Today we’re revisiting Maurice Berger’s Race Stories article, “The Faces of Bigotry: When the Hoods Come Off.” This article features photos of white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, VA and likens them to photographs of German neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan gatherings in the early to mid 1900s. These photographs intend to make the faces of those who uphold values of bigotry, violence, and hate visible— oftentimes people we know. 

Article: https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/08/21/the-faces-of-bigotry-when-the-hoods-come-off/

This week, we’re featuring Maurice Berger’s Race Stories article, “Photos That Challenge Stereotypes About African-American Youths.” This article looks at photographs from “Picturing Children,” the fourth volume in a series of books published by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Works from “Picturing Children” explore the routines of everyday life in Black communities and the added weight Black children are pressured to shoulder because they are being raised in a world that already has preconceived notions and prejudices about them because of their skin color. The photographs also consider how Black children are forced to grow up in a society with systems that do not allow them to be children and, instead, must face the discrimination and injustices that infiltrated their schools and communities. 

Article:https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/07/19/african-american-children-empowered-by-photography/

We’re continuing our reflection on Black history and Maurice Berger’s Race Stories this week by revisiting “Pictures of Men, Friends or Lovers.” This article looks at historian Trent Kelly’s collection of photographs of Black gay men from the Civil War to the present. Kelly’s collection of over 200 photographs, titled “Hidden in the Open: Photographic Essay of Afro American Male Affections,” considers how Black gay men had to endure both white America’s prejudice for the color of their skin and hate for their sexuality. They were also often rejected from their own Black communities and considered “second-class citizens in gay culture.”  

Article: https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/10/pictures-of-men-friends-or-lovers/   

Apply to be Arts and Culture’s Paws for Art writer for The Retriever!

Responsibilities:

Arts and Culture is looking for a writer who is passionate about the Arts and giving due attention to student artists around campus. This position is open to writers who are enthusiastic about sharing UMBC students’ artistic projects and goals. Applicants should have a  general knowledge about various expressions of art (visual arts, music, creative writing, dance, etc.), a willingness to learn about new artistic interpretations,  as well as the readiness to network, learn about and contact artists around campus. Applicants should be prepared to produce one article every two weeks, each article being dedicated to a different student artist.

Requirements:

You must be an undergraduate student at UMBC with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 and a minimum of 30 credits. 

To Apply:

Please visit the Retriever website at https://retriever.umbc.edu/join-our-team/ and fill out the application

For more information, email  ade12@umbc.edu.

Note: This is a paid position and can be done remotely.

We will begin our retrospect of Maurice Berger’s Race Stories and reflection on black history and our current political and social climate by featuring, “Capturing the Struggle for Racial Equality, Past and Present.” This article looks at works from Black American photographer, Sheila Pree Bright’s book “#1960Now” that served as a reminder that activism and the struggle for racial equality in the United States has existed throughout all of American history and is ongoing. Bright uses the medium of black and white photography to “[underscore] this historical continuity” and contribute to the scores of legendary civil rights photographs that testify to racial violence and injustice in America.  

Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/lens/capturing-the-struggle-for-racial-equality-past-and-present.html?auth=login-google

Greetings,

 

This is a reminder about an upcoming application deadline for an undergraduate student opportunity. The African American Studies Department at The University of Maryland African/Black Diaspora Seminar Project is happy to announce an opportunity for undergraduate student participation in its Mellon Foundation seminar series, “African/Black Diaspora Academic and Public Discourse.”  We welcome undergraduate student applications from your academic institution. Applications for this seminar series are due by June 16, 2020.

The seminar welcomes undergraduate students with academic interests in African/ black identity(ies) and the relationship between and among members of first and second-generation African immigrants and US-born African Americans. Undergraduate students in their junior or senior year who major in the humanities and the humanistic social sciences specializing in African, Africana and/or African American Studies and are leaders in related campus student organizations are encouraged to apply.  

 

Undergraduate students will participate in student panel discussions about their research and share personal reflections, ideas, and experiences around the key identity issues and themes of the project. How did these topics personally affect them and their collective experiences on these and other campuses?  Undergraduate participants will be selected from the regions where the seminars will be held namely:  Washington, DC/Maryland/Virginia.  Four seminar meetings are planned to begin in October 2020 and conclude in September 2021. 

Please see the attached document for more details about the seminar and application process. Applications are due by June 16, 2020 and should be sent directly to the Sarah Scriven, Project Coordinator – sscriven@umd.edu.