Teaching Hard History
Episodes
Slavery in the Constitution
04 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Constitutional and legal historian Paul Finkelman explains the critical role slavery played in the founding of the United States and how the politics ...
Ten More … Film and the History of Slavery
08 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Film historian Ron Briley returns with more suggestions for teaching through film — from thought-provoking documentaries and feature films to minise...
Film and the History of Slavery
17 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Film has long shaped our nation's historical memory — for good and bad. Film historian Ron Briley offers ways to responsibly use films in the classr...
Diverse Experience of the Enslaved
02 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The experiences of enslaved people varied greatly based on a variety of factors, including time, location, crop, labor performed, size of slaveholding...
Resistance Means More Than Rebellion
14 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For a more complete picture of enslaved people's experiences, we need to expand our understanding of resistance. Kenneth S. Greenberg, Ph.D., examines...
In the Footsteps of Others: Process Drama
31 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In learning about slavery, students often ask, "Why didn't enslaved people run away or revolt?" Lindsay Anne Randall explains "process drama" — a me...
Doing the Work of Teaching Hard History
22 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In many ways, the U.S. has fallen short of its ideals. How can we explain this to students — particularly in the context of discussing slavery? Sale...
Slavery and the Northern Economy
10 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When we think of slavery as a strictly Southern institution, we perpetuate a "dangerous fiction," according to historian Christy Clark-Pujara. Avoid t...
Slavery and the Civil War, Part 2
26 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Salem State University professor Bethany Jay returns to examine how the actions of free and enslaved African Americans shaped the progress of the Civi...
Slavery and the Civil War, Part 1
19 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What really caused the Civil War? In this episode, Salem State University Professor Bethany Jay examines the complex role that slavery played in causi...
Why Hard History Matters: Addressing the Legacy of Jim Crow – w/ Rep. Hakeem Jeffries
25 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Congressman Hakeem Jeffries represents New York's 8th congressional district. Our final episode this season takes us to the U.S. House of Representati...
Criminalizing Blackness: Prisons, Police and Jim Crow – w/ Robert T. Chase and Brandon T. Jett
16 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
After emancipation, aspects of the legal system were reshaped to maintain control of Black lives and labor. Historian Robert T. Chase outlines the evo...
Music Reconstructed: Lara Downes' Classical Perspective on Jim Crow – w/ Charles L. Hughes
26 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
From concertos to operas, Black composers captured the changes and challenges facing African Americans during Jim Crow. Renowned classical pianist Lau...
Music Reconstructed: Adia Victoria and the Landscape of the Blues – w/ Charles L. Hughes
12 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When we consider the trauma of white supremacy during the Jim Crow era—what writer Ralph Ellison describes as "the brutal experience"—it's importa...
Black Political Thought – w/ Minkah Makalani
08 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Black political ideologies in the early 20th century evolved against a backdrop of derogatory stereotypes and racial terrorism. Starting with Marcus G...
Music Reconstructed: Dom Flemons, Black Cowboys and the American West – w/ Charles L. Hughes
18 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
From ranches to railroads, learn about the often unrecognized role that African Americans played in the range cattle industry, as Pullman porters and ...
Medical Racism: A Legacy of Malpractice – w/ Deirdre Cooper Owens
17 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This nation has a long history of exploiting Black Americans in the name of medicine. A practice which began with the Founding Fathers using individua...
Music Reconstructed: Jason Moran, Jazz and the Harlem Hellfighters – w/ Charles L. Hughes
23 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This is a special four-part series where historian Charles L. Hughes introduces us to musicians who are exploring the sounds, songs and stories of the...
The Harlem Renaissance: Restructuring, Rebirth and Reckoning – w/ Julie Buckner Armstrong
17 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
During the Harlem Renaissance, more Black artists than ever before were asking key questions about the role of art in society. Oftentimes the Harlem R...
Changing the Game: Sports in the Jim Crow Era – w/ Derrick E. White and Louis Moore
24 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the United States, Black athletes have had to contend with two sets of rules: those of the game and those of a racist society. While they dealt wit...
The New Deal, Jim Crow and the Black Cabinet – w/ Jill Watts
13 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Opportunities created by the New Deal were often denied to African Americans. And that legacy of exclusion to jobs, loans and services can be seen tod...
Black Soldiers: Global Conflict During Jim Crow – w/ Adriane Lentz-Smith
14 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
U.S. involvement in world wars and the domestic Black freedom struggle shaped one another. By emphasizing the diverse stories of servicemen and women,...
Building Black Institutions: Autonomy, Labor and HBCUs – w/ Jelani M. Favors and Tera W. Hunter
03 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Tera Hunter describes Black institution-building post-slavery and throughout the Jim Crow era, illustrating how Black workers reorganized la...
Premeditation and Resilience: Tulsa, Red Summer and the Great Migration – w/ David Krugler
11 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Naming the 1921 Tulsa massacre a "race riot" is inaccurate. Historian David Krugler urges listeners to call this and other violent attacks what they w...
Lynching: White Supremacy, Terrorism and Black Resilience – w/ Kidada Williams and Kellie Carter Jackson
26 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Black American experiences during Jim Crow were deeply affected by the ever-present threat of lynching and other forms of racist violence. Historian K...
Correcting History: Confederate Monuments, Rituals and the Lost Cause – w/ Karen Cox
19 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Lost Cause narrative would have us believe that Confederate monuments have always been celebrated, but people have protested them since they start...
Reconstruction 101: Progress and Backlash – w/ Kate Masur
13 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Just months after the Civil War ended, former Confederates had regained political footholds in Washington, D.C. In her overview of Reconstruction, Kat...
The History of Whiteness and How We Teach About Race – w/ Edward E. Baptist and Aisha White
14 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Ed Baptist provides context on the creation and enforcement of a U.S. racial binary that endures today, as well as Black resistance as a for...
Creating Brave Spaces: Reckoning With Race in the Classroom – w/ Matthew R. Kay
03 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
People from all corners of public life are telling teachers to stop discussions about race and racism in the classroom, but keeping the truth of the w...
Jim Crow: Yesterday and Today
26 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This season, we're examining the century between the Civil War and the modern civil rights movement to understand how systemic racism and slavery pers...
Baseball, Civil Rights and the Anderson Monarchs Barnstorming Tour (special) - w/ Steve Bandura and Derrick White
19 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 2015, Coach Steve Bandura loaded the Anderson Monarchs, a little league baseball team from Philadelphia, onto a 1947 Flxible Clipper Bus for a barn...
Walking in Their Shoes: Using #BlackLivesMatter to Teach the Civil Rights Movement – w/ Shannon King and Nishani Frazier
13 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The civil rights movement offers critical context for understanding the systemic police violence, voter suppression efforts, 'law and order' rhetoric ...
The Black Panther Party and the Transition to Black Power – w/ Robyn C. Spencer and Jakobi Williams
30 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The history of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense can help us understand the transition from civil rights to Black Power, as well as contemporar...
Malcolm X Beyond the Mythology – w/ Clarence Lang
16 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Clarence Lang joins us for a conversation about Malcolm X. We discuss his commitment to Black pride and self-determination and his rejection...
Community Organizing, Youth Leadership and SNCC – w/ Courtland Cox, Kaia Woodford, Karlyn Forner and John B. Gartrell
23 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we talk with movement veteran Courtland Cox about lessons from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and his own development ...
Listen, Look and Learn: Using Primary Sources to Teach the Freedom Struggle – w/ J. Todd Moye, Guha Shankar, and Noelle Trent
09 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Oral histories, historic sites, archives and museums expand students' understanding of the past. They fill in gaps in our textbooks—complementing wh...
Young, Gifted and Black: Teaching Freedom Summer to K-5 Students – w/ Nicole Burrowes. La Tasha Levy and Liz Kleinrock
26 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Teaching civil rights history to young learners creates both opportunities and challenges. The 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Project and the subsequ...
Making a Scene: The Movement in Literature and Film – w/ Julie Buckner Armstrong
22 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
From the hard work of organizing to the reality of everyday life under Jim Crow, films and literature can bring historical context to life for student...
The Real Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott – w/ Emilye Crosby
08 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Everyone thinks they know the story, but the real history of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott is even better. This episode details the events...
Connecting Slavery with the Civil Rights Movement
24 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
To fully understand the United States today, we have to comprehend the central role that slavery played in our nation's past. That legacy is also the ...
Teaching the Movement's Most Iconic Figure – w/ Charles McKinney
10 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
You cannot teach the civil rights movement without talking about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But it's critical that students deconstruct the mythology ...
The Jim Crow North – w/ Patrick D. Jones
27 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Civil Rights Movement was never strictly a Southern phenomenon. To better understand the Jim Crow North, we explore discrimination and Black prote...
Nonviolence and Self-Defense – w/ Wesley Hogan, Christopher Strain and Akinyele Umoja
13 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Armed resistance and nonviolent direct action co-existed throughout the civil rights era. In this episode, three historians confront some co...
New Film: The Forgotten Slavery of Our Ancestors – w/ Alice Qannik Glenn
07 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Alice Qannik Glenn is the host of Coffee and Quaq and assistant producer of The Forgotten Slavery of our Ancestors. This short, classroom-ready film o...
Jim Crow, Lynching and White Supremacy – w/ Stephen A. Berrey, Hannah Ayers, Lance Warren and Ahmariah Jackson
29 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Jim Crow was more than signs and separation. It was a system of terror and violence created to control the labor and regulate the behavior of Black pe...
A Playlist for the Movement – w/ Charles L. Hughes
08 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Music chronicles the history of the civil rights struggle: The events, tactics and emotions of the movement are documented in songs of the era. From T...
Beyond the "Master Narrative" – w/ Nishani Frazier and Adam Sanchez
25 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Students don't enter our classrooms as blank slates. When it comes to the civil rights movement, we often have to help our students unlearn what they ...
Reframing the Movement – w/ Nishani Frazier and Adam Sanchez
11 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Teaching the civil rights movement accurately and effectively requires deconstructing the myths and misconceptions about the civil rights movement. Mo...
Wrap Up: Teaching the Connections – w/ Bethany Jay
09 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The systems that enabled and perpetuated African and Indigenous enslavement in what is now the U.S. have much in common, and their histories tell us a...
Hard History in Hard Times – Talking With Teachers
08 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this special call-in episode, listeners share their stories and questions from throughout season 2—including teaching remotely, working with fami...
Inseparable Separations: Slavery and Indian Removal
27 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Indian Removal was a brutal and complicated effort that textbooks often simplify. It is also inseparably related to slavery. Enslavers seeking profit ...
Slave Codes, Liberty Suits and the Charter Generation – w/ Margaret Newell
06 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Americas were built on the lands, labor and lives of Indigenous peoples. Despite being erased from history textbooks after the so-called first Tha...
Using the WPA Slave Narratives – w/ Cynthia Lynn Lyerly
14 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
From 1936 to 1938, the Federal Writers' Project collected stories from people who had been enslaved. The WPA Slave Narrative Collection at the Library...
Groundwork for Teaching Indigenous Enslavement – w/ the Turtle Island Social Studies Collective
08 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
To better understand the United States' past and present, we need to better understand Indigenous identities—and our classrooms play a huge role. Th...
Mid-season Recap: Key Lessons on Indigenous Enslavement
24 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Educators can no longer ignore our country's history of Indigenous enslavement. Our students need a fuller understanding of the pivotal history of sla...
Silver, Resistance and the Evolution of Slavery in the West – w/ Andrés Reséndez
20 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, the forced labor and bondage of Indigenous peoples was integral to the economic and political history of...
The Other Slavery – w/ Andrés Reséndez
06 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
A hundred years before the first ship carrying enslaved Africans arrived in Virginia, Europeans introduced the commercial practice of enslavement in "...
Teaching Slavery through Children's Literature, Part 2 – w/ Debbie Reese
08 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Each autumn, Thanksgiving brings a disturbing amount of inaccurate information and troubling myths into classrooms across the United States. Most stud...
Teaching Slavery through Children's Literature, Part 1 – w/ Ebony Elizabeth Thomas
25 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Children's books are often the primary way young students are exposed to the history of American slavery. But many books about slavery sugarcoat oppr...
In the Elementary Classroom – w/ Kate Shuster, Marian Dingle, Bria Wright, Marvin Reed and Alice Mitchell
04 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
For elementary teachers approaching the topic of slavery, it can be tempting to focus only on heroes and avoid explaining oppression. But teachers' om...
Indigenous Enslavement: Part 2 – w/ Christina Snyder
20 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Understanding Indigenous enslavement expands our conception of slavery in what is now the United States. It spread across the entire continent and aff...
Indigenous Enslavement: Part 1 – w/ Christina Snyder
06 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Millions of Indigenous people lived in North America before European colonial powers invaded. Along with an insatiable desire for free labor, European...
The Hidden History of American Slavery – w/ Maureen Costello, Eduardo Díaz and Renée Gokey
23 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
American slavery shaped our modern world and most certainly the foundation and development of what is now the United States. The Smithsonian's Eduardo...
Wrap up: Questions from the Classroom – w/ Bethany Jay
14 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Bethany Jay returns – answering questions from educators across the country. Host Hasan Kwame Jeffries and the co-editor of Understanding ...
Young Adult Trade Books – w/ John H. Bickford
07 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
From elementary to high school, YA literature can introduce fundamental themes and information about slavery, especially when paired with primary sour...
Sample Lessons – w/ Jordan Lanfair and Tamara Spears
23 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Using the present to explore the past. Tamara Spears and Jordan Lanfair suggest a Social Studies unit about Resistance & Kanye West, and a set of Engl...
Classroom Experiences – w/ Tamara Spears and Jordan Lanfair
15 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How it's done. Tamara Spears teaches middle school Social Studies in New York and Jordan Lanfair is a high school English Language Arts teacher in Chi...
Slavery Today – w/ James Brewer Stewart
29 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Enslavement didn't end with Emancipation. Historian James Brewer Stewart discusses modern-day slavery happening across the world—and right here in t...
Confronting Hard History at Montpelier
29 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
At James Madison's Montpelier, the legacy of enslaved people isn't silenced—and their descendants have a voice. Christian Cotz, Price Thomas and Dr....
Slavery in the Supreme Court – w/ Paul Finkelman
10 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In the United States, justice was never blind. Historian Paul Finkelman goes beyond legal jargon to illustrate how slavery was entangled with the opin...