African American Studies Commons^™

Piercing The Veil In Sinners: Theological Insights From The Juke Joint, Antonio D. Sison Cpps

Journal of Religion & Film

Celebrated as a critical and commercial success, Ryan Coogler’s genre-defying opus Sinners has also been considered as one of the most culturally significant films of 2025. It also promises to be one of the most theologically resonant films of the year. This is evinced not only in its thematic and literary bases but, importantly, in its very audiovisual language and grammar, its stylistic strategies qua film. As reasoned in this essay, Coogler’s film is a rich locus theologicus, a nexus for theological discovery and insight.Sinners kindles the hermeneutical impulse to dialogue with African American/Pan-Africa theologies exemplified by the …

Southern By The Grace Of God: Religion, Race, And Civil Rights In Hollywood’S American South, Paul Harvey

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Megan Hunt, Southern by the Grace of God: Religion, Race, and Civil Rights in Hollywood’s American South (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2024).

Cinema, Black Suffering, And Theodicy: Modern God, Terry Lindvall

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Shayne Lee, Cinema, Black Suffering, and Theodicy: Modern God (Rowman and Littlefield, 2022).

Exhibiting Forgiveness, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Exhibiting Forgiveness (2024), directed by Titus Kaphar.

Peele’S Black, Extraterrestrial, Naturalistic Critique Of Religion, Jonathan D. Lyonhart

Journal of Religion & Film

While Jordan Peele’s films have always held their mysteries close to the chest, they eventually granted their viewers some climactic clarity. Get Out (2017) used an 1980s style orientation video to clear up its neuroscientific twist, while Us (2019) had Lupita Nyongo’s underworld twin narratively spell out the details of the plot. Yet Nope (2022) refuses to show its hand even after the game is over, never illuminating the connection between its opening scene and the broader film, nor a myriad of other questions. As such, critics complained that it stitched together two seemingly incongruent plots without explanation; one where …

Column: The Development And Recovery Of North Omaha, Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

COMMUNITY COLUMNIST

To understand the long-term lack of development and economic devastation of the North Omaha community, one must understand the history. That history includes the growth of an African American community, during and after the turn of the 20th century, during a period of mass migration from the racist South. Despite the Nebraska Legislature’s passage of its Economic Recovery Act, I submit that without the understanding of these historical elements, an attempt to lead or create a plan to develop and recover North Omaha will struggle.

North Omaha Lessons From A National Tour Of Black History, Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

Community Columnist article that discusses the Black Votes Matter Tour.

Column: Déjà Vu All Over Again, Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

In the period prior to the Civil War, which began in 1861, there was slavery, Black people were denied of Civil Rights, human rights, voting tights, dignities ... all with supporting legalities. The southern sector of our country were willing to create their own country, to secede from this country in order to maintain these practices.

Jimmy Carter: A Black Perspective (Community Columnist), Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Collaborative Effort Joins North Omaha And Convences A Joint Effort To Hold Oppd Accountable For Toxics From Coal Burning, Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

I share an important issue affecting all of Omaha but critically affecting North Omaha residents. Coal burning creates toxic air and many other public health issues. Coal plants are responsible for 42 percent of US mercury emissions, a toxic heavy metal that can damage the nervous, digestive, and immune systems, and is a serious threat to the child development. Just 1/70th of a teaspoon of mercury deposited on a 25-acre lake can make the fish unsafe to eat. According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Emissions Inventory, US coal power plants emitted 45,676 pounds of mercury in 2014 …

North Omaha Begins A New Chapter, Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

Preston Love Jr.'s Community Columnist web article discusses the historical economic devastation that this community experienced for generations, and the new chapter full of potential for North Omaha.

Gender, Race, And Religion In An African Enlightenment, Jonathan D. Lyonhart

Journal of Religion & Film

Black Panther (2018) not only heralded a new future for representation in big-budget films but also gave an alternative vision of the past, one which recasts the Enlightenment within an African context. By going through its technological enlightenment in isolation from Western ideals and dominance, Wakanda opens a space for reflecting on alternate ways progress can—and still might—unfold. More specifically, this alternative history creates room for reimagining how modernity—with its myriad social, scientific, and religious paradigm shifts—could have negotiated questions of race, and, in turn, how race could have informed and redirected some of the lesser impulses of modernity. Similar …

Alice, Sheila J. Nayar

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Alice (2022), directed by Krystin Ver Linden.

Descendant, Sheila J. Nayar

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Descendant (2022), directed by Margaret Brown.

Truth Can Save Democracy, Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

As part of a national effort, to mourn the anniversary of the insurrection that took place on January 6, 2021, another national effort occurred on January 6, 2022. Here in Omaha and in over 230 cities vigils occurred with a focus towards a “call to action,” a very important day of remembrance and call for action, directed towards an affirmation of Democracy.

Dei Vs. Crt, Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

In this article Dr. Love discusses both DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) and CRT (Critical Race Theory) both of which have become focal points within the University of Nebraska system.

Save Our Children, Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

It has been a topic of my mental anguish for several years: the plight, and the state of affairs, of our young, our children and our youth.

2024: The Fall Of The Empire?, Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

The recent news of a potential Presidential run of Donald Trump, for president in 2024, signifies the transition from the slow drip, drip leaking of Democracy to a fire hose flow, and the fall of our great empire.

Blindspotting And Covid: The Gentrification Of Racism, Ashley Starr-Morris

Journal of Religion & Film

The novel Coronavirus is not only exposing old patterns of racism and systemic inequalities, but deepening them as well. The notion of blindspotting, as described in the film by the same name, is used to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts the “spiritual emergency” or crisis of racism in America. "Blindspotting" is an image or situation that can be interpreted in two ways but is understood by some in only one way, thereby producing a blind spot. In 2020 and 2021, we see segments of American society, from politics to white Christian nationalism, upholding a sacred canopy of exceptionalism by …

Redistricting In Nebraska, Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

This article discusses the redistricting process in Nebraska, the dangers of gerrymandering, and importance of community vigilance of the process.

Summer 2021 Is The Time To Celebrate Black Culture Once Again, Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

We Are Watching Racism's Tug-Of-War With Democracy, Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Sleeping Negro, William L. Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a review of The Sleeping Negro (2021), directed by Skinner Meyers.

Who We Are: A Chronicle Of Racism In America, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America (2021), directed by Emily Kunstler.

King's Dream Is Not Achieved As Nebraska Carries Out Assaults On Democracy, Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

I reflect on the iconic speech of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the summer of 1963, where he spoke of his famous dream. Embedded in that wonderful soliloquy are the dreams of freedom, justice and equality. All dreams have a commonality: The dreamer wakes up.

Blacks And The Vaccine — A Teaching Opportunity, Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

Over the past months I have written about the need for Whites to listen, learn and recognize the plight, anger and demands of people of color. Uniquely, 2020 provided many opportunities for that journey toward clarity and, hopefully, participation in needed reform. Specifically, the teaching opportunities in 2020 were presented by George Floyd’s death; the rise in White supremacy; and, dramatically and tragically, COVID-19.

Lessons From My Journey (A Call To Action), Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

In this past election, the 2020 general election, I had a special opportunity to observe my Nebraska communities, from a very unique viewpoint.

Attack Ads And Big Spending Don't Get To The Real World Underlying Political Campaigns, Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

For the 2020 general election campaign, I had a special opportunity to observe my Nebraska communities from a unique viewpoint.

Envisioning Black Feminist Voodoo Aesthetics: African Spirituality In American Cinema, Jessica Knippel

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Kameelah L. Martin, Envisioning Black Feminist Voodoo Aesthetics: African Spirituality in American Cinema.

White America May Have Amnesia, But Don't Ask Blacks To Forget, Preston Love Jr.

Black Studies Faculty Publications

In 1775, Patrick Henry spoke to both his fellow colonists and to the British when he said, “Give me liberty or give me death.”

Nearly 250 years later, I too, scream for liberty.