The Fred Opie Show

The following are excerpts and a Q and A from a book talk gave at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. It’s part of the Centers’ series Conversations in Black Freedom Studies curated by Jeanne Theoharis and Komozi Woodard. What I shared is based on my book Upsetting the Apple Cart: Black-Latino Coalitions in New York City from Protest to Public Office. You will also hear h...

The following are excerpts and a Q and A from a book talk gave at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. It’s part of the Centers’ series Conversations in Black Freedom Studies curated by Jeanne Theoharis and Komozi Woodard. What I shared is based on my book Upsetting the Apple Cart: Black-Latino Coalitions in New York City from Protest to Public Office. You will also hear h...

[Reboot of Interview Published 2 years ago] Troy Kemp is the director college recruiting and a coach for Nation United (NU) which is the subject of today's show. He is also on the staff the Ron Clark Academy a highly-acclaimed middle school in Atlanta, Georgia internationally recognized for its success in educating students with academic rigor, passion, and creativity balanced with a strict discip...

The following is an excerpt from a panel on the cultural significance and legacy of soul food, and whether it can or should be healthy. I participated on the panel along with Cassandria Campbell, Euneika Rogers-Sipp, with Seitu Jones moderating. The panel had been part of the 2015 Black in Design Conference Held at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Following the pa...

Today Hempstead is a predominately-lower working class black suburb of New York City. But it had not always been that way. Hempstead had been a diverse but largely white middle and upper class city that thrived on the economic vitality of Mitchell Airforce based started in 1918. The town had a nationally recognized High School for its academic and athletic excellence. The closing of the Mitchell f...

Babson Lacrosse Player Tyler Patterson shares how he graduating a year early and saving his family 35k in school fees. He talks the internships he had while at Babson, reflects on his college decision when he was in high school; Jack and Jill, and what it means to be an African American for him. Follow the Fred Opie show and the content Fred shares on his website, Twitter and Facebook. Take the ti...

Excerpt of a lecture Historian Fred Opie delivered at Harvard University in 2012 about Zora Neale Hurston’s Culinary South. Opie unpacks the courtship practices in Hurston's Eatonville, Florida at the turn-of-the-century as well as through the observations she made and the stories she collected while doing fieldwork throughout Florida, Louisiana, Georgia, and other parts of the South During the Gr...

Host Fred Opie talks with Yale Professor of History and North Carolina native Glenda Gilmore for the series Stumping and Eating, the role of food in political elections. Gilmore recalls the political culture of Gilford County where she grow up in the counties rich history of barbecues fish fries, and supper clubs. Follow the Fred Opie show and the content Fred shares on his website, Twitter and Fa...

Fred's review of the movie Harriet. Left to right: Harriet Tubman; Gertie Davis [Tubman's adopted daughter]; Nelson Davis [Tubman's husband]; Lee Cheney; "Pop" Alexander; Walter Green; Sarah Parker ["Blind Auntie" Parker] and Dora Stewart [granddaughter of Tubman's brother, John Stewart]. Photo Courtesy of the New York Public Library Follow the Fred Opie show and the content Fred shares on his web...

Excerpt from the talk and workshop, the ABCs of Using Blogging and Podcasting As A Teaching and Branding Strategy How to Have Your Best College Year Ever: 3 tips for increasing one’s GPA. DR. FRED OPIE, ATHLETE TURNED AUTHOR, PRODUCER, PROFESSOR, AND EDITOR. Follow the Fred Opie show and the content Fred shares on his website, Twitter and Facebook. Take the time to review the show on You Tube, iTu...

Excerpt from the talk How to Have Your Best College Year Ever: 3 tips for increasing one’s GPA. DR. FRED OPIE, ATHLETE TURNED AUTHOR, PRODUCER, PROFESSOR, AND EDITOR. Follow the Fred Opie show and the content Fred shares on his website, Twitter and Facebook. Take the time to review the show on You Tube, iTunes, Stitcher, and Soundcloud. If you like what you hear and learn, tell others about it and...

This is a reboot of my interview with Rick Sowell the first Division 1 African American Head lacrosse coach. He first served as an assistant to Hall of Famer Dave Urick at Georgetown University for eight years before becoming the head lacrosse coach at Dartmouth College. I ask coach Sowell for his advice to the younger version of him seeking to build his or her resume as a coach is a native of Wes...

An excerpt from the talk College Myths Most Cannot Afford: 7 ways to save and earn more than those who don’t know Them For booking write info@FredOpie.com DR. FRED OPIE, ATHLETE TURNED AUTHOR, PRODUCER, PROFESSOR, AND EDITOR. Follow the Fred Opie show and the content Fred shares on his website, Twitter and Facebook. Take the time to review the show on You Tube, iTunes, Stitcher, and Soundcloud. If...

Brothers James and Robert Paschal opened a restaurant adjacent to the Atlanta University Center (AUC). Atlanta city officials gave Paschal’s a “colored only” Jim Crow restaurant seating designation. However, the restaurants famed fried chicken and other menu items attracted white dinners who made up some seventy percent of its regular customers. The brothers had committed to employ as many AUC col...

Hall of Famer Roy Simmons Jr., played lacrosse at Syracuse University (SU) in the 1950s with Hall of Famer Jim Brown and Oreyen Lyons for his father Roy Simmons Sr. who also coached football and boxing at SU. Both father and son coached lacrosse at Syracuse for more than 40 years. Simmie as his family, friends, and former players call him, talks about his career as a professional artist, lacrosse...

As part of our ongoing series stumping and eating the role of food in elections, we turn to the Buckeye state of Ohio. The series Stumping And Eating focuses on identity politics, fund raising campaigns, and mobilizing people throughout modern US history. Follow the Fred Opie show and the content Fred shares on his website, Twitter and Facebook. Take the time to review the show on You Tube, iTunes...

What role does food play in social movements? The “People’s Kitchen” at Occupy Wall Street (OWS) at Zuccotti Park, in New York City served 3,000 meals a day for free from October 2011 until a police eviction in November 2011 ended the occupation of the park. Content on The Peoples Kitchen is included in Frederick Douglass Opie’s book Southern Food and Civil Rights (American Palate, 2017). Follow t...

Dr. Alvenia Moody Fulton is not well known as a pioneer in the holistic health movement which championed whole grains, unprocessed foods, juicing, and vegetarianism. Interviews newspapers, magazines, autobiographies, and some ethnography are used to tell her story. Dick Gregory learned most of his holistic health expertise from Fulton starting back in the 1960s. Gregory and others I interviewed fr...

Today's show is a remixed and rebooted interview I did with Don McPherson to raise awareness about of the publication of his first book entitled You Throw Like a Girl: The Blind Spot of Masculinity. McPherson is a native of Long Island played who was an outstanding Quarterback at Syracuse University. He was an All-American and runner-up to the Heisman trophy, the award given to the top US collegia...

Host Fred Opie speaks with three vendors at the Natick Farmer's Market. He chose them based on their offerings and what caught his eye. Learn about the produce and prepared foods and how to both make and eat them. See the links below to the market, vendors, and food history stories and recipes from Fred's blog. Fred is Professor of History and Foodways at Babson College where he teaches and writes...

This is a reboot of interviewed that aired. Host Fred Opie talks with wife and husband Jennifer and Adam Silva who were student-athletes at West Point Military Academy. They have a son who is a student athlete at West Point, and two younger children at home, one male one female. We delve into the recruiting process in light of decision-making ability of teenagers, setting reasonable club and tourn...

This is part 1 of a series entitled Food in African American Literature. In Part 1 Fred talks about the relationship of the field to his earlier research and publications. This audio series is a contribution to the study of literature, foodways, and African-American history. The series unpacks places where food has been made, sold, and eaten¬ in important books in African American Literature inclu...

Part 2 of 3 in series entitled Food in African American Literature. In part 2 Fred discuss historical staples in southern cuisine and regional recipe and ingredients, provides an overview of the books in the series, and and shares his theory about why some authors have written so much about food in their work. The series is a contribution to the study of literature, foodways, and African-American...

In part 3 of a 3 of series Food in African American Literature Fred talks with a chef who catered a meal based on autobiographies and novels. The series is a contribution to the study of literature, foodways, and African-American history. About Dr. Opie Dr. Frederick Douglass Opie earned a gold medal as a member of the 1990 US National Lacrosse Team. He is a professional speaker, Babson Professor...

Historian Fred Opie looks at what he calls "Stumping and Eating." Opie says treating voters to food and drink in exchange for their vote on Election Day has a long history. This segment looks at how political meetings and campaign stops provides the opportunity for a candidate to identify with potential donors and voters and thereby gain their money and votes. Follow the Fred Opie show and the con...