America Together: Celebrating Diversity Podcast

Keisha Lance Bottoms is looking to make history, but she’s no stranger to it. When she took office as Atlanta’s mayor in 2018, she became the first person of any race to serve in all three branches of Atlanta government, having been a judge and a City Council member. This year, she is seeking to do what no Black woman in 250 years of American history has done: be elected governor.

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We all know the story of Jesse Owens triumphing over Hitler's "Aryan supremacy" at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. But do you know who stood on the podium right next to him? We shine a light on the silver medalists whose stories are often overlooked: Ralph Metcalfe, who went on to found the Congressional Black Caucus, and Mack Robinson, whose athletic prowess likely inspired his younger brother—Jackie Robinson.

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Granville T. Woods was more than just a brilliant inventor; he was a pioneer who reshaped modern transportation. Known as the "Black Edison," Woods rose from childhood poverty in Ohio to hold over 60 patents that transformed the world of engineering.

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Breaking down the latest Forbes 400 list to explore a historic shift in American wealth. We dive into the rise of Alex Karp, the co-founder and CEO of Palantir Technologies, David Steward (World Wide Technology), and private equity powerhouse Robert F. Smith (Vista Equity Partners).

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Whenever you check your video doorbell or arm your alarm system, you are using technology pioneered by Marie Van Brittan Brown. Working as a nurse in 1960s Queens, New York, she faced the danger of coming home at odd hours. She and her husband Albert designed a revolutionary system using peepholes, cameras, two-way audio, and remote locks.

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After a deliberate fire nearly destroyed Memphis' historic Clayborn Temple last April, the community wasted no time in starting the journey to rebuild. We cover the immediate response from Mayor Paul Young and the collaborative push to secure funding from city, federal, and philanthropic sources to save the site where the 1968 Sanitation Strike was organized. We also feature the pivotal moment when Brent Leggs, from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, announced a massive $1.5 million grant to aid the restoration.

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Clayborn Temple is more than just a building; it is a hallowed institution of the Civil Rights movement in Memphis. It was the headquarters for the historic sanitation strike that brought Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to the city, and the basement where the iconic "I AM A MAN" signs were created. We also cover the tragic recent arson that destroyed the interior of this landmark, and the resilient community effort now underway to redesign, rebuild, and resurrect the structure from its surviving framework.

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Just two years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act, Carl Stokes achieved what many thought impossible: he became the first Black American elected mayor of a major U.S. city. In 1967, against "great odds," Stokes won over Cleveland, Ohio, through a historic coalition of Black support and white participation. . We also trace his path from City Hall to the global stage as a U.S. Ambassador under President Clinton, and look at his lasting legacy in downtown Cleveland today.

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Barbara Johns was just a high school student in Virginia when she decided enough was enough. Frustrated by the stark inequality between her all-Black school and the facilities white students received, she organized a student strike in 1951 that would change the course of American history.

Her action drew the support of the NAACP and became one of the five cases combined into the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. In this episode, we trace her journey from that high school hallway to the U.S. Capitol, where her statue now stands in place of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

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In America's 250th year, we are marking a convergence of historic anniversaries. This episode explores the century-long evolution of Black History Month, from Carter G. Woodson’s original vision 100 years ago to the official presidential recognitions by Gerald Ford (50 years ago) and Ronald Reagan (40 years ago). Join us as we look at how a single week of "Negro History" evolved into a month-long national remembrance of dignity and the past.

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