Podcasts about african american studies

In this episode, you'll be introduced to John Hooker, a Hartford lawyer, judge, and abolitionist as well as a reformer for women's rights. Hooker was the president of the anti-slavery committee in Hartford, published the Charter Oak anti-slavery newspaper with the Connecticut Anti-Slavery Society of Hartford, and co-authored with his wife Isabella Beecher Hooker, the state bill in 1877 that gave married women more control of their property. Why isn't he better known?    Our guest for this episode is Erika Slocumb, Director of Interpretation & Visitor Experience at the Stowe Center for Literary Activism. Erika is a scholar of Black history. She received her BA in Social Justice Education, her MS in Labor Studies, and she expects her PhD in African American Studies in the fall of 2026—all from University of Massachusetts Amherst.   Be sure to go to the Stowe Center's website at stowecenter.org/blog/ to read Erika's new blog post about John Hooker.  Plan to attend the Nook Farm Lawn Party and Fourth of July events-all the info is on the Stowe Center website.   Grating the Nutmeg is partnering with Preservation Connecticut to bring you summer and fall episodes on saving historic barns, Connecticut sites found in the historic Green Book guide for black travelers, Mid-Century Modern architecture, and sites that reveal the state's LGBTQ+ history.  Connecticut's historic places matter!   ------------------------------------------   Don't forget to subscribe to Connecticut Explored magazine today-our summer issue is a double-issue celebrating our nation's 250th birthday! And set up your monthly donation to Grating the Nutmeg at ctexplored.org This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/   Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky. Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!      

In Ladder or Lottery: Economic Promises and the Reality of Who Gets Ahead (University of California Press, 2026), Gary Hoover asks the reader a simple question: Is our economy a ladder or a lottery? Are people able to control their position on the economic spectrum by their actions? Some argue that, in our market-based economy, if you play by certain rules and make certain choices, you'll achieve upward mobility no matter what economic position you were born into. Drawing on his vast economic expertise, Hoover explores what this "social contract" requires of its citizens, and what it offers in return. Hoover shows how civil unrest is often directly related to broken society-level promises, exploring protest movements such as Occupy Wall Street, the Tea Party, the Arab Spring, and student debt forgiveness as case studies. He also predicts where future protests can be expected if results promised are not results delivered. This insightful and data-driven book tackles challenging issues around income inequality, health care, and artificial intelligence, and ultimately equips readers to answer these pressing questions: Is our social contract a ladder to higher economic standing, accessible to all no matter where they start? Or rather a lottery in which many will buy a ticket but only a few will find success? And how can we best align social promises with our lived economic realities? Gary Hoover is Executive Director of the Murphy Institute, Professor of Economics, and Affiliate Professor of Law at Tulane University. Dr. Zachery Williams is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of African and African American Studies at LSU. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies

Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week on the podcast it's an NYU affair with a side of Columbia University, Harvard University and UCLA. I first met my guest as fellow New York University students/alumni in the late 1990's, at a time when slam poetry was beginning to reaching global audiences with influences from hip hop music and other activist movements. Fast foward after more than 20 years to earlier this spring when our paths crossed again at an event hosted by fellow Glocal Citizen and Director of NYU Accra, Chiké Frankie Edozien - The Labone Dialogues. Bryonn is a poet, actor, prison activist, playwright, scholar, author, hip hop artist and professor of African American Studies, Theater, Film & Television, and World Arts & Cultures in the School of the Arts and the School of Law at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Playing over 40 characters, his one-man show, LYRICS FROM LOCKDOWN, won “Best Solo Performance” from the LA Weekly and the NAACP. Executive produced by the late and great, Harry Belafonte, the show tells stories of wrongful incarceration through spoken word poetry, hip hop theater, calypso, comedy and classical music. He founded the Prison Education Program at UCLA in 2015 and in 2019, the program and his performances at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts were featured on the debut episode of LA Stories, which won an Emmy Award. His work has been featured on a diverse range of stages including the Apollo Theater, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Public Theater (NYC), National Black Theatre (Harlem), NJ PAC, The Actor's Gang Theater (Culver City), Los Angeles Theater Center (LATC), Festival de Liege (Belgium), M-1 Theater Festival (Singapore), Universidad de las Americas (Mexico) and Muteesa Royal University (Uganda), Rikers Island (New York), Marion Prison (Ohio), TEDX at Ironwood State Prison and Sing Sing Prison. He has performed at over 250 colleges and prisons in the U.S., Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe. And soon in Ghana! Where to find Bryonn? https://www.bryonn.com On LinkedIn On Instagram What's Bryonn reading? A Survey of Muhammad Ali Biographies What's Bryonn watching? Concerning Violence What's Bryonn listening to? Blues Women Other topics of interest: What is a Calypsonian About Veteran Black Panther Jamal Joseph About Akuse Prison in Ghana 90's music roll-call - The Fu-Schnickens, Digital Underground, Tupac Shakur About Pedro Noguera About Delroy Lindo Sinners the film About Michael A. JordanSpecial Guest: Bryonn Bain.

Rabbi Sharon Brous is a leading voice at the intersection of faith and justice in America. She is the founding and senior rabbi of IKAR, a trail-blazing Jewish community based in Los Angeles.  Brous's work has been featured in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Washington Post.  Her new book is The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend our Broken Hearts and World. On April 23, 2026, Sharon Brous came to the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco for an on-stage conversation with john a. powell, another scholar helping forge connections across political, spiritual, and cultural differences.  Powell is the Director of the Othering & Belonging Institute and a Professor of Law and Professor of African American Studies and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. His most recent book is The Power of Bridging: How to Build a World Where We All Belong.

Ian Hoch in for Tommy Tucker. Republicans in Tennessee have re-drawn their Congressional maps after the recent Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act. We'll explain what's going on and what it means with Emmitt Riley, Associate Professor of Politics and African and African American Studies at The University of the South.

For centuries, museums in Europe and the U.S. built their collections during eras of empire and unequal power. Now, institutions face growing calls to return artifacts taken through colonial rule or war, from the Benin Bronzes to Indigenous objects. Supporters say repatriation corrects historical injustice and restores sacred objects to their communities. Critics argue that museums serve a global public and that these works represent shared human heritage. Now we debate: Should Museums Repatriate Cultural Artifacts? Arguing Yes:   Chika Okeke-Agulu, Artist, Curator, and Professor of Art and Archaeology and African American Studies at Princeton University  Leila Amineddoleh, Art and Cultural Heritage Lawyer; Chair of the Firm's Art Law Group at Tarter Krinsky & Drogin  Arguing No:   Dominic Selwood, Historian, Author, Journalist, and Barrister  Mario Trabucco della Torretta, Classical Archaeologist  Emmy award-winning journalist John Donvan moderates  Join the conversation on Substack - share your perspective on this episode and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for curated insights from our debaters, moderators, and staff.  Follow us on YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, Facebook, and TikTok to stay connected with our mission and ongoing debates.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Marcus Anthony Hunter, professor, founding chair of the Department of African American Studies at UCLA, and author of Radical Reparations: Healing the Soul of a Nation, discusses his efforts to ensure accountability for the reparations movement in Washington State and gives his analysis on trending political topics.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tavis-smiley--6286410/support.

Subscribe today for access to our full catalog of bonus episodes, including 2+ new episodes every month!   http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Have we discovered the first great piece of AI filmmaking? We'd like to believe we are the first Christian film podcast to cover the OUR MAN KENT series, since installment one was released less than two weeks ago and currently has fewer than 100 views. AI seems to be the current artistic focus of auteur Kenya Cagle, an extremely prolific faith-based film director proven capable of creating live-action films such as our favorites THE BOY WHO SAW CHRIST and THIRTEEN MONTHS. AI in Cagle's hands is possibly a way to quickly iterate on fantastical sci-fi ideas, and hopefully not a full replacement for his live-action work, which we love. Despite personal artistic qualms about generative AI's use in art, t's undeniable that AI allows Cagle to pursue sci-fi ideas he probably couldn't pull off in live action. OUR MAN KENT contains depictions of futuristic technology such as "drone phones," "guardian angel" drones that serve as personal robotic bodyguards, and Kent's AI girlfriend "Tasha" (whom he communicates with via commands, like Alexa). These tools are deployed by protagonist Kent, a Black secret agent combating systemic anti-Blackness. In this installment, when an evil scientist cancels a university's African American Studies program, Kent's boss (the "Supreme Being") offers him a lucrative opportunity to defeat the scientist and save history. The medium of AI video adds a bizarre, uncanny tone to the piece; character movements and animations such as car rides are unnatural to the point of nauseating, but they add a character that at times makes it delightful to watch. While generative AI's impact on the creative process remains controversial among film fans, and for good reason (critiques of resource usage and creative plagiarism are valid), from a philosophical standpoint it's clear that AI doesn't mask Kenya Cagle's creative spirit. The singular, weird vision of his live-action films is highly present in OUR MAN KENT, allowing the medium to extend his message, even if it makes the film hard to watch at times. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock 2+ bonus episodes per month: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for livestreams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

In this episode of Guerrilla History, we have a critically important discussion that we hope you will find useful and will share with others that you think may benefit.  Here we bring on Nina Farnia and Navid Farnia to discuss the ongoing war on Iran.  The situation continues to develop rapidly, but the analysis provided here is absolutely crucial to continuing to deepen our understanding of what is happening as well as WHY is is happening the way it is.  Be sure to check out the piece that they did for Pambazuka which we reference several times throughout the conversation - Iran v. US Imperialism: An Interview with Navid Farnia & Nina Farnia. We also recommend you check out the previous episode that Nina did with us Lawfare and Imperialism. Nina Farnia is a legal historian, focusing on the role of modern imperialism in U.S. law and politics.  Her forthcoming book Imperialism and Resistance will be coming out next year from Stanford University Press, so stay tuned for that!  You can find more of her work on her Albany Law webpage, and you can follow her on twitter @NinaFarnia. Navid Farnia is a scholar of African American Studies. His research broadly explores the relationship between racial oppression in the United States and U.S. imperialism with a focus on revolutionary movements and counterrevolutionary responses. Navid's book manuscript, National Liberation in an Imperialist World: Race, Counterrevolution, and the United States, traces the U.S. national security state's evolution by examining how U.S. officials responded to national liberation movements at home and abroad from the 1950s to 1980. Both are members of the Anti-Imperalist Scholars Collective. Help support the show by signing up to our patreon, where you also will get bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/guerrillahistory 

The Context of White Supremacy welcomes Dr. Terence Keel. Classified as a black male, Dr. Keel is a "Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles where [he teaches] in the Department of African American Studies and the UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics." Dr. Keel also directs "the UCLA Lab for BioCritical Studies and [serves] as the Advisor for Structural Competency and Innovation for the UCLA Simulation Center at the David Geffen School of Medicine." In the midst of all this constructive work, Dr. Keel found time to visit Seattle's Elliott Bay Books to discuss his new tome, The Coroner's Silence: Death Records and the Hidden Victims of Police Violence. The text examines the how large numbers of black males and non-white males in general die under suspicious circumstances in officer custody. Dr. Keel notes that White coroners and medical examiners have a history of excluding black people from this profession and skillfully using language to conceal the wrongful death of black male prisoners. Gus noted at least one double negative and a plethora of curious usages of the pronoun "we." "We" don't practice White Supremacy and cage black dudes. The text also suggests that White people who practice Racism have a vision impairment — i.e., black males are invisible — and strains to insist that 'everyone' is vulnerable and could die in custody under the current System of White Supremacy. Logic and the record of hamburger-munching, convicted mass murderer Dylann Storm Roof says this ain't so. #AtTheHandsOfPersonsUnknown #COINTELPRO #TheCOWS17Years INVEST in The COWS – http://paypal.me/TheCOWS Cash App: https://cash.app/$TheCOWS CALL IN NUMBER: 720.716.7300 CODE 564943#

In this continuation of our African Revolutions and Decolonization series, we bring back two returning guests, Gerald Horne and Anthony Ballas, to discuss the documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat, the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, and the U.S.'s "jazz ambassadors".  A really stimulating discussion, we highly recommend you also check out our other episodes focused on the Congo to orient yourself historically here - The Congo - From Colonization Through Lumumba & Mobutu and The Situation in Congo - From Mobutu to M23 Rebels Today (both with Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja) and Mining the Congo w/ Josaphat Musamba, Germain Ngoie Tshibambe, & Ben Radley. We also recommend you check out the previous episodes we have done with Dr. Horne, which include - Histories of Resistance in LA from 60's to Today, Texas and the Roots of U.S. Fascism, and The Counterrevolution of 1776 Anthony Ballas was also on the show recently, you can listen to the episode we did with him - Whiteness, Jake Paul, Boxing, & the Crisis of US Imperialism Gerald Horne is the John J. and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston.  His research interests are unbelievably varied, encompassing biographies of W.E.B. Du Bois and Paul Robeson, to The Haitian Revolution, to Hollywood in the '30s-'50s, to Jazz and Justice.  Be sure to check out his bibliography, you're certain to find something that interests you! Anthony Ballas is an organizer and a PhD student at Duke University. His work appears in Monthly Review, Protean Magazine, Caribbean Quarterly, 3:AM Magazine, Truthout, Middle West Review, CounterPunch, Scalawag Magazine, Peace, Land and Bread Magazine, and elsewhere. He also the host of the De Facto Podcast and co-host of Cold War Cinema.  Help support the show by signing up to our patreon, where you also will get bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/guerrillahistory 

Marcus Anthony Hunter, professor, founding chair of the Department of African American Studies at UCLA and author of “Radical Reparations: Healing The Soul Of A Nation,” shares his thoughts about the U.N. reparations resolution and other trending political topics. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tavis-smiley--6286410/support.

Princeton University professor of African American Studies and Public Affairs, Khalil Gibran Muhammad, discusses the Trump admin's newest investigations into Harvard. And we check in on the broader higher ed crackdown.Tufts food policy expert Corby Kummer explains how the war in Iran is impacting your grocery bill, and how Big Food continues to push back against the MAHA food policy agenda. Retired federal judge Nancy Gertner preview's the birthright citizenship case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court this week, and weighs in on the case of a 98-year-old federal judge who won't give up her seat.

In conversations about women's rights, religion and feminism are often cast as incompatible. But religious women tend to see it differently. In this episode, we'll explore how religious women around the world are defining what liberation looks like on their own terms, and ask what we can all learn from their efforts, regardless of what we believe. We'll talk to writer and lawyer Dania Suleman about how women of faith are defending their religious freedom in secular spaces while also challenging gender inequality within their own communities. And we'll talk to Dr. Dianne Stewart about African heritage religions, where women have often held spiritual authority in ways that challenge familiar assumptions about gender and hierarchy.Dania Suleman is the author of A Different Cloth: Reimagining Faith and Feminism. Dr. Dianne Stewart is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Religion and African American Studies at Emory University, and the author of Obeah, Orisa, and Religious Identity in Trinidad, Volume II, Orisa. Learn more about her work, and her many other publications, at her website.Also mentioned this episode:Asma Lamrabet is the author of Women in the Qur'an: An Emancipatory Reading. Learn more about her work on her website. Learn more about Hind Makki's Side Entrance Project here. Chandra Talpade Mohanty is the author of the essay “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses”  

In 1881, African American educator and political leader Booker T. Washington founded Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama. The school's mission was to provide practical education and vocational training in fields such as agriculture and mechanics to African Americans in the post-Reconstruction South. Tuskegee ultimately became a world-renowned agricultural and industrial school for African Americans – and actually for all people. Today, we're speaking with Duke University's Jarvis McInnis about his award-winning book Afterlives of the Plantation: Plotting Agrarian Futures in the Global Black South. Interview Transcript Jarvis, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate this book. And hopefully we'll make a link to the Franklin Humanities gathering (https://youtu.be/rfSy1lWWOwA?si=dVcWH3xDBuBStEEc) that we had for your book launch. As I said at that time, and I'll say it right now, this book resonated with me so deeply because of my rural upbringing. My experience as a son, a grandson of farmers and agricultural workers. And someone who grew up in the 4-H Club down South. Hopefully we will get to some of those topics as we go through. So, let's start off with a real basic idea. Could you give our readers an overview of what the book is? And also, about what you mean by the Afterlives of the Plantation. Yes, absolutely. Thank you so much for that question, Norbert. The book is an effort to think about the cultural and intellectual and political ties between Southern African Americans and Afro-Caribbean people in the late 19th to early 20th Century as they were responding to the legacies of slavery, right? This is the period after emancipation, and across the hemisphere. And so, I'm really interested in the way that they are sharing ideas as they are confronting the new modes of racial oppression that emerged in slavery's aftermath. In the United States, you have Jim Crow, right? Segregation, and other forms of violence and dispossession like lynching and land dispossession and so forth and so on. And then in the Caribbean, in Latin America, you have institutions like the European colonialism, and US imperialism, right? And so that is the afterlife of slavery. They're emancipated, but it's not a period of full citizenship, right? Of full access to the rights and privileges of citizenship. And so in telling that story, I center Booker T. Washington's school, the Tuskegee Institute, which was founded on the site of an abandoned and burned cotton plantation in Alabama in 1881. And this is getting at the second part of your question. I became really fascinated by what it meant to establish a school, to establish a future-oriented institution, that's committed to uplifting Black people. To establish that on the site, on the ruins of a burned plantation. And, in some ways, I became curious about that as an undergraduate student because I'm a graduate of Tougaloo College, in Tougaloo, Mississippi, which is a historically black college much like Tuskegee. And much like Tuskegee, Tougaloo was also founded on the site of a former cotton plantation. And I saw that this idea, or this practice, this logic of transforming these sites of violence into something that is more liberatory and more emancipatory was really a strategy that Black people used throughout the US South and throughout the Caribbean. Throughout much of the Americas where slavery and the plantation had existed. I placed Tuskegee, and particularly its approach to agriculture, at the center of that story to demonstrate how an institution rooted in the US South is not backward. It's not pre-modern. That's firmly rural, but that rurality... they're taking the knowledge that's cultivated there and disseminating it to other Black people in other parts of the world to aid in their struggles toward freedom and citizenship. I think this is an important point to make. And I know we've had conversations about this as you were developing the book. And I'll just say again, out of my rural Southern agricultural background, I often found a sense that people thought, oh, well you must be backward. Oh, you must come from this... and that's not a good thing. I can only imagine that people of this time must have thought, well, shouldn't people want to move away from agriculture? Why would you want to be invested in this thing that was a part of former enslavement? How do you think about this in light of this notion of agrarian futures? You would think people would want to move away from that. What is your understanding of sort of this move towards agriculture and seeing this as something for the future and even modern. That's such a great question. And I, you know, I have to say that I came to agriculture relatively late in the project. I was initially most interested in what Tuskegee was doing with Black aesthetics: with photography and with music and with literature. I'm a literary scholar after all. But as I sat with Tuskegee's aesthetic output, I realized the significance of agriculture within that. And as I began to explore the ways that Tuskegee was being disseminated to other parts of the Black world, to places like Haiti, to places like Puerto Rico. And as they were admitting students from those particular colonies at that time. Now some of them are countries; Puerto Rico is still a territory. But I realized that what other Black people, both in the US South and abroad, were interested in was its agrarian vision. Was the work, the research that someone like George Washington Carver was doing at Tuskegee and as a mode of self-help. And so I really had to wrestle with that because it was outside of how I had conceived of agriculture. And in many ways, writing this book transformed my own understanding of what the modern was. And, you know, forced me to, or perhaps invited me, to think about agriculture to understand it as intellectual. To understand it certainly as a skill, in all of these ways that I had not really given much thought to it previously. But as I sat with George Washington Carver's bulletins. As I sat with Tuskegee's extension initiatives. As I sat with the knowledge that they were producing, the various print cultural artifacts, the newspapers. And again, the agricultural bulletins and so forth and so on. I realized, wait a minute. This is a site of knowledge production, and its modern up-to-date knowledge production that actually still has a lot of sound basis that can be used in contemporary agriculture to this very day. And so, it radically transformed my understanding of Tuskegee, of a figure like Booker T. Washington. who as we know, is a much-maligned figure in Black studies and American studies because of his conservative politics. But agriculture gave me another way into that institution and to think about, again, the significance of the cultural and intellectual contributions of the US South at this particular period. Thank you for that. I want to talk about a particular section of the text that has to do with both the agricultural philosophy, but also this idea of sharing information, and you've made some reference to it. So, I grew up, as I mentioned, going and being a part of the 4-H program, which was a part of the Cooperative Extension System. And Tuskegee, in many ways, helped form and helped inform what extension would look like. Which ultimately became a thing, federally, in 1914. But I want to read this one passage from your text, and you say: "In 1897, the state of Alabama passed legislation allocating $1,500 to establish an agricultural experiment station on campus. The station also known as the Experiment Plot." And plot is something you come back to. And I would love to hear your thoughts about this garden plot and the Experiment Plot and just the metaphor of plot throughout your text. "But the station also known as the Experiment Plot, was managed by George Washington Carver. Washington insisted that the experiment station ' should not be used for scientific experiments of interest only to experts. Should deal with the fundamental problems with which the Negro Farmers of Alabama were daily confronted.' The results of Carver's experiments were thus published in bulletins that were then distributed among farmers throughout Alabama and the broader US South." And then you go on and talking about the different courses that were made available. But I wanna get this one quote from the Tuskegee student. And you said the Tuskegee student observed: 'Tuskegee Institute is primarily a school for the masses of our people. Both old and young and in all degrees of development.' I mean, Tuskegee was doing something that other land grant institutions would eventually take on, is this idea of sharing knowledge and using this. As a means of uplift and I would say even citizen building. What are your thoughts about that sort of perspective? Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to try to wrap all of those questions up into one response. We'll see how successful I am. I know I gave you a lot. Well, one of the things that I wanted to say, that I did not get a chance to say in my response to your previous question is that, you know, the majority of African Americans lived in the South in this particular period. And many of them viewed agriculture as a viable future. And that was one of the aspects of, you know, doing research on this book that was transformative for me. Was understanding that they did not hold this same necessarily, sort of, denigrating attitudes toward agriculture. In part because the United States was largely agricultural writ large, right? [00:11:00] And so it was across the country, across the color line, was regarded as a viable pathway. But it is the case that Booker T. Washington was attempting to rebrand agriculture, to re-signify it. Because there were a number of African Americans who did not want to have anything to do with it because it reminded them of the degradation of slavery. And so, what Washington said was he said, hey, you know, that there's a distinction between working and being worked, right? Being worked means degradation. Working for oneself, right? Being independent is a mode of civilization, is what he argued. And so what I argue in the book is that Washington is attempting to resignify labor, to make it something that is regarded as self-proprietorial, right? And that is a necessary tool in not just labor but agricultural labor in particular. But we can add, I would say, industrial labor also as something that is self-proprietorial and that is a part of that citizenship making project. So, I wanted to be sure to home in on that aspect of your previous question. And then I think the way into this next question is to talk a little bit about the plot. The slave garden plot. So, this idea in the book, right? The subtitle is Plotting Agrarian Futures. And there are multiple residences of the plot throughout the book. But the easiest way to, sort of, describe it is that it is an elaboration on the slave garden plot. The patches of land that enslaved people could cultivate throughout the Americas to grow foods to nourish themselves, because the rations that were provided from the plantation owners, those rations were too meager, right? A number of scholars and theorists across disciplines have theorized that the slave garden plot was a site of resistance to the plantation system. In part because it is enabling them to survive, to live, to nourish their bodies, right? But also because of what they did on the plot, right? Not only growing food, but also perhaps growing flowers. There's one scholar who regards it as the botanical gardens of the dispossessed, right? And so this idea that on these garden plots where they could cultivate food for themselves, their time was their own. They weren't growing food for sale on the global market, necessarily, or other cash crops for sale in the global market. They were growing foods that perhaps have been a part of their diets in Africa. And in addition to that, they were engaging in communal practices, singing, dancing, and sometimes perhaps even plotting revolutions, right? Another valence of the plot. And so, a scholar like Sylvia Winter establishes a kind of dichotomy between the plot and the plantation under enslavement. And when I realized that Tuskegeeans were also trying to encourage Black folks to grow food, and in doing so helping them to circumvent the predatory practices of sharecropping, of tenant farming, that would have those sharecroppers and tenant farmers to buy their foods from the local commissary and to remain in cycles of debt. And that of course, that they had an experiment station that they called an Experiment Plot. I thought, okay, this is the post emancipation iteration of the slave garden plot. It stands as a counterpoint to the plantation system, and it is imbued with these logics and ethics of care. And one of those logics and ethics of care is the dissemination of knowledge, right? Ensuring that rural Black farmers who were perhaps too old to attend Tuskegee, or could not afford to do so, that they could come to campus and learn the most up-to-date agricultural knowledge, right? And for those who couldn't come to campus, to attend the Tuskegee Farmers Conference, they would take the Jessup Agricultural Wagon into the countryside and teach them about crop rotation. Teach them about how to grow certain food crops, right? Teach them about how to grow certain plants to beautify their homes and so forth and so on. And so I think about that dissemination of knowledge, right? Whether it's those farmers coming to campus or Tuskegee taking those ideas into the countryside, as an ethic of care that is connected to the way that the plot exists as a counter to the plantation. Yeah. Wow, this is really wonderful. I love how you're able to weave in this agricultural philosophy that had deep resonance with people of the rural American South. But you also saw this as something that moved beyond the borders of the American South, and thus in your subtitle, the Global Black South. How did Tuskegee get involved in this transnational sharing of knowledge, and working in the Caribbean, and particularly, Puerto Rico, Haiti? Tell us a little bit more about that experience. Absolutely. Absolutely. Tuskegee really began to recruit students from the broader diaspora in the latter part of the 19th Century. So, around 1897. Certainly, the Caribbean, certainly Cuba and Puerto Rico, following the Spanish American War. And Booker T. Washington sent a Tuskegee student who was actually fluent in Spanish into Florida, and then later on to Havana, to recruit students to Tuskegee. He understood, he believed, that because they were experiencing conditions that were very similar to African Americans, they too were responding to the afterlife of slavery in the plantation. Given that emancipation in Cuba and Puerto Rico, in particular had just occurred in the late 1880s, he believed that their conditions were very similar to those of African Americans and that they could benefit from agricultural and industrial education as well. And there was a reformer by the name of Grace Mins. She was based in Boston. And she ensured that Booker T. Washington's autobiography, Up From Slavery, was translated into Cuban Spanish. And then that autobiography was then disseminated. A thousand copies were disseminated throughout the island of Cuba. And so as a result of that, he inspired, or the model of self-help that Washington depicted in Up From Slavery, inspired a host of Afro-Cuban readers. Students and parents and government officials and educational officials then begin to write to Tuskegee, write to Washington, wanting entry into the school. It's also translated into French, right? And so, you have French readers, particularly in a place like Haiti coming to Tuskegee. Someone by the name of the Jean Price Mars, who was the foremost Haitian intellectual of the 20th Century, actually met Washington in France when Washington was traveling there on vacation and became inspired by that model. A year later, he comes to the United States to attend the 1904 World's Fair and then spends two weeks at Tuskegee, learning those ideas and wanting to take them back to Haiti. So, through translation, right? Into different languages, those ideas then circulate throughout the Black world, but also through efforts to actively recruit students from those other places that Washington understood as experiencing a similar condition as African Americans. People whom he understood could benefit, he believed, could benefit from agricultural and industrial education. Great. And one of the things I loved in the way you talked about this in the text is you talked about not only translation but transplantation. And I thought that was an interesting turn of phrase because of what you were trying to communicate through that term. I want to, sort of, bring us up to some things that are currently happening. We just had a conference and you were a participant on a panel on humanistic issues around addressing food waste. And I've got to say, this was one of the panels that people really leaned into, that were really caught up by it. And you made some really insightful interventions based on some of the work that you've done in your book. So, you spoke about the anti-waste ethos at Tuskegee and I really found that interesting. Could you speak to that for a moment? Absolutely. Well, first I want to say thank you again for the opportunity to participate in that symposium. I really enjoyed it, and it really gave me an opportunity to think about various dimensions of a kind of anti-waste ethos at Tuskegee. And I think that there are a couple of different ways in which it manifested at the institution. So first there's a kind of metaphorical dimension to waste at Tuskegee. When Booker T. Washington writes to George Washington Carver to hire him, to recruit him to the institution. He said, I can't pay you a lot of money, but we have been tasked with helping to transform formerly enslaved people from conditions of waste to full manhood. Right? And so there is that sort of metaphorical, or what I would argue in the book is a kind of ontological understanding of waste, given the degraded status of the enslaved. And then there's a kind of philosophical dimension to waste as well. One, so Washington, Tuskegee, they are informed by the progressive era, right? It's a progressive era institution that's guided by a commitment to thrift and economy. And so, they're very much interested in a kind of practical attitude toward not being wasteful, right? To being thrifty with money, but also with resources. And what we see is, you know, complaints about food waste in the dining hall at Tuskegee, right? A very practical issue for a poor rural institution wherein the students are growing the food, right? Wherein the students are making the bricks, right? Are helping to transform this plantation into a school. We can't afford to waste food, right? But they're also teaching students and Black folks in the countryside how to preserve fruits and vegetables. There are these photographs of them teaching folks how to can and preserve fruits and veggies, right? To ensure that they have food throughout the winter months, so that they are not stricken by hunger and poverty and starvation. So that they aren't forced to borrow additional money from the plantation owners if they are indeed in sharecropping and tenant farming arrangements. And so, the last aspect I suppose of waste at Tuskegee that I want to highlight here is a kind of ecological one. Where in George Washington Carver is calling on farmers to take advantage of the quote unquote waste that is on their farms, right? The cow manure, right? To regenerate the soil. The swamp muck, right? The dead leaves, the night soil; to use that waste to regenerate the soil, to replenish it, right? In addition to practices of crop rotation and so forth and so on. And so that ecological dimension of waste is really important for understanding Tuskegee's ecological vision. I think this is so important because conversations around regenerative agriculture, and going back to, sort of, broader notions of traditional farming practices, minimizing the use of chemicals, people were talking about this. Folks like Carver were trying to find ways of using very little resources to help support the growers that he worked with. And we're hearing these echoes again and again. I'm so grateful that you illuminated that throughout your text. Thank you. I am not the only one who seems to have appreciated that because you won the 2026 Association for the study of African American Life and History Book Prize and the 2025 On the Brink book Award from the University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning. Why do you think this narrative of agricultural liberation is resonating with people so strongly? You know, first of all, Norbert, I just have to say how honored I am that the book has received these recognitions. And that it's finding its audiences. Audiences that I couldn't have imagined. Imagine my seeing my face when I opened the email to see that it had been acknowledged by both of these institutions. But especially the architecture and planning. I thought, oh my goodness. I, could not have, I could not have imagined this. So, I just want to say that I'm grateful first and foremost. You know, as I've been talking to people, you know, and as I've been moving around and talking to readers at my book tour, or people have been writing to me via email, what I've found is that the historians really appreciate the archival richness, and robustness of the text, right? So, the historians, the literary scholars, they really appreciate that aspect of the book. Many people, I think, also really appreciate the fact that it is giving us a new way to think about Tuskegee and Booker T. Washington. A place and a person who we thought we knew, right? And not in a flat way; a way that holds the complexity of that institution in place. And throughout the text, I really try to wrestle with the critiques, the valid and legitimate critiques that are coming from people like Ida B. Wells Barnett, and WEB Du Bois, about the limits of Booker T. Washington's political philosophy. But at the same time, I say, but if we don't acknowledge what they were doing through agriculture and by extension through aesthetics, then we're missing a really important part of this story, right? And I think that the book is giving us a model for thinking about how to engage in criticism that is both generative and productive, I suppose, right? Like how do we hold them to a particular standard where we say, you know, here are the limits of your political vision, but at the same time, this is what you enabled, right? And that's what the text is trying to do. And I think, you know, others have shared that they appreciate that it honors the intelligence and sophistication and dignity of Black rural people, of Black Southerners, who in my opinion, are often written out of Black studies in a way that is substantive. In a way that honors their contributions, especially in this period. The South is a space that people are simply fleeing from because of Jim Crow. And I'm saying, wait, what about the people who remain rooted in the land, on the land, either in the US South or in other sort of rural places throughout the diaspora. And then finally, I think that the book seems to be connecting to people who really care about our world. Who really care about the state of environmental degradation that we have found ourselves in as a result of institutions like the plantation, of monocrop agriculture, of industrialization in the way that it abuses, and misuses the earth. And so, because the book is invested in thinking about regeneration and repair, and about more sustainable methods from the past that can be useful for our present. I think that it seems to be connecting with readers who are interested in issues like climate change and environmental catastrophe. So that's what I suspect, based on some of the feedback that I have received. But I just want to reiterate just how grateful I am that it is finding its audience. BIO Jarvis C. McInnis holds a BA in English from Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi, and a Ph.D. in English & Comparative Literature from Columbia University in the City of New York.  Jarvis is an interdisciplinary scholar of African American & African Diaspora literature and culture, with teaching and research interests in the global south (primarily the US South and the Caribbean), sound studies, performance studies, and visual culture. Jarvis's research has been supported by numerous grants and fellowships, including the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, the Ford Foundation Pre-doctoral and Dissertation Fellowships, and Princeton University's Department of African American Studies postdoctoral fellowship. His work appears or is forthcoming in journals and venues such as Callaloo, MELUS, Mississippi Quarterly, Public Books, and The Global South.

What is the sin in Sinners? — and then four of the most brilliant theologians working today spent an hour doing what great theologians do: they cracked the whole thing open. Set in 1932 Mississippi and layered with blues, hoodoo, vampires, and Black survival, Ryan Coogler's film turns out to be a theological event, and this conversation treats it like one. Adam Clark names white supremacy as the film's central sin — parasitic, predatory, embodied in white vampires who can only survive by consuming Black vitality. Kelly Brown Douglas traces the deep dialectic between the blues and the Black church, and how the juke joint functions as a kind of invisible institution keeping Black faith alive from the underside. Juan Floyd-Thomas goes deep on conjure, Papa Legba, and why Sammy at the crossroads isn't just a blues musician but a gateway between the living and the dead. And Stacey Floyd-Thomas brings the womanist lens that names what the film itself only partially names: the women are the most spiritually powerful figures in the story, and they pay the highest price. By the end, someone looks around the room and says what a lot of us were thinking — Theology Beer Camp is a hush harbor. This is one of the most popular sessions from camp this year, and after you listen, you'll understand why. Join 600+ Listeners, 30 theologians, & 30 God-Pods at Theology Beer Camp 2026 this October 8-10 in Kansas City! Panel Members Kelly Brown Douglas is Visiting Professor of Theology at Harvard Divinity School and Canon Theologian at Washington National Cathedral. Juan Floyd-Thomas is Associate Professor of African American Religious History at Vanderbilt Divinity School, where he teaches Black religion, race, religion, and film. Stacey Floyd-Thomas is the Carpenter Professor of Ethics and Society and Chair of African American Studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School. Adam Clark is Professor of Theology and Director of Civic Engagement at Xavier University. Will Rose is the co-host of Systematic Geekology, a podcast exploring theology and pop culture for people who geek out on the deeper things. UPCOMING ONLINE CLASS - Theology for Troublemakers: Christian Social Ethics from the Margins⁠ The injustices we face are immense — but they are not unique. Previous generations confronted the same powers with theological conviction and strategic brilliance. The question is whether we'll learn from them. This 6-week online course, led by Dr. Gary Dorrien and Dr. Aaron Stauffer, recovers the radical tradition of Christian social ethics — from Reverdy Ransom and Reinhold Niebuhr to James Cone and the Welfare Rights Movement — and asks what faithfulness demands of us right now. Weekly lectures, live Q&A conversations, guest lecturers, and an online community are included.

Miles Davis' reputation as a jazz giant remains to this day. On March 28, the Sheldon Concert Hall & Galleries will celebrate the world-renowned trumpeter with “Unlimited Miles: Miles Davis at 100,” which will feature contemporary jazz performers who have been inspired by Davis' musicianship. The Sheldon's executive director Peter Palermo and Gerald Early, a Washington University professor of African and African American Studies and editor of “Miles Davis and American Culture, Vol. 1” reflect on Davis' influence on jazz, his relationship with the St. Louis region and what's to be expected at “Unlimited Miles.”

The Trump administration is escalating efforts to eliminate “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” programs. Last Monday, Politico reported that the administration is proposing to change requirements within the General Services Administration so that any entity hoping to receive federal dollars via things like grants, loans, or insurance, would need to fall in line with federal standards that ban DEI based policies and programs. According to the notice, over 220,000 entities would be impacted by this change. It’s the latest in a long line of actions by the Trump Administration to remove Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programming and policies from both public organizations and private companies. For many, the moves have been a retreat from the goal of creating more inclusive education and work spaces. Some argue that DEI programs were flawed to begin with. Guest: Dr. Ralina L. Joseph is Vice Provost of Inclusive Excellence and Professor of African American Studies at UCLA. Her newest book is “Racial Exhaustion: how to move through racism in the wake of DEI”. Related stories: Trump’s under-the-radar plan to crack down on DEI - Politico The University of Michigan Doubled Down on D.E.I. What Went Wrong? - NYT Former Goldman Sachs CEO says DEI programs are ‘counterproductive,’ arguing ‘you’re branding the people in that program’ - Fortune Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the eve of World War II, a handsome young scholar arrived in Paris. The queer, Black son of a housecleaner, who had nevertheless been decorated in the halls of Harvard and Columbia, Reed Peggram flirted with Leonard Bernstein, sat for portraits by famous artists, charmed minor royalty and became like a little brother to famed researcher and writer Jan Gay. Finally in Europe and on the same prestigious scholarship as literary luminaries Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes before him, he ignored the increasingly alarmed calls to return home to a repressive, segregated America and a constrained life as a second class citizen. And as tensions grew and gas masks were distributed in the City of Lights, Reed turned instead to the new life he'd made: with Arne, a tall and dashing Danish scholar with whom he had formed a deep bond.Award-winning historian Ethelene Whitmire unearthed a trove of Reed's letters when she met one of his descendants at a lecture, awed that she'd heard so little of this charismatic man and his fascinating true story of love and war. In The Remarkable Life of Reed Peggram (Viking, 2026), she introduces us to an unforgettable character who fled from country to country as fighting advanced, was captured by Nazis and outwitted them in a daring escape, and risked it all in a personal fight for a life of love, freedom, beauty and dignity in a world set against him. Ethelene Whitmire is a respected historian and professor for the Department of African American Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her research has won awards and funding from the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright Program, and the American Library Association, and she has been invited to writers residencies including Yaddo, UCross, Hedgebrook, and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Reighan Gillam is Associate Professor in the Department of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies at Dartmouth College. Her research examines the ways in which Afro-Brazilian media producers foment anti-racist visual politics through their image creation. She is the author of Visualizing Black Lives: Ownership and Control in Afro-Brazilian Media (University of Illinois Press). She is currently working on the book Diasporic Connections: How Afro-Brazilians Use African American Culture to Challenge Racial Exceptionalism.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies

On the eve of World War II, a handsome young scholar arrived in Paris. The queer, Black son of a housecleaner, who had nevertheless been decorated in the halls of Harvard and Columbia, Reed Peggram flirted with Leonard Bernstein, sat for portraits by famous artists, charmed minor royalty and became like a little brother to famed researcher and writer Jan Gay. Finally in Europe and on the same prestigious scholarship as literary luminaries Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes before him, he ignored the increasingly alarmed calls to return home to a repressive, segregated America and a constrained life as a second class citizen. And as tensions grew and gas masks were distributed in the City of Lights, Reed turned instead to the new life he'd made: with Arne, a tall and dashing Danish scholar with whom he had formed a deep bond.Award-winning historian Ethelene Whitmire unearthed a trove of Reed's letters when she met one of his descendants at a lecture, awed that she'd heard so little of this charismatic man and his fascinating true story of love and war. In The Remarkable Life of Reed Peggram (Viking, 2026), she introduces us to an unforgettable character who fled from country to country as fighting advanced, was captured by Nazis and outwitted them in a daring escape, and risked it all in a personal fight for a life of love, freedom, beauty and dignity in a world set against him. Ethelene Whitmire is a respected historian and professor for the Department of African American Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her research has won awards and funding from the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright Program, and the American Library Association, and she has been invited to writers residencies including Yaddo, UCross, Hedgebrook, and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Reighan Gillam is Associate Professor in the Department of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies at Dartmouth College. Her research examines the ways in which Afro-Brazilian media producers foment anti-racist visual politics through their image creation. She is the author of Visualizing Black Lives: Ownership and Control in Afro-Brazilian Media (University of Illinois Press). She is currently working on the book Diasporic Connections: How Afro-Brazilians Use African American Culture to Challenge Racial Exceptionalism.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

On the eve of World War II, a handsome young scholar arrived in Paris. The queer, Black son of a housecleaner, who had nevertheless been decorated in the halls of Harvard and Columbia, Reed Peggram flirted with Leonard Bernstein, sat for portraits by famous artists, charmed minor royalty and became like a little brother to famed researcher and writer Jan Gay. Finally in Europe and on the same prestigious scholarship as literary luminaries Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes before him, he ignored the increasingly alarmed calls to return home to a repressive, segregated America and a constrained life as a second class citizen. And as tensions grew and gas masks were distributed in the City of Lights, Reed turned instead to the new life he'd made: with Arne, a tall and dashing Danish scholar with whom he had formed a deep bond.Award-winning historian Ethelene Whitmire unearthed a trove of Reed's letters when she met one of his descendants at a lecture, awed that she'd heard so little of this charismatic man and his fascinating true story of love and war. In The Remarkable Life of Reed Peggram (Viking, 2026), she introduces us to an unforgettable character who fled from country to country as fighting advanced, was captured by Nazis and outwitted them in a daring escape, and risked it all in a personal fight for a life of love, freedom, beauty and dignity in a world set against him. Ethelene Whitmire is a respected historian and professor for the Department of African American Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her research has won awards and funding from the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright Program, and the American Library Association, and she has been invited to writers residencies including Yaddo, UCross, Hedgebrook, and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Reighan Gillam is Associate Professor in the Department of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies at Dartmouth College. Her research examines the ways in which Afro-Brazilian media producers foment anti-racist visual politics through their image creation. She is the author of Visualizing Black Lives: Ownership and Control in Afro-Brazilian Media (University of Illinois Press). She is currently working on the book Diasporic Connections: How Afro-Brazilians Use African American Culture to Challenge Racial Exceptionalism.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

On the eve of World War II, a handsome young scholar arrived in Paris. The queer, Black son of a housecleaner, who had nevertheless been decorated in the halls of Harvard and Columbia, Reed Peggram flirted with Leonard Bernstein, sat for portraits by famous artists, charmed minor royalty and became like a little brother to famed researcher and writer Jan Gay. Finally in Europe and on the same prestigious scholarship as literary luminaries Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes before him, he ignored the increasingly alarmed calls to return home to a repressive, segregated America and a constrained life as a second class citizen. And as tensions grew and gas masks were distributed in the City of Lights, Reed turned instead to the new life he'd made: with Arne, a tall and dashing Danish scholar with whom he had formed a deep bond.Award-winning historian Ethelene Whitmire unearthed a trove of Reed's letters when she met one of his descendants at a lecture, awed that she'd heard so little of this charismatic man and his fascinating true story of love and war. In The Remarkable Life of Reed Peggram (Viking, 2026), she introduces us to an unforgettable character who fled from country to country as fighting advanced, was captured by Nazis and outwitted them in a daring escape, and risked it all in a personal fight for a life of love, freedom, beauty and dignity in a world set against him. Ethelene Whitmire is a respected historian and professor for the Department of African American Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her research has won awards and funding from the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright Program, and the American Library Association, and she has been invited to writers residencies including Yaddo, UCross, Hedgebrook, and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Reighan Gillam is Associate Professor in the Department of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies at Dartmouth College. Her research examines the ways in which Afro-Brazilian media producers foment anti-racist visual politics through their image creation. She is the author of Visualizing Black Lives: Ownership and Control in Afro-Brazilian Media (University of Illinois Press). She is currently working on the book Diasporic Connections: How Afro-Brazilians Use African American Culture to Challenge Racial Exceptionalism.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

On the eve of World War II, a handsome young scholar arrived in Paris. The queer, Black son of a housecleaner, who had nevertheless been decorated in the halls of Harvard and Columbia, Reed Peggram flirted with Leonard Bernstein, sat for portraits by famous artists, charmed minor royalty and became like a little brother to famed researcher and writer Jan Gay. Finally in Europe and on the same prestigious scholarship as literary luminaries Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes before him, he ignored the increasingly alarmed calls to return home to a repressive, segregated America and a constrained life as a second class citizen. And as tensions grew and gas masks were distributed in the City of Lights, Reed turned instead to the new life he'd made: with Arne, a tall and dashing Danish scholar with whom he had formed a deep bond.Award-winning historian Ethelene Whitmire unearthed a trove of Reed's letters when she met one of his descendants at a lecture, awed that she'd heard so little of this charismatic man and his fascinating true story of love and war. In The Remarkable Life of Reed Peggram (Viking, 2026), she introduces us to an unforgettable character who fled from country to country as fighting advanced, was captured by Nazis and outwitted them in a daring escape, and risked it all in a personal fight for a life of love, freedom, beauty and dignity in a world set against him. Ethelene Whitmire is a respected historian and professor for the Department of African American Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her research has won awards and funding from the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright Program, and the American Library Association, and she has been invited to writers residencies including Yaddo, UCross, Hedgebrook, and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Reighan Gillam is Associate Professor in the Department of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies at Dartmouth College. Her research examines the ways in which Afro-Brazilian media producers foment anti-racist visual politics through their image creation. She is the author of Visualizing Black Lives: Ownership and Control in Afro-Brazilian Media (University of Illinois Press). She is currently working on the book Diasporic Connections: How Afro-Brazilians Use African American Culture to Challenge Racial Exceptionalism.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

This women's history month, Donna & Jonathan are graced with the presence, knowledge and insight of Danielle Bainbridge - Assistant Professor of Theatre at Northwestern University, where she also holds courtesy appointments in Performance Studies and African American Studies. Her writing has been featured in Killens Review of Arts & Letters, Moko Magazine, and The Mechanics' Institute Review Online.Discovering the journey Danielle took from adolescence to adulthood, we come to the writing of her most recent book debut CURRENCIES OF CRUELTY: Slavery, Freak Shows, and the Performance Archive that explores how formerly enslaved people and disabled individuals were commodified through 19th- and 20th-century freak shows, examining figures like conjoined twins Millie Christine McKoy and Chang and Eng Bunker to reveal the intersection of slavery, disability, and performance. Through innovative archival theory and the concept of the "future perfect" archive — a system that anticipates what will have been rather than simply documenting the past — Bainbridge challenges established ways of documenting labor, freedom, and human worth, demonstrating how archival practices have historically represented enslaved and disabled performers as commodities and spectacles while devaluing them as people, showing how records of subjugation continue to shape current understandings of value and visibility.Purchase the Book:https://nyupress.org/9781479829569/currencies-of-cruelty/Code for 30% off NYUAU30Watch on YouTube:https://youtu.be/TNvfUl2Qh_s?si=gHRafSVaqyJRH_f3Contact Danielle:Danielle.bainbridge@northwestern.eduhttps://bsky.app/profile/daniellebainbridge.bsky.socialInstagram:@quirkyprofessor_@NowWeKnowThePodcast@DonnaJaneen

In July 1991 President George HW Bush nominated Clarence Thomas to the US Supreme Court. Initial reaction to the nomination suggested there would be a contentious Senate confirmation battle that would probe Thomas's conservative views on issues such as abortion and affirmative action.  But there was no real concern that Bush's pick might not be approved. That is until one woman's testimony threatened to derail the entire process.  In this episode of History of the 90s we look back at the moment when the little know concept of workplace sexual harassment was catapulted into public consciousness.  This is the testimony of Anita Hill.  Guest Info: Rev. Dr. Traci C. West;   Professor of Christian Ethics and African American Studies at Drew University Theological School in Madison, NJ www.traciwest.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

These days I sometimes have to remind myself to keep breathing. I think this is true of human beings across all of our differences and divides. But in a room in New York City just before the turn of this year, I was regrounded by this fierce and joyous conversation with Joy Harjo and Tracy K. Smith.  I invite you to settle into your soft breathing body with these two wise women as companions and with a sense of poetry as a technology, as Tracy describes in her new book: a technology for rising to our truest, highest selves, even amidst grief and mystery and danger, and bearing witness to each other as we do so.  I think all of us in the room left a little more lighthearted and alive as this conversation unfolded. I hope that will be your experience too.  Tracy K. Smith and Joy Harjo are former U.S. poet laureates, beloved On Being guests, and friends. They are each wildly and deservedly awarded and not just as poets — Tracy also as a teacher and professor at Harvard, Joy as a saxophonist and painter. We were brought together at Symphony Space in Manhattan to celebrate their newest books: Fear Less by Tracy and Girl Warrior by Joy. Find an excellent transcript of this show, edited by humans, on our show page.  Sign yourself and others up for The Pause to be on our mailing list for all things On Being and to receive Krista's monthly Saturday newsletter, including a heads up on new episodes, special offerings, recommendations, and event invitations. Joy Harjo was the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States. Among many honors, she has received the Poetry Society of America's Frost Medal and a National Humanities Medal. She is the inau­gur­al Artist-in-Res­i­dence for the Bob Dylan Cen­ter in Tul­sa, Okla­homa. She lives on the Musco­gee Nation Reser­va­tion in Oklahoma. Her new book of essays is Girl Warrior. Forthcoming in 2026 is her 12th book of poetry and a new album co-produced with esperanza spalding. Tracy K. Smith was the 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States. She teaches at Harvard University, where she is Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory, Professor of African and African American Studies, and Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Professor at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute. Among her many honors, she has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry  and is a Chancellor of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her new memoir is Fear Less. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This commemorative episode of the PAGES POD marks the one-year anniversary of our Fireside Chat at Santa Clara University and features a conversation on Black suffering, Afropessimism, and public emotion. The episode features Prof. Frank Wilderson III, Chancellor's Professor of African American Studies at University of California, Irvine, in dialogue with Assistant Professor of Philosophy Prof. Justin Clardy (SCU) and doctoral candidate Kevin Morris (UMass).The conversation examines civic indifference and the grammar of Black suffering.This is also a moment of reflection and return. Whether you joined us live or are encountering the conversation for the first time, this episode invites you to sit with the questions that remain with us long after the conversation was had.Mentioned in this episode:Civic Indifference and Black Suffering (Youtube Episode)Engendering Blackness: Slavery and the Ontology of Sexual Violence - Patrice DouglassScenes of Subjection - Saidiya HartmanBlack Skin White Masks - Frantz FanonThe Wretched of the Earth - Frantz FanonFollow us across our social media channels:IG- @PagestrgTikTok & Youtube- @PagesthereadinggroupWebsite- www.Pagestrg.com

The Wisconsin Historical Society is safeguarding the stories of being Black in Madison by including the SoulFolk Collective's oral history collection in its archive. The collective is a research lab in UW-Madison's Department of African American Studies that does research projects centering the Black experience , including mapping Black-affirming spaces in the city. .  To learn more, host Bianca Martin speaks with Dr. Jessica Stovall and Angela Fitzgerald about the Black Madison Archive and what is next for the collective.   Shout out that the collection is at WI historical society! This episode originally aired September 16, 2025. Learn more about the sponsors of this February 24th episode: Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra Dane County Humane Society Taskrabbit Looking to advertise on City Cast Madison? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads.

 WORT 89.9FM Madison · UW African American Studies Student Symposium 2026 On February 27th from 8:00 am to 4:00 PM the University of Wisconsin Madison, Department of African American Studies will hold its 2026 student symposium. It’s an all-day affair taking place at the UW Madison Memorial Union’s Tripp Commons. Professor Max Felker-Kantor and undergraduate students Heaven Williams and Sophia Grigsby joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing on February 23, 2026. Heaven Williams(photo courtesy Hope Kelham) Sophia Grigsby(photo courtesy University of Wisconsin-Madison) Max Felker-Kantor(photo courtesy University of Wisconsin-Madison) Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post UW African-American Studies Student Symposium 2026 appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This author's The Remarkable Life of Reed Peggram: The Man Who Stared Down World War II in the Name of Love was published by Viking/Penguin Random House this month. Whitmire is a respected historian and African American Studies professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research has won awards and funding from the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright Programs, and the American Library Association, and she has been invited to residences at Yaddo, Ucross, Hedgebrook, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Fellow biographer and BIO member Eric K. Washington interviewed Ethelene Whitmire.

In the decades after becoming the first Black US citizen to receive his PhD from Harvard, W.E.B. Du Bois helped transform sociology from theory and speculation to a social science rooted in rigorous methodology and hard data. But despite conducting groundbreaking research, particularly on the lives of Black people, Du Bois chose to leave the academy and become an activist, co-founding the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. What inspired him to make the change? And what can we learn today from Du Bois's research, his writing, and his life during our own time of white backlash? The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer David Levering Lewis joins us for part two of our look at the life of the early 20th century's leading intellectual and spokesperson for Black liberation. (A word of caution: Several minutes into the show, Professor Levering Lewis describes an episode of racist violence. We have preserved that portion of the conversation, rather than editing it out, because it describes a turning point in Du Bois's life and career.)

Karsonya Wise Whitehead, president of ASALH, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, professor of communications and African and African American Studies at Loyola University Maryland and the founding executive director of the Karson Institute for Race, Peace, & Social Justice, talks about the history of how Black History Month has been observed, from the 1970s to the present-day, including the museums and holidays dedicated to African-American history that have been established, and more.Photo by Robert R. McElroy/Getty Images.

Karsonya Wise Whitehead, president of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History and professor of communications and African and African American Studies at Loyola University Maryland and the founding executive director of the Karson Institute for Race, Peace, & Social Justice, talks about the history of Black History Month, which was established first as ""Negro History Week"" in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson, and how it evolved over the mid-20th century." Cover image courtesy of Mark Reinstein/Corbis via Getty Images.

Professor, author and founding chair of the Department of African American Studies at UCLA discusses the Pam Bondi hearing and other trending political topics. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tavis-smiley--6286410/support.

Subscribe to Bad Faith on Patreon to instantly unlock our full premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast Professor of African American Studies at Wayne State University, Dr. CBS, returns to Bad Faith to discuss the contraversy around Bad Bunny's Super Bowl half time performance and the limits of revolutionary art, the increasingly heated Jasmine Crockett/James Talarico Texas Senate primary & what everyone gets wrong about the viability of Black candidates, Trump's "Lion King" tweet featuring the Obama's as apes, & the latest attempt by Ezra Klein-stye centrists to brand their deregulatory agenda as a winning path forward for the Democratic Party -- a new "pro growth" political group called Next America Era. Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Produced by Armand Aviram. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

In books like “Breathe” and “South to America,” National Book Award and MacArthur “genius” grant winner Imani Perry writes about Blackness in America with clarity, elegance, rage, and joy. Perry is a Professor of Studies of Women, Gender and Sexuality and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. Her latest book is “Black in Blues,” a meditation on the color blue and its role in Black history and culture. Perry talks to us in front of an audience of students at Woodburn High School.

Too many of us left high school thinking that a poem could be taken seriously only if it was difficult to understand, subdued in its use of rhyme and alliteration, and addressed lofty topics. Harryette Mullen's saucy, suggestive “LVTOFU” bulldozes through convention, all the while revelling in its own rhythms, references, and humor.   We invite you to subscribe to Pádraig's weekly Poetry Unbound Substack, read the Poetry Unbound books and his newest work, Kitchen Hymns, or listen to all our Poetry Unbound episodes.  Harryette Mullen is the author of eight books of poetry, including Urban Tumbleweed, Recyclopedia, and Sleeping with the Dictionary, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She is Professor of English and African American Studies at the University of California-Los Angeles.Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

AFH: Season 2, Episode 1Featuring Marjon Carlos (instagram.com/marjon_carlos)Marjon and Al get into career, relationships, identity, fashion, and sex in a fun and relatable, must- listen conversation.About the Guest:Marjon Carlos is an award-winning journalist, podcast host, and brand consultant, living and working in New York.Her passion for culture often puts her at the frontline of today's biggest stories, interviewing some of the most prominent names within media, including Cardi B, FKA twigs, Doja Cat, Gigi Hadid, Megan Thee Stallion, Sha'Carri Richardson, and many more. Her writing has appeared on the cover and within the pages of Vogue, Vanity Fair, i-D, ELLE, ELLE Decor, Essence, Wall Street Journal Magazine, Cultured Magazine, and HOMME Girls, and on Vogue.com, NET-A-PORTER.COM, W.com, ELLE.com, The Cut, Into The Gloss, Porter Magazine, Refinery29.com.In the fall of 2023, she evolved her IGTV advice show,“Your Favorite Auntie Show,” into a weekly podcast powered by Cash App. Having completed it's second season last year, the series featured Marjon in pot-stirring conversations with notables such as June Ambrose, Mara Hoffman, Real Housewives of New York Jessel Taank, and more. In addition to her editorial work, Marjon regularly collaborates with venerated brands as a creative consultant and brand partner. She is also the former Vogue Senior Fashion Writer and CUUP Editorial Director, where her work explored the intersection of style and culture--an outgrowth of her academic research in Gender and African American Studies at Brown and Columbia Universities, respectively.Marjon is currently working on her first book, a study on race and class, with Ballantine/Penguin Random House.Guest Info:Instagram Marjon CarlosFollow Me:Instagram: @afinehuman Shop Dame: dame.com This podcast was produced by aurielle sayeh, filmed by @thetellychannel, and powered by @dameproducts.

Episode Topic: Preserving LegacyListen in to a conversation with Edward Augustine '87, Zesha Holyfield '01, James Riley '94, and Rochelle Valsaint '95 about essential topics like protecting your loved ones' assets, navigating long-term care options, and understanding the general legal tools that are at your disposal in consultation with your own private licensed counsel in your local jurisdiction, such as trusts, powers of attorney, and advance directives, as well as balancing the emotional journey of caregiving with the practicalities of managing finances and general estate planning. Featured Speakers:Dr. Scott Alves Barton, Assistant Professor of African Studies, University of Notre Dame Zada Ballew '19, chair of the Native American Alumni of Notre DameJoAnn Chávez '86 BBA, '90 J.D.Zesha Holyfield '01, Nurse Practitioner, Essen Health CareEmorja Roberson ‘17 MM, ‘22 Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Music and African American Studies, Oxford College of Emory UniversityDon Wycliff '69, reporter, editor, editorial writer and opinion columnistRead this episode's recap over on the University of Notre Dame's open online learning community platform, ThinkND: https://go.nd.edu/315a9d.This podcast is a part of the ThinkND Series titled Caregiving with Dignity. Thanks for listening! The ThinkND Podcast is brought to you by ThinkND, the University of Notre Dame's online learning community. We connect you with videos, podcasts, articles, courses, and other resources to inspire minds and spark conversations on topics that matter to you — everything from faith and politics, to science, technology, and your career. Learn more about ThinkND and register for upcoming live events at think.nd.edu. Join our LinkedIn community for updates, episode clips, and more.

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Jarvis R. Givems, author of I'LL MAKE ME A WORLD: The 100-Year Journey of Black History Month.  In the interview, Givens not only discussed the importance of Carter G. Woodson, the founder of Black History Month, and other important figures, but also the role of teachers in providing guidance and inspiration for young black students.  He also wrote in his book that "preserving the history of black communities and culture is not just the work of historians but of all members of the community.  Givens also explained that Woodson "created the weeklong celebration with the explicitly political aims, it's objective being to popularize the study and public commemoration of black life and culture as a culture weight against the anti-black narratives used to justify the violent mistreatment and the second-class citizenship of black people in US society and around the globe."Jarvis R. Givens is a professor of education and African and African American Studies and the cofounding faculty director of the Black Teacher Archive at Harvard University.  His web site is  https://jarvisgivens.com/. Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.com

Brandon M. Terry is the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University and the co-director of the Institute on Policing, Incarceration, and Public Safety at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. Born in Baltimore, Terry earned a PhD with distinction in Political Science and African American Studies from Yale University, an MSc in Political Theory Research at the University of Oxford, and an AB, magna cum laude, in Government and African and African American Studies from Harvard College.

Notes and Links to Timothy Welbeck's Work     Timothy Welbeck, Esq., is an affiliated faculty member in the Department of Africology and African American Studies, where he previously served as an Assistant Professor of Instruction. There he teaches an array of popular courses, including a course he developed entitled Kendrick Lamar and the Morale of the m.A.A.d city. More broadly, Timothy's scholarly work focuses on contemporary issues of racial identity in America, the intersection of racial classifications and the law in the American context, contemporary African American culture, and hip-hop as a microcosm of the Black experience. Timothy has also written several peer-reviewed journal articles including “We Have Come Into This House: The Black Church, Florida's Stop W.O.K.E., and the Fight to Teach Black History.” He also authored “Specter of Reform: The late Sen. Arlen Specter's Criminal Justice Reform, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, and its Role in Expanding the Modern Prison Industrial Complex,” explores the impact of the infamous 1994 Crime Bill in providing the infrastructure for mass incarceration within the United States. The research, funded by the Arlen Specter Center fellowship, examines how the federalization of criminal law, pursuant to the Commerce Clause, has led to expansive growth in federal law enforcement, imprisonment, and thus setting the foundation for the modern carceral state. Timothy's article “People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths to Rhythms: Hip-Hop's Continuation of the Enduring Tradition of African and African American Rhetorical Forms and Tropes,” examines hip-hop's continuation of centuries-old African cultural norms and aesthetic values. As an attorney, Timothy has long been an advocate for justice, using his legal expertise to defend society's most vulnerable individuals, including survivors of human trafficking, survivors of police brutality, and the indigent. He has also provided crisis management, guidance, and legal counsel to churches and nonprofit organizations across the globe. In that capacity, Timothy is the Chair of the Board of Directors for The Witness Foundation, and an Advisory Board member of For the Future Organization. Timothy has also served as the Civil Rights Attorney for the Philadelphia Chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), where he defended the constitutionally protected civil rights and liberties of those who experience discrimination and harassment based on their faith, race, ethnicity, and/or national origin, particularly members of the Muslim community within Pennsylvania.  As a hip-hop artist, he has released four full length recordings, shared the stage with national and international acts (Janelle Monáe, Jidenna, EPMD, Dead Prez, and Immortal Technique), won songwriting contests (Session 1 Grand Prize in 2010 John Lennon Songwriting Contest), garnered high compliments from hip-hop legends, industry taste-makers (Sway) and record executives (VP of A&R at Def Jam, Lenny S).  His latest work, entitled ‘Trane of Thought, is a live recorded hip-hop album that melds songs from his first two albums the musical style of John Coltrane. Timothy presently serves as the Pastor of Formation and a Teaching Elder at Epiphany Church of Wilmington, bringing over twenty years of ministry experience. He fosters spiritual growth through expositional and topical preaching, community engagement, trainings, workshops and spiritual counseling. In his role, he equips Epiphany members to live out their faith practically in their communities and prepare others to do the same. Timothy's work as an attorney and scholar has allowed him to contribute to various media outlets, such as: Axios, BBC Radio 4, CBS, CNN, The Huffington Post, NBC, The New York Times, NPR, The Philadelphia Inquirer, REVOLT TV, The Washington Post, VOX, and 900 WURD AM. He has lectured nationally and internationally at esteemed institutions like: Magdalen College of Oxford University, Georgetown University, Swarthmore College, and provided invited keynote addresses at major corporations like 1Hotels, Campbell Soup, and Merrill Lynch. As a contributing writer, Timothy has bylines in The Huffington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, WHYY, and RESPECT Magazine.  He earned his J.D. from Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law and his B.A. from Morehouse College, where he graduated cum laude and was awarded the Corella and Bertrand Bonner Scholarship. Timothy finds his greatest joy and fulfillment at home with his wife and three children.     Timothy Welbeck's Website Video: “Kendrick Lamar and the Morale of m.A.A.d City Hiphop Course | Prof. Timothy Welbeck Explains”   Video Conversation with Georgette from XXL: “Inside the Kendrick Lamar College Course Created to Study His Lyrics and Life” At about 2:50, Timothy highlights some “surreal moments” in his hip hop career and advocacy At about 4:20, Timothy responds to Pete's question about declining or rising advocacy in contemporary hip-hop  At about 6:30, Timothy reflects on the balance between a democratization of hip hop and old models of record company control At about 9:05, Timothy talks about his reading background, including a Tim Follett read (!) and other formative works At about 12:10, Timothy talks about being a “late bloomer” in his hip hop exposure At about 13:25, Timothy cites Nas, Lauryn Hill, Blackstar, Outkast, The Roots as some of his favorite rappers and groups At about 14:45, Timothy talks about friends The Remnant and how they helped him to “understand the power of [his] own voice” At about 15:30, Timothy responds to Pete's question about how he listen to music now that he has written about and taught classes so extensively about hip hop  At about 17:00, Timothy breaks down his process for listening to music that he will be writing/teaching about  At about 17:50, Timothy explains the different ways of ordering Kendrick Lamar's albums/mixtapes, and expands on the class' contours  At about 20:30, Timothy talks about the class on Kendrick Lamar's seeds, calling it "serendipitous"  At about 23:10, Timothy talks about the class structure, including the foundation established at the beginning of the class At about 26:30, Timothy talks about how he goes about establishing Compton as an entity in itself, while at the same time showing its similarities to other casualties of government neglect and racism  At about 28:25, Timothy talks about the "compelling" way in which Kendrick Lamar is both popularly respected and critically-acclaimed  At about 31:55, Pete and Tim discuss an early Kendrick Lamar concert At about 32:25, Pete and Tim reflect on Kendrick Lamar's love of Black culture and for important music legends, particularly the way in which he featured titans on To Pimp a Butterfly At about 34:30, Tim describes the great insights  At about 36:05, Marcus J. Moore's The Butterfly Effect and Cole Cuchna and his Dissect Podcast are shouted out by Timothy as experts on Kendrick and his work, and DJ Head as well and Curtis King are highlighted as close colleagues of Kendrick's At about 38:00, Timothy shares some of his favorite bars from Kendrick Lamar At about 41:15, Pete and Timothy fanboy over Kendrick's verse on “Nosetalgia” and Timothy gives kudos to Cole Cuchna's breakdown of the numerology of the verse At about 42:10, Timothy talks about a few songs that might be best representative of Kendrick Lamar's music        You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow Pete on IG, where he is @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where he is @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both the YouTube Channel and the podcast while you're checking out this episode.       Pete is very excited to have one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. His conversation with Jeff Pearlman, a recent guest, will be up at Chicago Review in the next week or so.     Sign up now for The Chills at Will Podcast Patreon: it can be found at patreon.com/chillsatwillpodcastpeterriehl      Check out the page that describes the benefits of a Patreon membership, including cool swag and bonus episodes. Thanks in advance for supporting Pete's one-man show, DIY podcast and extensive reading, research, editing, and promoting to keep this independent podcast pumping out high-quality content!    This month's Patreon bonus episode features an exploration of children's literature on standout writers from the show, including Robert Jones, Jr. and Javier Zamora, as well as Pete's cherished relationship with Levar Burton, Reading Rainbow, and libraries.    Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show.     This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting what he's convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form.    The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com.     Please tune in for Episode 319 with Farah Ali, writer of the novel The River, The Town, and the short story collection People Want to Live. Her fiction has been anthologized in Best Small Fictions and the Pushcart Prize where it has also received special mention. She is the cofounder of Lakeer, a digital space for writing from Pakistan, and reviews editor at Wasafiri. Her novel Telegraphy is out on January 16, from CB editions, and the episode airs on Pub Day.    Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.  

Professor of African American Studies at UCLA and author of "Radical Reparations: Healing the Soul of a Nation," Marcus Anthony Hunter offers analysis on the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection, the future of Cuba and other trending political topicsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tavis-smiley--6286410/support.

For many, poetry is a balm. But for others, poetry feels inaccessible and hard to understand. In her latest book, “Fear Less: Poetry in Perilous Times” former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith aims to make poetry less intimidating. We listen back to our conversation with Smith about how to read poems, how to “listen at the widest possible angle” and how to use poetry to connect to one another across our differences. Guests: Tracy K. Smith, former U.S. Poet Laureate; professor of English and of African and African American Studies, Harvard University - Smith's latest book is "Fear Less: Poetry in Perilous Times" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

International solidarity is at the heart of our hopes for fundamental, humane change in the US. There can be no revolution in values or in fact if progressive Americans wrap themselves in the myth of “exceptionalism” and stand aside from the global struggles leading the fight against imperialism and for peace and justice. We need to become comrades, standing together—shoulder-to-shoulder against a common enemy and toward a common goal. We join, then, a voluntary association characterized by enthusiasm and joy at being part of something larger than ourselves. We're not allies, functioning in service to, but rather comrades, acting in solidarity with. The biggest obstacle to authentic comradeship in US history—the third rail of American radical politics—is and always has been white supremacy, and tepid work toward International Solidarity and Black freedom. Comradeship in America emerges only from an unconditional embrace of Internationalism and Black Liberation. We are joined in conversation with Martha Biondi, the Lorraine H. Morton Professor of African American Studies and Professor of History at Northwestern University, author of The Black Revolution on Campus; To Stand and Fight: the Struggle for Civil Rights in Postwar New York City, and most recently, We Are Internationalists: Prexy Nesbitt and the Fight for African Liberationand Prexy Nesbitt, a Chicago organizer, engaged scholar, and activist who built (over several decades) international solidarity with African liberation movements fighting against colonialism and apartheid in Mozambique, Angola, and South Africa.

Tracy K. Smith, Pulitzer Prize winning poet, former Poet Laureate of the United States from 2017 to 2019, professor of English and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University and the author of several poetry collections and her latest, Fear Less: Poetry in Perilous Times (Norton, 2025), talks about her new book, making the case for reading poetry and sharing her own writing process.

What's better than holiday hot chocolate? If just thinking about it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, well – that's by design. Chocolate's big history sweeps across the globe, and today we're going on that journey: from the pre–Columbus Americas, to an early 20th century reporter's hunch about what cocoa production really takes, to a 21st century medical student's story about his childhood on a farm that produces those holiday treats.Guests:Carla Martin, lecturer in African and African American Studies at Harvard University and President of the Board of the Institute for Cacao and Chocolate ResearchCatherine Higgs, professor of history at the University of British Columbia in CanadaShadrack Frimpong, founder of Cocoa360We've got a favor to ask: We know there are a lot of great NPR shows out there.. but we all know who's the best.  NPR is celebrating the best  podcasts of the year, and YOU get to crown the winner of the People's Choice Award. Vote for Throughline at npr.org/peopleschoice. May the best pod win!To access bonus episodes and listen to Throughline sponsor-free, subscribe to Throughline+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/throughline.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Karl Marx wrote in Capital that capitalism came into the world “dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt.” The Thanksgiving holiday is built around an insidious and false creation myth -- that the so-called “settling” of North America was a peaceful and amicable process. But in reality, the genocidal expansion of colonialism across the continent led to unspeakable suffering and death for Indigenous peoples. What is the real story of the birth of U.S. capitalism?Dr. Gerald Horne holds the Moores Professorship of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston and the author of many books, including “The Dawning of the Apocalypse: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism, and Capitalism in the Long Sixteenth Century”.This is a preview of a patrons-only episode. Subscribe at https://www.patreon.com/TheSocialistProgram to hear the full episode, get access to all our patrons-only content, and help make this show possible.

For many, poetry is a balm. But for others, poetry feels inaccessible and hard to understand. In her latest book, “Fear Less: Poetry in Perilous Times” former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith aims to make poetry less intimidating. We talk to Smith about how to read poems, how to “listen at the widest possible angle” and how to use poetry to connect to one another across our differences. Guests: Tracy K. Smith, former U.S. Poet Laureate; professor of English and of African and African American Studies, Harvard University - Smith's latest book is "Fear Less: Poetry in Perilous Times" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Benin has long tried to highlight its role in the transatlantic slave trade through monuments and memorials in the country, in the hope it would attract tourism.Now it has a new plan.It is offering citizenship to descendants of enslaved Africans around the world.US singers Lauryn Hill and Ciara received their citizenship in July. Filmmaker Spike Lee and his wife Tonya Lewis Lee have also been made Benin's ambassadors to the African-American population in America.The move is an attempt to attract talent and money to its shores and showcase the nation's culture and traditions to a wider audience.This week on The Inquiry we're asking: Can Benin win back its diaspora?Contributors: Dr Bayo Holsey, Association Professor, African American Studies and Anthropology at Emory University, United States Ana Lucia Araujo, Professor in the Department of History at Howard University, United States Dr Leonard Wantchekon, Founder and President of the African School of Economics Tonya Lewis Lee, filmmaker and entrepreneurPresenter: Tanya Beckett Producer: Daniel Rosney Researcher: Maeve Schaffer Technical producer: Nicky Edwards Production Co-ordinator: Hattie Valentine Editor: Tom Bigwood(Photo: Ciara receiving citizenship of Benin. Credit: Government of Benin)