. I saw it, and wrote about it for JSTOR Daily. I hope that this is the first of many opportunities to talk about this amazing film and Percival Everett’s work.

The Indelible Lessons of Erasure  

American Fiction

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The trailer for American Fiction has dropped.

News about Cord Jefferson’s adaptation of Percival Everett’s Erasure has been circulating around for months now. Back when I was using Twitter regularly (sigh) I saw that Jefferson himself posted that the film was complete and they were looking to put it out soon. Since then, it’s garnered advance praise, and looks like it’s being pushed into the mix for major awards. Certainly, the cast looks incredible. Jeffrey Wright is a perfect choice for Thelonious “Monk” Ellison.    

As I wrote in The Blackademic Life, Angela Bassett held the rights to the movie for several years, and was working on an adaptation under the title “Book of the Year.” An imdb page for it popped up, and a brief snippet about it appeared on the blog Shadow and Act, but that project never materialized. 

These are exciting times for those of us who have been reading and writing about Percival Everett’s work. I’m curious to see how much more interest in his work will come out of this. I’m curious to see how he responds to the attention since he’s a notoriously reclusive writer. Every time I’ve seen him do public events he’s warm and gracious, but he just doesn’t do a lot of them, and has expressed his contempt for that side of the publishing game. Hell, Erasure itself is a commentary on how much he dislikes the commercial, promotional side of publishing. So we’ll see how he handles being in the spotlight. But just as a fan, it’s exciting and gratifying that more people will discover his writing now.      

If you are interested in reading more about Erasure and its place in black literary history, I recommend the section “Real Compared to What?” in Chapter Five of The Blackademic Life: Academic Fiction, Higher Education, and the Black Intellectual. I will have more to say about Erasure and American Fiction soon, and I’m looking forward to seeing the film as soon as I can. 

For further reading on Everett, check out these two pieces I wrote on his work for The New Inquiry:

Percival Everett by Percival Everett

Some Blues but Not the Kind That’s Blue