Podcasts about black baptist

Editor's note: This story includes a racial slur.I'm often asked about my favorite stories I've covered as a reporter. That's a hard question to answer after spending 35 years working in journalism, most of them as a local television reporter.Rarely does anyone ask about my hardest moments. That question brings to mind a very vivid memory. In December 2015, I stood in the middle of Plymouth Avenue in north Minneapolis facing the Minneapolis Police Department's 4th Precinct building, watching angry officers and defiant community members clash.Days earlier, police had shot and killed Jamar Clark, a 24-year-old Black man, during a confrontation. Community members wanted answers. Protesters blockaded the entrance to the 4th Precinct and the street outside.In front of me stood armed officers in riot helmets telling the crowd to disperse, and protesters screaming back and holding their ground. I saw the handcuffs come out and arrests happen. Police pulled down a “Black Lives Matter” banner from the building as they cleared out a spreading encampment. I could feel the distrust and rage between the mostly Black residents and mostly white officers.The shooting and its aftermath pushed Minnesota to the center of a painful national debate over police, people of color and deadly force. Months later, the Twin Cities would be torn again by another police shooting of a Black man, Philando Castile. In 2020 came George Floyd, killed by a Minneapolis police officer as he lay handcuffed and face down in the street, pleading that he couldn't breathe.‘You want me to go where? With who?'Nine years after witnessing the battle for the 4th Precinct, I got a message from a manager at MPR News, where I host a morning talk show. The bosses wanted me to travel to Montgomery, Ala., a city at the center of the slave trade and the Civil Rights Movement, with a contingent that included 4th Precinct officers. Reading the message, remembering what I witnessed in 2015 and the department's history of dysfunction and accusations of violence, I thought, “You want me to go where? With who? Why?” Turns out there was a good reason for the ask. Emerging from the killings of Clark and Castile, a small group, the Police and Black Men Project, had formed to talk about the roots of their distrust. They included Minneapolis police officers, Black and white, along with Black community members, leaders of nonprofits, government agencies and private businesses. Some were once incarcerated. All have strong opinions about law enforcement. Group members have met regularly the past eight years.They went to Montgomery in 2023 to tour museums and historical sites. They wanted to do something bigger in 2024, to go back to Alabama with a larger group and wider audience. They called MPR News.Nine years after Jamar Clark's killing, I was called again to witness police and Black men but in a very different way.We were invited to go along in December and record the group's private discussions as they processed what they had seen and heard at each of the tour stops. Our team included editor and producer Stephen Smith and freelance photographer Desmon Williams, who goes by “Dolo.”In their conversations, this group explored a significant part of American history, one many people still struggle to discuss and understand or even acknowledge.400 years of racial terror: Inside The Legacy MuseumWe arrived in Montgomery on a Tuesday afternoon after flying from Minneapolis to Atlanta and then renting SUVs for the two-hour drive. The weather was terrible. Torrential rain and dangerous driving conditions. I wondered if it was some sort of sign of what's to come. We gathered with the group — all men — for dinner, the first of many meals these men would share. I discovered some of them have known each other for years and others are still getting to know each other.  The next morning, the officers and community members filed out of a hotel in downtown Montgomery, all dressed the same — hooded sweatshirts with artwork on the back and the words “Black Men and Police Project” and “Peace” and “Alabama 2024.” On the back, there's an image of a handshake between a black and a white hand with the downtown Minneapolis skyline in the background.The design was created by teenagers in a life-skills mentoring program run by group member Jamil Jackson. It's called Change Equals Opportunity. Jackson is also head basketball coach at Minneapolis Camden High School and one of the founders of Freedom Fighters, which focuses on public safety.Throughout the next few days these sweatshirts would turn heads. Passersby would ask them questions about the Police and Black Men Project as the group walked down the street and waited in lines at restaurants and museums.On this day, our first stop is The Legacy Museum. This is a place to learn about 400 years of American history involving slavery, racial terrorism, legalized segregation and mass incarceration in a way that pulls you into the past. The museum sits on the site of a cotton warehouse where enslaved Black people were forced to work when the cotton economy drove American slavery. I can't bring my microphone in for what seems to me an excellent reason — to respect the solemnity of a museum dedicated to the memory of a national atrocity.Organized evilMoments after stepping into the first area of the exhibit space, you find yourself in darkness, standing in what looks, feels and sounds like the bottom of the ocean. You're introduced to the terrifying expanse of the Atlantic Ocean that more than 13 million Africans were forced to cross in slave ships. Nearly 2 million of them died in this Middle Passage.You're surrounded by underwater sculptures of human bodies, looking at what appears to be the heads, shoulders and arms of enslaved Africans who died after being chained together and then forced onto ships during the transatlantic slave trade. Many of them died from illnesses on the ships due to the horrific conditions. Their bodies were thrown in the ocean. The facial expressions portray horror and despair. As you look at them or try not to, you're hearing the sounds of waves.Later in the day in small group discussions, I listened to the officers and community members discuss what it was like to walk through this display. Several described the experience of feeling shook to the core as they took in this particular scene at the start of the tour. George Warzinik, a sergeant in the Minneapolis 4th Precinct, said later he was shocked by the organized evil of lynching.“My image was always this mob stormed the police station or something, the officers are overwhelmed or whatever, looked away. But there was a headline that said there's a lynching scheduled for tomorrow at 5 o'clock. This is cold calculated. This is, it's booked, it's scheduled, and the governor said he couldn't do anything about it. The governor!” said Warzinik.“We're not talking about the local police guy down there with two, two deputies who's overwhelmed. So, the kind of organizational part of it, you know, that's just really struck me.”As we continue to walk through the exhibit spaces, we move into a section about mass incarceration. You can sit down on a stool and pick up a phone and watch a video that depicts a prisoner welcoming your visit. Each person tells you about the conditions inside the prison and declares their innocence in a crime that landed them behind bars. These are stories told by real incarcerated people.It was after sitting through these video testimonials that I needed a break and went and sat in the women's restroom for a few minutes.‘Not a glimmer of hope'Later in the museum cafeteria filled with students, we met for lunch over delicious soul food to talk about what we've seen. Moving into small groups in a private room, I heard the men share their thoughts about what they'd seen.Like Warzinik, group leader Bill Doherty was struck by the banal efficiency of enslaving and terrorizing people. A retired University of Minnesota professor, his family foundation helped pay for the trip in 2024.“One of the things I got this time is that it takes organization and big systems to do this kind of evil. It's not just in the hearts of individuals,” he said. “I never knew how much the banking system was involved in, in slavery and the slave trade, but slaves were collateral for loans. So the banks were supporting the system by saying, ‘Yeah, you got 12 slaves. I'll lend you this money.' Oh my goodness,” he said.Sherman Patterson, vice president of a Minneapolis nonprofit called Lights On!, noted a quote on the wall about the loss of hope: “I was taught that there was hope after the grave. I lost all hope after I was sold to the South.”“Just think about that, what that's saying,” said Patterson. “That's just, not a glimmer of hope. That's just pure hell. And then the woman who was raped several times and had the kid by her master and she defended herself and killed him and then the justice system said you have no right to defend yourself,” said Patterson, one of the elders in this group.“I grew up in Savannah, Georgia,” he added. “I grew up in true segregation as a kid up until 1975 and saw those things. My grandmother was born in 1919 and sitting on a porch watching her be calling the nigger and all of this here. We could not go downtown in certain places because we were taught you can't, you better not, and this is what you do. So there is anger, but being with this group, this is why we're here. There's hope. There is hope and we're moving forward.”We stop next at the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park. It's a 17-acre site overlooking the Alabama River and the city of Montgomery. On this river, tens of thousands of enslaved people were transported in chains to the slave market. Many, many thousands toiled in fields and factories up and down the Alabama River. And Montgomery was one of the largest slave-trading centers in the United States.‘One heart, and it bleeds the same color'On Day 2, we went to First Baptist Church on the edge of downtown Montgomery. It's a handsome red brick building with a bell tower and a large, round stained glass window. First Baptist was founded in 1867. It is one of the first Black churches in the Montgomery area and became one of the largest Black churches in the South. It played a huge role in the Civil Rights Movement. The Rev. Ralph Abernathy, a close friend and associate of Martin Luther King Jr., was pastor.In the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955 and 1956, First Baptist was a community organizing center. During the Freedom Rides of 1961, this church was besieged for a time by a huge white mob threatening to burn it down.I'd been looking forward to this visit. I grew up in Black Baptist churches in rural communities in southern Virginia. My grandparents raised me, and my grandfather was the pastor of several churches when I was a child. We were greeted in the parking lot by an older Black man, Deacon Emeritus Howard Davis, who reminded me of my grandfather. Davis, 81, was baptized at the church and spent his entire life there as an active member and leader. He greeted each of the men in the group with a smile and a handshake. He shared a bit of the history of the church and the role the building and the people who sat inside it played during the Civil Rights Movement.He described how his family taught him to stay away from white people, particularly white women and girls, and how to this day white women make him nervous. He understands the flip side of that and how white children were told to stay away from Black people and fear them, and how that affects how many of them view Black people today.He also spoke of the modern day challenges that Black people face. He took questions from men in the group and didn't hesitate to shake his head at times and admit he didn't have the answer. At one point one of the group members asked him to pray for them, and he did.Our next stop was Montgomery's former Greyhound Bus Station, now the Freedom Rides Museum. In 1961, teams of volunteers from the North and South challenged the Jim Crow practice of racially-segregated travel on buses and trains in the South. The Freedom Riders were mostly young people, Black and white. They were arrested for violating state and local segregation laws by riding together and ignoring the segregated seating. Local police in many southern towns let the Ku Klux Klan and other mobs attack them.Here, I recorded audio of an interview with community member Brantley Johnson. He reflected on what he saw and how he felt about going on this trip. Johnson said he ran with a gang in Minneapolis and ended up in prison. “When I got out, I promised my kids that I would never leave them again.” He's been part of regular meetings around the 4th Precinct and has been trying to work on ways to build trust between police officers and residents.“We have to meet them at their hardest moments, just like they have to meet us at our hardest moments,” he said of the police. “Because at the end of the day, we all have one heart, and it bleeds the same color, no matter what.”Later, we head to the Rosa Parks Museum on the campus of Troy University. Parks played a pivotal role in the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott. She refused to give up her seat in the so-called “colored section” so that a white woman could have it. Parks was arrested for violating the local bus segregation law. In response, Montgomery's Black community boycotted the bus system for more than a year. The protest brought King, then a local pastor, to national prominence and led eventually to the U.S. Supreme Court declaring bus segregation unconstitutional.Our last two stops on this trip are a walking tour of downtown Montgomery and then the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. It's a profoundly moving 6-acre site in downtown Montgomery. Out of respect for the solemnity of this space, we've been asked not to record audio during the visit. The group splits into smaller groups and scatters in different directions. I follow a group up a hill to what's known as the lynching memorial. I've been there before. A year ago while attending a conference in Birmingham, my husband and I drove to Montgomery to visit The Legacy Museum and the memorial.  I found a monument with the name of a city very close to where I grew up, Danville, Va. The first name on the monument was of a man whose last name was Davis and I took a picture of it. Edward Davis, 11.03.1883. That's when he was lynched. I wonder if we're related.Courage to say ‘No'We return to Minneapolis, where the temperature is in single digits, a little colder than the 50s in Alabama.Not only is the weather different, the men appear different than they were when we gathered at the gate to board our flight days earlier.  That morning they were relaxed, even joking around with one another. Now the mood is more somber and the facial expressions appear to be more reflective. I sense a new confidence in them. To me they look like they are ready to approach future interactions with more knowledge and understanding, more empathy.At different points of the trip, many of the men said they were surprised by how much of the history of this country is not taught in schools. Some seemed troubled by how much they didn't know.The group disperses at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. I can tell everyone's eager to go home. I know I am. I want to be alone with my thoughts and there's a lot to think about.Like, how does one person change things? How does a small group bring change to a whole police department? How does a small group of community members bring change to a whole city?When I get home, I immediately start to unpack. Most of my souvenirs are clothes, including the navy blue T-shirt I bought at the Rosa Parks Museum. It has a small drawing of her face on the right sleeve and on the front there's one word followed by a period.It simply says “No.”Rosa Parks became famous for the moment in time when she'd had enough of racial segregation, injustice and violence. She said no. When I saw that shirt hanging on a wall in the museum gift shop I screamed “Yes!” I searched for my size and bought it.Back at home in St. Paul, I'm wondering why that shirt speaks to my heart in such a profound way? I think it's because it represents a response from a Black woman living at a time when America was at a breaking point. Much like I feel we are today. And the answer to the problem on that day on the bus for Rosa Parks, was a bold refusal to continue on the same path.It takes courage to say no when it's easier and safer to say yes.What I saw in each of the men I spent four days with in Montgomery was a bold refusal to continue on the same path.  Angela Davis' behind-the-scenes photos from Alabama Each brought curiosity to every site we visited. Each brought an understanding they have a lot to learn. Each sought a way to take something they learned in Montgomery back to Minneapolis and put it to work, taking law enforcement and community relations in a different direction.History has shown us where racial segregation and abuse of power lead. My question is this: What will you say when presented with circumstances that don't feel fair and equitable? What will you do when you are encouraged to go along to get along, even if those actions reinforce racism and division? Will you say “No”?Angela Davis hosts MPR News with Angela Davis, a weekday talk show that airs at 9 a.m. She's been a journalist for more than 30 years in the Twin Cities and across the country.

As the recently installed pastor of the historic First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill in Nashville, he's on a mission to inspire a new generation while respecting, in his unique way, the foundation of past leaders. In this episode we learn about his childhood in rural Louisiana and northern California, the work he is most proud of, and his vision for the future of Nashville's oldest Black Baptist church.This episode was produced by Mary Mancini.

In episode 103 of Mission: Impact, Carol Hamilton, Tip Fallon, and Stephen Graves explore the nuances of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), exploring the differences between inclusive and equitable leadership. The conversation highlights the importance of not only representation but also the behavior and mindset of individuals within organizations, emphasizing the need for fairness and addressing power imbalances. This episode provides valuable insights for nonprofit leaders seeking to cultivate more equitable and inclusive organizations, emphasizing the importance of self-reflection, systemic change, and embracing humanity in leadership.   Episode highlights: Defining DEI [00:8:08] Defining DEI: The conversation begins with an exploration of what diversity, equity, and inclusion mean to each participant and how their understanding has evolved over time. Equitable Nonprofit Leadership [00:08:50] Inclusive vs. Equitable Leadership: Distinguishing between inclusive and equitable leadership, emphasizing the importance of fairness and addressing power imbalances. Equity's Challenges: The challenges of equity, particularly in recognizing and confronting one's own complicity in perpetuating inequitable systems. DEI is more than Representation  [00:13:44] Representation and Behavior: The disconnect between representation and actual behavior within organizations, noting that diverse representation does not guarantee equitable or inclusive practices. [00:21:30] - Practical Strategies for Equitable Leadership - Concrete examples to create more equitable hiring practices. - Piloting inclusive structures and the importance of leaders doing their own self-work to understand their privilege and responsibility.   00:28:30 - Hippy Dippy or Innovation - The resistance to DEI initiatives and the perception of these efforts as "soft" or "extra." - The financial implications of not addressing DEI, including lost productivity and customer base. - Questioning the fundamental purpose of organizations and the costs of maintaining exploitative practices.   00:38:30 - Embracing Humanity in Leadership - The cultural barriers to embracing emotions and humanity in the workplace. - The need for leaders to create psychologically safe environments and to see employees as whole human beings.   Guest Bios: Tip Fallon partners with leaders and teams to create effective and equitable organizations. He became interested in leadership and creating inclusive cultures at a young age, growing up in an area that had substantive racial, ethnic, and socio-economic diversity, and as the son of an immigrant in a multiracial family. Coming from a predominantly working class neighborhood, he also saw the impact any leader can have at all levels of society and particularly the effects leaders have on those who are most marginalized. These life experiences inform his philosophy that good leadership  is equitable leadership. Tip has worked with dozens of organizations ranging from community based nonprofits to organizations with international reach including the Federal Aviation Administration, Annie E. Casey Foundation, and The Nature Conservancy. He has taught as an adjunct faculty member for ten years in Organization Development and DEI programs at American University and Georgetown University. He holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering (B.S.), Organization Development (M.S.), and is a Certified Professional Diversity Coach (CPDC).   _____________________________________________   Stephen Graves Born in Greenwood, South Carolina to a pair of faith-driven educators, the values of service and lifelong learning were instilled in Stephen Graves from an early age. These values, coupled with spiritual lessons from an upbringing in the Black Baptist church, shaped Stephen's social consciousness for understanding the inherent worth every person has in life and addressing the historical and present injustices inhibiting people from fully realizing their worth. With this awareness, Stephen pursued a mission-driven path, ensuring people have a sense of respect, dignity, and belonging to live and thrive in a multicultural world. For over a decade, Stephen has consulted and advised leaders and organizations of all sizes and sectors on focus areas such as People & Culture, Leadership & Professional Development, Language Access, Health Equity, and Patient Advocacy. Stephen earned his Master in Health Administration from the Medical University of South Carolina. He holds an Executive Certificate in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion from Georgetown University.   Important Links and Resources:

This interview was recorded in February 2024. Sangodare (Julia Roxanne Wallace) is a sweet space for transformation. Sangodare comes from a thick legacy of Black Baptist preachers and church leaders and currently activates Black Feminist sermonics at a weekly Sunday Service held by Mobile Homecoming Trust. As co-founder of Black Feminist Film School (2012), Visiting Artist in Film at Lawrence University (2017-18) and Artist in Residence at UMN-Twin Cities in the Art Department (2017-19), Sangodare brings a creative, evolutionary and love filled approach to filmmaking, composing, interactive design and preaching. As co-founder of Black Feminist Film School (founded along with Sista Docta Alexis Pauline Gumbs, APG) Sangodare created Ritual Screening, a film viewing technology that is interactive and grounded in Black Feminist practice and our non-linear reality. As co-founder of Mobile Homecoming with APG, a national experiential archive project, Sangodare amplifies generations of Black LGBTQ brilliance. Sangodare's most recent exhibition called Inherit Light: An Evolutionary Practice of Love Consciousness (including a month long gallery exhibition at UMN in 2018) engages Black southern preaching and singing legacies, sound, altars, sacred implements through sculpture and installations, film and nature. It also features small and large-scale ruminations on round sculpture and buildings - domes. The dome in Inherit Light is the multi-sensory and interactive sacred space where Sangodare's invocations and sermons are ignited through the site-specific exhibits of Inherit Light. Sangodare  (pronounced shahn-GO-dar-ay)   Sangodare's Website https://www.sangodare.com/   Mobile Homecoming https://www.mobilehomecoming.org/live   A Sweet Space for Growth & Transformation https://sangodare.podia.com/   Quirc https://quirc.app/

It's Witch School graduation day with Alexis Pauline Gumbs and Sangodare! They discuss priestly practice, dropping down and back and into your center, movements of people around the world stepping up, conjuring love, the lineage of love, worshipping our partners, reading sacred texts, forgiveness your Lyft and/or Uber driver, amplifying the best of us, reclaiming love-craft and love as the essential nature of all that supports life.  --- ⁠TRANSCRIPT⁠ --- Ṣangodare (Julia Roxanne Wallace) is a sweet space for transformation. Ṣangodare comes from a thick legacy of Black Baptist preachers and church leaders and currently activates Black Feminist sermonics at a weekly Sunday Service held by Mobile Homecoming Trust. As co-founder of Black Feminist Film School (2012), Visiting Artist in Film at Lawrence University (2017-18) and Artist in Residence at UMN-Twin Cities in the Art Department (2017-19), Ṣangodare brings a creative, evolutionary and love filled approach to filmmaking, composing, interactive design and preaching. As co-founder of Black Feminist Film School (founded along with Sista Docta Alexis Pauline Gumbs, APG) Ṣangodare created Ritual Screening, a film viewing technology that is interactive and grounded in Black Feminist practice and our non-linear reality. As co-founder of Mobile Homecoming with APG, a national experiential archive project, Ṣangodare amplifies generations of Black LGBTQ brilliance. Ṣangodare's most recent exhibition called Inherit Light: An Evolutionary Practice of Love Consciousness (including a month long gallery exhibition at UMN in 2018) engages Black southern preaching and singing legacies, sound, altars, sacred implements through sculpture and installations, film and nature. It also features small and large-scale ruminations on round sculpture and buildings - domes. The dome in Inherit Light is the multi-sensory and interactive sacred space where Ṣangodare's invocations and sermons are ignited through the site-specific exhibits of Inherit Light. Alexis Pauline Gumbs is a Queer Black Troublemaker and Black Feminist Love Evangelist and an aspirational cousin to all sentient beings. Her work in this lifetime is to facilitate infinite, unstoppable ancestral love in practice. Her poetic work in response to the needs of her cherished communities has held space for multitudes in mourning and movement. Alexis's co-edited volume Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines (PM Press, 2016) has shifted the conversation on mothering, parenting and queer transformation. Alexis has transformed the scope of intellectual, creative and oracular writing with her triptych of experimental works published by Duke University Press (Spill: Scenes of Black Feminist Fugitivity in 2016, M Archive: After the End of the World in 2018 and Dub: Finding Ceremony, 2020.) Unlike most academic texts, Alexis's work has inspired artists across form to create dance works, installation work, paintings, processionals, divination practices, operas, quilts and more. --- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SUPPORT OUR SHOW! - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/Endoftheworldshow --- Music by Tunde Olaniran, Mother Cyborg and The Bengsons --- HTS ESSENTIALS ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SUPPORT Our Show on Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/Endoftheworldshow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠PEEP us on IG⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/endoftheworldpc/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/how-to-survive-the-end-of-the-world/message

Episode Overview In this episode, Zen speaks with Adam Bond about his story and scholarship. Adam Bond joined the Religion Department at Baylor University in the summer of 2023. Prior to his time at Baylor, he served as the pastor of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church of Richmond, Virginia. Bond is a historian of Christianity in the United States. His research and writing focus on the narratives and ideas of Black Christian leaders of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Episode Links Carr and Helmer's book, Ordinary Faith in Polarized Times: https://www.baylorpress.com/9781481319317/ordinary-faith-in-polarized-times/ Other Episodes You Might Like: Malcolm Foley on James Cone, racism, and American Christianity: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-cross-and-the-lynching-tree-malcolm-foley-on/id1648052085?i=1000607851160 Marcus Jerkins on Black Lives Matter to Jesus: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/black-lives-matter-to-jesus-marcus-jerkins-on-salvation/id1648052085?i=1000599025436 Ericka Shawndricka Dunbar on Africana Biblical Criticism: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/africana-biblical-criticism-and-the-book-of/id1648052085?i=1000600183961

This special episode comes to you in partnership The Historic African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas. In 1787, Absalom Jones, Richard Allen and James Forten staged an action at St. George's Methodist Church (blocks from Independence Hall—where the U.S. Constitution was about to be written). The three men went down from the gallery where Blacks were allowed to sit and knelt at the altar during prayer time. They were told they couldn't pray alongside white parishioners, so they stood up, turned around, and walked out and established the Freedmen's Society. That society provided the seed funding for Absalom Jones to launch a Black stream within the episcopal denomination in 1792. Then a few years later the Society launched Mother Bethel AME with Richard Allen as its pastor. Then, in succession the society launched the first Black Presbyterian church, the first Black Baptist church in Philadelphia, and so on. From that act of protest against second-class citizenship, the Black Church was born. In the spirit of the Black Church, which has begun to rise up and call for a ceasefire in Gaza, St. Thomas's 17th rector, The Very Rev. Canon Martini Shaw and his team decided to focus the church's Lenten season on understanding what's going on in Gaza. So, a portion of this episode has been listened to by the parishioners of Historic African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas Church! When considering who should help us understand “What's going on?” there couldn't be anyone better than the author of The Hundred Years' War on Palestine, Palestinian historian Dr. Rashid Khalidi (Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University in NYC). Dr. Khalidi is the author of eight books, in addition to The Hundred Years' War, including: Palestinian Identity, Brokers of Deceit, and The Iron Cage. We'd love to hear your thoughts. Thread or Insta Lisa @lisasharper or to Freedom Road @freedomroad.us. We're also on Substack! So be sure to subscribe to freedomroad.substack.com. And, keep sharing the podcast with your friends and networks and letting us know what you think! www.threads.net/@lisasharper www.threads.net/@freedomroad.us freedomroad.substack.com www.aecst.org us.macmillan.com/books/9781627798556/thehundredyearswaronpalestine history.columbia.edu/person/khalidi-rashid/

On this episode of Our American Stories, Woody Holton of the University of South Carolina tells the story about David George, a man who would escape his bondage only to find himself with new captors, a newfound faith, and eventually...a new freedom in Canada. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. Paying special attention to the diverse metaphysical beliefs that shaped her spiritual life, Craig untangles Tina's Soka Gakkai Buddhist foundation; her incorporation of New Age ideas popularized in '60s counterculture; and her upbringing in a Black Baptist congregation, alongside the influences of her grandmothers' disciplinary and mystical sensibilities. Through critical engagement with Tina's personal life and public brand, Craig sheds light on how popular culture has been used as a vehicle for authentic religious teaching. Scholars and fans alike will find Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner (Eerdmans, 2023) as enlightening as the iconic singer herself. When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock ‘n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. 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

When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. Paying special attention to the diverse metaphysical beliefs that shaped her spiritual life, Craig untangles Tina's Soka Gakkai Buddhist foundation; her incorporation of New Age ideas popularized in '60s counterculture; and her upbringing in a Black Baptist congregation, alongside the influences of her grandmothers' disciplinary and mystical sensibilities. Through critical engagement with Tina's personal life and public brand, Craig sheds light on how popular culture has been used as a vehicle for authentic religious teaching. Scholars and fans alike will find Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner (Eerdmans, 2023) as enlightening as the iconic singer herself. When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock ‘n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. 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

When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. Paying special attention to the diverse metaphysical beliefs that shaped her spiritual life, Craig untangles Tina's Soka Gakkai Buddhist foundation; her incorporation of New Age ideas popularized in '60s counterculture; and her upbringing in a Black Baptist congregation, alongside the influences of her grandmothers' disciplinary and mystical sensibilities. Through critical engagement with Tina's personal life and public brand, Craig sheds light on how popular culture has been used as a vehicle for authentic religious teaching. Scholars and fans alike will find Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner (Eerdmans, 2023) as enlightening as the iconic singer herself. When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock ‘n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. Paying special attention to the diverse metaphysical beliefs that shaped her spiritual life, Craig untangles Tina's Soka Gakkai Buddhist foundation; her incorporation of New Age ideas popularized in '60s counterculture; and her upbringing in a Black Baptist congregation, alongside the influences of her grandmothers' disciplinary and mystical sensibilities. Through critical engagement with Tina's personal life and public brand, Craig sheds light on how popular culture has been used as a vehicle for authentic religious teaching. Scholars and fans alike will find Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner (Eerdmans, 2023) as enlightening as the iconic singer herself. When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock ‘n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. Paying special attention to the diverse metaphysical beliefs that shaped her spiritual life, Craig untangles Tina's Soka Gakkai Buddhist foundation; her incorporation of New Age ideas popularized in '60s counterculture; and her upbringing in a Black Baptist congregation, alongside the influences of her grandmothers' disciplinary and mystical sensibilities. Through critical engagement with Tina's personal life and public brand, Craig sheds light on how popular culture has been used as a vehicle for authentic religious teaching. Scholars and fans alike will find Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner (Eerdmans, 2023) as enlightening as the iconic singer herself. When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock ‘n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/buddhist-studies

When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. Paying special attention to the diverse metaphysical beliefs that shaped her spiritual life, Craig untangles Tina's Soka Gakkai Buddhist foundation; her incorporation of New Age ideas popularized in '60s counterculture; and her upbringing in a Black Baptist congregation, alongside the influences of her grandmothers' disciplinary and mystical sensibilities. Through critical engagement with Tina's personal life and public brand, Craig sheds light on how popular culture has been used as a vehicle for authentic religious teaching. Scholars and fans alike will find Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner (Eerdmans, 2023) as enlightening as the iconic singer herself. When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock ‘n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/music

When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. Paying special attention to the diverse metaphysical beliefs that shaped her spiritual life, Craig untangles Tina's Soka Gakkai Buddhist foundation; her incorporation of New Age ideas popularized in '60s counterculture; and her upbringing in a Black Baptist congregation, alongside the influences of her grandmothers' disciplinary and mystical sensibilities. Through critical engagement with Tina's personal life and public brand, Craig sheds light on how popular culture has been used as a vehicle for authentic religious teaching. Scholars and fans alike will find Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner (Eerdmans, 2023) as enlightening as the iconic singer herself. When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock ‘n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. Paying special attention to the diverse metaphysical beliefs that shaped her spiritual life, Craig untangles Tina's Soka Gakkai Buddhist foundation; her incorporation of New Age ideas popularized in '60s counterculture; and her upbringing in a Black Baptist congregation, alongside the influences of her grandmothers' disciplinary and mystical sensibilities. Through critical engagement with Tina's personal life and public brand, Craig sheds light on how popular culture has been used as a vehicle for authentic religious teaching. Scholars and fans alike will find Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner (Eerdmans, 2023) as enlightening as the iconic singer herself. When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock ‘n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/indian-religions

If you don't know Tina Turner's spirituality, you don't know Tina. When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock ‘n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. Paying special attention to the diverse metaphysical beliefs that shaped her spiritual life, Craig untangles Tina's Soka Gakkai Buddhist foundation; her incorporation of New Age ideas popularized in '60s counterculture; and her upbringing in a Black Baptist congregation, alongside the influences of her grandmothers' disciplinary and mystical sensibilities. Through critical engagement with Tina's personal life and public brand, Craig sheds light on how popular culture has been used as a vehicle for authentic religious teaching. Scholars and fans alike will find Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner (Eerdmans, 2023) as enlightening as the iconic singer herself. For those of you interested in the stories and poems of the first Buddhist nuns mentioned in the interview yet not included in the book's footnotes (hey, it's a trade book, so space for footnotes is limited), collected in Therīgāthā, you can find the stories here: Kisāgotamī; Ambapālī; Isidāsī. You can also find a modern recreation of Ambapālī's song here. For a trustworthy, philologically solid, yet still readable translation of Therīgāthā, see here. I also find this translation most useful because of its high-quality but manageable footnotes. Jessica Zu is an intellectual historian and a scholar of Buddhist studies. She is an assistant professor of religion at the University of Southern California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies

If you don't know Tina Turner's spirituality, you don't know Tina. When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock ‘n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. Paying special attention to the diverse metaphysical beliefs that shaped her spiritual life, Craig untangles Tina's Soka Gakkai Buddhist foundation; her incorporation of New Age ideas popularized in '60s counterculture; and her upbringing in a Black Baptist congregation, alongside the influences of her grandmothers' disciplinary and mystical sensibilities. Through critical engagement with Tina's personal life and public brand, Craig sheds light on how popular culture has been used as a vehicle for authentic religious teaching. Scholars and fans alike will find Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner (Eerdmans, 2023) as enlightening as the iconic singer herself. For those of you interested in the stories and poems of the first Buddhist nuns mentioned in the interview yet not included in the book's footnotes (hey, it's a trade book, so space for footnotes is limited), collected in Therīgāthā, you can find the stories here: Kisāgotamī; Ambapālī; Isidāsī. You can also find a modern recreation of Ambapālī's song here. For a trustworthy, philologically solid, yet still readable translation of Therīgāthā, see here. I also find this translation most useful because of its high-quality but manageable footnotes. Jessica Zu is an intellectual historian and a scholar of Buddhist studies. She is an assistant professor of religion at the University of Southern California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

If you don't know Tina Turner's spirituality, you don't know Tina. When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock ‘n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. Paying special attention to the diverse metaphysical beliefs that shaped her spiritual life, Craig untangles Tina's Soka Gakkai Buddhist foundation; her incorporation of New Age ideas popularized in '60s counterculture; and her upbringing in a Black Baptist congregation, alongside the influences of her grandmothers' disciplinary and mystical sensibilities. Through critical engagement with Tina's personal life and public brand, Craig sheds light on how popular culture has been used as a vehicle for authentic religious teaching. Scholars and fans alike will find Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner (Eerdmans, 2023) as enlightening as the iconic singer herself. For those of you interested in the stories and poems of the first Buddhist nuns mentioned in the interview yet not included in the book's footnotes (hey, it's a trade book, so space for footnotes is limited), collected in Therīgāthā, you can find the stories here: Kisāgotamī; Ambapālī; Isidāsī. You can also find a modern recreation of Ambapālī's song here. For a trustworthy, philologically solid, yet still readable translation of Therīgāthā, see here. I also find this translation most useful because of its high-quality but manageable footnotes. Jessica Zu is an intellectual historian and a scholar of Buddhist studies. She is an assistant professor of religion at the University of Southern California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/performing-arts

If you don't know Tina Turner's spirituality, you don't know Tina. When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock ‘n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. Paying special attention to the diverse metaphysical beliefs that shaped her spiritual life, Craig untangles Tina's Soka Gakkai Buddhist foundation; her incorporation of New Age ideas popularized in '60s counterculture; and her upbringing in a Black Baptist congregation, alongside the influences of her grandmothers' disciplinary and mystical sensibilities. Through critical engagement with Tina's personal life and public brand, Craig sheds light on how popular culture has been used as a vehicle for authentic religious teaching. Scholars and fans alike will find Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner (Eerdmans, 2023) as enlightening as the iconic singer herself. For those of you interested in the stories and poems of the first Buddhist nuns mentioned in the interview yet not included in the book's footnotes (hey, it's a trade book, so space for footnotes is limited), collected in Therīgāthā, you can find the stories here: Kisāgotamī; Ambapālī; Isidāsī. You can also find a modern recreation of Ambapālī's song here. For a trustworthy, philologically solid, yet still readable translation of Therīgāthā, see here. I also find this translation most useful because of its high-quality but manageable footnotes. Jessica Zu is an intellectual historian and a scholar of Buddhist studies. She is an assistant professor of religion at the University of Southern California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

If you don't know Tina Turner's spirituality, you don't know Tina. When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock ‘n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. Paying special attention to the diverse metaphysical beliefs that shaped her spiritual life, Craig untangles Tina's Soka Gakkai Buddhist foundation; her incorporation of New Age ideas popularized in '60s counterculture; and her upbringing in a Black Baptist congregation, alongside the influences of her grandmothers' disciplinary and mystical sensibilities. Through critical engagement with Tina's personal life and public brand, Craig sheds light on how popular culture has been used as a vehicle for authentic religious teaching. Scholars and fans alike will find Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner (Eerdmans, 2023) as enlightening as the iconic singer herself. For those of you interested in the stories and poems of the first Buddhist nuns mentioned in the interview yet not included in the book's footnotes (hey, it's a trade book, so space for footnotes is limited), collected in Therīgāthā, you can find the stories here: Kisāgotamī; Ambapālī; Isidāsī. You can also find a modern recreation of Ambapālī's song here. For a trustworthy, philologically solid, yet still readable translation of Therīgāthā, see here. I also find this translation most useful because of its high-quality but manageable footnotes. Jessica Zu is an intellectual historian and a scholar of Buddhist studies. She is an assistant professor of religion at the University of Southern California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

If you don't know Tina Turner's spirituality, you don't know Tina. When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock ‘n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. Paying special attention to the diverse metaphysical beliefs that shaped her spiritual life, Craig untangles Tina's Soka Gakkai Buddhist foundation; her incorporation of New Age ideas popularized in '60s counterculture; and her upbringing in a Black Baptist congregation, alongside the influences of her grandmothers' disciplinary and mystical sensibilities. Through critical engagement with Tina's personal life and public brand, Craig sheds light on how popular culture has been used as a vehicle for authentic religious teaching. Scholars and fans alike will find Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner (Eerdmans, 2023) as enlightening as the iconic singer herself. For those of you interested in the stories and poems of the first Buddhist nuns mentioned in the interview yet not included in the book's footnotes (hey, it's a trade book, so space for footnotes is limited), collected in Therīgāthā, you can find the stories here: Kisāgotamī; Ambapālī; Isidāsī. You can also find a modern recreation of Ambapālī's song here. For a trustworthy, philologically solid, yet still readable translation of Therīgāthā, see here. I also find this translation most useful because of its high-quality but manageable footnotes. Jessica Zu is an intellectual historian and a scholar of Buddhist studies. She is an assistant professor of religion at the University of Southern California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/buddhist-studies

If you don't know Tina Turner's spirituality, you don't know Tina. When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock ‘n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. Paying special attention to the diverse metaphysical beliefs that shaped her spiritual life, Craig untangles Tina's Soka Gakkai Buddhist foundation; her incorporation of New Age ideas popularized in '60s counterculture; and her upbringing in a Black Baptist congregation, alongside the influences of her grandmothers' disciplinary and mystical sensibilities. Through critical engagement with Tina's personal life and public brand, Craig sheds light on how popular culture has been used as a vehicle for authentic religious teaching. Scholars and fans alike will find Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner (Eerdmans, 2023) as enlightening as the iconic singer herself. For those of you interested in the stories and poems of the first Buddhist nuns mentioned in the interview yet not included in the book's footnotes (hey, it's a trade book, so space for footnotes is limited), collected in Therīgāthā, you can find the stories here: Kisāgotamī; Ambapālī; Isidāsī. You can also find a modern recreation of Ambapālī's song here. For a trustworthy, philologically solid, yet still readable translation of Therīgāthā, see here. I also find this translation most useful because of its high-quality but manageable footnotes. Jessica Zu is an intellectual historian and a scholar of Buddhist studies. She is an assistant professor of religion at the University of Southern California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/music

If you don't know Tina Turner's spirituality, you don't know Tina. When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock ‘n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. Paying special attention to the diverse metaphysical beliefs that shaped her spiritual life, Craig untangles Tina's Soka Gakkai Buddhist foundation; her incorporation of New Age ideas popularized in '60s counterculture; and her upbringing in a Black Baptist congregation, alongside the influences of her grandmothers' disciplinary and mystical sensibilities. Through critical engagement with Tina's personal life and public brand, Craig sheds light on how popular culture has been used as a vehicle for authentic religious teaching. Scholars and fans alike will find Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner (Eerdmans, 2023) as enlightening as the iconic singer herself. For those of you interested in the stories and poems of the first Buddhist nuns mentioned in the interview yet not included in the book's footnotes (hey, it's a trade book, so space for footnotes is limited), collected in Therīgāthā, you can find the stories here: Kisāgotamī; Ambapālī; Isidāsī. You can also find a modern recreation of Ambapālī's song here. For a trustworthy, philologically solid, yet still readable translation of Therīgāthā, see here. I also find this translation most useful because of its high-quality but manageable footnotes. Jessica Zu is an intellectual historian and a scholar of Buddhist studies. She is an assistant professor of religion at the University of Southern California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you don't know Tina Turner's spirituality, you don't know Tina. When Tina Turner reclaimed her throne as the Queen of Rock ‘n' Roll in the 1980s, she attributed her comeback to one thing: the wisdom and power she found in Buddhism. Her spiritual transformation is often overshadowed by the rags-to-riches arc of her life story. But in this groundbreaking biography, Ralph H. Craig III traces Tina's journey from the Black Baptist church to Buddhism and situates her at the vanguard of large-scale movements in religion and pop culture. Paying special attention to the diverse metaphysical beliefs that shaped her spiritual life, Craig untangles Tina's Soka Gakkai Buddhist foundation; her incorporation of New Age ideas popularized in '60s counterculture; and her upbringing in a Black Baptist congregation, alongside the influences of her grandmothers' disciplinary and mystical sensibilities. Through critical engagement with Tina's personal life and public brand, Craig sheds light on how popular culture has been used as a vehicle for authentic religious teaching. Scholars and fans alike will find Dancing in My Dreams: A Spiritual Biography of Tina Turner (Eerdmans, 2023) as enlightening as the iconic singer herself. For those of you interested in the stories and poems of the first Buddhist nuns mentioned in the interview yet not included in the book's footnotes (hey, it's a trade book, so space for footnotes is limited), collected in Therīgāthā, you can find the stories here: Kisāgotamī; Ambapālī; Isidāsī. You can also find a modern recreation of Ambapālī's song here. For a trustworthy, philologically solid, yet still readable translation of Therīgāthā, see here. I also find this translation most useful because of its high-quality but manageable footnotes. Jessica Zu is an intellectual historian and a scholar of Buddhist studies. She is an assistant professor of religion at the University of Southern California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

Ever wondered how the business strategies and philanthropic efforts of Madam C.J. Walker shaped the course of Black history and continue to influence present day philanthropy? We are thrilled to have Professor Tyrone McKinley Freeman, a luminary in philanthropic studies, join us in a conversation brimming with compelling insights on Black philanthropy.Tyrone takes us on an inspirational journey, charting his path from his roots in a Black Baptist church to his pivotal role as an associate professor and director of undergraduate programs at Indiana University's Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Be prepared to discover how this past informs his work today and his perspective on the power of philanthropy. Our talk further explores the fascinating philanthropic journey of Madam C.J. Walker, her unwavering commitment to her community, and how her unique approach to giving diverged from mainstream models of white philanthropy. The latter part of our conversation unravels the dynamic role of millennials and Gen Z in today's philanthropy scene, the power of everyday giving, and the monumental legacy of Madam Walker's philanthropic efforts. Tyrone also shares valuable insights into the work of the Young Black and Giving Back Institute and its role in fostering Black giving, as well as the impact of Black Philanthropy Month on our future. So, tune in to this enriching episode as we delve deep into the heart of Black philanthropy and the enduring legacy of Madam C.J. Walker.Support the show

A Black Baptist minister, a Chinese Buddhist monk and a White Presbyterian walk into a bar… and for more than one reason, they may not all laugh at how the joke ends. This season of Race Unwrapped we're focused on the tie between race and humor. On this episode, I talk with Dr. Lawrence Edwin Williams about how humor connects us as humans, and how it can help us deal with difficult situations. Williams teaches marketing at the University of Colorado and received his Ph. D. in Psychology at Yale. By studying with colleagues how people used humor to cope with Hurricane Sandy, he found that there is a certain degree of time that needs to pass before tragedy becomes comedy. As a Black man himself, he has plenty of insight to share about how his findings apply to race, how people of color can use humor to connect with other people who have shared racial experiences, and how humor and time can soften tragedy and help you heal from it.

On this episode of Our American Stories, Woody Holton of the University of South Carolina tells the story about David George, a man who would escape his bondage only to find himself with new captors, a newfound faith, and eventually... a new freedom in Canada. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Nate and Rachel interview an old friend, Andra Johnson. They ask him about his experience joining the church, especially coming from such a different religious and cultural experience in an all-Black Baptist church. Andra shares how coming to BYU and being in Utah shifted his experience with church & racism. While also discussing how coming to terms with sexuality impacted his self-discovery in his early 20s and how he's kept his faith as a Christian throughout his journey. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/black-menaces/support

At long last: it's actor, writer, director, and educator, Carolyn Ratteray (Outfest 2022's (UN)CLAIMED)! We've been wanting to have Carolyn on the pod for ages, because she and her wife, Kelli, were one of the first poly couples that Nicole EVER met! Carolyn regales us with a twisty-turny story that involves a sleepaway arts camp, a Black Baptist conference on homosexuality, and two *incredibly* prophetic dreams! She also shares how kink helped free her from the residual shame she was carrying from her long and arduous coming out process, and we have a tantalizing discussion about BDSM (Lauren mostly listens!).Follow Carolyn on Instagram at @carolynratteray, and watch (UN)CLAIMED on Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/694127928!

*CW: Episode 15 contains themes of religious trauma, s-xual trauma, child abuse. Please take care of yourself in whatever way makes sense, whether that's pausing and seeking support or sitting this episode out. In Episode 15 of @safeword, we are talking about Religious Trauma. Casey shares about their journey from studying to be an evangelical minister to today where they proselytize their love of queerness every day. Kamil shared a more nuanced experience, growing up in the Black Baptist church, and then later, run-ins with misogyny, and s-xual shaming with former religious partners. Once again, thank you listeners, for your beautiful questions. We are honored by your vulnerability and healing work.

Zibby speaks to author duo and repeat MDHTTRB guests Alli Frank and Asha Youmans about Never Meant to Meet You, a sparkling new book about two outwardly different neighbors (a Black Baptist kindergarten teacher and a white Jewish cookbook editor) and the beautiful friendship that forms between them. Alli and Asha describe the origins of their writing partnership, the eye-opening conversations they had as they developed their Black and Jewish characters in a time of racial crisis in America, and their hope to highlight the simple things that unite us (like food!). Finally, they reveal what they are working on next and spill the secrets of their successful, long-distance writing relationship!Purchase on Amazon or Bookshop.Amazon: bit.ly/3hkFqwcBookshop: bit.ly/3UZxiirSubscribe to Zibby's weekly newsletter here.Purchase Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books merch here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, Woody Holton of the University of South Carolina tells the story about David George, a man who would escape his bondage only to find himself with new captors, a newfound faith, and eventually...a new freedom in Canada. The late Gini Mancini, wife of American composer Henry Mancini, tells the story of his life in music and their life together. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)   Time Codes: 00:00 - The Runaway Slave Who Founded the Black Baptist Church 23:00 -  From Steel Town to Tinsel Town: The Life of Composer Henry ManciniSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anna is sick this week, so we've been unable to record new episodes. But rather than leave you hanging, we're releasing a lightly trimmed version of the latest episode of Old News. We've got human bone jewelry, the first Black Baptist church in colonial America, alleged art crimes, some seriously inclement weather, and more! Old News is one of our monthly bonus episodes that comes with the Absolute Dirtbag tier over at Patreon.com/thedirtpodcast, so head over there if you want to support the show and get access to FOUR YEARS' WORTH of bonus content. Interested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info. Links Human bones used for making pendants in the Stone Age (Phys.org) French Authorities Detain Two Archaeologists, Including a Louvre Curator, as Part of an Ongoing International Art-Trafficking Dragnet (Artnet) Excavation of graves begins at site of colonial Black church (NBC News, AP) First Baptist Church Excavation Project (Colonial Williamsburg website) 5,200-year-old stone carving chrysalis found in north China (Xinhua) Rare coffee beans dating back 167 years ago found by archaeologists working on the Metro Tunnel project (9News) Jawbone Discovered in Spain May Be Oldest Known Hominin Fossil (Archaeology) A massive tsunami destroyed the Spanish city of Seville in the 3rd century, new study finds (El Pais) Contact Email the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.com ArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Motion

Anna is sick this week, so we've been unable to record new episodes. But rather than leave you hanging, we're releasing a lightly trimmed version of the latest episode of Old News. We've got human bone jewelry, the first Black Baptist church in colonial America, alleged art crimes, some seriously inclement weather, and more! Old News is one of our monthly bonus episodes that comes with the Absolute Dirtbag tier over at Patreon.com/thedirtpodcast, so head over there if you want to support the show and get access to FOUR YEARS' WORTH of bonus content. Interested in sponsoring this show or podcast ads for your business? Zencastr makes it really easy! Click this message for more info. Links Human bones used for making pendants in the Stone Age (Phys.org) French Authorities Detain Two Archaeologists, Including a Louvre Curator, as Part of an Ongoing International Art-Trafficking Dragnet (Artnet) Excavation of graves begins at site of colonial Black church (NBC News, AP) First Baptist Church Excavation Project (Colonial Williamsburg website) 5,200-year-old stone carving chrysalis found in north China (Xinhua) Rare coffee beans dating back 167 years ago found by archaeologists working on the Metro Tunnel project (9News) Jawbone Discovered in Spain May Be Oldest Known Hominin Fossil (Archaeology) A massive tsunami destroyed the Spanish city of Seville in the 3rd century, new study finds (El Pais) Contact Email the Dirt Podcast: thedirtpodcast@gmail.com ArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet Tee Public Store Affiliates Wildnote TeePublic Timeular Motion

In this episode, we have a conversation with Richie X, an autistic, queer and non-binary writer/commentator and host of two podcasts, Surviving Fundamentalism and Underdogs on Top! They share their winding faith journey from being raised Muslim to finding Black Baptist churches and becoming a young preacher, to finding Pentecostalism, to joining a fundamentalist cult, to deconstructing and finding wholeness in the God who “just is,” who says “They are who They are.” They also discuss how their neurodivergence impacted their experience in religious spaces (religion gave rules and black + white thinking, gave them a passion to research Bible/theology), and how education opened up their mind to new ideas and led them down the path of deconstruction and coming to terms with their queer identity. You can find Richie X on Instagram and Twitter @richieatitagain. You can find their podcasts Surviving Fundamentalism and Underdogs on Top wherever you listen to podcasts. Here is the newsletter April mentions in the episode, DL Mayfield's God is my Special Interest: https://dlmayfield.substack.com/ We have merch! Get your Bible Dyke Energy Tee or mug here: https://reclaiming-the-garden.creator-spring.com/ Our social media: @reclaimingthegarden on Insta, @RtGardenPodcast on Twitter, and Reclaiming the Garden on Facebook. Our personal accounts: @thatpunchabletheaternerd, @April_TheWriter (April is on Twitter and Insta). Also, our podcast account follows a bunch of awesome folks + podcasts in the exvangelical/deconstruction world and progressive Christian world, so if you're looking for more resources, that's a great place to start!

I don't often get the pleasure of having a conversation with an author who has influenced my thinking, which makes today's  conversation, in which I have the pleasure of hosting two of them, especially exciting. Both authors are returning guests so they know the routine. Rebecca introduces herself as having been fortunate to live in the company of generous people; she is the author of Growing Givers' Hearts: Treating Fundraising as a Ministry. Tyrone introduces himself as the son, grandson, nephew, and cousin of Black Baptist preachers and First Ladies; and he credits these individuals for framing his perspective of philanthropy and inspiring his career. Tyrone is author of Madam C. J. Walker's Gospel of Giving: Black Women's Philanthropy During Jim Crow. Tyrone explained that Growing Givers' Hearts as gave him permission, early in his career, to think differently about the work we do. He describes the book as an encouraging counter-narrative to what Robert Payton begrudgingly referred to as the “business of fundraising.” I appreciated how our conversation centered on those donors who are easily overlooked in much of contemporary fundraising practice. In many ways our conversation raises the question of whether Madam CJ Walker, were she were alive today, would be cooperative with or intolerant of contemporary practices. As Tyrone suggests, Walker might have expected us to ask ourselves whether we had earned the right to ask. If the answer is no, as Rebecca suggests, would we have the patience to lean into the relationship until we have earned that right? As always, we are especially grateful to our friends at CueBack for sponsoring The Fundraising Talent Podcast. If you'd like to learn more about Responsive Fundraising's sense-making retreats, email me for more information. If you'd like to purchase a copy of Rebecca's or Tyrone's books, visit Responsive's library here.

Episode 149 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Respect", and the journey of Aretha Franklin from teenage gospel singer to the Queen of Soul. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a fifteen-minute bonus episode available, on "I'm Just a Mops" by the Mops. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Also, people may be interested in a Facebook discussion group for the podcast, run by a friend of mine (I'm not on FB myself) which can be found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/293630102611672/ Errata I say "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby to a Dixie Melody" instead of "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody". Also I say Spooner Oldham co-wrote "Do Right Woman". I meant Chips Moman. Resources No Mixcloud this week, as there are too many songs by Aretha Franklin. My main biographical source for Aretha Franklin is Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin by David Ritz, and this is where most of the quotes from musicians come from. I also relied heavily on I Never Loved a Man the Way I Loved You by Matt Dobkin. Information on C.L. Franklin came from Singing in a Strange Land: C. L. Franklin, the Black Church, and the Transformation of America by Nick Salvatore. Rick Hall's The Man From Muscle Shoals: My Journey from Shame to Fame contains his side of the story. Country Soul by Charles L Hughes is a great overview of the soul music made in Muscle Shoals, Memphis, and Nashville in the sixties. Peter Guralnick's Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm And Blues And The Southern Dream Of Freedom is possibly less essential, but still definitely worth reading. And the I Never Loved a Man album is available in this five-album box set for a ludicrously cheap price. But it's actually worth getting this nineteen-CD set with her first sixteen Atlantic albums and a couple of bonus discs of demos and outtakes. There's barely a duff track in the whole nineteen discs. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Before I start this episode,  I have to say that there are some things people may want to be aware of before listening to this. This episode has to deal, at least in passing, with subjects including child sexual abuse, intimate partner abuse, racism, and misogyny. I will of course try to deal with those subjects as tactfully as possible, but those of you who may be upset by those topics may want to check the episode transcript before or instead of listening. Those of you who leave comments or send me messages saying "why can't you just talk about the music instead of all this woke virtue-signalling?" may also want to skip this episode. You can go ahead and skip all the future ones as well, I won't mind. And one more thing to say before I get into the meat of the episode -- this episode puts me in a more difficult position than most other episodes of the podcast have. When I've talked about awful things that have happened in the course of this podcast previously, I have either been talking about perpetrators -- people like Phil Spector or Jerry Lee Lewis who did truly reprehensible things -- or about victims who have talked very publicly about the abuse they've suffered, people like Ronnie Spector or Tina Turner, who said very clearly "this is what happened to me and I want it on the public record". In the case of Aretha Franklin, she has been portrayed as a victim *by others*, and there are things that have been said about her life and her relationships which suggest that she suffered in some very terrible ways. But she herself apparently never saw herself as a victim, and didn't want some aspects of her private life talking about. At the start of David Ritz's biography of her, which is one of my main sources here, he recounts a conversation he had with her: "When I mentioned the possibility of my writing an independent biography, she said, “As long as I can approve it before it's published.” “Then it wouldn't be independent,” I said. “Why should it be independent?” “So I can tell the story from my point of view.” “But it's not your story, it's mine.” “You're an important historical figure, Aretha. Others will inevitably come along to tell your story. That's the blessing and burden of being a public figure.” “More burden than blessing,” she said." Now, Aretha Franklin is sadly dead, but I think that she still deserves the basic respect of being allowed privacy. So I will talk here about public matters, things she acknowledged in her own autobiography, and things that she and the people around her did in public situations like recording studios and concert venues. But there are aspects to the story of Aretha Franklin as that story is commonly told, which may well be true, but are of mostly prurient interest, don't add much to the story of how the music came to be made, and which she herself didn't want people talking about. So there will be things people might expect me to talk about in this episode, incidents where people in her life, usually men, treated her badly, that I'm going to leave out. That information is out there if people want to look for it, but I don't see myself as under any obligation to share it. That's not me making excuses for people who did inexcusable things, that's me showing some respect to one of the towering artistic figures of the latter half of the twentieth century. Because, of course, respect is what this is all about: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Respect"] One name that's come up a few times in this podcast, but who we haven't really talked about that much, is Bobby "Blue" Bland. We mentioned him as the single biggest influence on the style of Van Morrison, but Bland was an important figure in the Memphis music scene of the early fifties, which we talked about in several early episodes. He was one of the Beale Streeters, the loose aggregation of musicians that also included B.B. King and Johnny Ace, he worked with Ike Turner, and was one of the key links between blues and soul in the fifties and early sixties, with records like "Turn on Your Love Light": [Excerpt: Bobby "Blue" Bland, "Turn on Your Love Light"] But while Bland was influenced by many musicians we've talked about, his biggest influence wasn't a singer at all. It was a preacher he saw give a sermon in the early 1940s. As he said decades later: "Wasn't his words that got me—I couldn't tell you what he talked on that day, couldn't tell you what any of it meant, but it was the way he talked. He talked like he was singing. He talked music. The thing that really got me, though, was this squall-like sound he made to emphasize a certain word. He'd catch the word in his mouth, let it roll around and squeeze it with his tongue. When it popped on out, it exploded, and the ladies started waving and shouting. I liked all that. I started popping and shouting too. That next week I asked Mama when we were going back to Memphis to church. “‘Since when you so keen on church?' Mama asked. “‘I like that preacher,' I said. “‘Reverend Franklin?' she asked. “‘Well, if he's the one who sings when he preaches, that's the one I like.'" Bland was impressed by C.L. Franklin, and so were other Memphis musicians. Long after Franklin had moved to Detroit, they remembered him, and Bland and B.B. King would go to Franklin's church to see him preach whenever they were in the city. And Bland studied Franklin's records. He said later "I liked whatever was on the radio, especially those first things Nat Cole did with his trio. Naturally I liked the blues singers like Roy Brown, the jump singers like Louis Jordan, and the ballad singers like Billy Eckstine, but, brother, the man who really shaped me was Reverend Franklin." Bland would study Franklin's records, and would take the style that Franklin used in recorded sermons like "The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest": [Excerpt: C.L. Franklin, "The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest"] And you can definitely hear that preaching style on records like Bland's "I Pity the Fool": [Excerpt: Bobby "Blue" Bland, "I Pity the Fool"] But of course, that wasn't the only influence the Reverend C.L. Franklin had on the course of soul music. C.L. Franklin had grown up poor, on a Mississippi farm, and had not even finished grade school because he was needed to work behind the mule, ploughing the farm for his stepfather. But he had a fierce intelligence and became an autodidact, travelling regularly to the nearest library, thirty miles away, on a horse-drawn wagon, and reading everything he could get his hands on. At the age of sixteen he received what he believed to be a message from God, and decided to become an itinerant preacher. He would travel between many small country churches and build up audiences there -- and he would also study everyone else preaching there, analysing their sermons, seeing if he could anticipate their line of argument and get ahead of them, figuring out the structure. But unlike many people in the conservative Black Baptist churches of the time, he never saw the spiritual and secular worlds as incompatible. He saw blues music and Black church sermons as both being part of the same thing -- a Black culture and folklore that was worthy of respect in both its spiritual and secular aspects. He soon built up a small circuit of local churches where he would preach occasionally, but wasn't the main pastor at any of them. He got married aged twenty, though that marriage didn't last, and he seems to have been ambitious for a greater respectability. When that marriage failed, in June 1936, he married Barbara Siggers, a very intelligent, cultured, young single mother who had attended Booker T Washington High School, the best Black school in Memphis, and he adopted her son Vaughn. While he was mostly still doing churches in Mississippi, he took on one in Memphis as well, in an extremely poor area, but it gave him a foot in the door to the biggest Black city in the US. Barbara would later be called "one of the really great gospel singers" by no less than Mahalia Jackson. We don't have any recordings of Barbara singing, but Mahalia Jackson certainly knew what she was talking about when it came to great gospel singers: [Excerpt: Mahalia Jackson, "Precious Lord, Take My Hand"] Rev. Franklin was hugely personally ambitious, and he also wanted to get out of rural Mississippi, where the Klan were very active at this time, especially after his daughter Erma was born in 1938. They moved to Memphis in 1939, where he got a full-time position at New Salem Baptist Church, where for the first time he was able to earn a steady living from just one church and not have to tour round multiple churches. He soon became so popular that if you wanted to get a seat for the service at noon, you had to turn up for the 8AM Sunday School or you'd be forced to stand. He also enrolled for college courses at LeMoyne College. He didn't get a degree, but spent three years as a part-time student studying theology, literature, and sociology, and soon developed a liberal theology that was very different from the conservative fundamentalism he'd grown up in, though still very much part of the Baptist church. Where he'd grown up with a literalism that said the Bible was literally true, he started to accept things like evolution, and to see much of the Bible as metaphor. Now, we talked in the last episode about how impossible it is to get an accurate picture of the lives of religious leaders, because their life stories are told by those who admire them, and that's very much the case for C.L. Franklin. Franklin was a man who had many, many, admirable qualities -- he was fiercely intelligent, well-read, a superb public speaker, a man who was by all accounts genuinely compassionate towards those in need, and he became one of the leaders of the civil rights movement and inspired tens of thousands, maybe even millions, of people, directly and indirectly, to change the world for the better. He also raised several children who loved and admired him and were protective of his memory. And as such, there is an inevitable bias in the sources on Franklin's life. And so there's a tendency to soften the very worst things he did, some of which were very, very bad. For example in Nick Salvatore's biography of him, he talks about Franklin, in 1940, fathering a daughter with someone who is described as "a teenager" and "quite young". No details of her age other than that are given, and a few paragraphs later the age of a girl who was then sixteen *is* given, talking about having known the girl in question, and so the impression is given that the girl he impregnated was also probably in her late teens. Which would still be bad, but a man in his early twenties fathering a child with a girl in her late teens is something that can perhaps be forgiven as being a different time. But while the girl in question may have been a teenager when she gave birth, she was *twelve years old* when she became pregnant, by C.L. Franklin, the pastor of her church, who was in a position of power over her in multiple ways. Twelve years old. And this is not the only awful thing that Franklin did -- he was also known to regularly beat up women he was having affairs with, in public. I mention this now because everything else I say about him in this episode is filtered through sources who saw these things as forgivable character flaws in an otherwise admirable human being, and I can't correct for those biases because I don't know the truth. So it's going to sound like he was a truly great man. But bear those facts in mind. Barbara stayed with Franklin for the present, after discovering what he had done, but their marriage was a difficult one, and they split up and reconciled a handful of times. They had three more children together -- Cecil, Aretha, and Carolyn -- and remained together as Franklin moved on first to a church in Buffalo, New York, and then to New Bethel Church, in Detroit, on Hastings Street, a street which was the centre of Black nightlife in the city, as immortalised in John Lee Hooker's "Boogie Chillun": [Excerpt: John Lee Hooker, "Boogie Chillen"] Before moving to Detroit, Franklin had already started to get more political, as his congregation in Buffalo had largely been union members, and being free from the worst excesses of segregation allowed him to talk more openly about civil rights, but that only accelerated when he moved to Detroit, which had been torn apart just a couple of years earlier by police violence against Black protestors. Franklin had started building a reputation when in Memphis using radio broadcasts, and by the time he moved to Detroit he was able to command a very high salary, and not only that, his family were given a mansion by the church, in a rich part of town far away from most of his congregation. Smokey Robinson, who was Cecil Franklin's best friend and a frequent visitor to the mansion through most of his childhood, described it later, saying "Once inside, I'm awestruck -- oil paintings, velvet tapestries, silk curtains, mahogany cabinets filled with ornate objects of silver and gold. Man, I've never seen nothing like that before!" He made a lot of money, but he also increased church attendance so much that he earned that money. He had already been broadcasting on the radio, but when he started his Sunday night broadcasts in Detroit, he came up with a trick of having his sermons run long, so the show would end before the climax. People listening decided that they would have to start turning up in person to hear the end of the sermons, and soon he became so popular that the church would be so full that crowds would have to form on the street outside to listen. Other churches rescheduled their services so they wouldn't clash with Franklin's, and most of the other Black Baptist ministers in the city would go along to watch him preach. In 1948 though, a couple of years after moving to Detroit, Barbara finally left her husband. She took Vaughn with her and moved back to Buffalo, leaving the four biological children she'd had with C.L. with their father.  But it's important to note that she didn't leave her children -- they would visit her on a regular basis, and stay with her over school holidays. Aretha later said "Despite the fact that it has been written innumerable times, it is an absolute lie that my mother abandoned us. In no way, shape, form, or fashion did our mother desert us." Barbara's place in the home was filled by many women -- C.L. Franklin's mother moved up from Mississippi to help him take care of the children, the ladies from the church would often help out, and even stars like Mahalia Jackson would turn up and cook meals for the children. There were also the women with whom Franklin carried on affairs, including Anna Gordy, Ruth Brown, and Dinah Washington, the most important female jazz and blues singer of the fifties, who had major R&B hits with records like her version of "Cold Cold Heart": [Excerpt: Dinah Washington, "Cold Cold Heart"] Although my own favourite record of hers is "Big Long Slidin' Thing", which she made with arranger Quincy Jones: [Excerpt: Dinah Washington, "Big Long Slidin' Thing"] It's about a trombone. Get your minds out of the gutter. Washington was one of the biggest vocal influences on young Aretha, but the single biggest influence was Clara Ward, another of C.L. Franklin's many girlfriends. Ward was the longest-lasting of these, and there seems to have been a lot of hope on both her part and Aretha's that she and Rev. Franklin would marry, though Franklin always made it very clear that monogamy wouldn't suit him. Ward was one of the three major female gospel singers of the middle part of the century, and possibly even more technically impressive as a vocalist than the other two, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Mahalia Jackson. Where Jackson was an austere performer, who refused to perform in secular contexts at all for most of her life, and took herself and her music very seriously, and Tharpe was a raunchier, funnier, more down-to-earth performer who was happy to play for blues audiences and even to play secular music on occasion, Ward was a *glamorous* performer, who wore sequined dresses and piled her hair high on her head. Ward had become a singer in 1931 when her mother had what she later talked about as a religious epiphany, and decided she wasn't going to be a labourer any more, she was going to devote her life to gospel music. Ward's mother had formed a vocal group with her two daughters, and Clara quickly became the star and her mother's meal ticket -- and her mother was very possessive of that ticket, to the extent that Ward, who was a bisexual woman who mostly preferred men, had more relationships with women, because her mother wouldn't let her be alone with the men she was attracted to. But Ward did manage to keep a relationship going with C.L. Franklin, and Aretha Franklin talked about the moment she decided to become a singer, when she saw Ward singing "Peace in the Valley" at a funeral: [Excerpt: Clara Ward, "Peace in the Valley"] As well as looking towards Ward as a vocal influence, Aretha was also influenced by her as a person -- she became a mother figure to Aretha, who would talk later about watching Ward eat, and noting her taking little delicate bites, and getting an idea of what it meant to be ladylike from her. After Ward's death in 1973, a notebook was found in which she had written her opinions of other singers. For Aretha she wrote “My baby Aretha, she doesn't know how good she is. Doubts self. Some day—to the moon. I love that girl.” Ward's influence became especially important to Aretha and her siblings after their mother died of a heart attack a few years after leaving her husband, when Aretha was ten, and Aretha, already a very introverted child, became even more so. Everyone who knew Aretha said that her later diva-ish reputation came out of a deep sense of insecurity and introversion -- that she was a desperately private, closed-off, person who would rarely express her emotions at all, and who would look away from you rather than make eye contact. The only time she let herself express emotions was when she performed music. And music was hugely important in the Franklin household. Most preachers in the Black church at that time were a bit dismissive of gospel music, because they thought the music took away from their prestige -- they saw it as a necessary evil, and resented it taking up space when their congregations could have been listening to them. But Rev. Franklin was himself a rather good singer, and even made a few gospel records himself in 1950, recording for Joe Von Battle, who owned a record shop on Hastings Street and also put out records by blues singers: [Excerpt: C.L. Franklin, "I Am Climbing Higher Mountains" ] The church's musical director was James Cleveland, one of the most important gospel artists of the fifties and sixties, who sang with groups like the Caravans: [Excerpt: The Caravans, "What Kind of Man is This?" ] Cleveland, who had started out in the choir run by Thomas Dorsey, the writer of “Take My Hand Precious Lord” and “Peace in the Valley”, moved in with the Franklin family for a while, and he gave the girls tips on playing the piano -- much later he would play piano on Aretha's album Amazing Grace, and she said of him “He showed me some real nice chords, and I liked his deep, deep sound”. Other than Clara Ward, he was probably the single biggest musical influence on Aretha. And all the touring gospel musicians would make appearances at New Bethel Church, not least of them Sam Cooke, who first appeared there with the Highway QCs and would continue to do so after joining the Soul Stirrers: [Excerpt: The Soul Stirrers, "Touch the Hem of his Garment"] Young Aretha and her older sister Erma both had massive crushes on Cooke, and there were rumours that he had an affair with one or both of them when they were in their teens, though both denied it. Aretha later said "When I first saw him, all I could do was sigh... Sam was love on first hearing, love at first sight." But it wasn't just gospel music that filled the house. One of the major ways that C.L. Franklin's liberalism showed was in his love of secular music, especially jazz and blues, which he regarded as just as important in Black cultural life as gospel music. We already talked about Dinah Washington being a regular visitor to the house, but every major Black entertainer would visit the Franklin residence when they were in Detroit. Both Aretha and Cecil Franklin vividly remembered visits from Art Tatum, who would sit at the piano and play for the family and their guests: [Excerpt: Art Tatum, "Tiger Rag"] Tatum was such a spectacular pianist that there's now a musicological term, the tatum, named after him, for the smallest possible discernible rhythmic interval between two notes. Young Aretha was thrilled by his technique, and by that of Oscar Peterson, who also regularly came to the Franklin home, sometimes along with Ella Fitzgerald. Nat "King" Cole was another regular visitor. The Franklin children all absorbed the music these people -- the most important musicians of the time -- were playing in their home, and young Aretha in particular became an astonishing singer and also an accomplished pianist. Smokey Robinson later said: “The other thing that knocked us out about Aretha was her piano playing. There was a grand piano in the Franklin living room, and we all liked to mess around. We'd pick out little melodies with one finger. But when Aretha sat down, even as a seven-year-old, she started playing chords—big chords. Later I'd recognize them as complex church chords, the kind used to accompany the preacher and the solo singer. At the time, though, all I could do was view Aretha as a wonder child. Mind you, this was Detroit, where musical talent ran strong and free. Everyone was singing and harmonizing; everyone was playing piano and guitar. Aretha came out of this world, but she also came out of another far-off magical world none of us really understood. She came from a distant musical planet where children are born with their gifts fully formed.” C.L. Franklin became more involved in the music business still when Joe Von Battle started releasing records of his sermons, which had become steadily more politically aware: [Excerpt: C.L. Franklin, "Dry Bones in the Valley"] Franklin was not a Marxist -- he was a liberal, but like many liberals was willing to stand with Marxists where they had shared interests, even when it was dangerous. For example in 1954, at the height of McCarthyism, he had James and Grace Lee Boggs, two Marxist revolutionaries, come to the pulpit and talk about their support for the anti-colonial revolution in Kenya, and they sold four hundred copies of their pamphlet after their talk, because he saw that the struggle of Black Africans to get out from white colonial rule was the same struggle as that of Black Americans. And Franklin's powerful sermons started getting broadcast on the radio in areas further out from Detroit, as Chess Records picked up the distribution for them and people started playing the records on other stations. People like future Congressman John Lewis and the Reverend Jesse Jackson would later talk about listening to C.L. Franklin's records on the radio and being inspired -- a whole generation of Black Civil Rights leaders took their cues from him, and as the 1950s and 60s went on he became closer and closer to Martin Luther King in particular. But C.L. Franklin was always as much an ambitious showman as an activist, and he started putting together gospel tours, consisting mostly of music but with himself giving a sermon as the headline act. And he became very, very wealthy from these tours. On one trip in the south, his car broke down, and he couldn't find a mechanic willing to work on it. A group of white men started mocking him with racist terms, trying to provoke him, as he was dressed well and driving a nice car (albeit one that had broken down). Rather than arguing with them, he walked to a car dealership, and bought a new car with the cash that he had on him. By 1956 he was getting around $4000 per appearance, roughly equivalent to $43,000 today, and he was making a *lot* of appearances. He also sold half a million records that year. Various gospel singers, including the Clara Ward Singers, would perform on the tours he organised, and one of those performers was Franklin's middle daughter Aretha. Aretha had become pregnant when she was twelve, and after giving birth to the child she dropped out of school, but her grandmother did most of the child-rearing for her, while she accompanied her father on tour. Aretha's first recordings, made when she was just fourteen, show what an astonishing talent she already was at that young age. She would grow as an artist, of course, as she aged and gained experience, but those early gospel records already show an astounding maturity and ability. It's jaw-dropping to listen to these records of a fourteen-year-old, and immediately recognise them as a fully-formed Aretha Franklin. [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "There is a Fountain Filled With Blood"] Smokey Robinson's assessment that she was born with her gifts fully formed doesn't seem like an exaggeration when you hear that. For the latter half of the fifties, Aretha toured with her father, performing on the gospel circuit and becoming known there. But the Franklin sisters were starting to get ideas about moving into secular music. This was largely because their family friend Sam Cooke had done just that, with "You Send Me": [Excerpt: Sam Cooke, "You Send Me"] Aretha and Erma still worshipped Cooke, and Aretha would later talk about getting dressed up just to watch Cooke appear on the TV. Their brother Cecil later said "I remember the night Sam came to sing at the Flame Show Bar in Detroit. Erma and Ree said they weren't going because they were so heartbroken that Sam had recently married. I didn't believe them. And I knew I was right when they started getting dressed about noon for the nine o'clock show. Because they were underage, they put on a ton of makeup to look older. It didn't matter 'cause Berry Gordy's sisters, Anna and Gwen, worked the photo concession down there, taking pictures of the party people. Anna was tight with Daddy and was sure to let my sisters in. She did, and they came home with stars in their eyes.” Moving from gospel to secular music still had a stigma against it in the gospel world, but Rev. Franklin had never seen secular music as sinful, and he encouraged his daughters in their ambitions. Erma was the first to go secular, forming a girl group, the Cleo-Patrettes, at the suggestion of the Four Tops, who were family friends, and recording a single for Joe Von Battle's J-V-B label, "No Other Love": [Excerpt: The Cleo-Patrettes, "No Other Love"] But the group didn't go any further, as Rev. Franklin insisted that his eldest daughter had to finish school and go to university before she could become a professional singer. Erma missed other opportunities for different reasons, though -- Berry Gordy, at this time still a jobbing songwriter, offered her a song he'd written with his sister and Roquel Davis, but Erma thought of herself as a jazz singer and didn't want to do R&B, and so "All I Could Do Was Cry" was given to Etta James instead, who had a top forty pop hit with it: [Excerpt: Etta James, "All I Could Do Was Cry"] While Erma's move into secular music was slowed by her father wanting her to have an education, there was no such pressure on Aretha, as she had already dropped out. But Aretha had a different problem -- she was very insecure, and said that church audiences "weren't critics, but worshippers", but she was worried that nightclub audiences in particular were just the kind of people who would just be looking for flaws, rather than wanting to support the performer as church audiences did. But eventually she got up the nerve to make the move. There was the possibility of her getting signed to Motown -- her brother was still best friends with Smokey Robinson, while the Gordy family were close to her father -- but Rev. Franklin had his eye on bigger things. He wanted her to be signed to Columbia, which in 1960 was the most prestigious of all the major labels. As Aretha's brother Cecil later said "He wanted Ree on Columbia, the label that recorded Mahalia Jackson, Duke Ellington, Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett, Percy Faith, and Doris Day. Daddy said that Columbia was the biggest and best record company in the world. Leonard Bernstein recorded for Columbia." They went out to New York to see Phil Moore, a legendary vocal coach and arranger who had helped make Lena Horne and Dorothy Dandridge into stars, but Moore actually refused to take her on as a client, saying "She does not require my services. Her style has already been developed. Her style is in place. It is a unique style that, in my professional opinion, requires no alteration. It simply requires the right material. Her stage presentation is not of immediate concern. All that will come later. The immediate concern is the material that will suit her best. And the reason that concern will not be easily addressed is because I can't imagine any material that will not suit her." That last would become a problem for the next few years, but the immediate issue was to get someone at Columbia to listen to her, and Moore could help with that -- he was friends with John Hammond. Hammond is a name that's come up several times in the podcast already -- we mentioned him in the very earliest episodes, and also in episode ninety-eight, where we looked at his signing of Bob Dylan. But Hammond was a legend in the music business. He had produced sessions for Bessie Smith, had discovered Count Basie and Billie Holiday, had convinced Benny Goodman to hire Charlie Christian and Lionel Hampton, had signed Pete Seeger and the Weavers to Columbia, had organised the Spirituals to Swing concerts which we talked about in the first few episodes of this podcast, and was about to put out the first album of Robert Johnson's recordings. Of all the executives at Columbia, he was the one who had the greatest eye for talent, and the greatest understanding of Black musical culture. Moore suggested that the Franklins get Major Holley to produce a demo recording that he could get Hammond to listen to. Major Holley was a family friend, and a jazz bassist who had played with Oscar Peterson and Coleman Hawkins among others, and he put together a set of songs for Aretha that would emphasise the jazz side of her abilities, pitching her as a Dinah Washington style bluesy jazz singer. The highlight of the demo was a version of "Today I Sing the Blues", a song that had originally been recorded by Helen Humes, the singer who we last heard of recording “Be Baba Leba” with Bill Doggett: [Excerpt: Helen Humes, "Today I Sing the Blues"] That original version had been produced by Hammond, but the song had also recently been covered by Aretha's idol, Sam Cooke: [Excerpt: Sam Cooke, "Today I Sing the Blues"] Hammond was hugely impressed by the demo, and signed Aretha straight away, and got to work producing her first album. But he and Rev. Franklin had different ideas about what Aretha should do. Hammond wanted to make a fairly raw-sounding bluesy jazz album, the kind of recording he had produced with Bessie Smith or Billie Holiday, but Rev. Franklin wanted his daughter to make music that would cross over to the white pop market -- he was aiming for the same kind of audience that Nat "King" Cole or Harry Belafonte had, and he wanted her recording standards like "Over the Rainbow". This showed a lack of understanding on Rev. Franklin's part of how such crossovers actually worked at this point. As Etta James later said, "If you wanna have Black hits, you gotta understand the Black streets, you gotta work those streets and work those DJs to get airplay on Black stations... Or looking at it another way, in those days you had to get the Black audience to love the hell outta you and then hope the love would cross over to the white side. Columbia didn't know nothing 'bout crossing over.” But Hammond knew they had to make a record quickly, because Sam Cooke had been working on RCA Records, trying to get them to sign Aretha, and Rev. Franklin wanted an album out so they could start booking club dates for her, and was saying that if they didn't get one done quickly he'd take up that offer, and so they came up with a compromise set of songs which satisfied nobody, but did produce two R&B top ten hits, "Won't Be Long" and Aretha's version of "Today I Sing the Blues": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Today I Sing the Blues"] This is not to say that Aretha herself saw this as a compromise -- she later said "I have never compromised my material. Even then, I knew a good song from a bad one. And if Hammond, one of the legends of the business, didn't know how to produce a record, who does? No, the fault was with promotion." And this is something important to bear in mind as we talk about her Columbia records. Many, *many* people have presented those records as Aretha being told what to do by producers who didn't understand her art and were making her record songs that didn't fit her style. That's not what's happening with the Columbia records. Everyone actually involved said that Aretha was very involved in the choices made -- and there are some genuinely great tracks on those albums. The problem is that they're *unfocused*. Aretha was only eighteen when she signed to the label, and she loved all sorts of music -- blues, jazz, soul, standards, gospel, middle-of-the-road pop music -- and wanted to sing all those kinds of music. And she *could* sing all those kinds of music, and sing them well. But it meant the records weren't coherent. You didn't know what you were getting, and there was no artistic personality that dominated them, it was just what Aretha felt like recording. Around this time, Aretha started to think that maybe her father didn't know what he was talking about when it came to popular music success, even though she idolised him in most areas, and she turned to another figure, who would soon become both her husband and manager. Ted White. Her sister Erma, who was at that time touring with Lloyd Price, had introduced them, but in fact Aretha had first seen White years earlier, in her own house -- he had been Dinah Washington's boyfriend in the fifties, and her first sight of him had been carrying a drunk Washington out of the house after a party. In interviews with David Ritz, who wrote biographies of many major soul stars including both Aretha Franklin and Etta James, James had a lot to say about White, saying “Ted White was famous even before he got with Aretha. My boyfriend at the time, Harvey Fuqua, used to talk about him. Ted was supposed to be the slickest pimp in Detroit. When I learned that Aretha married him, I wasn't surprised. A lot of the big-time singers who we idolized as girls—like Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan—had pimps for boyfriends and managers. That was standard operating procedure. My own mother had made a living turning tricks. When we were getting started, that way of life was part of the music business. It was in our genes. Part of the lure of pimps was that they got us paid." She compared White to Ike Turner, saying "Ike made Tina, no doubt about it. He developed her talent. He showed her what it meant to be a performer. He got her famous. Of course, Ted White was not a performer, but he was savvy about the world. When Harvey Fuqua introduced me to him—this was the fifties, before he was with Aretha—I saw him as a super-hip extra-smooth cat. I liked him. He knew music. He knew songwriters who were writing hit songs. He had manners. Later, when I ran into him and Aretha—this was the sixties—I saw that she wasn't as shy as she used to be." White was a pimp, but he was also someone with music business experience -- he owned an unsuccessful publishing company, and also ran a chain of jukeboxes. He was also thirty, while Aretha was only eighteen. But White didn't like the people in Aretha's life at the time -- he didn't get on well with her father, and he also clashed with John Hammond. And Aretha was also annoyed at Hammond, because her sister Erma had signed to Epic, a Columbia subsidiary, and was releasing her own singles: [Excerpt: Erma Franklin, "Hello Again"] Aretha was certain that Hammond had signed Erma, even though Hammond had nothing to do with Epic Records, and Erma had actually been recommended by Lloyd Price. And Aretha, while for much of her career she would support her sister, was also terrified that her sister might have a big hit before her and leave Aretha in her shadow. Hammond was still the credited producer on Aretha's second album, The Electrifying Aretha Franklin, but his lack of say in the sessions can be shown in the choice of lead-off single. "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody" was originally recorded by Al Jolson in 1918: [Excerpt: Al Jolson, "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody"] Rev. Franklin pushed for the song, as he was a fan of Jolson -- Jolson, oddly, had a large Black fanbase, despite his having been a blackface performer, because he had *also* been a strong advocate of Black musicians like Cab Calloway, and the level of racism in the media of the twenties through forties was so astonishingly high that even a blackface performer could seem comparatively OK. Aretha's performance was good, but it was hardly the kind of thing that audiences were clamouring for in 1961: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody"] That single came out the month after _Down Beat_ magazine gave Aretha the "new-star female vocalist award", and it oddly made the pop top forty, her first record to do so, and the B-side made the R&B top ten, but for the next few years both chart success and critical acclaim eluded her. None of her next nine singles would make higher than number eighty-six on the Hot One Hundred, and none would make the R&B charts at all. After that transitional second album, she was paired with producer Bob Mersey, who was precisely the kind of white pop producer that one would expect for someone who hoped for crossover success. Mersey was the producer for many of Columbia's biggest stars at the time -- people like Barbra Streisand, Andy Williams, Julie Andrews, Patti Page, and Mel Tormé -- and it was that kind of audience that Aretha wanted to go for at this point. To give an example of the kind of thing that Mersey was doing, just the month before he started work on his first collaboration with Aretha, _The Tender, the Moving, the Swinging Aretha Franklin_, his production of Andy Williams singing "Moon River" was released: [Excerpt: Andy Williams, "Moon River"] This was the kind of audience Aretha was going for when it came to record sales – the person she compared herself to most frequently at this point was Barbra Streisand – though in live performances she was playing with a small jazz group in jazz venues, and going for the same kind of jazz-soul crossover audience as Dinah Washington or Ray Charles. The strategy seems to have been to get something like the success of her idol Sam Cooke, who could play to soul audiences but also play the Copacabana, but the problem was that Cooke had built an audience before doing that -- she hadn't. But even though she hadn't built up an audience, musicians were starting to pay attention. Ted White, who was still in touch with Dinah Washington, later said “Women are very catty. They'll see a girl who's dressed very well and they'll say, Yeah, but look at those shoes, or look at that hairdo. Aretha was the only singer I've ever known that Dinah had no negative comments about. She just stood with her mouth open when she heard Aretha sing.” The great jazz vocalist Carmen McRea went to see Aretha at the Village Vanguard in New York around this time, having heard the comparisons to Dinah Washington, and met her afterwards. She later said "Given how emotionally she sang, I expected her to have a supercharged emotional personality like Dinah. Instead, she was the shyest thing I've ever met. Would hardly look me in the eye. Didn't say more than two words. I mean, this bitch gave bashful a new meaning. Anyway, I didn't give her any advice because she didn't ask for any, but I knew goddamn well that, no matter how good she was—and she was absolutely wonderful—she'd have to make up her mind whether she wanted to be Della Reese, Dinah Washington, or Sarah Vaughan. I also had a feeling she wouldn't have minded being Leslie Uggams or Diahann Carroll. I remember thinking that if she didn't figure out who she was—and quick—she was gonna get lost in the weeds of the music biz." So musicians were listening to Aretha, even if everyone else wasn't. The Tender, the Moving, the Swinging Aretha Franklin, for example, was full of old standards like "Try a Little Tenderness": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Try a Little Tenderness"] That performance inspired Otis Redding to cut his own version of that song a few years later: [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Try a Little Tenderness"] And it might also have inspired Aretha's friend and idol Sam Cooke to include the song in his own lounge sets. The Tender, the Moving, the Swinging Aretha Franklin also included Aretha's first original composition, but in general it wasn't a very well-received album. In 1963, the first cracks started to develop in Aretha's relationship with Ted White. According to her siblings, part of the strain was because Aretha's increasing commitment to the civil rights movement was costing her professional opportunities. Her brother Cecil later said "Ted White had complete sway over her when it came to what engagements to accept and what songs to sing. But if Daddy called and said, ‘Ree, I want you to sing for Dr. King,' she'd drop everything and do just that. I don't think Ted had objections to her support of Dr. King's cause, and he realized it would raise her visibility. But I do remember the time that there was a conflict between a big club gig and doing a benefit for Dr. King. Ted said, ‘Take the club gig. We need the money.' But Ree said, ‘Dr. King needs me more.' She defied her husband. Maybe that was the start of their marital trouble. Their thing was always troubled because it was based on each of them using the other. Whatever the case, my sister proved to be a strong soldier in the civil rights fight. That made me proud of her and it kept her relationship with Daddy from collapsing entirely." In part her increasing activism was because of her father's own increase in activity. The benefit that Cecil is talking about there is probably one in Chicago organised by Mahalia Jackson, where Aretha headlined on a bill that also included Jackson, Eartha Kitt, and the comedian Dick Gregory. That was less than a month before her father organised the Detroit Walk to Freedom, a trial run for the more famous March on Washington a few weeks later. The Detroit Walk to Freedom was run by the Detroit Council for Human Rights, which was formed by Rev. Franklin and Rev. Albert Cleage, a much more radical Black nationalist who often differed with Franklin's more moderate integrationist stance. They both worked together to organise the Walk to Freedom, but Franklin's stance predominated, as several white liberal politicians, like the Mayor of Detroit, Jerome Cavanagh, were included in the largely-Black March. It drew crowds of 125,000 people, and Dr. King called it "one of the most wonderful things that has happened in America", and it was the largest civil rights demonstration in American history up to that point. King's speech in Detroit was recorded and released on Motown Records: [Excerpt: Martin Luther King, "Original 'I Have a Dream' Speech”] He later returned to the same ideas in his more famous speech in Washington. During that civil rights spring and summer of 1963, Aretha also recorded what many think of as the best of her Columbia albums, a collection of jazz standards  called Laughing on the Outside, which included songs like "Solitude", "Ol' Man River" and "I Wanna Be Around": [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "I Wanna Be Around"] The opening track, "Skylark", was Etta James' favourite ever Aretha Franklin performance, and is regarded by many as the definitive take on the song: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Skylark"] Etta James later talked about discussing the track with the great jazz singer Sarah Vaughan, one of Aretha's early influences, who had recorded her own version of the song: "Sarah said, ‘Have you heard of this Aretha Franklin girl?' I said, ‘You heard her do “Skylark,” didn't you?' Sarah said, ‘Yes, I did, and I'm never singing that song again.” But while the album got noticed by other musicians, it didn't get much attention from the wider public. Mersey decided that a change in direction was needed, and they needed to get in someone with more of a jazz background to work with Aretha. He brought in pianist and arranger Bobby Scott, who had previously worked with people like Lester Young, and Scott said of their first meeting “My first memory of Aretha is that she wouldn't look at me when I spoke. She withdrew from the encounter in a way that intrigued me. At first I thought she was just shy—and she was—but I also felt her reading me...For all her deference to my experience and her reluctance to speak up, when she did look me in the eye, she did so with a quiet intensity before saying, ‘I like all your ideas, Mr. Scott, but please remember I do want hits.'” They started recording together, but the sides they cut wouldn't be released for a few years. Instead, Aretha and Mersey went in yet another direction. Dinah Washington died suddenly in December 1963, and given that Aretha was already being compared to Washington by almost everyone, and that Washington had been a huge influence on her, as well as having been close to both her father and her husband/manager, it made sense to go into the studio and quickly cut a tribute album, with Aretha singing Washington's hits: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Cold Cold Heart"] Unfortunately, while Washington had been wildly popular, and one of the most important figures in jazz and R&B in the forties and fifties, her style was out of date. The tribute album, titled Unforgettable, came out in February 1964, the same month that Beatlemania hit the US. Dinah Washington was the past, and trying to position Aretha as "the new Dinah Washington" would doom her to obscurity. John Hammond later said "I remember thinking that if Aretha never does another album she will be remembered for this one. No, the problem was timing. Dinah had died, and, outside the black community, interest in her had waned dramatically. Popular music was in a radical and revolutionary moment, and that moment had nothing to do with Dinah Washington, great as she was and will always be.” At this point, Columbia brought in Clyde Otis, an independent producer and songwriter who had worked with artists like Washington and Sarah Vaughan, and indeed had written one of the songs on Unforgettable, but had also worked with people like Brook Benton, who had a much more R&B audience. For example, he'd written "Baby, You Got What It Takes" for Benton and Washington to do as a duet: [Excerpt: Brook Benton and Dinah Washington, "Baby, You Got What it Takes"] In 1962, when he was working at Mercury Records before going independent, Otis had produced thirty-three of the fifty-one singles the label put out that year that had charted. Columbia had decided that they were going to position Aretha firmly in the R&B market, and assigned Otis to do just that. At first, though, Otis had no more luck with getting Aretha to sing R&B than anyone else had. He later said "Aretha, though, couldn't be deterred from her determination to beat Barbra Streisand at Barbra's own game. I kept saying, ‘Ree, you can outsing Streisand any day of the week. That's not the point. The point is to find a hit.' But that summer she just wanted straight-up ballads. She insisted that she do ‘People,' Streisand's smash. Aretha sang the hell out of it, but no one's gonna beat Barbra at her own game." But after several months of this, eventually Aretha and White came round to the idea of making an R&B record. Otis produced an album of contemporary R&B, with covers of music from the more sophisticated end of the soul market, songs like "My Guy", "Every Little Bit Hurts", and "Walk on By", along with a few new originals brought in by Otis. The title track, "Runnin' Out of Fools", became her biggest hit in three years, making number fifty-seven on the pop charts and number thirty on the R&B charts: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "Runnin' Out of Fools"] After that album, they recorded another album with Otis producing, a live-in-the-studio jazz album, but again nobody involved could agree on a style for her. By this time it was obvious that she was unhappy with Columbia and would be leaving the label soon, and they wanted to get as much material in the can as they could, so they could continue releasing material after she left. But her working relationship with Otis was deteriorating -- Otis and Ted White did not get on, Aretha and White were having their own problems, and Aretha had started just not showing up for some sessions, with nobody knowing where she was. Columbia passed her on to yet another producer, this time Bob Johnston, who had just had a hit with Patti Page, "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte": [Excerpt: Patti Page, "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte"] Johnston was just about to hit an incredible hot streak as a producer. At the same time as his sessions with Aretha, he was also producing Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited, and just after the sessions finished he'd go on to produce Simon & Garfunkel's Sounds of Silence album. In the next few years he would produce a run of classic Dylan albums like Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding, and New Morning, Simon & Garfunkel's follow up Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme, Leonard Cohen's first three albums, and Johnny Cash's comeback with the Live at Folsom Prison album and its follow up At San Quentin. He also produced records for Marty Robbins, Flatt & Scruggs, the Byrds, and Burl Ives during that time period. But you may notice that while that's as great a run of records as any producer was putting out at the time, it has little to do with the kind of music that Aretha Franklin was making then, or would become famous with. Johnston produced a string-heavy session in which Aretha once again tried to sing old standards by people like Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern. She then just didn't turn up for some more sessions, until one final session in August, when she recorded songs like "Swanee" and "You Made Me Love You". For more than a year, she didn't go into a studio. She also missed many gigs and disappeared from her family's life for periods of time. Columbia kept putting out records of things she'd already recorded, but none of them had any success at all. Many of the records she'd made for Columbia had been genuinely great -- there's a popular perception that she was being held back by a record company that forced her to sing material she didn't like, but in fact she *loved* old standards, and jazz tunes, and contemporary pop at least as much as any other kind of music. Truly great musicians tend to have extremely eclectic tastes, and Aretha Franklin was a truly great musician if anyone was. Her Columbia albums are as good as any albums in those genres put out in that time period, and she remained proud of them for the rest of her life. But that very eclecticism had meant that she hadn't established a strong identity as a performer -- everyone who heard her records knew she was a great singer, but nobody knew what "an Aretha Franklin record" really meant -- and she hadn't had a single real hit, which was the thing she wanted more than anything. All that changed when in the early hours of the morning, Jerry Wexler was at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals recording a Wilson Pickett track -- from the timeline, it was probably the session for "Mustang Sally", which coincidentally was published by Ted White's publishing company, as Sir Mack Rice, the writer, was a neighbour of White and Franklin, and to which Aretha had made an uncredited songwriting contribution: [Excerpt: Wilson Pickett, "Mustang Sally"] Whatever the session, it wasn't going well. Percy Sledge, another Atlantic artist who recorded at Muscle Shoals, had turned up and had started winding Pickett up, telling him he sounded just like James Brown. Pickett *hated* Brown -- it seems like almost every male soul singer of the sixties hated James Brown -- and went to physically attack Sledge. Wexler got between the two men to protect his investments in them -- both were the kind of men who could easily cause some serious damage to anyone they hit -- and Pickett threw him to one side and charged at Sledge. At that moment the phone went, and Wexler yelled at the two of them to calm down so he could talk on the phone. The call was telling him that Aretha Franklin was interested in recording for Atlantic. Rev. Louise Bishop, later a Democratic politician in Pennsylvania, was at this time a broadcaster, presenting a radio gospel programme, and she knew Aretha. She'd been to see her perform, and had been astonished by Aretha's performance of a recent Otis Redding single, "Respect": [Excerpt: Otis Redding, "Respect"] Redding will, by the way, be getting his own episode in a few months' time, which is why I've not covered the making of that record here. Bishop thought that Aretha did the song even better than Redding -- something Bishop hadn't thought possible. When she got talking to Aretha after the show, she discovered that her contract with Columbia was up, and Aretha didn't really know what she was going to do -- maybe she'd start her own label or something. She hadn't been into the studio in more than a year, but she did have some songs she'd been working on. Bishop was good friends with Jerry Wexler, and she knew that he was a big fan of Aretha's, and had been saying for a while that when her contract was up he'd like to sign her. Bishop offered to make the connection, and then went back home and phoned Wexler's wife, waking her up -- it was one in the morning by this point, but Bishop was accustomed to phoning Wexler late at night when it was something important. Wexler's wife then phoned him in Muscle Shoals, and he phoned Bishop back and made the arrangements to meet up. Initially, Wexler wasn't thinking about producing Aretha himself -- this was still the period when he and the Ertegun brothers were thinking of selling Atlantic and getting out of the music business, and so while he signed her to the label he was originally going to hand her over to Jim Stewart at Stax to record, as he had with Sam and Dave. But in a baffling turn of events, Jim Stewart didn't actually want to record her, and so Wexler determined that he had better do it himself. And he didn't want to do it with slick New York musicians -- he wanted to bring out the gospel sound in her voice, and he thought the best way to do that was with musicians from what Charles Hughes refers to as "the country-soul triangle" of Nashville, Memphis, and Muscle Shoals. So he booked a week's worth of sessions at FAME studios, and got in FAME's regular rhythm section, plus a couple of musicians from American Recordings in Memphis -- Chips Moman and Spooner Oldham. Oldham's friend and songwriting partner Dan Penn came along as well -- he wasn't officially part of the session, but he was a fan of Aretha's and wasn't going to miss this. Penn had been the first person that Rick Hall, the owner of FAME, had called when Wexler had booked the studio, because Hall hadn't actually heard of Aretha Franklin up to that point, but didn't want to let Wexler know that. Penn had assured him that Aretha was one of the all-time great talents, and that she just needed the right production to become massive. As Hall put it in his autobiography, "Dan tended in those days to hate anything he didn't write, so I figured if he felt that strongly about her, then she was probably going to be a big star." Charlie Chalmers, a horn player who regularly played with these musicians, was tasked with putting together a horn section. The first song they recorded that day was one that the musicians weren't that impressed with at first. "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)" was written by a songwriter named Ronnie Shannon, who had driven from Georgia to Detroit hoping to sell his songs to Motown. He'd popped into a barber's shop where Ted White was having his hair cut to ask for directions to Motown, and White had signed him to his own publishing company and got him to write songs for Aretha. On hearing the demo, the musicians thought that the song was mediocre and a bit shapeless: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You) (demo)"] But everyone there was agreed that Aretha herself was spectacular. She didn't speak much to the musicians, just went to the piano and sat down and started playing, and Jerry Wexler later compared her playing to Thelonius Monk (who was indeed one of the jazz musicians who had influenced her). While Spooner Oldham had been booked to play piano, it was quickly decided to switch him to electric piano and organ, leaving the acoustic piano for Aretha to play, and she would play piano on all the sessions Wexler produced for her in future. Although while Wexler is the credited producer (and on this initial session Rick Hall at FAME is a credited co-producer), everyone involved, including Wexler, said that the musicians were taking their cues from Aretha rather than anyone else. She would outline the arrangements at the piano, and everyone else would fit in with what she was doing, coming up with head arrangements directed by her. But Wexler played a vital role in mediating between her and the musicians and engineering staff, all of whom he knew and she didn't. As Rick Hall said "After her brief introduction by Wexler, she said very little to me or anyone else in the studio other than Jerry or her husband for the rest of the day. I don't think Aretha and I ever made eye contact after our introduction, simply because we were both so totally focused on our music and consumed by what we were doing." The musicians started working on "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)", and at first found it difficult to get the groove, but then Oldham came up with an electric piano lick which everyone involved thought of as the key that unlocked the song for them: [Excerpt: Aretha Franklin, "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)"] After that, they took a break. Most of them were pleased with the track, though Rick Hall wasn't especially happy. But then Rick Hall wasn't especially happy about anything at that point. He'd always used mono for his recordings until then, but had been basically forced to install at least a two-track system by Tom Dowd, Atlantic's chief engineer, and was resentful of this imposition. During the break, Dan Penn went off to finish a song he and Spooner Oldham had been writing, which he hoped Aretha would record at the session: [Excerpt: Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man"] They had the basic structure of the song down, but hadn't quite finished the middle eight, and both Jerry Wexler and Aretha Franklin chipped in uncredited lyrical contributions -- Aretha's line was "as long as we're together baby, you'd better show some respect to me". Penn, Oldham, Chips Moman, Roger Hawkins, and Tommy Cogbill started cutting a backing track for the song, with Penn singing lead initially with the idea that Aretha would overdub her vocal. But while they were doing this, things had been going wrong with the other participants. All the FAME and American rhythm section players were white, as were Wexler, Hall, and Dowd, and Wexler had been very aware of this, and of the fact that they were recording in Alabama, where Aretha and her husband might not feel totally safe, so he'd specifically requested that the horn section at least contain some Black musicians. But Charlie Chalmers hadn't been able to get any of the Black musicians he would normally call when putting together a horn section, and had ended up with an all-white horn section as well, including one player, a trumpet player called Ken Laxton, who had a reputation as a good player but had never worked with any of the other musicians there -- he was an outsider in a group of people who regularly worked together and had a pre-existing relationship. As the two outsiders, Laxton and Ted White had, at first, bonded, and indeed had started drinking vodka together, passing a bottle between themselves, in a way that Rick Hall would normally not allow in a session -- at the time, the county the studio was in was still a dry county. But as Wexler said, “A redneck patronizing a Black man is a dangerous camaraderie,” and White and Laxton soon had a major falling out. Everyone involved tells a different story about what it was that caused them to start rowing, though it seems to have been to do with Laxton not showing the proper respect for Aretha, or even actually sexually assaulting her -- Dan Penn later said “I always heard he patted her on the butt or somethin', and what would have been wrong with that anyway?”, which says an awful lot about the attitudes of these white Southern men who thought of themselves as very progressive, and were -- for white Southern men in early 1967. Either way, White got very, very annoyed, and insisted that Laxton get fired from the session, which he was, but that still didn't satisfy White, and he stormed off to the motel, drunk and angry. The rest of them finished cutting a basic track for "Do Right Woman", but nobody was very happy with it. Oldham said later “She liked the song but hadn't had time to practice it or settle into it I remember there was Roger playing the drums and Cogbill playing the bass. And I'm on these little simplistic chords on organ, just holding chords so the song would be understood. And that was sort of where it was left. Dan had to sing the vocal, because she didn't know the song, in the wrong key for him. That's what they left with—Dan singing the wrong-key vocal and this little simplistic organ and a bass and a drum. We had a whole week to do everything—we had plenty of time—so there was no hurry to do anything in particular.” Penn was less optimistic, saying "But as I rem

This week's guest is Robert Peoples of Affinis Humanity. Robert grew up in a Black Baptist church in New Jersey. When he was young, he enjoyed church but was an inquisitive child with many questions and no satisfying answers. As a teenager, Robert looked for answers outside the church—from Thomas Paine to Allah to the Buddha. By 18 years old, Robert could no longer believe in anything supernatural. His understanding of the world came from philosophy, history and science. This was incredibly difficult for his family, but they continued to faithfully love and support him. One frustration Robert has with the Black church community is that it works to change unjust systems but then uses phrases like, “We couldn't have done this without God.” In recent years, Robert has been working with a political non-profit to ensure the “separation of state and church” and to change unjust policies. Human suffering is caused less by individuals “in need of heart change,” and more by systemic racism, homophobia, classism and other inequities. [Humanism] has increased my love for humanity exponentially. I no longer love people with conditions. In the midst of all the work to be done, Robert is hopeful. He is effecting change in the world and reminding others that “being human is enough.” He stands in awe of the beauty of nature, his daughters and this short life. His story is one of world-changing secular grace. Links Affinis Humanity https://www.affinishumanity.org/ Secular Coalition for Arizona https://secularaz.org/ Interact Join the Deconversion Anonymous Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/deconversion Full episode show notes https://gracefulatheist.com/2022/04/10/robert-peoples-affinis-humanity/ Secular Grace https://gracefulatheist.com/2016/10/21/secular-grace/ Deconversion https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/ Deconstruction https://gracefulatheist.com/2017/12/03/deconversion-how-to/#deconstruction/ Attribution "Waves" track written and produced by Makaih Beats https://makaihbeats.net/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gracefulatheist/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/gracefulatheist/support

Dr. Jan Willis discusses her lifetime of teaching Buddhism and Buddhist studies courses. She reflects on helping students broaden their horizons and find their true selves, just as she discovered the wider world of higher education after surviving childhood in the segregated south. In her teaching, she uses stories to connect students with the pivotal moments in history that shape our understanding of social justice and engaged Buddhism. Jan is a Professor Emerita of Religion at Wesleyan University in Connecticut and Visiting Professor of Religion at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia. In addition to her research on Tibetan Buddhism, Buddhist saints' lives, and women and Buddhism, she also publishes on her personal experience of being a Black woman in Buddhist studies. This episode was recorded in January 2022. Memorable Quotations “I was raised in a mining camp outside of Birmingham, a town that was a mining camp that was split down the middle by one street. Blacks on one side, whites on the other. We dare not cross the road.” Jan Willis “I praise all of my strong black women teachers.” Jan Willis “I saw math and music as having universal languages. Here are languages that can be understood by anyone who reads that language.” Jan Willis “I was one of those faceless 15 year olds, tenth graders, who marched with King. So in '63 that had happened and that transformed my whole life. But in '65, when I got these scholarships, the Klan marched on our home. This was something that we'd grown up knowing about, the Klan targeted people from time to time.” Jan Willis “It was very, very dangerous I knew from the beginning, to be conspicuous in the south. It was frightening.” Jan Willis “So the Klan comes,… They set up a cross, 12 or 15 foot in front across the street from the house in an alleyway. And they light it. So I'm amazed. I'm awestruck. I'm dumbfounded, gobsmacked. Because first, the robes are not all white. There are red robes and there are purple robes, and the second thing is that they're men and women and children enrobed. This really strong urge came up in me to go out and talk to them… I wanted to teach them that just as they were a family, we were a family inside this house just like them.” Jan Willis “I call it a 'dual education,' our teachers made sure that we not only learned English literature, but we learned black literature. That we not only sang the national anthem, but we sang the negro National anthem as well. That we recited poems... That I can meet people, African-Americans today, a number of times I can meet them if they are my same age we can start reciting the same poem, we'll make the same hand gestures. So there was this dual education going on all the time which said 'you are somebody,' 'You have a tradition,' and we celebrated that.” Jan Willis “Those teachers were practicing ‘fugitive pedagogy,' what Jarvis Givens calls it, because it's an education that's meant to uplift the spirit as well as to uplift self-esteem.” Jan Willis “I don't want to convert those students, but I want those students to find their true selves, which I think are compassionate and capable. I want to help them discover that.” Jan Willis “My mission turned out to be helping them discover what they knew and helping them find the tools to research it further.” Jan Willis “Culturally, I'm African-American, but if I want to solve a problem, Buddhism has a lot of answers.” Jan Willis “I say, '10-20 years from now you won't remember all these dates, and this, that, the other. What do you think you'll carry forward as the most important teaching of the Buddha?' I think early on they're saying things, they come into the class some of them might say 'wisdom,' 'emptiness,' they don't understand any of that, but they've read it somewhere in there.” Jan Willis “Dhammapada 183, which says 'Do no harm, practice virtue, discipline the mind. This is the teaching of all the buddhas' I think that summarizes the whole thing. If you can get that flavour to students, it's the whole kit and caboodle right there.” Jan Willis “Doing no harm is right there, it's Martin Luther King's nonviolent resistance… Because we're all in this together and we'll all go down together unless we can learn to live together.” Jan Willis “King used to say there are three evils of society: over consumerism, militarism, and racism. Now in Buddhism, that racism would be the ignorance, the militarism is hatred, and the consumerism is greed, right? But in his last year he changed consumerism to poverty.” Jan Willis “We're all connected. I can't be who I am until you are who you ought to be, and you can't be who you ought to be until I am who I ought to be. It's so clear.” Jan Willis LINKS Jan Willis https://www.janwillis.org/ Jan Willis. Dreaming Me: Black, Baptist and Buddhist- One Woman's Spiritual Journey (Wisdom Publications, 2008) buy it here https://www.amazon.ca/Dreaming-Me-Baptist-Buddhist-Spiritual/dp/0861715489 Jan Willis Articles on Lion's Roar https://www.lionsroar.com/author/jan-willis/ Birmingham children's march 1963 https://www.biography.com/news/black-history-birmingham-childrens-crusade-1963 Jarvis R. Givens, Fugitive Pedagogy: Carter G. Woodson and the Art of Black Teaching https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674983687 bell hooks,  Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom (Routledge 1994) https://www.routledge.com/Teaching-to-Transgress-Education-as-the-Practice-of-Freedom/hooks/p/book/9780415908085 Arthur Llewellyn Basham, The Wonder that Was India. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wonder_That_Was_India Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught. https://www.amazon.ca/What-Buddha-Taught-Expanded-Dhammapada/dp/0802130313 Steven Batchelor, Buddhism Without Beliefs. https://www.amazon.ca/Buddhism-without-Beliefs-Contemporary-Awakening/dp/1573226564  

There are some experiences that humble you, shift your perspective on the world, and open your eyes to another slice of God's character. I believe being a Black queer woman in a traditional faith setting, like the Christian church is one of them. This week, Rev. Erica Williams shares her journey that began at Black Baptist church in Saginaw, MI seeking "purity" and is now the founding pastor, as a Black queer woman, at Set It Off Ministries, an international, interfaith, intergenerational ministry that seeks to empower, educate, and emancipate poor and working-class communities around the world.

West Coast Cookbook & Speakeasy is Now Open! 8am-9am PT/ 11am-Noon ET for our especially special Daily Specials; River City Hash Mondays!Starting off in the Bistro Cafe, Lindsey Graham must apologize for his 'racist' comment about subsidies kept from farmers of color for decades as, ‘reparations.'Then, on the rest of the menu, North Carolina police evacuated local businesses in Brevard after they found several incendiary devices near a Black Baptist church and a county building; after being routinely ignored by their departments, US female firefighters are fighting discrimination with lawsuits; and, state Governors are evading sunshine laws during the pandemic to keep records from the public.After the break, we move to the Chef's Table where London police face a backlash after beating the crap out of scores of women mourning the death of a young London woman murdered by an off-duty London cop; and, international arms sales were flat from 2016 through 2020, the first time in more than a decade.All that and more, on West Coast Cookbook & Speakeasy with Chef de Cuisine Justice Putnam.Bon Appétit!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"I was never a spy. I was with the OSS organization. We had a number of women, but we were all office help." -- Julia Child~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Show Notes & Links: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/3/15/2021052/-West-Coast-Cookbook-amp-Speakeasy-Daily-Special-River-City-Hash-Mondays

"I remember the day I realized I couldn't play a white guy as well as a white guy. It felt like a death sentence for my career.”—Chad Sanders When Chad Sanders landed his first job in lily-white Silicon Valley, he quickly realized that to be successful at work meant playing a certain social game. Each meeting was drenched in white slang and the privileged talk of international travel or a folk concert in San Francisco, which led Chad to realize that he could only be successful if he emulated whiteness. So Sanders changed. He changed his wardrobe, his behavior, his speech—everything that connected him with his Black identity. And while he finally felt included, he felt awful. Carrying the unbearable weight of his imposter syndrome—the constant burden of not being true to himself—left Sanders exhausted and ashamed. Instead, he decided to give up the charade. He reverted back to methods he learned at the dinner table, or at the Black Baptist church where he'd been raised, or the concrete basketball courts. And it paid off. Sanders began to land more exciting projects and eventually got promoted. He earned the respect of his colleagues and clients. Accounting for this turnaround, Sanders believes, was something he calls Black Magic, namely: resilience, creativity, and perseverance, forged in his experience navigating America as a Black man. Black Magic has emboldened his every step since. Leading him to wonder: was he alone in this discovery? Were there others who felt the same? In Black Magic, Sanders tells his own story while also interviewing other Black leaders, scientists, artists, business people, parents, innovators, and champions, to get their take on Black magic. This revelatory book uncovers Black experiences in predominantly white environments while demonstrating the importance of staying true to yourself. Chad Sanders is a New York City-based writer. His screenwriting career began when he wrote for ABC Freeform's Grownish in 2018. Previously, Chad worked at Google in the YouTube and People Operations divisions and as a tech entrepreneur. He has since written and cowritten forthcoming TV series and feature films with collaborators Spike Lee, Morgan Freeman and Will Packer. Chad's op-ed pieces have appeared in The New York Times and Teen Vogue. NOTES Part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. Our thanks to Marcus Bookstore in Oakland for fulfilling book orders. SPEAKERS Chad Sanders Author, Black Magic: What Black Leaders Learned from Trauma and Triumph; Writer, The New York Times; Twitter @Chad_Sand Michelle Meow Producer and Host, “The Michelle Meow Show”; Member, Commonwealth Club Board of Governors—Co-Host John Zipperer Producer and Host, Week to Week Political Roundtable; Vice President of Media & Editorial, The Commonwealth Club—Co-Host Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David George was a Black Baptist preacher who made a home in Nova Scotia. He was kind of the Martin Luther King Jr. of his day, and his preaching and actions - alongside external factors - would prompt the Shelburne Race Riots. I would love to talk about this more with Reverend Ed Trevors at some point. #BlackHistoryMonth Source: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/black-loyalists-feature

Today on Sojourner Truth, we hear music from the The Freedom Singers performed live during the 50th anniversary conference of SNCC in Raleigh, North Carolina in 2010. Join us as we travel back in time and listen to the songs that mobilized millions of people across the country and around the world for peace and equality. During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s, music played an integral role in the inspiration and mobilization of Black and white people across the United States against racism and poverty. Groups like The Freedom Singers, which began as a student quartet in 1962 at Albany State College in Georgia, provided the soundtrack to the mass movement that was taking place in that era. Organizations like the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, known as SNCC, began using this music as a tool for progress. The Freedom Singers were organized by Cordell Reagon in 1962. After witnessing the power of the singing in the Albany mass meetings, Pete Seeger suggested to James Forman that a singing group would be very supportive of the organization in building support, sharing information and raising funds. Cordell, one of the SNCC field secretaries who came to Albany, Georgia in 1961, was a tenor singer out of the Nashville sit-in movement. The youngest member of SNCCs staff, by 1961 he had been on the Freedom Rides, working in voter registration and participated in sit-in demonstrations. He formed the first group of Freedom Singers from the movements he had been active in across the country. Overall, the power of congregational-style singing, fused with Black Baptist a cappella church singing and protest songs and chants, became instrumental in empowering and educating listeners about civil rights issues. It was also a powerful social weapon of influence in the fight against Jim Crow segregation.

Today on Sojourner Truth, we hear music from the The Freedom Singers performed live during the 50th anniversary conference of SNCC in Raleigh, North Carolina in 2010. Join us as we travel back in time and listen to the songs that mobilized millions of people across the country and around the world for peace and equality. During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s, music played an integral role in the inspiration and mobilization of Black and white people across the United States against racism and poverty. Groups like The Freedom Singers, which began as a student quartet in 1962 at Albany State College in Georgia, provided the soundtrack to the mass movement that was taking place in that era. Organizations like the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, known as SNCC, began using this music as a tool for progress. The Freedom Singers were organized by Cordell Reagon in 1962. After witnessing the power of the singing in the Albany mass meetings, Pete Seeger suggested to James Forman that a singing group would be very supportive of the organization in building support, sharing information and raising funds. Cordell, one of the SNCC field secretaries who came to Albany, Georgia in 1961, was a tenor singer out of the Nashville sit-in movement. The youngest member of SNCCs staff, by 1961 he had been on the Freedom Rides, working in voter registration and participated in sit-in demonstrations. He formed the first group of Freedom Singers from the movements he had been active in across the country. Overall, the power of congregational-style singing, fused with Black Baptist a cappella church singing and protest songs and chants, became instrumental in empowering and educating listeners about civil rights issues. It was also a powerful social weapon of influence in the fight against Jim Crow segregation.

After a few whole days of no new podcast, here we are with a new episode! Today I'm joined by Jai Everette, a member of my seminary cohort at LPTS who is speaking to us from a Black Baptist tradition. Some things we talk about include: *Love for under-appreciated "leg days" at the gym *The ways COVID has impacted Jai's church experience and personal spirituality *The importance of acknowledging trauma and oppression in 2020 as we make spiritual connections. Benedictions: Erin: Sit in that acknowledgement of times things are wrong on a societal level so you can figure out what comes next. Jai: Take time to rest and take care of yourself in between these moments of action and acknowledgement

Our first Common Conversation about Christian Nationalism is the right starting place to understand our history. But there's a parallel discussion to be had. From the beginnings of America, Black Baptists persisted despite the burden of White Baptist pressures.Listen as Rev. Dr. Leslie Callahan, pastor of St. Paul's Baptist Church, Philadelphia, PA, and former Assistant Professor of Modern Church History and African American Studies at New York Theological Seminary andRev. Kasey Jones, Associate Coordinator of Outreach of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and former pastor of National Baptist Memorial Church in Washington, DC,talk with Dr. Derek Hicks, Associate Professor of Religion and Culture at Wake Divinity.Moderated by Dr. Oliver M. Thomas (class of ‘10), Adjunct Instructor, North Carolina A&T State University, and Associate Pastor, Providence Baptist Church of Greensboro, NC.We received questions from Rev. Steven Floyd (class of '21) and pastor of Buncombe Baptist Church in Lexington, NC, Rev. Dr. LaTonya Penny ('13) and pastor of New Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Roxboro, NC and the Executive Director at Family Abuse Services of Alamance County, Rev. Matthew Johnson ('10) and pastor of Fernwood Baptist Church in Spartanburg, SC, Rev. Kevin Gardner-Sinclair ('08) and pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Louisville, KY, and Rev. Ryan M. Eller ('07) and Co-Founder & Executive Director at The New Moral Majority. Note that the audio version is missing a few components from the video or transcript versions; however, all the conversation is included.Common Conversations are conversations on common topics between experts in our community and members of the Wake Divinity faculty and staff moderated by Wake Divinity alumnus, students, and supporters. CC is sponsored by the Baptist Commons. For our first Common Conversations series in the fall of 2020, we focus on three topics under the theme of “the weight of racism.”As architects of equity, hope, and healing, we feel there is no more important place to begin than to talk about racism in America. The weight of this injustice is on us all.  As our beloved Deacon  Maya Angelou said, “It is impossible to struggle for civil rights, equal rights for blacks, without including whites. Because equal rights, fair play, justice, are all like the air: we all have it, or none of us has it.”In our series, we'll tackleThe Load of Christian Nationalism and Baptist History for our first episode released in October;Black Baptist Burdens | White Baptist Pressures for the second episode released in November; andThe Gravity of Trauma of These Enmeshed Communities for the third episode released in December.Don't worry; you don't need to be a Baptist to engage.We hope, however, you'll do more than watch. We hope you are inspired to start your own conversation after listening to ours. And that you, too, will continue the call for justice, compassion, and reconciliation.

Colossians 3:1-14 (NIV) Read by: Chandra Crane Most of us have had the painful experience of showing up to a place and being one of two things--either way overdressed, or way underdressed. You remember . . . you show up to a friends wedding, and as you pull up you realize that your dress and heels or your suit and tie are just completely out of place with the denim and converse that surround you. It's the worst when this happens at church. My wife and I are members at a Black Baptist church here in Alabama. And for anyone who is new to the Black Church, there comes the day where you learn the difference between 1st Sunday and 3rd Sunday, and if you dress on that 1st Sunday like you would on that 3rd Sunday, your khakis are gonna stick out like a sore thumb. In this passage Paul encourages the Colossians to put on the new self in place of the old, because the old way, the "old clothes of this world" if you will, are simply not appropriate for those of us who are in Christ. ----------REFLECT---------- 1. What parts of the old self are you most tempted to keep in your attire? Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, anger, rage, malice, slander, or filthy language? Name where you struggle and bring it before the LORD who sees you and delights in you. 2. Pauls says that as we put on the new self, we are renewed in God's Image--where there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free. Some have taken this to mean that we should minimize our differences and be colorblind for instance. However, the groupings that he lists related to one another in that time based on the dominance or subordination their identity dictated. Rather than denying diversity and distinction, he's denying dominance in how we relate to other image bearers. So, where do you carry dominance in our society? Race, Gender, Age, Ability, Economic Class, Education level? Ask Jesus to help you see others in His Image. 3. Where do you need the LORDs help to be dressed appropriately for the new life he's offering you: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness patience, bearing with each other and forgiving one another, love? Ask the Spirit to come and cloth you with these things. ----- Read ------ Mixed Blessing - Chandra Crane >> ----------GO DEEPER---------- Bible Project Podcast: New Testament Letters >> Bible Project Video: New Testament Letters: Historical Context >> Bible Project Video: New Testament Letters: Literary Context >> Bible Project Video: Colossians >> ----------CONNECT---------- Find an InterVarsity Chapter >> Start an InterVarsity Chapter >> Learn More >> --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/dailyread/message

This is a re-upload of my first podcast formatted correctly : )

Join me on my introductory journey into podcasting as we revisit one of my favorite stories from my early childhood. 

Today on Sojourner Truth, we hear Part 1 of music from the The Freedom Singers performed live during the 50th anniversary conference of SNCC in Raleigh, North Carolina in 2010. Join us as we travel back in time and listen to the songs that mobilized millions of people across the country and around the world for peace and equality. During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s, music played an integral role in the inspiration and mobilization of Black and white people across the United States against racism and poverty. Groups like The Freedom Singers, which began as a student quartet in 1962 at Albany State College in Georgia, provided the soundtrack to the mass movement that was taking place in that era. Organizations like the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, known as SNCC, began using this music as a tool for progress. The Freedom Singers were organized by Cordell Reagon in 1962. After witnessing the power of the singing in the Albany mass meetings, Pete Seeger suggested to James Forman that a singing group would be very supportive of the organization in building support, sharing information and raising funds. Cordell, one of the SNCC field secretaries who came to Albany, Georgia in 1961, was a tenor singer out of the Nashville sit-in movement. The youngest member of SNCCs staff, by 1961 he had been on the Freedom Rides, working in voter registration and participated in sit-in demonstrations. He formed the first group of Freedom Singers from the movements he had been active in across the country. Overall, the power of congregational-style singing, fused with Black Baptist acappella church singing and protest songs and chants, became instrumental in empowering and educating listeners about civil rights issues. It was also a powerful social weapon of influence in the fight against Jim Crow segregation.

Today on Sojourner Truth, we hear Part 1 of music from the The Freedom Singers performed live during the 50th anniversary conference of SNCC in Raleigh, North Carolina in 2010. Join us as we travel back in time and listen to the songs that mobilized millions of people across the country and around the world for peace and equality. During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s, music played an integral role in the inspiration and mobilization of Black and white people across the United States against racism and poverty. Groups like The Freedom Singers, which began as a student quartet in 1962 at Albany State College in Georgia, provided the soundtrack to the mass movement that was taking place in that era. Organizations like the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, known as SNCC, began using this music as a tool for progress. The Freedom Singers were organized by Cordell Reagon in 1962. After witnessing the power of the singing in the Albany mass meetings, Pete Seeger suggested to James Forman that a singing group would be very supportive of the organization in building support, sharing information and raising funds. Cordell, one of the SNCC field secretaries who came to Albany, Georgia in 1961, was a tenor singer out of the Nashville sit-in movement. The youngest member of SNCCs staff, by 1961 he had been on the Freedom Rides, working in voter registration and participated in sit-in demonstrations. He formed the first group of Freedom Singers from the movements he had been active in across the country. Overall, the power of congregational-style singing, fused with Black Baptist acappella church singing and protest songs and chants, became instrumental in empowering and educating listeners about civil rights issues. It was also a powerful social weapon of influence in the fight against Jim Crow segregation.

Today on Sojourner Truth, we hear Part 1 of music from the The Freedom Singers performed live during the 50th anniversary conference of SNCC in Raleigh, North Carolina in 2010. Join us as we travel back in time and listen to the songs that mobilized millions of people across the country and around the world for peace and equality. During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s, music played an integral role in the inspiration and mobilization of Black and white people across the United States against racism and poverty. Groups like The Freedom Singers, which began as a student quartet in 1962 at Albany State College in Georgia, provided the soundtrack to the mass movement that was taking place in that era. Organizations like the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, known as SNCC, began using this music as a tool for progress. The Freedom Singers were organized by Cordell Reagon in 1962. After witnessing the power of the singing in the Albany mass meetings, Pete Seeger suggested to James Forman that a singing group would be very supportive of the organization in building support, sharing information and raising funds. Cordell, one of the SNCC field secretaries who came to Albany, Georgia in 1961, was a tenor singer out of the Nashville sit-in movement. The youngest member of SNCCs staff, by 1961 he had been on the Freedom Rides, working in voter registration and participated in sit-in demonstrations. He formed the first group of Freedom Singers from the movements he had been active in across the country. Overall, the power of congregational-style singing, fused with Black Baptist acappella church singing and protest songs and chants, became instrumental in empowering and educating listeners about civil rights issues. It was also a powerful social weapon of influence in the fight against Jim Crow segregation.

This week, while you're buzzing all over the country, THE INTERSECTION is digging into our archive and presenting the story of a corner that originally aired on KALW in 2014. It's about 3rd & Jerrold in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco. The corner is home to a Black Baptist church, a KFC/Taco Bell, a tutoring non-profit (started by Steve Jobs' widow) and an organic pizza joint. Enjoy the trip back to a simpler time...when change was welcomed by some longtime residents.  Hear more: www.theintersection.fm  Twitter: @IntersectionFM  Facebook: fb.com/IntersectionFM --- Producer: David Boyer Editor: Ben Trefny Engineer: Chris Hoff and David Boyer Music: Erik Pearson Produced with the technical and emotional support of KALW.

Atlanta based attorney Bryndis Roberts is the chair-elect of Ordain Women.  In 2008 Bryndis joined the LDS church from the Black Baptist church, served for a number of years as a  Relief Society President in an inner city Atlanta Ward  soon discovering several concerns with gender inequality in Mormon leadership.  In this podcast Bryndis talks about why she is so passionate about women's ordination.  We discuss the hope that she believes gender equality will offer the church in terms of its spiritual health and survival.

Our Scripture verse for today is Romans 12:15 which reads: "Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep." Our History of Black Americans and the Black Church quote for today is from Lee June, a professor at Michigan State University and the author of the book, "Yet With A Steady Beat: The Black Church through a Psychological and Biblical Lens." He said, "Christian self-actualization differs radically from humanistic self-actualization. Humanistic self-actualization occurs when an individual becomes all that one can be within the context of human standards and parameters. However, Christian self-actualization occurs when one becomes all he or she can become since the Christian's personal development is moderated by and occurs within the context of Jesus Christ and the parameters and principles of Scripture. The Christian becomes self-actualized as movement toward maturity or perfection is occurring. For believers in Christ Jesus, perfection does not mean sinless, but implies growth and movement toward maturity. Jesus, for example, indicated in Matthew 22:37-40 that for Christians the great commandment in the law is: 'Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.' Hence, the self-actualized Christian would express love and have mature relationships on three dimensions: to God, to fellow humanity, and to self. Martin Luther King Jr. aptly suggested that to live a complete life; that is, a self-actualized life, one must be complete on all three dimensions." In this podcast, we are using as our texts: From Slavery to Freedom, by John Hope Franklin, The Negro Church in America by E. Franklin Frazier, and The Black Church In The U.S. by William A. Banks. Our first topic for today is titled "The African Way of Life -- Social Organization (Part 3)" from the book, "From Slavery to Freedom" by John Hope Franklin.  It must not be assumed that people at the lower levels of the social order enjoyed no privileges or respect. All were regarded as necessary to society and were respected for what they contributed. They were accorded numerous privileges because their acknowledged skills earned for them the right to move from one place to another and entrance into groups that otherwise would have been closed to them.  ... Our second topic for today is "The Institutional Church of the Free Negroes, Part 1" from The Negro Church in America by E. Franklin Frazier. He writes: Negroes Who Were Free Before the Civil War  The twenty Negroes who were sold to the Virginia settlers by a Dutch man-of-war in 1619 were not slaves, since there was no precedent in English law for slavery. These Negroes and those imported later were "absorbed in a growing system (servitude based upon English apprenticeship and vagrancy laws) which spread to all the colonies and for nearly a century furnished the chief supply of colonial labor." Little is known of what became of the first twenty Negroes who were introduced into the Virginia colony. However, there is a record of the baptism of a child of one couple among them. ... Our third and final topic for today is from "The Black Church in the U.S.: Its Origin, Growth, Contributions, and Outlook" by  Dr. William A. Banks Today we are looking at the section titled, "Early Black Churches Led by Whites, Part 2" In the years after the Revolutionary War, determined efforts were made for real independence -- religious independence. The first distinctive Black Baptist church in America was founded at Silver Bluff, S.C., between the years 1773 and 1775. with help by a White deacon, named W. Palmer. It is known that George Liele (or Lisle) preached there. Liele was born a slave about 1750, probably in Virginia, and later taken to Georgia.  ...