there's tony morrison's beloved, there's foster wallace, infinite jest, yield, doctorow, and then sort of like really, you know, very the of like some entertaining there's stephen king a lot like basically at every point we get there's percival everett we get these kind of we get these, you know, these sort of case studies books in which you know, conglomeration might very well be playing out on the level of narrative or theme or something sort of like deeper and more ineffable. yeah. how did that part of the project sort of make its way in? in a way, that's what matters most to me and what always mattered most to me. i think of myself as a literary critic, first and foremost. and so thinking how books like infinite jest or all the pretty horses or beloved or ragtime or fight club, how they themselves are. these expressions of what was of of the industrial context in they emerge out of was to me sort of the key to the whole thing. and the most exciting. and it's times surprising part of the whole project. and so that was it was probably reading of infinite jest that's in the introducti

it's that simple. >> there's pre tony morrison in post tony morrison, and we want to be clear that sheanding on regularly. whether it's invoking ralph ellison or james baldwin, there's so many black women artists we can go through. there's so many that she's in conversation with. but there is a sense in which her insistence that we shift the burden of the white gays. that we don't have to write books that are really all about how white folks see us. we can inhabit our language, we can inhabit kind of cultural spaces that work like oxygen, that are familiar to us. books that we want to read. and i think that she gives rioters a license to explore the fullness of our community, which means that it's very complex and layered, contradictory. not always everyone agreeing, having the same politics that i think -- and that is really key. because morrison sees us in our individuality and it's fullness as opposed to simply being racking to the current circumstances of our living. >> i grew up in the bushwick section of brooklyn which was really founded by the dutch and a free enslaved person, a

beloved by tony morrison. and many more.in which democracy was created in america, in creating for freedom. america found a way to squirrelly condemns mentorship also providing meaningful access to literature in the city. the point that he is not lost on me on the velshi banned book club. the, reading is resistance. reading is half the battle. initiatives like that little freedom libraries are the other half. right after the break, i'll be joined by angela val, president and ceo of illicit philadelphia. don't go anywhere. shingles is sleeping... in 99% of people over 50. and it could strike at any time. think you're not at risk? wake up. because shingles could wake up in you. if you're over 50, talk to your doctor or pharmacist about shingles prevention. >>> i'm joined now by angela val, president and ceo of visit philadelphia, one organization of that partnership to create the little free(dom) library in philadelphia. angela, great to see. you thank you for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> i want to start with the bo

what you describe early in your book is toni morrison's era. i came ten years later, so when i saw your title reminded me of what i thought about lorraine at the time, because we had the four plant, we had gm, we had steel mills, it was an embarrassment to file for unemployment when i was coming up and so i never been a shaker heights i'm going home this weekend for the holidays. i plan on going to shaker heights. okay. just to get a feel when i get to the book, i didn't experience a lot of races at all when i was coming. i was fortunate, pampered. no, but just fortunate. and i'm the gentleman that assistant tonight. i'm kind of juxtaposing his comments about south and happened with your experience at that school and i'm a firm believer in ohio being a very hospitable okay we just way we are okay and. i'm wondering that because it was in the in the north the surrounding areas of shaker played an important role to the integration versus. if it was in the south you went was you didn't have a support system he alluded to and so while you were spea

and people like tony morrison and people you know, just who they are; right? and maybe that came with their age and being elder so i should mention people that are story tellers their life and connect with them and you know, i had those models. >> (multiple voices.) >> and when we approach as elders they sort of see us as harmless. >> right. right (laughter). >> that's true someone is sitting there and- >> (multiple voices). >> coming up to take. >> you're much more open to. >> my mother was like i said passed at 1 hundred and 4 but a curious person with her life and always said she may with living in north beach the first chinese person an open authoritative but because she was curious this was a really modeling for myself and i feel like elders we just have a we're able to approach 0 anyone and hey how are you? and they're open to take with us. >> i think for me my challenge and career forced me to be a more public person and away from work i became more quiet and less engaged. so this pierson of being in the room and doing what i needed to do and saying wha

. >> that was acclaimed author on the toni morrison.educators across the country are grappling with restrictions on how they can teach it, if at all. 17 states have enacted laws le restricting how teaches can discuss race in the classroom. ron desantis here in florida leading the way with the most aggressive legislation with teachers facing jail time for simply teaching the truth. one teacher telling axios they're approaching teaching black history, quote, carefully, because no one wants to be fired. it's all part of a broader approach to whitewash american history. >> i don't think there should be a black history month. >> that particular passage wasn't saying that slavery was a benefit. it was saying there was resourcefulness and people acquired skilled in spite of slavery. wokeness is racism in and of itself. >> it's all activism. it's all ideology. it's no history. >> we cannot perpetuate a lie to our students and push this propaganda leftist agenda teaching our kids to hate america. >> joining me now is britney cooper, professor of

testify was informed by their individual and collective sense of, self love, self-respect and what toni morrison called regard. targeted people's testimonies provide, a counter-narrative to the we've been told about reconstruction. suppose that failure speaking with one voice, they said white southerners were waging war on reconstruction by attacking the people who are making the most of freedom and naming their attackers, detailing their injuries, saying the names of their slain crying out for justice and doing what they could to keep the record of what happened to them alive. survivors said black people's lives, freedoms and mattered. reporting and testifying about the war on freedom or. survivors best defense against erasure. these testimonies did help to drive the federal. that eventually drove the klan underground, but not before they seriously undercut freedom and black people's participation in american. after confederate overthrew reconstruction and boarded the temple of liberty, they crafted i call the big lie of the 19th century that the experience in american democracy had failed they

one, just outside of jacksonville, played county, almost 200 titles were banned including toni morrisonargaret atwood, the children's young adult writer -- jack. i mean, it's absurd. and what's interesting here is that this latest controversy that desantis was responding to, included books about johnny apple seed, and the bible. and one imagines that desantis was hearing it from his conservative supporters, how dare these people say the bible has no place in our education curriculum. so this is essentially the chickens coming home to roost, to ron desantis. >> that's a good point. and i wanted to actually talk to you about the classes you teach, specifically professor. one of them was specifically called out by republican congresswoman virginia foxx, during the congressional antisemitism hearing in december. what did you think, when you heard that? and what are some lawmakers missing, and misconstruing about the nature of your classes? >> well. i was shocked by it. but it just shows that this assault is not ending in florida, or texas, or any of the state legislative bodies that have cr

well, i asked toni morrison that question once that you said that you just asked. i asked her, you know, because some of her books are so deeply disturbing. and so the details and i said is it hard for you to write these stories? she said, not as as it was to live them. right. hi, howard. how is everyone this evening? my name is julie hawkins. ennis. i am from southern maryland. mom was from st mary's. my dad from charles. i grew up strictly catholic, where i came from in southern maryland. like she earlier where we're from. that was the seat of catholicism. i didn't know any other religion until i left st mary's to go to college because everybody i grew up with was catholic. catholic catholicism wasn't wasn't a religion for us it was our way of life. so i didn't hear about this story until about 2015. i was on ancestry and our history was we're from here. we were from southern maryland, nowhere else. i kept connecting to someone down louisiana and alabama, and we went back and forth about, well, i know you're from the south, yada, yada, yada. make this story short

that is why people are trying to ban black history, trying to ban toni morrison and meeting of blackcause they do not want us to continue this fight for human dignity that martin luther king junior, that malcolm x gave their lives for. they contributed during their lives and after. host: once again, the book is sword and shield. there is also an eight part series called genius that premieres on national geographic with digital episodes being released through the month. thank you as always for the conversation this morning. we appreciate it. guest: thank you. i enjoyed it. host: thank you for watching and participating. we will be back tomorrow morning. [captioning performed by the national captioning in announcer: this week the house thonal governors association winter meeting. speakers include sonya sotomayor and amy coney barrett. anon saturday, live coverage of a five hundred plus a group of pro-democracy antitrust conservatives and centrists serving as an alternat

and people like tony morrison and people you know, just who they are; right? and maybe that came with their age and being elder so i should mention people that are story tellers their life and connect with them and you know, i had those models. >> (multiple voices.) >> and when we approach as elders they sort of see us as harmless. >> right. right (laughter). >> that's true someone is sitting there and- >> (multiple voices). >> coming up to take. >> you're much more open to. >> my mother was like i said passed at 1 hundred and 4 but a curious person with her life and always said she may with living in north beach the first chinese person an open authoritative but because she was curious this was a really modeling for myself and i feel like elders we just have a we're able to approach 0 anyone and hey how are you? and they're open to take with us. >> i think for me my challenge and career forced me to be a more public person and away from work i became more quiet and less engaged. so this pierson of being in the room and doing what i needed to do and saying wha

that is why people are trying to ban black history, trying to ban toni morrison and meeting of blackthey do not want us to continue this fight for human dignity that martin luther king junior, that malcolm x gave their lives for. they contributed during their lives and after. host: once again, the book is sword and shield. there is also an eight part series called genius that premieres on national geographic with digital episodes being released through the month. thank you as always for the conversation this morning. we appreciate it. guest: thank you. i enjoyed it. host: thank you for watching and participating. we will be back tomorrow morning. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is respoible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]