Podcast #180: Raoul Peck, "I Am Not Your Negro"
The New York Public Library Podcast features your favorite writers, artists, and thinkers in smart talks and provocative conversations. Listen to some of our most engaging programs, discover new ideas, and celebrate the best of today’s culture.
Last June filmmaker Raoul Peck was at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture as part of its Artist and the Archive series. He had a two-part conversation, speaking with both Kevin Young, the Director of the Schomburg, and with Paul Holdengräber, the Director of LIVE from the NYPL.
Peck discussed I Am Not Your Negro, his groundbreaking documentary which envisions an unfinished book by James Baldwin that Peck came across while researching in Baldwin's archives. The book was to be called Remember This House and was intended as a personal account of the lives and assassinations of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr—all of whom were Baldwin’s friends. When James Baldwin died in 1987, he left behind only thirty completed pages of his manuscript. The film, voiced by Samuel L. Jackson, uses that unpublished work alongside other published writings and journeys through black history from the Civil Rights movement to Black Lives Matter. It was hailed as “life-altering” by the New York Times and was nominated for—and won—countless awards around the world.
A significant part of its greatness can be attributed to the unprecedented and unfettered access that Raoul Peck was granted to James Baldwin’s archives. Those archives, as of earlier this year, reside at the Schomburg Center. They comprise a massive collection of handwritten manuscripts, unpublished and published works in their nascent and final stages, screenplays with handwritten notes, interviews, telegrams, personal photographs, letters, and audio recordings.
How to listen to The New York Public Library Podcast
Subscribing to The NYPL Podcast on your mobile device is the easiest way to make sure you never miss an episode. Episodes will automatically download to your device, and be ready for listening every Tuesday morning
On your iPhone or iPad:
Open the purple “Podcasts” app that’s preloaded on your phone. If you’re reading this on your device, tap this link to go straight to the show and click “Subscribe.” You can also tap the magnifying glass in the app and search for “The New York Public Library Podcast.”
On your Android phone or tablet:
Open the orange “Play Music” app that’s preloaded on your device. If you’re reading this on your device, click this link to go straight to the show and click “Subscribe.” You can also tap the magnifying glass icon and search for “The New York Public Library Podcast.”
Or if you have another preferred podcast player, you can find “The New York Public Library Podcast” there. (Here’s the RSS feed.)
From a desktop or laptop:
Click the “play” button above to start the show. Make sure to keep that window open on your browser if you’re doing other things, or else the audio will stop. You can always find the latest episode at nypl.org/podcast.