Black History Month Reading

February is Black History Month and in honor of the month’s observances, we’ve highlighted 10 titles from our African American Studies list. From racial profiling in the so-called "black belt," racial expressions of anger, and desegregation to black superheroes, and how “blackness” is imagined in science fiction films, here are a few select titles to enrich your reading life:

New Books

Black-Brown Solidarity
Racial Politics in the New Gulf South
By John D. Márquez

An eye-opening study of the new coalitions between Latinos and African Americans emerging throughout the Gulf South, where previously divided ethnicities are forging an unprecedented challenge to white hegemony.

On Anger
Race, Cognition, Narrative
By Sue Kim

Opening a stimulating dialogue between cognitive studies and cultural studies, On Anger uses narratives such as the film Crash, Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior, and the HBO series The Wire to argue that race is central to our conceptions and experiences of anger.

In Popular Culture

Disney's Most Notorious Film
Race, Convergence, and the Hidden Histories of Song of the South
By Jason Sperb

Analyzing histories of film reception, convergence, and race relations over seven decades, this pioneering book undertakes a superb, multifaceted reading of one of Hollywood’s most notorious films, Disney’s Song of the South.

"... Disney's Most Notorious Film... does more than dissect a film and the pros and cons around it. In its own way, it reveals that Song of the South, more or less by accident, holds a mirror to American views on race, with beauty or the lack thereof completely in the eyes of the beholder."—Mark Reynolds, PopMatters


Super Black
American Pop Culture and Black Superheroes
By Adilifu Nama

An exploration of black superheroes as a fascinating racial phenomenon and a powerful source of racial meaning, narrative, and imagination in American society.

"Adilifu Nama's Super Black does a great job of introducing many of today's comic book fans with the history of African Americans in comic books and pop culture generally….Super Black is a short, yet illuminating analysis of Black Superheroes and race relations, primarily in the 2-D world…. as a short book, it does one hell of a good job."—Tony Pecinovsky, People’s World

Black Space
Imagining Race in Science Fiction Film
By Adilifu Nama

Analyzing many of the most popular and influential science fiction films of the past five decades, this book presents the most comprehensive work to date on how race and “blackness” are imagined in science fiction film.

“…I can think of no work by a single author that presents such sustained, 'cover to cover' discussion of this vital and underexplored area in black representation."—Ed Guerrero, New York University, author of Framing Blackness: The African American Image in Film

Civil Rights

Flames after Midnight
Murder, Vengeance, and the Desolation of a Texas Community, Revised Edition
By Monte Akers

Now updated with a shocking deathbed confession and a touching account of reconciliation, here is the engrossing story of a 1922 lynching followed by a racially motivated reign of terror and the devastating effects both had on a small Texas town.

"Flames after Midnight vividly captures [a] culture in all its repugnance, exploring the tenor of the times and delving into the character of the story's central figures. While it cannot by its nature be pleasant to read, it is a well-written and compelling history that in its scope extends beyond Kirven [Texas]. Akers holds up a mirror so that we see ourselves, in historical retrospect, at our worst."—USA Today

Before Brown
Heman Marion Sweatt, Thurgood Marshall, and the Long Road to Justice
By Gary M. Lavergne

The inspiring story of the courageous Houston mailman whose struggle to attend the University of Texas School of Law provided the precedent for the landmark Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that ended segregation in public education.

Before Brown was awarded both the 2010 Coral Horton Tullis Memorial Prize for Best Book on Texas History from the Texas State Historical Association and the 2011 Carr P. Collins Award from the Texas Institute of Letters.


Desegregating Texas Schools
Eisenhower, Shivers, and the Crisis at Mansfield High
By Robyn Duff Ladino
Foreword by Alwyn Barr

The first full account of the Mansfield, Texas school integration crisis of 1956.

Forthcoming

Acting Up and Getting Down
Plays by African American Texans
By Sandra M. Mayo and Elvin Holt

A collection of seven compelling plays from award-winning Texas writers, spanning turning points in history, intergenerational struggles, and cultural triumphs while exploring the complexity of African American life from a dazzling array of perspectives.

Cosmopolitan Minds
Literature, Emotion, and the Transnational Imagination
By Alexa Weik von Mossner

Reading transnational American literature from a cognitive perspective, this book argues that our emotional engagements with others–real and imagined–are crucially important for the development of cosmopolitan imaginations.

Editor's Peek into Spring 2013 Film Books

Our senior editor Jim Burr gives a glimpse into our Spring 2013 film books below, all of which are now available on our website at a 33% discount.

The University of Texas Press has an extensive list in film and media studies with a range of over 150 titles that cover everything from the history of the industry and the content of films and television programs, to the impact that they have on society and culture, and the growth and development of other forms of media such as video games and comic books.

Our Spring 2013 season is no exception. Director studies predominate here, though each is very different: Martha Nochimson examines the more recent films of David Lynch through the lenses of quantum physics and Vedic philosophy; Mark Gallagher uses the varied output of Steven Soderbergh to investigate what film authorship really means now; and the queer nature of Ingmar Bergman's films leads Daniel Humphrey into a new examination of that director's work and its role in the burgeoning queer culture in America after World War II.

In addition, Eric Goldman writes about the evolving story of American Jews as told through film over the last century, while Cynthia Thompkins offers an overview of experimental Latin America cinema from the past two decades. Finally, Peter Lev details the history of Twentieth Century-Fox during its first thirty years from both a filmmaking and business perspective.

In recent seasons, we have attracted a lot of interest in our books on the cultural impact of black superheroes (Super Black by Adilifu Nama); the proliferation of images from John F. Kennedy's assassination (Zaprudered by Øyvind Vågnes); the role of the CIA in the creation of various films and programs (The CIA in Hollywood by Tricia Jenkins); and the history of filmmaking in Austin, Texas (Chainsaws, Slackers, and Spy Kids by Alison Macor), among many others. We are very proud of these books and the role they play in our overall film and media studies offerings! 

—Jim Burr, Senior Editor at UT Press

 

The Chronicle of Higher Education :: Super Black

Super Black

By Adilifu Nama
Buy It Now

Black POW!-er
By Peter Monaghan

Superheroes have generally been white, like most of their consumers.

But in Super Black: American Pop Culture and Black Superheroes (University of Texas Press), Adilifu Nama hails the many African-Americans who have saved the day with POW!, BAM!, or TAKE THAT!

Nama surveys the pioneering black superheroes and more numerous black sidekicks of white super-aces; the supergirls, super Nubians, and cat women; and the white superheroes who somehow, suddenly became black—and there have been lots of those.

The author, an associate professor of African-American studies at Loyola Marymount University, writes that black superheroes began to appear during the ferment of the 1960s and 70s when "pop culture, the movement for racial equality, and comic books all intersected, resulting in superheroes becoming signifiers of real racial anxieties, desires, and wish fulfillments." The comic books they populated commented on the tensions among black self-determination, racial authenticity, political fantasy, and economic independence.

Born in 1969, Nama grew up in the wake of that era. "I have enjoyed superheroes from probably the age of 5 years old," he says by phone. First, it was the iconic ones—Superman, then Batman and Robin, two "cool characters," he still affirms. "I thought that if I could have a car like the Batmobile when I got older, that would be the pinnacle."

Read the full review at chronicle.com »

PopMatters :: Super Black

Super Black

By Adilifu Nama
Buy It Now

The People Could Fly: 'Super Black: American Pop Culture and Black Superheroes'
By Greg Carpenter 1 November 2011

In 1979, Adam West and Burt Ward donned their capes and masks and returned to television as Batman and Robin in a two-part special called Legends of the Superheroes. The special included many additional DC heroes including Green Lantern, Flash, and Hawkman. The second episode featured a Dean Martin-style celebrity roast of DC’s very own “Rat Pack”.

The heroes were seated behind small podiums bearing their own logos, and a tuxedo-clad Ed McMahon served as emcee. (I wish I were making this up.) In one segment, McMahon noted that the superhero community did not include many “minorities”, but perhaps that was about to change. And with that, he introduced “Ghetto Man”.

In the segment, “Ghetto Man” turns out to be an African-American character dressed in a jeweled vest and fringe pants, looking like a lost extra who accidentally wandered over from the set of Starsky and Hutch. Before strutting to the center stage, Ghetto Man and West’s Batman actually give each other “five” and do the “bump”.

Ghetto Man then delivers a stand up routine, making jokes about whether the NAACP would acknowledge Green Lantern as “colored”. Hawkman laughs so hard he looks like he’s trying to keep milk from squirting out of his beak.

The whole thing is nothing short of mortifying.

Read more at popmatters.com »