and of course langston hughes, not only a journalist, but a poet. i mean, would you just talk a little bit about him a little and that early context and how that motivated you to get started? thank you. thinking that langston hughes is such an extraordinary figure and for him, publishing goes to spain is because he's just fascinated by these volunteers and his reporting back. it. as nick mentioned, it's both kind of direct war reporting, but also it's poetry. and so before the war and then during the war, he these tremendous poems that really call out the hypocrisy of a country that is fighting for freedom, democracy abroad, while condoning segregation at home. he and other black americans are making really explicit connections between the racial hierarchies and germany and the racial policies in jim crow south. and so one things i am able to excerpt in the are a number of his poems both from spain that he writes back but also the war that answer about different points of entry to different corners of history, poetry, song. those are great ways to g

bleeding kansas as a result of, people like john brown, langston hughes's grandfather who fought withwe see later in the 20th century and even now. >> this is called the sanctuary. i'd like to refer to it as we -- this is from union. in d.c.. right here in washington d.c.. i did not know this. i grew up baptist. i grew up baptist where i grew up going to watch night service. if you are -- if you grow up in the african american church, we on december 31st, new year's eve, new year's eve, and then you bring in the new year at church. i had no idea, night service was connected to the emancipation patient caught proclamation. >> intimately tied to it. people created the sanctuaries as places where people could gather. the church had long been one of those. people could gather and worship in peace. also look forward to emancipation. they did so on that first watch night on the eve of january 1st 1863. f ja nuary 1sthis is a representatiof that. it's so wonderful to have these objects. i think what happens, we see the objects, you really connect to them in a different way. i can tell you th

i am somebody and langston hughes i'm a great poet for an aviator in betsy strong.i'm am a musician in duke ellington. i am somebody but i am an activist ida b a wells. at 12 years old can you imagine doctor king in the balcony before he even goes to his own church. it was also play jesus. the passion play. a deep voice he already had ther framing. then he goes to his own church to hear his father preach. then decides to get on a trolley that would take into morehousese collegey . he had get in the back of the trial because of segregation. my father says it this way. he says his body went in the back but his mind was in the front. because he had so much as some buddy this in his spiritual. he arrives on the campus of morehouse college a person by the name of thought after benjamin becomes his mentor. before you get to boston enclosure, you gotta stop byn auburn avenue and see all of this quote somebody in us. because his origin story was reworked from the origin story of white supremacy to the idea of blackd resiliency. that was the brilliance of what auburn avenue

the books i have found that have been banned, sung by langston hughes -- some by langston hughes.ble to see that american history. you were talking about civics earlier and that is another part of the educational system through the books being banned, our young people are not learning about our country or the strength of our country and everything we have gone through. because now everything is marked as crt on some of these books, critical race theory. from my understanding, the way they explain it is too these books so their children -- to ban these books so their children don't feel bad about being white. it is kind of like making them feel bad but making them understand our american history and other things in our clinical systems. as far as children books and everything on sexuality, i look at it now as, and i don't want to say agenda, but kind of like i do feel the lgbtq community really does want to push an agenda of being gay as being accepted. i don't have any issues with gay people, but i do feel our young children are impressionable. for the student to change their gend

i somebody and langston hughes. i am a great poet. i'm an aviator in bessie strong. i'm a musician in. duke ellington. i am somebody i'm an activist and out to be wells and at 12 years old, could you imagine a dr. king in the of a white street before he even goes to his own church and holmes borders was also played jesus in the atlanta city passion play. so as a child old he saw a six foot five black jesus with a deep voice. so he already had the framing. then he goes to his own church, hear his father preach, then decides to get on a trolley that would take him to morehouse, but he had to get in the back of the trolley because of segregation. and my father says it this way. he says oh, his body went in the back, but his mind was in the front because he had so much some body mass in spirit, then he arrives on the campus of morehouse college and a person by the name of dr. benjamin elijah mays becomes his mentor before. you get to boston and crosier you got to stop by auburn avenue and see all of this quote somebody miss because his origins story was reworked from the

michael gold to langston hughes, from theodore dreiser to william carlos williams, upton sinclair, ernest hemingway, richard wright, meredith lesueur, josephine tillie olson, and many others, many of whom are placed today in the u.s. literary canon. likewise a black communist against you based in harlem was a critical force in organizing antiwar racist black feminist initiatives. from this point of view, the communist party may be viewed as a significant political force on the american left in spite of the party's homophobic 60 year ban in dividual queer members of the communist party made astonishing contributions to lgbt history and gay liberation, women's history and liberation union organizing anti-rape is just organizing black liberation. i provide extensive reference notes also to detail the cases of political or campaigns and events. the party people were involved in, especially for younger younger generations, who may not be familiar with that history. queer communists were teachers, artists, poets, playwrights, journalists, social workers, and union and community organizers. this