Honoring Black History Month
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Excerpt from article below by Beca Oliveira below
Rock ‘n’ Roll Was Invented by a Queer Black Woman by Beca Oliveira
She was Elvis before Elvis, she was Aretha before Aretha, she was Jimi before Jimi. She was the
queer Black woman who literally invented rock ’n’ roll: Sister Rosetta Tharpe. She gave Little
Richard his first gig outside the church. She opened the doors for Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly,
and before the 1990s, almost no one into rock ’n’ roll had heard her name.
White men were making big money and big news in rock ’n’ roll; admitting the entire genre rests
squarely on the shoulders of a woman, Black AND queer at that, was a little too much for
European-descended folks in the 1900s.
To quote Rolling Stone, on the announcement on her induction to the Hall of Fame in 2018:
“A queer black woman from Arkansas who shredded on electric guitar, belted praises both to
God and secular pleasures, and broke the color line touring with white singers, she was gospel’s
first superstar, and she most assuredly rocked.”
Part One
Dispatches from the Race War
Meet Tim Wise
Author, Anti Racist, Educator
A Voice For Our Time
A Conversation with Author, Educator, and American Activist Tim Wise
The rise of racism, bigotry, antisemitism, and nazism is a call to action for each of us. I invite you to answer that call by listening to one of the most important voices of our time, TIM WISE.
Tim Wise, is among the nation’s most prominent antiracist essayists and educators. He has spent the past 25 years speaking to audiences in all 50 states, on over 1000 college and high school campuses, at hundreds of professional and academic conferences, and to community groups across the nation. He has served as an adjunct professor at the Smith College School of Social Work, in Northampton, MA., and from 1999-2003 was an advisor to the Fisk University Race Relations Institute in Nashville, TN.
Wise is the author of several critically acclaimed books, Dispatches From The Race War , White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son, Between Barack And A Hard Place, DearWhite America: Letter to a New Minority, and Under the Affluence: Shaming the Poor, Praising the Rich and Sacrificing the Future of America, White LIES Matter: Race, Crime and the Politics of Fear in America , Speaking Treason Fluently Antiracist Reflections From An Angry White Male.
Wise was featured in several documentaries, including “The Great White Hoax: Donald Trump and the Politics of Race and Class in America,” and “White Like Me: Race, Racism and White Privilege in America.” Media presence includes dozens of appearances on CNN, MSNBC and NPR among others. Videos posted on social media platforms have received over 20 million views. His podcast, “Speak Out with Tim Wise,” features weekly interviews with activists, scholars and artists about movement building and strategies for social change.
Books by Tim Wise
