Media Publicity for "Black Masculinity and the U.S. South: From Uncle Tom to Gangsta"/Interview on UNC-NPR, March 4, 2005

My first book, Black Masculinity and the U.S. South: From Uncle Tom to Gangsta, was featured in a few places once it was published. Most of the publicity took the shape of news articles and radio interviews. The list includes the following:

Print interview with Carlin Flora, Psychology Today webpage. May 22, 2008.
Print feature. "Richardson Pens Groundbreaking Book on Black Masculinity." Book of the Month. The Georgia Informer. March 2007
Interview. Live radio interview on Troy Pubic Radio-NPR. February 12, 2007.
Interview. Live radio interview on the show "Civil Arts Radio" with Milton Bowens. March 11, 2007
Interview. Live podcast with Deborah Harper on Psychjourney. August 9, 2007. Link to 52 min. Podcast available at Itunes
Feature Story: “Professor Pays Tribute to Her Southern Roots” by Beth Curda The Davis Enterprise. February 28, 2007
Feature. "Black Masculinity and the U.S. South." Montgomery Advertiser. February 14, 2007

I did talks and booksignings at places such as the Rosa Parks Library and Museum at Troy University, the University of Montevallo and UC Davis. Videos and podcasts are available for two of them and I will upload them on Youtube in the coming months. When I visited Paris as a cultural envoy of the U.S. Embassy in 2009, I also met with the Société d’Etudes Nord Américaines (SENA) at Université Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris IIIto discuss this book in a talk entitled “Black Masculinity and the U.S. South: From the Myth of Uncle Tom and the ‘Bad Negro’ to the Jena Six" coordinated by Sylvia Ullmo, President of Société d’Etudes Nord Américaines. Once it was published, I was also approached in some instances to comment in the media on some issues related to black masculinity. For instance, a radio host in Philadelphia asked me to make a comment about Michael Vick's dog fighting, an opportunity that I declined. I was pleased that Black Masculnity and the U.S. South also garnered recognition among the “Outstanding Academic Titles, 2008,” Choice Books, and the “Outstanding Academic Titles, Humanities, 2008” Eastern Book Company.

Prior to this book's publication, I also enjoyed being interviewed by Gail Harris on her show "The State of Things"-UNC-NPR on March 4, 2005 in the first portion on "Southern Identity" and dialoguing with callers. Tom Rankin and I were both featured as participants on the program at the "Navigating the Globalization of the American South" conference at UNC. I first come on about 7 minutes into the program and make four statements in all. Over the years, I've been interviewed for radio, television and film. This dialogue with Gail Harris and the callers is one of my all-time favorite live interviews ever and was a lot of fun to do. I was added to the program at the last minute once they saw that I was on the program. I was tenured in UC as an associate professor on July 1, 2005 and my first book came out in February 2007, so the opportunity was also totally unexpected and quite an honor for me as an untenured and unpublished assistant professor at the time. Here's the link and dsecription of the larger segment below. An interview with Princeton professor Imani Perry is featured in the latter "Prophets of the Hood" portion on this same segment. The segment can also be accessed in the old archives of "The State of Things."

To listen to my interview on UNC-NPR on "The State of Things," Google this link below:

http://www.ibiblio.org/wunc_archives/sot/audioarchive//sot0304.mp3

Program Description:

Southern Identity/Prophets of the Hood

Friday, March 4th, 2005

Globalization and the South: The South isn’t what it used to be. Mexican haciendas sit beside old Baptist churches, and the sprawling suburbs house people from all over the country and the world. Host Gail Harris leads a conversation about where to locate southern identity in a time of economic and social change. Guests include: Jim Peacock, professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Tom Rankin, director of the Center for Documentary Studies. Both will be presenting at this week’s Navigating the Globalization of the American South Conference at UNC-Chapel Hill. Listener Call-In. (32:00)

Prophets of the Hood: Host Gail Harris speaks to Imani Perry about her new book, “Prophets of the Hood: Politics and Poetics in Hip Hop” (Duke University Press, 2005). Perry, a law professor at Rutgers, places hip hop music in the context of African-American folk art and tales. She also considers hip hop’s reputation for violence and misogyny and it’s world wide popularity. Songs by North Carolina group Little Brother, Queen Latifah and Eric B and Rakim are featured. (17:00)