Podcasts about black alumni presidential professor

Martha S. Jones grew up feeling her Black identity was obvious to all who saw her. But weeks into college, a Black Studies classmate challenged Jones's right to speak. Suspicious of the color of her skin and the texture of her hair, he confronted her with a question that inspired a lifetime of introspection: “Who do you think you are?” Now a prizewinning scholar of Black history, Jones delves into her family's past for answers. In every generation since her great-great-great-grandmother survived enslavement to raise a free family, color determined her ancestors' lives. But the color line was shifting and jagged, not fixed and straight. Some backed away from it, others skipped along it, and others still were cut deep by its sharp teeth. Journeying across centuries, from rural Kentucky and small-town North Carolina to New York City and its suburbs, The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir (Basic Books, 2025) is a lyrical, deeply felt meditation on the most fundamental matters of identity, belonging, and family. Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, professor of history, and a professor at the SNF Agora Institute at the Johns Hopkins University. A prizewinning author and editor of four books, most recently Vanguard, she is past copresident of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians and has contributed to the New York Times, Atlantic, and many other publications. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland. 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). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

Martha S. Jones grew up feeling her Black identity was obvious to all who saw her. But weeks into college, a Black Studies classmate challenged Jones's right to speak. Suspicious of the color of her skin and the texture of her hair, he confronted her with a question that inspired a lifetime of introspection: “Who do you think you are?” Now a prizewinning scholar of Black history, Jones delves into her family's past for answers. In every generation since her great-great-great-grandmother survived enslavement to raise a free family, color determined her ancestors' lives. But the color line was shifting and jagged, not fixed and straight. Some backed away from it, others skipped along it, and others still were cut deep by its sharp teeth. Journeying across centuries, from rural Kentucky and small-town North Carolina to New York City and its suburbs, The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir (Basic Books, 2025) is a lyrical, deeply felt meditation on the most fundamental matters of identity, belonging, and family. Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, professor of history, and a professor at the SNF Agora Institute at the Johns Hopkins University. A prizewinning author and editor of four books, most recently Vanguard, she is past copresident of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians and has contributed to the New York Times, Atlantic, and many other publications. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland. 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). 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

Martha S. Jones grew up feeling her Black identity was obvious to all who saw her. But weeks into college, a Black Studies classmate challenged Jones's right to speak. Suspicious of the color of her skin and the texture of her hair, he confronted her with a question that inspired a lifetime of introspection: “Who do you think you are?” Now a prizewinning scholar of Black history, Jones delves into her family's past for answers. In every generation since her great-great-great-grandmother survived enslavement to raise a free family, color determined her ancestors' lives. But the color line was shifting and jagged, not fixed and straight. Some backed away from it, others skipped along it, and others still were cut deep by its sharp teeth. Journeying across centuries, from rural Kentucky and small-town North Carolina to New York City and its suburbs, The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir (Basic Books, 2025) is a lyrical, deeply felt meditation on the most fundamental matters of identity, belonging, and family. Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, professor of history, and a professor at the SNF Agora Institute at the Johns Hopkins University. A prizewinning author and editor of four books, most recently Vanguard, she is past copresident of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians and has contributed to the New York Times, Atlantic, and many other publications. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland. 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). 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

Martha S. Jones grew up feeling her Black identity was obvious to all who saw her. But weeks into college, a Black Studies classmate challenged Jones's right to speak. Suspicious of the color of her skin and the texture of her hair, he confronted her with a question that inspired a lifetime of introspection: “Who do you think you are?” Now a prizewinning scholar of Black history, Jones delves into her family's past for answers. In every generation since her great-great-great-grandmother survived enslavement to raise a free family, color determined her ancestors' lives. But the color line was shifting and jagged, not fixed and straight. Some backed away from it, others skipped along it, and others still were cut deep by its sharp teeth. Journeying across centuries, from rural Kentucky and small-town North Carolina to New York City and its suburbs, The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir (Basic Books, 2025) is a lyrical, deeply felt meditation on the most fundamental matters of identity, belonging, and family. Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, professor of history, and a professor at the SNF Agora Institute at the Johns Hopkins University. A prizewinning author and editor of four books, most recently Vanguard, she is past copresident of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians and has contributed to the New York Times, Atlantic, and many other publications. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland. 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). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

Martha S. Jones grew up feeling her Black identity was obvious to all who saw her. But weeks into college, a Black Studies classmate challenged Jones's right to speak. Suspicious of the color of her skin and the texture of her hair, he confronted her with a question that inspired a lifetime of introspection: “Who do you think you are?” Now a prizewinning scholar of Black history, Jones delves into her family's past for answers. In every generation since her great-great-great-grandmother survived enslavement to raise a free family, color determined her ancestors' lives. But the color line was shifting and jagged, not fixed and straight. Some backed away from it, others skipped along it, and others still were cut deep by its sharp teeth. Journeying across centuries, from rural Kentucky and small-town North Carolina to New York City and its suburbs, The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir (Basic Books, 2025) is a lyrical, deeply felt meditation on the most fundamental matters of identity, belonging, and family. Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, professor of history, and a professor at the SNF Agora Institute at the Johns Hopkins University. A prizewinning author and editor of four books, most recently Vanguard, she is past copresident of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians and has contributed to the New York Times, Atlantic, and many other publications. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland. 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). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

Historian Martha S. Jones was looking through a book one day when she found a section mentioning her grandfather. It referred to her grandfather as white. But in reality, her grandfather’s father was a free man of color, and his mother was born enslaved. This wasn’t the first time her family’s racial identity was questioned, so she started writing down her version of her family’s history. It's that history, and her family's relationship to racial identity, that she explores in her new book The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir. GUEST: Martha S. Jones: The Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, Professor of History and Professor at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. Her latest book is The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Martha S. Jones joins Let's Talk Memoir for a conversation about being Black, white, and other in America, the origins of her family in slavery and sexual violence, anti-miscegenation laws, passing, who we call kin and why, taking up space, avoiding the Black-White binary, discovering family stories, writing in a full-throated way, leaving complexity in our work, being patient with our material, chasing threads, the duty we have to the people we write about, grappling with contradictions, leaving readers room to decide, writing and rewriting to get someplace new, the courage it takes to confront the past, and her new book The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir. Also mentioned in this episode: -false starts -feeling ready to be read -taking care of ourselves when writing   Books mentioned in this episode: Heavy by Kiese Laymon Memorial Drive by Natasha Tretheway Black is the Body by Emily Bernard Thick by Tracy McMillan Cotton Inventing the Truth by William Zissner    Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, professor of history, and a professor at the SNF Agora Institute at the Johns Hopkins University. A prizewinning author and editor of four books, her forthcoming The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir, confronts the limits of the historian's craft in this powerful memoir of family, color, and being Black, white, and other in America. She is past copresident of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians and has contributed to the New York Times, Atlantic, and many other publications. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Connect with Martha: Website: www.marthasjones.com X: https://x.com/marthasjones_ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marthasjones Book: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/martha-s-jones/the-trouble-of-color/9781541601000/?lens=basic-books – Ronit's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Poets & Writers, The Iowa Review, Hippocampus, The Washington Post, Writer's Digest, American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir WHEN SHE COMES BACK about the loss of her mother to the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and their eventual reconciliation was named Finalist in the 2021 Housatonic Awards Awards, the 2021 Indie Excellence Awards, and was a 2021 Book Riot Best True Crime Book. Her short story collection HOME IS A MADE-UP PLACE won Hidden River Arts' 2020 Eludia Award and the 2023 Page Turner Awards for Short Stories.  She earned an MFA in Nonfiction Writing at Pacific University, is Creative Nonfiction Editor at The Citron Review, and teaches memoir through the University of Washington's Online Continuum Program and also independently. She launched Let's Talk Memoir in 2022, lives in Seattle with her family of people and dogs, and is at work on her next book. More about Ronit: https://ronitplank.com Subscribe to Ronit's Substack: https://substack.com/@ronitplank Follow Ronit: https://www.instagram.com/ronitplank/ https://www.facebook.com/RonitPlank https://bsky.app/profile/ronitplank.bsky.social   Background photo credit: Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash Headshot photo credit: Sarah Anne Photography Theme music: Isaac Joel, Dead Moll's Fingers

Have you ever felt like you don't quite fit into the boxes society tries to put you in? Martha S. Jones, a historian and writer, shares her powerful journey of self-discovery and identity in this thought-provoking episode of the Life Shift podcast.Born to parents who defied societal norms in the 1950s, Martha grew up navigating the complexities of race and identity in a world that often struggled to understand her. She recounts a pivotal moment in college when a classmate challenged her right to speak about Black history, forcing her to confront questions about who she was and where she belonged.The impact of family history on identityHow her parents' interracial marriage shaped her upbringingThe challenges of growing up in a world divided by raceThe importance of understanding one's family storyNavigating societal expectationsDealing with others' perceptions and assumptionsFinding the courage to define oneself beyond labelsThe power of resilience in the face of adversityThe journey of self-discoveryHow writing her memoir helped her process her experiencesFinding humor and absurdity in the complexities of raceEmbracing the fullness of her identity and family historyMartha's story is a testament to the power of perseverance and self-reflection. Her experiences offer valuable insights for anyone grappling with questions of identity, belonging, and the impact of family history on our lives.As you listen to this episode, consider:How has your own family history shaped your sense of self?In what ways have you felt challenged to fit into societal expectations?What stories from your past might help others feel less alone in their experiences?Join us for this inspiring conversation that reminds us of the beauty and complexity of the human experience, and the importance of sharing our stories with the world.Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and professor of history at Johns Hopkins University. The prizewinning author and editor of four books, most recently Vanguard, she is a past co-president of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians and has contributed to the New York Times, Atlantic, and many other publications. For more information, please visit her website at https://marthasjones.com/Resources: To listen in on more conversations about pivotal moments that changed lives forever, subscribe to "The Life Shift" on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to rate the show 5 stars and leave a review! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Access ad-free episodes released two days early and bonus episodes with past guests through Patreon.https://patreon.com/thelifeshiftpodcastConnect with me:Instagram: www.instagram.com/thelifeshiftpodcastFacebook: www.facebook.com/thelifeshiftpodcastYouTube: https://bit.ly/thelifeshift_youtubeTwitter: www.twitter.com/thelifeshiftpodLinkedIn:

Guest: Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University and Co-President of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians. She is the author of Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America.  The post Who is Inside and Who is Outside of the Circle of Citizenship in America appeared first on KPFA.

Citizenship is a perpetual debate in America. Martha S. Jones discusses how the exclusion of women and people of color from the early Republic led them to develop their own political cultures and collective institutions. As a result, marginalized people, particularly Black women, reframed politics in a way that was more aligned with America's democratic ideals than any other political vision at the time. Elevating their voices and visions of democracy helps clarify who we have been and who we hope to be. Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, a Professor of History, and a Professor at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. A legal and cultural historian, her work examines how Black Americans have shaped the story of American democracy. She has written three award-winning books: Vanguard (2022), Birthright Citizens (2018), and All Bound Up Together (2007). Links: https://snfagora.jhu.edu/about-snf-agora/ https://hardhistory.jhu.edu/ https://alumni.jhu.edu/affinitygroups/soba https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/martha-s-jones/vanguard/9781541618619/?lens=basic-books https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/birthright-citizens/7A4BFAF68722E7EC837C2888C46E4434 https://uncpress.org/book/9780807858455/all-bound-up-together/

Martha S. Jones (NHC Fellow, 2013–14), Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and Professor of History, Johns Hopkins University In the standard story, the suffrage crusade began in Seneca Falls in 1848 and ended with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. But this overwhelmingly white women's movement did not win the vote for most Black women. Securing their rights required a movement of their own. In “Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All,” historian Martha S. Jones offers a new history of African American women's political lives in America. She recounts how they defied both racism and sexism to fight for the ballot, and how they wielded political power to secure the equality and dignity of all persons. From the earliest days of the republic to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and beyond, Jones excavates the lives and work of Black women—Maria Stewart, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Fannie Lou Hamer, and more—who were the vanguard of women's rights, calling on America to realize its best ideals. Watch the full video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GAkgz7oYPV8 https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/virtual-book-club-vanguard-black-women-broke-barriers-won-vote-equality-for-all/

On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass delivered a speech to an anti-slavery society and he famously asked “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” In this episode, we explore Douglass' thoughtful question within the context of Early America: What did the Fourth of July mean for African Americans in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries? To help us investigate this question, we are joined by Martha S. Jones, the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University, and Christopher Bonner, an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Maryland. This episode originally posted as Episode 277. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/321 Join Ben Franklin's World! Subscribe and help us bring history right to your ears! Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Seizing Freedom podcast Complementary Episodes Episode 018: Danielle Allen, Our Declaration Episode 119: Steve Pincus, The Heart of the Declaration Episode 141: A Declaration in Draft Episode 157: The Revolution's African American Soldiers Episode 166: Freedom and the American Revolution Episode 245: Celebrating the Fourth Episode 255: Martha S. Jones, Birthright Citizens Listen! Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook Group Ben Franklin's World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcast Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass delivered a speech to an anti-slavery society and he famously asked “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” In this episode, we explore Douglass' thoughtful question within the context of Early America: What did the Fourth of July mean for African Americans in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries? To help us investigate this question, we are joined by Martha S. Jones, the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University, and Christopher Bonner, an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Maryland. This episode originally posted as Episode 277. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/321 Join Ben Franklin's World! Subscribe and help us bring history right to your ears! Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Seizing Freedom podcast Complementary Episodes Episode 018: Danielle Allen, Our Declaration Episode 119: Steve Pincus, The Heart of the Declaration Episode 141: A Declaration in Draft Episode 157: The Revolution's African American Soldiers Episode 166: Freedom and the American Revolution Episode 245: Celebrating the Fourth Episode 255: Martha S. Jones, Birthright Citizens Listen! Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Amazon Music Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook Group Ben Franklin's World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcast Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

On Tuesday (January 11), President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Atlanta to speak about the importance of voting rights, and the need for federal legislation to overcome the dozens of state laws that have been enacted and the hundreds of laws that are being considered to restrict voting. Before the President spoke, Vice President Kamala Harris advocated for an end to the filibuster that might clear the path for the passage of theJohn Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. And then, President Biden also called for changes to the filibuster that would make passage of the voting rights legislation possible. This was the first time he had taken that position publicly. It's a position that is not shared by at least two members of the Democratic caucus. How either piece of legislation actually gets passed remains an open question. Today on Midday,a conversation about an important and often overlooked dimension in the history of voting rights: the long fight for Black women's suffrage. Tom's guest is the acclaimed legal and cultural historian, Martha S. Jones. She has written a broad, insightful survey of the unsung heroes of the movement for equality, a movement that started two centuries ago, and which includes scores of remarkable women whose importance and impact are made clear by Dr. Jones' compelling narrative. The book is called Vanguard:  How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All. Now out in paperback, Prof. Jones' latest book has earned numerous awards, including the L.A. Times Book Prize for History. Dr. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and professor of history at Johns Hopkins University. She's the author of three books and an editor of a collection of essays called Toward an Intellectual History of Black Women.  Dr. Jones is also the director of the Hard History at Hopkins Project. The Hard History Project aims to closely and honestly examine the history of this world-renowned institution, and reckon with the findings. Those findings are sometimes troubling. Two years ago, in a Washington Post opinion piece, Dr. Jones presented evidence that contradicted a long-held view of her university's namesake. Her research led the university to confirm that Johns Hopkins, long thought to be an anti-slavery abolitionist, owned slaves. Six months later, a group of scholars questioned Dr. Jones' conclusions, and the debate on this issue continues. And in a related story, last week the Washington Post reported on a new database its staff has compiled documenting more than 1,700 members of Congress from the 18th, 19th and even 20th centuries who enslaved people. Dr. Martha S. Jones joins us for the hour, on Zoom, from Washington, DC.. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Although the 15th and 19th Amendments to the Constitution enshrined the right to vote regardless of race and guaranteed women the right to vote more than 100 years ago, the struggle for Black women's suffrage and representation is ongoing, and the history of the struggle still relatively unknown today. We discuss that history on this week's episode, and highlight the key Black women figures throughout time who served as suffrage advocates, voters, and representatives—from Sojourner Truth to Shirley Chisholm. This panel features Nadia Brown, professor of government and chair of the Women's and Gender Studies Program at Georgetown University and Idol Family Fellow at the Anne Welsh McNulty Institute at Villanova University; Bettye Collier-Thomas, professor of history at Temple University and co-editor of African American Women and the Vote, 1837–1965; and Martha Jones, Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and professor of history at Johns Hopkins University and author of Vanguard. Lana Ulrich, senior director of content at the National Constitution Center, moderates the discussion. This program was made possible through the generous support of the McNulty Foundation in partnership with the Anne Welsh McNulty Institute for Women's Leadership at Villanova University. It's part of the National Constitution Center's Women and the Constitution, initiative. This conversation was streamed live on November 9, 2021. Additional resources and transcript available in our Media Library at constitutioncenter.org/constitution. Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.

On today's episode, Martha S. Jones, author of Vanguard, discusses how African American women's political power has transformed America. Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and professor of history at Johns Hopkins University. She is president of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians, the oldest and largest association of women historians in the United States, and she sits on the executive board of the Organization of American Historians. Author of Birthright Citizens and All Bound up Together, she has written for The Washington Post, The Atlantic, USA Today, and more. She lives in Baltimore, MD. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest: Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and professor of history at Johns Hopkins University and author of the book VANGUARD: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All. The post History of the Black Women's Rights Movement appeared first on KPFA.

We’re coming up on the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment which was ratified on August 18th, 1920 and then certified eight days later. The 19th Amendment inked women’s suffrage into American history, a culminating moment in an effort to win political power. But the ordained heroes of women’s suffrage – like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and later Alice Paul – often tossed out the leadership and movement-building of Black women. The absence of those voices from the popular historical record has obscured the centuries-long role that Black women have played in expanding voting rights. And, of course, we’re releasing this episode just days after presidential candidate Joe Biden announced Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate, which marks the first time a woman of color is on a major party ticket. Joining us to discuss how the history of voting rights has led us to this moment is Martha S. Jones, the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, and professor of History at Johns Hopkins University. She is also the author of a new book called Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All.

On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass delivered a speech to an anti-slavery society and he famously asked “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” In this episode, we explore Douglass’ thoughtful question within the context of Early America: What did the Fourth of July mean for African Americans in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries? To help us investigate this question, we are joined by Martha S. Jones, the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University, and Christopher Bonner, an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Maryland. Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/277 Join Ben Franklin's World! Subscribe and help us bring history right to your ears! Sponsor Links Omohundro Institute Derrick Spires, “Dreams of a Revolution Deferred”  Suggested Readings: “Slavery and the American Revolution”  Complementary Episodes Episode 018: Danielle Allen, Our Declaration Episode 119: Steve Pincus, The Heart of the Declaration Episode 141: A Declaration in Draft Episode 157: The Revolution’s African American Soldiers Episode 166: Freedom and the American Revolution Episode 245: Celebrating the Fourth Episode 255: Martha S. Jones, Birthright Citizens   Listen! Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts Ben Franklin's World iOS App Ben Franklin's World Android App Helpful Links Join the Ben Franklin's World Facebook Group Ben Franklin’s World Twitter: @BFWorldPodcast Ben Franklin's World Facebook Page Sign-up for the Franklin Gazette Newsletter

Αs part of the SNF's monthly DIALOGUES series, Johns Hopkins University co-organized the 2nd SNF Agora Institute Workshop. The event was held on June 26th from 09:00 am to 01:30 pm at the Stavros Niarchos Hall of the Greek National Opera, SNFCC. The workshop, “Talking (and Listening) Across Divides,” explored what experience and science can teach us about the requirements for productive dialogue and engagement. This workshop was led by a diverse group of scholars and practitioners whose research and work helped to shed light on how we might resolve, mediate, or even just consider competing claims—essential work for any thriving democracy. Speakers included: Anna-Kynthia Bousdoukou, Journalist, Managing Director, iMEdD and Executive Director, SNF Dialogues Hahrie Han, PhD, Inaugural Director, SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University Martha Jones, PhD, Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and Professor of History, Johns Hopkins University Munzer Khattab, Co-Founder, BureauCrazy Roelf Meyer, Former Leader of the National Party, South Africa Michelle Miller, Co-Host, CBS This Morning: Saturday Marc Morial, President and CEO, National Urban League Mike Niconchuk, Senior Researcher, Beyond Conflict Timothy Phillips, Founder and CEO, Beyond Conflict Ebrahim Rasool, Former South African Ambassador to the United States Barri Shorey, Interim Senior Technical Director, Economic Recovery and Development, International Rescue Committee Elizabeth Smyth, Executive Director, SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University

Before the Civil War, colonization schemes and black laws threatened to deport former slaves born in the United States. We talk to Martha S. Jones about how African American remade national belonging through battles in legislatures, conventions, and courthouses and reclaim their right to citizenship. Guest: Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University, and Co-President of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians. She is the author of Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America. The post Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America appeared first on KPFA.

Who’s In, and Who’s Out? Birthright Citizenship, with Martha Jones.   Who’s in, and who’s out? Who belongs rightfully in America, and who can be excluded from the rights and responsibilities of citizenship? Who can stay, and who must go? Martha Jones explains the history of birthright citizenship, how Black Americans claimed the rights of citizenship long before the courts and Congress granted them such legal rights, and why this prehistory matters to understand today’s debates. Is it outrageous that senior officials question the right of birthright citizenship? You may think so, but you’d also be wrong to think that this right has not been contested from the very dawn of our Republic, and you’d be wrong if you think that birthright citizenship will disappear as a political and ideological or a legal and constitutional matter for all time. Martha Jones  is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University, and the author of Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America and All Bound Up Together: The Woman Question in African American Public Culture 1830 -1900. In our conversation, recorded on election day 2018, when one of the fundamental rights granted to all citizens was put to the test yet again, she explains how Black Americans insisted on their rights as citizens for decades before the country caught up, with the 14th Amendment in 1868.

Before the Civil War, colonization schemes and black laws threatened to deport former slaves born in the United States. Birthright Citizens recovers the story of how African American activists remade national belonging through battles in legislatures, conventions, and courthouses. They faced formidable opposition, most notoriously from the US Supreme Court decision in Dred Scott. Still, Martha S. Jones explains, no single case defined their status. Former slaves studied law, secured allies, and conducted themselves like citizens, establishing their status through local, everyday claims. All along they argued that birth guaranteed their rights. With fresh archival sources and an ambitious reframing of constitutional law-making before the Civil War, Jones shows how the Fourteenth Amendment constitutionalized the birthright principle, and black Americans' aspirations were realized. Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America tells how African American activists radically transformed the terms of citizenship for all Americans.Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University, and Co-President of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians. She is the author of Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America (2018) and All Bound Up Together: The Woman Question in African American Public Culture (2007) and an editor of Toward an Intellectual History of Black Women (2015.) For more information visit marthasjones.com.

Fearing forced deportations during the 19th century, black Americans began the intellectual work that would decades later lead to the formation of the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution giving birthright citizenship to anyone born in the country and equal protection under the law.  On this program we talk about this history and its implications for today's immigration debate with Martha Jones, author of the book Birthright Citizens: Race ad Citizenship in Antebellum America. Guest: Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University, and Co-President of the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians. She is the author of Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America (2018). About Birthright Citizens Birthright Citizens examines how black Americans transformed the terms of belonging for all Americans before the Civil War. They battled against black laws and threats of exile, arguing that citizenship was rooted in birth, not race. The Fourteenth Amendment affirmed this principle, one that still today determines who is a citizen. Professor Martha Jones website: marthasjones.com  on Twitter: @marthasjones   The post The American Circle of Citizenship: Who is Inside and Who is Outside? appeared first on KPFA.

July 28th, marks the 150th anniversary of the adoption of the 14th Amendment of our Constitution, which defined American citizenship. Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor at Johns Hopkins University. She was formerly a founding director of the Michigan Law School Program in Race, Law & History. She is an author, and her new book, directly related to the 14th Amendment--Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America. www.marthasjones.com

This week on our Public Affairs Program, Sunday at 5a: The Woodland Park Zoo considers itself one of the biggest conservation group and not just as an exhibit for animals. This week we’ll meet Peter Zahler, the Vice President of Conservation Initiatives and hear about the recent addition of two rhinoceroses at WPZ, and how the zoo takes part in efforts to preserve the remaining Greater One Horned Rhinos in Asia, as well as other conservation work around the world and right here in the Northwest. Learn more online at www.zoo.org In our second half its Sunday Morning Magazine with Kate Daniels July 28th, marks the 150th anniversary of the adoption of the 14th Amendment of our Constitution, which defined American citizenship. Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor at Johns Hopkins University. She was formerly a founding director of the Michigan Law School Program in Race, Law & History. She is an author and joins us with her new book, directly related to the 14th Amendment–Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America. www.marthasjones.com

Martha Jones, a professor of history at Johns Hopkins University, has performed a great service -- dusting off records and throwing open the windows of the old Baltimore courthouse to show how, in the decades before the Civil War, free blacks used the law to gain a foothold as citizens. By the 1830s, Baltimore was home to the nation’s largest free-black community. While some 25,000 former slaves and free-born blacks lived and worked in the city, their rights were greatly restricted by so-called “black laws.” So they studied the laws, hired white attorneys to help them, and presented their everyday legal matters -- contract disputes, permit requests -- to judges. They found in the courthouse a way to conduct themselves as citizens and exercise fundamental rights. Extracting stories from 19th Century court records in the Maryland State Archives, Jones shows how, in the face of the 1857 Dred Scott decision, free blacks continued to assert what they saw as their birthright, the first steps on the way to the Fourteenth Amendment and citizenship.Martha Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and professor of history at Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of “Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America,---- published in June by Cambridge University Press.

Leading Civil War and Reconstruction scholars discuss the history and meaning of the 14th Amendment in celebration of its 150th anniversary. Allen Guelzo is the Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era, and Director of Civil War Era Studies at Gettysburg College. Martha Jones is Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor and Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University. Kurt Lash is E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Chair in Law and Founder and director of the Richmond Program on the American Constitution at Richmond School of Law. Darrell A.H. Miller is Melvin G. Shimm Professor of Law at Duke Law School. The host is Jeffrey Rosen. Sherrilyn Ifill, the seventh President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and Trustee of the National Constitution Center, provides introductory remarks. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at podcast@constitutioncenter.org The National Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.