This is the final episode of season six of the podcast and it’s going to be a short one. I have a few important announcements about the future of the show to share, some personal updates, and of course, some multicultural book news. One of the big announcements I'll be sharing is that I am launching a new podcast called, Meltingpot Stories. Yes, the podcast that will be all about multicultural books. Please follow me on IG @LoriLTharps and visit the My American Meltingpot website to know when th...
Apr 16, 2021•15 min•Ep. 69
On episode 68 of the podcast, author Kaitlyn Greenidge joins me to talk about freedom and Libertie . Kaitlyn’s debut novel was the critically acclaimed, We Love You, Charlie Freeman . Her writing has also appeared in Vogue , Glamour, the Wall Street Journal, Elle.com, Buzzfeed, and the Virginia Quarterly Review . She was a contributing editor for LENNY Letter , is currently a contributing writer for The New York Times a nd recently became the Features Director of Harper’s Bazaar magazine . I inv...
Apr 09, 2021•45 min•Ep. 68
On episode 67 we’re going back into the Meltingpot archives to listen to an interview with award-winning children’s book author and indie publisher, Zetta Elliott. Zetta has written over 30 books for children, teens and young adults and is committed to telling stories featuring Black characters in the most unexpected places. From sci-fi, to fantasy, to haunted historical fiction, Zetta has written it all and shows no signs of stopping. She is on a mission to decolonize all of our imaginations wh...
Apr 02, 2021•59 min•Ep. 67
On episode 66 of the podcast we’re going to talk about witches. Why? Because there is a growing number of women who are practicing witchcraft in the United States. And because this is America, there is a racial divide in this increasingly popular witching community. Apparently, Black witches and white witches just can’t get along. Cries of cultural appropriation, questions of who gets to call themselves a witch, and how witches are portrayed in popular media are all discussions that are happenin...
Mar 26, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 66
On episode 65 of the podcast, I’m joined by children’s book author, educator, and activist Joanna Ho. Joanna is the New York Times bestselling author of Eyes that Kiss in the Corners , a beautiful picture book that tells the story of a little Asian girl who learns to love and appreciate the shape of her eyes. Joanna holds a BA in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and a master’s from the Principal Leadership Institute at Berkeley. She has been an English teacher, a dean, the designe...
Mar 19, 2021•45 min•Ep. 65
On episode 64 of the podcast, I’m introducing a new segment called Writing Wisdom with Lori. On these mini-episodes, I’ll be sharing actionable inspiration for writers, aspiring writers and creative folks looking to put pen to paper. I want to give you a jolt of what you need to live your best literary life. Think tips, hacks and mindset motivation to get you going, or keep you going on your writing journey. For this very first writing wisdom segment, I'm talking about the most important lesson ...
Mar 12, 2021•13 min•Ep. 64
On episode 63 of the podcast, I’m joined by award-winning author, Jennifer Steil, to talk about her brilliant new novel, Exile Music . Exile Music tells the remarkable story of an Austrian Jewish family who has to flee Nazi occupied Vienna during WWII, and then finds themselves living as refugees in La Paz, Bolivia. Jennifer stumbled upon this fascinating and mostly unknown piece of history – European Jewish refugees living in Bolivia – when she was living in La Paz with her diplomat husband, an...
Mar 05, 2021•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 63
On episode 62 of the podcast we’re rewinding to listen to debut author and actress,Tembi Locke, talk about writing her brilliant memoir about love and loss, From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily and Finding Home . In our conversation, Tembi and I talk about the reasons she decided to write this searing love story about life before and after her Italian husband’s death from cancer; her writing process as a new author; why writing memoir is so powerful; what life is like for a Black-American woma...
Feb 26, 2021•58 min•Ep. 62
On episode 61 of the show, we’re talking about Blackness, Identity Politics and self-publishing as a form of activism with Dr. Yaba Blay, author of the just released book, One Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race . Dr. Blay’s book, One Drop is a gorgeous coffee table book filled with beautiful full-color portraits of people who identify as Black. The people are divided in groups: Mixed Black, American Black and Diaspora Black and each portrait is accompanied by a personal essay about the person’s rac...
Feb 19, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 61
On episode 60 of the podcast, we’re digging into the Meltingpot vault and replaying an episode that was inspired by the book, White Like Her: My Family’s Story of Race and Racial Passing (Skyhorse) by Gail Lukasik. The book is all about racial passing and family secrets in Gail’s family. I’m joined on the show by Gail Lukasik and Philadelphia journalist, Shannon Wink. Like Gail, Shannon was raised to believe she was white, but when she was doing some genealogical research for her job, she discov...
Feb 12, 2021•55 min•Ep. 60
On episode 59 of the podcast, we’re having a birthday party for a very special book. And that book is, Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America . Hair Story is the first book that I ever wrote, with my good friend, the journalist and author, Ayana Byrd. Hair Story covers the history, politics, business and culture of Black hair from 15th century Africa to modern-day America. And today, we're going behind the scenes and looking back at how Hair Story came to be. Ayana and I birth...
Feb 05, 2021•49 min•Ep. 59
Welcome to 2021. It's a new year and I'm ready for something different. Not just for this world and the United States, but for this podcast. So, I'm making a change. I don't want to talk about racism anymore. What do I want to talk about? Something that lights me up. Something that makes me excited. Something that I wake up thinking about and fall asleep dreaming about. Something I really and truly love. Books! Yes, books. Multicultural books to be specific. Books written by authors of color, bo...
Jan 29, 2021•10 min•Ep. 58
On episode 57 of the podcast, we’re replaying our Christmas show from 2019 because it's still very relevant today. Maybe even more so. On that episode, I set out to answer the question, "Is Christmas for white people?" Now, I’m not white and I’ve been celebrating Christmas with my very Black family for more than 40 years, so clearly Christmas isn’t intrinsically a white people’s holiday, but there are plenty of people of color in America who don't deck the halls or jingle any bells on December 2...
Dec 18, 2020•37 min•Ep. 57
November is National Native American Heritage Month and it’s the month we Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. On episode 56 of the podcast, we’re going talk about both of these so-called holidays and how and what we should be doing to celebrate. Clearly Thanksgiving 2020 is going to look a lot different than years past. You may be alone or far away from extended family for the first time. Some people may not have the funds to pay for an extravagant Turkey dinner this year. Some people may be mourn...
Nov 20, 2020•32 min•Ep. 56
This is episode 55 of the podcast and the seventh and final episode of the ' Don’t Be Racist Series. ' Think of it as the recap episode. I’ll be reviewing all of the anti-racism lessons learned over the last several weeks, and I’ll be reviewing the momentous presidential election that just happened as well. And at the end of the episode, I’ll be giving you some final words of advice to take with you as you continue your journey to be committed anti-racism warriors. I hope you remember those simp...
Nov 13, 2020•11 min•Ep. 55
On episode 54 of the podcast – number six in our Don’t Be Racist Series – I'm sharing a tough but necessary lesson. We’re going to be talking about what to do when friends and family members are Trump supporters. I’m not going to teach you how to talk to them or how to get them to change their ways. Nope, today’s lesson is all about disengaging. I’m going to tell you why you should disengage with these Trump supporting friends and family members and how to do it. Now, there are many reasons why ...
Oct 30, 2020•16 min•Ep. 54
Last week on the podcast, we talked about the importance of using your voice to confront racist behavior. On today's episode, we're flipping the script to discuss what NOT to say as an anti-racist warrior. In other words, how to avoid ever having someone say to you, 'You can't say that, that's racist.' Listen in to hear my list of questions, sentences and phrases you should remove from your vocabulary and why…if you want to be a good anti-racist warrior. Note, white people, this episode really i...
Oct 23, 2020•17 min•Ep. 53
Did you realize you can live your whole entire life and never say a single racist thing or have a single racist thought, but if you’re not using your voice to speak out against racism, then you're not an anti-racist? In fact, some might even say you’re an accomplice or at least complicit in the crime of maintaining a racist system. On episode 52 of the podcast, the fourth lesson in our Don't Be Racist series , we're going to be talking about using your voice as an anti-racist warrior. So far, we...
Oct 16, 2020•17 min•Ep. 52
This is our third episode in the Don’t Be Racist Series on the My American Meltingpot podcast. Last week we spoke about taking action . This week, we're going to work on decolonizing our minds. In order to be a true anti-racism warrior, decolonizing and unlearning many of the untruths we’ve been taught our whole lives is essential. So, today’s lesson is all about how and why decolonizing your mind is a must. This episode is just the beginning of a process because decolonizing your mind is a life...
Oct 09, 2020•17 min•Ep. 51
On episode 50 of the podcast, we're continuing our "Don't Be Racist" series . And the lesson for this episode is all about taking action. Do Take Action to be an anti-racism warrior. Don’t sit on the sidelines and wait for someone else to do the work. Last week we talked about mastering your mindset. Finding your why for doing this work. Hopefully, it is now clear in your mind why you need to become an anti-racism warrior. So, the next step is to take action to bring about the change we want and...
Oct 02, 2020•18 min•Ep. 50
Episode 49 of the podcast is our first official lesson in the "Don’t Be Racist Series." And the first lesson is all about Mindset. In order to be an anti-racist warrior, you have to master your mindset. On the show I share why this is necessary, and how to get it done. Research shows that the difference between those who succeed with their goals and those who fail, often comes down to mindset. But the good thing is, we control our mindset. So, essentially, we are in control of whether we’re goin...
Sep 25, 2020•15 min•Ep. 49
On Season five of the podcast, we’re doing something a little different. From now until the end of November, we’re running a special series called, “Don’t Be Racist.” On each episode, I’ll be sharing short, actionable, bite-sized lessons on how to be an anti-racist. New episodes will appear every Friday. On episode 48, I'm sharing my reasons for launching this series and explaining what you can expect from me, your favorite anti-racism educator. In a nutshell, I plan to show up to make this seri...
Sep 18, 2020•8 min•Ep. 48
On episode 47 of the podcast I sit down with Lauren Francis-Sharma, the author of the My American Meltingpot Summer Book Club selection, Book of the Little Axe . Book of the Little Axe takes place at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century and tells the story of Rosa Rendon, a Black Trinidadian woman who flees her island home and finds herself living among the Crow Nation in what is now Bighorn, Montana. She becomes the wife of a Crow chief and raises three mixed-race c...
Aug 07, 2020•57 min•Ep. 47
On episode 46 of the podcast, I want to encourage everyone to pick up their pens and fight. Yes, become a revolutionary writer. We can all put pen to paper and write for our lives. You don’t need permission to write. You don’t need fancy tools or equipment. You simply must write. You can write newspaper articles, blog posts, poems and manifestos. You can write novels, comic books, biographies and letters to your congressperson. You can write pamphlets, plays, memoirs and letters to your younger ...
Jul 31, 2020•22 min•Ep. 46
On episode 45 of the podcast, I'm talking about a brand new book series called The Queens of the Resistance . A perfect collection for any wanna-be Revolutionary Reader, The Queens of the Resistance series is a group of four biographies saluting four of the most beloved boss ladies in Congress: Maxine Waters, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Nancy Pelosi and Elizabeth Warren. Written by Brenda Jones & Krishan Trotman, these easy-to-read, illustrated biographies are super inspiring and informative. ...
Jul 24, 2020•16 min•Ep. 45
On episode 44 of the podcast we're continuing with our Revolutionary Readers summer series . The topic? We’re going to be talking about how to raise young revolutionary readers, with the hope that the young people in our lives go from being revolutionary readers, to revolutionary leaders. Think about it, reading can be the spark that leads young people to do great things. Keeping in mind of course, that 'great things' could be defined as becoming the first female president of the United States, ...
Jul 17, 2020•15 min•Ep. 44
I'm baaaack...for a special summer series on My American Meltingpot. Normally, I would have taken the summer off from the podcast, to relax and refresh, but I just couldn’t put down the mic when there is just so much to talk about. But rather than rehash the day’s news, respond to every new event, or simply continue producing regular full-length episodes about race and real life, I decided to do something a little different. For the next five weeks, I’m going to be hosting the Revolutionary Read...
Jul 10, 2020•9 min•Ep. 43
On episode 42 of the podcast (the final episode of Season 4 by the way), I’m giving a lesson on colorism - that is the preferential treatment given to others based on the color or shade of their skin. At this pivotal moment in American society, as people grapple with dismantling racism, it is critical that folks understand that racism has a crafty cousin named colorism. And the truth is, if we don’t recognize the role colorism plays in maintaining a white supremacist society, then the fight to d...
Jun 19, 2020•47 min•Ep. 42
Happy Loving Day! Do you know what Loving Day has to do with today's current racial justice moment? Listen in to this inspirational Meltingpot Minute to hear how a supreme court decision in 1967 paved the way for people of different races to legally marry in all 50 states, AND dealt a serious blow to white supremacy. I hope this episode enlightens you about our history, and inspires you to keep fighting for our future. For more information about Loving Day and how you can celebrate it with your ...
Jun 12, 2020•13 min•Ep. 41
I know it's not Friday, but I wanted to launch this special Rewind episode of the podcast – with a new intro – as soon as possible. This moment that we're in right now as a nation, demands it. Back in April 2019, journalists Akiba Solomon and Kenrya Rankin joined me on the show to talk about their new book, How We Fight White Supremac y. While I knew at the time how powerful the episode was, today I am convinced that this episode was made for this moment. Not only do Akiba and Kenrya break down ...
Jun 02, 2020•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 40
