Pikagi
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts Profile Banner
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts Profile
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts

@DrFrankRoberts

21,059
Followers
2,449
Following
1,230
Media
14,025
Statuses

English Professor at Amherst College. Exec. Director of The Baldwin Hansberry Project. Co-Host of the Apple Podcast "Finding James Baldwin: The Magpie Years."

https://t.co/IyDzq4OKe0
Joined June 2009
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
Pinned Tweet
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
my rule: any student who comes to my office hours can keep any book on my shelf that they like. all they need do is ask. i had a prof who used to do this back in college & ive always remembered how special it made the student-teacher relationship. lets continue this tradition.
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
Tweet media three
Tweet media four
498
2K
20K
Last Seen Profiles
Wise Focker

@wisefocker

سەنگەر بـوتانــئ

@sangarbedirxan

Filippo Diaco

@diaco_filippo

Samuel Vinck

@SamuelVinck

Tasha Kenzie

@TashaCosplayUK

𝗔𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗿

@Aamirbaig786786

りど(9分の8)

@Rido_prdf

wEb3 pArrOt💫🦜

@avaworld16

STW GEMOY SEMOK

@stwgemoy

Shawn

@its_bigshawn

Equal Justice Works

@EJW_org

🩷 ᴠᴇɴʏᴀ_ʜʟ 🩷

@beekuyama

#TukoFreshy

@campdevoices

BlueRaider 🇨🇮🇨🇮⭐️⭐️⭐️

@blueraider93

Dziennik Gazeta Prawna

@DGPrawna

Katie Porter

@katieporteroc

The Tryline 🏉

@TrylineUK

marcelocandidogomes

@marcelo11902033

Tante Girang Nakal

@Tante_Binal69

วิไลเมืองในบริเวณใกล้

@Harriet58079499

Dirty Potato

@DirtyPotato13

SingularApp

@SingularRMRK

zane

@tarugyu

Secretlab Japan

@secretlab_JP

North Atlantic Autistic Treaty Organization

@NAATO_X

Lvisito Collado 🐈‍⬛

@Lvisito_Dice

Zekeriya YÜRÜK

@YurukZekeriya

変態過激マニアSEX調教好き

@HzoOXZclZt5149

Raja Binor Stw

@BinorRaja

Srident

@SridentPSV

Tell me her name 💫🤍

@Angelelsie8

Dennis Kerrisk

@dennis_k85

Alex Shalash

@AlexShalash

منبر قبيلة الـسويـد الرسمي

@s_mnbr

Aaron Kallhoff

@CoachAKallhoff

Clay Scroggins

@clayscroggins

@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
11 months
a young man was murdered this weekend in new york city for voguing to beyonce’s “renaissance” in public. THEY KILLED HIM FOR VOGUING. he was 28 years young. i am completely undone with rage. you should be too. o'shae sibley: we speak your name.
Tweet card media
Man Fatally Stabbed in Confrontation as He Danced at a Gas Station

O’Shae Sibley, 28, was vogueing when men attacked him with gay slurs and told him to stop. A hate crimes task force is investigating.

www.nytimes.com
320
13K
34K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
Vintage Black Genius: Giancarlo Esposito This man shoulda been won ALL the awards. Made his Broadway debut way back in 1968.
Tweet media one
209
4K
25K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
11 months
Carmen Xtravaganza, the iconic Mother of the House of Xtravaganza has passed away. May she forever rest in peace, a true New York City legend.
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
80
6K
25K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
8 months
Viola Davis, freshman year, The Juilliard School Drama Division
Tweet media one
96
2K
22K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
“Talent is insignificant. I know a lot of talented ruins. Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck, but most of all endurance.” - James Baldwin
Tweet media one
60
5K
22K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
9 months
“The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality.” -James Baldwin
Tweet media one
55
6K
18K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
9 months
“The longer I live, the more deeply I learn that love — whether we call it friendship or family or romance — is the work of mirroring and magnifying each other’s light.” ~James Baldwin
Tweet media one
31
5K
17K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
“Love is a combination of six ingredients: care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect and trust. As you go about your life, you can ask: the action I'm taking, does it have these six ingredients?” -bell hooks
Tweet media one
26
4K
15K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
Black Historical Tea: When James Baldwin & Richard Wright Almost Fought (And Tore Up a Parisian Cafe) In 1949, a young Jimmy Baldwin published a scathing review of Richard Wright's novel "Native Son" in an essay he entitled "Everybody's Protest Novel." When Wright read the
Tweet media one
201
3K
15K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
“Many black men with hostility toward the white male power structure are often eager to gain access to that power. Their expressions of rage are less a critique of the white patriarchal social order and more a reaction to not being allowed full participation in the power game.”
Tweet media one
155
3K
14K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
Black History Tea: Dubbed the “wedding of the century,” the 1926 union of Yolande Dubois (daughter of W.E.B. DuBois) and Countee Cullen included 26 bridesmaids & 3,000 patrons. There was only one problem: Cullen went on the honeymoon with his best man instead of the bride.
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
Tweet media three
Tweet media four
173
2K
14K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
On this day February 18 in 1931 a black woman genius was born. Born Chloe Wofford, she would rename herself Toni Morrison.
Tweet media one
46
2K
13K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
Vintage Black Excellence: Toni Morrison at Howard University playing the role of Queen Elizabeth in Shakespeare’s “Richard III.”
Tweet media one
32
2K
13K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
New generation of black people: Dont you know that when u see another black person on campus or passing by in the hallway at your job (or in any other PWI space) you are automatically supposed to NOD your head and silently say “hey.” Yall dont do this anymore? Who raised ya’ll?
437
1K
11K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
8 months
“The function of freedom is to free someone else.” -Toni Morrison
Tweet media one
19
3K
10K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
Happy 28th Birthday, Trayvon Martin 🙏🏾🕊️
Tweet media one
42
3K
10K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
“Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them.” -Assata Shakur
Tweet media one
42
3K
10K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
5 months
"You've got to learn to leave the table when love is no longer being served." -Nina Simone
Tweet media one
11
3K
9K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
"Between the Christianity of this land and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference." -Frederick Douglass
Tweet media one
83
2K
9K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
“The point is to get your work done, and your work is to change the world.” -James Baldwin
Tweet media one
26
2K
9K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
Vintage Black Genius: 7 year old Sammy Davis Jr. I think it’s time for a biopic.
111
2K
9K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
"Live. Hold out. Survive. I don’t know whether good times are coming back again. But I know that won’t matter if we don’t survive these times." ― Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower
Tweet media one
15
2K
7K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
Vintage Black Genius: Ms. Phillis Hyman.
Tweet media one
63
1K
7K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
5 months
Toni Morrison dancing at a disco in New York City, 1974
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
Tweet media three
Tweet media four
26
1K
7K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
its nice to see that straight black men now feel comfortable being “soft.” the problem, however, is that our current cultural conversation conveniently privileges cis hetero black men at the expense of the very community who initiated this discourse: queer black men. playwright
@MarquiseDavon
Quise
@MarquiseDavon
1 year
No one knows how to deal with soft or gentle Black men. Video Essay dropping this week.
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
Tweet media three
Tweet media four
133
1K
14K
33
827
6K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
5 months
Happy Birthday Madame Leontyne Price, 97 years young! Where is this icon's long overdue documentary?!
Tweet media one
107
988
6K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
5 months
Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte at the afterparty for Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin In The Sun," 1959. Photo by Gordon Parks.
Tweet media one
24
796
5K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
Rare photo of Gwendolyn Brooks and James Baldwin, circa 1986. Hear the audio here:
Tweet media one
21
771
5K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
“Whoever is born in New York is ill-equipped to deal with any other city: all other cities seem, at best, a mistake, and, at worst, a fraud. No other city is so spitefully incoherent." -James Baldwin, on being from New York City.
Tweet media one
59
690
5K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
The five police officers who murdered Tyre Nicholas are also representative of an unspoken tradition among some cis hetero black men: the idea that “black power” simply means the power to behave like powerful white men. read that again. and let it factor into your analysis.
257
1K
5K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
it really was this part for me. a white man looked at a photo of my office--skipped past my entire history as a first gen. educator who is the son of two incarcerated parents--and decided that all i was to him was a "privileged" uppity negro promoting "free books."
70
320
5K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
8 months
"If we knew ourselves better, we would damage ourselves less." -James Baldwin, 1962
Tweet media one
18
1K
5K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
Vintage Black Excellence: Leontyne Price as AIDA at the Metropolitan Opera. Madame Price is currently 95 years old. Lets celebrate our living icons.
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
23
960
5K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
Vintage Black Genius: Harold Jackman Known as “the most handsome man in Harlem” Jackman was a brilliant renaissance man. He was also the lover of Countee Cullen (whose 1926 marriage to Yolanda DuBois, the daughter of W.E.B. DuBois, ended in scandal over this secret love affair).
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
50
681
5K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
11 months
This is O’Shea Shelby. Here he is in all of his glory doing what he loved to do: dance. Fly high blackboy, fly high. May your memory be a blessing.
33
1K
4K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
Vintage Black Genius: The Women of Brewster Place. (Back when the made-for-tv movies were exceptional.)
Tweet media one
66
611
4K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
A film student brought to my attention that representations of black professors in American cinema are virtually nonexistent. The only example I could remember is Laurence Fishburne in "Higher Learning." But I know there's more? What other examples are there? Anyone know?
Tweet media one
668
573
4K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
THIS IS NOT A DRILL: “Clearly Canadian Flavored Water” (A RARE NYC Hood Classic) is currently being sold in a Bodega off 125th St. in Harlem. If you grew up in NYC in the early 90s this was liquid crack (the “good” kind though). Anybody else remember these joints?
Tweet media one
292
201
4K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
"Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation and that is an act of political warfare." -Audre Lorde
Tweet media one
11
940
4K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
Vintage Black Excellence: The Nicholas Brothers. Largely regarded as the best tap dance duo in history, their virtuoso performance in “Stormy Weather” is legendary black dance history. When is the world finally getting a biopic on these two extraordinary men?
52
616
3K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
Antiracism is not Diversity & Inclusion. Antiracism is not Diversity & Inclusion. Antiracism is not Diversity & Inclusion. Antiracism is not Diversity & Inclusion. Antiracism is not Diversity & Inclusion.
15
602
3K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
Vintage Black Excellence: Toni Morrison on the importance of leaning into the “discredited ways of knowing” that the ancestors left behind. Listen, and be transformed.
33
993
3K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
James Baldwin reminds us that even though “love has never been a popular movement”—it is still worth leaning into.
10
976
3K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
The fact that some of ya'll are legitimately angry that I said that professors are not obligated to share their syllabus before the first day of class lets me know everything I need to know about America's continued lack of concern, empathy, and consideration for teacher's needs.
136
167
3K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
“As a matter of fact, ‘compromise’ is what oppression feeds on.” -Harry Belafonte
Tweet media one
13
633
3K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
Countee Cullen would go on to be an English middle school teacher in Harlem where one of his students was a shy young boy who reminded him of himself. His name was James Baldwin.
17
228
3K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
11 months
22 when I began my Ph.D. program. 30 when I left my PhD program, after burying both my parents. 31 when I matriculated (& dropped out) of Univ. Chicago Law School. 35 when I dropped out of Yale Divinity School. 38 when I finally finished my Ph.D. at NYU. Follow your own path.
@CharlesWMcKinn2
Charles W McKinney, Jr.
@CharlesWMcKinn2
11 months
I was 36 when I finished grad school. 37 when I got the job at Rhodes. 39 when I got on the tenure track. 43 when the book got published. 44 when I earned tenure. Just putting this out here for the young heads on this journey worried about trajectory.
174
1K
8K
32
243
3K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
Vintage Black Excellence: Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte by Gordon Parks, 1961 Mr. Belafonte turns 96 this year.
Tweet media one
6
404
3K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
26 days
A Marla Gibbs documentary AND televised gratitude special is long over do. Happy Birthday to this beautiful lady!!!!!!
Tweet media one
3
288
3K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
Cullen, his best man Harold Jackman, and James Baldwin all attended the same high school. I have original copies of their yearbook. Im working on an essay and podcast on Baldwin’s high school years out later this year, cant wait to share! Them Dewitt Clinton HS boys were a TRIP!
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
Tweet media three
32
188
3K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
“Best advice I ever got was an old friend of mine, a black friend, who said you have to go the way your blood beats. If you don’t live the only life you have, you won’t live some other life, you won’t live any life at all.” -James Baldwin
Tweet media one
4
564
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 month
Vintage Black Genius: "Leroy" in "Fame"
Tweet media one
14
395
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, 1946
Tweet media one
11
397
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
If you were teaching a course called “Black Radical Joy” what would be some of the material on the syllabus?
324
390
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
"You wanna fly? You got to give up the shit that weighs you down." -Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon #2023Energy
Tweet media one
7
514
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
“Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.” Zora Neale Hurston
Tweet media one
6
623
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
“You've got to tell the world how to treat you. If the world tells YOU how you are going to be treated, you are in trouble.” — James Baldwin.
Tweet media one
8
663
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
“You've got to learn to leave the table when love is no longer being served.” ― Nina Simone #2023Energy
Tweet media one
7
386
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
the invitation & the divorce announcement by du bois months later.
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
9
198
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
On this day in 1999, Amadou Diallo—a 23 year African immigrant student who had saved up money to attend college—was shot 41 times at the hands of the NYPD. In 2021, Mayor Eric Adams reinstated the very same “Street Crime Unit” of the NYPD that killed Diallo.
Tweet media one
30
1K
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
100 years ago today, a black genius was born. Born Eleanora Fagan she would become “Billie Holiday.”
Tweet media one
12
377
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
7 months
“A civilization is not destroyed by wicked people; it is not necessary that people be wicked but only that they be spineless.” -James Baldwin
Tweet media one
16
733
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
10 months
“I love my country more than any other place in the world, which is precisely why I insist upon my right to criticize her perpetually.” - James Baldwin
Tweet media one
6
463
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
sidenote: i look this photo of cullen, i can only imagine his loneliness. imagine being black and queer surrounded by worlds that only catered to whiteness and/or heterosexuality? hat tips off for this brother for not only managing to survive--but also to thrive. THAT is black
22
86
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
"Justice is what love looks like in public." -Cornel West
Tweet media one
1
342
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
Today 100% of my students in one of my classes said they have never had a Black male english professor. As corny as it may sound--this is why many of us do this work. Sometimes simply being in the room is a form of activism. Our presence matters. Our existence is resistance.
20
176
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
“Hey Professor! Just wondering if you could send me the syllabus for your fall class?”
Tweet media one
95
143
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
"Black Historical Tea" has an intellectual purpose. By "spilling the tea" on scandalous moments in black cultural history--not only do we humanize our cultural icons, we also make black history & literature more accessible to everyday people outside of the halls of academia.
17
236
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
Black History: Ms. Nancy Wilson.
Tweet media one
22
187
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
"The syllabus will not be available before the first day of class." Sincerely, Every Professor Right Now
39
132
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
11 months
99 years ago TODAY (August 2, 1924) the greatest prophet in American history was born. His name was James Arthur Baldwin. His voice is as urgent today as it was in yesteryear. Happy Birthday Jimmy. We love you.
Tweet media one
11
415
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
i am so joyously overwhelmed by the outpouring of support. i have received over 100 books in the past 24 hours! i will be thanking all of u! (might a take a while, but i will get to it). thank u so much! you are making a difference in the mind of a student!!!!!
32
101
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
Baldwin & Miles.
Tweet media one
5
231
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
Black History Tea: When Frederick Douglass married a white woman and America Went IN 1n 1884, Frederick Douglass was the most famous black man in America. After publishing three autobiographies, delivering hundreds of speeches, and becoming a moral/political consultant to
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
Tweet media three
Tweet media four
25
262
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
7 months
“There is reason, after all, that some people wish to colonize the moon, and others dance before it as an ancient friend.” –James Baldwin 'No Name In The Street' (1972)
Tweet media one
1
457
2K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
Meet Bo. Bo is a Senior at Amherst College studying pre-med. He is also a forward on the Basketball Team & a member of the BSU. Bo is also my barber. Once a week, we transform my office into a barbershop. Bo always leaves with a free book--his selection this week is bell hooks.
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
Tweet media three
Tweet media four
27
93
1K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
In a different world—-a world not yet here—-the black woman Vice President and HBCU graduate (as well as the allegedly “liberal” President) would openly comment and condemn The College Board and State of Florida’s attack on African American Studies and black knowledge production.
14
232
1K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
Today I went searching for the contact information for an old classmate of mine who designed my first website 15 years ago we were undergrads at NYU. His name is Robert. I thought to myself, "wonder how he is doing, it's been years." Turns out, Robert founded his own website.
10
44
1K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
Harlem is the only neighborhood on earth where all of the pieces of me come together perfectly. Everybody should have a place like that: a place where all of your selves are completely in alignment. Photo by me, today. These iphone cameras are getting good.
Tweet media one
32
64
1K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 month
We still dont talk enough about Uncle Jimmy's immaculate style.
Tweet media one
11
137
1K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
we miss you. you should be getting ready for for thanksgiving, you were taken from us this week on this very day, 8 years ago. we will not forget you. and we will never stop seeking justice.
Tweet media one
2
294
1K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
“Beau of the Ball,” 1926. Photograph by the black icon James Van Der Zee. In 1869, just four years after the civil war, black queer folk began hosting elaborate “balls” in Harlem. Van Der Zee’s photo reminds us that for all long as Harlem has been black-it has also been queer.
Tweet media one
8
323
1K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
Vintage Black Excellence: Few people remember Richard Pryor as jazz vocalist. When Pryor moved to New York in 1963 he began his career as a jazz singer opening for legends such as Nina Simone. Take a listen. What do you think, could Pryor have had a career as a jazz great?
25
332
1K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
confession: i miss quarantine lockdown so much. anyone else? i dont miss the suffering, obviously. but i do miss the solitude and relative quietness.
101
65
1K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
Vintage Black Genius: Gene Anthony Ray in “Fame.” Leroy. Know your history. Know your rhythm.
35
179
1K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
Sources: Nearly all of the major Baldwin biographies recap the legendary incident (and the brawl is well-known amongst Baldwin scholars). Most attribute the date as 1953, others go with 1949. See: David Leeming's James Baldwin: A Biography (Alfred Knopt, 1994). Also see (for
13
102
1K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
these are some of the books on the shelves—primarily an assortment of work by Baldwin, hooks, former PHD classmates, and other brilliant black writers across a variety of genres.
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
Tweet media three
Tweet media four
23
66
1K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
The fact that----after publically berating me for giving books to students--- @mattlodder has now made his profile private and deleted his tweets. thanks black twitter for showing up and showing out. all we got is us. all we need is us.
18
64
1K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
8 months
Harlem Debutante Ball, mid twentieth century. African American Debutante Balls and "Cotillions" have a rich history. The first recorded black debutante ball occurred in 1778 in New York. Did you participate in-or witness-one growing up?Tell us what it was like in the comments.
Tweet media one
66
210
1K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
Dear Tony Awards: Thanks for showing us what structural racism looks like in the theater. 4 out of 5 men nominated for Best Actor were black—yet magically no black winner. 3 out of 5 women nominated for best featured actress were black women, but, no black winner. (cont’d).
15
209
1K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
@mystrength41 bless your heart baby.
18
1
1K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
Vintage Black Genius: Zelda Harris in Spike Lee’s “Crooklyn,” 1994.
Tweet media one
6
233
1K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
"One can only sneak into the university and steal what one can: abuse its hospitality, spite its mission, join its refugee colony, its gypsy encampment,be in but not of-THIS is the path of the subversive intellectual.The only possible relationship is a criminal one." -Fred Moten
Tweet media one
15
217
1K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
One of the joys of being a professor is encountering extraordinary students who teach me vital, new things. Last year, a student educated me on the violent origins of the word “deadline.” Are folks familiar with this history? Do historians agree with this peoples-history?
Tweet media one
23
202
1K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
11 months
this is your daily reminder.
Tweet media one
1
251
1K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
"I'll tell you what freedom means for me: No Fear." -Nina Simone
Tweet media one
0
180
1K
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
They are ok with defunding public education, defunding public health, defunding social security, defunding medicaid, defunding climate research, defunding reproductive rights, defunding hospitals, defunding public colleges…but defunding the police is considered a bridge too far.
10
332
998
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
2 years
anyone who sends a book i have their name to the inside cover of the text so that students can link the experience back to generosity of that person. want students to know that we belong to a broader community of people who care about and believe in radical education.
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
18
64
979
@DrFrankRoberts
Dr. Frank Leon Roberts
@DrFrankRoberts
1 year
ok, for the NETFLIX series, here me out: Audra McDonald as Nina Gomer Du Bois (Yolande's mother) Tessa Thompson as Yolande Du Bois Branden P. Bell as Harold Jackman Akomon Jones as Countee Cullen Did I get this right?
Tweet media one
Tweet media two
Tweet media three
Tweet media four
26
42
956