In celebration of Black History Month, new Curation with Dean Jelani Cobb launches on the Apple TV app
Viewers can visit the Apple TV app to explore The Matter of Black Lives, a three-part collection of series and films curated by Jelani Cobb—Dean of the Columbia Journalism School and staff writer for The New Yorker.
“Our stories are all that we really have,” says Cobb. “I chose to curate this collection because I wanted to share stories of Black life that are most important to me.” In a short film directed by Andre Muir, Cobb breaks down his collection's sub-themes (Freedom in Black, The Mosaic, and Love in Spite Of), and discusses the necessity for Black life onscreen.
The experience is brought to life through photography from Naima Green and illustration by Amika Cooper.
See Jelani’s curation and short film only on the Apple TV app.
About Jelani
Jelani Cobb joined the Journalism School faculty in 2016 and became Dean in 2022. He has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2015. He received a Peabody Award for his 2020 PBS Frontline film "Whose Vote Counts?" and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Commentary in 2018. He has also been a political analyst for MSNBC since 2019.
He is the author of "The Substance of Hope: Barack Obama" and the "Paradox of Progress and To the Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic." He is the editor or co-editor of several volumes including "The Matter of Black Lives", a collection of The New Yorker’s writings on race and "The Essential Kerner Commission Report". He is producer or co-producer on a number of documentaries including "Lincoln’s Dilemma," "Obama: A More Perfect Union and Policing the Police."
Dean Cobb was educated at Jamaica High School in Queens, NY, Howard University, where he earned a B.A. in English, and Rutgers University, where he completed his MA and doctorate in American History in 2003. He is also a recipient of fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright Foundation and the Shorenstein Center at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
Contributors
Video Director: Andre Muir
Photographer: Naima Green
Artist: Amika Cooper
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Contact
Josh Elwell
[email protected]