At the turn of the 20th century, African American artists faced a fundamental question: how could they prove their citizenship and claim their place in American culture? Historian and musician David Gilbert traces how the first generation of Af...

In 1896, Ernest Hogan's "All Coons Look Alike to Me" became the first song to sell a million copies in America, making him a star and setting off the "coon song craze"—an era in which African American performers and composers achieved unprecede...

My mother's first cousin, Marion Michelle, had grown up in the first decades of the 20th century chafing against the bourgeois restrictions of Cleveland Jewish society. She went to the University of Chicago where Thornton Wilder frightened her ...

This episode explores the life and legacy of actor John Garfield (born Julius Garfinkel), focusing on how his Jewish roots shaped his identity, artistic choices, and political stance. Journalist Robert Nott, author of He Ran All the Way: Th...

In this episode, Dr. Robert Philipson interviews Mona Smith, Canada Lee's biographer,  about the rise, political assassination, and virtual erasure of this African American hero. From 1934 to 1951, Canada Lee was the most famous and revere...

In this episode of Shoga Speaks, Dr. Robert Philipson interviews author Doug Century about his biography Barney Ross: The Life of a Jewish Fighter, exploring the extraordinary life of Barney Ross—a Jewish boxing champion, Worl...

This episode of Shoga Speaks dives into the life and legacy of legendary blues singer Alberta Hunter through a rich conversation with playwright and activist Jewelle Gomez, whose play Leaving the Blues reimagines Hunter’s...

Christian, Jew, or undeclared, all are subjected to the music, the rituals, the legacy of the Victorian Christmas which exercises an annual month-long grip on American culture. How can one not be warped, influenced, sentimentalized by this slow...

Dave Drexler of the San Diego's Jazz88.3 FM  conducted an interview with Dr. Robert Philipson when his documentary, "Body and Soul: An American Bridge" was selected as the closing night offering of the San Diego Jewish Film Festival and wa...

In 2019, the Netflix adaptation of the August Wilson play, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, spread her fame to tens of thousands of Americans. The film starred Viola Davis as the bisexual blues diva and enshrined Chadwick Boseman's final perf...

Shoga Founder Dr. Robert Philipson holds a dialogue with African American composer Ozie Cargile about the possibilities of Black classical music. Find out what an orchestra "hit" is.

Shoga Founder Dr. Robert Philipson discusses the question, "Can Classical Music Be Black" with African American composer Ozie Cargile. Does there need to be something recognizably “Black” in classical music compositions by Black composers? Inde...