Noire Histoir

A review of "Sugar" by Bernice McFadden, the story of a world-weary prostitute who moves to a small town and forms an unlikely friendship with her neighbor. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/sugar-book-review.

If you're interested in learning about a chemist who synthesized medications from plants used to treat glaucoma and rheumatoid arthritis then my Percy Lavon Julian Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/percy-lavon-julian.

A review of “A Raisin in the Sun”, a 1961 film adapted from Lorraine Hansberry's 1959 play about the fictional Younger family. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/a-raisin-in-the-sun-movie-review.

If you're interested in learning about a woman of many firsts, the most prominent achievement being the first Black woman judge in America then my Jane Bolin Black History Short is for you. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/jane-bolin.

A review of “Black Fortunes” by Shomari Wills which tells the story of the first six Black Americans who became millionaires in the years following slavery. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/black-fortunes-book-review.

If you're interested in learning about the activist who co-founded CORE and helped to organize the 1961 Freedom Riders campaign, then my James Farmer Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/james-farmer.

A review of “40 Years a Prisoner”, a documentary about the events leading up to and following the 1978 Philadelphia police department's raid of the MOVE organization's home. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/40-years-a-prisoner-movie-review.    

If you're interested in learning about the first Black woman in NASA's astronaut training program, America's first Black woman astronaut, and the first Black woman in space, then my Mae C. Jemison Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/mae-c-jemison.

A review of "His Only Wife" by Peace Adzo Medie which takes place in Ghana and tells the story of a young woman who enters an arranged marriage with the son of a wealthy family. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/his-only-wife-book-review.

If you're interested in learning about the songwriter who co-wrote "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and led the NAACP during the 1920s, then my James Weldon Johnson Black History Short is for you.   Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/james-weldon-johnson.

A review of “Soul Food”, a 1997 George Tillman Jr. drama about the Joseph family's descent into dysfunction after the matriarch goes into a coma. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/soul-food-movie-review.

If you're interested in learning about an armed resistance in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania where a local resistance group of free and formerly enslaved Black people repelled an effort to recapture four escaped slaves, then my Christiana Resistance Black History Short is for you.   Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/christiana-resistance.

A review of "The Color of Law" by Richard Rothstein which charts the history of how local, state, and federal government policies and programs segregated cities across America.    Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/color-of-law-book-review.

If you're interested in learning about the first Black female surgeon in the South and the first Black woman to be a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, then my Dorothy Lavinia Brown Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/dorothy-lavinia-brown.

A review of “Confirmation”, a 2016 HBO film about the hearings for Judge Clarence Thomas' (Wendell Pierce) nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. In Washington, D.C. Thomas seems likely to be confirmed until a former employee, Anita Hill (Kerry Washington), surfaces with allegations of sexual harassment.   Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/confirmation-movie-review.

If you're interested in learning about the first Black graduate of West Point and the army's first Black commissioned officer, then my Henry Flipper Black History Short is for you.   Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/henry-flipper.

A review of “Americanah” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a book about immigrants leaving and coming home but also finding fulfillment as well as romantic, familial, and platonic relationships. It's a whole bunch of different stuff that somehow all fits together.   Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/americanah-book-review.

If you're interested in learning about the Mason-Dixon Line and how the border it created between Northern and Southern states played a role in defining the land of freedom versus bondage, then my Fugitive Slave Acts Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/fugitive-slave-laws.

A review of "Atlanta's Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children", a 2020 five-part HBO miniseries about the Atlanta Child Murders. Show notes are available on http://noirehistoir.com/blog/atlantas-missing-and-murdered-the-lost-children-movie-review.

If you're interested in learning about the Black woman whose research contributed to connecting the relationship between cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and the clogging of arteries, then my Marie Maynard Daly Black History Short is for you. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/bhs-marie-maynard-daly.