We Who Are Dark

In this final episode of Season 2, Professor Tomengo and Dr. Vaz analyze two of Archibald Motley's paintings, namely "Saturday Night" (1935) and "Blues" (1929). In discussing these works, the conversation addresses the new stereotype reserved for Black women in popular culture at the time, the oversexualized Black woman. It also includes commentary on other popular stereotypes and how their use today denotes an ignorance of the real history behind their development. Further discussion of the Harlem Renaissance and Motley's aesthetic conventions solidifies the place his works hold in understanding Black popular culture during the early part of the 2oth century.

In this episode, Professor Tomengo and Dr. Vaz have a spirited discussion about Archibald Motely's painting Jockey Club (1929). The conversation includes information about the various racial categorizations for Black people (Octoroon, Quadroon, Mulatto) and how those people associated with these categorizations navigated Early America.

In this episode, Professor Tomengo and Dr. Vaz discuss the art of Archibald Motley and its role within the context of the Harlem Renaissance. Key to their discussion is the impact that colorism had on Black American life and culture, including U.S. policies concerning "race" in America. Using Archibald Motley's Octoroon Girl of 1925, they discuss the effects of the "one drop rule" and its influence on American societal structures.

In this episode, Dr. Vaz and Professor Tomengo continue their discussion of Woodrow Wilson's international policies as they relate to Latin American countries. The conversation includes issues related to the aftermath of WW1 (both domestic and international) and the forming of the League of Nations.

In this episode Dr. Vaz and Professor Tomengo discuss the Red Summer of 1919 and the ascent of Woodrow Wilson to the United States Presidency. Central to this conversation are Wilson's expansion of the Federal Government and his international policies that were based on Roosevelt's Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. Special attention is given to the United States' evolving relationship with Haiti and Latin American countries.

In this episode, Professor Tomengo and Dr. Vaz discuss Meta Warrick Fuller's sculpture Mary Turner. Professor Tomengo recounts the circumstances by which he came to teach African American Humanities twenty-four years ago and, by extension, Fuller's Mary Turner. Central to their conversation is how the history of the work has impacted the many students who have taken both their classes down through the years.

Professor Tomengo and Dr. Vaz discuss Meta Warrick Fuller's 1939 sculpture, The Talking Skull. They analyze its metaphoric potential and examine the significance of those metaphors for Black people then and now. The conversation also addresses the Administration of Theodore Rooselvelt, his Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine and his handling of the Brownsville Affair of 1906.

In this eposode Dr. Vaz and Professor Tomengo analyze Meta Warrick Fuller's classic sculpture, The Awakening of Ethiopia. They begin the conversation by continuing an earlier discussion of United States political parties and both of their personal voting strategies as Black men. The discussion then segues into an analysis of Fuller's sculpture and its importance to establishing a metaphysical Black identity, one rooted in pride and humanity.

Dr. Vaz and Professor Tomengo discuss how the policies of Franklin Delano Roosevelt impacted Black Americans negatively, even though their goal was to benefit Americans in general. Special attention is given to policies of The New Deal, particularly the Agricultural Adjustment Act and the Federal Housing Adminstration, both of which contributed to the Racial Covenants that would prevent Black land ownership and their subsequent accumulation of resources and wealth. They also discuss the origin of the Wagner Act (National Labor Relations Act) and the Fair Labor Standards Act,

In this episode Professor Trent Tomengo and Dr. Neil Vaz discuss the history of the political parties and their relationship to Black people in the United States of America.