Urban Roots

When greats like Duke Ellington, Jackie Robinson, or Thurgood Marshall came to Cincinnati, they couldn’t stay at the white-only inns downtown – so they went to The Manse Hotel and Annex in Walnut Hills. With its 108 luxurious rooms, first-class restaurant, and large ballroom, the Manse was the crowning achievement of Horace Sudduth, a Black businessman who became one of the city’s wealthiest Black...

In Jim Crow America, Black Americans couldn’t travel like their White counterparts. Every time you stopped at a restaurant, a gas stop, a bathroom, you’d have to check: can you enter? Is it safe? The Green Book — a directory of Black-friendly businesses — became the “bible of Black Travel” in the 1940s and 50s.   This short explains the origins, rise in popularity, and eventual end of the Green Bo...

Join Deqah (host) as she sits down with guest, k. kennedy Whiters– a preservationist, registered architect, business owner, educator, writer, and founder of interdisciplinary firms wrkSHäp kiloWATT ,   studio kW Architecture + Preservation for an IRL chat about architecture, preservation, reparative action, and the power of language in shaping historical narratives. In addition to managing wrkSHäp...

Since October 2023, the Ohio Department of Transportation and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet have advanced a new iteration of the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project, proposing to replace the existing bridge and expand capacity along I-71 and I-75. In 2025, community engagement sessions in the West End (OH) and Covington (KY) were led by Hub + Weber in collaboration with the Devou Good Found...

Dive into all things real estate in our latest convo with Cecily King , a real estate professional and educator whose work focuses on equitable development, racial justice, and community-driven investment in Detroit.  She is also an Associate Professor of Real Estate Development at Columbia GSAPP. As the founder of Kipling Development , Cecily draws from her experience in affordable housing, commu...

Join Deqah Hussein-Wetzel (host) and award-winning journalist and historian A'lelia Bundles (guest), in a Black history and preservation-focused conversation about A'lelia's newest book  Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance . A’Lelia Walker—daughter of Madam C.J. Walker and heiress to America’s first Black woman-made fortune—was more than a symbol of inherited wealth....

Unpack equitable preservation-based development with Deqah (host) and Bree Jones (guest), the Founder and CEO of Parity , an equitable development company headquartered in West Baltimore that acquires and rehabilitates abandoned properties by the block to create affordable home ownership opportunities. Bree started Parity in 2020 as a response to the gentrification and displacement she experienced...

We at Urbanist Media (and the Urban Roots podcast ) are excited to have, yet again, celebrated Juneteenth with Cincinnati Public Radio. This year, we produced brand new ⁠Juneteenth Cincinnati Shorts⁠ : weekly, 90-second tributes to people and places important to Cincinnati Black history and African American history. This one is all about the Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs… — Tucked away on Ch...

We at Urbanist Media (and the Urban Roots podcast ) are excited to have, yet again, celebrated Juneteenth with Cincinnati Public Radio. This year, we produced brand new ⁠Juneteenth Cincinnati Shorts⁠ : weekly, 90-second tributes to people and places important to Cincinnati Black history and African American history. This one is all about Dr. Lucy Orinthia Oxley…. — Dr. Lucy Oxley broke barriers as...

We at ⁠Urbanist Media⁠ (and the Urban Roots podcast ⁠) are excited to have, yet again, celebrated Juneteenth with Cincinnati Public Radio. This year, we produced brand new ⁠Juneteenth Cincinnati Shorts⁠ : weekly, 90-second tributes to people and places important to Cincinnati Black history and African American history. This one is all about Jennie Davis Porter…. — Jennie Davis Porter was a trailbl...

We at Urbanist Media⁠ (and the Urban Roots podcast ⁠) are excited to have, yet again, celebrated Juneteenth with Cincinnati Public Radio. This year, we produced brand new ⁠Juneteenth Cincinnati Shorts⁠ : weekly, 90-second tributes to people and places important to Cincinnati Black history and African American history. This first one is all about Robert S. Duncanson and his connection to the ⁠Taft...

In this episode of the Urban Roots podcast, host Deqah Hussein-Wetzel sits down with two accomplished Cincinnati-based Black architects—David Kirk, President and CEO of DNK Architects, and Michael Burson, a longtime (now retired) architect who has worked extensively with Cincinnati Public Schools, and now serves as an owners representative for local architectural projects ---including the Robert O...

In this bonus episode, Deqah and Vanessa have a much-needed conversation with Erica Allen-Kim about her new—must-read—book, Building Little Saigon: Refugee Urbanism in American Cities and Suburbs , about Vietnamese American-built landscapes and cultural heritage. In this interview, Deqah and Vanessa dive deeper into themes from her book to explore the role that Vietnamese Americans played in physi...

Deqah and Vanessa chat with Lori Gonzalez and Tyrell Anderson from the ⁠Decay Devils⁠ , an organization that started as a group of friends in Gary, Indiana who loved playing in abandoned buildings. They then started making some noise—posting on Instagram, starting a nonprofit, organizing community events—and gaining notice from the public and “big money” people. In this episode they dish on the tr...

Throughout its history, Decatur, Alabama has produced a number of unapologetically bold, creative, and “difficult” women who weren’t afraid to break the mold. In this episode, we’ll tell you the story of one of them: Carolyn Cortner Smith, believed to be the first licensed female architect in the state of Alabama. Carolyn was born at a time when Southern women were expected to be gentile, acquiesc...

The city of Decatur, Alabama is home to many historic Black churches, including one with a particularly rich history: First Missionary Baptist Church, in Old Town, the city’s predominantly Black neighborhood. Designed by one of the first African American architects, Wallace Rayfield, the church has — from its post-Civil War beginnings — been a cornerstone of Decatur’s African American community. D...

Today New Richmond is a charming town along the Ohio River with a relatively tiny Black population. But for a moment in time in the 19th century, it was not only a hotspot of abolitionist activity, it was also home to a vibrant Black community. How did that happen? And why are there so few Black families left today? In this episode, part two of the Ohio River to Freedom series, the Urban Roots pod...

Black Underground Railroad agents lived perilous lives. Because they could be killed or jailed for their work, they hid any and all evidence of their activities. So, today, historical records of their efforts are rare. Luckily, however, historians in the town of Ripley, Ohio have not only uncovered the stories of their local Black Underground Railroad workers — they’re actively preserving them for...

HAPPY PRESERVATION MONTH! To celebrate, we wanted to share with you a new podcast that we think you’ll love: Preservation for the People brought to you by The Black Art Conservators (BAC) and produced by Urbanist Media! In their first episode, Kayla Henry-Griffin and Nylah Byrd talk to Dr. Kwesi Daniels (Head of the Architecture Department at Tuskegee University) about conservation and preservatio...

EXCITING NEWS…Season 3 is coming soon! If you’re not subscribed to our podcast or our newsletter , please do so now! You can also follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram . That way, you’ll know immediately when a new episode drops.  Today we have a high-energy conversation with Justin Garrett Moore, program director for the Mellon Foundation’s Humanities in Place program and a renaissance man of urban...

Housekeeping first! Please give to our GoFundMe Campaign – we need your help to earn $5,000 by December 31: https://www.gofundme.com/f/urbanistmedia We’re also up for an Anthem Community Voice Award ! Vote for us (Sign in and click “Celebrate”) by December 21!  Now our amazing guest: Zahra Ebrahim, the co-founder of Monumental , a social purpose business working to advance equitable city-building...

Today, pod squad, you’re in for a treat: Rukaiyah Adams is one of our favorite, most inspiring people on the planet. Rukaiyah had a long, successful career in investment banking before she moved back home to Portland, Oregon and joined the board of the Albina Vision Trust , an organization dedicated to restoring the historic Black neighborhood of Albina, where Rukaiyah grew up. Today, she’s the Ch...

To celebrate Juneteenth, Urbanist Media's Urban Roots podcast has partnered with Cincinnati Public Radio (WVXU)⁠ to bring you Juneteenth Cincinnati Shorts: weekly, 90-second tributes to people and places important to Cincinnati’s African American history.  Today, for our last short, we feature Marian Spencer, the civil rights activist and Cincinnati pioneer who got her start in 1952. Back then...

To celebrate Juneteenth, Urbanist Media's Urban Roots podcast has partnered with Cincinnati Public Radio (WVXU)⁠ to bring you Juneteenth Cincinnati Shorts: weekly, 90-second tributes to people and places important to Cincinnati’s African American history.  Today, we’re highlighting Union Baptist Cemetery, one of Cincinnati’s oldest African American cemeteries. It’s the final resting place of m...

To celebrate Juneteenth, Urbanist Media's Urban Roots podcast has partnered with Cincinnati Public Radio (WVXU)⁠ to bring you Juneteenth Cincinnati Shorts: weekly, 90-second tributes to people and places important to Cincinnati’s African American history.  Today, we’re highlighting Sarah Fossett, the hair stylist and Underground Railroad conductor who — with two acts of defiance in 1862 — spur...