In this episode, I do a quick review of my favorite Christmas themed episodes from Black sitcoms. * Episodes mentioned: Amos 'N Andy "The Christmas Story" (December 25, 1952) The Jeffersons "The Christmas Wedding" (December 22, 1976) Living Single "Living Kringle" (December 19, 1993) & "Let's Stay Together" (January 01, 1998) Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper "Christmas ‘95" (December 15, 1995) In the House "Christmas Story" (December 11, 1995) Moesha “A Class Act Christmas” (December 15, 1998) The Parker’s “Secret Santa” (December 17, 2001) That’s so Raven “Escape Claus” (December 5 2003) The Bernie Mac Show - "A Christmas Story" (December 19, 2001) & "Road to Tradition" (December 14, 2003) Girlfriends "Merry Ex-mas" (December 15, 2003) "All God's Children" (December 12, 2005) & "Deck the Halls with Bags and Folly" (December 10, 2007) Black Jesus "A Very Special Christmas In Compton" (November 27, 2015)

Go Black Boy Go

Black Christmas TV History: The Sitcom

The Christmas variety special is a staple on television during the holiday season, but black musicians have been historically barred from hosting their own Christmas themed specials. In this episode, discuss the evolution of the Black Christmas variety special. NOTE: This is the early stages of some research I've been doing on Black Christmas TV History. And comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated! * Follow Go Black Boy Go on Twitter / IG @goblackboygo. Listen on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and Podbean and wherever else you get your podcasts. DON'T FORGET to leave a review on iTunes and share the episodes on your social medias! * Christmas Music Videos & Variety Specials The Nat King Cole Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiPAg7NqRZY&list=PLqpoib1cR6hwoVWh0bMEv8gHTV6aclzEG&index=37&t=13s&ab_channel=reelblack Kurtis Blow’s Christmas Rappin’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xUFnGWWtoQ&ab_channel=ChristmasTimeTV Run DMC’s Christmas In Hollis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR07r0ZMFb8&ab_channel=RUNDMCVEVO This is Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trFv63cMk4M&ab_channel=LutherVandrossVEVO Mariah Carey: Merry Christmas to You: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zdsBvXegt0&t=1s&ab_channel=StarlightMedia A Legendary Christmas with John and Chrissy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRjfq6QUjGM&ab_channel=johnlegendVEVO Mariah Carey's Magical Christmas Special: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2bx3FzgJ6o&ab_channel=MariahCareyVEVO References - I use the phrase “the afterlives of slavery” from black feminist scholar Saidiya Hartman’s Lose Your Mother - History of Christmas: https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas - The Slave Experience of the Holidays: https://docsouth.unc.edu/highlights/holidays.html - How slaves celebrated Christmas in America: https://thegrio.com/2013/12/25/how-slaves-celebrated-christmas/ - Chapter 22 “Christmas Festivities” from Incidents in the Life of A Slave Girl  - Chapter 10 from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass - Diane Werts, Christmas on Television: https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Television-Praeger-Collection/dp/0275983315 - Joanna Wilson, Christmas TV History, episode 4: Variety: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/christmas-tv-history-episode-4-variety/id1476537713?i=1000446880194 - The Nat King Cole Show: First Black-Hosted TV Variety Show: https://reelrundown.com/tv/The-Nat-King-Cole-Show-First-Black-Hosted-TV-Variety-Show - The Nat “King” Cole Show: pioneer of music television: https://blog.oup.com/2013/02/nat-king-cole-show-pioneer-music-tv/ - MusicBrainz: https://musicbrainz.org/release-group/9cedba59-9bfe-36bd-81fc-bed263ddfd62 - "The Jackie Robinson Of Television": The Nat King Cole Show: https://indianapublicmedia.org/nightlights/nat-king-cole-show.php - Marlon Riggs, Color Adjustment: https://www.pbs.org/video/pov-from-the-archives-filmmaker-marlon-riggs-1992/ - Bodacious Breakdown: 'Christmas in Hollis' by Run-D.M.C.: https://www.rediscoverthe80s.com/2018/12/bodacious-breakdown-christmas-in-hollis.html

Black Christmas TV History: The Variety Special

In this episode, I recap on this past term, reflect on how I've been feeling on this break, and give a quick review for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (Netflix) and season 4 of Fargo (FX/Hulu). Happy Holidays (corona edition)! * Follow Go Black Boy Go on Twitter / IG @goblackboygo. Listen on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and Podbean and wherever else you get your podcasts. DON'T FORGET to leave a review on iTunes and share the episodes on your social medias!

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Christmas

Jalen catches up with his friend Erin Green, who is finishing his first semester of is PhD program, to talk about what it's like dealing with graduate school in a pandemic.  * Follow Go Black Boy Go on Twitter / Instagram @goblackboygo, the host on Twitter @jalenthompso and Erin on Instagram / Snapchat @artistguy1. Listen on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and Podbean!  

How to Survive Grad School During the Pandemics

In this one I ramble about exams, coursework, teaching and TV. Happy Holidays! * Follow Go Black Boy Go on Twitter / IG @goblackboygo and the host on Twitter @jalenthompso. Listen on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and Podbean and wherever else you get your podcasts. DON'T FORGET to leave a review on iTunes and share the episodes on your social medias!

Black Friday

Born and raised in Alexandria, Louisiana, Afro Sensei is an artist who combines a mix of genres from gospel, house, R & B and metal to produce his own distinct sound that never loses its black, queer and southern roots. In this interview, he discusses how the pandemic has affected his music, he talks about his process for creating a song, and he reveals his musical influences.  * Follow Go Black Boy Go on Twitter / IG @goblackboygo, the host on Twitter @jalenthompso and the guest Afro Sensei on IG and YouTube @afrosensei. Listen to Afro Sensei on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/73bxSCZzaIHLcLEomqNb7v?si=dca7vRr5SL-lWqTHvS7gHQ

Afro Sensei

In the last installment of this series, Jalen chats with his colleagues in the English department about the election week and dealing with graduate school. These interviews were recorded between November 12 - November 15. Guests in the order you first hear them: Teresa Hernández  Madhura Nadarajah Emalydia Flenory * Thank you Teresa for these resources! For more information on resources and advocacy for immigrants and refugees, check out these sites -- Raices: https://www.raicestexas.org/ / Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project: https://firrp.org / https://southtexashumanrights.org/ / No More Deaths: https://nomoredeaths.org/ / Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center: https://las-americas.org/ / San Diego Rapid Response Network: http://www.rapidresponsesd.org/ * Follow Go Black Boy Go on Twitter / IG @goblackboygo and the host on Twitter @jalenthompso. Listen on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and Podbean and wherever else you get your podcasts. DON'T FORGET to leave a review on iTunes and share the episodes on your social medias!

Election Reflections (Part 3)

Jalen chats with a few guests about their thoughts on the election week. These interviews were recorded between November 9 - November 14. Guests in the order you first hear them: Bryant Thurman Kahlil Kyles Will Henry  * Follow Go Black Boy Go on Twitter / IG @goblackboygo and the host on Twitter @jalenthompso. Listen on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and Podbean and wherever else you get your podcasts. DON'T FORGET to leave a review on iTunes and share the episodes on your social medias!

Election Reflections (Part 2)

Jalen chats with a few guests about their thoughts on the election week. These interviews were recorded between November 9 - November 14. Guests in the order you first hear them: Connor Ryan Isaac Devine Erin Green * Follow Go Black Boy Go on Twitter / IG @goblackboygo and the host on Twitter @jalenthompso. Listen on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and Podbean and wherever else you get your podcasts. DON'T FORGET to leave a review on iTunes and share the episodes on your social medias!

Election Reflections (Part 1)

Jalen and his partner Chad chat about the horror genre and some of their favorite horror movies. *Follow Go Black Boy Go on Twitter / IG @goblackboygo and the host on Twitter @jalenthompso, and Chad on Twitter @chad_langley_ and IG @@chad_alexander_. Listen on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and Podbean and wherever else you get your podcasts. DON'T FORGET to leave a review on iTunes and share the episodes on your social medias!

Happy Niggaween!

Welcome to Season 3!In this episode, Jalen chats with Nick Machuca who works for a LGBTQ civil rights organization. Nick shares his experiences working with voters and his thoughts on this election season.  Make sure to have a plan to vote: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/how-to-vote-2020/https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/ *Follow Go Black Boy Go on Twitter / IG @goblackboygo and the host on Twitter @jalenthompso, and Nick on Twitter/ IG @machucador_. Listen on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and Podbean and wherever else you get your podcasts. DON'T FORGET to leave a review on iTunes and share the episodes on your social medias!

Y'all Bitches Better Vote

Jalen recounts his time studying for his breadth exams. * Follow Go Black Boy Go on Twitter / IG @goblackboygo and the host on Twitter @jalenthompso. Listen on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and Podbean and wherever else you get your podcasts. DON'T FORGET to leave a review on iTunes and share the episodes on your social medias!

Studying for Exams

Jalen talks about his past week dealing with the wildfires on the west coast and celebrates two years of the podcast with his very first podcast recording (24:28) featuring guests Keontez Mitchell and Isaac Devine.  * Follow Go Black Boy Go on Twitter / IG @goblackboygo and the host on Twitter @jalenthompso. Listen on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and Podbean and wherever else you get your podcasts. DON'T FORGET to leave a review on iTunes and share the episodes on your social medias!

Go Black Boy Go Turns 2!

Producer CJ Bell and director David Parker stop by to talk about their new virtual, theatrical film Is Anybody Out There?  Purchase tickets for Is Anybody Out There? (Sept. 25 - Sept. 29) at https://thebbrtc.ticketleap.com/iabot/. The BBRTC is giving out free tickets to 100 Black Queer people; go to info@thebbrtc.com to receive a voucher code. Preference is given to Black Queer Trans/GNC and/or Black people living with HIV. * Follow Go Black Boy Go on Twitter / IG @goblackboygo and the host on Twitter @jalenthompso. You can contact CJ @ https://www.carltonvbell.com, find info on the Birmingham Black Repertory Theatre Company at https://www.thebbrtc.com/ and follow David on IG @davidhparker_. Listen on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and Podbean and wherever else you get your podcasts. DON'T FORGET to leave a review on iTunes and share the episodes on your social medias!  

Is Anybody Out There?

Award winning Black gay comedian, writer, filmmaker, and activist Sampson McCormick talks with Jalen about his early beginnings in as a black gay man in the comedy industry and his new film stand up concert comedy film “Church Boy.” With almost 20 years in the business, Sampson is one of the first openly Black gay comedians, one of the first LGBTQ headliners at the historic Howard Theatre, and the first comic to headline at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. * Follow Go Black Boy Go on Twitter / IG @goblackboygo, the host on Twitter @jalenthompso, and Sampson McCormick on Twitter @OfficialSampson and IG @sampsonmccormick. You can watch “Church Boy” on YouTube along with over 10 years of his stand up: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuulRZKEaeKgd2FrtIcV2Wg. For more info about Sampson’s work go to sampsoncomedy.com.   Listen on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and Podbean and wherever else you get your podcasts. DON'T FORGET to leave a review on iTunes and share the episodes on your social medias!  

Sampson McCormick

Go Black Boy Go is an audioblog of my journey getting through grad school and then some.

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Go Black Boy Go

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