This Week in Black History, Society, and Culture

In this episode Dr. Hettie V. Williams is in discussion with writer John Vercher about his critically acclaimed book Devil is Fine . Williams is a professor of history at Monmouth University and Vercher is the author of three notable novels and currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Monmouth University. Vercher’s works signal the tradition of Afro-Surrealism that began in...

In this episode Dr. Hettie V. Williams is in conversation with Dr. Angela Simms about the Black Middle Class in a Baltimore suburb. Williams is professor of history and director of the African Diaspora Studies program at Monmouth University and Simms is currently an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Urban Studies at Barnard College Columbia University. Simms is also the author of the book Fight...

This week Dr. Hettie V. Williams is in conversation with Dr. Jeanne Theoharis about the Civil Rights Movement in the North. Williams is professor of history in the Department of History and Anthropology at Monmouth University and the current director of the African Diaspora Studies Program at Monmouth. Theoharis is Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Brooklyn College of the City Univer...

This week Dr. Hettie V. Williams is in conversation with Dr. Lewis F. Thomas, III about education, Black men, and mentoring. Williams is a professor of history in the Department of History and Anthropology at Monmouth University and the director of the African Diaspora Studies (ADS) program at Monmouth. Thomas has more than thirty years of experience in the field of education working in several ur...

This week Dr. Hettie V. Williams is in conversation with Dr. Mary Ellen Curtin about her recent book She Changed the Nation: Barbara Jordan’s Life and Legacy in Black Politics (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2025). Williams is a professor of history in the Department of History and Anthropology at Monmouth University and the current director of the African Diaspora Studies Program at Monmouth U...

This week Dr. Hettie V. Williams is in conversation with Dr. Marion Orr about his recent book House of Diggs: The Rise and Fall of America’s Most Consequential Black Congressman, Charles C. Diggs, Jr (University of North Carolina Press, 2025). Williams is a professor of history in the Department of History and Anthropology at Monmouth University and the current director of the African Diaspora Stu...

This is the finale episode of season 6. In this episode, Hettie V. Williams discusses women of color in the academy with Drs. Zaneta Rago-Craft and Nicole Pulliam. Williams is Associate Professor of African American history in the Department of History and Anthropology at Monmouth University and Rago-Craft is the inaugural director of the Intercultural Center at Monmouth. Pulliam is Associate Prof...

In this episode, Hettie V. Williams discusses Black athletes, political protest, and social justice with Shaun M. Anderson. Williams is an Associate Professor of African American history at Monmouth University located in West Long Branch, New Jersey and Anderson is Associate Professor of Organizational Communication at Loyola Marymount University and the founder of CSR Global Consulting LLC, a fir...

Season 6, Episode 9 In this episode, Hettie V. Williams discusses the broomstick wedding ritual with Tyler D. Parry. Williams is Associate Professor of African American history at Monmouth University located in West Long Branch, New Jersey and Parry is Associate Professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada in the Department of Interdisciplinary,...

In this episode, Hettie V. Williams discusses the origins and impact of hip hop with Anwar Uhuru as part of a series of episodes to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop. Williams is Associate Professor of African American history at Monmouth University and Uhuru is Assistant Professor in the Department of African American Studies and an affiliate faculty member with the departments of Philo...

In this episode Hettie V. Williams discusses the African Presence in Latin America with Luis Mora-Ballesteros. Williams is Associate Professor of African American history at Monmouth University. Mora-Ballesteros is Lecturer of Spanish and Literatures of Latin America and the Caribbean in the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Monmouth University. This conversation focuses primarily on t...

In this episode, Hettie V. Williams discusses the Golden Age of Hip Hop in the 1980s and 1990s with Professor Claude Taylor. Williams is Associate Professor of African American history at Monmouth University. Taylor is Director for Academic Transition and Inclusion and Professor of communication and media at Monmouth University. Taylor also works with the First To Fly program at Monmouth that focu...

In this episode, Hettie V. Williams discusses Haiti and Black internationalism with Leslie M. Alexander. Williams is Associate Professor of African American history at Monmouth University. Alexander is the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of history at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. She is the author of several essays, articles, book chapters, and books about the African Diaspora includin...

In this episode, Hettie V. Williams discusses Black in graduate school with Lauren T. Rorie. Williams is Associate Professor of African American history at Monmouth University and Rorie is currently an adjunct professor in the perspectives program at Monmouth. She discusses her experiences as a Black student at the undergraduate and graduate level and provides Black graduate students with advice o...

In this episode, Hettie V. Williams discusses the Black Church in film and television with Dr. Anwar Uhuru. Williams is Associate Professor of African American history at Monmouth University and Uhuru is Assistant Professor in the Department of African American Studies and an affiliate faculty member with the departments of Philosophy and Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at Wayne State Univer...

In this episode Hettie V. Williams discusses mentoring and the African/African American experience with Julius O. Adekunle. Williams is Associate Professor of African American history at Monmouth University and Adekunle is Professor of African history in the Department of History and Anthropology at Monmouth University. Adekunle is the author/editor of several books including Converging Identities...

In this episode, Hettie V. Williams discusses race, masculinity, Black men, and policing with Dr. Karanja Keita Carroll. Williams is Associate Professor of African American history at Monmouth University and Carroll is a Lecturer in Black and Latinx Studies at as a member of the Department of Black & Latinx Studies at Baruch College (CUNY). Carroll’s teaching and research interests revolve aro...

In this episode, Hettie V. Williams discusses empowering young Black males with Dr. Vernon Smith. Williams is an Associate Professor of African American History in the Department of History and Anthropology at Monmouth University and Smith is Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Counseling and Leadership. Smith teaches courses centered on social justice advocacy in educational coun...

In this episode, Hettie V. Williams discusses race, gender, and sexuality in Renaissance by Beyonce Knowles with Dr. Anwar Uhuru. Williams is Associate Professor of African American history at Monmouth University and Uhuru is Assistant Professor in the Department of African American History at Wayne State University in Detroit. He is an expert in gender and culture studies working on a forthcoming...

In this episode, Hettie V. Williams discusses jailing and mass incarceration with Dr. Melanie D. Newport. Williams is Associate Professor of African American History at Monmouth University and Newport is an Assistant Professor of history at the University of Connecticut and the author of This is My Jail: Local Politics and the Rise of Mass Incarceration (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022). Th...

In this episode, Hettie V. Williams discusses Black music, culture, and criticism with Dr. Guthrie Ramsey. Williams is Associate Professor of African American History at Monmouth University and Ramsey is Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of Who Hears Here? On Black Music, Pasts and Present published by the University of California Press in 2022. Ramsey is...

In this episode, Hettie. V. Williams discusses Black women and roller skating with Lauren T. Rorie. Williams is Associate Professor of African American History at Monmouth University and Rorie is an Adjunct Instructor in the Interdisciplinary Perspectives Program at Monmouth. Rorie’s work centers on Black women in art, culture and the Africa Diaspora including popular culture. She is currently int...

In this episode, Hettie V. Williams discusses Black soldiers and families through the Civil War era with Holly A. Pinheiro, Jr. Williams is Associate Professor of African American history at Monmouth University and Pinheiro is Assistant Professor of African American history at Furman University and the author of The Families’ Civil War: Black Soldiers and the Fight for Racial Justice published by...

In this episode, Hettie V. Williams discusses a short documentary film on Asbury Park, New Jersey titled “The Great Migration and Asbury Park” with Erin Fleming, and Claude Taylor. Williams is Associate Professor of African American history at Monmouth University, Fleming is the Director of Production Services at Monmouth, and Taylor is a Professor of Communication and Director for Academic Transi...

In this episode Dr. Hettie V. Williams is in conversation with Christopher Willoughby. Williams is Associate Professor of African American history in the Department of History at Monmouth University. Willoughby is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the History of Medicine and Health at Pitzer College and the author of Masters of Health: Racial Science and Slavery in U.S. Medical Schools published b...