A brief take on three Black women, June Jordan, Carolyn Denard, and Oprah Winfrey, whose literary advocacy, scholarly institution-building, and mass-media influence helped elevate Toni Morrison’s work into enduring cultural and academic centrality.

Script by Howard Rambsy II

Narration by Kassandra Timm

A brief take on how SIUE Promise Prize Scholars Nia Roy and Al Smith respond to Amy Sherald’s portraiture, showing how students articulate the power of her grayscale technique, vibrant color contrasts, and confident subjects to reshape perceptions of Black identity and everyday representation.

Narration by Kassandra Timm

A brief take on how African American literary knowledge has long circulated through sound as well as print, showing how Remarkable Receptions extends that oral tradition by calling listeners into an audio archive of Black literary history.

Written by Howard Rambsy II

Read by Kassandra Timm

A brief take on reimagining scholarly book reviews in African American literary studies, exploring how cluster reviews could illuminate broader developments across subfields more effectively than single-volume assessments.

Written by Howard Rambsy II

Read by Kassandra Timm 

A brief take on the varied pronunciations of W. E. B. Du Bois’s name, revealing how letters, scholars, and shifting preferences reflect the ongoing reception of one of Black America’s most influential intellectuals.

Written by Howard Rambsy II 

Read by Kassandra Timm

 | A brief take on the nationwide naming of schools after Paul Laurence Dunbar, tracing how the poet’s enduring influence led communities to commemorate Black educational excellence through his name.

Written by Howard Rambsy II 

Read by Kassandra Timm

A brief take on the memorable names that shape African American short fiction, showing how writers from Chesnutt and Hurston to Baldwin and Bambara use naming to capture voice, region, history, and character across generations of stories.

Written by Kenton Rambsy

Read by Kassandra Timm

A brief take on the unforgettable names found throughout African American novels, exploring how Black writers use naming to reveal character, history, irony, and identity across generations of novels.

Written by Howard Rambsy II

Read by Kassandra Timm 

A brief take on the expanding world of Black Panther novelizations, tracing how writers from Jesse J. Holland to Sheree Renée Thomas extend Wakanda’s remarkable literary legacy.

Written by Howard Rambsy II 

Read by Kassandra Timm 

A brief take on how perspective shapes categorization in Nigerian literature, tracing shifting views from Igbo and Yoruba writers to global recognition of figures like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Written by Howard Rambsy II

Read by Kassandra Timm