Unpacking 1619 - A Heights Libraries Podcast

Thomas Craemer obtained a political science doctorate in 2001 from the University of Tuebingen in his native Germany, and a PhD from Stony Brook University, New York, in 2005. He teaches at the University of Connecticut’s Department of Public Policy. His experience of growing up in post-World-War II Germany motivated his research on implicit racial […]

Reginald L. Bell is a Professor of Management in the College of Business at Prairie View A&M University. Bell received his PhD in Business Education from the University of Missouri at Columbia. Bell writes mostly in the management communication area, which is his research focus. Bell has more than 80 articles published in peer reviewed […]

Dr. Michael Conklin is the Powell Endowed Professor of Business Law at Angelo State University. He received his JD from Washburn School of Law, MBA from Oklahoma City University, Postgraduate Certificate in International Business Law from University of London, and Masters in Philosophy of Religion from Biola University. He has published in over fifty journals […]

Professor Gerald Horne discusses his book, The Dawning of the Apocalypse: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism, and Capitalism in the Long Sixteenth Century. Prof. Horne explains his thesis that religion, which supported so much colonial expansion, gave way to race, specifically whiteness, as a way of organizing conquest. Prof. Horne explores the […]

Hasan Jeffries discusses his book Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama’s Black Belt. We talk about what made this rural Alabama County such an important and complicated location in the Civil Rights struggle. How school desegregation and voting registration was still accomplished in the shadow of some of the era’s worst white […]

In Diversity Inc.: The Failed Promise of a Billion-Dollar Business Pamela Newkirk exposes the decades-old practices and attitudes that have made diversity a lucrative business while they fail to realize diversity. We discussed the history of exclusion, the role of Presidents Johnson and Reagan, and why higher education is such a battleground for Diversity, Equity, […]

We begin with the shocking history of Virginia’s Racial Integrity Law which sought to identify citizens “passing” as white and how this law served to discipline Segregationist ideologies. Next, we look into how women found racist political power in local school boards, PTA, and other organizations to define the story of Jim Crow and censor […]

John Day looks at the congressional statement drafted and signed by 99 congressmen in response to Brown V. Board of Education. The statement, nicknamed the Southern Manifesto, accomplished both the white supremacist’s goal of blocking Civil Rights while proving tempered enough to appease a moderate’s political fears. This often forgotten document is restored to his […]

Professor Krugler discusses his book, 1919: the Year of Racial Violence and How African Americans Fought Back. We specifically focus on Chicago and Knoxville riots with an eye on how Black World War I veterans factored into de-escalating the White mobs.

Richard Rothstein discusses his book The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, which recovers a forgotten history of how federal, state, and local policy explicitly segregated metropolitan areas nationwide, creating racially homogenous neighborhoods in patterns that violate the Constitution and require remediation.

Kelsey Klotz is a lecturer at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She received her PhD in Musicology with a certificate in American Studies from Washington University in St. Louis in 2016. Her research focuses on the intersection of race and sound in 1950s and 1960s American musical culture, with a particular focus on […]

Professor of Law at Harvard Law School Alexandra Natapoff discusses her book, Punishment Without Crime: How Our Massive Misdemeanor System Traps the Innocent and Makes America More Unequal. 

Vida Johnson is an Associate Professor at Georgetown Law. She discusses her article, “Bias in Blue: Instructing Jurors to Consider the Testimony of Police Officer Witnesses with Caution”.   

The eighth amendment of the U.S. Constitution states: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” This episode kicks off a 3-part series that investigates this amendment, beginning with a conversation with Alex Reinert. He discusses his article, “Reconceptualizing the 8th Amendment: Slaves, prisoners, and &#821...

Jonathan Daniel Wells is a professor of Afro-American and African Studies at the University of Michigan. He discusses his book, Blind No More: African American Resistance, Free-Soil Politics, and the Coming of the Civil War and the Fugitive Slave Law. 

Paul Finkelman is a chancellor and distinguished professor of history at Gratz College. He discusses his book, Supreme Injustice: Slavery in the Nation’s Highest Court, which explores the legacy of Justice John Marshall.

Cullen Sweeney, the Chief Public Defender for Cuyahoga County, discusses the complicated relationship between race and the criminal justice system. 

Ronnie A Dunn is the executive director of the Diversity Institute at Cleveland State University. He shares his work on the article, “Racial Profiling: A Persistent Civil Rights Challenge Even in the Twenty First Century.”

Plain Dealer reporters Cameron Fields and Hanna Drown discuss their work on an ongoing series featuring Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s Almira Elementary School.