Our History Now Podcast

karl

Black History is and has been suppressed in our society either by editing the facts or outright omission to create a false narrative. But that doesn’t mean we have to accept their version of reality.  Please visit our website www.ourhistorynow.com.

  1. Jul 30

    The American Calendar Is A Battlefield

    As the United States celebrated its 250th anniversary, there was a burgeoning national effort to reconcile the country’s founding ideals of liberty with the historical and legal realities of its Black population. We focus on the overlooked military contributions of Black patriots during the Revolutionary War, the restrictive legal architecture that defined "freedom" for Black people in 1776, and the enduring significance of Frederick Douglass’s critique of American hypocrisy. Also examining the historical significance of reclaimed holidays—such as July 5th and Juneteenth—and the role of political and religious institutions in institutionalizing Black history. While there has been “some”  modern progress in education and entrepreneurship, persistent challenges in the justice system and voting rights suggest that the struggle for equitable citizenship remains a central theme in the American narrative. Sources: https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/america-turns-250-black-patriots-take-their-place-history/N2AQNHKILRCTZME6GT5VPH3VWI/ https://newsone.com/6865083/frederick-douglass-said-this-fourth-of-july-is-yours-not-mine/ https://defendernetwork.com/news/national/july-5th-other-lost-black-holidays-deserve-observance/ https://www.christianitytoday.com/2026/06/the-baptist-who-made-juneteenth-a-holiday/ https://www.levelman.com/what-freedom-for-black-people-was-like-in-1776/

  2. Jun 4

    Weaponization of Urban Renewal and Generational Displacement

    We are examining the systemic displacement of Black and minority communities across the United States caused by twentieth-century infrastructure projects and discriminatory urban planning. From interstate highway construction in cities like Houston, Los Angeles, and New Orleans to urban renewal initiatives in Portland and Syracuse, We illustrate how federal policies often bulldozed thriving neighborhoods and erased generational wealth. This historical pattern of marginalization without local consent is framed as a form of institutional racism that continues to impact public health and political power today. Sources: https://fhco.org/urban-renewal-history-and-the-i-5-rose-quarter-improvement-project/ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/21/syracuse-new-york-highway-i81-viaduct-biden https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/documenting-history-iconic-new-orleans-street-and-looking-its-future-180977854/ https://www.portland.gov/phb/nnehousing/framework/historical-overview https://aframnews.com/national-news/black-america-has-seen-this-before-now-the-world-is-seeing-it-in-venezuela/ https://www.latimes.com/projects/us-freeway-highway-expansion-black-latino-communities/

  3. May 26

    Decades after desegregation, segregated proms still existed.

    We are going to look at the shocking reality that segregated proms still existed in parts of the American South as recently as 2013. Though schools were legally integrated decades earlier, communities used “private event” loopholes to preserve racial separation in one of high school’s most symbolic traditions. Our podcast will explores how Jim Crow survived through custom, silence, and social pressure, particularly in places like Wilcox County, Georgia. Ultimately, it was students armed with social media—not politicians or school boards—who forced change, exposing how America’s racial divisions often linger beneath the surface of modern life.

  4. Apr 20

    The Sixteen-Word Trap: How a Constitutional Loophole Rebuilt Slavery in America

    History is rarely tidy. If you look closely at the 13 amendment, tucked between the promise of liberty and the signature of the state, you will find a constitutional trap door. With a mere sixteen words, the architects of the amendment did not just abolish slavery; they provided a legal blueprint for its reinvention. This was no accidental oversight. It was a strategic exception that allowed for the continuation of forced labor under a different name. By creating a loophole for "punishment for crime," the United States didn’t end the exploitation of Black labor—it simply moved the venue from the plantation to the prison cell.

  5. Mar 8

    The Great Migration: Beyond the "Promised Land"

    Between 1910 and 1970, a mass exodus of six million African Americans fundamentally reshaped the American landscape. In 1910, roughly 90 percent of the Black population lived in the South; by 1970, that figure had plummeted to 47 percent. This movement transformed a rural population into an urban nation, driven by a desperate search for a "Promised Land" that often proved as elusive as it was enticing. Sources: Great Migration - New Georgia Encyclopedia The Great Migration (1910-1970) | National Archives Great Migration | Definition, History, Map, & Years | Britannica

  6. Feb 3

    The Economics of Slavery - Calculated, Recorded, and Exploited

    When Americans think about slavery, the picture is often a familiar one: men and women bent over fields of cotton or rice, driven by the lash, forced to labor from sunup to sundown. That picture is accurate—but it is incomplete. It depicts violence yet conceals the design. It reveals the suffering, but not the machinery that made such suffering profitable, repeatable, and enduring. Slavery in the United States was not only a brutal labor system. It was a carefully constructed economic and psychological enterprise. Every stage of an enslaved person’s life—from birth to death—was calculated, recorded, and exploited. Human beings were reduced to numbers in ledgers, risks in insurance policies, and assets in loan agreements. What follows is not a catalogue of isolated cruelties, but an examination of how slavery functioned as an organized business, sustained by law, finance, and deliberate psychological control. Sources: Slave Insurance: How Slave Masters in the US Profited from the Death and Injuries of Enslaved Africans - TalkAfricana Stockmen Trade: The 19th Century Practice of Renting Enslaved Men to Plantation Owners for Breeding in America - TalkAfricana The Great Slave Auction of 1859: The Largest Single Sale of Enslaved Africans in U.S History - TalkAfricana The Ruthless Methods White Enslavers Used to Shape Enslaved Africans into the “Perfect Slave” - TalkAfricana We Can’t Understand Capitalism Without Understanding Slavery - CounterPunch.org

  7. 11/05/2025

    The Two Gospels: How Slavery Ripped American Faith in Two and Forged the Black Church

    In America’s long and troubled history with slavery, few institutions carried more influence than the church. From pulpits across the nation, pastors shaped public opinion—some defending slavery as a God-given order, others denouncing it as sin. The result was a divided clergy that mirrored, and in many ways deepened, the nation’s divisions. Sources: https://talkafricana.com/how-black-ministers-risked-death-to-preach-the-gospel-during-slavery/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=DeloresOrr/magazine/My+Gaze https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2024-01-22/john-harrison-norwich-vermont-1890-murder?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=mkroberson5/magazine/Reference+ https://readcultured.com/the-church-the-klan-and-the-police-e98739f6e7e9 https://religionnews.com/2023/02/27/a-brief-history-of-the-black-churchs-vital-role-in-american-political-history/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=mkroberson5/magazine/Reference+&utm_medium=social https://ourhistorynow.com/the-divided-pulpit-pastors-who-preached-for-and-against-slavery/

  8. 08/24/2025

    To Preserve Slavery, Nothing Was Sacred. Not Even The Bible

    We’re exploring the surprising role of the Bible and Christianity during the era of slavery in America. With slaveholders twisting scripture to justify bondage and control. But at the same time, enslaved Africans reimagined that same faith, finding in it a message of hope, freedom, and resistance. It’s a story of how a tool of oppression was powerfully transformed into the foundation of the Black church and a lasting force for resilience and justice. Let's get started.  Sources: https://www.christianitytoday.com/2018/02/why-enslaved-african-americans-stayed-christian/ https://ourhistorynow.com/to-preserve-slavery-nothing-was-sacred-not-even-the-bible/ https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/the-curse-of-ham-and-biblical-justifications-for-slavery https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/05/06/bible-was-used-justify/

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About

Black History is and has been suppressed in our society either by editing the facts or outright omission to create a false narrative. But that doesn’t mean we have to accept their version of reality.  Please visit our website www.ourhistorynow.com.

Information

  • Creator
    karl
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    19
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Our History Now Podcast
  • Show Website
    Our History Now Podcast