The institution of slavery turned a poor, fledgling nation into a financial powerhouse, and the cotton plantation was America’s first big business. Behind the system, …
Listen Up:Episode 3: The Birth of American Music
Black music, forged in captivity, became the sound of complete artistic freedom. It also became the sound of America. On today’s episode: Wesley Morris, a …
Listen Up:Episode 4: How the Bad Blood Started
Black Americans were denied access to doctors and hospitals for decades. From the shadows of this exclusion, they pushed to create the nation’s first federal …
Listen Up:Episode 5: The Land of Our Fathers, Part 1
More than a century and a half after the promise of 40 acres and a mule, the story of black land ownership in America remains …
Listen Up:Episode 5: The Land of Our Fathers, Part 2
The Provosts, a family of sugar-cane farmers in Louisiana, had worked the same land for generations. When it became harder and harder to keep hold …