This 1970 Stevie Wonder performance — on Johnny Cash’s show, no less — is a fitting theme song (and one big “woo-sah”) for “MHP” this morning as we prepare to examine “The Help.” The fictional, controversial, and problematic hit film could win several (or zero) Oscars tomorrow night, including Best Picture. Melissa will break it down with Micki McElya, UConn assistant professor and author of “Clinging to Mammy: The Faithful Slave in Twentieth-Century America”; Barbara Young, a national organizer with the National Domestic Workers Alliance; and Elon James White, host of “Blacking It Up” and founder of ThisWeekInBlackness.com.
Who else do we have in store?
- Irshad Manji, director of New York University’s Moral Courage Project and author of “Allah, Liberty and Love: The Courage to Reconcile Faith and Freedom.”
- Nona Willis Aronowitz, associate editor of GOOD Magazine and co-author of “Girldrive: Criss-Crossing America, Redefining Feminism.”
- Matt Welch, editor-in-chief at Reason Magazine.
Straighten up and fly right — it’s almost showtime, #nerdland. Don’t forget to interact with us on Twitter and Facebook during the show.
Jamil Smith