The Janus Adams Show

Malaika Adero -- one of publishing’s select few African American and most successful editors -- turns author with her new book, "A Black Woman Did That: 42 Boundary-Breaking, Bar-Raising, World-Changing Women." And, did we mention their achievements (and Malaika's): against hair-raising odds?

A man of Dutch ancestry, who dates the history of his family in America to 1665, is researching his family history. He happens upon a name, then a photo--"The Osterhouts"--by Harlem Renaissance lion James Van Der Zee. These Osterhouts are Black. He’s White. What? Who? Wow! This week on The Janus Adams Show, "Who Did the Shirt on the Line Belong To?" Out guest: conceptual artist, writer, family anc...

For centuries Handel’s Messiah has inspired people the world over. Even today, audiences jump to their feet – called to exaltation – by the opening chords of The Hallelujah Chorus. Then, in 1992, in a stunning re-imagining, an all-star chorus the likes of which was never assembled before or since, recorded A Soulful Celebration; bringing hundreds of years of Black music history to bear on Handel’s...

In May of 2019, Dr. Donald P. Christian, president of SUNY New Paltz, phoned Janus Adams: "Would you be interested in returning to campus for this year's Distinguished Speaker lecture in conversation with Ilyasah Shabazz?" "I don't think you know what you've just done," said Janus. Nor could she know -- or imagine -- what an inspired pairing this event would prove to be. To Be Or Not To Be" An Int...

On this episode of THE JANUS ADAMS SHOW: ROAR AND SOAR! What do our words—and how we use them— say about who we are? Guest: Dr. NEYOOXET GREYMORNING PhD, member of the ARAPAHO Nation, on the power of words, language, and the golden eagle.

Why this special edition of The Janus Adams Show? Because -- as a young public radio host, producer, and soon-to-be-NPR correspondent -- Janus co-anchored the Watergate Hearings in the Senate and the Nixon Impeachment proceedings in the House. And why was she uniquely positioned for the task? More about that on this inter-generational look at impeachment then and now. Guest: WJFF Program Director...

For two decades, author, daughter of baseball great Jackie Robinson, and creator of the "Breaking Barriers" baseball-themed educational program (Major League Baseball), has been helping millions of children find their voices. Now, with her latest young adult book, CHILD OF THE DREAM: A MEMOIR OF 1963 she writes--and speaks--about the year she found her voice as a young teen. A year that changed he...

"About the Latter End of August" is a Janus Adams project commemorating 1619 and celebrating 400 years of the African American Experience. In thirty daily posts, we embark upon a journey of conscience and commitment; making pilgrimage from History to Healing and Hope. DAY 29: "From History to Healing" features Dr. Karinn Glover, Professor of Psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

"I know what you're all thinking: what does one wear to a slave quarter sleepover?" On the show: REMEMBERING TO KNOW. On Juneteenth (the African-American holiday celebrating the end of slavery), five writers spend the night in a cellar kitchen where enslaved people were once held enchained by the town of New Paltz's colonial-era founding families.

ABOUT THE LATTER END OF AUGUST is an original JANUS ADAMS series commemorating the arrival of the first Africans bound for slavery in America "about the latter end of August" 1619; and celebrating 400 years of the African American Experience. A month-long weekly radio series and thirty daily posts confront American history’s myths, inconvenient truths, and delightful surprises. What happened, why...

Go back where we came from? Amazingly--confounding notions of progress on race- and gender-equity--that’s the conversation today! This week on the show—in honor of the first Women’s Rights Convention July 19-20, 1848—we’re at the Susan B. Anthony Home and Museum in Rochester, NY. This show is the fifth in our series in partnership I Love New York traveling the "Path Through History" to upstate New...

This Independence Day weekend on THE JANUS ADAMS SHOW, our #PledgeWeek public radio special: #WeThePeople in order to form a more perfect union, Move To Amend the Constitution of the United States. A discussion of the proposed 28th Amendment with our guest, co-convenor of MoveToAmend.org, Leesa "George" Friday.

Where do human rights activism and patriotism meet? In 19th century America, that place was uniquely Waterloo, New York. For this special edition of "The Janus Adams Show," Seneca County Historian Walter Gable is our guest and guide on a “Path Through History.” This program is Part 5 in a special series produced in cooperation with “I Love New York.”

Happy Mother’s Day! A podcast in tribute and remembrance from The Janus Adams Show. For the women of my family – and yours – here’s a clip from my radio show in honor of my grandmother, Myra Carlisle Landsmark and her identical twin sister Mabel Carlisle Walters (pictured above). The pianist performing the spiritual, “Balm in Gilead,” is my grandmother’s eldest daughter—my aunt, Marjorie Landsmark...

Adventure into the world of publishing with Max Rodriguez--visionary founder of QBR: The Black Book Review. Founded in 1992, QBR is home to the Video Book Channel and the nation's premier African American celebration of books: the Harlem Book Fair--now an annual event on CSPAN's BookTV.

Adventure into the world of publishing with Max Rodriguez--visionary founder of QBR: The Black Book Review. Founded in 1992, QBR is home to the Video Book Channel and the nation's premier African American celebration of books: the Harlem Book Fair--now an annual event on CSPAN's BookTV.

A special PLEDGE BREAK edition of "The Janus Adams Show," WJFF Radio Catskill, Program Director Jason Dole joins Janus for a conversation on this week's show. Check it out: https://bit.ly/2Jkax54 "Thank You, Dr. King" commemorates the assassination 4/4/1968. Where were you when and where are we now? Guests -- Mark Colvson, Ted Landsmark, Irma McClaurin -- recall the man, the times, and their own l...

It was the question that defined an era: What will you do for the rights of Black people in America? Here are the extraordinary answers of nine women, as profiled by Janet Dewart Bell, who put their lives on the line for freedom--and would not be talked or terrorized out of it. Guest: activist, award-winning television and radio producer, and author of the book, "LIGHTING THE FIRES OF FREEDOM: Afr...

It was the question that defined an era: What will you do for the rights of Black people in America? Here are the extraordinary answers of nine women, as profiled by Janet Dewart Bell, who put their lives on the line for freedom--and would not be talked or terrorized out of it. Guest: activist, award-winning television and radio producer, and author of the book, "LIGHTING THE FIRES OF FREEDOM: Afr...

This week on THE JANUS ADAMS SHOW--timed to coincide with #InternationalWomensDay (3/8), #HarrietTubman Day (3/10), and #WomensHistoryMonth (March)--a tribute to the greatest Underground Railroad conductor of them all @HarrietTubman. We’re on the road, taking a #PathThroughHistory to Auburn, New York; visiting the historic home where she lived and where her legacy lives on. Guests: Rev. Paul Gordo...

What began trending among Black women scholars on Twitter is now a movement that has seized the imaginations -- the validated the experiences -- of women in every field. Why? What happened to Dr. Christen Smith PhD at a professional conference could happen to anyone -- especially to African American women, people of color, and women worldwide. Whether a university professor, a grocery store clerk,...

What began trending among Black women scholars on Twitter is now a movement that has seized the imaginations -- the validated the experiences -- of women in every field. Why? What happened to Dr. Christen Smith PhD at a professional conference could happen to anyone -- especially to African American women, people of color, and women worldwide. Whether a university professor, a grocery store clerk,...

For Black History Month, an historic marker in tribute to an 'unknown' man is unveiled in Rochester, New York. Why? "Who Was Austin Steward and Why Should We Care?" winds a "Path Through History" to the intersection of current events; revealing the complicated history and legacies of slavery in the American North. Three self-emancipated men--"Co-founders of Afro-Rochester"--who changed the story o...

The life and legacy of FREDERICK DOUGLASS in his own words. A man for his time with a message for ours, this is Douglass: self-emancipated slave, abolitionist, Underground Railroad conductor, publisher, diplomat, women's rights champion. Actor, OLIVER KING, brings us the man behind the hero.

New York City's 15th District has a superstar councilman: RITCHIE TORRES. At 31, he's the city's youngest elected official. His passion: affordable housing. His mission: making the city work for all of its people. His mantra: "If you do nothing, nothing will change."