African-American Issues

Bryan Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative and the founder of the Legacy Sites. He wrote the introduction to a new companion book called "The Legacy Sites: A History Of Racial Injustice."

My guest is the author Rhae Lynn Barnes. In the late 1800s, as professional minstrel shows were becoming obsolete, amateur blackface shows became one of the most popular forms of entertainment, and that's where Barnes' focus is. The new book "Darkology" uncovers the hidden history of blackface.

novelist Tayari Jones. She wrote her first novel more than two decades ago, but it was her fourth, "An American Marriage," that put her into the national spotlight. When it came out in 2018, Oprah chose it for her book club, and Barack Obama put it on his reading list. It went on to win the Women's Prize for Fiction and has been published in more than a dozen countries, praised as a compassionate portrait of love and justice.

In Fear and Fury, historian Heather Ann Thompson revisits Bernhard Goetz's shooting of four Black teens — and explains how the incident reshaped criminal justice, national policy and media coverage.

Heather McGhee, author of 2021's The Sum of Us, discusses the economic cost of racism, the importance of community organizing and the "zero-sum lie" that progress for some means loss for others.

When Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Trymaine Lee was 38, he suffered a sudden heart attack that nearly killed him. The incident made him reconsider the years he had spent reporting on the lives cut short by gun violence — and the stress it had put on his body.

Author Ricky Riccardi says Armstrong's innovations as a trumpeter and vocalist helped set the soundtrack of the 20th century. His book is Stomp Off, Let's Go. Originally broadcast Jan. 30, 2025.

In SLY LIVES!, Questlove documents the genius of a funk trailblazer — and the overwhelming pressure Sly felt as a Black artist. Originally broadcast Feb. 10, 2025.

Reid's book, Medgar and Myrlie, tells the stories of the civil rights leader from Mississippi and his wife, who became an activist after Medgar's 1963 assassination. Originally broadcast Feb. 7, 2024.

Mickalene Thomas is a multidisciplinary visual artist. Her latest exhibition, All About Love, is on view at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia.

The daughter of singer Lena Horne, Buckley who chronicled her family's history from enslavement to becoming a part of the Black bourgeoisie. She died July 18. Originally broadcast in 1986.

Reagon, who died July 16, was one of the powerful singers who helped galvanize the civil rights movement in the 1960s as a member of the Freedom Singers quartet. Originally broadcast in 1988.

The award-winning playwright talks about his provocative Slave Play, which earned 12 Tony nominations. A new HBO documentary chronicles the making of the production. Originally broadcast June 2023.

Oyelowo plays a formerly enslaved man who went on to become one of the nation's first Black Deputy U.S. Marshals in the Paramount+ series Lawmen: Bass Reeves. Oyelowo also produced the series.

Journalist Alexia Fernández Campbell says some freed men and women were given titles to land following the Civil War — but after President Lincoln's death, the land was taken back.

Yohance Lacour tells the story of Lenard Clark, a 13-year-old Black boy who was beaten into a coma after riding his bike into a predominantly white neighborhood — and the importance of the case today.

When it comes to Black Twitter, filmmaker Prentice Penny says "no one is above being joked on." His Hulu docuseries charts the voices and movements that made it a force in politics and culture.

Ringgold, who died April 12, portrayed themes of Black life and culture through her quilts, paintings, dolls and books. Her work was exhibited in many major museums. Originally broadcast in 1991.

Wright is nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of a novelist who's frustrated with the publishing industry's expectations of Black authors. His first starring role was in the 1996 film Basquiat.

Reid's new book, Medgar and Myrlie, tells the stories of the civil rights leader from Mississippi and his wife, who became a civil rights activist after Medgar's 1963 assassination.