Gerald Early

Clarence Thomas may speak for more people than we realize.

We asked African-American scholars about race, merit, and belonging. Here’s what they told us.

“And could politics ever be an expression of love?” — Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952) The controversial New Yorker cover of July 21, 2008 — showing the Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama, as a Muslim jihadist and his wife, Michelle, as a gun-toting, Afro-wearing black militant —…

The sun is very important. The theory, practice, and spectacle of bullfighting have all been built on the assumption of the presence of the sun and when it does not shine, over a third of the bullfight is missing. ... [Without] the sun the best bullfighter is not there. He is like a man without a…

Gerald Early, professor of English and African-American studies at Washington University, in the July 15/22 issue of The New Republic. Perhaps Americans, black and white, are discomfited by our popular music because it seems to serve no great ends except to make money and to provide momentary…