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Henry Louis Gates Jr. refers to Nell Irvin Painter as “one of the towering Black intellects of the last century.” I first heard Nell on Scene On Radio with John Biewen in his series “Seeing White,” 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.
Now 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’s one of the preeminent scholars on the life of Sojourner Truth—and is working on another book about her right now—and is also the author of The History of White People. Today’s conversation touches on everything from Sojourner Truth—and how she actually never said “Ain’t I a Woman?”—to the capitalization of Black and White.
MORE FROM NELL IRVIN PAINTER:
Nell’s Website
Follow Nell on Instagram
Scene On Radio: “Seeing White”
TRANSCRIPT:
(Edited slightly for clarity.)
ELISE LOEHNEN: I loved this collection of essays and we'll get to Sojourner Truth because I heard you on the Seen On Radio, I loved that series that you participated in on race, it's old. Do you remember that whole series that he did? No.