In 1921, a man named Harry Pace started the first major Black-owned record company in the United States. He called it Black Swan Records.
In an era when few Black musicians were recorded, the company was revolutionary. It launched the careers of Ethel Waters, Fletcher Henderson, William Grant Still, and Alberta Hunter, artists who transformed American musi ... Show More
Feb 26
Orson Welles and the Blind Soldier 3: The Trial
This is the final episode of our series about Isaac Woodard, a Black soldier who was beaten and blinded by a white police officer in 1946. In the last episode, radio host Orson Welles, who was investigating the case, learned the officer's identity.Isaac Woodard himself told a rep ... Show More
18m 23s
Feb 19
Orson Welles and the Blind Soldier 2: Officer X
Last week, we shared the story of Isaac Woodard, a Black soldier who was brutally beaten by a white police officer in South Carolina. No one knew the name of the police officer. Or even the town where it happened. Not even Woodard himself. By the summer of '46, the case was gaini ... Show More
13m 12s
Jul 2021
The Vanishing of Harry Pace Trailer from the Creators of Dolly Parton's America
Hi, Dolly Parton's America fans!
We're sharing a new trailer for our new 6-part series The Vanishing of Harry Pace -from the creators of Dolly Parton's America, Jad Abumrad and Shima Oliaee - now premiering at Radiolab.
It was Motown before Motown, FUBU before FUBU: Black Swan Re ... Show More
2m 7s
Jul 2023
Becoming the people we want to be, with Gina Birch, Kathleen Hanna, Mark Moore, and Stephen McRobbie
Gina Birch, Kathleen Hanna, Mark Moore, and Stephen McRobbie how their teenage years influenced their path into music, how it felt to be doing something creative and combative for a living, and being at peace with themselves later in life.Gina Birch was inspired to form post punk ... Show More
29m 24s
Jan 2022
Musical collage with Mad Professor, Suzanne Ciani, Matthew E. White and Georgia Anne Muldrow
Mad Professor, Suzanne Ciani, Matthew E. White and Georgia Anne Muldrow discuss how listening to music lets you travel through time, packaging their work into album form, and which part of the music-making process they enjoy the most.Matthew E. White is a singer, songwriter, prod ... Show More
29m 57s
Aug 2023
Music is escapism with Nitin Sawhney, Tim Burgess, Nainita Desai and Ayanna Witter-Johnson
Nitin Sawhney, Tim Burgess, Nainita Desai and Ayanna Witter-Johnson discuss how their family and cultural history impacts their creativity, being conscious of who they’re representing when creating, and how their output is a reflection of their changing identities.Producer, compo ... Show More
36m 58s