From The Best of Us

The distinct impression of Black American culture is that it is great as a bygone glory, but in fact it is creative, and powerful in its presentation and substance. Today, the 4th of April 2017, marks another year distant from the day Dr. King was assassinated. As the years go by it is easy just go shopping, and was predicted his significance would grow, and the pain of that day would diminish. It has, but it hasn't become part of the way most Americans understand because the deep work taking place across the African Diaspora is not front line news. It is the cultivated work too profound to fit into the pitiful representation of journalism most Americans subscribe to. This work is aligned with the way of the snake beneath the ground directly penetrated by the roots of plants, and moistened by the waters that nourish their bodies.

The question is simple: What are you doing as if Dr. King's words meant something too you?


Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories
April 4, 2017

Portrait of Paul Robeson (1898-1976) American singer, actor, athlete and civil rights activist. Painted by Randall Davey. 1920-25 oil on canvas. In the collection of The Museum of Fine Arts, St Petersburg, FL.

Rites and Reason Theatre

The Department of Africana Studies' Rites and Reason Theatre is a research and developmental theatre dedicated to giving expression to the diverse cultures and traditions of continental and diasporic Africans and the vast Africana experience.

Rites and Reason's unique Research-to-Performance Method (RPM) is a systematic process that organizes teams of artists, scholars and researchers in the scholarly and creative development of new theatrical performances. RPM teams engage in direct dialogue with the community throughout the developmental process from ideas to readings to workshops to mainstage productions.

The Rites and Reason method includes the development of innovative theatrical forms rooted in Africana cultural traditions and expressions. Within Africana cultural traditions art is a creative manifestation of thought and culture. As such, Rites and Reason is a critical space for artists, writers, and scholars to explore and engage Africana intellectual and cultural traditions, translating them into creative theatrical and expressive forms. - Brown University

1910. Negro woman. photo credit Missouri Historical Society.

Cornel West arrested at a protest.