Busboys and Poets has always been a place for artists, activists, and writers of the community to gather and break bread. And while we may be physically distant right now, we can still stay connected and break bread together.
Join us online for Busboys and Friends: A Virtual Dinner Party held every Friday night at 6 pm. Hosted by CEO and Founder, Andy Shallal with a special dinner guest each week.
Order your favorite meal and beverage from Busboys and Poets, set your table, and tune in for a special dinner with some of the most influential leaders of our time.
This week's special guest is Dr. Keisha N. Blain, co-editor of Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019, with book contributors Dr. Pamela Newkirk and Dr. Joshua Bennett.
Dr. Keisha N. Blain is an award-winning historian of the 20th century United States with broad interests and specializations in African American History, the modern African Diaspora, and Women’s and Gender Studies. She is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh and the president of the African American Intellectual History Society. She is currently a 2020-2021 fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University. She also serves as an editor for the Washington Post’s ‘Made by History’ section.
Blain has published extensively on race, gender, and politics in both national and global perspectives. She is the author of the multi-prize-winning book Set the World on Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom (2018) and co-editor of three books: To Turn the Whole World Over: Black Women and Internationalism (University of Illinois Press, 2019); New Perspectives on the Black Intellectual Tradition (Northwestern University Press, 2018); and Charleston Syllabus: Readings on Race, Racism, and Racial Violence (University of Georgia Press, 2016).
Her latest books are Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer's Enduring Message to America (Beacon Press, October 5, 2021) and Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019, edited with Ibram X. Kendi (Penguin Random House/One World, February 2, 2021).
Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A chorus of extraordinary voices tells the epic story of the four-hundred-year journey of African Americans from 1619 to the present—edited by Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist, and Keisha N. Blain, author of Set the World on Fire.
Dr. Pamela Newkirk
Pamela Newkirk, PhD, is a journalist, New York University professor, author and multi-disciplinary scholar whose work examines contemporary and historical depictions of African Americans in popular culture. Her latest book Diversity Inc.: The Failed Promise of Billion-Dollar Business, exposes the decades-old practices and attitudes that have made diversity a lucrative business while they fail to realize diversity. The book was included on TIME magazine's "Must-Read" books of 2019 and featured in numerous publications, including Forbes, Fortune, Fast Company, The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Chronicle of Higher Education and TIME. Her previous book, Spectacle: The Astonishing Life of Ota Benga, was awarded the 2016 NAACP Image Award and was selected as a New York Times Editor's Choice and named a Best Book of 2015 by NPR, The Boston Globe, and The San Francisco Chronicle. Dr. Newkirk has compiled and edited two collections of African American letters and is the author of Within the Veil: Black Journalists, White Media which won the National Press Club Award for Media Criticism and was recently optioned for a feature film. Prior to joining the journalism faculty at New York University she was a daily reporter at four news organizations including New York Newsday where she was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting team. She holds journalism degrees from Columbia and New York universities, and a PhD from Columbia University. Her articles have appeared in a number of leading publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and TIME magazine.
Dr. Joshua Bennett
Joshua Bennett is the Mellon Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth. He is the author of three books of poetry and criticism: The Sobbing School (Penguin, 2016)—winner of the National Poetry Series and a finalist for an NAACP Image Award—as well as Being Property Once Myself (Harvard University Press, 2020) and Owed (Penguin, 2020).
Bennett earned his Ph.D. in English from Princeton University, and an M.A. in Theatre and Performance Studies from the University of Warwick, where he was a Marshall Scholar. He has recited his original works at the Sundance Film Festival, the NAACP Image Awards, and President Obama's Evening of Poetry and Music at the White House. He has also performed and taught creative writing workshops at hundreds of middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities across the United States, as well as in the U.K. and South Africa.
Joshua has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, MIT, and the Society of Fellows at Harvard University. His third collection of poems, The Study of Human Life, is forthcoming from Penguin Books.
FREE, RSVP HERE : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSqBjWs-XNc
While this dinner party is free to attend, we kindly ask that you support the program by purchasing a copy of one or more books via our partner, Bookshop.org
Your purchase through bookshop.org also helps support local independent bookstores like ours. The books will be shipped directly to your home.
