Black History Year

Anti-Blackness is all around us -- at the workplace, the local grocery store we may frequent, and for Black students, even in their classrooms. Today, we’re sitting down with Dr. Alicia Montgomery, executive director at the Center for Powerful Public Schools, as she breaks down the ways our children are indoctrinated into anti-Blackness, and the methods necessary to address and prevent it. BHY is...

There's a power within Black people. One that, through colonialism and westernization, through space and time, has perennially lived at our core: West African spirituality. The problem? Most of us don't know how deeply embedded it is in all of our religious and spiritual practices. Today on BHY, we're excavating those parts buried deep within. Guiding us to that reconnection is award-winning "Art-...

Learning your history makes you - and your people - stronger. As Black people, we know we’re left out of the history books. That the media images are skewed. That we need access to experts, information and ideas so we can advance our people. Black History Year connects you to the history, thinkers, and activists that are left out of the mainstream conversations. You may not agree with everything y...

It's a question that requires tapping into your imagination. A question that forces you to explore the possibilities within freedom. And it's a question we ask every guest on Black History Year. "What does Black liberation look like to you?" In this bonus episode, you'll hear some of the most thought-provoking and inspiring responses to this question from incredible experts we've interviewed in se...

What’s up fam, thanks for tuning into another episode of Black History Year. On this show, we connect you to the history, thinkers, and activists who are left out of mainstream conversations. But this week, we’re switching it up. Instead of our usual show, we’re sharing an episode of PushBlack’s newest podcast, “State of Criminal Justice.”  State of Criminal Justice digs into the most important ev...

Juneteenth is a special holiday for Black people - it commemorates when the last of our enslaved ancestors were freed. And yet, many Black people remain in bondage through a new form of slavery that's just as insidious: mass incarceration. On this special episode of BHY, we sit down with Ebony Underwood, social entrepreneur and founder of We Got Us Now , to discuss the significance of Juneteenth a...

You’ve heard us say it before. The Black vote is powerful. But the two-party system wasn’t designed to actively engage our needs. So how do we reclaim our power in a political ecosystem that takes our vote - our power - for granted? Today’s guest has the insight necessary to begin answering that question. Candace Hollingsworth was the first Black mayor of Hyattsville, Maryland, and founder of Our...

The debates over U.S. monuments that celebrate Confederate generals, soldiers, and politicians show just how pervasive slavery's legacy is - and how it continues to impact the way Black America moves and exists in the world today. How is - or isn't - this nation reckoning with the history of slavery, and what does it mean for our community? Today, we begin to answer that question with author and a...

It's true: slavery never ended. It's a dehumanizing system that continues to enslave, exploit, and devalue Black people in one particular institution: prisons. Today, Dr. Byron Price - author of such work as "Merchandizing Prisoners" and "Prison Privatization" - takes us on a journey from slavery to convict leasing to the modern-day policing industry as we know it, to show the clear connection bet...

White terrorism has lasting consequences. For the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma, the generational wealth they spent 15 years independently building was obliterated in a 24 hour period of racist violence. 100 years later, the community formerly known as Black Wall Street is still economically struggling in the massacre's aftermath. On this episode, we're going straight to the source again t...

Feminism, Black feminism, womanism. According to our guest today, author, literary scholar, and professor Dr. Clenora Hudson-Weems, none of these concepts serve women of African descent or the Black community at large. But one theory does: Africana womanism. Based in nature, observation, and community, Dr. Hudson-Weems expounds on what Africana womanism is, what it isn't, and why this framework mi...

We're making a deadly mistake if we don't talk about environmental justice when we discuss racism and Black liberation. The lasting impacts of toxic waste, pollution, climate change, and other harms continue to cause long-term health outcomes and take countless Black lives. So on this episode of Black History Year, we're talking about it. With the guidance of environmental sociologist Dr. Dorceta...

They say that life imitates art. That's rarely as true when we consider the transformative, evocative, challenging, and inspirational work Black artists have been creating for decades. From Clementine Hunter to Emory Douglas to Kara Walker, Black artists have influenced society by changing opinions, instilling values, and translating experiences across space and time. Art is a language that expres...

White terrorists have devastated flourishing Black communities in the name of white supremacy from Rosewood, Florida to Elaine, Arkansas; Colfax, Louisiana to Charleston, North Carolina. 2021 marks the 100th year anniversary of one such event, the Tulsa Race Massacre. On this episode, we're going straight to the source to uncover the truth about Black Wall Street's rise, fall, and the lingering im...

Everything humanity has ever created – the good and the bad – started with imagination. But what if we could harness the power of imagination to build a truly just future for Black people? To dream so big the world as it exists can’t even contain our vision? We spoke with adrienne maree brown, an author and activist behind many books, including "Octavia's Brood" and "Emergent Strategy," that explo...

He was a man of the people. A man who wanted one thing and one thing only: true independence for his country. But if the U.S. government had its way? He’d be shot dead before his 36th birthday. In a conversation led by sociopolitical scholar Dr. Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, we discuss the assassination of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba. This is an episode we need right now - one that calls out the...

Black people have always created beauty from the bleakest conditions. And to survive in America, we even had to create our own language. This week on BHY, sociolinguist Dr. Sharese King explores the complexity of African American Vernacular English, the innovative spirit embedded in Black languages, and the cultural significance of how Black people talk. BHY is produced by PushBlack, the nation's...

“You can kill a revolutionary but you can’t kill the revolution.” Was it a prophecy, these words spoken by the gunned-down Black Panther leader, Fred Hampton? Or was it something more nefarious - more systemic? On the Season 3 opener of Black History Year, we explore the U.S. government's role in the assassination of the fearless Chairman Fred Hampton and sit down with his son, Chairman Fred Hampt...

Learning your history makes you - and your people - stronger. As Black people, we know we’re left out of the history books. That the media images are skewed. That we need access to experts, information and ideas so we can advance our people. Black History Year connects you to the history, thinkers, and activists that are left out of the mainstream conversations. You may not agree with everything y...

Sculpting our future in the present is the only way we'll gain the power we need to make the idea of Black liberation a reality. Community Movement Builders (CMB) is doing that work. CMB is a Black-run group creating sustainable and self-determining communities. The organization's executive director, Kamau Franklin, sits with us to break down how CMB organizes and mobilizes to make Black economic...

Racism is a public health crisis. In the age of COVID-19, we've witnessed this firsthand as Black people perish at disproportionate rates - and it's not by coincidence. Medical ethicist and award-winning writer Harriet Washington illuminates the design of the systemic and medical racism at the root of it all. BHY is produced by PushBlack, the nation's largest non-profit Black media company - hit u...

White supremacy is a horror you'll find at every turn. It’s the foundation of governmental policies that disadvantage us. It lives in policing systems that target us. And most dangerously, it has wormed its way like a parasite into the psyche of much of Black America. So what do you do when the killer's inside the house? Black psychologist Dr. Kevin Cokley takes us deep within to understand the ps...

Forget everything you think you know about power and control. On this episode of Black Hisory Year, abolitionist scholar Dr. Joy James explores one specific condition required for Black liberation to occur: a shift in the balance of power to we the people. BHY is produced by PushBlack, the nation's largest non-profit Black media company - hit us up at BlackHistoryYear.com and share this with your...

American history is a litany of lies about Black people. One of the most egregious is that slavery's end opened the door to equality and freedom. We hear the knock of oppression - no matter how many “bootstraps” lectures we get, we know the truth: there is a debt to be paid. So today, we are having the reparations conversation with the economist Dr. William Darity. BHY is produced by PushBlack, th...

Credit unions, housing co-ops, CSAs... Black folks have been building and benefitting from cooperative economics for decades, particularly in parts of the economy where we’ve been cut out by the major institutions. As Dr. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard points out, we all participate in some form of cooperative economics when we use the informal economy. In this episode, we dig into the power that we coul...