The 2 Best The Sum of Us Podcast Episodes
1) Orlando, FL: The Land of Second Chances
Republican Congressional aide Neil Volz was convicted for conspiring to bribe members of Congress. Desmond Meade was a Black military veteran who fell into addiction, homelessness and prison. As peopl...Show More
2) Manhattan Beach, CA: Swimming Together
The wealthy beachfront community of Manhattan Beach, California—known for its surf culture—has a Black population of less than 1%. You’d never know that a black couple was one of its founding families...Show More
3) The America That’s Becoming
As Heather’s journey across America ends, she meets with the person who sparked her lifelong commitment to social justice. They discuss the cross-racial experiences that shaped their paths early on, a...Show More
4) Dallas, TX to Albuquerque, NM: A Journey of Faith for Reproductive Rights
A primary care physician and former Baptist preacher, Dr. Curtis Boyd hadn’t planned on being an abortion provider— until the late 1960s, when ministers and rabbis from Texas reached out and asked him...Show More
5) Minden, NV: The Last Sundown Siren
In 1921, the small town of Minden, Nevada began sounding a “sundown siren” that warned Indigenous people to leave the city limits or face violent consequences. Over a hundred years later, the alarm st...Show More
6) Lewiston, ME: A New Crop
Third generation dairy farmer Charlie Hilliard spent his life working the land that had been in his family since the 1930s. But with retirement looming, it seemed impossible to find a buyer who would ...Show More
7) Kansas City, MO: Flipping Burgers
Terrence Wise was a Black man flipping burgers at a McDonald’s in Kansas City, Missouri. Bridget Hughes was a white woman punching the clock at a local Burger King. Neither saw a way out of their dead...Show More
8) Memphis, TN: The Sweetest Water In The World
In 2020, Memphis residents began to hear rumors that a company called Plains All American was set to build a 49-mile oil pipeline through the city. At first, the pipeline appeared inevitable, planned ...Show More
9) Why Can’t We Have Nice Things?
As president of a national think tank, Heather McGhee thought that the most important change came out of Washington. But as the years passed and she saw the limitations of the law to make real change,...Show More
10) Introducing: The Sum of Us
On the heels of her bestselling book, Heather McGhee embarks on a road trip across Covid-era America, unearthing stories of American hope and solidarity in a time of great division and peril for our d...Show More