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S2E6: Mother McNeil Taught Us
What does it mean to sit with the odyssey of Black history—and to carry it forward with rigor, spirit, and love?
In this powerful episode of Stone Written, Dr. Rhon is joined by historian, cultural critic, and filmmaker Dr. Claudrena N. Harold, Edward Stettinius Professor of History and Associate Dean at the University of Virginia, and featured speaker for the 2025 Genna Rae McNeil Black History Month Lecture at UNC-Chapel Hill.
From her early formation in Black institutions to her intellectual awakening at Temple University, Dr. Harold reflects on the beauty and majesty of African American history—and the joy that fuels her scholarship. Together, she and Dr. Rhon consider why Black history demands that we pause and dwell with it, not rush past it; how Black Studies remains both a struggle over definition and a space of boundless possibility; and how gospel music, creative form, and intergenerational lineage sustain Black freedom work across generations.
At the heart of this conversation is a meditation on Dr. Genna Rae McNeil’s legacy. Dr. Harold shares how McNeil’s work—grounded in historical rigor and spiritual depth—inspired her McNeil Lecture, “Truth Is on the Way: Gospel Music, Black Liberation, and the Politics of Freedom in the Soul and Hip-Hop Eras.”
This episode is part testimony, part masterclass, part love letter to Black Studies. It is about Du Bois and Aretha. It is about protecting the institutions that transformed us. And it is about being keepers of the tradition in a time when truth itself is contested. Most of all, it is a reflection on what Mother Genna Rae McNeil taught us: that truth is on the way—and that we carry it forward together.
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By Sonja Haynes Stone CenterWhat does it mean to sit with the odyssey of Black history—and to carry it forward with rigor, spirit, and love?
In this powerful episode of Stone Written, Dr. Rhon is joined by historian, cultural critic, and filmmaker Dr. Claudrena N. Harold, Edward Stettinius Professor of History and Associate Dean at the University of Virginia, and featured speaker for the 2025 Genna Rae McNeil Black History Month Lecture at UNC-Chapel Hill.
From her early formation in Black institutions to her intellectual awakening at Temple University, Dr. Harold reflects on the beauty and majesty of African American history—and the joy that fuels her scholarship. Together, she and Dr. Rhon consider why Black history demands that we pause and dwell with it, not rush past it; how Black Studies remains both a struggle over definition and a space of boundless possibility; and how gospel music, creative form, and intergenerational lineage sustain Black freedom work across generations.
At the heart of this conversation is a meditation on Dr. Genna Rae McNeil’s legacy. Dr. Harold shares how McNeil’s work—grounded in historical rigor and spiritual depth—inspired her McNeil Lecture, “Truth Is on the Way: Gospel Music, Black Liberation, and the Politics of Freedom in the Soul and Hip-Hop Eras.”
This episode is part testimony, part masterclass, part love letter to Black Studies. It is about Du Bois and Aretha. It is about protecting the institutions that transformed us. And it is about being keepers of the tradition in a time when truth itself is contested. Most of all, it is a reflection on what Mother Genna Rae McNeil taught us: that truth is on the way—and that we carry it forward together.
Sources: