podcasts & audio series
1619
1619 is a podcast by the New York Times that takes the audience back to the time when slaves first arrived in America from Africa. It tells the story of the land that was yet to become America and focuses on the events that shaped the future of African-Americans in the country, covering 250 years of slavery.
Listen on website, Spotify, iTunes, or any other place you listen to podcasts.
witness black history
Launched by BBC as an extension of its Witness History podcast series, Witness Black History features interviews with people who were actually present for, or have close ties to key moments in Black and Civil Rights history. From Rodney King to George Stinney, Jr.’s sister to Reverend Earl Neil, a Black Panther who organized free breakfast for local school children, this interview series is deeply personal and profoundly moving, grounding historical narratives in the raw, honest testimonies of the people who lived them.
Listen on the website, Spotify, iTunes, or any other place you listen to podcasts.
POD FOR THE CAUSE
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights launched Pod for the Cause to spur activism and expand the conversation on critical civil and human rights challenges of our day: census, justice reform, policing, education, fighting hate & bias, judicial nominations, fair courts, voting rights, media & tech, economic security, immigration, and human rights.
pod save the people
Pod Save the People is a grounding listen when you're feeling overwhelmed by the news cycle, as organizer and activist DeRay Mckesson and his cohosts make sense of it all. Each episode features an interview between DeRay and a guest, and cohosts Brittany Packnett Cunningham, Sam Sinyangwe, and Dr. Clint Smith take a closer look at the week's biggest stories—as well as issues that particularly impact people of color.
NPR’s Code switch
Hosts and journalists Gene Demby and Shereen Marisol Meraji dissect how race impacts everything, and I mean everything, in America. Politics, education, parenting, pop culture, sports, gender disparities, history — you name it and they’ve probably covered it at some point. Key episodes include:
STILL PROCESSING
Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morris are New York Times writers, friends, and queer Black Americans who bring their whole selves to weekly back-and-forths about their latest obsessions, making sense of the internet, trends, social issues, and pop culture at large. Their last quarantine-recorded episode hops from Westworld to Ryan Murphy's Hollywood in a nimble critique that leaves the viewer wondering if we are actually living in a dystopia that's been disguised as a utopia for the past few years.
UNCIVIL
Uncivil, Gimlet Media's history podcast, is hosted by journalists Jack Hitt and Chenjerai Kumanyika and takes on the account of history you grew up with. Uncivil brings you untold stories about covert operations, corruption, resistance, mutiny, counterfeiting, antebellum drones, and so much more, connecting those forgotten struggles to the political battlefield we’re living in right now.
From the author behind the bestselling Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race comes a podcast that takes the conversation a step further. Featuring key voices from the last few decades of anti-racist activism, About Race looks at the recent history that lead to today’s political climate.
SEEING WHITE
Seeing White, hosted by producer John Biewen, is a critical 14-part series on the history of whiteness in America, sharing lesser-known events that will inspire white listeners to see their own place in society with fresh eyes. "White folks may feel like we're being stabbed a little bit when our whiteness is mentioned, because for the most part, we get to go through life imagining that race is something other people have."
the nod
Brittany Luse and Eric Eddings' conversations about Black culture are worth a listen for any pop culture fan (don't miss their funny debate on Friday, and whether Ice Cube's character Craig's family was actually terrible). Alas, The Nod stopped recording to become a Quibi show in 2020 —but the hosts returned in May 2020 to honor the lives of murdered Black Americans Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Tony McDade.
UNITED STATES OF ANXIETY
Hosted by award-winning journalist Kai Wright, this podcast gives listeners a take on current events by brilliantly tying them to the past. Wright’s extensive journalism background elevates the commentary with critical insights into social, racial, and economic injustice. In its fourth season, episodes like “The Life and Work of Ida B. Wells” and “Why COVID-19 is Killing Black People,” examine the historical intricacies of racism and how it permeates all sectors and continues to plague society today.
INTERSECTIONALITY MATTERS
Hosted by Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw, an American civil rights advocate and a leading scholar of critical race theory, Intersectionality Matters features on-the-ground interviews with some of the world’s most innovative activists, artists, and scholars. Each episode explores a different topic through an intersectional lens, ranging from the Supreme Court to grassroots activism in Brazil and the Congo to #SayHerName and the future of the #MeToo campaign.
ADDITIONAL LISTENING
Identity Politics — Ikhlas Saleem and Makkah Ali invite guests to share their thoughts on race, culture, gender, and faith. It's all explored through the lens of being a Black Muslim woman, and it's a highly informative listen whether or not you identify as the same.
Come Through With Rebecca Carrol — Culture writer, editor, and producer Rebecca Carroll sits down with high-profile guests for in-depth chats in the vein of NPR's Fresh Air — but with a focus on race. Notably, Carroll centers herself and her own experiences in the introduction to each interview, setting aside notions of "journalistic objectivity" to unpack issues that inform all of our lives. Past guests include CNN anchor Don Lemon and White Fragility author Robin DiAngelo.
Yo, Is This Racist? — Actress and musician Tawny Newsome, writer Andrew Ti, and a weekly guest provide funny-yet-thoughtful responses to voicemails from people wondering whether a given situation is racist. While Newsome and Ti are the first to say they're not experts, as both people of color and professional comedians, their responses are honest, hilarious, and kind enough to make callers feel like they can ask awkward or even embarrassing questions.
The Stoop — Offering a mix of conversations and reported stories, The Stoop's Leila Day and Hana Baba have a knack for uncovering under-discussed Black American experiences. The specific challenges of being a Black introvert, what it's like to grow up Black in New Zealand, and why "Black people don't like swimming" is a stereotype are just a few of The Stoop's informative installments.
Historically Black — With celebrities like Keegan-Michael Key, Roxane Gay, and Issa Rae narrating, Historically Black uses personal objects to map Black history. Each episode explores the story behind a listener-submitted artifact — a photograph, an instrument, a piece of jewelry — and in the process creates a sort of “people’s museum” that honors the lived experiences of various Black Americans. Created in conjunction with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, it’s a unique and intimate way to approach history, illuminating the ways the personal can be fiercely tied to the political.
Doing Anti-Racism Work with Rachel Ricketts on RECLAIM Podcast
Jemele Hill is Unbothered, a podcast with award-winning journalist Jemele Hill
Hear To Slay, “the Black feminist podcast of your dreams,” with Roxane Gay and Tressie McMillan Cottom
Side Effects of White Women — Podcast episode with Amanda Seales
The Revolution Playlist — compiled by Rachel Cargle; this playlist is a time capsule filled with historical speeches from activists from Angela Davis to Martin Luther King Jr.
A 'Forgotten History' Of How The U.S. Government Segregated America: an interview with Richard Rothstein
Justice in America Episode 20: Mariam Kaba and Prison Abolition — leading abolition organizer Mariame Kaba discusses her journey into this work, provides perspective on the leaders in this space, and helps us reimagine what the future of this system could look like.
What the 1960s Riots Can Tell Us About Today — The protests and unrest that have swept the country after the killing of George Floyd have recalled the riots and demonstrations of the 1960s. Historian Rick Perlstein talks about the similarities and differences between that time and now.
The Diversity Gap, where Bethaney Wilkinson explores the gap between good intentions and good impact as it relates to diversity, inclusion and equity
NPR — Whistling Vivaldi & Beating Stereotypes — Social psychologist Claude Steele dissects the "stereotype threat" — the ways that deep-seated stereotypes tend to become self-fulfilling. In his book, Whistling Vivaldi, he lays out a plan to reshape those expectations.
Thinking about how to abolish prisons with Mariame Kaba: podcast & transcript — Chris Hayes speaks with prison abolitionist Mariame Kaba about what it would take to dismantle the current "criminal punishment system."
Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast features movement voices, stories, and strategies for racial justice
