Martha's family has their land stolen, and then their identity. More than a hundred years later, Martha wants to set the record straight. "In the still of our hollows, we hear the calling of our Lord....Show More
Martha's family makes a home on Black Mountain, and reckons with the past. "From whence we came, we shall return. From the old ways, our lessons learned." - Martha Redbone Learn more about your ad cho...Show More
Africatown is a small community in Mobile, Alabama, where many families share a painful history. For decades, their story has been an open secret - until now. ~41~ Learn more about your ad choices. ...Show More
Joycelyn and Darron try to escape the shadow of the Meaher family's pervasive influence in Africatown. ~41~ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Ring the bell so the world will know. ~41~ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
March 6, 2017 / 80 minutes passed between the time Freddie Gray was loaded into a police transport van and he emerged unconscious. The Baltimore Police Department said that van carrying him took six s...Show More
March 9, 2017 / Addendum host D. Watkins is joined by the Undisclosed: The Killing of Freddie Gray team, Justine Barron, Marcia Chatelain, Amelia McDonell-Parry and Rabia Chaudry. Episode scoring mus...Show More
March 13, 2017 / As Freddie Gray's harrowing screams echoed across Sandtown-Winchester, his arrest was witnessed by neighbors. We look at their neglected accounts and the history of the community. E...Show More
March 16, 2017 / Addendum host D.Watkins is joined by Undisclosed: The Killing of Freddie Gray host, Amelia McDonell-Parry, as well as guest panelist Harold Perry. Episode scoring music by Patrick Co...Show More
March 20, 2017 / Freddie Gray was arrested for possession of an illegal switchblade knife—or so we have been told. What constitutes a legal arrest, and did Freddie’s meet the standard? What does video...Show More
March 23, 2017 / Addendum host D. Watkins is joined by Undisclosed: The Killing of Freddie Gray host, Marcia Chatelain, as well as guest panelists Tariq Toure, Stephen Janis, and Robert Brune. Episod...Show More
March 27, 2017 / The public has seen Freddie Gray screaming when he entered the van, but they know less about the stop the van made next. We explore this mysterious second stop and whether the account...Show More
March 30, 2017 / Addendum host D. Watkins is joined by Undisclosed: The Killing of Freddie Gray host, Amelia McDonell-Parry, as well as guest panelists Todd Oppenheim. Episode scoring music by Patric...Show More
April 3, 2017 / The hard evidence in this case, the knife and the van, have become characters in the story of Freddie Gray. We reveal their legal significance and their importance in the investigation...Show More
April 6, 2017 / Addendum host D. Watkins is joined by Undisclosed: The Killing of Freddie Gray host Justine Barron, as well as guest panelists Sarah Elkins and Lisa Snowden-McCray. Episode scoring m...Show More
April 10, 2017 / The van driver stopped twice, we are told, to check on Freddie Gray, while en route to Central Booking. Very little of the story of these two stops adds up. Episode scoring music by...Show More
April 13, 2017 / Addendum host D. Watkins is joined by Undisclosed: The Killing of Freddie Gray host Marcia Chatelain, as well as guest panelists Adam Jackson and Scott Goldman. Episode scoring musi...Show More
April 17, 2017 / The van made a final stop to pick up another prisoner before Freddie was found unconscious. The other van rider helped prove that Freddie was still conscious. But the truth about this...Show More
April 20, 2017 / Addendum host D. Watkins is joined by Undisclosed: The Killing of Freddie Gray host Amelia McDonell-Parry, as well as guest panelists Kinji Scott and Jayne Miller. Episode scoring m...Show More
April 24, 2017 / Baltimore police released video from 16 cameras and audio dispatch at trial supposedly capturing the van’s route to the public. Why does so much of this evidence not add up? Thank...Show More
April 27, 2017 / Addendum host D. Watkins is joined by Undisclosed: The Killing of Freddie Gray host Amelia McDonell-Parry, as well as guest panelists Simone Browne and Wendy Osefo. Special thanks to...Show More
May 1, 2017 / How did we get to this moment, with the death of Freddie Gray in custody? A history of Baltimore policing, culminating in the troubling reign of Commissioner Anthony Batts. Episode sco...Show More
May 4, 2017 / Addendum host D. Watkins is joined by Undisclosed: The Killing of Freddie Gray host Justine Barron, as well as guest panelists Kwame Rose and Kondwani Fidel. Episode scoring music by ...Show More
May 8, 2017 / Freddie Gray was arrested by patrol officers in the Western District. What does the backgrounds and case histories of Gray and the officers tell us about policing in the Western? Episo...Show More
May 11, 2017 / Addendum host D. Watkins is joined by Undisclosed: The Killing of Freddie Gray host Marcia Chatelain, as well as guest panelists Major Neill Franklin and Sandra Guerra Thompson. Epi...Show More
May 22, 2017 / The autopsy report limited the possibilities for Freddie Gray’s fatal injury. But what information was the medical examiner using to make her determinations? Episode scoring music by A...Show More
May 25, 2017 / Addendum host D. Watkins is joined by Undisclosed: The Killing of Freddie Gray host Amelia McDonell-Parry, as well as guest panelists Tawanda Jones and Seth Stoughton. Episode scori...Show More
May 29, 2017 / Commissioner Batts promised a thorough, comprehensive investigation. State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby promised her own independent investigation. So why was so much of the truth left out ...Show More
June 1, 2017 / Addendum host D. Watkins is joined by Undisclosed: The Killing of Freddie Gray host Justine Barron, as well as guest panelists Kelly Holsey and Traci Wilson-Kleekamp. Episode scoring...Show More
June 5, 2017 / The public learned bout what happened to Freddie Gray from the Baltimore Sun and other outlets that promised exclusive information. They left out a lot of the real story. Episode scori...Show More
June 8, 2017 / Addendum host D. Watkins is joined by Undisclosed: The Killing of Freddie Gray host Justine Barron, as well as guest panelists Baynard Woods and Aaron Morrison. Episode scoring music...Show More
June 12, 2017 / Baltimore exploded in anger and frustration, following the death of Freddie Gray. Or, at least that’s the story that we’ve been told. The truth is not so simple. Episode scoring music...Show More
June 15, 2017 / Addendum host D. Watkins is joined by Undisclosed: The Killing of Freddie Gray host Marcia Chatelain, as well as guest panelists Monica Bell, Wesley Lowery and Jessica Jackson Sloan. ...Show More
June 19, 2017 / The trials of the “Baltimore 6” were set up to be historic, on the scales of the OJ Simpson trial. In court, the cases fell flat. We examine why. Episode scoring music by AnimalWeapon...Show More
June 22, 2017 / Addendum host D. Watkins is joined by Undisclosed: The Killing of Freddie Gray host Justine Barron, as well as guest panelists Jill Carter and Stephen Janis. Thank you to our sponsor,...Show More
June 26, 2017 / The investigative binders provide fresh leads that break open some of the case’s mysteries. Also, a final look at Baltimore post-Freddie Gray. Episode scoring music by AnimalWeapon, B...Show More
June 29, 2017 / Addendum host D. Watkins is joined by Undisclosed: The Killing of Freddie Gray team, including Justine Barron, Amelia McDonell-Perry, Marcia Chatelain, and Rabia Chaudry, as they close...Show More
Between 1838 and 1890, thousands of African Americans moved to Oklahoma, brought there as Cherokee slaves or drawn there by the promise of free land. Black pioneers established towns where African Ame...Show More
As Dick Rowland sat in a jail cell at the Tulsa courthouse on Tuesday, the news of his arrest and rumors about his alleged rape of Sarah Page flew through town. Egged on by an inflammatory op-ed in th...Show More
By midnight on Tuesday, May 31, 1921, some Greenwood residents assumed the riot was calming down. Many families, far away from the action at the courthouse, hadn’t even heard about the violence, and w...Show More
On June 2, 1921, thousands of black Tulsans interned at the Tulsa Fairgrounds woke under armed guard. Many had no idea where their loved ones were or if they were still alive; they didn’t know whether...Show More
Nearly a century after a white mob leveled the affluent Tulsa district known as Black Wall Street, how is Greenwood faring? Mechelle Brown is the program coordinator for the Greenwood Cultural Cente...Show More
The murder of Emmett Till galvanized the nascent civil rights movement. But the full story of what happened in Money, Miss., on August 28, 1955, is significantly different than the narrative that emer...Show More
Star Trek is one of the world's most well-known sci-fi franchises, spanning decades in film, TV, books, games and more. While it's had its fair share of lighthearted moments (hello, Tribbles!), its vi...Show More
Wanda and Shannan sit down with literary scholar and Crunk Feminist blogger Dr. Susana Morris to talk about Beauty and the Beast. Belle reads, y'all. That mob scene at the end, though -- so much to un...Show More
Bridgett grew up in Detroit in the '60s in a vibrant house with a mother who was genius with numbers. But for most of her life, Bridgett kept her mother's genius a secret.
Johnathan and April discuss their FTRs (Foundational Truths about Race), and then discuss their thoughts around beauty standards, interracial dating, and more.
From the creation of the first penitentiaries in the 1800s, to the "tough-on-crime" prosecutors of the 1990s, how America created a culture of mass incarceration.
We are heading down to the Underground Railroad to discover the incredible life of American hero and abolitionist Harriet Tubman. From a torturous childhood to surgery without anaesthetic, get ready t...Show More
Phillis Wheatley’s real name is lost to history. The young girl was named for the slave ship that carried her to the United States from West Africa. Purchased as a house slave in Boston, Phillis defie...Show More
The soul singer's April 1968 concert was held amid rioting and violence provoked by the assassination of Martin Luther King. But despite the fears of the city authorities, the streets of Boston were q...Show More
In 1967, the world heavyweight champion, Muhammad Ali, refused to be indicted into the American military. His decision to follow his conscience and not serve in Vietnam galvanised radicals across the ...Show More
Johnathan & April illustrate how to put their FTRs (Fundamental Truths about Racism) to work in real-world discussions, then invite religion and critical race theory expert, Nick Peterson, M.Div., to ...Show More
Most grade school kids will tell you that Harriet Tubman was an escaped slave and conductor on the Underground Railroad which is a great start--but she was so much more! A nurse, a spy, a military lea...Show More
Harriet Tubman is one of the greatest freedom fighters to exist. Enslaved and enraged, Tubman committed to not only freeing herself, but she created a system that would revolutionize slavery and the p...Show More
After the Civil War, the Reconstruction era brought about hope and change in the form of citizenship and equality in America. Black men were given the right to vote, and in 1870, Hiram Revels became t...Show More
Although the 13th Amendment passed the Senate in 1864 and the House in 1865, the loopholes that exist continue to wreak havoc on the African-American population. To ensure the cotton industry would re...Show More
One of the pioneers of the hair care industry is an African-American woman named Sarah Breedlove. After becoming a widow at the age of 20, the pressures in her day-to-day life as a single mother led t...Show More
143 Nassau Street Harriet Tubman, or “Moses” as some called her, was worth $40,000 to anyone who could capture her and return her south.
Eastern Parkway and Utica Avenue, Brooklyn Many slaves brought the tradition of African outdoor ceremonies to the Caribbean. However, once enslaved, they were prohibited from holding public celebrati...Show More
From her college years, Chisolm was politically active. Her drive and desire to make positive change led her to many political firsts, including being the first black woman elected to the U.S. Congres...Show More
Wanda and Shannan sit down with asylum attorney, home-schooling mom, and Louisiana native Esther Moody Graff-Radford to discuss The Princess and the Frog. This one is a two-parter, y'all.
In "How to Be An Antiracist," author and professor Ibram X. Kendi combines searing autobiography with pointed analysis to show just how deeply racism is woven into our national—and global—fabric.
Johnathan & April discuss the often-subtle language of white supremacy within the context of gentrification, then discuss the death penalty, its origins, and the numerous inequalities central to its i...Show More
Today, the New York City Police Commissioner announced via emotional press conference his decision to fire Eric Garner's murderer. Johnathan & April discuss their emotional reactions...spiritedly.
If you enjoy this story, do tell someone about The Memory Palace. Thanks. Nate
Kiese grew up in Oxford, Mississippi —the only child of a single mother, a black boy who struggled with weight. His childhood and adolescence were marked by two daily assaults: that of American racism...Show More
Introducing Crimetown Season 2: Detroit. Binge the whole season on Spotify, or listen weekly wherever you get your podcasts.Detroit, 1971—a city riven by blight, racial strife, and rising crime. In th...Show More
Johnathan & April dissect white folks' apparent need to touch black women's hair, then dive into social media and influencer culture with lifestyle blogger, vlogger, and content creator, Amber Burns. ...Show More
It’s a bummer, but we have to talk about the crazy level of hypocrisy surrounding our Founding Fathers fighting for freedom yet still owning slaves. It sucks. We break down who was the biggest hypocri...Show More
We explore three stories of protest in sports that are often overlooked but essential to understanding the current debate: Jack Johnson, Wilma Rudolph, and Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf.
Today’s Pioneer is Shirley Chisholm (1924 - 2005). This bold leader had a passionate career as a civil servant and was the first African American U.S. Congresswoman.
A group of ex-farmers, a terrorist from Kansas, and a schoolteacher attempt the greatest covert operation of the Civil War. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
For most of his life Isadore Banks found ways to survive—and thrive—in the violently anti-black South. He became one of the largest land-owners on the Arkansas Delta, ran several businesses, and was a...Show More
American-born Peaches Golding OBE - Bristol's former Lord Lieutenant and first black female High Sheriff - nominates African American politician Shirley Chisholm who ran unsuccessfully for US Presid...Show More
We sat down with Nikole Hannah-Jones of the New York Times Magazine, Al Letson of Reveal, and Christy Coleman of the American Civil War Museum to talk about how they take down Civil War myths. For mor...Show More
In 1983, Vanessa Williams became the first black woman to win Miss America. In 1984, a few weeks from the end of her reign, she was forced to step down when she found out Penthouse was going to publis...Show More
In 1935, Merle Oberon became the first biracial actress to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, an incredible achievement in then-segregated Hollywood -- except that nobody in Hollywood knew Oberon ...Show More
Disney Plus is launching with the stated intention of streaming the entire Disney library... except for "Song of the South," a 1946 animation/live-action hybrid film set on a post-Civil War plantation...Show More
Song of the South co-stars Hattie McDaniel, the first black performer to win an Oscar (for her supporting role as “Mammy” in Gone with the Wind). By the time Song of the South was released, McDaniel w...Show More
Song of the South’s most famous element is “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah,” a song written for the movie but reminiscent of a racist standard popularized in blackface minstrel shows of the 1830s. Today we’ll expl...Show More
Song of the South’s most successful re-release came in 1972 at a time when Hollywood was dealing with race by making two very different kinds of movies: Blaxploitation films, which gave black audience...Show More
After two more successful theatrical releases, in 1980 and 1986, Disney decided to put Song of the South in the “Disney Vault” and never released it on home video or theatrically in the US ever again....Show More
Today…there’s “The Squad.” But 50 years ago, there was only one woman of color in the U.S. Congress, and she was the first. Shirley Chisholm, of New York City, was elected to Congress in a historic vi...Show More
1698 Bergen Street Far from the bustle and racism of Manhattan, on what was then the outskirts of Brooklyn, free blacks built a community called Weeksville.
Kenneth Jackson, Jacques Barzun Professor in History and the Social Sciences, Columbia University, discusses Weeksville.
Our guests are activist and scholar Angela Davis, and historian Ibram X. Kendi. Throughout her lifetime, Angela Davis has been a passionate voice for human rights, working from the position that th...Show More
Elizabeth Keckley and Harriet Tubman spent decades in bondage, suffering everything the "peculiar institution" promised before finding very different paths to freedom. What they did with that freedom ...Show More
Chenjerai Kumanyika, assistant professor of journalism and media studies at Rutgers University, hosts a special two part discussion. Kumanyika is co-host of the podcasts Uncivil and Scene on Radio. He...Show More
Chenjerai Kumanyika, assistant professor of journalism and media studies at Rutgers University, hosts a special two part discussion. Kumanyika is co-host of the podcasts Uncivil and Scene on Radio. He...Show More
Kenneth Jackson, Jacques Barzun Professor in History and the Social Sciences, Columbia University, discusses Wall Street.
One Wall Street A gang of black men labored as long as daylight allowed, digging a three-foot-deep trench from the East River all the way across Manhattan Island to the Hudson River.
The struggle for racial justice is far from over. Inequality is built on many aspects ingrained in our society—history, law and culture. How do we confront this inequality embedded in American life? H...Show More
The last few weeks have been filled with devastating news — stories about the police killing black people. At this point, these calamities feel familiar — so familiar, in fact, that their details have...Show More
In this premiere installment of a series on the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I honor Dr. King ahead of the MLK holiday by telling the story of his life and work beginning my examinati...Show More
Continuing my series on the MLK assassination, I examine Dr. King's relationships with people in power who some say might have arranged for his death, and I evaluate his convicted assassin's claims th...Show More
In the third part of this series on the King assassination, I look at James Earl Ray's views on race and indications that he not only was planning King's assassination for some time, but also that he ...Show More
"The United States believes any Palestinian government must renounce violence,” a U.S. official told Ha'aretz. When it comes to nonviolence, writes Barbara Reynolds in The Washington Post, “Black Live...Show More
Kim and Brian sit down for an extended conversation on the current Black Lives Matter protests, policing and police reform, media literacy, and more. Credits Created and hosted by Kim Wilson and Brian...Show More
Across from the Meal Market, where enslaved workers could be hired or bought, was the Tontine Coffee House, home of the New York Stock Exchange.
235 W. Broadway One day in the mid-1800s, 28 men, women, and children snuck into New York City.
Wall Street and Water Street In 1711, New York was growing quickly, and the growing needs of the city were often supplied by slave labor.
On the last episode of Season 2, Josie and Clint discuss prison abolition with Mariame Kaba, one of the leading activists and organizers in the fight against America’s criminal legal system and a cont...Show More
Black identity is central to the question of reparations — and the difficulty of defining blackness becomes even more salient when there's money at stake.
Since the early 2000s, a spate of forensics-focused TV shows and films have emerged on the pop culture scene. Years after Law & Order premiered in the '90s, shows like CSI, NCIS, and The Mentalist fol...Show More
One of the most devastating collateral consequences for someone involved in the criminal justice system is the potential destruction of their family – most commonly parents losing custody of kids and ...Show More
Before 2014, police killings of unarmed Black people weren’t a huge news story. Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery, Ferguson activist Johnetta Elzie, and host Lewis Raven Wallace look at how media...Show More
Eighty-five years ago, a crowd of several thousand white people gathered in Jackson County, Florida, to participate in the lynching of a man named Claude Neal. The poet L. Lamar Wilson grew up there, ...Show More
On this episode, we talk about an alternative to the traditional criminal adversarial process: restorative justice. Restorative justice focuses on repairing the harm caused by wrongdoing, and values r...Show More
“Police accountability” is a term that gets thrown around a lot in conversations about criminal justice reform. But how do we make sure police officers who break laws or department rules are held to a...Show More
From the cemetery to the big screen, a 150 year old push to rewrite American history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tracing back Isadore’s family helps understand his wealth. Isadore wasn’t an anomaly- many African Americans in the south had land, built wealth and created their own communities to thrive.
You’ve likely heard of redlining - the practice of systematizing discrimination based on where you live. You’ve probably even heard us talk about the ways its legacy continues to impact the upward mob...Show More
August 13, 2298 : (1/4): No. 24 talks about patterns and his new "job".
We dig deep into the anthem of the Confederacy, and learn that almost everything we thought we knew about it... was wrong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Normally I release new episodes every Monday, but I'm releasing this special episode early in honor of Juneteenth. In this episode I discuss one of the ugliest racist incidents in American history, th...Show More
Born to freed slaves in 1867, Sarah Breedlove used her creativity, determination and brilliant mind for business to transform herself into the mogul, Madam C.J. Walker. Traveling the country with her ...Show More
elfflame recommended:
Such an amazing story, and so well told. Definitely a stellar episode in a great show.