I’ve always been told by my Black American friends that Black history needs to be understood through music. Well I’ve tried, but I’m not musically gifted and China Anne McClain’s Black history bit in A.N.T. Farm was as far as my ungifted self could understand through music until now. Instead, I read books, like “Caste” and listened to podcasts, like “1918” as the information-gathering that best approximated what the Black experience that they wanted me to feel.
But those mostly isolated the experiences of trauma, not life in all of its complexity and richness and connection and insightful life lessons. This is the bridge I needed to understand Black history in the way that my friends wanted me to understand, to feel the music and to understand the culture and life experiences through the music. Thank you for building this bridge. This podcast is absolutely beautiful in both its rhythmic poetry and its heart-felt insightfulness.
As a White American living in Kenya with my Rwandan-born/DR Congo-grown partner, I have enough life experiences to believe that you are doing all the stories justice with absolute care and insightfulness. Beautiful. Thank you for this gift. I have always needed this.
