One of my favourite ways to consume media lately has been through The New Yorker’s long-form articles and essays. When I feel like reading and educating myself, but I don’t want to commit to a whole novel, I find myself turning to this type of literature.
In honour of February being Black History Month, here are two long-form articles from The New Yorker that discuss Black issues, one with art and one with sports. These articles highlight and celebrate Black narratives and figures, and allow readers to learn a little bit more about Black history.
Bonus: these articles are also just long enough for you to read them both with your morning coffee.
1. The Visual Power of Black Rest by Emily Lordi
Lordi’s article talks about her experience visiting “Rest Is Power”, an NYU exhibition that utilizes over thirty Black diasporic artists and photographers to paint a “restorative, counternarrative about Black life”. This exhibition, she describes, is part of the Black Rest Project, which aims to explore the intricacies of Black rest, and works to challenge the activism-centric binary of either slowing down or making strides.
The article touches on the exhibition itself, the historic congruence of value of the Black body and labour, rest in relation to the pandemic, and the idea of Black idleness as an act of resistance.
Through Lordi’s description of the various works featured in the exhibition, along with her commentary, readers can ponder the meaning of Black rest, and why this might be such an important notion. The article itself is engaging, and it includes a couple of images featured in the exhibition and vivid descriptions of some other featured works.
The Black Rest Project functions as an act of healing; their website describes themselves as an organization that “seeks reparative justice and healing through the exploration of rest as a revolutionary act”. In giving exposure to this exhibition and this organization, Lordi both amplifies Black voices and artists, and creates space for discourse on such a relevant issue.
2. Deion Sanders and the Past and Future of College Football by Zach Helfand
While Lordi’s article focuses on the art world, Helfand’s article is all about Black college football.
In his article, a review for the book Coach Prime, he discusses Deion Sanders, a Black college football coach (and former player), who becomes the coach for Jackson State University and who aims to elevate Black college football. Sanders manages to accomplish this goal—partly through his charismatic attitude—and attracts a top recruit to the school, even helping pay for an updated locker room.
However, when Sanders ends up leaving Jackson State, which is a Historically Black school, for a higher-paying job at Colorado State, Black fans were divided. Helfand’s article mainly discusses Sanders in relation to Jean-Jacques Taylor’s conception of the famous coach in Coach Prime, and brings in another book about a Black college football coach (Jake Gaither) to provide more historical relevancy on Black college football.
Helfand’s article draws upon the issue of “an old debate about Black institutions and integration: build within or spread without”, which remains an important topic today.
In discussing Gaither and Sanders, Helfand paints a historically relevant picture of football integration amid predominantly white institutions. As someone isn’t usually interested in sports, I found this article incredibly engaging, and its references to an Amazon Prime show and the two novels allow readers to further explore issues discussed in the article.
Overall, however you choose to participate in this year’s Black History Month, I encourage you to explore media about Black issues, Black triumphs, and Black history in general. Whether that be through articles such as these two, or through cinema, music, or other literature, let this month be an opportunity to further explore, celebrate, and educate yourself on Black topics.