Jill Abramson contemplates the parentage of West Ford, his possible connection to George Washington, and the fight to save Gum Springs.
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The Vice President Who Set The Stage For Civil War
Baylor University historian Robert Elder joins us to talk about Vice President John C. Calhoun, a man who argued that slavery was a “positive good” and set the stage for the South to secede from the Union.
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What Does The Alamo Really Represent?
Author Bryan Burrough joins us to talk about arguably the state’s most famous story – The Alamo – and why its role in preserving slavery is often written out of Texas lore.
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Do Black Americans Have 2nd Amendment Rights?
Emory University professor Carol Anderson joins us to discuss gun ownership in America and how expanding that right often leaves out Black citizens.
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The Female Abolitionists Of San Francisco’s Chinatown
Julia Flynn Siler joins guest host John McCaa to tell the story of a group of female abolitionists who dedicated their lives to rescuing slaves in San Francisco.
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The Violent Path To Emancipation
H. W. Brands, Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin, joins us to talk about a man who called for change via murder and another who looked to Washington for solutions.
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In The Revolution, Most Black Soldiers Fought For The British
Farah Peterson, law professor and legal historian at the University of Chicago Law School, joins us to set the record straight on the Black experience dating back to the time of the nation’s founding.
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America’s Do-Over: The Three Amendments That Define Reconstruction
Eric Foner, DeWitt Clinton Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University, joins us to talk about how the blueprint for our modern America was drawn during Reconstruction.
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Can The Black Experience Ever Be Detached From Slavery?
Frank B. Wilderson III, professor and chair of African American studies at the University of California, Irvine, joins us to talk about a theory of Black experience that can never be detached from slavery.
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An Argument For Reparations
Duke University public policy professor William A. Darity Jr. joins us to make the case for monetary compensation for Black Americans.
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Meet The Formerly Enslaved Woman Who Secured Reparations
Rice University historian W. Caleb McDaniel joins us to tell the story of how Henrietta Wood ultimately sued and won the largest amount given in restitution for slavery.
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A Black Woman Tracks Down Her White Founding Father
Bettye Kearse joins us to talk about tracing her own heredity, which lead her to an enslaved woman and a head of state.
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