On Telling The Truth (Nell Irvin Painter)
\u201cBut one thing the whole \u201cKaren\u201d thing did, which I think was very good, was that it pointed out the existence of spaces Ostensibly open to everyone, but not, and then patrolled often by white women saying you don't belong here. And she got a name, and people with that name wince and rightfully so, but without that wince-worthy kind of situation, I don't think large numbers of Americans would realize that there really is a sort of silent apartheid in our public spaces.\u201d\nSo says Nell Irvin Painter, who Henry Louis Gates Jr. refers to as \u201cone of the towering Black intellects of the last century.\u201d I first heard Nell on Scene On Radio with John Biewen in his series \u201cSeeing White,\u201d and have been biding my time for an opportunity to interview her ever since. I got my chance, with her latest endeavor, an essay collection called I Just Keep Talking, which is a collection of her writing from the past several decades, about art, politics, and race along with many pieces of her own art.\nNow retired, Nell is a New York Times bestseller and was the Edwards Professor of American History Emerita at Princeton, where she published many, many books about the evolution of Black political thought and race as a concept. She\u2019s one of the preeminent scholars on the life of Sojourner Truth\u2014and is working on another book about her right now\u2014and is also the author of The History of White People. Today\u2019s conversation touches on everything from Sojourner Truth\u2014and how she actually never said \u201cAin\u2019t I a Woman?\u201d\u2014to the capitalization of Black and White.\xa0\n\nMORE FROM NELL IRVIN PAINTER:\nI Just Keep Talking: A Life in Essays\nThe History of White People\nOld in Art School\nNell\u2019s Website\nFollow Nell on Instagram\nScene On Radio: \u201cSeeing White\u201d\n \nTo learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy\n \n Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices