Slavery

Happy Juneteenth! Sam and Emma speak to Imani Perry, professor of African-American Studies at Princeton University, author of South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation, to discuss the history and legacy of Juneteenth, as well as the importance of its becoming a federal holiday. First, Sam and Emma run […]
Emma hosts Emily Flitter, finance reporter for the New York Times, to discuss her recent book The White Wall: How Big Finance Bankrupts Black America. First, Emma discusses this morning’s news of President Biden announcing that WNBA star Brittney Griner has been released from Russian custody. Then, Emily joins and speaks about the current NYTimes Guild walk outs and […]
Sam and Emma host Dale Kretz, visiting assistant professor of history at the University of California, Santa Barbara, to discuss his recent book Administering Freedom: The State of Emancipation after the Freedmen’s Bureau. First, Sam and Emma dive into updates on the US’ sanctions on Venezuela, Elon Musk’s targeting of left voices on Twitter, the collapse of Manchin’s […]
Happy Indigenous People’s Day! Sam and Emma host Claudio Saunt, professor of American History at the University of Georgia, to discuss his book Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory. Sam and Emma first run through updates on Russia’s response to the bombing of the Crimean bridge and more news from this […]
Emma hosts Natasha Lennard, columnist at The Intercept, to discuss her recent reporting before, during, and after Roe V. Wade’s overturning by the Supreme Court. Then, Emma is joined by Greg Casar, candidate for Congress in Texas’s 35th District, to give us an update from the campaign trail. First, Emma dives into Biden’s role as the passive PR president, finally […]
Sam hosts Kris Manjapra, history professor at Tufts University, to discuss his recent book Black Ghost of Empire: The Long Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation, on how exploitation and racial caste systems that are buoyed by the lasting legacies of emancipations. Professor Manjapra begins by discussing what his idea of the “ghost line” entails, […]
Sam and Emma host Adolph Reed, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, to discuss his recent book The South: Jim Crow and Its Afterlives, on the lasting legacy of the racial order that defined the post-reconstruction era, and its intrinsic ties to labor and exploiting the Black workforce. Professor Reed first situates when the […]
Sam and Emma host Kellie Carter Jackson, Associate Professor of Africana Studies at Wellesley College, to discuss her recent book Force and Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence, using the influence of Black leaders to explore the growth of the abolitionist movement from moral suasion to an understanding that intrinsic rights cannot be granted. Professor […]
Sam and Emma host Kyle T. Mays, Assistant Professor of African American Studies at UCLA, to discuss his recent book An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States, which attempts to reframe a history of US capitalism around as a system built around the dispossession and enslavement of indigenous peoples, from Africa to the Americas. Professor Mays begins by […]
Sam and Emma host Jonathan Levy, professor of History at the University of Chicago, to discuss his recent book Ages of American Capitalism: A History of the United States. Sam and Emma begin by discussing the newly passed defense policy bill and debt limit increase in the House, which includes a huge weapons sale to Saudi Arabia, […]