7 Classic podcast episodes for Black History Month

October is Black History Month in the UK, and we decided to dedicate The Old Testament section of our latest magazine to it. Check out these 7 classic episodes from the podcast archives exploring Black history.

In Search of Black History with Bonnie Greer
Ep. 1 // Bones Do Not Lie // Dec 2019

Bonnie Greer’s eight-part exploration of stories that have historically been sidelined or outright erased goes right back to the beginning of human history – indeed, even before then. We start 300,000 years ago with the very earliest of human ancestors, and Geer challenges long held presumptions, misapprehension, and straight-up lies with an almost meditative approach. which makes the regular surprises land all the harder. There’s real joy in the way that Greer opens out the human story to include all of us. Listen now on Audible >>

Human Resources
The Tree of Life // May 2021

In this stand-out series from Broccoli Productions, Moya Lothian-McLean contextualises the impact of the transatlantic slave trade on daily life in modern Britain. ‘The Tree of Life’ focuses on one of England’s greatest minds, Sir Isaac Newton, and his links to Britain’s slaving past such as the ‘slave triangle’ that allowed him to collect information for his studies. Enlightening interviews with experts alongside Moya’s engaging presentation style make this episodes, and the rest of the series, well worth checking out. Listen now on your podcast app >>

Code Switch
Black Kiss-tory // Feb 2021

Coode Switch jumps with both feet into the most livewire topics around race and society, and here hosts Shereen Marisol Meraji and Karen Grisby Bates use the Netflix period romance Bridgerton to delve into how Black romances set through history are essential for expanding ideas of Black lives in the past beyond pain and suffering. “Black romance thrives on complexity and nuance, on Black solidarity and achievement, on the triumph of everyday life lived well in spite of the odds, ” as the critic Carole Bell points out. Listen now on your podcast app >>

Pod Save The People
Edward Snowden // May 2017

The thoughtful explorations of social justice, politics and publis policy which DeRay McKesson and regular co-hosts Samuel Sinyangwe, Clint Smith and Brittany Packnett take on each week are always worth dropping in fro if you want t take the temperature of the US on anything that’s worth knowing. But dig into the archives for illuminating interviews with the likes of John Legend, Rev Al Sharpton, and this one with Edward Snowden, which is particularly good on the intersection of race and surveillance. Listen now on your podcast app >>

1619
Episode 1 // The Fight for a True Democracy // Aug 2019

1619 tells the important story of the history of American slavery and the birth of a new nation, with episode one focusing on the very beginning and the first ship to arrive in the English colony of Virginia with more than 20 enslaved Africans. Told with clarity and feeling and accompanied by stirring sound design, narrator Nikole Hannah-Jones lays the foundations for the rest of the series as she begins her examination into the long shadow of that fateful moment. Listen now on your podcast app >>

Louder Than a Riot
The Conspiracy Against Hip-Hop // Oct 2020

A decade ago, in April 2012, an explosive, anonymous email started to land in inboxes. It was titled ‘The Secret Meeting That Changed Rap Music and Destroyed a Generation’, and it laid our the accusation that in the late 1990s industry insiders and representatives from the prison system conspired to make music that promoted and glamourised criminal activities. The idea, the email said, was to pack the prision system for decades to comes. But was it real? Louder Than a Riot investigates… Listen now on your podcast app >>

Witness Black History
The killing of Amadou Diallo // Dec 2019

Powerful stories told by the people that witnessed them, or have direct links to those who were there, Witness Black History is a BBC World Service show that was created to accompany their popular Witness History series. In this episode we meet Kadiatou Diallo, the mother of Amadou Diallo who waws shot 41 times by the NYPD in 1999,leading to mass protests across New York. Kadiatou tells both Amadou’s and her own stories, with a focus on celebrating the way her son lived, rather than how he died. Listen now on your podcast app >>

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Want more Black history classics? Check out our Spotify playlist of Black history podcasts looking at the unrecounted nuances of black history, and powerful stories that have been forgotten.

Head to our Shop to pick up a copy of Pod Bible magazine for more recommendations, interviews and reviews.