Black Ivory Roots’ Podcast

Black Sistory
  • 5.0 (4)
  • History

From the innovators of Black Sistory: The Storytelling Genre, Black Ivory Roots Podcast unveils the dark hidden truths of His-story and amplifies the voices that White supremacy tried to silence…  Tune in and reclaim the narratives they never wanted you to hear.

Episodes

  1. Jun 1

    Skin Deep: The Holmesburg Experiments

    Between 1951 and 1974, hundreds of Black men incarcerated at Holmesburg Prison in Philadelphia became unwitting test subjects in one of America’s most disturbing chapters of medical exploitation. Dermatologist Albert Kligman, backed by pharmaceutical companies, private corporations, and government agencies, helped transform the prison into a living laboratory where chemicals, experimental drugs, and toxic compounds were tested on prisoners. Many participants were never fully informed of the risks. Many suffered lasting physical and emotional harm. And most never received justice. In this episode, we examine the power dynamics, ethical failures, and human cost behind what happened inside Holmesburg’s walls. We also ask the difficult questions that continue to linger decades later. Because behind every experiment was a Black man. Behind every case file was a Black father. A Black son! A Black brother! A Black human being!! And behind every data point was a Black life that mattered…

    8 min

  2. May 16

    How Five Black Women Challenged the Klan!

    The 1980 Chattanooga shooting, where five Black women were attacked by members of the Ku Klux Klan while standing on a public sidewalk in Chattanooga, Tennessee. This episode explores the racial violence of the attack, the courtroom failures that followed, and the landmark civil lawsuit, Crumsey v. Justice Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, which helped establish a legal strategy later used to dismantle violent hate groups across the United States financially.

    8 min

  3. May 1

    SAM Insurance: Behind the Policy

    This episode examines the tension between institutional protection and racial injustice through the lens of S.A.M. (Sexual Abuse and Molestation) insurance policies that shield organizations from misconduct claims. It contrasts these protections with the historical reality faced by Black men and boys who were devastated by false accusations, highlighting cases like the 1920 Duluth lynchings, the Scottsboro Boys, and Emmett Till. The discussion raises urgent questions about accountability, the prioritization of institutions over individuals, and what these choices reveal about societal values and justice.

    13 min

  4. Apr 15

    Anna Murray Douglass: Sidelined and Overshadowed!

    Before Frederick Douglass became a legend, Anna Murray Douglass, his wife,  made his freedom possible. This episode confronts the truth behind his rise, and the black woman history chose to overlook.

    9 min

  5. Apr 1

    One Bloodline! Two Injustices.

    Before the world knew the name Emmett Till, there was his father, Louis Till, a young Black man whose life became entangled in war, accusation, and a justice system that did not move equally for everyone. His story was buried in silence for years. A decade later, Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy from Chicago, was abducted, tortured, and murdered in Mississippi after being accused of offending a white woman. His body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River, weighed down with a cotton gin fan tied to his neck with barbed wire. During the trial of the white men accused of killing Emmett, details of Louis Till’s execution were introduced to poison public perception and shift sympathy away from the child. A father’s past was used as a weapon against his son. Two lives! One pattern. One system that decided who would be protected and who would be buried. This is not history told. This is history exposed…

    11 min

  6. Mar 15

    Salt in the Wound: The Cruelty of Punishment in Enslavement

    In this deeply unsettling episode of our podcast, we dive into the harrowing reality of physical punishment endured by enslaved people at the hands of their captors. Through the lens of brutality, we uncover the horrifying practice of whipping with leather lashes that tore into flesh, leaving behind not just wounds, but scars that would haunt generations. It's a painful reminder of a dark chapter in our history, marked by unimaginable suffering and dehumanization. As we explore the sadistic rituals employed by overseers, we confront the chilling act of rubbing salt into those raw wounds, amplifying the agony to an unbearable degree. This episode sheds light on how such acts were not merely tools of punishment but calculated strategies to instill fear and maintain control over the enslaved. The intense physical pain was only part of the torment; it was designed to break spirits and ensure obedience through sheer terror. Join us as we reflect on this somber topic with empathy and respect for those who suffered. We must confront these truths, however uncomfortable, as we strive to acknowledge and honor the resilience of those who endured such cruelty.

    12 min

  7. Mar 1

    Lula Sherman’s story

    We uncover the story of Lula Sherman, a fourteen-year-old black girl whose life was taken by violence, and her suffering was nearly lost to history. This is not just a story of tragedy, but a story of truth, memory, and the fight to make sure her name is never erased.

    9 min

  8. Feb 15

    The Lynching of Claude Neal

    In 1934, Claude Neal, a 23-year-old Black farmworker in Marianna, Florida, was accused of murdering a white woman. Before he could ever see a courtroom, a white mob took him from jail. What followed was not justice. It was spectacle. Thousands gathered. The killing was anticipated. Souvenir photographs were taken. His body was mutilated and displayed. Newspapers reported it. Crowds attended. Claude Neal’s lynching was not hidden. It was public, organized, and celebrated. This episode examines how racial terror functioned as a community event, how violence was normalized, documented, and shared without shame. Claude Neal’s name is not just history. It is evidence.

    13 min

  9. Feb 1

    Call Her Peggy

    This episode centers on Virginia in the 1700s, where control was engineered and suffering was routine. Her name was not preserved. What follows is a reconstruction based on documented punishment devices and recorded conditions because the archive refused to keep her whole. * The archive documented the punishment. It erased the person. This narrative makes that absence visible

    9 min

  10. Trailer

    Black Sistory Speaks on Black History

    This is not a celebratory overview, but a grounded examination of how Black history was erased, misrepresented, and pushed to the margins and why documenting it became necessary Centering the work of Carter G. Woodson, this episode traces the origins of Negro History Week and its later recognition by the United States government, while confronting how history becomes easier to manage once it is sanitized. From the lived realities of enslaved women and children to the systems of labor and punishment that shaped daily survival, this episode lays the foundation for what Black Ivory Roots is committed to doing: recording what was never meant to survive. This is not about guilt. It is about accuracy.

    8 min

  11. Trailer

    What was buried, will be named!

    This is not history told. It is history exposed. This prologue reveals how enslavement became property and pain became profit.

    7 min

Trailers

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

From the innovators of Black Sistory: The Storytelling Genre, Black Ivory Roots Podcast unveils the dark hidden truths of His-story and amplifies the voices that White supremacy tried to silence…  Tune in and reclaim the narratives they never wanted you to hear.

Information

  • Creator
    Black Sistory
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    11
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Black Ivory Roots’ Podcast
  • Show Website
    Black Ivory Roots’ Podcast