Advertise on podcast: This Week in Black History, Society, and Culture

In this episode Dr. Hettie V. Williams is in conversation with Dr. Beth R. Wilson about her work on the history of emotions among enslaved people in the Antebellum South. Williams is a multi-award winning professor of history at Monmouth University and director of the African Diaspora Studies Program in the Department of History and Monmouth University and Wilson is currently a Teaching Fellow in U.S. History in the History Department at the University of Warick and the author of ‘I Felt All this’ Enslaved People’s Emotional Lives in the Antebellum US South (Cambridge University Press, 2026) about the lives of enslaved persons and the ways they navigated white supremacist emotional regimes while resisting slavery and the continuous practices of dehumanization that came with the institution. This book is the first in the Black Women in the U.S. book series published by Cambridge University Press. In her astounding book, Wilson demonstrates through an examination of the testimonies, letters, communal gatherings of enslaved persons, the significant ways that enslaved people resisted and navigated racist ideologies about Black emotions and reconstructed new ones in the face of unmitigated horror. Click here to purchase a copy of the text or learn more about the book: I Felt All This  #CambridgeStudiesonBlackWomen #BlackWomen #BlackWomenUSHistory

In this episode Dr. Hettie V. Williams is in discussion with writer John Vercher about his critically acclaimed book Devil is Fine. Williams is a professor of history at Monmouth University and Vercher is the author of three notable novels and currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Monmouth University. Vercher’s works signal the tradition of Afro-Surrealism that began in the Harlem Renaissance with writers such as George Schuyler as represented with his work Black No More originally published in 1931. His debut novel Three-Fifths was listed as one of the best books of 2019 by the Chicago, nominated for the 2020 Edgar Award for Best First Novel, and The Strand Critics Award for Best Debut Novel. This book also received critical acclaim abroad and named Book of the Year by the U.K.’s The Sunday Times, The Financial Times, and The Guardian. Devil is Fine is Vercher’s third novel and it is a moving work that helps to extend the tradition of Afro-surrealism in the context of contemporary American fiction. It is a book about love, loss, grief, and fathers and sons. Vercher’s book can be ordered from Amazon here: Devil is Fine #JohnVercher #DevilisFine #BlackFiction #Writing #Writers

In this episode Dr. Hettie V. Williams is in conversation with Dr. Angela Simms about the Black Middle Class in a Baltimore suburb. Williams is professor of history and director of the African Diaspora Studies program at Monmouth University and Simms is currently an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Urban Studies at Barnard College Columbia University. Simms is also the author of the book Fighting for a Foothold: How Government and Markets Undermine Black Middle-Class Suburbia recently published by the Russell Sage Foundation in 2026. Fighting for a Foothold is the focus of our conversation. In this text, Simms argues that Prince George’s County located in the Washington, D.C. metro area is the jurisdiction in the United States with the highest concentration of Black middle-class residents. Despite this fact, the county is unable to consistently provide high-quality public services to the residents residing in the county. This is due in part to the hording of resources and services in adjacent majority white counties. Simms illustrates in her text the multiple factors that contribute to the inability of the county in providing services of a higher standard to much of its population. #BlackHistory #BlackMiddleClass #BlackBaltimore

This week Dr. Hettie V. Williams is in conversation with Dr. Jeanne Theoharis about the Civil Rights Movement in the North. Williams is professor of history in the Department of History and Anthropology at Monmouth University and the current director of the African Diaspora Studies Program at Monmouth. Theoharis is Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. She is also the author of the New York Times bestselling book The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks and winner of the 2014 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work Biography/Autobiography and the Lettia Woods Brown Award from the Association of Black Women Historians. She is a renowned scholar of the Black freedom struggle in U.S. history and society. In this conversation, we focus primarily on the latest book by Theoharis King of the North: Martin Luther King Jr’s Life of Struggle Outside of the South (The New Press, 2025) that argues King’s northern campaigns were fundamentally instrumental in shaping his larger quest for equity and justice across the nation. King spent substantial time in the North first as a student then as a mature activist in places such as New Jersey, New York, and in cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles. Theoharis in fact advances the thesis in King of the North that locales such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago were “at the heart of his campaign for racial justice.” This groundbreaking book disrupts our understanding of the Civil Rights Movement in a myriad of ways. Click here to order a copy of The King of the North  #MLK #CivilRightsMovement #SocialJustice

This week Dr. Hettie V. Williams is in conversation with Dr. Lewis F. Thomas, III about education, Black men, and mentoring. Williams is a professor of history in the Department of History and Anthropology at Monmouth University and the director of the African Diaspora Studies (ADS) program at Monmouth. Thomas has more than thirty years of experience in the field of education working in several urban environments including in Philadelphia and New York. This week we focus on his extensive career as a teacher and administrator in various locales as well as his work specifically on the development of Black men in society with such initiatives as the Black Fathers Institute a research-to-practice hub that amplifies the voice of Black fathers and advances radical hope and healing for families. Thomas has through his extensive experience as an educator implemented mentoring programs focused on data informed, culturally responsive, restorative justice approaches.

This week Dr. Hettie V. Williams is in conversation with Dr. Mary Ellen Curtin about her recent book She Changed the Nation: Barbara Jordan’s Life and Legacy in Black Politics (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2025). Williams is a professor of history in the Department of History and Anthropology at Monmouth University and the current director of the African Diaspora Studies Program at Monmouth University. Curtin is Associate Professor in the Department of Critical Race, Gender, and Culture Studies and Director of American Studies at American University in Washington, D.C. She is a historian of modern African American and women’s social and political history and the author of Black Prisoners and Their World, Alabama 1865-1900 (University Press of Virginia, 2000) that details the origins of the convict leasing system in Alabama as well as the lives of Black coal miners after emancipation. In this episode, she discusses her latest book about Barbara Jordan and Jordan’s role in both local and national politics as one of the most important Black women political figures of her generation. Click here to order a copy of She Changed the Nation

This week Dr. Hettie V. Williams is in conversation with Dr. Marion Orr about his recent book House of Diggs: The Rise and Fall of America’s Most Consequential Black Congressman, Charles C. Diggs, Jr (University of North Carolina Press, 2025). Williams is a professor of history in the Department of History and Anthropology at Monmouth University and the current director of the African Diaspora Studies Program at Monmouth University. Orr is the inaugural Frederick Lippitt Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Political Science and Urban Studies at Brown University. He was a member of the political science faculty prior to coming to Brown. He has served as Director of the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University and he is former chair of Brown’s Department of Political Science and a former director of the Urban Studies Program at Brown. House of Diggs is an assiduously researched book about the first Black elected member of the U.S. Congress from Michigan: Charles C. Diggs, Jr. Diggs rose to prominence during the height of the Civil Rights Era in the 1950s and 1960s including playing a direct role in witnessing the trial of Emmett Till as well as supporting the eyewitnesses to the Tills abduction and murder. Orr argues that Diggs is one of the most impactful members of the U.S. Congress as pivotal founder of the Black Congressional Caucus and home rule for Washington, D.C. including a series of other critical issues. Click here to order a copy of House of Diggs  #MUADS #BlackHistory #BlackHistoryBooks

This is the finale episode of season 6. In this episode, Hettie V. Williams discusses women of color in the academy with Drs. Zaneta Rago-Craft and Nicole Pulliam. Williams is Associate Professor of African American history in the Department of History and Anthropology at Monmouth University and Rago-Craft is the inaugural director of the Intercultural Center at Monmouth. Pulliam is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Educational Counseling and Leadership as well as the founding director of the Social Justice Academy at Monmouth University. These two women are campus leaders with a wealth of experience in their fields and higher education administration more broadly. Their discussion of the issues, struggles, and obstacles faced by women of color in academia including some discussion of self-care is insightful.

In this episode, Hettie V. Williams discusses Black athletes, political protest, and social justice with Shaun M. Anderson. Williams is an Associate Professor of African American history at Monmouth University located in West Long Branch, New Jersey and Anderson is Associate Professor of Organizational Communication at Loyola Marymount University and the founder of CSR Global Consulting LLC, a firm dedicated to helping sport organizations develop strategic plans to effectively communicate their corporate social responsibility efforts. Anderson has become a major voice in the conversation regarding sport and social change and his work has been featured in several media outlets including in The Huffington Post, Black Enterprise Magazine and the Washington Times.

Season 6, Episode 9 In this episode, Hettie V. Williams discusses the broomstick wedding ritual with Tyler D. Parry. Williams is Associate Professor of African American history at Monmouth University located in West Long Branch, New Jersey and Parry is Associate Professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada in the Department of Interdisciplinary, Gender, and Ethnic Studies. Parry’s research focuses on slavery in the Americas, cultures in the African Diaspora, the historical memory of slavery in the Americas, cultures in the African Diaspora and historical memory. This conversation is about his first book Jumping the Broom: The Surprising Multicultural Origins of A Black Wedding Ritual published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2020. In this fascinating history of the broomstick wedding ritual, Parry traverses a series of cultures including African Diaspora communities to trace the long history of this ritual that has become important in the history of African American life.

In this episode, Hettie V. Williams discusses the origins and impact of hip hop with Anwar Uhuru as part of a series of episodes to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop. Williams is Associate Professor of African American history at Monmouth University and Uhuru is Assistant Professor in the Department of African American Studies and an affiliate faculty member with the departments of Philosophy and Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Their research focuses on human value based on race, gender, sexuality, and ableism with publicans in the Journal of Hip Hop Studies, The APA Newsletter, Philosophy and the Black Experience, and Radical Philosophy Review. They are also known for teaching popular courses at Wayne State on Black Detroit and Politics and Culture in Anglophone Caribbean. Uhuru is a frequent guest on the show as a rising public intellectual and scholar who has a wide range of expertise on subjects related to race, gender, sexuality, and culture.

In this episode Hettie V. Williams discusses the African Presence in Latin America with Luis Mora-Ballesteros. Williams is Associate Professor of African American history at Monmouth University. Mora-Ballesteros is Lecturer of Spanish and Literatures of Latin America and the Caribbean in the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Monmouth University. This conversation focuses primarily on the African influences on Latin American dance, literature, and culture including some discussion on how these influences also represent connections to the afterlives of slavery. This is particularly evident in the song, dance, and music culture of the African descended communities of Latin America and the Caribbean.

In this episode, Hettie V. Williams discusses the Golden Age of Hip Hop in the 1980s and 1990s with Professor Claude Taylor. Williams is Associate Professor of African American history at Monmouth University. Taylor is Director for Academic Transition and Inclusion and Professor of communication and media at Monmouth University. Taylor also works with the First To Fly program at Monmouth that focuses on the development and support of first generation college students. He is a popular professor and his area of teaching interests include race, rhetoric, and discourse. This episode is one of a series of episodes this season to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop now a global phenomenon.

In this episode, Hettie V. Williams discusses Haiti and Black internationalism with Leslie M. Alexander. Williams is Associate Professor of African American history at Monmouth University. Alexander is the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of history at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. She is the author of several essays, articles, book chapters, and books about the African Diaspora including her latest text Fear of a Black Republic: Haiti and the Birth of Black Internationalism in the United States recently published by the University of Illinois Press. The groundbreaking text is the subject of our conversation as Alexander elaborate on the centrality of Haiti to Black consciousness and Black activism across the African Diaspora in the nineteenth century.

In this episode, Hettie V. Williams discusses Black in graduate school with Lauren T. Rorie. Williams is Associate Professor of African American history at Monmouth University and Rorie is currently an adjunct professor in the perspectives program at Monmouth. She discusses her experiences as a Black student at the undergraduate and graduate level and provides Black graduate students with advice on how to navigate PWIs as graduate students or part time instructors in their post graduate life. Rorie has recently been accepted into several prestigious graduate programs in history.