Black Cultural Archives

Black Cultural Archives

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Weekend Road Trip: The Bob Baker Marionette Theater

The Bob Baker Marionette Theater is a beloved place in Los Angeles, California. The theater almost closed down when its founder, Bob Baker, died in 2014. But it has managed to survive. Randel Metz is the director of the Storybook Puppet Theater in Oakland, California, and the aut ...  Show more

Temple of Pythons (Classic)

We visit southern Benin to hear the story of the Temple of Pythons and clear up some misconceptions about one of the world's most misunderstood spiritual systems. READ MORE IN THE ATLAS: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-temple-of-pythons-ouidah-benin Hosted by Simplecast, ...  Show more

Recommended Episodes

Devonya N. Havis, "Creating a Black Vernacular Philosophy" (Lexington Books, 2022)
New Books in Philosophy

What can philosophy do? By taking up Black American cultural practices, Devonya N. Havis suggests that academic philosophy has been too narrow in its considerations of this question, supporting domination and oppression.  In Creating a Black Vernacular Philosophy (Lexington Books ...  Show more

How One LA Neighborhood Reveals The Racist Architecture Of American Homeownership
Consider This from NPR

Property ownership eludes Black Americans more than any other racial group. NPR's Ailsa Chang and Jonaki Mehta examine why. They tell the story of LA's Sugar Hill neighborhood, a once-vibrant black community that was demolished to make way for the Santa Monica Freeway.Their story ...  Show more

Shani Adia Evans, "We Belong Here: Gentrification, White Spacemaking, and a Black Sense of Place" (U Chicago Press, 2025)
New Books in Anthropology

Although Portland, Oregon, is sometimes called “America’s Whitest city,” Black residents who grew up there made it their own. The neighborhoods of Northeast Portland, also called “Albina,” were a haven for and a hub of Black community life. But between 1990 and 2010, Albina chang ...  Show more

BBC OS Conversations: Colourism
The Documentary Podcast

The issue of colourism was highlighted in a recent BBC news report about a Nigerian woman who bleached the skin of her six young children leaving them with discoloured skin, burns and scars. It is a form of racism where light skin is more highly valued than dark skin amongst peop ...  Show more