This talk considers how in the 1970s wake of Civil Rights activism and the broader entertainment reach of Black performance, “Black history” became a potent terrain of interest for both Black performers and audiences. Focusing on Diana Ross’s 1976 Broadway show, Poulson-Bryant examines how Black performers intervened in the teachable Bicentennial moment that intersected with the impact of Alex Haley’s Roots. Ross used her work to emphasize the contributions of Black women to that history, situating herself as part of a legacy of Black women’s sonic and cultural work.
Scott Poulson-Bryant is a cultural historian and critic. His main areas of specialization are African American popular culture and Performance Studies, with teaching and research focuses on Hollywood film, black popular music, 20th and 21st century U.S. drama, genre fiction, gender and sexuality studies, and creative nonfiction writing.
He received his B.A. in American Civilization from Brown University and his M.A in English and Ph.D. in American Studies from Harvard, where he also taught in the Program in History and Literature and received numerous certificates of distinction in teaching.
His research has appeared in The Journal of Popular Music Studies, American Studies, Palimpsest: A Journal on Women, Gender, and the Black International, and Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, and he is currently finishing his monograph Everybody is a Star: Race, Glamour, and Citizenship in 1970s US Popular Culture.
Prior to academia, he worked as a journalist, publishing several articles in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and The Village Voice, among other publications, and he was one of the founding editors of VIBE Magazine. His books include HUNG: A Meditation on the Measure of Black Men in America (Doubleday) and The VIPs: A Novel (Broadway/Random House).
LOCATION:Barker Center, Room 133 STATUS:CONFIRMED DTSTART:20230330T210000Z DTEND:20230330T210000Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR