Two Souls, Two Thoughts: The Art of African American History

Artists, writers and thinkers debate and discuss their ongoing engagements with African American history in the first of Park Avenue Armory’s one-off conversation series.

WHAT: The Aspen Institute Arts Program was invited by the Park Avenue Armory to collaborate on a conversation in celebration of Black History Month. “Two Souls, Two Thoughts” brings together artists, writers and thinkers to discuss and debate their unique and evolving engagements with African American history, using Du Bois’s words to guide the conversation. Moderated by writer and podcast host Stacia Brown, participants include vocalist and composer Imani Uzuri, poet and playwright Carl Hancock Rux, multimedia artist Jasmine Murrell, photographer and historian Deborah Willis, and novelist and playwright Darryl Pinckney.

“One ever feels his twoness,” wrote W. E. B. Du Bois in his landmark book The Souls of Black Fols, “an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.” The panel at the Park Avenue Armory will examine how this groundbreaking idea has affected their work and the stream of history to which they belong.

This event is being presented in partnership with the Park Avenue Armory.

WHO:

*   Imani Uzuri, vocalist and composer
*   Carl Hancock Rux, poet and playwright
*   Jasmine Murrell, multimedia artist
*   Deborah Willis, photographer and historian
*   Darryl Pinckney, novelist and playwright
*   Stacia Brown, writer and podcast host