How Respectability Politics Erased Young Women From History

How Respectability Politics Erased Young Women From History

We mark the end of Black History Month with a conversation about the people who are too often left out when we celebrate the past. What do we learn when we study the history of those considered wayward and existing outside of the norms of the day?

Cultural historian and MacArthur fellow Saidiya Hartman introduces host Kai Wright to the young women whose radical lives were obscured by respectability politics. Hartman is the author of "Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women, and Queer Radicals," which offers an intimate look into some of the Black lives that have been seemingly erased from the history books.

Through a series of readings, they explore the complicated role of Black intellectuals like W.E.B DuBois, the Black family and how a damaging moralism continues to inform the policing of marginalized communities, public space and American cultural politics today.

This episode was originally published as “The ‘Beautiful Experiments’ Left Out of Black History” on February 8, 2021. Listen to more episodes here.

Companion listening for this episode:

Faith Ringgold Creates Space for Black Americans (1/5/2023)

Faith Ringgold’s art is an intimate dialogue and debate between generations of Black women, stretching from the formerly enslaved to today.

“Notes from America” airs live on Sunday evenings at 6pm ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts. To catch all the action, tune into the show on Sunday nights via the stream on notesfromamerica.org or on WNYC’s YouTube channel.

We want to hear from you! Connect with us on Instagram and Twitter @noteswithkai or email us at notes@wnyc.org.

Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at notes@wnyc.org. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or record one here.

Notes from America airs live on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts.

Jaksot(424)

How to End the Dominion of Men

How to End the Dominion of Men

Andrew Cuomo’s just the latest. Why is masculinity so often conflated with domination? And how do we separate the two? Kai turns to a historian and to a novelist for answers.  Linda Hirschman, author ...

29 Maalis 202150min

The Missing History of Asian America

The Missing History of Asian America

We’ve been here before: A time of national stress, Asian Americans made into scapegoats, and violence follows. The community saw it coming. So why didn’t everybody else? A mass shooting in Atlanta fol...

22 Maalis 202146min

Collective Loss, Collective Care

Collective Loss, Collective Care

More than half a million Americans - our family, friends, neighbors, loved ones - have lost their lives to the virus over the past year and our collective grief continues to compound, but communities ...

15 Maalis 202149min

Capitalism vs. Time

Capitalism vs. Time

As Amazon workers conclude a historic unionization drive, we consider the history of collective action -- and the struggle to shield our humanity from the demands of productivity.  Labor journalist an...

8 Maalis 202151min

Actor Daniel Kaluuya’s Road to Revolutionary

Actor Daniel Kaluuya’s Road to Revolutionary

On December 4th of 1969, Fred Hampton -- the 21-year-old chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party -- was shot dead in his sleep during a raid by Chicago police, but decades of investigation into h...

4 Maalis 202117min

The Secret Tapes of a Suburban Drug War

The Secret Tapes of a Suburban Drug War

A cop in Westchester, NY, was disturbed by what he saw as corruption. He started recording his colleagues -- and revealed how we’re all still living with the excess of the war on drugs. Following mont...

1 Maalis 202149min

Blackness (Un)interrupted

Blackness (Un)interrupted

Our Future of Black History series concludes with conversations about self-expression. Because when you carry a collective history in your identity, it can be hard to find yourself.  We reflect on the...

22 Helmi 202151min

The Case Against Those ‘Tubman $20s’

The Case Against Those ‘Tubman $20s’

People are excited to replace Andrew Jackson’s face with an abolitionist hero. But Brittney Cooper argues not all honorifics are the same. The Biden Treasury Department has announced that efforts to p...

18 Helmi 202115min

Suosittua kategoriassa Politiikka ja uutiset

uutiscast
aikalisa
politiikan-puskaradio
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
rss-ootsa-kuullut-tasta
rss-pinnalla
rss-vaalirankkurit-podcast
tervo-halme
rss-podme-livebox
rss-tasta-on-kyse-ivan-puopolo-verkkouutiset
rss-asiastudio
aihe
the-ulkopolitist
otetaan-yhdet
et-sa-noin-voi-sanoo-esittaa
rss-girls-finish-f1rst
rikosmyytit
rss-polikulaari-pitka-kiekko-ja-muut-ts-podcastit
rss-50100-podcast
linda-maria