We the (Black) People

Latest Episodes:

Sisters in the Struggle: Black Catholic Nuns for Black Liberation Mar 15, 2022

Show notes

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 Feb 15, 2022

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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 Jan 30, 2022

Show notes

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 Jan 15, 2022

Show notes

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! Nov 30, 2021

Show notes

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 Nov 15, 2021

Show notes

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 Oct 30, 2021

Show notes

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 Oct 15, 2021

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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 Sep 15, 2021

Show notes

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? Aug 30, 2021

Show notes

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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