Throwback Thursday: An Oral History of 'An Oral History of the Black Holy Ghost'

Michael Harriot and Dr. Daniel Black sit down at Baldwin & Co. for a newly released conversation about education, community and the Black Holy Ghost.

This conversation took place on July 28, 2023.

Who’s in your Holy Trinity?

Although I don’t subscribe to any particular deity’s Substack, I believe everyone, regardless of their religion, can identify three major existential influences that guide their life. Because of my research in the field of wypipology, I understand why white people worship Thomas Jefferson, The Beatles and John Deere. If you’re a basketball player born after 1985, you might believe in the Gospel of Jordan, Kobe and LeBron. And, as a Black writer whose career spans the golden ages of hip-hop and the internet, the Holy Trinity includes, in order of appearance.

1. James Baldwin

2. Rakim

3. Very Smart Brothas

While the first two are obvious, I genuinely believe that Very Smart Brothas — directly or indirectly — is the most influential platform for Black writers since Ebony. Whether directly or indirectly, VSB helped shape the voices and careers of my generation of Black writers more than any individual platform or outlet. For many of us, it was not an entity; it was a place where people who smithed words could be irreverent, thoughtful, creative and – most of all – authentically Black.

My first VSB piece was published a decade ago on my birthday. It’s where I earned my first award as a writer. I was fortunate enough to write for VSB and work with the site’s co-founders, Damon Young and Panama Jackson, for years. So, when Damon asked me to participate in his upcoming humor anthology a few years ago, I didn’t even hesitate to accept the opportunity.

But when I saw the intimidating list of contributors, I changed my mind. First of all, what the hell was I supposed to write in a collection of authors that included Kiese Laymon, Deesha Philyaw and Nafissa Thompson-Spires? Why would I even try to be funny in a book with Roy Wood Jr. and Wyatt Cenac?

Fortunately, I was gonna see Damon in New York for a meetup with a few of our former coworkers. After a few drinks of liquid courage, I came up with a brilliant idea. I figured, if I pitched a terrible idea, Damon would decline, and that would be it. He’d turned down pitches from me before, so it wouldn’t even hurt my feelings. So when I blurted out a title, I didn’t even have a concept in mind. It was literally just a title. I don’t know if it was the alcohol, but when I finished, Damon shrugged and nonchalantly replied: “Aight.”

A few months later, I submitted “An Oral History of the Holy Ghost.” I didn’t know if it was funny or even good, but it was unquestionably the Blackest thing I’ve ever written. The piece had nothing to do with the Christian holy trinity or even religion. It was a family history and a portrait of the small southern community that made me.

I emailed the piece to Damon from Baldwin & Co., the largest Black-owned book supplier in the South. Named after another member of the Black writer Holy Trinity, the New Orleans bookstore and coffee shop also has a bar, nightclub, a four-bedroom apartment and a studio that hosts the Baldwin Dialogues, a series of discussions between Black writers. Participants in the unmoderated, topic-free discussions include Ta-Nehisi Coates and Joy Reid; Jessmyn Ward and Clint Smith and Brandan “BMike” Odums and Hanif Abdurraqib.

When I sat down for my Baldwin Dialogue with professor and novelist Dr. Daniel Black, I had just finished an advanced copy of his novel “Isaac’s Song.” Although he was in town to moderate the paperback release of “The 1619 Project” with Nikole Hannah-Jones, Dr. Black was one of the biggest celebrities in New Orleans that weekend. Everyone was talking about a now-viral commencement speech that had exploded on the internet:

Dr. Daniel Black’s “Clark Atlanta University: Home of the Holy Ghost.”

Guess what we talked about?