'Left of Black': Episode #6 featuring James Braxton Peterson and Rashod Ollison

Left of Black host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Bucknell University Professor James Braxton Peterson in a discussion of the legacy of the Million Man March, The Morehouse College dress code, homophobia and bullying, and Hip-Hop Masculinity.

Neal also talks with former Baltimore Sun music critic and current pop culture critic for The Virginian Pilot and Jet Magazine about the current state of R&B Music and the career of Prince.

'Left of Black': Episode #5 featuring Danielle McGuire and Stephane Dunn

Left of Black host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Wayne State University Historian Danielle McGuire, the author of At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance--A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power.

Neal also talks with Morehouse College English Professor Stephane Dunn about the recent Vibe Magazine article 'The Mean Girls of Morehouse." Dunn is a regular contributor to theLoop21.com and the author of Baad Bitches and Sassy Supermamas: Black Power Action Films.

Pumps, Lipstick & Swagger: Gender & Sexuality at Morehouse

Pumps, Lipstick & Swagger: Gender & Sexuality at Morehouse
by Stephane Dunn | TheLoop21

I realized I’d walked into an unusual hot, personal debate soon as I approached my 1:00 p.m. afternoon class. I hardly cleared the door before my excited students begin practically yelling at me indignantly, "Have you seen it? You see how they representin’ us?" “It” was a new story in a former iconic outlet of hip-hop journalism, Vibe magazine.

Can a man of Morehouse be gay? Absolutely. But can he be a woman? Meet the plastics.

That’s one of the leading lines in the latest, almost infamous expose on Morehouse College’s gay and cross dressing “subgroups.” It immediately made my blood pressure rise. I am a woman, who works and walks around campus whose professor status and sometimes deceptive appearance grant me a degree of invisibility. Words like “bitch” are not rare in the passing conversations of men in reference to some of the Daisy Duke wearing women they see or in general reference to the Spelman women across the way.

Just yesterday, I overheard two students having a familiar conversation about the wayward, materialistic, cunning ways of these “hoes” out here. Other times, I’ve seen young men shoot a killing look at some high heel wearing, sashaying fellow diva student or even heard them mutter "faggot"—loudly, as if the very sight was a personal affront.

So I immediately thought that the opening tagline [of the Vibe article] absolutely personifies what’s wrong with not only this sensationalist story, but with too many of the recent public discussions regarding issues of sexuality within African American communities.

Read the Full Essay @ theLoop21.com

The 'Mean Girls" of Morehouse?

Can a Man of Morehouse Be Gay? Absolutely. But Can He Be a Woman?

Diamond Martin Poulin, 20, teetering in strappy sandals with three-inch heels, steps into an eclectic clothing boutique in Little Five Points, a quaint cluster of shops and restaurants two and a half miles outside of downtown Atlanta. “Ooooh,” squeals Diamond. “What about this?” Holding up a white floor-skimming skirt with an eyelet hem, he swoons. The proprietor of the store looks up at Diamond, does a double take, and immediately picks up the cordless phone at the register. “There’s a man in here with heels on!” she whispers loudly into the phone. Diamond raises his eyebrows and continues browsing the racks. He shrugs when asked if the comment bothers him. “Isn’t it true?” he says, chuckling. “There is a man in here with heels on.”

Nibbling on sushi later that day, Diamond explains why he left after one year at Morehouse. A bastion for producing leaders in politics, community service and medicine, Morehouse College has long been viewed as the ultimate HBCU for young Black men, who are conferred with the mystique of being “Men of Morehouse.” Established in 1867 in Augusta, Georgia, as the Augusta Institute, the school counts such luminaries as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; Atlanta’s first Black mayor, Maynard H. Jackson, Jr.; financier Reginald E. Davis; School Daze writer/director Spike Lee; the late Keith “Guru” Elam of Gang Starr; and the late Def Jam exec Shakir Stewart among its graduates.

That pedigree is what brought Diamond (pictured left) to Morehouse, but he says the school’s social conservatism drove him out. In October of last year, the Morehouse College administration announced a new “appropriate attire policy.” The dress code stated that students, referred to as “Renaissance Men,” were not allowed to wear caps, do-rags, sunglasses or sagging pants on the Morehouse campus or at college-sponsored events. But what raised most eyebrows was the rule about women’s clothing: no wearing of dresses, tops, tunics, purses or pumps.

The new dress code resulted in a flurry of media coverage, prompting Dr. William Bynum, Jr., vice president for Student Services, to release a statement to several news outlets: “We are talking about five students who are living a gay lifestyle that is leading them to dress a way we do not expect in Morehouse men.” During a recent visit to the campus, the poet Saul Williams wore a skirt in solidarity.

“Morehouse wasn’t ready for me,” says Diamond, who has the word “unbreakable” tattooed on his collarbone and the acronym C.R.E.A.M (“Cash Rules Everything Around Me” coined by rap group Wu Tang Clan) wrapped around his right wrist. “I’m about freedom of expression. I’m about being whomever you truly are inside. I came to Morehouse because of all the historical leaders that attended and impacted the world so heavily. You know, I really wanted to follow in their footsteps. I don’t think Morehouse believes that someone like me—someone who wears heels and dresses—can uphold that reputation. But they’re wrong.”

Read the Full Essay @ Vibe Magazine