PinnedMark Anthony Neal (T/X: @NewBlackMan)“No Charge”: Shirley Caesar and a Black Mother’s Sonic Archive by Mark Anthony NealIn retrospect, I was enough of a smart-ass as a child that I might have been that little boy in Harlan Howard’s classic song “No Charge.”…5d ago15d ago1
PinnedMark Anthony Neal (T/X: @NewBlackMan)Raising Black Fathers: Black Men and the Shame of Absenteeism by Mark Anthony NealI am old enough to remember Ed OG and Da Bulldogs’ “Be a Father to Your Child” could be heard blaring on boom boxes outside. The…Jun 14Jun 14
Mark Anthony Neal (T/X: @NewBlackMan)The Blackest Moses: The Hot-Buttered Soul of Isaac Hayes by Mark Anthony NealThat the career of Isaac Hayes could be neatly packaged into generationally specific references like Shaft, the Comedy Central animated…16h ago16h ago
Mark Anthony Neal (T/X: @NewBlackMan)When Black Power Took Over the Olympic Games by Mark Anthony NealTo be sure it was a moment, made for this era; you could easily imagine millions of Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram posts of Tommie…Jul 26Jul 26
Mark Anthony Neal (T/X: @NewBlackMan)Black Noise: Thirty-Years of Hip-Hop Studies by Mark Anthony NealIt took generations for Jazz, one of America’s classic art forms, to be taken seriously in music schools and conservatories. Hip-Hop…Jul 22Jul 22
Mark Anthony Neal (T/X: @NewBlackMan)Remembering the Songs of the Sad Black Minstrel by Mark Anthony NealJul 15Jul 15
Mark Anthony Neal (T/X: @NewBlackMan)Ray Charles’ ‘Message for the People’ and the Promise of Tangerine Records by Mark Anthony NealFor a generation or two of Americans, at least, their most concrete connection to Ray Charles’ music are not the songs he recorded in the…Jun 25Jun 25
Mark Anthony Neal (T/X: @NewBlackMan)Our Center Fielder Has Left the Field for the Last Time: on Willie Mays by Mark Anthony NealIt was chilly September night in 1973 at Shea Stadium in Queens, NY when Willie Howard Mays bid farewell to the game in which he devoted so…Jun 19Jun 19
Mark Anthony Neal (T/X: @NewBlackMan)“How do you color a sound?”: The ‘Wonder Bread’ Soul of The 5th Dimension by Mark Anthony NealWhat is a more mainstream example of America, than a sandwich made with white bread? And that is perhaps what Motown’s Berry Gordy was…Jun 17Jun 17
Mark Anthony Neal (T/X: @NewBlackMan)“The Love You Save”: Remembering Jackson 5-Mania by Mark Anthony NealOften forgotten in remembrances of Michael Jackson’s fame and infamy was the Jackson Five’s first full-blown national tour — and the…Jun 10Jun 10