We speak with Dr. Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar the author of America’s Black Capital: How African Americans Remade Atlanta in the Shadow of the Confederacy.
Americas Black Capital chronicles how a center of Black excellence emerged amid virulent expressions of white nationalism, as African Americans pushed back against Confederate ideology to create an extraordinary locus of achievement. What drove them, historian Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar shows, was the belief that Black uplift would be best advanced by forging Black institutions. Americas Black Capital is an inspiring story of Black achievement against all odds, with effects that reached far beyond Georgia, shaping the nations popular culture, public policy, and politics.
MINI BIO: Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar is Professor of History and the founding Director of the Center for the Study of Popular Music at the University of Connecticut. He is the author or editor of several books, scholarly journal articles and book chapters.
VERY BRIEF BIO: Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar is Professor of History and the founding Director of the Center for the Study of Popular Music. He is the author or editor of several books, including Black Power: Radical Politics and African American Identity (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004), Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap (University Press of Kansas, 2007); and The Harlem Renaissance Revisited: Politics, Arts and Letters, (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010). In 2018, he released Keywords for African American Studies (New York University Press), with co-editors Erica R. Edwards and Roderick A. Ferguson. Dr. Ogbars articles appear in the Journal of Religious Thought, Journal of Black Studies, Souls, Centro and Radical Society among other academic publications. He has been invited to write for the New York Times Room for Debate and The Daily Beast, among other publications. His newest book, Americas Black Capital: How African Americans Remade Atlanta in the Shadow of the Confederacy, released in 2023 with Basic Books, was named on the Best Books of 2023 list from Publishers Weekly, and is a finalist for the 2024 Book Prize from the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Raised in Los Angeles, California, Ogbar received his BA in history from Morehouse College and his MA and Ph.D. degrees in history from Indiana University. Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson.