Newark, NJ - Public Square Amplified continued its conversation with Dr. Cofield, asking her to draw parallels between past and present racist practices and to share her thoughts on whether today’s generation has the ability to organize, protest, and effectively fight for their rights.

Newark, NJ - Dr. Willa Cofield describes Enfield, the North Carolina town where she was born and raised, as a close-knit community shaped by familial ties, shared cultural norms, a spirit of entrepreneurship, and the Black church as its anchor.

Public Square Amplified sat down with Cofield to learn more about how she fought for civil rights, and how present-day advocates can learn from her strategies and be inspired by her quiet ferocity.

Newark, NJ - In the Part 2 conclusion of that interview, Zeni talks about the joys of filmmaking, her upcoming projects, the intersection of journalism and filmmaking, and what movies she enjoys watching as an up-and-comer in the industry.

Newark, NJ - Fatimah Zeni is a Syrian American filmmaker who recently released her first short feature, “Amal,” a character-driven drama centering on a father and daughter and the unique way in which they cope with incoming bombs in Aleppo, Syria.

Maung’s Meanwhile in Jersey City mural stands around the corner from an elementary school. Its inscription reads: “This mural is not just Ms. Marvel. It is the representation and power that comes with her. It is for the kids of Jersey City to take up space both metaphorically in the media, but also physically on the walls of Jersey City.”

NEWARK, NJ–Corinne Bailey Rae is a time traveler. A cosmonaut. A historian of the future past. And this benevolent explorer wants her fans to see what she has seen. Her latest album, Black Rainbows, a 45-minute transmission released September 15, invites the listener on an immersive, sonic voyage traversing the American South, Ethiopia, and the great expanse of outer space as Bailey Rae surveys what was and what will be of Black existence.

Photography cannot only capture an image but also a sound. Public Square Amplified's photojournalist, Brian Branch-Price, displays his adeptness in depicting gospel music through his signature black-and-white medium. Through his photos, he gives us a glimpse of the rhythms that tie family to music and God.

Photo essays can be counter-narratives to affirm our shared humanity in racialized spaces designed to erase it. And Public Square Amplified's photojournalist, Brian Branch-Price, makes it look sublime. As always, his choice of the black-and-white medium delivers a beautiful portrait of a Black female rancher.

Tammy Harris comes from generations of harvesters. In the mid-twentieth century, her grandparents traversed the highways during the terror-filled Jim Crow era of racialized laws from New Jersey to Florida to harvest potatoes and other produce.

On a summer day in August, When Black Women Gather (WBWG), an international organization, took a cross-section of Black women from N.J. to learn how to shoot.

"It was a long-awaited adventure originally planned for Mother's Day, pre-pandemic,” said the founder of the organization, Helen Higgenbotham.