We Who Are Dark

In this episode, Professor Tomengo and Dr. Vaz discuss the art of Archibald Motley and its role within the context of the Harlem Renaissance. Key to their discussion is the impact that colorism had on Black American life and culture, including U.S. policies concerning "race" in America. Using Archibald Motley's Octoroon Girl of 1925, they discuss the effects of the "one drop rule" and its influenc...

In this episode, Dr. Vaz and Professor Tomengo continue their discussion of Woodrow Wilson's international policies as they relate to Latin American countries. The conversation includes issues related to the aftermath of WW1 (both domestic and international) and the forming of the League of Nations.

In this episode Dr. Vaz and Professor Tomengo discuss the Red Summer of 1919 and the ascent of Woodrow Wilson to the United States Presidency. Central to this conversation are Wilson's expansion of the Federal Government and his international policies that were based on Roosevelt's Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. Special attention is given to the United States' evolving relationship with Haiti a...

In this episode, Professor Tomengo and Dr. Vaz discuss Meta Warrick Fuller's sculpture Mary Turner. Professor Tomengo recounts the circumstances by which he came to teach African American Humanities twenty-four years ago and, by extension, Fuller's Mary Turner. Central to their conversation is how the history of the work has impacted the many students who have taken both their classes down through...

Professor Tomengo and Dr. Vaz discuss Meta Warrick Fuller's 1939 sculpture, The Talking Skull. They analyze its metaphoric potential and examine the significance of those metaphors for Black people then and now. The conversation also addresses the Administration of Theodore Rooselvelt, his Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine and his handling of the Brownsville Affair of 1906.

In this eposode Dr. Vaz and Professor Tomengo analyze Meta Warrick Fuller's classic sculpture, The Awakening of Ethiopia. They begin the conversation by continuing an earlier discussion of United States political parties and both of their personal voting strategies as Black men. The discussion then segues into an analysis of Fuller's sculpture and its importance to establishing a metaphysical Blac...

Dr. Vaz and Professor Tomengo discuss how the policies of Franklin Delano Roosevelt impacted Black Americans negatively, even though their goal was to benefit Americans in general. Special attention is given to policies of The New Deal, particularly the Agricultural Adjustment Act and the Federal Housing Adminstration, both of which contributed to the Racial Covenants that would prevent Black land...

In this episode Professor Trent Tomengo and Dr. Neil Vaz discuss the history of the political parties and their relationship to Black people in the United States of America.

In this episode, Professor Tomengo and Dr. Vaz continue their conversation on the artwork of Augusta Savage, this time giving specific attention to her sculpture Realization. They discuss the importance of her approach to portraying Black people during the Harlem Renaissance and how that approach differed from that of Aaron Douglas.

In this episode, Professor Tomengo and Dr. Vaz discuss the life and art of American sculptor Augusta Savage. The conversation centers on Savage's approach to creating sculptures of Black people and her life in the art world of the early 20th Century. Considerable attention is given to her activism, including her discontent with Mary Brady of The Harmon Foundation.

In this episode, Dr. Vaz and Professor Tomengo engage in a conversation about the British role in the founding of the United States of America. Key to this discussion are the differences between the British approach to mercantalism and slave-owning and that of the Spanish and the Portuguese. These differences, ultimately, will determine why and how the concept of "race" developed and was enforced...

This episode features a detailed discussion of why the Transatlantic Slave Trade developed and how its development slowly decimated local West African economies. Dr. Vaz revisits the topic of European mercantilism, underscoring how initial trade agreements with West Africa led to the eventual fall of some West African kingdoms and the rise of others. Key to the discussion is how these newer kingdo...

In this episode, Dr. Neil Vaz and Professor Trent Tomengo discuss Aaron Douglas's painting Aspirations from 1936. They analyze Douglas's painting, giving special attention to the war of images that was waged against the proliferation of harmful stereotypes aimed at the Black population. The conversation includes a discussion on the origins of the NAACP and the efficacy of its work, primarily throu...

Dr. Vaz and Professor Tomengo conclude their conversation on Aaron Douglas's seminal series Aspects of Negro Life, addressing the final painting in the series, Song of the Towers. They cover issues related to the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, and the labor movment of the United States at time, giving special attention to the presidential administrations of Woodrow Wilson and Franklin De...

This episode continues Dr. Vaz and Professor Tomengo's conversation on Aaron Douglas's Aspects of Negro Life, this time focusing on the third painting in the series, From Slavery to Reconstruction. The conversation includes a discussion of the era of Reconstruction along with the Great Migration and the challenges and opportunities Black people faced at the turn of the 20th century.

Dr. Neil Vaz and Professor Trent Tomengo continue their discussion of Aaron Douglas's "Aspects of Negro Life", this time taking a deep dive into "Idyll of the Deep South". They discuss the ideas inherent in its imagery and asthetics and how these ideas are reflected in the writings of scholars like Robert Farris Thompson and Eric Williams.

In this episode, Dr. Neil Vaz and Professor Trent Tomengo discuss the artist Aaron Douglas and his series of paintings called "Aspects of Negro Life", particularly "The Negro in an African Setting". The conversation includes general information about the Harlem Renaissance, the historical/cultural importance of Douglas's art, and its relevance for the time period and for today.

Dr. Neil Vaz and Professor Trent Tomengo discuss the self-emancipation of Africans throughout the African Diaspora focusing on self-emancipation during the Civil War, the creation of independent Maroon nations throughout the Americas, as well as the Haitian Revolution. They delve into the importance of agency in bringing about change in the historical narrative, challenging the recent push to hide...

Dr. Neil Vaz and Trent Tomengo discuss West African spirituality and its influence on the development of African diasporal cultures that resulted from the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The co-hosts address the power of the drum and why it was banned along with certain African-based spiritual traditions. Nevertheless, these ancestral expressions ultimately survived and continue to thrive in Black cult...

In this episode Dr. Neil Vaz and Trent Tomengo discuss the role that religion played in the rebellions of the Translatlantic Slave Trade and slavery in the Americas.

Dr. Neil Vaz and Trent Tomengo discuss how the Portuguese and Spanish claims to lands on either side of the Atlantic Ocean influenced the kinds of Black diasporal cultures found all over the world, including Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States.

In this conversation about the functionality of the concept of "race", Dr. Neil Vaz discusses mercantilism, the initial Western European attraction to Africa, and the rise of the Translatlantic Slave Trade.

Dr. Neil Vaz and Trent Tomengo continue their discussion of how various forms of European slavery and colonialism produced a fluid, global "Black" identity.

In this episode Dr. Neil Vaz and Trent Tomengo discuss how slavery, colonialism, and racist propaganda contributed to the collective psychology of Black people.

Dr. Neil Vaz and Trent Tomengo discuss the complexities of "race" as a concept rooted in Europen colonialism and cultual hegemony.