Old-School is a new public-facing podcast that focuses on the intersections of African American studies and the classics. It is co-hosted by UC Berkeley Associate Professor Chiyuma Elliott and alum Chad Hegelmeyer, a Lecturer in English at NYU. Black writers have been embracing and rejecting the classics since 1773; join us as we explore their stories. Season one kicks off with episodes on Phillis Wheatley and Jupiter Hammon (the first published African American poets).
S1E6 - Latitudes
Chi and Chad discuss the aftermath of the Trojan War and the Vietnam War in Yusef Komunyakaa’s poem “Latitudes.”
S1E5 - Migratory Habits of the Soul
Chi and Chad close read Robert Hayden’s poem, “A Plague of Starlings” alongside Plato’s Phaedo
S1E4 - "I Sit With Shakespeare"
Chi attempts to fix a problem she’s been having while teaching W. E. B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk
S1E3 - A Letter to Phillis Wheatley, Part 2
Chi and Chad discuss the classical allusions in Wheatley’s poem, “To Maecenas.”
Sidebar: "An Evening Thought"
Chad tells Chi about his close reading of Jupiter Hammon’s first published poem, “An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ Alone.”
S1E2 - "Bibleistic": The Poetry of Jupiter Hammon
Chad visits the home of Jupiter Hammon, the first published African American poet, to discuss his life and poetry with curators from Long Island Preservation.
S1E1 - A Letter to Phillis Wheatley, Part 1
Chi and Chad discuss how writers and readers have dealt with Phillis Wheatley’s complex legacy through Robert Hayden’s 1976 poem, “A Letter from Phillis Wheatley, London 1773.”
Introducing the Old-School Podcast
Old-School—a podcast about Black Studies and the classics. Co-created by the Department of African American Studies at UC Berkeley and the Berkeley Institute. Available now on all podcast apps.