The Color Between The Lines with Esther Dillard

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The Color Between the Lines with Esther Dillard is a storytelling podcast that explores the histories, voices, and truths that often go unheard—but deeply shape our world. Hosted by award-winning journalist and educator Esther Dillard, the show features thoughtful conversations with authors, activists, cultural leaders, and change-makers who use story to inform, challenge, and connect. Each episode goes beyond headlines to uncover the deeper context behind culture, history, and current events—helping listeners understand not just what happened, but why it matters. Listeners come away with a clearer understanding of how storytelling influences public opinion, policy, education, and identity. The podcast also offers insight into how stories can be used more intentionally—in advocacy, leadership, creative work, and everyday life—to communicate with clarity, build trust, and create impact. If you’re curious about history, culture, and the power of narrative to shape perspective and possibility, The Color Between the Lines invites you to listen more closely—and hear what’s always been there.

  1. 5d ago

    Your World Map Has Been Lying to You for 500 Years | 9 Wins You Didn't Hear About

    You've been looking at a map that's wrong your entire life not roughly wrong, wrong on purpose, for 500 years, in a way that's made an entire continent look smaller than it actually is. This month, one country stood up and said stop. One other country voted to keep it that way. In this episode of The Color Between the Lines, Esther Dillard hosts solo no guest, just nine good-news stories from the past month that reflect Black achievement, community organizing, and progress the daily headlines tend to leave out. Esther walks through the UN's 164-to-1 vote to move nations away from the 500-year-old Mercator map, Los Angeles renaming a downtown park for formerly enslaved landowner Bridget "Biddy" Mason, Michigan's tuition-free Reconnect program helping adults finish their degrees, New York's new textured-hair licensing requirement for cosmetology students, a Baltimore pastor turning church land into working farms, a founder's smart handoff at the skincare brand Topicals, Jordyn Woods' homecoming honeymoon across Africa, and a South African recycling program pulling tons of e-waste out of landfills. New episodes of The Color Between the Lines drop every week on iHeartRadio, the Alive Podcast Network, and wherever you get your podcasts. Sources referenced: the United Nations General Assembly, the Los Angeles City Council, the Michigan Reconnect program, New York State, the Natural Hairstyle and Braid Coalition, the Black Church Food Security Network, Topicals, and the World Travel Awards Gala.  Chapters: 00:00 Cold Open 00:18 Intro Nine Wins, No Guest Today 00:38 The Mercator Projection 01:12 UN Votes 164-1 to Move Away From the Map 01:49 Win 2 LA Renames a Park for Biddy Mason 02:54 Win 3 Michigan Reconnect 03:27 Win 4 New York Mandates Textured Hair Education 04:09 The Honest Add A Law Can Mandate Curriculum, Not Skill 05:07 Win 5 Baltimore Pastor Turns Church Lots Into Farms 05:56 Win 6 Topicals Founder Hands Off to a New CEO 06:36 Win 7 Jordyn Woods' Homecoming Honeymoon to Africa 07:14 Win 8 Tanzania Named Africa's Top Tourism Destination 07:31 Win 9 South Africa's E-Waste Recycling Win 07:52 Recap 08:27 Closing Powered by Amplified Voices. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    Your World Map Has Been Lying to You for 500 Years | 9 Wins You Didn't Hear About

  2. Sep 22

    They Tried to Erase This Street Three Times. She Stopped Them. | ERASED: Freedmen's Town

    A construction crew tore up a Houston street, and underneath the asphalt were bricks laid by hand more than 150 years ago by people who had only just been freed from slavery. Three separate times between 2014 and 2016, the city tried to dig them up for good. Three separate times, someone stood in the way including a woman who climbed into the excavation hole herself and refused to move. In this episode, we trace the story of Freedmen's Town: a community that built its own doctors, schools, and streets by hand when the city refused to, and the century-long fight to keep it from being erased. You'll hear how formerly enslaved Houstonians built this neighborhood after being denied basic infrastructure for six years straight, the three separate attempts to tear up its historic brick streets, why this ground is now part of an active bid to become a United Nations World Heritage Site, and a proposed federal law that would trace a 51-mile trail all the way from the origin of Juneteenth to this exact spot. Key figures: Rev. Jack Yates, Rutherford B.H. Yates, Catherine Roberts, Doris Ellis Robinson, Ben Hall, Mayor Sylvester Turner. Sourced from the Houston Press, ABC13 News, the National Register of Historic Places, and congressional testimony from the Houston Freedmen's Town Conservancy. In partnership with Amplified Voices TV. For educators: our companion discussion guide and full classroom lesson bundle are available now link in the show notes. Free resources on Substack, paid bundles on Etsy and TPT. Subscribe for more of the history that was suppressed, hidden, or simply never told. Music licensed via Artlist.io #ERASED #FreedmensTown #HoustonHistory #BlackHistory #UntoldAmericanStory #UNESCO #Juneteenth #BlackHistoryEducation #AmericanHistory #Houston #Emancipation Powered by Amplified Voices. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    They Tried to Erase This Street Three Times. She Stopped Them. | ERASED: Freedmen's Town

  3. Sep 15

    What Kids Risk Missing Today If Haircut Day Is Just a Haircut | Monica Mikai

    There's a moment that happens in almost every barbershop that most people never think twice about guards come down, stories come out, and something passes between a father and a child that has nothing to do with hair. Children's author Monica Mikai grew up hearing it in her own father's shop, and turned it into a picture book, Haircut Day with Dad. She joins Esther Dillard to talk through everything that ritual actually teaches kids connection, identity, and gratitude long before they're old enough to notice they're learning it. In this episode, you'll hear: why Monica Mikai wrote Haircut Day with Dad, inspired by her father's barbershop; how barbershop culture compares to salon culture in her experience; why sound and sensory detail matter in the story; how the ritual helps fathers connect with their sons and builds emotional safety, confidence, and identity; what changed when families cut hair at home during COVID; and why she teaches kids to tip and show gratitude. Music: Licensed via Artlist.io Guest links: Haircut Day with Dad (order the book) https://amzn.to/3TdG956. Monica Mikai monicamikai.com. Instagram @monicamikai. For educators: free discussion resources drop first on Substack at substack.com/@iamestherdillard. Full guides and lesson plans live at ColorBtwLinesMarket on Etsy. If this conversation moved you, subscribe to The Color Between the Lines wherever you get your podcasts new episodes drop regularly. Your story matters. So does hers. Powered by Amplified Voices. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    What Kids Risk Missing Today If Haircut Day Is Just a Haircut | Monica Mikai

  4. Sep 1

    This Farmer Is Teaching 250,000 Families to Grow Their Own Food After SNAP Cuts

    About 4 million Americans have already lost their SNAP benefits, and states will soon have to absorb most of that cost themselves. In this episode of The Color Between the Lines, host Esther Dillard sits down with Bobby Wilson, CEO and co-founder of Metro Atlanta Urban Farm, whose organization fed 25,000 families during the pandemic and is now teaching 250,000 households how to grow their own food instead. Bobby talks about the moment the safety net started to disappear, why he named his new conference PLANTED after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s phrase "the fierce urgency of now," how grow bags make food independence possible without a yard, and the 15-year relationship with an HBCU that turned into a full-scale conference. He also shares the story of driving through the night to get one student enrolled at Alcorn State University. Listen for Bobby's practical advice on starting your own grow bag this fall, his vision for a movement bigger than gardening, and why he says "if not now, then when." Learn more or get involved: MetroAtlantaUrbanFarm.org BobbyMAUF@gmail.com 404-788-2432Free resources and discussion guides: substack.com/@iamestherdillard #SNAPBenefits #SNAPCuts #FoodInsecurity #UrbanFarming #GrowYourOwnFood #BlackFarmers #FoodJustice #MetroAtlantaUrbanFarm #PLANTEDConference #ClarkAtlantaUniversity #HBCU #FoodSecurity #GrowBags #CommunityGardening #SustainableFarming #FoodDesert #AtlantaGeorgia #TheColorBetweenTheLines #EstherDillard #BlackInformationNetwork Powered by Amplified Voices. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    This Farmer Is Teaching 250,000 Families to Grow Their Own Food After SNAP Cuts

  5. Aug 25

    The Gene Therapy Curing Sickle Cell Disease | Rickey’s Story

    This is the story of a new gene therapy curing sickle cell disease. One morning, Dr. Lametra Scott nudged her husband awake and said, Look at his eyes. For the first time in years, the whites of her son Rickeys eyes were actually white the sign she had been watching for every morning, before any test could confirm what she already felt in her heart. Sickle cell disease has been documented in medical textbooks for more than a hundred years, and it disproportionately affects Black and Hispanic Americans. For most of that history, doctors could manage the pain but not change the disease. That changed when the FDA approved a new gene-editing therapy, first for patients 12 and older, and this July for children as young as 2. In this episode, Rickeys mother, pharmacist Dr. Lametra Scott, and Dr. Haydar Frangoul, who directs the Pediatric Hematology, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplant program at TriStar Centennial Childrens Hospital in Nashville, take us through what it actually took: the diagnosis, the daily fear of a fever or a pain crisis, the month in the hospital, the chemotherapy, and the moment they knew it had worked. Dr. Frangoul also explains how the therapy uses CRISPR gene-editing technology, and why one state Alabama still isnt offering it to its residents. Learn More About Gene Therapy for Sickle Cell DiseaseFDA approval announcement Casgevy patient information (Vertex Pharmaceuticals) Sickle Cell Disease Association of America CDC Sickle Cell Disease NIH / NHLBI Sickle Cell Disease CMS Cell and Gene Therapy Access Model (state Medicaid coverage) For EducatorsNew educator guides and discussion resources are added regularly at my Etsy shop, The Color Between the Lines Market. Free resources are also available through my Substack. SubscribeSubscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you don't miss the next episode. #SickleCellDisease #GeneTherapy #CRISPR #Casgevy #SickleCellWarrior #SickleCellAwareness #BlackHealth #HealthEquity #RareDisease #MedicalBreakthrough #BlackMotherhood #BlackFamilies #TheColorBetweenTheLines #HopeIsOnTheWay #GeneEditing #StemCellTransplant #BlackExcellence #PatientAdvocacy Powered by Amplified Voices. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    The Gene Therapy Curing Sickle Cell Disease | Rickey’s Story

  6. Aug 18

    A Queer Preacher Is Changing Black Churches | Rev. Don Abram

    Rev. Don Abram says the policies gutting HIV funding right now are "death dealing." In this conversation, he walks through the three-year, university-backed study proving Black churches can be the ones to change that and explains why a queer preacher ended up leading the work. In this episode, you'll hear: the three-year study Toward Pride ran with Southern Illinois UniversityEdwardsville; how churches moved from "Antagonizing" to "Advocate" on a five-point scale; what the Faith, HIV and AIDS Advocacy Fellowship (FHIV) actually funded; why Black women are half of new HIV diagnoses and what churches are doing about it; what's happened to HIV funding and testing access under current federal policy; and what Abram says communities can do right now. Abram cites a 28% increase in affirming policies and practices at partner churches his figure, from the study's internal data. Music: "Let's Groove" by Hotham is licensed under a Creative Commons License. License: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbWh7zPj9LI Stream: https://linktr.ee/hothammusic Support by RFM - NCM: https://bit.ly/2xGHypM Guest links: Toward Pride https://www.towardpride.org. Instagram & Facebook @towardpride. For educators: free resources and the full study drop first on Substack at substack.com/@iamestherdillard. Full guides and lesson plans live at ColorBtwLinesMarket on Etsy. Powered by Amplified Voices. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    A Queer Preacher Is Changing Black Churches | Rev. Don Abram

  7. Aug 4

    Race for a Kidney: A Pastor's Fight to Live

    Pastor Steven Mills has already survived two cancers. Now the treatment that saved his life has left him fighting for a kidney transplant that could take up to five years to find. In this episode, Pastor Mills of First Baptist Church in Garden City, Kansas shares his journey through Hodgkin's lymphoma, colon cancer, and now end-stage renal disease and what it means to keep showing up for his daughter when his body won't cooperate. Dr. Giselle Guerra, Medical Director of Transplant Services at the Miami Transplant Institute, joins the conversation to explain HLA sensitization, why Black patients often wait longer for a compatible kidney, and what it truly costs to become a living donor. This is a story about survival, faith, and the fight to be present for the people who need us most. Pastor Mills has a GoFundMe set up to help cover what insurance doesn't link and living donor information in the episode notes. New episodes of The Color Between the Lines release weekly, wherever you get your podcasts. #KidneyTransplant #LivingDonor #HLASensitization #KidneyDisease #Dialysis #OrganDonation #BlackHealth #HealthDisparities #FaithAndHealing #TheColorBetweenTheLines Powered by Amplified Voices. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    Race for a Kidney: A Pastor's Fight to Live

  8. Jul 30

    Good News for Black America 2026 | 6 Wins You Didn't Hear About

    Good news for the Black community doesn't always make the headlines. Six months into 2026, there have already been real wins worth knowing about, in health, history, justice, land ownership, and economics. In this episode, Esther Dillard counts down six verified stories from this year: a man who bought the very prison that once held him and turned it into a place that helps others rebuild, a team of Black surgeons who made history leading one of the country's top trauma units, a scientific breakthrough finally offering hope for a disease that has affected Black families for generations, a small coastal Georgia community that fought to keep land its families have held since Emancipation, and a look at why an entire continent is quietly posting some of the fastest economic growth in the world. This is the first episode of Wins Report, a new recurring segment from The Color Between the Lines built around one idea: the world is not only what the headlines tell you it is. More from The Color Between the Lines: substack.com/@iamestherdillard Shop educator bundles: etsy.com/shop/ColorBtwLinesMarket Powered by Amplified Voices. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    Good News for Black America 2026 | 6 Wins You Didn't Hear About
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About

The Color Between the Lines with Esther Dillard is a storytelling podcast that explores the histories, voices, and truths that often go unheard—but deeply shape our world. Hosted by award-winning journalist and educator Esther Dillard, the show features thoughtful conversations with authors, activists, cultural leaders, and change-makers who use story to inform, challenge, and connect. Each episode goes beyond headlines to uncover the deeper context behind culture, history, and current events—helping listeners understand not just what happened, but why it matters. Listeners come away with a clearer understanding of how storytelling influences public opinion, policy, education, and identity. The podcast also offers insight into how stories can be used more intentionally—in advocacy, leadership, creative work, and everyday life—to communicate with clarity, build trust, and create impact. If you’re curious about history, culture, and the power of narrative to shape perspective and possibility, The Color Between the Lines invites you to listen more closely—and hear what’s always been there.

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