We the (Black) People

The End. (And also 4th anniversary?)

Brooklyn J-Flow — Sat, 16 Nov 2024 23:00:00 -0500

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.

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Conjure, Christianity, and HooDoo

Brooklyn J-Flow — Sat, 15 Jun 2024 06:30:00 -0500

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.

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To The Post Office

Brooklyn J-Flow — Wed, 15 May 2024 06:30:00 -0500

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 episode, we're going to look at the struggle all the way up to the largest illegal (also called wildcat) strike in American history in 1970. I'll talk through that history with Professor Philip Rubio, author of There's Always Work at the Post Office: African American Postal Workers and the Fight for Jobs Justice and Equity. Happy belated May Day!

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Racism, Ableism, and Slavery

Brooklyn J-Flow — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 06:30:00 -0500

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.

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Why Did Black Girls and Young Women Dominate School Desegregation Efforts?

Brooklyn J-Flow — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 06:30:00 -0500

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.

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The Black Artistry Behind Sanford & Son and Good Times

Brooklyn J-Flow — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 06:30:00 -0500

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 and writers did behind the scenes to demand respect for themselves and authentic depictions of Black people on screen. Enter my guest Dr. Adrian Sebro, author of Scratchin' and Survivin' Hustle Economics and the Black Sitcoms of Tandem Productions, to tell us some of these behind the scenes stories.

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Black Colorado History on (Museum) Display

Brooklyn J-Flow — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 06:30:00 -0500

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. Boulder (and Colorado overall) is a small Black community with a mighty contribution to American history. We get into the story of how this exhibit came to be, how other Black communities can activate their history, and some of the stories they collected as they brought the exhibit to life.

Want to learn more about the exhibit and listen to some oral history? Here's the website: https://museumofboulder.org/exhibit/proclaiming-colorados-black-history/

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3rd Anniversary!? The Clip Show

Brooklyn J-Flow — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 06:30:00 -0500

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

How the Internet Changed the Fight Against Racism

Brooklyn J-Flow — Sun, 15 Oct 2023 06:30:00 -0500

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 contradictions and activist possibilities the internet opens up for us.

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Unwrapping the History Between McDonald's and Black America

Brooklyn J-Flow — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 06:30:00 -0500

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, an enemy of Black America, but always a powerful institution that evoked a lot of reactions as it allowed Black people to open franchises and became increasing tied to its Black customer base.

Seeking the African Revolution: Black Expats in Ghana

Brooklyn J-Flow — Sun, 30 Jul 2023 06:30:00 -0500

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, author of American Africans in Ghana: Black Expatriates and the Civil Rights Era, is here to talk about the small group of Black Americans who visited or migrated to Ghana - figures like Maya Angelou, Pauli Murray, Julian Mayfield, and Malcolm X.

And, similar to Liberia, the legacy of that era is a continued open invitation from Ghana to Black America.

A Beginner's Guide to Family [Oral] History

Brooklyn J-Flow — Fri, 30 Jun 2023 06:30:00 -0500

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.

She definitely makes me feel more equipped to do the work. And this won't be the last you hear about my oral history journey.

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A Teaspoon of Black Culinary History

Brooklyn J-Flow — Tue, 30 May 2023 06:30:00 -0500

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.

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May Day with the Marginalized: Black Women in St. Louis (1930s-1960s)

Brooklyn J-Flow — Sun, 30 Apr 2023 06:30:00 -0500

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 the Struggle for Economic Justice in St. Louis, thinks so.

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The Realest Rap History

Brooklyn J-Flow — Sat, 15 Apr 2023 06:30:00 -0500

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.

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Freedom Outside Religion: Black Religious Skepticism

Brooklyn J-Flow — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 06:30:00 -0500

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 the stories of several Black skeptics. My guest is Dr. Christopher Cameron, author of Black Freethinkers: A History of African American Secularism.

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The Controversial Afterlives of Crispus Attucks

Brooklyn J-Flow — Mon, 30 Jan 2023 06:30:00 -0500

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 hopes to carve a place) in the American story.

My guest is Professor Mitch Kachun, author of First Martyr of Liberty: Crispus Attucks in American Memory.

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The Abundance of the Black Cooperative Movement

Brooklyn J-Flow — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 06:30:00 -0500

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 two of those cooperatives with me is Professor Irvin Hunt, author of Dreaming the Present: Time, Aesthetics, and the Black Cooperative Movement.

The first cooperative we discuss is Fannie Lou Hamer's Freedom Farm and its pluripresence (it's a new word for me too, don't worry, Dr. Hunt defines it).

Then, we discuss Ella Baker, George Schulyer, the Young Negroes’ Cooperative League, and the idea of it being a planned failure rather than a failure to plan.

In a time where mutual aid is growing in popularity when the state cannot provide, 20th-century Black cooperatives have a lot to teach us.

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Spirituals, Minstrels, and the Legacy of Early Black Entertainers

Brooklyn J-Flow — Wed, 30 Nov 2022 06:30:00 -0500

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 Industry.

The legacy of spirituals on stage and even their minstrel parodies is that spirituals are still a part of American culture. They may not look or sound the same as folk spirituals during slavery, but they are what have lasted through 3 centuries.

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2nd Anniversary: A Giveaway

Brooklyn J-Flow — Tue, 15 Nov 2022 06:30:00 -0500

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.

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Why Would Black Soldiers Fight After the Civil War (Through WWI)?

Brooklyn J-Flow — Sat, 15 Oct 2022 06:30:00 -0500

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.

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Examining Monkeypox through Black Activism in the AIDs Crisis

Brooklyn J-Flow — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 06:30:00 -0500

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 subject of To Make the Wounded Whole: The African American Struggle Against HIV/AIDS by this episode's guest Professor Daniel Royles.

Different groups across the country took radically different approaches to address the AIDs crisis in Black America. Some worked specifically with gay Black men while others had wider targets like all Black people or gay men of color. Others advocated for Black women and some even did international work in Africa. The Nation of Islam even shows up in the story.

So, let's go back to the 1980s and 1990s to understand what to do about Monkeypox right now.

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Centering Black Women in the Reproduction/Abortion Discussion

Brooklyn J-Flow — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 06:30:00 -0500

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 long history of racism, capitalism, and slavery. As it turns out, the logic behind Dobbs and the laws following after it starts with early contact between Africans and Europeans and with some of the first Africans to arrive in America.

It is centuries of history to untangle and dismantle, but starting the story at the beginning with the often-overlooked history of Black women is a good place to start.

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Desegregating American Amusement

Brooklyn J-Flow — Sat, 30 Jul 2022 06:30:00 -0500

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, sued many facilities, and endured a lot of white violence in pursuit of equal access to recreation and amusement. And, in the end, many of the stereotypes and justifications for exclusion used back then still circulate today. And, cities generally have significantly fewer venues for public recreation.

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Family Separation During Slavery: A Genealogical Dilemma

Brooklyn J-Flow — Fri, 15 Jul 2022 06:30:00 -0500

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 enslaved person held out for family reunification, but a surprising number did. For decades after the Civil War, people put information wanted ads in newspapers hoping to find long-lost families. Those ads are what inspired Professor Williams to write this book.

I call it a genealogical dilemma because very few people did find their families again after the Civil War. The movements of enslaved peoples through sales weren't well documented. These two realities mean that Black descendants of enslaved people likely have family they do not know about but cannot easily find when tracing their roots.

Hopefully, that won't deter you from efforts at genealogy work. For me, it only serves as an inspiration to start looking.

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Let's Talk Black Anthems, Part II

Brooklyn J-Flow — Thu, 30 Jun 2022 06:30:00 -0500

I promised you a part 2 and here it is! This episode continues the discussion of Anthem: Social Movements and the Sound of Solidarity in the African Diaspora with Professor Shana Redmond. The anthems this time around are:

01:25 - “We Shall Overcome” Before it was an anthem of the Civil Rights Movement, Black women used the song to fuel the Charleston tobacco strike. Their efforts brought the song into the Civil Rights Movement.

15:44 - “To Be Young, Gifted and Black” is an anthem signaling the change from nonviolence to Black power both for Nina Simone and for Black People.

33:14 - "Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika" a song that spans the long history of South African apartheid. The African National Congress spread the song and its call for a liberated Africa around the world.

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Afro-Indigenous Detroit History

Brooklyn J-Flow — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 06:30:00 -0500

This episode, we're talking about my hometown, Detroit. It's a gentrifying majority-Black city. Professor Kyle Mays - author of City of Dispossessions - sees this current stage of Black Detroiters being dispossessed as part of Detroit's long history of dispossessing both Indigenous and Black people.

Most Native Americans live in cities. Many moved to Detroit around Word War II, and still have relevant issues to discuss.

At the same time, Detroit's white population is growing while its Black population shrinks.

Linking the struggles of these two non-white populations in Detroit presents an interesting history of education, infrastructure, and attempted solidarity.

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Chicano Farmers and Civil Rights in Coalition

Brooklyn J-Flow — Sun, 15 May 2022 06:30:00 -0500

Solidarity isn't naturally occurring, but it can be amazing.

Like that time Coretta Scott King visited Cesar Chavez in prison. Or when The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee taught nonviolent resistance to Chicano farmworkers in California. Or even when Cesar Chavez went door to door to support Black Panther Party leader Bobby Seale's mayoral campaign in Oakland.

This episode is all about coalition-building between the United Farmer Workers (UFW) and major civil rights organizations. Specifically, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), SNCC, the NAACP, the Urban League, and the Black Panther Party. Not all of these coalitions worked well, so we'll look at what worked and what did not with Professor Lauren Araiza, author of To March for Others: The Black Freedom Struggle and the United Farm Workers.

Hopefully, there's something to learn about building Black and Brown coalitions today from where these coalitions fell apart.

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Let's Talk Black Anthems, Part I

Brooklyn J-Flow — Fri, 15 Apr 2022 06:30:00 -0500

This episode we take a deep dive into 3 Black Anthems of the 20th century with Professor Shana Redmond, author of Anthem: Social Movements and the Sound of Solidarity in the African Diaspora.

04:32 - The Universal Negro Improvement Association and "Ethiopia (Thou Land of Our Fathers)." How Marcus Garvey and the UNIA instilled Black nationalism.

15:56 - The NAACP and "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing." Uplift culture in an interracial organization.

32:36 - Paul Robeson and "Ol' Man River." Turning a song from a musical called Showboat into an international anthem.

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Modern Black Feminist Organizing

Brooklyn J-Flow — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 06:30:00 -0500

You didn't think the story of Black feminism ended at the Voting Rights Act, did you?

Turns out there were several influential Black feminist organizations in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. No one ever told me about the Third World Women's Alliance, the National Black Feminist Organization, the National Alliance of Black Feminists, The Combahee River Collective, or Black Women Organized for Action. So, this episode, I discuss them with so Professor Kimberly Springer author of Living for the Revolution Black Feminist Organizations, 1968–1980.

Though they no longer exist, these organizations lend us valuable present insight.

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Sisters in the Struggle: Black Catholic Nuns for Black Liberation

Brooklyn J-Flow — Tue, 15 Mar 2022 06:30:00 -0500

Looking at Catholic history and Black history becomes wildly different when you consider and acknowledge Black nuns. Not only have there been Black nuns since the early days of slavery, these women have been agitating and advocating all the while. It is a history that hasn't gotten the benefit of a full survey until now, with the book Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle by my guest Dr. Shannen Dee Williams.

Black nuns provided some of the earliest schools for both free and enslaved Black children. They wielded celibacy as a weapon of bodily autonomy. And, for decades before Brown v Board, they desegregated Catholic schools and Catholic orders. It was a fight within the Church, until the Civil Rights Movement. Then, Black nuns became the visible vanguard of freedom that they still are today.

I didn't know about Black nuns, and now I know that their history matters.

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Reconstruction & God's Post-Emancipation Plan for Black People

Brooklyn J-Flow — Tue, 15 Feb 2022 06:30:00 -0500

When slavery ended, it was a massive deal for Black people. It was a fulfillment of decades of hopes, prayers, and prophecies and (to many) a clear sign of God intervening in human history for Black people. Following something as amazing as emancipation, Black people constantly wondered about the next step in God's plan for them. Professor Matthew Harper (author of The End of Days: African American Religion and Politics in the Age of Emancipation) and I discuss how this question and the answers Black people drew out of the Bible shaped their political debates and actions throughout Reconstruction.

Their first expectation was land, either a far-off Promised Land or redistribution of the land they previously worked like in the Year of Jubilee. And as Reconstruction fell to violence and Jim Crow, Black people continued to search within themselves and the Bible for God's next move. It is a story of terror and tragedy, but also one of great, enduring hope.

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Notes from the Underground Railroad

Brooklyn J-Flow — Sun, 30 Jan 2022 06:30:00 -0500

The Underground Railroad has been shrouded in mystery and myth since the days it was active. In this episode, Professor Richard Blackett (author of Making Freedom: The Underground Railroad and the Politics of Slavery) and I talk about some of the realities of the Underground Railroad. Along the way are fascinating escape stories and Underground Railroad helpers from unlikely places.

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The Haitian Revolution: Black America Rooting for Everybody Black

Brooklyn J-Flow — Sat, 15 Jan 2022 06:30:00 -0500

When a slave revolt in Haitian became a revolution that abolished slavery and created the first sovereign Black nation in the Americas, it was kind of a big deal. And, being a Black American history podcast, this episode is about how Haitian independence influenced and affected America, particularly Black people.

Since the Haitian Revolution does not get enough attention my guest, Dr. Leslie Alexander starts the episode with a quick dive into some of its details. Then, we discuss how a free Haiti polarized America as it drove White America to fear and Black America to pride. For Black Americans, how Haiti fared under Black leadership seemed directly connected to other own liberation so they constantly advocated for the island. Even when the island could not meet Black American expectations because of global racism, Black people would not speak badly about it. To them, if America and the world at large would not allow Haiti to succeed, their own success was doomed as well. And, in many ways, they were right to be rooting for everybody Black.

Dr. Alexander's book Fear of a Black Republic: How Haitian Sovereignty Inspired the Birth of Black Internationalism is set for release this fall.

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Anniversary Clip Show!

Brooklyn J-Flow — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 06:30:00 -0500

Consistently on We the (Black) People, I ask my guests to bring at least one individual's story to the conversation as these stories about people really bring history to life for me. It has resulted in really excellent stories about people I never knew about. Here are the top six I brought together in this episode.

00:35 - Harry Green from Black Fathers vs. Slavery with Professor Libra Hilde

02:00 - Duncan Winslow from Who Freed the Slaves? with Professor David Williams

05:03 - Mary McLeod Bethune from The Black Feminist Movement with Professor Martha S. Jones

08:21 - Georgia Gilmore from Workers, Not Servants with Professor Premilla Nadasen

10:30 - Leo Robinson from May Day with Professor Peter Cole

12:47 - Amelia Robinson from The Original Abolitionists with Professor Kellie Carter Jackson

See y'all in January. Thanks for listening!

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Back to the Classroom: Black Founders and the Continuing Fight for Black History Education

Brooklyn J-Flow — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 06:30:00 -0500

It was a year ago when, on this show, I discussed defending history education against the many attacks leveled in 2020 with my high school history teacher. Yet now, in 2021, Black history education seems to be in even more danger. So, back to the classroom to talk with Professor LaGarrett King, a professor of Social Studies Education at the University of Missouri.

In this episode, we discuss the history of attacks on non-conforming history curriculum, American history from a Black perspective, Black founders of both America and Black America, and how to teach holistic and humanistic Black history.

This episode, I spent some time refocusing on why this show is important and the best way to teach Black history going forward, next episode, we'll properly celebrate a year of We the (Black) People. Happy anniversary, y'all!

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Surviving the Civil War: The Fight for Freedom Behind Union Lines

Brooklyn J-Flow — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 06:30:00 -0500

We have to go back to the Civil War!

Last time, nearly a year ago for Ep 1, we looked at how slaves freed themselves by refusing to serve the Confederacy and running to Union lines. When hundreds of thousands did this, the federal government had no choice but to emancipate. What we didn't talk about is what happened to fleeing slaves within Union army camps across the South during the war. The struggle to survive and build a new, free life is the subject of Embattled Freedom: Journeys through the Civil War's Slave Refugee Camps by my guest Professor Amy Murrell Taylor.

Depending on when and where the Union army was, fleeing slaves might not instantly gain freedom or even be accepted into the camp. Then, inside the camp, the Union army only provided for their needs up to a point and controlled how they lived. On top of that, Union camps were dangerous because of the external Confederate enemy and the internal enemy of Northern racism. In the middle of all this, slavery's refugees managed to build homes, practice religion, and sustain themselves.

There is more danger and resilience to the Civil War than I realized last year, so we're heading behind Union lines.

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Neighbors, Citizens, Critics, Political Organizers: Notes from the Pre-Civil War Struggle for Citizenship

Brooklyn J-Flow — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 06:30:00 -0500

Before the 14th amendment, there was no official definition of citizenship in America. We've really been making that up along the way, state by state. And from the beginning, Black people have enacted and put into print their vision of citizenship. In this episode, Professor Derrick Spires and I discuss his book The Practice of Citizenship: Black Politics and Print Culture in the Early United States and the figures in it who continuously demanded recognition.

These efforts ranged from insisting Black Americans practiced citizenship daily by their neighborliness to critiques targetting the fabric of America. Some even used America's revolutionary past to insist on a new revolution.

Watching today's battles to expand citizenship and restrict voting, it really seems like one long struggle.

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Whose Getting Used? Black America and Soviet Antiracism

Brooklyn J-Flow — Wed, 15 Sep 2021 06:30:00 -0500

From 1928-1937, the Soviet Union allied with Black America in an antiracist campaign against America. To tell the story of the Soviet Union and Black America teaming up against racism, I talked with Professor Meredith Roman, author of Opposing Jim Crow: African Americans and the Soviet Indictment of U.S. Racism, 1928-1937.

While some Soviets sought a world without racism, it benefitted the emerging Socialist power to take the moral high ground on racism as a byproduct of capitalism. Behind the campaigns to save the Scottsboro boys and deport racist White Americans was clear opportunism.

On the other hand, where Soviet antiracism fell short, Black Americans could still challenge America to take up a campaign against racism. And, the Soviet Union lacked state-sponsored racism which was a nice break from America.

This short-lived, unlikely alliance brought benefits to both Soviets and Black Americans...until Nazis showed up.

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Black Vaudeville Performers Wore Blackface?

Brooklyn J-Flow — Mon, 30 Aug 2021 06:30:00 -0500

Back in the Before Times, I saw footage of Black vaudeville star Bert Williams performing in blackface at The Museum of Modern Art (more info on that here). Seeing a Black Man in blackface, I had a lot of questions. I found answers and context in Staging Race: Black Performers in Turn of the Century America by Professor Karen Sotiropoulos. In this episode, we discuss why, at the turn of the century, even Black performers who did not utilize blackface still played heavily exaggerated Black characters on stage.

For one thing, Black actors could only gain mainstream visibility and popularity when playing into White stereotypes.

Another important aspect is that Black actors hoped to be seen as great actors, not realistic images of Black life. When that failed, they still worked messages into their work tailored towards the Black audiences segregated in the balconies.

Through playing into White stereotypes, Black actors broke the Broadway color barrier, ushered in the Harlem Renaissance, and met with cultural appropriation.

Grab your ticket and let's get into Staging Race!

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Gone Road Tripping

Brooklyn J-Flow — Sun, 15 Aug 2021 06:30:00 -0500

No new content right now as I properly enjoy road trip season. Send me ideas for show topics to do when I get back! wetheblackpeoplepod@gmail.com

To Colonize Liberia or To Stay & Fight?

Brooklyn J-Flow — Fri, 30 Jul 2021 06:30:00 -0500

Though Black Americans have considered leaving America for a chance at full citizenship somewhere else since America's beginning, many fiercely opposed the American Colonization Society. To them, the ACS (organized in 1817 to send free Black people to Liberia) was White Americans solidifying their belief that Black freedom and citizenship had no place in America. Yet, at the same time, Black people led their own efforts to emigrate to places like Haiti and Canada. To talk about Black America's oppositional and hopeful relationship towards Liberian colonization I talked to Professor Ousmane Power-Greene, author of Against Wind and Tide: The African American Struggle against the Colonization Movement.

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Cruising the Unknown: How Cars Rocked Black America

Brooklyn J-Flow — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 06:30:00 -0500

It is well known that cars changed America. But what about Black America? With America's long history of controlling Black mobility, cars meant many new freedoms for Black people. Yet, as they hit the roads through new places, new dangers lurked in the unknown. Both the dangers and the opportunities are the topic of this episode. My guest is Dr. Gretchen Sorin, author of Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights.

On one hand, cars allowed Black people to avoid segregated buses and trains. And, large cars allowed them to pack enough supplies not to risk stopping in areas they didn't know. Yet, segregation and prejudice followed them on the road. Many White towns did not welcome Black travelers, even those who needed medical attention because of an accident. Out of this came The Negro Motorist Green Book and the wide variety of Black businesses for Black travelers that filled its pages.

Let's take a drive!

Check out Driving While Black. it is both a book and a PBS documentary!

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Numbers Running in Harlem's Underground Economy

Brooklyn J-Flow — Wed, 30 Jun 2021 06:30:00 -0500

This episode stems from my love of the movie The Wiz. Watching it over and over as a kid I did not realize that Miss One, the Good Witch of the North, is a numbers runner. And, I definitely did not know that numbers running is a real part of gambling and Black history.

As a Black woman running numbers in a fictionalized version of Harlem, Miss One unlocks a lot about the real characters behind Harlem's numbers racket in the early to mid 20th century. One of those characters is Stephanie St. Clair. St. Clair was a numbers queen who captivated the media in her fight against police corruption and White racketeers in Harlem.

Professor Lashawn Harris, author of Sex Workers, Psychics, and Numbers Runners: Black Women in New York City's Underground Economy, joins me to talk about Harlem's underground economy because that too is Black history.

Check out Sex Workers, Psychics, and Numbers Runners: Black Women in New York City's Underground Economy by Dr. Lashawn Harris to learn more!

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Black Fathers vs. Slavery

Brooklyn J-Flow — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 06:30:00 -0500

Happy Father's Day!

For the dads out there, this episode we're looking at the often-ignored legacy of Black fathers who fought oppressive systems during and after slavery to be dutifully honorable parents in the eyes of their families. My guest is Professor Libra Hilde, author of Slavery, Fatherhood, and Paternal Duty in African American Communities Over the Long Nineteenth Century.

We discuss the harmful stereotypes historians often fall back on when discussing Black fathers, the flexibility and resilience of Black families over time against many obstacles, honorable Black masculinity and paternal duty, the failure of White fathers who raped Black women, and what this history means right now.

In the end, fatherlessness is a systemic, not a racial problem and many Black men have done all that they could to be good fathers.

The advertisement during the show was for the podcast Seizing Freedom.

To learn more, check out Slavery, Fatherhood, and Paternal Duty in African American Communities Over the Long Nineteenth Century by Dr. Libra Hilde!

Music Credit

Slavery, Reconstruction, and Reparations, But in Indian Territory

Brooklyn J-Flow — Sun, 30 May 2021 06:30:00 -0500

It turns out that the history of slavery and Reconstruction played out differently in Oklahoma because Oklahoma was not American, but Indian Territory. One of the biggest differences was that former Black slaves (Indian Freedpeople) received land reparations. Yet, that land redistribution was part of a larger American project to take over Indian Territory. Professor Alaina Roberts, author of I've Been Here All the While: Black Freedom on Native Land, joins me to discuss the Black, White, and Native people who fought to hold land and freedom in Oklahoma.

This is a story of displacement that starts with the Indian Removal Act and ends with the Tulsa Massacre. The Native Americans (and their Black slaves) forced into Oklahoma by the Indian Removal Act displaced the Native Americans already there. Then, the Dawes Act used slavery in Indian Territory to displace the tribes living in Oklahoma in favor of Indian Freedpeople and both Black and White settlers. Both Native Americans and Black people appealed to the American government to protect their land. For a time, this worked. Ultimately, though, when White Americans wanted the land, American institutions worked to give it to them. The Tulsa Massacre, then, stands as the end of Black dreams of a racial paradise in Oklahoma under tribal jurisdiction.

To learn more check out I've Been Here All the While: Black Freedom on Native Land by Dr. Alaina Roberts!

Music Credit

In 1903, A Black Woman Started A Bank

Brooklyn J-Flow — Sat, 15 May 2021 06:30:00 -0500

This episode centers around two wild facts I just learned.

First, between 1888 and 1930 Black Americans opened and operated over 100 banks.

Second, one of those (St. Luke Bank) was headed and run by Black women.

Luckily, Professor Shennette Garrett-Scott's book Banking on Freedom is all about St. Luke's bank and the 50 year legacy of Black-owned banks.

Black people started their own banks following the failure of the white-run Freedman's Bank. St. Luke's, which opened in 1903, was headed by Maggie Lena Walker whose vision was a bank that empowered her community and other Black women.

A bank run by and for Black women innovated and persisted amid racism and sexism until the 2000s. By then, it was the longest-running Black bank in America. This is the incredible story of an incredible bank that reminds us that Black banks still matter.

Sources and Further Reading: [As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.]

Bank Black: https://bankblackusa.org/

Banking on Freedom: Women in U.S. Finance Before the New Deal by Dr. Shennette Garrett-Scott

Music Credit

May Day & The Undeniable Power of Interracial Unions

Brooklyn J-Flow — Fri, 30 Apr 2021 06:30:00 -0500

Though largely unacknowledged in America in favor of Labor Day in September, May 1st is internationally recognized as International Worker's Day, the anniversary of the struggle for an 8-hour workday in Chicago in 1886.

Looking back on that brings up a lot of interesting issues such as labor's historically tense relationship with police and the Black unions that arose because of mainstream labor's racism. This episode, however, is about two interracial unions that sought radical equality in their union and society.

The first was the radical, interracial, Socialist, Local 8 branch of the Industrial Workers of the World in Philadelphia. This union ended workplace segregation, had multiracial leaders, and survived nearly a decade of attacks from bosses and the government.

The second is the Local 10 branch of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. Also interracial, this union continues to take an open stance on worldwide social justice issues. This social movement unionism ranges from protesting apartheid in South Africa to shutting down ports across the West coast last Juneteenth for George Floyd.

Both unions set aside race and ethnic divisions to become powerful forces beyond the workplace. Maybe their active antiracism can teach us something.

Further Reading [As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.]:

Wobblies on the Waterfront: Interracial Unionism in Progressive-Era Philadelphia by Peter Cole [https://amzn.to/3nyPpMK]

Ben Fletcher: The Life and Times of a Black Wobbly by Peter Cole [https://amzn.to/3xAQN6s]

Dockworker Power: Race and Activism in Durban and the San Francisco Bay Area by Peter Cole [https://amzn.to/3vwe1IQ]

Music Credit

Housing Reparations and the Policies that Necessitated Them

Brooklyn J-Flow — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 06:30:00 -0500

On March 22nd, Evanston, Illinois passed the Restorative Housing Program as reparations for its discriminatory housing policies. This bill is both a hit and a miss in restoratively addressing the history of housing discrimination. This episode, I turn to that history with Professor Paige Glotzer, author of How the Suburbs Were Segregated: Developers and the Business of Exclusionary Housing, 1890–1960.

This history begins with linking race and property value, a practice that is a result of conscious planning, starting with suburban developers and investors. Their nuisance clauses and restrictive covenants aimed to keep developments 'stable,' a code for white and wealthy. Sometimes that was explicit, but at other times exclusions were hidden behind 'color-blind' policies. They (and later realtors) legitimized the practice so well, that it became the basis for redlining, a federal, New Deal housing policy that Dr. Glotzer breaks down. Redlining had (and continues to have) huge consequences. Even though discriminatory housing was ruled illegal in 1968, discriminatory and predatory housing practices still persist to harm Black and Brown people. This is evident in examining the 2008 crash.

Being a continuing system, reparations must both right past wrongs and prevent their continuation. That is why a full picture of the history of housing discrimination matters.

Podchaser link to review We the (Black) People and help Meals on Wheels: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/we-the-black-people-1551466

For more information about Evanston's Reparation Plans: https://www.cityofevanston.org/government/city-council/reparations

[As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.]

How the Suburbs Were Segregated: Developers and the Business of Exclusionary Housing, 1890–1960 by Paige Glotzer (https://amzn.to/3aaZESf)

Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (https://amzn.to/3dk94g5)

My source about Mrs. Susie Mae Rakestraw is "New Perspectives on New Deal Housing Policy: Explicating and Mapping HOLC Loans to African Americans" by Todd M. Michney and LaDale Winling

Music Credit

Workers, Not Servants: Black Domestic Worker Organizing and Resistance

Brooklyn J-Flow — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 06:30:00 -0500

Not only were Black domestic workers organized laborers, but their fight for better working conditions reveals lessons about the Civil Rights Movement, the Feminist Movement, and organizing in today's gig economy. To tell this history and teach these lessons, I talk to Professor Premilla Nadasen, author of Household Workers Unite!

This isn't The Help's story of Black women as loyal victims. From the 1930s-1970s, domestic workers organized to empower individual employees and to collectively rally for standardization, professionalization, and protection under the Fair Labor Standards Act. And, they did not want to be called domestic workers. As part of their fight, they wanted to be called Household technicians because they were skilled workers.

Legally, domestic workers were not included in the worker protections of the New Deal (such as minimum wage). Practically, domestic work involved isolated single employees. That meant domestic workers had to fight creatively to be recognized as workers, not servants. They organized in public spaces, ran hiring halls, lobbied for legislative changes, and much more. And, surprisingly, the very middle-class women who hired them often supported their pursuit of legal protection.

Domestic workers did a gendered occupation, were mostly Black (at this time), and were not legally allowed to unionize. Despite that, they had a lot of success as organized laborers without mainstream union or Civil rights leadership support. They were gig workers before today's gig economy and their successes can teach us a lot if only their stories are told.

Further Reading [As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.]:

Household Workers Unite: The Untold Story of African American Women Who Built a Movement by Premilla Nadasen (https://amzn.to/3d5N86Z)

Music Credit

The Black Feminist Movement

Brooklyn J-Flow — Mon, 15 Mar 2021 06:30:00 -0500

Happy Women's History Month!

When the history of feminism in America is told, it is usually remembered as a White womens' struggle beginning at the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention and ending with the 19th amendment in 1920. What this history misses is the separate struggle Black women faced at the intersection of race and sex.

That history is the subject of this episode and Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All written by my guest Dr. Martha S. Jones (another super cool guest that you can learn more about here).

There were no Black women at Seneca Falls, but earlier that same year, Black women were at the AME church's general conference petitioning for the right to preaching licenses. Yet, our conversation goes back farther to Jarena Lee, a Black woman whose preaching career began in the early 1800s. It was this sexism within their own communities and the racism they faced from White suffragists that drove them to form their own movement.

After the Civil War, they formed national clubs to fight against lynching and for the vote. And that struggle continued after the 19th amendment because Black women faced the same restrictions and violence that already kept Black men from the polls in many states.

It took 45 more years of political, legal, and civil rights struggle to get to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Along the way, Black women were lawyers, strategists, federal appointees, and (where possible) voters. Three Black women even feature prominently in the photo of the Voting Rights Act being signed (see here).

We conclude with a look at what Black women are doing in politics right now both in and around government.

Black women fought for equality, dignity, and political power in a long struggle full of women whose names are known by too few. These are some of their stories.

Further Reading: [As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.]

Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All by Martha Jones (https://amzn.to/3qFd5iI)

Music Credit

Why Did Black Americans Leave the Republican Party in the 1930s? (Antiracist edition)

Brooklyn J-Flow — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 06:30:00 -0500

Happy Black History Month!

In the spirit of Negro History Week, (the precursor to Black History Month) I am spending this episode combating anti-blackness in high school education. Specifically, Matthew Vriesman, creator of Antiracist APUSH, and I discuss why Black people really joined the Democratic Party in the 1930s and 40s. Contrary to the widely used American Pageant textbook it was not simply about welfare. In an era of lynching and discrimination, Black voters had more pressing concerns.

In this episode, Vriesman and I closely examine the origins and necessity of Antiracist APUSH. Then we discuss the radical shift in Black voting behavior in 1936. The American Pageant's answer both glosses over racism in the 20th century and continues to influence how politicians discuss and cultivate the Black vote. So here is an examination of the issue under an antiracist lens.

Further Reading [As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.]

Black Americans in the Roosevelt Era: Liberalism and Race by John B. Kirby (https://amzn.to/3akXO1C)

Farewell to the Party of Lincoln by Nancy Weiss (https://amzn.to/3u1VLHg)

Music Credit

Racism Medicine and the COVID 19 Vaccine

Brooklyn J-Flow — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 06:31:00 -0500

Honestly, the COVID vaccine makes me nervous. As terrible as COVID has been to Black people, the American medical system has a long history of using Black bodies without consent and shutting us out of medicine. This history informs how we see the medical system, including the new vaccine.

Starting from the fact that both science and medicine have a racist history in America, I break down some of the histories that cause Black mistrust in medicine with my friend Symphony, a first-year medical student. We, then, look at COVID's disproportionate effect on the Black community and the stakes of not getting vaccinated. The conversation ends with a little about the science of the COVID vaccine.

I'm not saying whether or not you should get the vaccine immediately, but these are some of the issues you might want to consider.

03:18 - A focus on medical history in America. We cover topics such as the history of gynecology, the closing of Black medical schools, and medical experimentation.

25:28 - A focus on coronavirus today. We look at its effect on non-white communities and the factors informing Symphony's decision to get the vaccine.

Hopefully, a discussion of the vaccine that takes Black fear seriously is a helpful factor in your own decision-making.

Sources and Further Reading: [As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.]

Symphony's recs -

Follow @Kizzyphd on Instagram and/or Twitter. She's a Black woman doctor working on vaccines and advocating for Black people.

Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, New and Expanded Edition [https://amzn.to/3oXNYYf]

Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology [https://amzn.to/2LUduyZ]

My sources -

On Black medical schools:

Race and Medicine in Nineteenth-and Early-Twentieth-Century America [https://amzn.to/38JUk7W]

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/12/black-doctors/510017/

On Medical Experimentation:

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present [https://amzn.to/3iqdinv]

https://lostmuseum.cuny.edu/archive/exhibit/heth

Music Credit

What's Up With (Race) Riots?, Part II: Race War to Rodney King

Brooklyn J-Flow — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 06:30:00 -0500

In January 2021, the question still persists, why do race riots occur and what effect do they have? And now there is the added question of does the answer differ if these are Black-initiated versus White-initiated riots?

These are the driving questions of part two of examining the history of American race riots.

00:37 - Race War and the Red Summer (1898-1921). I open by clarifying the definition of a race riot and the 4 perceived threats to White power behind the 26 (listed below) race riots of the Red Summer.

06:12 - Fighting Fascism at Home and Abroad (the 40s). World War 2 saw White-initiated riots for many of the same reasons as the race war era, but also the first modern, Black-initiated race riots, and Civil Rights legislation.

10:56 - The Turbulent Sixties. An era of completely modern race rioting. There were hundreds of race riots in 67 and 68 which garnered both government attention and aggressive policing.

15:10 - The Rodney Riot/The LA Riot. Jahne returns as we discuss the circumstances around the Rodney King riots. In many ways, the claims that some of the rioters made about justice sound a lot like vigilantism.

The 26 race riots of the Red Summer according to Race Riots and Resistance by Jan Voogd:

1. Millen, Georgia, Apr 13

2. Charleston, South Carolina, May 10

3. Milan, Georgia, May 25

4. New London, Connecticut, Jun 13

5. Bisbee, Arizona, Jul 3

6. Longview, Texas, Jul 10

7. Port Arthur, Texas, Jul 15

8. Washington, DC, Jul 19-23

9. Norfolk, Virginia, Jul 21

10. Chicago, Illinois, Jul 27- Aug 3

11. Syracuse, New York, Jul 31

12. Lexington, Nebraska, ~ Aug 5

13. Mulberry, Florida, Aug 18

14. New York City, Aug 21

15. Laurens County, Georgia, Aug 27-28

16. Baltimore, Maryland, mid-Aug, mid-Sep

17. Knoxville, Tennessee, Aug 30

18. New York City, Sep 16

19. Omaha, Nebraska, Sep 28

20. Elaine, Arkansas, Oct 1

21. Gary, Indiana, Oct 4-5

22. Donora, Pennsylvania, Oct 9

23. Hubbard, Ohio, Oct 10

24. Corbin, Kentucky, Oct 30

25. Wilmington, Delaware, Nov 13

26. Bogalusa, Louisiana, Nov 22

Sources [As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.]

Rioting in America [https://amzn.to/3r5ryGb] by Paul Gilje

Race Riots and Resistance by Jan Voogd

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/06/2020-not-1968/

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/education/presidential-inquiries/harry-s-truman-and-civil-rights

On the Mobile Dry Dock Riot:

https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/may/25

On the Harlem Riot of 1935

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/harlem-riot-1935/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Harlem-race-riot-of-1935

On the 1968 riots and the militarization of the police

https://www.history.com/news/mlk-assassination-riots-occupation

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/06/how-will-protests-end-history-says-depends-government-response/

https://www.startribune.com/riots-of-the-1960s-led-to-today-s-militarized-police/571265822/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/1968-kerner-commission-got-it-right-nobody-listened-180968318/

Music Credit

Not Unprecedented: Race Riots and Attempted Coups

Brooklyn J-Flow — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 15:00:00 -0500

The events at the Capitol on January 6th, 2021 were wild to see, but not unprecedented in American history. White mob violence in city and state capitals when White people become dissatisfied with politics is a part of American history. It also parallels America's present in many ways.

This episode focuses on two cases of coups in America, one in New Orleans (and Colfax), Louisiana in 1873-1874, and one in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1898.

Federal troops stopped the New Orleans attempted-coup, which centered around a gubernatorial race, but the Wilmington coup ended in successfully replacing the city government. Both had the long-term effect of Black disenfranchisement and used newspapers to bolster their cause.

Hopefully, some answers and solutions to 1/6/21 lie in the past.

Sources & Further Reading

New Orleans:

https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/new-orleans-riots

https://thereconstructionera.com/when-the-white-league-militia-took-over-new-orleans-in-1874-it-pledged-to-end-the-stupid-africanization-of-governme/

The article that includes news articles surrounding the riot:

https://thereconstructionera.com/the-battle-of-liberty-place-white-league-uprising-sept-14-1874/

Colfax:

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/colfax-massacre-1873/

The White League's Platform: https://www.facinghistory.org/reconstruction-era/louisiana-white-league-platform-1874

Wilmington:

https://www.britannica.com/event/Wilmington-coup-and-massacre

What's Up With (Race) Riots? Part I The 19th Century

Brooklyn J-Flow — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 06:45:00 -0500

Why do race riots occur and are they effective?

This is part one of an examination of the history of American race riots to find out.

01:35 - I begin with a discussion of vigilantism with my college friend Jahne. We both took a class called The American Vigilante and understanding vigilantism is a helpful tool for understanding riots.

04:39 - The Pre-Civil War Era. Looking back to Force and Freedom, (ep. 3) I look at how Black-initiated riots accelerated social change.

08:13 - The Civil War, because, yes, people were rioting and attacking Black people in the middle of it. This slowed social change as the government worked to keep Black people from migrating North.

11:31 - Reconstruction, the worst of the riots. Southerners wanted to deny the results of the Civil War so, in both rural and urban communities, Black people attempting to organize or assert themselves met with riots. Though Republicans got more radical in pushing Reconstruction, they ultimately gave up and social change was thwarted.

Leroy Johnson's story is really interesting, read up on him here (https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/leroy-johnson-1928-2019)

16:33 - White Terror and lynching. Attacks on 'uppity' behavior from Black people as a means to keep them down. In response, many left the South in the First Great Migration.

Sources: [As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.]

Rioting in America [https://amzn.to/3r5ryGb] by Paul Gilje

Blackpast.org

Force and Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence [https://amzn.to/3acLJM4]

Music Credit

The Original Abolitionists: Black Liberation and Tactical Violence

Brooklyn J-Flow — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 06:30:00 -0500

How do people whose voices are ignored make themselves heard and force America to include them? Is violence ever an effective means?

My guest, Dr. Kellie Carter Jackson - an incredibly cool person, her Twitter handle is @kcarterjackson - sought the answer by looking to the original abolitionists. I'm talking about the Black people fighting for freedom and equality under the constant, violent threat of being reenslaved or attacked by white mobs in the pre-Civil War era. Seeing that the moral suasion of White abolitionists failed them, their use of tactical violence still influences how we think about making social change today.

Since they sought freedom and equality and only received the former, I look to them in this episode for guidance about how to finish their work. Their choice to fight for themselves, their families, and their people rather than flee is inspiring.

Two notes about references. Solomon Northrop is the guy from 12 Years a Slave. John Brown was a White abolitionist who organized and lead an armed raid against slaveholders in Harpers Ferry West Virginia. Dr. Jackson's book shows the heavy influence of Black abolitionists on this event.

[As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.]

For more information, check out Dr. Jackson's book Force and Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence [https://amzn.to/3acLJM4]

Black Abolitionist by Benjamin Quarles [https://amzn.to/3nnlKFv]

Music Credit

The Wilmington Coup, Important Both Then and Now

Brooklyn J-Flowers — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 06:30:00 -0500

The time that a legitimately elected government in North Carolina was violently driven out by white supremacists is an event of critical importance to America's history and present. It echoes in many more subtle types of racism that we see today, as Mrs. Wood and I discuss in this promised bonus clip.

Deep Dive: The Election of 1864

Brooklyn J-Flowers — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 06:30:00 -0500

In the episode Who Freed the Slaves? I called Abraham Lincoln flaky and sped through the election of 1864 because, whatever the outcome, Black people had already ensured that the slavery status quo was over. Yet, Northerners believed this election was very important, and it came in the middle of a Civil War. Here is Dr. William's deep dive into an election about the Union, Emancipation, and social equality for Black people.

And if you are looking for a more in-depth look at anything discussed during Who Freed the Slaves? check out Professor Williams' book [“As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.”]:

I Freed Myself: African American Self-Emancipation in the Civil War Era by David Williams (https://amzn.to/32GtQ3J)

Defending History Education with My High School History Teacher

Brooklyn J-Flow — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 06:45:00 -0500

Since I graduated high school, my Advanced Placement US history (APUSH) teacher added sections to class about slave self-emancipation, mass incarceration, and the racism it the modern welfare system. And, this is the same teacher who showed us a video denying that Columbus discovered America because there were already people here the first week of class. She also helped my get my AP European History class approved to do a history tour of Europe senior year.

Needless to say, Jessica Wood is an incredible teacher that I needed to bring on the show. We spent time discussing the inspiration behind spending all day every day with high schoolers, problems in history education, her innovative solutions, censorship and the dangers of omission, and integrating history to dismantle oppressive narratives.

I wanted to take a step back and examine the flaws in history education that this podcast exists to address. I also just knew Mrs. Wood would be incredibly fun to talk to.

Being two historians, the references flew by faster than I could explain them, so here's a short guide to them.

Pol Pot (tbh, I had to look this one up here): Pol Pot was a radical Communist leader in Cambodia from 1975-1979. After the US military left the area, he gained control of the country and shut it off from the rest of the world. During that time, nearly 2 million people died as he disregarded their lives and enacted purges in pursuit of his goals.

Salacious alert? We saw the Statue of David in person during our European history tour. I thought it was very beautiful and snapped this pic.

Dawes Act: One of the many ways that the American government robbed Native Americans, it forced Native land to be owned by individuals rather than communally. After allotting land that way, most of the formerly tribal land was sold to fund programs to "civilize" Native Americans.

White League, KKK, and Southern politics: We will definitely get into this more in future episodes. After (and even during) Reconstruction, groups like the KKK used violence and intimidation to keep Black people from voting allowing the government to be run by like-minded people. They would even drive out legitimately elected Republican governments at times. Since this helped Southern politicians to keep power, they allowed this to happen.

Wyoming and voting for women: Wyoming did actually refuse to become a state without voting rights for women because women were so essential to building the Wild West.

Susan B. Anthony, the Lovings, and John Lewis: They each broke unjust laws they believed were unjust to bring attention to the injustice. For Susan B. Anthony it was women not being allowed to vote. For the Lovings, it was interracial marriage being illegal. For John Lewis, it was segregation. And, in disrupting the system, each faced criticism and the legal system.

Patrick Henry: He said "Give me liberty or give me death" in the face of colonists who were hesitant to go to war with Britain which inspired many.

The 1776 Commission is the White House's 'patriotic' counter to the 1619 Project.

Nat Turner: He saw himself as chosen by God to lead his people out of slavery and mounted a huge slave rebellion. It ultimately failed, but it violently busted the myth that slaves didn't mind their plight.

Further reading [As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.]:

Mrs. Wood suggests: Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong

1984 (https://amzn.to/3pzTEs3) is also a very timely read.

Music Credits:

Who Freed the Slaves?

Brooklyn J-Flow — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 06:30:00 -0500

I am launching my podcast by addressing a question that frequently gets two competing answers.

Most high school textbooks (and even a quick Google search) say Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves. Yet since the end of the Civil War, Black people and scholars have argued that the slaves freed themselves. Even with compelling evidence, the White-savior narrative has remained the dominant one.

I guess remembering that the Union only reluctantly proclaimed emancipation after tens of thousands of slaves had already fled to Union lines and declared themselves free isn't as glorious a story to tell.

Enslaved people were central actors of the Civil War from the beginning. Professor David Williams, author of I Freed Myself, joins me to discuss how Black people turned a war about keep the Union whole into emancipation, citizenship, and voting rights.

It was an uphill battle from the beginning as the Union government declared that it was not going to war to free slaves. Yet, Black people forced this to change by risking their lives to flee, fight for the Union, and demand rights for their service.

This is the incredible story of how Black people forced America closer to fulfilling its ideals that should be told in schools.

Relevant Books [As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.]

I Freed Myself: African American Self-Emancipation in the Civil War Era by David Williams (https://amzn.to/32GtQ3J)

Black Reconstruction in America, 1860-1880 by WEB DuBois (https://amzn.to/36quPGm)

Professor Williams also said that A People's History of the United States (https://amzn.to/2UwxKHW) is a huge inspiration to him, and it's a classic.

There are tons of further readings on slave self-emancipation, so I will just start by suggesting one that I really like, The Slaves' War: The Civil War in the Words of Former Slaves (https://amzn.to/2UwqlZi).

Music Credit

Intro: New Pod, Who Dis?

Brooklyn J-Flow — Sun, 15 Nov 2020 18:30:00 -0500

Hi everyone!

My name is Brooklyn and I just graduated with a History BA into the craziness that is 2020 without a clear idea of what to do next. Yet, I have long seen and wanted to share the importance of history with people. Especially since society often undervalues history, particularly mine as a Black American.

There are so many amazing stories featuring Black people in America's history that are worth sharing, but often ignored. So, I am using this podcast to have conversations about those stories and what they mean for America's present and future. Talking with experts, friends, and family is my way of adding my voice to the historical fight to make the "We" in "We The People" include people like me.

I'm so excited to learn about new parts of history and to share it with you! History is full of fascinating people and learning that a diverse array of people have made America who we are today is a powerful exercise.

Let's get started!

Subscribe to keep up with new episode releases and bonus content.

Music credit: