We the (Black) People

I'm done making We the (Black) People because my heart hasn't been in it for a minute, which makes the show quality decline. Follow me on Instagram, though. Music Credit PeaceLoveSoul by Jeris (c) copyright 2012 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/VJ_Memes/35859 Ft: KungFu (KungFuFrijters)

A look into how magic and religion coexist in Black history with Professor Yvonne Chireau, author of Black Magic: Religion and the African American Conjuring Tradition . Music Credit PeaceLoveSoul by Jeris (c) copyright 2012 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/VJ_Memes/35859 Ft: KungFu (KungFuFrijters)

Generally, I like to talk about labor sometime around May Day. This year, we're talking about a place that has employed a lot of Black people over the last 150 years or so but has not always shown us a lot of love: the post office. For decades, Black people were not even legally allowed to work at the post office, then Black people had to fight in the workplace and inside unions for equality. This...

Turns out, negative views towards disability in American culture and society have a history linked to racism and slavery. So, we're going to talk about that history because ableism is not the default, it is a construct that can be challenged. I have this conversation with Professor Jenifer Barclay, author of The Mark of Slavery: Disability, Race, and Gender in Antebellum America . Music Credit Pea...

Most of the students who challenged white schools to take Black students and then volunteered to be the first to desegregate those white schools were girls and young women. Dr. Rachel Devlin, author of A Girl Stands at the Door , seeks to explain why school desegregation was championed by girls and young women and to tell their stories. Music Credit PeaceLoveSoul by Jeris (c) copyright 2012 Licens...

This episode, we're talking about one of my favorite TV shows of all time: Sanford & Son! We'll also get into Good Times and a little into The Jeffersons. All 3 of these shows are 1970s Black sitcoms under Tandem Productions. These shows were a window into the reality of Black life like nothing before them. Yet, what often gets overlooked in discussing these shows is the work that Black actors...

We are once again doing something a little different on We the (Black) People. Boulder, Colorado just opened a Black history exhibit called Proclaiming Colorado's Black History and I have the lead curator - Colorado native and soul food scholar Adrian Miller - and the oral history liaison - Minister Glenda Strong Robinson, an NAACP and church historian in Boulder - on my show to talk about it. Bou...

Just a quick little clip show because We the (Black) People has been out a whole 3 years and that's wild.

This episode traces the changes in racism, antiracism, and racial awareness over the last 90 years that allow We the (Black) People to exist. Today, racism is illegal and talking about race is taboo, yet the internet makes racism and the fight against it much more visible. Professor Rob Eschmann, author of When the Hood Comes Off: Racism and Resistance in the Digital Age , explains the contradicti...

While fast food is now associated with poorer, Black communities and all kinds of health disparities in Black people, McDonald's wasn't originally interested in expanding franchises into Black neighborhoods. Professor Marcia Chatelain, author of Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America , talks about how fast food became Black. It is a story that involves McDonald's as an ally of Black America...

We've talked about how important Haiti and Liberia were as symbols for Black Americans whether or not they ever went to either of the two Black countries. This episode is about those who went to Ghana - some by choice and some on the run. Ghanaian independence was a huge moment of Pan-African hope for a free Africa, and many Black Americans were fascinated by that prospect. Professor Kevin Gaines,...

I'm doing Black oral history work now, y'all. I got into a program that is training oral historians to collect community stories and it's super exciting. I want to share some of this exciting journey with you. So, I talked with my instructor Alissa Rae Funderburk (an oral historian at the Margaret Walker Center of Jackson State University) about how to get started collecting family oral history. S...

It's a pretty short one this time around. Black Americans didn't write a lot of recipes and cookbooks in the 19th and 20th centuries, but what they did write tells a lot about Black identity. Professor Rafia Zafar gets into some of the interesting things she discovered while writing Recipes for Respect: African American Meals and Meaning . Music Credit PeaceLoveSoul by Jeris (c) copyright 2012 Lic...

We're spending this May Day episode with Black women in St. Louis from the 1930s to the 1960s. Their fight for economic justice was about more than hours or wages, it was about dignity and quality of life overall. And they were marginalized in the workplace and in their communities. Maybe, they have something to teach us today. Professor Keona Ervin, author of Gateway to Equality: Black Women and...

This episode, we're going to discuss who and what makes hip-hop authentic with Professor Jeffrey Ogbar, author of Hip-hop Revolution . It's not an easy answer as hip-hop has evolved a lot in its short lifetime and has fans with strong, clashing opinions. Music Credit PeaceLoveSoul by Jeris (c) copyright 2012 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files...

We talk about religion and Christianity a lot in studying Black history. It's almost assumed that God and religion are at the center of all Black stories. Not only have Black people held a variety of religious beliefs in America, many leaders questioned or even rejected God and religion altogether. This episode is some of their stories. Tune in as we unpack the assumption of Black religiosity and...

For a man that historians know very little about, Crispus Attucks gets a lot of attention. In this episode, instead of just rehashing the life of Crispus Attucks, we're going to follow his memory. Some remember him as a hero, others as a troublemaker, and some ignore him altogether, and these conflicting narratives of Attuck's place in American history tell us a lot about Black people's place (and...

Throughout the 20th century, Black people across the country took on the experiment of pooling their resources together to provide for each other. These experiments were called cooperatives. They remain, often, understudied and discussed because they were not one, long, sustained movement. Yet, when you focus on how much each one was able to accomplish in its time, they are incredible. Discussing...

Before the era of the episode, Black Vaudeville Performers Wore Blackface?, Black entertainers were often found on stage singing spirituals or in minstrel shows. In both cases, white people paid to see 'authentic' depictions of Black life, which, for them, had to trace back to slavery. This episode's guest is Professor Sandra Jean Graham, author of Spirituals and the Birth of a Black Entertainment...

Celebrating two years of We the (Black) People, I bought a set of custom stickers that I want to share with y'all. Email me at wetheblackpeoplepod@gmail.com with 3 things you've learned from this show by 11/30 for a chance to win one. Music Credit PeaceLoveSoul by Jeris (c) copyright 2012 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/VJ_Memes/35859 Ft:...

When Black men enlisted in the army after the Civil War, it wasn't just to fight for their country. They fought for something personal and for something bigger than themselves. Professor Le’Trice D. Donaldson, author of Duty beyond the Battlefield: African American Soldiers Fight for Racial Uplift, Citizenship, and Manhood, 1870–1920 , helps me tell that story. Music Credit PeaceLoveSoul by Jeris...

Since Monkeypox became another disease to worry about, people have been comparing it to HIV/AIDs when looking at how America is treating the outbreak. There seem to be valid similarities, so let's take a look at the AIDs crisis in Black America. As Black people got AIDs at a higher rate than other groups, they organized and advocated for themselves when no one else would. That activism is the subj...

Before Dobbs v. Jackson or Roe v. Wade , the government legislated control over Black women's reproduction in America. That started way back in 1662 in Virginia. Tracing this long history with me is Professor Jennifer L. Morgan, author of Laboring Women: Reproduction and Gender in New World Slavery . Centering Black women in today's debates and laws about reproduction and women's rights reveals a...

Up until very recently, recreation in America at places like pools, roller rinks, and amusement parks was segregated. It took decades of work for Black Americans to gain the basic right to inhabit public spaces in their cities. That is the subject of Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters: The Struggle Over Segregated Recreation in America by Professor Victoria Wolcott. Black Americans staged sit-ins, s...

Not every slave experienced family separation, but the prospect of it affected every enslaved person. Children could be separated from their parents and husbands could be separated from their wives. Help Me to Find My People :The African American Search for Family Lost in Slavery by Heather Andrea Williams explores how people dealt with this reality. It is a sad, yet remarkable story. Not every en...