Who exactly are the self-crowned Kings of Hip Hop seeing when they re-define Black Power in their track Murder to Excellence as, “ black tie, black Maybachs. … opulence, decadence. Tuxes next to the president” ?
As of December 2010, I have been engaged in a digital history project for the Rockefeller Archive Center (RAC) in New York. The project is a web history being created to coincide with the centennial of the Rockefeller Foundation (RF) in 2013. The goal of the project is to create what essentially amounts to an online documentary that describes the history… Read more »
A review of the documentary Inside Job, along with some relections on the lack of popular outrage in North America over current economic events.
A review of the Blaxploitation film Five on the Black Hand Side.
What is the relationship between presidential popularity and technology?
By Matthew Furrow Let me tell you about a newspaper article I just read and what it taught me about history. Apparently, this week marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War. (The war started because southern forces fired the first shot, although it’s not clear why). This is a “Big Deal,” at least to certain… Read more »
The next Approaching the Past workshop will be held on Wednesday April 27th at 7:oo pm at Toronto’s historic Fort York. The theme of this workshop is “Teaching the War of 1812,” and will feature a tour of Fort York and two short presentations by Karen Dearlove and Carolyn King. Karen will be discussing the upcoming Ontario Visual Heritage Project… Read more »
By Lisa Rumiel Note: Again, the author would like to thank Linda Richards for her helpful comments and suggestions in preparing this article. It is time to stop claiming that a nuclear renaissance is the solution to the current environmental crisis. I’m talking to you, Stewart Brand. A sort of Nostradamus of technological and environmental thought, Brand is one of… Read more »
While Hip Hop’s socio-political consciousness has faded, the examples in this post denote that it is not dead. However, even as some employ its ethos to confront material realities, others invest only it its promise of wealth, power and pleasure. Thus the reason why the time is ripe for this reminder: Hip Hop wields much power, but with that power comes responsibility.
It’s one thing for a political leader to take a principled stance against the power of public employee unions in state and local politics. It’s another thing entirely when you threaten to unleash a military force against them. And in raising the specter of calling out the National Guard in a possible showdown with public employees in Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker has touched one of the most painful scars in American labor history.
