A Word: Freaknik: Party in the Black

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🗓️ 19 April 2024

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Nostalgia for the 1990s is everywhere, and for a generation of African Americans, perhaps nothing symbolizes the fun of that decade more than Freaknik. A sprawling days-long festival of all the good –and bad– of spring break behavior, at its height, Freaknik drew tens of thousands of partiers each year from around the country to Atlanta. So why did the party stop, and is there any way it could ever come back again? On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson discusses the Hulu documentary Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told with director P. Frank Williams and executive producer Geraldine Porras.. Guests: P. Frank Williams and Geraldine Porras, the director and executive producer of Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told on Hulu. Podcast production by Ahyiana Angel Want more A Word? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/awordplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a word a podcast from Slate. I'm your host Jason Johnson. Spring Break
0:05.0	means freedom, fun, and sometimes foolishness for college students and for
0:10.3	young African Americans in the 1990s, it also meant
0:13.2	Frecknick. The annual party drew tens of thousands to
0:16.8	Atlanta every year. So why did the fun stop and could it ever start again?
0:21.1	And I think the biggest misconception
0:23.2	was that it was just the party.
0:24.6	When in fact it was about black joy,
0:26.7	black celebration, black sexuality, politics,
0:29.1	or hopefully when you watch the film,
0:30.4	you see all of those layers beyond just the party.
0:32.8	More on the documentary Freak Nick, The Wildest Party Never Told, coming up on a word with me,
0:38.0	Jason Johnson. Stay with us. Welcome to a word, a podcast about race and politics and everything else. I'm your host
0:52.0	Jason Johnson.
0:52.8	Nostalgia for the 1990s is everywhere,
0:56.6	with aging-gen exers trying to relive their youth
0:59.8	and young zolinials discovering the TV, films, and fashion of that decade for the first time.
1:06.0	For black folks, perhaps nothing symbolizes the fund of the 1990s more than Frecknick,
1:10.8	a sprawling days-long festival of all the good and bad of spring break behavior.
1:17.0	And at its height, Frecknick drew tens of thousands of partiers to Atlanta each year from around the country. It started as an annual... of black colleges and universities around the city.
1:32.6	But it quickly grew into a national event
1:34.4	after Spike Lee's school days
	...

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