People's Historians Podcast

In this episode, from our series on Teach the Black Freedom Struggle, our host, Rethinking Schools co-editor Jesse Hagopian speaks with journalist Vikki Law about the root causes and outcomes of mass incarceration. They discuss Law’s book, “Prisons Make Us Safer”: And 20 Other Myths About Mass Incarceration, an essential resource on master narratives about imprisonment. Read about the event and find related resources.

In this episode, from our series on Teach the Black Freedom Struggle, our host, Zinn Education Project leadership team member Cierra Kaler-Jones speaks with historian Martha S. Jones about the role of Black women in the long and ongoing fight for voting rights. They discuss Jones’s book, Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All, which utilizes storytelling to illustrate African American women’s significance in both local and national politics. Read about the event and find related resources.

In this episode, from our series on Teach the Black Freedom Struggle, our host, Jesse Hagopian, a high school teacher, speaks to Brooklyn College Professor of Political Science and author, Dr. Jeanne Theoharis, about her recent article, Martin Luther King Knew That Fighting Racism Meant Fighting Police Brutality. Theoharis speaks about the white-washing of Dr. Martin Luther King, and the intricate connections between his life’s work and the issue of police violence against Black people. Theoharis also talks about the white media’s approach to talking about racism, eliminating much of its context and significance, particularly outside the South. She also grounds the conversation in the difficulties of being an educator and the importance of community during these times. Read about the event and find related resources.

In this episode, from our series on Teach the Black Freedom Struggle, our hosts, educators Jesse Hagopian and Cierra Kaler-Jones, speak to assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Jarvis Givens, about his book, Fugitive Pedagogy: CG Woodson & the Art of Black Teaching. Givens discusses the central role of African American educators in the Black Freedom Struggle and their tradition of fugitive pedagogy to smuggle in the truth about Black history–including studies of the Haitian revolution, maroons in Suriname and Jamaica, Reconstruction, and more– into school systems dominated by white supremacy. Read about the event and find related resources.

In this episode, from our series on Teach the Black Freedom Struggle, our host, Jesse Hagopian, a high school teacher, speaks to The Nation sports editor and host of the Edge of Sports Podcast, Dave Zirin, about his book, The Kaepernick Effect: Taking a Knee, Changing the World. Zirin talks in-depth about the “Kaepernick Effect” and the similarities between the NFL quarterback’s protest and the legendary Olympic medal stand protest in 1968, and the countless actions they inspired. Zirin shares some of the stories he came across during the writing of the book, including high school students and specifically Black girls. Zirin also discusses the consciousness of younger people, their political awakening, and how the 2020 uprising influenced these dynamics. Read about the event and find related resources.

In this episode, from our series on Teach the Black Freedom Struggle, our host, Jessica Rucker, a high school teacher, speaks to Teach Reconstruction campaign advisor and Northwestern University history professor Kate Masur about her book, Until Justice be Done: America’s First Civil Rights Movement, From the Revolution to Reconstruction. Professor Masur goes into detail about the nation’s first push for civil rights in the 19th century, specifically in the Northern states from African Americans and their white allies. This activism in the 1850s dovetailed with the rise of the new Republican Party. The Northwestern professor also discusses the violence launched by white reactionaries, attempting to defeat Black advances. Read about the event and find related resources.

In this episode, from our series on Teach the Black Freedom Struggle, our host, Jesse Hagopian, a high school teacher and Rethinking Schools editor, facilitates a conversation between authors Jeff Chang and Dave “Davey D” Cook on their new young adult version of Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A Hip-Hop History. Chang and Davey D catalogue the role of urban policy, marginalization of Black and Brown youth in places like New York and Los Angeles, and how that influenced both the politics and the development of hip-hop. The struggle for Black Power played a direct role in shaping the music from its onset. Our guests also discussed how hip-hop shapes both the movement for Black lives and why young people should learn about the history, aesthetics, and politics of hip-hop. Read about the event and find related resources.

In this episode, from our series on Teach the Black Freedom Struggle, our host, Jesse Hagopian speaks with Gerald Lenoir about lessons from the South African movement to overthrow apartheid. Read about the event and find related resources.

In this episode, from our series on Teach the Black Freedom Struggle, Zinn Education Project team member Cierra Kaler-Jones speaks with Clint Smith about his book How the Word Is Passed, an examination of how monuments and landmarks represent — and misrepresent — the central role of slavery in U.S. history and its legacy today. Read about the event and find related resources.

In this episode, from our series on Teach the Black Freedom Struggle, our host, Jesse Hagopian speaks with Garrett Felber and Stephen Wilson about the growth of the prison industrial complex and resistance movements. Read about the event and find related resources.