Episodes
Aug. 7, 2024
Project 2025: America's Dystopian Future
Show Notes Project 2025 is like systemic racism on steroids, and it’s the playbook developed by the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation that the ultra right wants to implement within days of a GOP candidate winning t…
Oct. 23, 2023
Not A Goodbye
Join Dr. Carol François and Kourtney Square as they reminisce about their three years recording Why Are They So Angry? episodes and creating the WATSA? ecosphere. They’ll stroll down memory lane to tell which episodes were f…
Aug. 7, 2023
Menace of the Midway
The carnival dunking booths used to be a midway staple, but that seemingly innocent amusement has a sinister and racist history. Join Dr. Carol François and Kourtney Square as they expose the horrific side of carnivals and w…
July 14, 2023
Gutting Affirmative Action
The landmark Supreme Court decision making it illegal to use race as a factor in college and university admissions is sending shockwaves through America. Listen as Dr. Carol François and Kourtney Square dissect how the rulin…
June 19, 2023
Artificial Interference
Are new technologies exacerbating societal inequities and even reinforcing systemic racism? What role is facial recognition playing in government oversight and policing of citizens? How is reliance on algorithms undermining …
June 5, 2023
Birthing Pains
Resistance to the American form of chattel slavery took many forms. Listen as Dr. Carol François and Kourtney Square illuminate the history of antebellum midwifery and its role in resisting forced breeding of enslaved women …
April 3, 2023
Resistance! Resistance! Resistance!
Nearly 179 years ago, Rev. Henry Highland Garnett declared to Black enslaved people, “Let your motto be resistance! resistance! RESISTANCE!” Black people have resisted historic and ongoing oppression in all forms, especially…
Feb. 27, 2023
Washerwomen Uprisings
Did you know Mississippi’s first ever labor union was formed in 1866 by a group of Black washerwomen? Join Dr. Carol François and Kourtney Square as they tell about the impact these women and their strike had on labor moveme…
Feb. 24, 2023
American Black Film Festival Competition
We’re delighted to share with you our entry into the American Black Film Festival (ABFF) Podcast Competition. Listen here and wish us luck! ---
Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/carol-francois/support
Jan. 30, 2023
Rosewood Massacre Remembered
Shortly after the Civil War and as recently as 1954, whites exercised systemic racism against Blacks through violent expulsions, land grabs, and terrorism robbing them of land, property, and businesses. Many times these terr…
Nov. 28, 2022
Year End Wrap Up
The 2022 year is winding down, so join Dr. Carol François and Kourtney Square, her niece, as they wrap up season three with a look back on and update about some of the year’s episodes. They’ll also make gift and reading reco…
Nov. 7, 2022
Roses for Rosie
You’ve probably seen the iconic poster of a white woman in a red bandanna proudly flexing her muscles with the words “We Can Do It” emblazoned across the top. The poster became known as Rosie the Riveter. Few know that image…
Oct. 26, 2022
Can We Rest in Peace?
If you think Halloween is scary, listen as Dr. Carol François and Kourtney Square tell real horror stories of how African American cemeteries have been desecrated, destroyed, and disrespected through grave robbing and gentri…
Sept. 27, 2022
History Crawling into the Present
If you’ve never heard of the Reverse Freedom Rides of 1962, you’re not alone. Join Dr. Carol François and Kourtney Square as they tell this hidden history of how Southern segregationists tricked Blacks into boarding buses bo…
Sept. 19, 2022
Surviving a PWI
Choosing, applying to, and getting accepted into a college or university is fraught with stress as well as excitement. The process is doubly challenging for Black students who often face personal racist acts and systemic rac…
Aug. 29, 2022
Is It Really a Choice?
If you think the school choice movement and policies are about allowing parents to use tax dollars to get the best education for their children, you’d better listen to this episode to hear what’s really going on. Join Dr. Ca…
Aug. 15, 2022
Extra! Extra! Read All About It!
Black owned newspapers have been community bedrocks for sharing issues, news, and concerns since 1827. Join Dr. Carol François and Kourtney Square as they tell about a courageous female journalist who was terrorized and thre…
Aug. 1, 2022
The Oyster King
Since the time of the ancient empires of Western Africa until the present, Black business people and entrepreneurs have created wealth and prosperity for their communities. Listen as Dr. Carol François and Kourtney Square de…
July 4, 2022
The North's Secret Shame
Join Dr. Carol François and Kourtney Square as they debunk the myth that chattel slavery was not practice in Northern American states. You’ll also hear the riveting story of Ona Judge and the surprising founding father who …
June 19, 2022
Fathers: Wise, Witty, Wonderful
Mothers seem to get all the play, but fathers need love too! Join Dr. Carol François and her niece Kourtney Square as they pay homage to the often unsung hero—the Black father. The team will debunk the myth of the absentee f…
June 9, 2022
The Taxing Truth
Taxes and slavery are intertwined in ways most people can't imagine. Join Dr. Carol François and Kourtney Square as they trace how taxing plantation owners on the enslaved people they held in bondage lead to economic shortco…
May 30, 2022
Tulsa to Buffalo: Where Can We Be Safe?
Few can fathom what was lost in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. The prosperous, all-Black district of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, known as “Black Wall Street" was 35 bustling city blocks that included two newspapers, pool ha…
May 16, 2022
Banking While Black
After the Civil War, the Freedmen’s Bureau and its bank were established to help transition newly freed enslaved Blacks into citizenry. Unfortunately, the Bureau and its bank had a sordid, corrupt history that marked the beg…
March 21, 2022
America's Berlin Walls Reprise
America had its own versions of the Berlin Wall, in fact there are twenty-six existing, demolished or planned segregation walls, fences, road barricades/closures, and buffer strips in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Florid…