Audio and Video · And Still We Rise: Celebrating Plattsburgh's (Re)Discovery of Iconic Black Visitors

We have no doubts that providing an account of the life and work of these iconic figures and researching their visits to campus is vital and meaningful. However, it is not the same visceral experience our predecessors on campus witnessed. The visions enacted by these political and cultural figures were created in a specific time and place, with a particular Plattsburgh crowd. We offer this page, full of audio and video of these figures, as a means of glimpsing some of the lived dimensions of their time at SUNY Plattsburgh, from the power of Nina Simone's on-stage performance to the new depths one hears listening to Gwendolyn Brooks recite "We Real Cool," to the radical politics of Kwame Ture's speech. Many of these performances, readings, interviews, and more are drawn from and referenced by our written accounts.

Nina Simone, live performance of "Mississippi, Goddam" (1965)

Nina Simone performs "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free" in 1976.

1986 Interview with Kwame Ture, from Eyes on the Prize, on SNCC, the 1964 Freedom Summer, and more.

A recording of Gwendolyn Brooks reading her poem "We Real Cool" in 1983; the entirety of her reading is available here, including her introduction discussing the moment that sparked the poem and the popularity of it.

Who Is Chris Rock? (1989)

2002 interview with Shirley Chisholm at the Center for American Women and Politics

Maya Angelou reads poems from her And Still I Rise collection.

LL Cool J's music video for "Momma Said Knock You Out"

LL Cool J, "I'm Bad" (1987)

LL Cool J, "Goin Back to Cali" (1987)

Harvey Gantt interview on Charlotte WFAE SouthBound podcast (2017)

Yusef Komunyakaa reads several poems at a 2018 American Academy of Arts and Sciences event.

Cornel West and Tavis Smiley interlude on Gerald Levert's Do I Speak For the World (2004)

Cornel West's 2005 soul/jazz/spoken word album, Street Knowledge

Interview with David Hilliard

Elaine Brown's anthem for the Black Panther Party -- she wrote the song for Eldridge Cleaver and played it for David Hilliard at the funeral of Bunchy Carter. Hilliard then declared that it was to be the Black Panther's anthem, and that all members of the party were supposed to learn the words.