Noire Histoir features Black history facts, literature, and motivational stories from across the Black diaspora. Join Natasha McEachron as she celebrates Black pride, excellence, and power all 366 days of the year.
Interviews with Scholars of France about their New Books
A review of "Negroes and the Gun" which provides a history of Black people and firearms which includes but goes beyond self-defense. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/negroes-and-the-gun-book-review.By Noire Histoir
If you're interested in learning about the first Black female playwright to have a play performed on Broadway then my Lorraine Hansberry Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/lorraine-hansberry.By Noire Histoir
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Noire Histoir


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Judas and the Black Messiah [Movie Review]
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A review of the film "Judas and the Black Messiah" which tells the story of how an FBI informant infiltrated the Chicago chapter of the Black Panthers and aided in the assassination of Fred Hampton. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/judas-and-the-black-messiah-movie-review.By Noire Histoir
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New Books in French Studies


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Augustin Jomier, "Islam, réforme et colonisation: une histoire de l'ibadisme en Algérie (1882-1962)" (Sorbonne, 2020)
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Islam, réforme et colonisation: une histoire de l'ibadisme en Algérie (1882-1962) by Augustin Jomier is an important study of colonial North Africa, Islamic reform, and Ibadi Islam. Jomier, a professor at France’s Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales in Paris, has reframed the history of colonial Algeria by examining it “from t…
If you're interested in learning about the "father of Black History" and founder of Black History Month then my Carter G. Woodson Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/carter-g-woodson.By Noire Histoir
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The Spook Who Sat By the Door [Book Review]
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If you're interested in a satirical book about spies, community, and integration during the late 1960s-70s then my discussion of The Spook Who Sat By the Door is for you. Written by Sam Greenlee in the 60s, the book offers a lot of commentary on the self-serving nature of liberal politicians and activists, institutional racism, and the assimilation…
If you're interested in learning about the guerilla war where native Kenyans fought against British colonialist powers then my Mau Mau Rebellion Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/mau-mau-rebellion.By Noire Histoir
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New Books in French Studies


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Jillian C. Rogers, "Resonant Recoveries: French Music and Trauma Between the World Wars" (Oxford UP, 2021)
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Understanding how people cope with large-scale traumatic events has become more urgent as we continue to cope with the effects of the pandemic. In Resonant Recoveries: French Music and Trauma Between the World Wars (Oxford University Press, 2021), Jillian Rogers examines France in the aftermath of World War I, which left its residents mourning a lo…
A review of the movie "Love & Basketball", a decent movie with a problematic love story that is absolute trash but gets a pass. The odds are that you’ve already seen "Love & Basketball". I’d like your perspective if you agree with my take on the movie. But I also want all the smoke if you disagree with my assessment. Show notes are available at htt…
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New Books in French Studies


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Steven Press, "Rogue Empires: Contracts and Conmen in Europe's Scramble for Africa" (Harvard UP, 2017)
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Steven Press is an Assistant Professor of History at Stanford University. His marvelous first book, Rogue Empires: Contracts and Conmen in Europe’s Scramble for Africa (Harvard University Press, 2017), is an incredibly well-documented monograph that follows a paper trail of questionable treaties to discover the rogues or confidence men whose action…
If you're interested in learning about Coretta Scott King beyond the basics of her being Dr. King's wife then my Coretta Scott King Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/coretta-scott-king.By Noire Histoir
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Noire Histoir


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Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race [Book Review]
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If you are looking for a new literary classic that perfectly summarizes the history of race relations in the UK while also breaking down how racist institutions are preserved by refusing to discuss racism then my review of "Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race" is for you. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/why…
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Marcus Garvey & The UNIA [Black History Short 77 - Part Two]
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If you're interested in learning about a Harlem-based activist and organization with plans for building a network of global independent Black companies and a Black-ruled nation in Africa then my Marcus Garvey & The UNIA Black History Short Part Two is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/marcus-garvey-unia.…
A review of the movie John Q which stars Denzel Washington as a father at the end of his rope and seemingly out of options who takes action in a desperate attempt to help save his son’s life. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/john-q-movie-review. YouTube video is available at https://youtu.be/HypfBHsttMA.…
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Jason Berry, "City of a Million Dreams: A History of New Orleans at Year 300" (UNC Press, 2018)
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In City of a Million Dreams: A History of New Orleans at Year 300 (University of North Carolina Press, 2018), Jason Berry delivers a history of New Orleans at its tricentennial. Beyond its ancient streets, jazz, and Carnival lies a richer, more textured New Orleans than anyone imagined. Berry spotlights the tension between a culture of spectacle, r…
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Marcus Garvey & The UNIA [Black History Short 77 - Part One]
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If you're interested in learning about Marcus Garvey's early life including the people and experiences that influenced his early philosophy then my Marcus Garvey & The UNIA Black History Short Part One is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/marcus-garvey-unia.…
If you like detective novels and police procedurals with twists and turns as well as a bit of depth that makes the story and characters feel both familiar and refreshing then my book review of "Bluebird, Bluebird" by Attica Locke is for you. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/bluebird-bluebird-book-review.…
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New Books in French Studies


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Oliver Gloag, "Albert Camus: A Very Short Introduction" (Oxford UP, 2020)
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Albert Camus, one of the most famous French philosophers and novelists, has a diverse fan base. British alternative rockers The Cure sang about The Stranger in their first big hit, “Killing an Arab”, released in 1980. George W. Bush announced that the novel was his summer reading in 2006 (considering the book’s central plot point and what he had un…
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Ellen Johnson Sirleaf [Black History Short 76]
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If you’re interested in learning about Liberia and Africa’s first female president then my Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/ellen-johnson-sirleaf.By Noire Histoir
If you consider yourself a film buff or even just a casual movie fan and are interested in learning about the first century of the Black film industry then my review of “A Century of Black Cinema” might be for you. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/a-century-of-black-cinema-movie-review.…
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New Books in French Studies


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Robin Mitchell, "Vénus Noire: Black Women and Colonial Fantasies in Nineteenth-Century France" (U Georgia Press, 2020)
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The preface to Robin Mitchell's new book, Vénus Noire: Black Women and Colonial Fantasies in Nineteenth-Century France (University of Georgia Press, 2020) moves me. In it, the author tells the story of her first research trip to Paris and the profound moment of her encounter with a plaster cast of Sarah Baartmann's body at the Musée de l'Homme. It …
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New Books in French Studies


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Ronen Steinberg, "The Afterlives of the Terror: Facing the Legacies of Mass Violence in Postrevolutionary France" (Cornell UP, 2019)
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How did the "Reign of Terror" end? In his new book, The Afterlives of Terror: Facing the Legacies of Mass Violence in Postrevolutionary France (Cornell University Press, 2019), Ronen Steinberg explores the end of "the Terror" of 1793-94 as a process that included a range of legal, material, ethical, psychological, and emotional challenges. From the…
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Kiran Klaus Patel, "Project Europe: A History" (Cambridge UP, 2020)
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Project Europe made waves when it was published in German in 2018 (CH Beck) and was soon translated into English as Project Europe: A History (Cambridge UP, 2020). A clue to its crossover appeal can be found in its original subtitle: "A Critical History." Avoiding the traps of euro-'Whig' or eurosceptical histories, Patel rethinks the development o…
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Nimisha Barton, "Reproductive Citizens: Gender, Immigration, and the State in Modern France, 1880–1945" (Cornell UP, 2020)
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On today’s New Books in History, we sit down with Dr. Nimisha Barton to discuss her new book, Reproductive Citizens: Gender, Immigration, and the State in Modern France (Cornell University Press, 2020). This conversation is a perfect supplemental teaching tool to assign a class reading Reproductive Citizens as is the impressive digital appendices t…
The Noire Histoir Podcast will be on a holiday hiatus until January 2021. I invite you to check out the archives while the show is on break. May you and your loved ones have peace and joy in the remaining days of the year. And have a happy and healthy 2021. Visit http://noirehistoir.com for more info and content.…
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S. Burrows and G. Roe, "Digitizing Enlightenment: Digital Humanities and the Transformation of 18th-Century Studies" (Liverpool UP, 2020)
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Digitizing Enlightenment: Digital Humanities and the Transformation of 18th-Century Studies (Liverpool UP, 2020) explores how a set of inter-related digital projects are transforming our vision of the Enlightenment. The featured projects are some of the best known, well-funded and longest established research initiatives in the emerging area of ‘di…
If you're interested in learning about a playwright who created a body of work that told the story of the Black experience and helped to launch the careers of several famous Black actors and actresses then my August Wilson Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/august-wilson.…
If you’re interested in reading a book that explores racism, sexism, and identity through the lens of a Black boy coming of age in Mississippi then my review of "Heavy: An American Memoir" by Kiese Laymon might be for you. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/heavy-an-american-memoir-book-review.…
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Lowndes County Freedom Organization [Black History Short 74]
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If you're interested in learning about an organization that helped Black citizens overcome entrenched voter suppression and intimidation to become the majority of registered voters in their county and establish an independent political party then my Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO) Black History Short is for you. Show notes and sources ar…
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History of the Black Panther Party [Black History Feature]
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A brief overview of the history of the Black Panther Party which discusses the organization's ideology, programs, and controversies. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/history-of-the-black-panther-party.By Noire Histoir
If you're interested in learning about a writer, poet, and activist who penned “The Color Purple” which spent 25 weeks on the New York Times’ bestseller list and won both the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction then my Alice Walker Black History Short for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoi…
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Betty Rojtman, "The Fascination with Death in Contemporary French Thought" (Palgrave MacMillan, 2020)
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The Fascination with Death in Contemporary French Thought: A Longing for the Abyss (Palgrave MacMillan, 2020) analyses a cultural phenomenon that goes to the very roots of Western civilization: the centrality of death in our sense of human existence. It does so through a close reading of seminal works by the most creative authors of modern French t…
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Niklas Frykman, "The Bloody Flag: Mutiny in the Age of Atlantic Revolution" (U California Press, 2020)
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The 1790s were a decade of turmoil and strife across the West. With the French Revolution, a new era of wars began that invoked the language of equal rights. In The Bloody Flag: Mutiny in the Age of Atlantic Revolution (University of California Press, 2020), Niklas Frykman recounts how these two factors combined to shape the mutinies that took plac…
A review of Isabel Wilkerson's "Caste", a book about the structure of caste systems and their impact on three societies. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/caste-book-review.By Noire Histoir
If you're interested in learning about the plans and realities of creating a multi-faceted civil rights campaign aimed at an entire state then my Freedom Summer Black History Short for you. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/freedom-summer.By Noire Histoir
A review of "Tales of the Grim Sleeper", a documentary about the suspected murders of an estimated 100 women in South Los Angeles. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/tales-of-the-grim-sleeper-movie-review.By Noire Histoir
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Dónal Hassett, "Mobilizing Memory: The Great War and the Language of Politics in Colonial Algeria, 1918-1939" (Oxford UP, 2019)
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Dónal Hassett’s Mobilizing Memory: The Great War and the Language of Politics in Colonial Algeria, 1918-1939 (Oxford UP, 2019) is at once a history of colonialism and of the “Great War”. Considering the ways that the conflict from 1914-1918 shaped the colonial politics of the “interwar” years in the Algerian context, the book looks at how segments …
A profile of Stokely Carmichael, an activist and political organizer who participated in the Freedom Rides, launched the Lowndes County Freedom Organization, served as chairman of SNCC, and was the first to express the ideology of Black self-determination as "Black Power." Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/stokely…
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Judith G. Coffin, "Sex, Love, and Letters: Writing Simone de Beauvoir" (Cornell UP, 2020)
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When Judith G. Coffin discovered a virtually unexplored treasure trove of letters to Simone de Beauvoir from Beauvoir's international readers, it inspired Coffin to explore the intimate bond between the famed author and her reading public. This correspondence, at the heart of Sex, Love, and Letters: Writing Simone de Beauvoir (Cornell UP, 2020), im…
A book review of "The Vanishing Half" by Brit Bennett, the story of twin sisters who leave their small Louisiana town in search of new lives. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/the-vanishing-half-book-review.By Noire Histoir
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Nannie Helen Burroughs [Black History Short 70]
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A profile of Nannie Helen Burroughs, an educator and activist who fought against race and gender based discrimination by campaigning against lynching and founding the the National Trade and Professional School for Women and Girls. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/nannie-helen-burroughs.…
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Apartheid in South Africa [Black History Feature]
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If you’re interested in learning about apartheid including the circumstances that led to its official creation, the laws that were enacted, the movement that led to its abolition, and its aftermath. Then my "Apartheid in South Africa" Black History Feature is for you. Show notes and sources at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/apartheid-in-south-africa.…
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Julie Hardwick, "Sex in an Old Regime City: Young Workers and Intimacy in France, 1660-1789" (Oxford UP, 2020)
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Young women and men sought out each other’s company in the workshops, cabarets, and streets of Old Regime Lyon, and evidence of these relationships lingers in documents and material objects conserved in Lyon’s municipal and departmental archives. How did young workers spend time together? When would they initiate sexual relationships outside of mar…
A profile of Walter Sisulu, a South African anti-apartheid activist and a leader of the African National Congress (ANC) who was imprisoned for 26 years alongside Nelson Mandela. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/walter-sisulu.By Noire Histoir
A review of "Transcendent Kingdom", Yaa Gyasi’s sophomore novel about a neuroscience PhD candidate who reflects on her life, religion, and science. Show notes are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/transcendent-kingdom-book-review.By Noire Histoir
A profile of Sojourner Truth, an abolitionist and women's rights activist who was born a slave, walked to freedom, and was one of the first Black women to successfully sue a White man in America. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/sojourner-truth.By Noire Histoir
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A Brief History of Colonists in South Africa [Black History Feature]
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A Brief History of Colonists in South Africa provides an overview of the story of the Boers, British, and Black South Africans from the 1400s to the early 1900s. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-colonists-in-south-africa.By Noire Histoir
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New Books in French Studies


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Patrick Ffrench, "Roland Barthes and Film: Myth, Eroticism and Poetics" (Bloomsbury, 2019)
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Roland Barthes and Film: Myth, Eroticism and Poetics (Bloomsbury) is a book by Patrick Ffrench, Professor of French at Kings College. It is a comprehensively researched and finely argued book that traces Barthes engagement with questions of cinema from early research pre-dating the publication of Mythologies to his last work, Camera Lucida, along t…
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Patrice Lumumba: The Assassination & Theories [Black History Short 67 - Part Three]
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Part three of a three-part profile of Patrice Lumumba. The final episode discusses the assassination of Lumumba as well as theories about who was involved and why. Show notes and sources are available at http://noirehistoir.com/blog/patrice-lumumba.By Noire Histoir
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Pernille Røge, "Economistes and the Reinvention of Empire: France in the Americas and Africa c. 1750-1802" (Cambridge UP, 2019)
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In her new book, Economistes and the Reinvention of Empire: France in the Americas and Africa, c. 1750-1802 (Cambridge UP, 2020), Dr. Pernille Røge charts the confluence and reciprocal impacts of ideas and policies espoused by political economists, colonial administrators, planters, and entrepreneurs to reform the French empire in the second half o…