In terms of generationally did not prepare us for the work that needs to happen today. Thats the critique i was making about trading on individual success without a sense of social responsibility. Who are your parents . My parents are both retired professionals. One was a School Teacher and administrator of the Chicago Public schools for 35 years and my father recently retired was photojournalist. He worked for Johnson Johnson publishing in the early days, charlotte observer, news day, for past 20 years, New York Times staff photographer. Are they retired from new york. My mother always lived in chicago. My parent were divorced when i was young. My father lived in new york for over 30 years. What is your lineage . The famous part of my lineage, the part i know as opposed to distantly, im greatgrandson of the founder of Elijah Mohammed founder of nation of islam. My mother never converted but very much formative to my early years my First Cousins aunts and uncles all very much part of their grandfather and fathers legacy. And i was very much part of that as a child. And why was that formative . Formative in the way that any child who is part of a family that means something to people you recognize early on that people see you differently. So i had conversations with adults being the greatgrandson of with adults being greatgrandson of elijah my halted. Where culture transcends to famous people. I had sensibilities that were cultivated as a result of coming from a family with this background. So those were all formative. What may be counterintuitive to folks that i was not taught anything special with regard to the nation of islam than say any member the nation at the time. I was not being groomed to be a successor. In fact my greatuncle started a separate movement of sunni islam while his father was still alive, was very controversial. He in some way embodied the family legacy one generation removed. Didnt trickle down to my generation including my First Cousins. The analogy i use is the preacher kids are often times one raising the most hell in the church as opposed being the one following in their fathers or mothers footsteps. All that said what is malcolm xs role here at the Schomburg Center, if any . He is a major part of our commitment to celebrating the contributions of africanamericans who have articulated in courageous terms the black experience. He his collection is absolutely one of our most significant collections. It has been with us for about 10 years and annually we have programing to commemorate his birth and his assassination. And these are usually focused within muslim communities both foreignborn immigrant and american because those communities still look to the legacy of malcolm x to help understand the world. We had a terrific one this year that brought people who met malcolm x in lebanon and cairo in 1964 looking at sort of his world perspective at the time. Schomburg center sponsors the harlem book fair every year. Thats right. We do this in collaboration with Max Rodriguez who is founder of harlem book fair. But as venue more than 15 years the Schomburg Center has been home of the harlem book fair. Weve been proud of it. We have seen thousands of people threw our doors and wonderful programs aired on cspan of new authors and famous folks. Khalil muhammad, in a lot of interviews youve done writings youve done you talk about education. I want to read a quote and have you further explain this the only way to get a coherent message is that you train everybody based on common set of reads and understanding what the problem is so that everyone buys into that kind of message. Do you remember saying that . I dont. Im a little bit curious because is probably in a specific context, yeah. So, if im talking about young people its, what we do in the junior scholars program. So theyll read a common text for example. In years past they red the autobiography of malcolm x. They read slave narratives. They read congressman john lewiss graphic novel called march, and i think they read march too this year because it just came out. Depending which the coat was articulated the same way columbia has core curriculum in terms of cannon and core history which you build a base of knowledge and find your voice in response to this sort of cannon. If you were to build a core curriculum would what be in it . I wish i could be as fluent in designing curriculum in this context. So im a history booster. I think it is critical that people understand the past in the way that professional historians articulate it. There are all sorts of historical narratives that circulate in our public or popular discourse. Bill oreilly, for example publishes history books. I dont count those in the core curriculum what im talking about. Edmund morgan wrote a book, american slavery American Freedom which that slavery was aberrational. It was the great exception to the american project. Morgan famously as harvard professor described this period precisely for what many historians would not agree slavery was essential to the project of both defining what slavery and freedom were and as well shaping the limits of democracy, which are still a work in progress. So that would be one book, for example. James baldwin is terrific writer and someone for home the Schomburg Center has special connection to. I would make sure the fire next time was read at the Schomburg Center. Declaration of independence because no work of literature in the u. S. Context and no work of history is not in conversation with those core ideals articulated by the founding fathers. Peter, you are stretching the limits of my Curriculum Development on camera. Why dont we stop there for now. That was pretty good for offthecuff. If somebody wanted to come in and read James Baldwins personal papers or maya angelou personal papers could think come into the Schomburg Center around request that . Yes they could. We are we have the definitive home of Maya Angelous collection. James baldwin currently we only have correspondence between him and his brother. His collection remains in the possession of the estate and one day we hope to get it. But even the collection of correspondence between David Baldwin and James Baldwin is revealing and important to scholarship around baldwin. Dr. Muhammad. Youre also an author . Yes. What books . My only published book at this time is called the condemnation of blackness, race, crime, of modern america. Working on the second one quite a while. I have had administrative and fundraising responsibilities. They made it difficult to forge ahead. I start ad second project. I have done a lot of research. I published an article from it. The second book is called disappearing acts the edge of white criminality in the age of jim crow. Are you surprised by the past year in Race Relations . Yes, i am. Im surprised both in the way in which there have been callous shootings of unarmed people that seem to come one after the other. These are not new phenomena obviously. But, we would think that in a nation that is saturated with media, and commentary that we might see Behavioral Changes so that what happened in Staten Island might have limited the possibility that walter scott was shot in his back. In charleston, South Carolina or might have impacted the circumstances of freddie grays death ride in baltimore just a few weeks ago. So im surprised that the highprofile nature of these moments seems not to have had a effect on changing Police Behavior around the country to the point where people are frustrated and more focused on organizing and changing the system than i have seen in my lifetime as an adult. To put it in some historical perspectives, this has been atypical year . Oh, yeah. No its been atype call. I think the most significant measure of its atypicality, is the involvement and investment of the department of justice in responding immediately to episodes of Controversial Police shootings. So what starts literally for this moment i would say for the last 12 month period with the ferguson investigation dovetails into a Philadelphia Department of justice investigation and the most recent calls for is, im sorry, a reporting on a cleveland doj reporting. So consent decrease have fallen on newarks Police Department in the last 12 months. Weve not seen this kind of department of justice engagement in local polices matters since the Civil Rights Movement. Would this have happened, do you think doj would have been this involved if we didnt have a black attorney general and black president. You interview enough historians we shy away from the counterfactual. Who knows. One could argue it is more important that there is a democrat in the white house than a republican given the way the Republican Party treated matters of criminal justice until quite recently with bipartisan efforts led in georgia or by Koch Brothers or rand paul, senator from kentucky. So i do think that eric holder matters more to the commitment and willingness of using doj resources to investigate local policing matters than say the presence of a black man in the white house or president obama in particular. Notice the book on your desk. Were sitting here in your office on my desk, it hasnt been read yet so you cant ask me. Why you ask about the title and why on your desk and to be read file. The loneliness of the black republican. Yes. Written by leah rigur a new professor at Harvard Kennedy school. It is terrific and i started reading it. It is representative of a new field of scholarship, modern political history that tries to unpack the origins of the new right, starting in the 1970s and some other gators. Kevin cruz wrote this period on atlanta. Matthew lassiter wrote about it in charlotte. This is really very recent modern u. S. History and her work looks at the experience of africanamericans who were appointed by republicans starting with Richard Nixon or, were republican candidates or, served in office such as senator edward brook. And really asks some interesting questions about the Republican Party of that time period, those pioneers. Clifford alexander, whose daughter Elizabeth Alexander is a terrific poet and wrote a memoir and at yale. Clifford alexander was a republican appointee. Looks at those individuals not through the lens of the current focus on the Republican Party but looks through the lens of their actual politics and ideology. Their commitment to making real the promises of the Civil Rights Movement for the africanamerican community. Yes, much more probusiness. Much more friendly to transactional politics meaning were going to work with the politicians, be they republicans or independents interested in helping black people. Less beholden to the Democratic Party but they had an approach to civil rights postcivil rights, meaning after the movement that makes todays democrat looks like the liberal republicans that most of them were. If that makes sense. Khalil mohammed who are some of the contrary africanamerican writers that you admire . Looks at history of the model minority which is terrific. Farrah griffin, comparative lit ative scholar. Looks at black womens experiences in the interwar period. I just read a book about ethel morris a pioneering journalist for the chicago defender written by james morris which was a terrific read. I just read a couple of dissertations. [laughter]. So my read something very my reading is very broad. Youve been quoted as saying you want to make smart sexy again. Yeah, well im im in the Smart Business so, in any line of work you want your market to expand and grow and be relevant and important. I think that, im going to borrow louis lafam that he wrote in harpers couple years ago where he said americans have an amazing propensity for grand simplification. What he meant by that is that americans dont like the complexity of the past and they tend to jettison the complexity of the past for simple ways of understanding things. To quote him directly he said that uses of American History for example, how they engage the past is usually to underwrite wars or to blow bubbles on wall street, to quote lewis lapham. He is calling for us all to be a lot smarter about the world that weve inherited and the world we might want to live in. And that requires us to wrestle with complexity to wrestle with the messiness of the past and be patient with our learning to be patient with our learning. In that sense i agree with him and i want to make that sexy. I want to make people want to appreciate reading, as i do nonfiction history books which are not nearly the bestsellers that count for great fiction writing. Im actually reading, its funny, im thinking about another book im reading is tone anymoreriesess, he has a new book out, god bless the child. I have not read that. I want to hear a early Tony Morrison in my head. She has this amazing body offing work which i read most of her books. In this instance were talking about a racial identity in this country for all sorts of reasons including pressures of black migration, immigration into this country, changing nature of who black people are in america who are increasingly foreignborn or children of the foreignborn. That is book that popped in my head. As a father of three children are you satisfied with what theyre learning about u. S. History in school . No. My kids go to public school. My son, whose curriculum i know best, he is now a freshman in high school. My wifes also on the school board of our community. So i i get to see and hear the concerns of a swath of parents in that community. They do a lot of reading and there is a lot of great literature. My son is reading fahrenheit 451 right now, but they dont do as much with the complexity of history as i would like to see as a trained historian. Listen for a long time i was on the receiving end of what we do in our classrooms and so i knew what freshmen or sophomores, what kinds of basic historical knowledge they had. Whether or not they were reading books i would have assigned in high school or grade school never mind the fact that they were not wellversed in terms of what we call social studies in primary grades as they should be. So im not that aside, my son does not read enough quality history, does not read enough quality nonfiction that isnt scholastic distillation of last weeks news. There is a lot more literature focus which is terrific there needs to be much more nonfiction history taught and students should be required to read it in school. What are some of your favorite exhibits here at the schomburg . We did a wonderful show on bearden, the Great American collagist, who was a contrary of Jacob Lawrence and contemporary of Jacob Lawrence whose works are around the world including the met and schomburg. That was a favorite show for a fine art show at schomburg. We did a gordon park show that looked at photography of one of americas greatest fine arts and documentary photographers who got his start working in the new Deal Administration of roosevelt and later worked for time magazine. Weve also done terrific shows looking at early today tear types, early forms of photography going back to the 18 50s antebellum africanamericans here in new york and other parts of the country who took to selfportraits for purposes of telling their own story and challenging stereotypes showing they were people whose humanity should be respected and should be captured in their best light. We did a great motown show. Collaborated with the Motown Museum in detroit and brought original artifacts, including marvin gayes whats going on and diana ross and supremes dresses. That is highlight of one of the shows weve done. We recently had a rare book collection focused on a new acquisition of slavery tire for the study of transatlantic slavery. It represents the most significant individual gift the schomburg sent irhas ever received, 400 rare books items related to the abolition of the slave trade in the earl 18th and 19th century and endowment gift to celebrate programs and conferences here forever. We also put on display items from the lupitsa collection. Why dont you show us some current sixths. Sure. Look forward it. Dr. Mohammed, where are we headed . The gallery named for one. Earliest libraries in schomburg. Coned helped to support the renovations. What do we have showing here . This is a documentary of, that was completed in 1970. It was aired on television of the Selma Movement led by dr. King in 1965. This particular footage represents a number of outtakes because we have the entire footage of the original event and the documentary was of course edited for television. This represents some of the collections that have tremendous Research Value at the Schomburg Center because youre seeing aspects of this movement that may not have been as meaningful in 1970 as they would be now. We wanted to sort of look at the scale of people in churches and zero in on the parishioners because obviously dr. King is going to demand most of our attention but what the viewer is trying to figure out what was the average age of the marchers in those movements and people supporting king . Well w