Dr. Greg Carr’s Two Minute History Lessons

Professor Greg Carr.

How much history can you learn in two minutes? Find out (and be amazed) by watching these short video clips by Dr. Greg Carr. A professor at Howard University, Carr is also an advisor to the Zinn Education Project Teach Reconstruction campaign.

Throughout the pandemic, Carr is recording and tweeting two-minute videos with bios of noted figures and book recommendations. To date the recordings feature Dr. Martin Luther King, Septima Clark, Paul Robeson, Gwendolyn Brooks, Hubert Harrison, Coretta Scott King, and August Wilson. We’ve followed each tweet with related resources at the Zinn Education Project website.

Follow Dr. Carr on Twitter @AfricanaCarr

Dr. Martin Luther King

52 years ago, #MartinLutherKing was assassinated. Let’s take 2 minutes to mention some of the places and people who shaped him and who he shaped, and some sources to study his work and enduring meaning. As Vincent Harding says, he’s an inconvenient hero. https://t.co/xsv1Q7s5Lv pic.twitter.com/gQzEgDFLq9

— Greg Carr (@AfricanaCarr) April 4, 2020

Learn More

• A Revolution of Values
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “Beyond Vietnam”
• The Limits of Master Narratives in History Textbooks: An Analysis of Representations of Martin Luther King Jr. by Derrick Alridge
• Hope and History: Why We Must Share the Story of the Movement by Vincent Harding

Gwendolyn Brooks

2 minutes on #GwendolynBrooks during #NationalPoetryMonth . Good for mind & soul to read aloud, especially poetry. Ms Brooks offers sustenance in this #Coronavirus shut in, reminding us of the power of #BlackLove from the pages of ⁦@EBONYMag⁩ . #JailbreakTheBlackUniversity pic.twitter.com/fST5gISDlT

— Greg Carr (@AfricanaCarr) April 22, 2020

Learn More

• Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat edited by Nikki Giovanni
• Unleashing Sorrow and Joy: Writing Poetry from History and Literature by Linda Christensen
• Rhythm and Resistance: Teaching Poetry for Social Justice edited by Linda Christensen and Dyan Watson

Paul Robeson

April 9th marks the birthday of Paul Bustill Robeson. Here are 2 minutes on “The Great Forerunner.” His papers are with ⁦@MoorlandHU⁩ . His mind and spirit are with us, everywhere, for all time. Let’s study him, his partner Essie, and ourselves. #JailbreakTheBlackUniversity pic.twitter.com/zHy3UCWK1X

— Greg Carr (@AfricanaCarr) April 9, 2020

Learn More

• Robeson in Spain
• Scandalize My Name
• COINTELPRO: Teaching the FBI’s War on the Black Freedom Movement by Ursula Wolfe-Rocca
• April 9, 1898: Paul Robeson Born
• Oct. 14, 1916: Paul Robeson Excluded from Rutgers Football Team
• Aug. 16, 1955: Paul Robeson Lost Court Appeal for Passport

Septima Clark

Let’s take two minutes to sketch the arc of Septima Poinsette Clark, a Master Teacher. She and her comrades’ Citizenship Education Program our intellectual work at the center of liberation praxis. #JailbreakTheBlackUniversity pic.twitter.com/BfJL8PQxxy

— Greg Carr (@AfricanaCarr) March 31, 2020

Learn More

• SNCC Digital Gateway on Septima Clark 
• Freedom’s Teacher: The Life of Septima Clark by Katherine Mellen Charron
• I’ve Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle by Charles Payne
• You Got to Move: Stories of Change in the South by Lucy Massie Phenix
• May 3, 1898: Septima Clark Born

Hubert Harrison, Coretta Scott King, and August Wilson

April 27th: The shared birthday of Hubert Harrison, Coretta Scott King & August Wilson. Lets take 2 minutes to reintroduce them. As Wilson said in his famous 1996 speech in Princeton, “The Ground On Which I Stand,” “…Black Americans are Africans.” #JailbreakTheBlackUniversity pic.twitter.com/uo4YxYMFew

— Greg Carr (@AfricanaCarr) April 27, 2020

Learn More

• The Ground On Which I Stand by August Wilson
• Profile: Hubert Harrison by Jeffrey B. Perry
• Teaching for Black Lives edited by Dyan Watson, Jesse Hagopian, and Wayne Au
• W. E. B. Du Bois to Coretta Scott King: The Untold History of the Movement to Ban the Bomb by Vincent Intondi