About James Stancil

NBN Episodes hosted by James:

Martha J. Cutter, "The Illustrated Slave: Empathy, Graphic Narratives, and the Visual Culture of the Transatlantic Abolition Movement, 1800-1853" (U Georgia Press, 2017)

October 19, 2017

The Illustrated Slave

Martha J. Cutter
Hosted by James Stancil

Slavery as a system of torture and bondage has fascinated the optical imagination of the transatlantic world for centuries. Scholars have examined var…

Lisa M. Corrigan, "Prison Power: How Prison Influenced the Movement for Black Liberation" (UP of Mississippi, 2016)

October 16, 2017

Prison Power

Lisa M. Corrigan
Hosted by James Stancil

In the black liberation movement, imprisonment emerged as a key rhetorical, theoretical, and media resource. Imprisoned activists developed tactics an…

Steve Sheinkin, "The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights" (Roaring Brook, 2014)

October 6, 2017

The Port Chicago 50

Steve Sheinkin
Hosted by James Stancil

On July 17, 1944, a massive explosion rocked the segregated Navy base at Port Chicago, California, killing more than 300 sailors who were at the docks…

Vincent J. Intondi, "African Americans Against the Bomb: Nuclear Weapons, Colonialism, and the Black Freedom Movement" (Stanford UP, 2015)

October 3, 2017

African Americans Against the Bomb

Vincent J. Intondi
Hosted by James Stancil

For the first time, African Americans Against the Bomb: Nuclear Weapons, Colonialism, and the Black Freedom Movement (Stanford University Press, 2015)…

Ben H. Winters, "Underground Airlines" (Mulholland Books, 2016)

September 13, 2017

Underground Airlines

Ben H. Winters
Hosted by James Stancil

Underground Airlines (Mulholland Books, 2016) is a ground-breaking novel, a wickedly imaginative thriller, and a story of an America that is more like…

Keri Leigh Merritt, "Masterless Men: Poor Whites in the Antebellum South" (Cambridge UP, 2017)

September 11, 2017

Masterless Men

Keri Leigh Merritt
Hosted by James Stancil

Analyzing land policy, labor, and legal history, Masterless Men: Poor Whites in the Antebellum South (Cambridge University Press, 2017) reveals what h…

Joanna Dee Das, "Katherine Dunham: Dance and the African Diaspora" (Oxford UP, 2017)

September 7, 2017

Katherine Dunham

Joanna Dee Das
Hosted by James Stancil

By drawing on a vast, never-utilized trove of archival materials along with oral histories, choreographic analysis, and embodied research, Katherine D…

Juilet Hooker, "Theorizing Race in the Americas: Douglass, Sarmiento, Du Bois, and Vasconcelos" (Oxford UP, 2017)

August 28, 2017

Theorizing Race in the Americas

Juliet Hooker
Hosted by James Stancil

In 1845 two thinkers from the American hemisphere - the Argentinean statesman Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, and the fugitive ex-slave, abolitionist lead…

Mitch Kachun, "First Martyr of Liberty: Crispus Attucks in American Memory" (Oxford UP, 2017)

August 23, 2017

First Martyr of Liberty

Mitch Kachun
Hosted by James Stancil

First Martyr of Liberty: Crispus Attucks in American Memory (Oxford University Press, 2017) explores how Crispus Attucks' death in the 1770 Boston Mas…

Tommy J. Curry, "The Man-Not: Race, Class, and the Dilemmas of Black Manhood" (Temple UP, 2017)

July 25, 2017

The Man-Not

Tommy J. Curry
Hosted by James Stancil

The Man-Not: Race, Class, Genre, and the Dilemmas of Black Manhood (Temple University Press, 2017) is a book-length justification for the burgeoning f…

Ira Dworkin, "Congo Love Song: African American Culture and the Crisis of the Colonial State" (UNC Press, 2017)

July 20, 2017

Congo Love Song

Ira Dworkin
Hosted by James Stancil

In his 1903 hit "Congo Love Song," James Weldon Johnson recounts a sweet if seemingly generic romance between two young Africans. While the song's tit…

Max Krochmal, "Blue Texas: The Making of a Multiracial Democratic Coalition in the Civil Rights Era" (UNC, 2016)

July 13, 2017

Blue Texas

Max Krochmal
Hosted by James Stancil

Blue Texas: The Making of a Multiracial Democratic Coalition in the Civil Rights Era (University of North Carolina Press, 2016) is about the "other" T…

Jeanine Michna-Bales, "Through Darkness to Light: Photographs Along the Underground Railroad" (Princeton Architectural Press, 2017)

June 23, 2017

Through Darkness to Light

Jeanine Michna-Bales
Hosted by James Stancil

When the Sun comes back And the first quail calls Follow the Drinkin' Gourd. For the old man is a-waiting for to carry you to freedom If y…

Tom Adam Davies, "Mainstreaming Black Power" (U California Press, 2017)

June 14, 2017

Mainstreaming Black Power

Tom Adam Davies
Hosted by James Stancil

What is Black Power? Does it still exist in the so-called post-racial 21st Century? How does Black Power relate to similar movements, like Black Lives…

John P. Langellier, "Fighting for Uncle Sam: Buffalo Soldiers in the Frontier Army" (Schiffer, 2016)

June 8, 2017

Fighting for Uncle Sam

John P. Langellier
Hosted by James Stancil

From the American Revolution to the present day, African Americans have stepped forward in their nation's defense. Fighting for Uncle Sam: Buffalo Sol…

Paul Youngquist, "A Pure Solar World: Sun Ra and the Birth of Afrofuturism" (U Texas Press, 2016)

May 27, 2017

A Pure Solar World

Paul Youngquist
Hosted by James Stancil

The legendary band leader Sun Ra said he came from Saturn. Known on Earth for his inventive music and extravagant stage shows, he pioneered free-form …

Britt Rusert, "Fugitive Science: Empiricism and Freedom in Early African American Culture" (NYU Press, 2017)

May 26, 2017

Fugitive Science

Britt Rusert
Hosted by James Stancil

Traversing the archives of early African American literature, performance, and visual culture, Fugitive Science: Empiricism and Freedom in Early Afric…

Melissa L. Cooper, "Making Gullah: A History of Sapelo Islanders, Race, and the American Imagination" (UNC Press, 2017)

May 19, 2017

Making Gullah

Melissa L. Cooper
Hosted by James Stancil

Making Gullah: A History of Sapelo Islanders, Race, and the American Imagination (University of North Carolina Press, 2017) is a wide-ranging history …

Stanley Corkin, "Connecting the Wire: Race, Space, and Postindustrial Baltimore" (U Texas Press, 2017)

May 16, 2017

Connecting the Wire

Stanley Corkin
Hosted by James Stancil

Critically acclaimed as one of the best television shows ever produced, the HBO series The Wire (2002-2008) is a landmark event in television history,…

Samuele F.S. Pardini, "In the Name of the Mother: Italian Americans, African Americans, and Modernity from Booker T. Washington to Bruce Springsteen" (Dartmouth, 2017)

April 26, 2017

In the Name of the Mother

Samuele Pardini
Hosted by James Stancil

In the Name of the Mother: Italian Americans, African Americans, and Modernity from Booker T. Washington to Bruce Springsteen (Dartmouth, 2017) emphas…

James A. Cosby, "Devil's Music, Holy Rollers and Hillbillies: How America Gave Birth to Rock and Roll" (McFarland, 2016)

April 18, 2017

Devil's Music, Holy Rollers and Hillbillies

James A. Cosby
Hosted by James Stancil

Do you love Rock and Roll or is Rock and Roll music dead? Are you old enough to have put any money in a jukebox to hear your favorite song, watched Am…

Petra R. Rivera-Rideau, "Remixing Reggaeton: The Cultural Politics of Race in Puerto Rico" (Duke UP, 2015)

April 12, 2017

Remixing Reggaeton

Petra Rivera-Rideau
Hosted by James Stancil

Puerto Rico is often depicted as a "racial democracy" in which a history of race mixture has produced a racially harmonious society. In Remixing Regga…

Daina Ramey Berry, "The Price for Their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved, from Womb to Grave, in the Building of a Nation" (Beacon Press, 2017)

April 5, 2017

The Price for Their Pound of Flesh

Daina Ramey Berry
Hosted by James Stancil

A profoundly humane look at an inhumane institution, The Price for Their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved, from Womb to Grave, in the Buildin…

Steve Aldous, "The World of Shaft: A Complete Guide to the Novels, Comic Strip, Films and Television Series" (McFarland, 2015)

March 29, 2017

The World of Shaft

Steve Aldous
Hosted by James Stancil

Who's the black private dick That's a sex machine to all the chicks? (Shaft) Ya damn right Who is the man that would risk his neck For his broth…