Advertise on podcast: Equal Time with Mary C. Curtis

November 2026 is closer than it may seem, with candidates already campaigning for the midterms. But are enough Americans paying attention to current action in the courts that could affect the process – and the result? You need a lawyer to sort out all-important voting rights battles. Elisabeth Frost, the Litigation chair of the Elias Law Group, is in the middle of many of these battles. With Marc Elias as chair, the firm’s stated mission is to help Democrats win, citizens vote, and progressives make change. On Equal Time, Frost answers the question: How is that going? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As an aspiring equestrian facing obstacles, Jack Goldberg learned that even with good intentions and legislation, follow through can be uncertain. So, as a young teen, he leaned into leadership. While the dual American and Canadian citizen can appreciate progress -- the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities -- he is worried that what has been hard won may be dismantled unless advocacy and activism keep the pressure on. On Equal Time, the honored Para Equestrian explains. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Trump administration’s war on DEI, diversity, equity and inclusion policies, has left many companies that value a welcoming workplace more than a little confused. What is allowed — and legal? Barbara L. Johnson, the founder of BLJohnsonLaw and counsel with Potter & Murdock, is an accomplished employment lawyer and workplace consultant with a passion for creating safe, productive and thriving workplace cultures. She is a guest on this episode of Equal Time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Being a college president has never been the easiest job. But today, it seems an impossible one. The campus may still be a place that encourages students to think critically and to cultivate a network of fellow creative problem-solvers. But those goals have been overshadowed by concerns over academic freedom and free speech, the challenges of building a welcoming community in the face of anti-DEI legislation and more. In her latest book, “Perils and Promise: College Leadership in Turbulent Times,” Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, an award-winning psychologist, president emerita of Spelman College and best-selling author, sees room for hope -- and solutions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There had been progress on the issue of environmental justice, with the contributions of citizen-activists, who spurred the government to protect historically marginalized communities. But in the past few months, the Trump administration has made staff, program, and budget cuts that leave rural, coastal, and frontline communities vulnerable. That’s one observation of Cameron Oglesby, internationally awarded environmental justice organizer and solutions journalist. But, Oglesby says, organizations, communities and grass-roots efforts aren’t giving up on their vision for a cleaner, greener country. She joins Equal Time to explain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s back to school time, with excitement mixed with uncertainty and anxiety. News from the Department of Education is primarily about cutting its budget or eliminating the department altogether. How will these and other proposed changes affect students? Will the traditionally underserved be short-changed, and fall further behind? James E. Ford, a former teacher of the year in North Carolina, is founder/director of CREED: the Center for Racial Equity in Education, a stand-alone nonprofit that deals explicitly with race and education issues in the state. He is also Principal at Filling the Gap Educational Consultants. Ford and his organizations have been working on solutions to education challenges the nation faces, and he is a guest on Equal Time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In “Backroom Deals in Our Backyards: How Government Secrecy Harms Our Communities and the Local Heroes Fighting Back,” Miranda Spivack tells the stories of ordinary citizens who discovered that local and state governments they thought were there to protect them weren’t doing their jobs. Instead, these “accidental activists” found not only a lack of transparency but also often resistance when searching for information about how to resolve community issues. Does their work provide a roadmap – and hope – for others? Spivack, author and former Washington Post editor and reporter, is this episode’s guest on Equal Time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been 10 years since a 21-year-old gunman murdered nine church members who welcomed him to Bible study. The attack on Charleston, S.C.’s historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on June 17, 2015, killed nine good people. They were targeted for that reason and for their race. The brother of one of the nine, Malcolm Graham, reflects on the life and legacy of his sister Cynthia Graham Hurd, on the world that nurtured such hatred in someone so young, and perhaps the hardest part — on how to do the work needed to change that world. His book is “The Way Forward: Keeping the Faith and Doing the Work Amid Hatred and Violence.” Graham, a Charlotte, N.C., city councilman, entrepreneur and civic activist, offers a path that won’t be easy, but may be necessary. And he joins Equal Time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The personality and outreach of Pope Francis attracted worldwide admiration. Though he did not stray from Catholic doctrine, he connected those teachings to issues such as immigration and climate change. He was not as progressive as some progressives hoped, and he also frustrated traditionalists, a split that played out in the United States. So, what’s next? Maureen K. Day is one of the authors of “Catholicism at a Crossroads: The Present and Future of America’s Largest Church,” a survey informed by interviews. What does Catholic identity mean in America today, and how did it adapt to the modern papacy of Pope Francis. Day, research affiliate at the University of Southern California’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture and the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, joins Equal Time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fights over how American history is taught. Labels of “Communist” and “Socialist” used to smear. Civil rights gains seen as a loss for the “real” America. While all that might sound like last week’s headlines, those battles and the hysteria surrounding them are nothing new. In “Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism and the Making of Modern America,” Clay Risen details how the conspiracy-mongering and cultural backlash of that post-World War II period speak to the divisiveness of today. The award-winning historian and New York Times editor joins Equal Time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As America’s health-care system is not being spared in policy shake-ups from the very top, Equal Time takes a look at one case and what it says about disparities in health care and why that matters. In “Transplant: A Memoir,” the resilient Bernadine Watson takes us on her journey, a perilous one, even with support from doctors and family. The nonfiction writer and poet has focused on social policy research around youth and community issues during her career. She joins Equal Time to talk about her experiences, and why challenges remain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2025, you don’t have to reach very far to reach those dark corners of the internet where fringe conspiracy theories and racist memes once hid. In award-winning journalist Elle Reeve’s book, “Black Pill: How I Witnessed the Darkest Corners of the Internet Come to Life, Poison Society, and Capture American Politics,” the CNN correspondent takes readers on a journey that leads to the violence of Charlottesville and January 6. You could say the Equal Time guest saw it coming; that doesn’t mean some things about today’s political scene don’t surprise her. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The “L-word.” It took some time for journalists to call a lie a lie when politicians uttered provable falsehoods. After all, don’t all politicians stretch the truth when it comes to policies, opponents or their own accomplishments? Bill Adair, an award-winning journalist and educator, shares his thoughts and experiences in his book “Beyond the Big Lie: The Epidemic of Political Lying, Why Republicans Do It More, and How It Could Burn Down Our Democracy.” The creator of PolitiFact, the Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking site, and co-founder of the International Fact-Checking Network, has ideas about the problem -- and possible remedies. Adair is a professor of journalism and public policy at Duke University and a leader in the effort to combat misinformation. And, at the end of a year chock full of election rhetoric to analyze, he is my guest and guide on Equal Time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With a recently concluded global climate summit with challenging takeaways, an incoming president who vows to again remove the U.S.from international climate agreements, and increasing weather disasters that defy what went before, a look at what is being called an existential crisis could be grim. But that’s not the kind of book Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson has written. “What If We Get It Right: Visions of Climate Futures” is a provocative mix of essays, interviews, data, poetry, and art, as Johnson guides the reader through solutions and possibilities at the nexus of science, policy, culture, and justice. She is a marine biologist, policy expert, co-founder of the non-profit think tank Urban Ocean Lab and a guest on Equal Time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sports and politics don’t mix. In truth, that has never been the case. Sports, in fact, reflect every issue, every conflict in society from civil rights to equal justice. Melissa Ludtke knows this from experience. In the 1970’s, when she was trying to cover Major League Baseball for Sports Illustrated, her path to doing the job – which required equal access to the players – was blocked by a powerful and inflexible commissioner. The battle mirrored America’s burgeoning women’s movement, and ultimately ended up in federal court, presided over by a judge with her own civil rights experience. Ludtke tells the story in “Locker Room Talk: A Woman’s Struggle to Get Inside,” and on this episode of Equal Time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices