MSNBC published podcast interviews with Spencer Crew, Clarence J. Robinson Professor of U.S. history, as part of a new Black History Series, ‘Reconstructed,’ which is presented in collaboration with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. In a four-part special series, MSNBC’s Into America podcast looks back on this period of Reconstruction to tell the stories of the newly freed, the white backlash that tried to hold them back, and how they drew on faith to keep pushing forward. Beginning in 1865, after the end of the Civil War, the United States entered a period known as Reconstruction. During Reconstruction, Black people gained political power, built formal communities, and worked to establish life as a newly freed people. It was the first time that Black Americans en masse could begin to stake their claim in our Democracy as full citizens. Professor Crew examines the ongoing legacy of this era to determine whether Black people in America can ever experience full citizenship?
Episode 1: Birth of a Black Nation (released Thursday 2/3/22) The story of winning freedom and gaining political power, as told through the story of Congressman Robert Smalls. And we speak with DNC chair Jaime Harrison about the ongoing fight for voting rights.
https://www.msnbc.com/podcast/into-america/how-reconstruction-led-birth-black-nation-n1288515
Episode 2: In Search of the Promised Land (released Thursday 2/10/22) We travel to Promised land, SC to learn how the newly freed reunited with lost family, acquired land, and built communities, and we visit a group of Black families currently starting their own town in Georgia.
https://www.msnbc.com/podcast/into-america/reconstruction-search-promised-land-n1288969
Episode 3: Keep the Faith, Baby (released Thursday 2/17/22) We’ll look at the history of the AME church, and Charleston’s Mother Emanuel in particular, to understand the role of faith in helping Black people establish themselves as a free people and keep moving forward in the face of backlash.
https://www.msnbc.com/podcast/into-america/transcript-reconstructed-keep-faith-baby-n1289571
Episode 4: The Book of Trayvon (released Thursday 2/24/22) Seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin is now part of history. The final installment of Reconstructed looks at how his death fits into the larger history of Black bodies being criminalized and policed. And we’ll look at how the reaction to his death became part of the ongoing fight for liberation and shaped a decade of American life.
https://www.msnbc.com/podcast/into-america/reconstructed-book-trayvon-n1289763
March 01, 2022