As Russian forces advanced from the east during the war in Ukraine , they faced unexpectedly fierce opposition from the Ukrainian military and civilian population. And as fighting intensified, many in its path fled west. But as people fled, not everyone was the given the same opportunity to seek refuge. In the middle of a war zone anti-Black racism reared its ugly head, with reports of people from the African diaspora facing racist treatment at the Ukrainian border. In the eastern city of Sumy, ...
Mar 17, 2022•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast In March of 2019, Morgan Cooper dropped a video on YouTube that quickly went viral. It was a short film that he made as a passion project, after he was struck with a flash of inspiration: What if the 90’s classic The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air were updated for the 21st century? Within 24 hours of posting his project online, Cooper got a call from Westbrook, the production company owned by Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith. Will Smith had seen the video, liked what he saw, and wanted to know what Cooper’s...
Mar 10, 2022•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast During the Democratic primary of 2020, then-candidate Joe Biden made a historic pledge: given the opportunity, he would nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court. With the announcement of Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement earlier this year, President Biden had an opportunity to fulfill that pledge. And he delivered. After weeks of speculation in the media, and comments from the right, Biden announced Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as his pick. Before a candidate was even named, members ...
Mar 03, 2022•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Trayvon Martin’s hoodie was never supposed to end up in an exhibit on Reconstruction at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture . But then the 17-year-old boy was shot and killed in Sanford, Florida, by a self-appointed neighborhood watch captain, while carrying nothing but a cell phone, a pack of Skittles, and a can of iced tea. Kidada Williams , a history professor at Wayne State University tells Trymaine Lee that she sees a clear through line between Reconstr...
Feb 24, 2022•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast On June 17, 2015, a white extremist shot and killed nine Black people in the Mother Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina as they gathered for a bible study group. This wasn’t the first time Mother Emanuel had been attacked. Church historian Elizabeth Alston tells Trymaine Lee, that in the 1820s, white people burned down Mother Emanuel in retaliation over a failed slave rebellion. For years, the congregation was forced to meet in secret. But through all the violence and backlash, the ...
Feb 17, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 1865, General William Tecumseh Sherman asked a group of African Americans in Georgia what they needed most to start their new lives as free people. The answer: land. This led to Sherman’s order that every Black family in the region receive 40 acres , and an Army mule if they liked. It was a promise the government decided not to keep, but where the government failed, the newly freed made their own way. In the second episode of Reconstructed, Into America continues its deep dive into Reconstruc...
Feb 10, 2022•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast One question has plagued our nation since its founding: will Black people in America ever experience full citizenship? In searching for an answer, Into America is collaborating with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture for a series on the legacy of Reconstruction. We tour the museum’s Make Good the Promises exhibit with co-curator Spencer Crew, who helps use artifacts to bring the history of the era to life. Over four episodes, ‘Reconstructed’ will explore ho...
Feb 03, 2022•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast Into America was nominated for a 2022 NAACP Image Award! We’re finalists in the Outstanding News and Information Podcast category, and we need your vote. Go to vote.naacpimageawards.net to cast your ballot today. In February 2021, Into America launched Harlem on My Mind, a series that followed four figures from the Harlem Renaissance who defined Blackness for themselves and what it means to be Black in America today. The story began in December 2020, when host Trymaine Lee acquired something he ...
Jan 27, 2022•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s been one year since Joseph R. Biden Jr. was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States, assuming office in the middle of a deadly pandemic , and the most significant push for racial justice the country has seen since the Civil Rights era.Amidst the social polarization promoted by former president Donald Trump, Biden inherited a House of Representatives where his party holds a razor-thin majority, and an evenly divided Senate, where Vice President Kamala Harris provides Democrats wi...
Jan 20, 2022•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 1969, a group of young Black educators and students in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn founded a pan-African organization called The East. They wanted to take control of their community but knew the only way to do that was to create businesses and institutions founded by, run by, and made for them. The East became a mecca of Black pride and celebration. They created schools centered around African teachings, a food cooperative, a publishing house, music and dance programs, and a world-famous jaz...
Jan 13, 2022•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast The rioters on January 6th were overwhelmingly white and male. But sprinkled throughout the mob were several Black people and other people of color. In fact, a Black man who organized the January 6th “stop the steal” rally. It was from that rally’s podium that then-president Donald Trump exhorted his followers to take their grievances down the street to the Capitol building. And Enrique Tarrio, leader of the Proud Boys , one of the most prominent far-right groups at the Capitol that day, describ...
Jan 07, 2022•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s been one year since a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, DC. They were attempting to overturn Joe Biden’s presidential election win by preventing theCongressional certification of his victory. As the attack on the Capitol unfolded, people on the internet immediately began to identify rioters and widely share details about them. Many of the rioters were fired from their jobs or even arrested . This practice is called doxxing . And using it to chase down far-right extremists...
Jan 06, 2022•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Over the last year and a half, Into America has met some extraordinary people who have shared with us some equally extraordinary stories, but where are they now? On this episode of Into America, we speak with some of our past guests who shaped our show and helped us make better sense of the world around us. We catch up with old friends like Eric Deggans , who had to figure out how to coordinate his mother’s funeral after her death at the beginning of the pandemic.We speak with activist Jeneisha ...
Dec 30, 2021•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jerry Craft’s graphic novel New Kid has won multiple awards, made the New York Times Best Sellers List, and is beloved by children across the country.But this year, New Kid made headlines for a different reason when a Texas school district pulled the book from its shelves after a white parent complained that it promoted Critical Race Theory and Marxism. Craft was surprised. The story is based on his own experiences as a young Black kid attending a mostly white private school in New York City. “I...
Dec 23, 2021•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the 1920s, Josephine Baker escaped the violent racism of in the United States to seek refuge in Paris, like so many other Black American creatives have done over time. Baker found that France welcomed her, and the freedom she found there helped her become an international sensation in dancing, singing, and acting. Baker eventually became not only a French citizen but a decorated hero in the French Resistance during World War II. She also continued to speak out against racism in her home count...
Dec 16, 2021•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Looking back on 2021, it felt like maybe Black Americans got closer to knowing justice.In April, Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murdering George Floyd . And the day before Thanksgiving, three white men were found guilty of murdering Ahmaud Arbery . But 2021 wasn’t all about victories. Last month, a jury in Wisconsin cleared Kyle Rittenhouse of multiple homicide charges after he shot and killed two people at a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020. Rittenhouse, who says he brought a semi-automati...
Dec 09, 2021•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Although Harvard is one of the Blackest Ivy League schools, Black students still make up just 11 percent of the student body. Many Black students at Harvard experience a level of culture shock when they first arrive to such a historically white space. There’s the whiteness of the university today, but also the institution’s connection to slavery and white supremacy. This culture shock can be doubled for Black students who trace their lineage to enslaved people in this country, often called Gener...
Dec 02, 2021•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast When Tricia Hersey was in seminary school, she was exhausted. On top of classes and homework, she had a job and a child. She often wouldn’t get to sleep until 2am, and her grades were suffering. Then, one day, as she was researching histories of enslaved people and Black liberation, she had an idea: instead of running herself into the ground, what if she took a nap instead? That decision turned into a practice of rest in her own life, and then Tricia started sharing it with her community. Soon, ...
Nov 25, 2021•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast The 1619 Project was a career-defining moment for New York Times reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones . Released as a standalone issue of the Times Magazine in August 2019, the project sought to reframe the American narrative, linking our country’s founding to the arrival of the first enslaved Africans on the shores of Virginia. When the project was initially released it was widely praised as a much-needed corrective to a white-washed version of American history. But there was also pushback from the lik...
Nov 18, 2021•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the first year of the Iraq War, seven soldiers were captured and held prisoner by the Iraqi forces for 22 days. Two of them were women. One was Private First Class Jessica Lynch , whose story of heroism was praised in national headlines when she returned to America. The other woman was Specialist Shoshana Johnson , America’s first Black female prisoner of war. Except you might not remember her. The two women are friends, and both risked their lives for this country, suffering significant inju...
Nov 11, 2021•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the early 20th century, the Pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey led the largest movement Black people in the world. Through his organization, the Universal Negro Improvement Association , Garvey preached about the great history of Black culture and called on Black people around the world to unite to create an “Africa for Africans.” But like so many Black leaders, Garvey's fame and power during his lifetime attracted enemies in the white establishment, including J. Edgar Hoover, who was a young agent...
Nov 04, 2021•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Boston maintains a reputation as one of the most racist cities in America, despite its long abolitionist history and image as a bastion of East Coast liberalism. And in many ways that reputation is well-earned. From the city’s staggering racial wealth gap, to its violent backlash against school desegregation in the 1970’s, to racial epithets hurled at Black athletes to this day, there’s plenty of evidence to back up the assertion that Beantown is racist. But often left out of the conversation ar...
Oct 28, 2021•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast BET’s Album of the Year winner Jazmine Sullivan is one of the biggest names in R&B music, but her world stopped back in 2019 when she found out her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Sullivan turned from singing, to taking care of her mom. And over time, she started learning about the racial disparities with disease, like the fact that Black women in the US are 40% more likely to die from breast cancer than white women. Since then, Sullivan has been using her platform to start conversation...
Oct 21, 2021•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast On August 31st, Marva Sadler stood outside the Whole Women’s Health abortion clinic in Fort Worth, Texas, and vowed to help as many people as she could before the end of the day. Along with a small staff, Sadler and a physician performed 67 abortions before midnight. The next day, the nation’s strictest abortion ban went into effect. The law, known as SB-8, bans nearly all abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected, typically around the sixth week of pregnancy, before most people know th...
Oct 14, 2021•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast With its luxury resorts and golf courses, Hilton Head, South Carolina, is a popular vacation hotspot. But the island is also home to the Gullah Geechee; descendants of formerly enslaved West Africans who have owned land on the island since their ancestors were freed. However, every year Gullah Geechee families are in danger of losing their land to investors at Beaufort County's tax auction. If a family falls behind on its property taxes, the land goes up for auction; and that can happen for as l...
Oct 07, 2021•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast On September 19th, photographers captured a harrowing scene at the US Mexico border: Border Patrol agents, on horseback, chasing and intimidating a large group of Haitian migrants as they tried to cross into Texas. The images sparked outrage , and President Joe Biden eventually condemned the actions of the agents. But since that day, the Department of Homeland Security has expelled nearly 4,000 Haitian migrants on 37 flights to Haiti — without giving them a chance to claim asylum — under a Trump...
Sep 30, 2021•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Two things are true. Texas is one of the hottest states in the country and climate change is real. Yet, Texas is one of thirteen states that do not have universal air conditioning installed in their state prisons. As climate change gradually makes the state hotter, prisons are forcing their staff and inmates to endure extreme temperatures with little to no relief. LaQuita Davis, now released on parole, was one of those inmates at Lane Murray women's prison in Gatesville, Texas.It was there that ...
Sep 23, 2021•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast As a Black girl in Detroit, Tracy Reese loved making her own clothes and attending the famed Ebony Fashion Fair with her mother. Today, she’s one of the most well-known designers in fashion. Michelle Obama, Sarah Jessica Parker, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Oprah Winfrey have all worn her designs. But getting to this level wasn’t easy. Reese is part of a long line of Black designers influencing the fashion industry, while navigating a world where they’re often underrepresented and marginalized. But Bl...
Sep 16, 2021•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast Every September 11th, people across the country commemorate the emergency service workers and countless civilians who were lost on 9/11. This includes the Vulcan Society , an organization of former and active Black firefighters in New York City, who gather at a memorial every year to remember the 12 Black firefighters who lost their lives. But many Black firefighters and the families of these fallen heroes feel these men have been overlooked and unrecognized. On the 20th anniversary of 9/11, Try...
Sep 09, 2021•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Over the past few decades, families have flocked to the affluent Dallas suburb of Southlake for its top-rated school system. But beneath the manicured lawns and gleaming fountains lie something Black families call “Southlake’s dirty secret." Less than three years ago, two videos of white Southlake teenagers saying the N-word went viral within a few months of one another. The videos prompted an outpouring of stories from Black parents and students, detailing their own experiences with racism in S...
Sep 02, 2021•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
