Being Black in America: Part 2

Representation in Cinema

Hello listeners! It’s Jackie McGriff, your host on today’s podcast episode where we’re diving into our film, Being Black in America with more of our storytellers. Yes, this is PART TWO! If you haven’t already listened to Part 1, please go do so. You can catch that episode and all of our other podcast episodes anywhere that you get your podcasts.

If this is your first time listening, two things – the first is HEYYYYY and the second is Being Black in America is our latest short documentary film where we show an array of different thoughts and attitudes behind Blackness and what it means to everyone on a personal level by asking one central question, What does being Black in America mean to you? It’s a question that’s asked in so many ways on screen indirectly and never seen as a conversation amongst ourselves but directly at the camera to a general audience. This film, however, turns that on its head and makes the audience a bystander, not a participant.

Today's episode features the second half of our storytellers featured in the film: Tiffany Porter, Kim Smith, Tiffany Porter, Dr. Katrina Overby, and Gabrielle Brannigan. We get into a whole lot about Black identity, intersectionality, and how Black folks, especially Black women and queer folks are portrayed in the media, and our history like you haven't heard it before and the importance of teaching that history RIGHT.

As it's referenced in the podcast, be sure to check out Dr. Katrina Overby's thesis, Doin’ It for the Culture: Defining Blackness, Culture, and Identity on Black Twitter: https://www.proquest.com/docview/2305527251?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true&sourcetype=Dissertations%20&%20Theses

You can also read her latest in the intersectional feminist journal, "Gatherings", The Familiar Feels Like Family: A Black Feminists' Approach to Placemaking and Gathering for Black Women in the Academy: https://fisherpub.sjf.edu/gatherings/vol1/iss1/5/.

Want to host a screening and talkback of Being Black in America? Visit https://www.ourvoicesproject.com/hostbbia and fill out our screening interest form. We’d LOVE to bring our film to you to create brave and safe spaces for unfiltered discussions about Blackness, host panels with Black community leaders, activists, students, and entrepreneurs committed to racial equity and pushing for real change with action items.