IPPH On Air

Is it about history? Is it about race? Is it about politics? Who do you find when you follow the money? Why are teachers being fired and school board members receiving death threats? Is this unusual or have we seen it before in America? This week on State of Play, it's the K-12 Culture Wars. Join host, Sharon Pratt and co-anchor, Karen Tramontano as they take a deep dive into this battle that find...

Hear from subject-matter experts on what you should be reading this summer. Guests include Dr. Brenda M. Greene; Prof. Joshua Clark Davis; Troy Johnson; and, Ramunda & Derrick Young.

The history of policing in America can help us understand the complicated consequences of avoiding reform. Yet, the discussion over how policing should evolve, especially in communities of color, remains tense and partisan. On this week's State of Play will get history, context, and proposed solutions from interviews with historian and Associate Professor of History, Dr. Elizabeth Hinton; renowned...

Why is America an outlier in the world when it comes to gun violence and passion for gun ownership? What is the true origin of the second amendment? Find out the answer to these questions and more on this week's State of Play featuring interviews with historian Dr. Carol Anderson author of The Second; Jocelyn Kiley of the Pew Research Center; Allison Anderman, Senior Counsel at the Giffords Law Ce...

The fight for voting rights and the fight for D.C. Statehood remain linked, urgent, but also challenged and delayed. Get the history, obstacles and strategy from this week's guest on State of Play including author/journalist, Ari Berman. We'll also hear from historians Prof. Carol Anderson, Prof. Eddie Glaude, Jr., and Prof. Kate Masur. The show also features interviews with DNC Chair, Jaime Harri...

The digital divide is just the beginning of the problems faced by black people because of the technology industry. Find out more about the consequences of and potential solutions for the technology gap. Interview guests include Dr. Nicol Turner Lee, Dr. Ruha Benjamin, Dr. Allison Scott, and Dean Devdas Shetty

The Lending and investment crisis in black America and what can be done about it.

Sharon Pratt speaks with Malcolm Nance, author, counterintelligence professional, and MSNBC analyst, and Dawn Nakagawa, Executive VP of the Berggruen Institute.

Sharon Pratt speaks with Professor Emeritus Michael Holt, University of Virginia, author “By One Vote,” The Honorable Lorraine Miller, 35th Clerk, US House of Representatives, and Congressman Jamie Raskin, MD, 8th Congressional District, Judiciary Committee, key advisor to Speaker Pelosi around legal issues in presidential election.

Sharon Pratt speaks with Karin Johanson, former Executive Director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and now senior official for the Biden/Harris Western Pennsylvania campaign, Pratt Wiley, former Director of the DNC Voter Protection Program, and Evelyn Perez Verdia, Florida Statewide Advisor for Latino Issues.

Sharon Pratt speaks with Laura Murphy, Lead Civil Rights Auditor for Facebook and Professor Charles Murphy, Kenan Sahin Distinguished Political Science Professor and Founding Director of the MIT Election Data and Science Lab.

This week's program focuses on how popular culture/performing arts, often establish “baked in” notions of “worthiness, competency—and how these notions often make appropriate demands, such as DC Statehood, uphill climbs. The two incredible expert guests are: Maria Manuela Goyanes and Nikki Giovanni.

Sharon Pratt discusses the cultural history of Washington D.C. with poet Naomi Ayala, former Executive Director of the Humanities Council of Washington, DC Joy Austin, and poet, teacher and host Ethelbert Miller.

Our guests include: Kevin Merida, ESPN Senior Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of the sports blog The Undefeated and Bijan Bayne, award-winning Washington-based freelance columnist, critic, author and IPPH Resident Fellow in Sports. The focus is the tradition of protest in America (Boston Tea Party), how protest has been leveraged in sports—propriety and effectiveness of same.

Mayor Pratt and her panel discuss whether America's voting system can stand up under the strain imposed on it by the COVID-19 pandemic. Her guests are Charles Stewart - the Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Political Science at MIT, where his research and teaching areas include congressional politics, elections, and American political development - and former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patr...

Mayor Pratt speaks with Elaine Kamarck, Director of the Center for Effective Public Management at the Brookings Institution and author of "Picking the Vice President,"and former Maryland Lt. Governor, RNC Chairman, and MSNBC analyst Michael Steele about Joe Biden and the process of select a Democratic Vice-presidential candidate.

Mayor Pratt speaks this week with sociologist, write and former Program Officer with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Dr. Bobby Austin and former senior vice president of corporate responsibility with John Hancock and CEO of The Partnership Carol Fulp. They discuss America's continuing dilemma around race and issues of inclusion and diversity.

Mayor Pratt speaks with neuroscientist and former D.C. Councilmember, Dr. Charlene Drew Jarvis, Chair of the Division of Medicine and Science at the Smithsonian Institute, Dr. Alexandra Lord, and Director of the District of Columbia Department of Health Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt. They bring science-based insights, personal stories and reflections on how the nation and Washington D.C. has previously en...

Mayor Pratt speaks with Dr. Edna Greene Medford, professor of history at Howard University, Fergus Bordewich, author of Washington: The Making of the American Capital, and activist Rev. Mark Thomspon, the host of the podcast Make It Plain. They discuss the impact that the history of slavery, Jim Crow, and racism in the United States and Washington D.C. have on the unrest we're experiencing in 2020...

Host, IPPH Founding Director, and former Washington D.C. Mayor Sharon Pratt discusses the state of business in the District during COVID-19 and the George Floyd protests with Vincent Orange, President and CEO of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, and Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BGC Henderson Institute.

Coming soon - IPPH On Air is hosted by former DC Mayor and the Institute of Politics Policy and History’s Founding Director, Sharon Pratt. Each program, we take a deep dive into pressing issues of the day, exploring them through the lens of comparable historical events in our city - Washington, D.C. - and the nation. Each podcast features a diverse panel of compelling, expert personalities who can...