Rebel Spirit

iHeartPodcasts
  • 4.8 (314)
  • SOCIETY & CULTURE
  • WEEKLY SERIES

In Season Two of Rebel Spirit, Akilah Hughes picks up where her battle to change her high school’s Confederate mascot left off and quickly realizes the problem was never just a mascot. Shifting from her high school still clinging to the “Rebels” name to the long fight over a Jefferson Davis statue in the Kentucky State Capitol, Season Two expands into a sharp, funny, and deeply reported investigation into how America decides what, and who, it chooses to honor. Along the way, Akilah speaks with politicians from both sides of the aisle about their support for change, historians who help contextualize the fight to remove Confederate monuments, and artists who are part of building monuments their whole community can be proud of. All in an effort to answer this season's big question, if we’re willing to tear down racist monuments, why is it so hard to replace them with something better? 

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  1. Episode 1: Back To Work

    EPISODE 1

    Episode 1: Back To Work

    In our Season Two premiere, Akilah catches up on the latest from her hometown of Florence, Kentucky as she begins to explore how the same Confederate legacy she challenged locally is resurging across America. Through conversations with a couple familiar voices from Season One, she lays out how mascots and monuments are directly tied to the present political moment, and why the fight over who gets remembered is far from over.  Rebel Spirit is a production of Ninth Planet Audio in association with iHeart Podcasts.  Reporting and writing by Akilah Hughes, she is also the Host and Executive Producer. Produced and Written by Dan Sinker.  Edited and Mixed by Rudy Jansen. Executive Producers for Ninth Planet Audio are Elizabeth Baquet and Jimmy Miller.  Executive Producer for iHeart Podcasts is Cristina Everett. Our theme song is All The Things I Couldn’t Say performed by Busty and The Bass, courtesy of Arts and Crafts Records.  Special thanks to our guests this episode, Hillary Delaney and Amber Hoffman. If you want to get in touch, email us at rebelspiritpodcast@gmail.com. And visit our website www.rebelpsiritpodcast.com where you can check out our merch store.    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    33 min
  2. Coming Soon... Rebel Spirit Season 2

    SEASON 2 TRAILER

    Coming Soon... Rebel Spirit Season 2

    This season, Akilah takes her fight to the Kentucky State House in an attempt to replace a recently removed Confederate statue with a monument everyone can be proud of. Grounded in her own lived experiences, Season Two explores how monuments aren’t just markers of history -- they’re battlegrounds for the values we’re still negotiating today. Tune in when the new season premieres May 19. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    3 min
See All Season 2 (2)

Trailers

4.8
out of 5
314 Ratings

About

In Season Two of Rebel Spirit, Akilah Hughes picks up where her battle to change her high school’s Confederate mascot left off and quickly realizes the problem was never just a mascot. Shifting from her high school still clinging to the “Rebels” name to the long fight over a Jefferson Davis statue in the Kentucky State Capitol, Season Two expands into a sharp, funny, and deeply reported investigation into how America decides what, and who, it chooses to honor. Along the way, Akilah speaks with politicians from both sides of the aisle about their support for change, historians who help contextualize the fight to remove Confederate monuments, and artists who are part of building monuments their whole community can be proud of. All in an effort to answer this season's big question, if we’re willing to tear down racist monuments, why is it so hard to replace them with something better? 

Information

  • Channel
    iHeartPodcasts
  • Creator
    iHeartPodcasts
  • Episodes
    19
  • Seasons
    2
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    2026 iHeartMedia, Inc. © Any use of this intellectual property for text and data mining or computational analysis including as training material for artificial intelligence systems is strictly prohibited without express written consent from iHeartMedia
  • Show Website
    Rebel Spirit
  • Provider
    iHeartMedia + Entertainment, Inc

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