Fragility in Liberty

Fragility in Liberty

Many of us associate the Statue of Liberty with the poem mounted on her pedestal: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” The monument has become a symbol of immigration. What fewer of us know is that Lady Liberty was originally conceived as a tribute to the abolition of slavery. In fact, what we find as we look into history is that our country's immigration policy is closely intertwined with the end of Reconstruction and rise of Jim Crow. In this episode, we tell the story of one undocumented immigrant—Carlos Aguirre-Venegas—and trace the origins of a little-known law that's now being used to prosecute tens of thousands of people who crossed the border, separate some from their children, and lock them away in federal prisons.

- Jim Elkin is a National Park Ranger at Statue of Liberty National Monument

- Eric Foner is author of The Second Founding

- Kelly Lytle Hernandez is a professor of History, African American Studies, and Urban Planning at UCLA and author of City of Inmates

Hosted by Kai Wright. Reported by Seth Freed Wessler, in partnership with Type Investigations. Produced and edited by Christopher Werth. For more on Seth's reporting about Carlos Aguirre-Venegas and the privately-run prisons used exclusively to incarcerate non-citizens convicted of crimes, see his 2016 investigation in The Nation.

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.

Avsnitt(424)

The Truth Behind the Religious Right

The Truth Behind the Religious Right

Some believe that the religious right’s roots begin with Roe v. Wade. But there was an earlier court decision about the rights of segregated schools that first mobilized them. The recent surge in anti...

23 Mars 202323min

The History Behind New Waves of Anti-Trans Legislation

The History Behind New Waves of Anti-Trans Legislation

State lawmakers across the country are introducing new waves of legislation targeting the transgender community. What’s behind this movement?  To answer this question, we first turn to history. Host K...

20 Mars 202349min

The Rocky Statue: A Famous Monument to a Fictitious Hero

The Rocky Statue: A Famous Monument to a Fictitious Hero

Why do millions of people from around the world flock to Philadelphia, PA, to visit a statue….of a fictional character? We ask Paul Farber, host of the WHYY podcast The Statue. Many who have been to P...

16 Mars 202318min

Revising History, One Monument at a Time

Revising History, One Monument at a Time

Artist Michelle Browder lives in a city that is increasingly being altered by monumental works…including one she created herself. More than 30 years ago, as an 18-year-old art student in Atlanta, Mich...

13 Mars 202331min

Preserving Untold Oral Histories

Preserving Untold Oral Histories

Our national story comprises all of us. We hear stories from listeners and The HistoryMakers founder Julieanna Richardson that capture the living history that often goes unmentioned. How can we craft ...

9 Mars 202324min

Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Hollywood

Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Hollywood

We continue our Black History Is Now series with Gina Prince-Bythewood, director of the hit films “The Woman King” and “Love & Basketball,” among others that center Black voices.  “The Woman King” has...

6 Mars 202324min

Celebrating Terrance McKnight’s ‘Every Voice’ Podcast

Celebrating Terrance McKnight’s ‘Every Voice’ Podcast

Terrance McKnight, evening host on WQXR, unearths the hidden voices that shape our musical traditions in the new podcast "Every Voice with Terrance McKnight.” McKnight has spent decades interrogating ...

2 Mars 202336min

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 waywar...

27 Feb 202350min

Populärt inom Politik & nyheter

svenska-fall
rss-krimstad
aftonbladet-krim
p3-krim
flashback-forever
blenda-2
rss-sanning-konsekvens
politiken
aftonbladet-daily
rss-krimreportrarna
motiv
rss-vad-fan-hande
spar
grans
rss-frandfors-horna
rss-flodet
svd-ledarredaktionen
dagens-eko
olyckan-inifran
spotlight