Was at Cornell this past weekend -- giving a talk on Toni Morrison in the new *Toni Morrison Hall*. Pretty cool & a nice conference overall. I also drove down to Penn State for the Frances Harper 200 conference. A few highlights from both conferences here: www.electrostani.com/2025/09/two-...

Here's today's #ScholarSunday thread for the brinner (brunch for dinner, y'all know you've done it) crowd. Please share widely to get all this great work out there, & thanks! @sifill.bsky.social

bond girls but they’re also muppets: thread

This moment is disturbing even in the mundane: I’ve started taking screenshots of historical sources I’m using in research from the national park service, the smithsonian, and the national archives, just in case they get taken down. It’s now a part of my process and takes time I have to plan for.

Makes me think of Vertamae Grosvenor.

"Over 70% of Americans Jews oppose Trump's weaponizing of anti Semitism by attacking and defunding universities, according to a new poll" www.latimes.com/california/s...

"More professors in the United States have been fired for controversial views in the past week than any other week in all of American history." www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

My friend and colleague Wesley Morris and I had a very sobering conversation about America since the 1619 Project published and how it feels to be falling back under the veil that W.E.B. Du Bois so mournfully wrote about. I hope you’ll listen to this episode of Cannonball @nytimes.com

I talked about editing Austen for Penguin w/ @folger.edu www.folger.edu/podcasts/sha...

Register here! www.eventbrite.com/e/the-sweet-...

If you, like I, owned a cassette of Poison’s Open Up and Say … Aah, are a big fan of David Ben-Merre & @profchander.bsky.social’s, and can’t get enough of theories of address & apostrophe, you truly must read the epilogue to David’s wonderful book forthcoming from @sunypress.bsky.social

What we're seeing in the "don't sign up for protests" discourse is what Paulo Freire described as the convert's failure to trust the knowledge of the oppressed. As the convert tries to stand in solidarity with the oppressed, they refuse to let go of a world where they were the authority by default.

On Thursday, October 2 at 6:30, join Courtney Thorsson as she discusses her book THE SISTERHOOD in a virtual conversation as part of the Schomburg Conversations in Black Freedom Studies. go.shr.lc/3KsLuR9 @courtneythorsson.bsky.social @columbiaup.bsky.social

If you’re on academia dot edu, let me suggest that you strongly consider deleting your account.

Registration now open here: www.eventbrite.com/e/cbfs-black...

at the same time, elite private k12 schools will (continue to) offer literature courses featuring paper books that teachers select while public school teachers will face very real impediments to offering parallel experiences

Some small, wealthy private college will eventually market a bespoke chatbot & mobile phone free academic environment, likely paired with a conservative GenEd curriculum (classical education, or the like). It will take off like wildfire. They will leap up the rankings. It’s just a matter of time.

@angelaflournoy.bsky.social’s new novel is truly a triumph. I hope you’ll make time for it. It comes out today.

In 2003, artist Elizabeth Catlett told NPR: “I, a Black woman artist, have been invisible in the art world for years.” Now, the Art Institute of Chicago is giving the artist her due with a solo show that surveys 75 years of the artist’s work. to.wttw.com/3KqurPF

Robin DG Kelley said of the book, "What a gift! We all need these letters, not just in times of crisis or defeat. It is the only book you’ll hold that will hold you, free you, permit you to fail, rest, retreat, grieve, live, laugh, fight, and heal—to be human. This book must never go out of print."

Every day, I find myself wishing that our new book, Read This When Things Fall Apart: Letters to Organizers in Crisis, was already out in the world, because I think it could really help people right now. Preorders really make all the difference in terms of helping a book become widely available.

my favorite robert redford story is that mike nichols considered him for dustin hoffman's part in THE GRADUATE. during their conversation nichols asked redford something like, "have you ever struck out with a girl?" and redford's response was basically, "i don't understand the question"

The name ‘Tiffany’ is many centuries old. To many people, it sounds like a stereotypical name for a Valley Girl in the 1980s. This has led to a phenomenon called “The Tiffany Problem,” which describes things that sound anachronistic, but actually aren’t.

Today is the National Day of Remembrance for boarding schools in the United States. Not sure what boarding schools are? You are not alone. Only 4 states include the history boarding schools in their curriculum.

For conservatives, free speech is when they can say what they want and when you can say what they want. bsky.app/profile/bran...

Civility is when you peacefully back down against the people who want you to be servants or dead so the stock market can keep going up.

I have to get to work soon, but I just want to get this part clear. The idea was that in exchange for one (1) Black President, everyone was supposed to be silent about racism forevermore. That’s the reasonable assumption we’re being told to accept as justification for ending civil rights?

$215!! We can fund this by lunch time. www.donorschoose.org/project/book...

Let's fund some classrooms. I am specifically going to seek out funding classrooms that are looking to add frequently banned books to their collections. My goal? Let's see if we can hit $10,000 in classroom fundraising by the end of September.

So here's the deal. My birthday is in 10 days, and every year, I try to do something meaningful in the lead up. But to say I've been less inspired this year would be an understatement. Not doing anything would feel bad, though, so I'm going to do something and I'd love your help.

Conservatives believe free speech is when they can say what they want and when you can say what they want. bsky.app/profile/atru...

Thank you @litfree.bsky.social! 📚📚📚

My book is about to go into production and I have a section about Karen being the last remaining Black person on the editorial desk at wapo and why that was a really bad sign for truth-telling and critique (and made her very vulnerable) and well… I’m sorry I have to rush an update.

😍

“To take a position against genocide is certainly not an antisemitic thing to do,” said Butler. “Most Jews are against genocide, and we were taught to be against genocide, and we were taught, as well, that ‘never again’ is a slogan that should apply to all people.”

UC Berkeley has provided Trump with the names of at least 160 students, faculty and staff in cases of alleged antisemitism, including philosopher Judith Butler, in response to the administration’s sweeping crackdown on Palestinian solidarity activism.

News orgs HAVE to stop calling these porn bans. Yes, #HB4938, does also criminalize porn — also terrible — it goes far beyond that. LGBTQ+ sites, social media sites, community forums, Shakespeare, drag, a review of Mrs. Doubtfire, all punishable by jail $500K fine and twenty years in jail.

in Richmond VA tonight. last show with @phantogram.com mikeeaglestinks.tumblr.com/post/8966612...

I am honored that One Book One Bronx will host online and in-person book club discussions about **The Sisterhood** late November to late December. Check it out! @uoregon.bsky.social@uocas.bsky.social @philipleventhal.bsky.social @columbiaup.bsky.social onebookonebronx.com

Probably not many people know what TRIO is. The programs help first-generation or low-income high school students and veterans get into college, and help with early childhood education. I researched and helped write two grant proposals which were funded.

The AAUP notes with great alarm the rash of recent administrative actions to discipline faculty, staff, & student speech in the aftermath of the murder of Charlie Kirk. 1/4

I am a professor because the McNair Scholars Program showed me what I was capable of. I will fight with everything I have to make sure others have the same opportunities. McNair matters!

i have said this before but when “getting rid of race in admissions” for the administration means “you can’t even try to reach out to underrepresented communities and encourage them to apply and if you do it is illegal discrimination against white people” then the actual goal here is segregation

Being included in THE PEOPLE’S PROJECT means a lot to me for more reasons than I can type. (Happy to tell you in conversation.) On top of that, the experiences coming along with it are so different for me and SO MUCH FUN! Here’s an example! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Not surprisingly but still unfortunately, the McNair program is under attack. I was not a beneficiary of the program but have participated in it as a mentor and speaker, and I have seen how it positively impacts the lives of its students. coenet.org/protect-the-...

Long Beach cancels annual Día de los Muertos parade over fears of immigration raids

Join Julius Fleming, La Donna Forsgren, Jo-Ann Morgan, and me 5:30 on 10/2 for our conversation "Black Arts, Black Spaces, and Black Performance." This is the second event in0 the Schomburg Center's 13th season of Conversations in Black Freedom Studies. www.blackfreedomstudies.org/events/fall-...

Thank you Lynne Thompson! 📚💜

Since life has been lifeing a lot as of late and my readings in both classes have been depressing, I am reading for pleasure. I started a fab book by Susana M. Morris. She has written Positive Obsession, which is a bio on Octavia Butler. Go get your copies! www.harpercollins.com/products/pos...