What Does It Mean To Be Free?

What Does It Mean To Be Free?

Author Ayana Mathis' new novel, The Unsettled, is an intergenerational story centered around one Black family’s struggle to find freedom in the 1980s. Like her previous work, migration and movement are major themes in the book. But this time, her characters are at a crossroads, unsure of their next step in search of self-determination. Mathis joins host Kai Wright to reveal the questions that torment the characters in her gripping novel, and discuss her own journey grappling with those themes.

During this episode, Kai refers to a previous episode about our Future of Black History series featuring Saidiya Hartman, which can be found here.

This episode was originally published September 25, 2023.

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)

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 Mars 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 Mars 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 Mars 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 Mars 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 Mars 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 Mars 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 Feb 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 Feb 202115min

Populärt inom Politik & nyheter

svenska-fall
aftonbladet-krim
rss-krimstad
p3-krim
flashback-forever
spar
rss-sanning-konsekvens
rss-vad-fan-hande
rss-krimreportrarna
motiv
politiken
aftonbladet-daily
rss-flodet
krimmagasinet
rss-aftonbladet-krim
rss-frandfors-horna
olyckan-inifran
rss-klubbland-en-podd-mest-om-frolunda
blenda-2
dagens-eko