Remind My Soul

A Stereotype's No Match for Truth Observed: the Fisk Jubilee Singers What happens when a group of young people is asked to save a school with little more than their voices? In 1871, Fisk University faced a crisis. Founded just a few years after the Civil War to educate formerly enslaved people, the school was nearly bankrupt. Buildings were deteriorating, funding was scarce, and closure seemed inc...

Episode Summary What does literacy have to do with freedom? In this episode of Remind My Soul, Michael Lawrence-Riddell and Akrobatik are joined by acclaimed independent Hip-Hop artist, educator, and storyteller Mega Ran for a conversation about Reconstruction, Malcolm X, and the central role Black Americans played in building public education in the United States. Beginning with the reality that...

REMIND MY SOUL — Episode 9 "Hope's Supposed to Burn Eternal—the Colfax Massacre" Episode Hosts: Michael Lawrence-Riddell Akrobatik Written by: Michael Lawrence-Riddell Courtney Gilbert In this episode of Remind My Soul, Michael Lawrence-Riddell tells the story of the Colfax Massacre of 1873—one of the deadliest acts of racial violence during Reconstruction and a turning point in the history of Ame...

REMIND MY SOUL — EPISODE 107 Sanité Bélair, The Haitian Revolution & The Power of Resistance Featuring MO the Great What does it mean to stand for freedom when standing comes at the ultimate cost? In this episode of Remind My Soul, Michael Lawrence-Riddell and Akrobatik are joined by producer, MC, educator, and activist MO the Great for a powerful conversation about the Haitian Revolution, revolut...

REMIND MY SOUL — EPISODE 106 "500 Years of Freedom: San Miguel de Gualdape" Episode Summary In 1526—250 years before the Declaration of Independence—a group of enslaved Africans rose up against Spanish colonizers at San Miguel de Gualdape, a short-lived colony along the southeastern coast of what is now the United States. In this episode, Michael Lawrence-Riddell tells the story of what is widely...

Episode Summary In July of 1855, a woman named Jane Johnson stood on the deck of a steamboat in Philadelphia with her two young sons beside her. Enslaved by a powerful Southern diplomat, she had seconds to decide whether to remain in bondage—or step into freedom. In this episode of Remind My Soul, Michael Lawrence-Riddell tells the story of Jane Johnson's bold and public act of self-emancipation—o...

Remind My Soul: "Dangerous Information—Walter White" (feat. Dart Adams) In this episode of Remind My Soul, Michael Lawrence-Riddell tells the story of Walter White, a pioneering NAACP investigator who risked his life to expose racial terror in early 20th-century America. Born in Atlanta and able to pass as white, White used his appearance to infiltrate white communities across the South—gathering...

Remind My Soul — Episode 103 The Pearl: The Largest Self Emancipation Attempt in American History Washington, D.C. — April 1848. In the nation's capital, a place that claimed to represent liberty and justice, slavery was still legal. Enslaved people lived alongside free Black families, creating a city filled with contradictions—freedom and bondage existing side by side. In the darkness of night, s...

Remind My Soul — Episode 102 Red Summer 1919: Washington, D.C., Carrie Johnson, and Community Defense Washington, D.C. — July 1919. White-owned newspapers called on servicemen to mobilize. Thinly coded headlines encouraged white veterans to attack Black neighborhoods. Police largely stood down. And Black Washingtonians prepared to defend their communities. In this episode of Remind My Soul, Michae...

Remind My Soul — Season 1, Episode 1 Not Without a Cost—Shadrach Minkins On February 15, 1851, a young Black waiter named Shadrach Minkins was seized in broad daylight from his workplace in Boston under the authority of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Federal marshals made no attempt to hide what they were doing. This was not a mistake. It was a message. On this episode of Remind My Soul, historia...