We begin with the shocking history of Virginia’s Racial Integrity Law which sought to identify citizens “passing” as white and how this law served to […]

John Day looks at the congressional statement drafted and signed by 99 congressmen in response to Brown V. Board of Education. The statement, nicknamed the […]

Professor Krugler discusses his book, 1919: the Year of Racial Violence and How African Americans Fought Back. We specifically focus on Chicago and Knoxville riots […]

Richard Rothstein discusses his book The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, which recovers a forgotten history of how […]

Kelsey Klotz is a lecturer at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She received her PhD in Musicology with a certificate in American Studies […]

Professor of Law at Harvard Law School Alexandra Natapoff discusses her book, Punishment Without Crime: How Our Massive Misdemeanor System Traps the Innocent and Makes America More Unequal. 

Vida Johnson is an Associate Professor at Georgetown Law. She discusses her article, “Bias in Blue: Instructing Jurors to Consider the Testimony of Police Officer Witnesses […]

The eighth amendment of the U.S. Constitution states: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” This […]

Jonathan Daniel Wells is a professor of Afro-American and African Studies at the University of Michigan. He discusses his book, Blind No More: African American Resistance, Free-Soil Politics, […]

Paul Finkelman is a chancellor and distinguished professor of history at Gratz College. He discusses his book, Supreme Injustice: Slavery in the Nation’s Highest Court, which […]

Cullen Sweeney, the Chief Public Defender for Cuyahoga County, discusses the complicated relationship between race and the criminal justice system. 

Ronnie A Dunn is the executive director of the Diversity Institute at Cleveland State University. He shares his work on the article, “Racial Profiling: A […]

Plain Dealer reporters Cameron Fields and Hanna Drown discuss their work on an ongoing series featuring Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s Almira Elementary School.

Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University Eric Foner discusses his book The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution. By […]

Steve Luxenberg is an associate editor at The Washington Post and an award-winning author. He discusses his book, Separate: The Story of Plessy v. Ferguson, […]

University of Utah professor of history Eric Herschthal is the author of the article The Science of Antislavery in the Early Republic: The Case of […]

Rana Hogarth, Associate Professor of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, discusses the intersections of slavery and medicine.

Ibrahim K. Sundiata, Emeritus Professor of History and African and African American Studies at Brandeis University, discusses his work on a collection of essays analyzing […]

Randolph McLaughlin, Professor of Law at the Pace University Elisabeth Haub School of Law, discusses his article, “The Birth of a Nation: A Study of […]

Professor Jennifer Morgan teaches History in the department of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University where she also serves as Chair. She discusses her article, […]

Trevor Burnard, Professor of Slavery and Emancipation at the University of Hull, discusses the Royal African Company and the rise of the Jamaican plantation.

Professor Laura Bieger discusses the purpose, successes, and failures of the 1619 Project and examines how the essay, design choices, and other associated media work […]

Dr. Patricia Banks is co-editor-in-chief of Poetics and chair and professor in the department of Sociology and Anthropology at Mount Holyoke College. We discuss her […]

Professor Philip Reichel discusses rural slave patrols, the criminalization of slaves, and the origins of police forces in the South.

Professor Derek Black discusses the themes explored in his new book, Schoolhouse Burning: Public Education and the Assault on American Democracy.