When talking about American bar culture, one cannot separate the intrinsic cultural influence of individuals of color. What are considered classic cocktails have deep roots in African American communities, dating back to post-slavery and the subsequent Great Migration. The communities formed in larger northern cities became epicenters of culture, where libations flowed freely until the […]
THREE BODY PROBLEM1 “…My resolution is fixed. I shall be free.” …at that moment he was free, at least in spirit. The future gleamed brightly before him, and his fetters lay broken at his feet. – The Heroic Slave (1852) “As to the moral and social influences of pictures, it would hardly be extravagant to […]
Ann Clanton has spent two decades contributing to Rhode Island’s thriving journalistic and creative communities, providing support to the state’s African-American, AfroCaribbean and Afro-Latin filmmakers while running her own business, Ann Clanton Communications, as a consultant. Not only is she the founder of the Rhode Island Black Film Festival (RIBFF), an event designed to promote […]
The Door of No Return, a powerful symbol of the Middle Passage and African diaspora, finds renewed meaning in contemporary Afrofuturist literature’s engagement with oceanic spaces and historical memory. As author Dionne Brand demonstrates in A Map to the Door of No Return, this threshold represents not just historical trauma, but also a complex site […]
THE ABYSSAL WOMB, THE FETID WORLD OF COLONIALITY’S CAPTURE As the heavy sloshing of horses’ hooves grows ever closer, and the wailing of her child grows ever louder, she, an indigenous Kalinago woman fleeing through a mangrove swamp from her white husband’s plantation, makes a choice. Gently, slowly, she submerges the newborn’s head into the […]
I dig you! Like the impassioned hands of a gard’ner surrendering to the earth. I fuxs with you! Like, the sugary, spicy blend of nutmeg and brown sugar in sweet potato pie Like, the buttery noodles wrapped in a soulful hug of perfectly blended cheeses The first dishes to disappear at a Black family cookout. […]
“I want my art to give a feeling of mysteriousness, that you’ve peeked into a moment that maybe you weren’t supposed to see,” says Afilandra Goncalves of Providence, who created the cover for this issue, “And you’ve gotten intimately close to… something.” She describes her piece for Motif as a “kind of figure who is […]
Wait, you cannot be serious. Who the hell do they think they’re talking to? For a moment, you don’t know how to respond. You’re too busy trying not to trip over your feet. Your friend means well. She’s smart. She walks fast. She listens, but in her world seeing is believing. You start to explain […]
Amidst numerous up-and-coming open mics in Rhode Island, the Providence Poetry Slam (ProvSlam) remains one of the largest and longest-running slams in US history. Co-founded in 1992 by nationally renowned author and slam poet Patricia Smith, ProvSlam is an undeniable example of how Blackness is an integral part of Providence’s lavish history. Over recent years, […]
Historic Sites Details Address 1. Sissieretta Jones Plaque Historical plaque honoring the great 19th century soprano. Read more about her here. 28 S Court St, PVD 2. Grace Church Cemetery Where Sissieretta Jones was laid to rest. The headstone includes a memory medallion that visitors may scan to learn more about her life, and on […]