UC Press Blog

Blacksound explores the sonic history of blackface minstrelsy (the first original form of American popular music) and the racial foundations of American musical culture from the early 1800s through the turn of the twentieth century. With this namesake book, Matthew D. Morrison develops the concept o

This post was originally published on DeSmog.By Ned Randolph, author of Muddy Thinking in the Mississippi River Delta: A Call for ReclamationI grew up in the shadow of the Mississippi River, whose mythology pressed upon my imagination. Its culture inspired iconic works and political move

By Bayley Marquez, author of Plantation Pedagogy: The Violence of Schooling across Black and Indigenous SpaceIn the summer of 2023, as I was finishing reviewing the copy edits of my manuscript for Plantation Pedagogy, news sources began reporting on the controversy over Florida’s state standards

By James Walvin, author of Amazing Grace: A Cultural History of the Beloved HymnIt may seem odd for a historian of slavery to write a history of a popular hymn. In fact, the link between “Amazing Grace” and slavery is clear and fairly obvious: the author of “Amazing Grace,” John Newton, had bee

By Jim Walvin, author of A World Transformed: Slavery in the Americas and the Origins of Global PowerLike most apprentice historians, I learned my trade on a specific, narrow area of study: the history of a single Jamaican slave plantation. At that time, in the late 60’s, slavery was not a commo

The fundamental purpose for redressing atrocities is to accentuate a common humanity between perpetrator and victims.Roy L. Brooks, author of Atonement and Forgiveness: A New Model for Black ReparationsAn issue sure to be part of the 2020 election cycle is HR 40, the commission to study reparati