In recent years, there’s been a movement to remove statues of Confederate leaders and other monuments that some see as celebrations of America’s racist history. But does taking down these statues help address the racial inequities that plague our nation to this day? Or is it just erasing history? In his forthcoming book How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning Wi ... Show More
Apr 2021
Bleeding Kansas | The Pottawatomie Massacre | 2
On the night of May 24th, 1856, radical abolitionist John Brown and seven of his followers crept along the banks of Kansas’s Pottawatomie Creek and stormed a proslavery settlement. They dragged five men from their cabins and killed them in cold blood. Soon, Brown’s name was splas ... Show More
39m 9s
Apr 2021
Bleeding Kansas | The Raid on Harpers Ferry | 3
In December 1858, John Brown was back in Kansas and Missouri, making headlines for dramatic and deadly raids on plantations. He and his followers freed 11 enslaved men and women and led them on an 1,100-mile journey to freedom in Canada.But all the while, Brown was focused on fin ... Show More
36m 40s
May 2024
Which Statues Should We Take Down? How To Fairly Judge Historical Figures by Today’s Standards
In the United States, questions of how we celebrate – or condemn – leaders in the past have never been more contentious. In 2017, a statue of Robert E. Lee was removed – leading to a race riot and terrorist attack. But in 2020, statues of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Chri ... Show More
39m 3s
May 2022
The rise and fall of America's monuments
Jamil Smith talks with Erin Thompson, professor of art crime and author of Smashing Statues: The Rise and Fall of America's Public Monuments. They discuss why we honor horrible people from the past in metal and stone, what effects these objects have on our present, and what's kee ... Show More
48m 46s
May 2022
Beyond The Scenes - The Ongoing Battle to Remove Confederate Statues
While America has made progress in removing confederate statues from public squares, many remain standing. Director of the PBS documentary The Neutral Ground, CJ Hunt, and founder of Project Say Something, Camille Goldston Bennett, join Roy Wood Jr. to discuss why these monuments ... Show More
1h 9m
Apr 2025
How you can move forward and learn from the past (w/ Clint Smith)
How do you grapple with national history, legacy, and the stories you tell yourself? Clint Smith is the author of the narrative nonfiction, How the Word is Passed, and the poetry collection, Above Ground. Clint joins Chris to talk about the cognitive dissonances that shaped Ameri ... Show More
39m 20s