Black Washed History

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Black history doesn't preserve itself.

Behind every archive, museum exhibition, oral history collection, and historical document are people, institutions, technology, and funding that make preservation possible.

In this episode of Black Washed History, Brittany Wilkins examines three recent developments that reveal different sides of the infrastructure behind Black historical preservation: changes affecting Northwestern University's Program of African Studies, a proposed public funding model supporting Detroit's Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and Detroit Historical Society, and a community effort preserving the stories and artifacts of early Black settlers in Michigan.

Together, these stories raise a larger question: Who is responsible for ensuring Black history survives for future generations?

Because the history we can access today exists because someone chose to steward it yesterday.

What are we stewarding for tomorrow?

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Reparations has been debated for generations. What gets debated less is what "repair" is actually supposed to do.

In this episode, we look at repatriation as a case study. Not the idea of it, the architecture of it. What happens when a right of return meets the reality of citizenship, land, and belonging built somewhere else for four hundred years.

Ghana's Right of Abode law. The Caribbean Community Reparations Commission. A naming ceremony and a Queen Mother title that taught one difference between origin and home.

This is not a history of what was taken. It is a look at what it would actually cost to give something back.

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In this episode of Black Washed History, Brittany Wilkins reflects on her experience attending the Indiana Black Expo Black Film Festival, where this year's theme, Beyond the Frame: Black Voices Amplified, explored the power of storytelling to preserve history and shape historical awareness.

Through two compelling documentaries, One Month Isn't Enough and Getting Wins, Brittany examines what it means to move beyond familiar narratives and ask better questions about the Black experience. From the overlooked legacy of Black Hoosiers to modern-day community organizing in Nashville, this conversation explores how history is not only something we inherit but something we continue to create.

This episode challenges listeners to think beyond the stories we revisit every February and consider the voices, communities, and contributions that remain untold.

In this episode, you'll discover:

Why storytelling is essential to preserving history

Lessons from One Month Isn't Enough and Getting Wins

The importance of uncovering overlooked Black history

How today's communities are actively shaping tomorrow's history

Why historical awareness begins with curiosity

Ready to discover where you are on your own journey of historical awareness?

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Discover your Historical Awareness Profile in just a few minutes. Take the free assessment and receive personalized insights into your connection with Black history.

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Most of us were taught that slavery ended with the 13th Amendment and America simply moved forward.

But what happened after emancipation?

In this episode of Black Washed History, Brittany Wilkins continues The System Beneath the System series by exploring one of the least discussed chapters in American history: convict leasing.

After studying constitutional law, Reconstruction, and the documentary Slavery by Another Name, Brittany examines how freedom written into law did not always translate into freedom in practice. Through the lens of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, she explores the gap between legal equality and lived reality, introducing listeners to the systems that emerged after slavery and the questions they continue to raise today.

This episode is not about assigning blame.

It's about asking better historical questions.

When one system disappears... what replaces it?

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Most people know the image. The speeches. The Nation of Islam. The photograph with the rifle near the window.

What they know less is the man Malcolm X was becoming.

This month marks the 101st birthday of Malcolm X. In past episodes we have explored his speeches, philosophy, and personal reflections. But this episode focuses on something deeper; not simply who Malcolm was, but who he was evolving into during the final years of his life.

By 1964, Malcolm was traveling across Africa and the Middle East, meeting with revolutionaries, heads of state, journalists, and liberation movements. He was studying anti-colonial struggles and building international relationships that stretched far beyond the borders of the United States.

He was no longer framing the Black struggle in America strictly as a civil rights issue. He was preparing to present it before the world as a human rights violation.

That changed everything.

Because once the struggle became international, America could no longer control the narrative inside its own borders.

This episode also explores the environment surrounding Malcolm during this period; Cold War politics, government surveillance, disputed intelligence connections, and the mysterious figures who entered Malcolm’s orbit during the final chapter of his life.

He was only thirty-nine years old.

Still growing.
Still evolving.
Still becoming more dangerous to the systems watching him.

That is not a footnote to Malcolm’s story.

It is the part of the story most people were never taught.

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We’re taught that the Constitution defines our rights, limits power, and guarantees equality.

On paper, it’s clear.

But what happens when what’s written doesn’t match what’s experienced?

In this opening episode of The System Beneath the System, Brittany Wilkins breaks down constitutional law not as theory, but as a lived reality. From a high school assignment that once felt like busy work to a deeper examination of how the law is applied, this episode challenges a core assumption many of us carry without question.

If equality has been written into law for over a century, why are the outcomes still uneven?

This isn’t about debate. It’s about observation.

Because the issue isn’t always what the law says.

It’s how the system operates around it.

And more importantly, how that system shapes you long before you ever have a chance to navigate it.

If the rules are equal, but the outcomes are not…

what else is shaping the result?

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James Baldwin declared, “I am not your Negro.” It was not a plea. It was a refusal.

But refusal does not dismantle a system.

In this episode, we move beyond documentary commentary and confront a harder question: Has America changed its structure — or only its vocabulary?

Through Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript Remember This House and the lives of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr., this episode explores how power adapts, how language evolves, and why history is not something we look back on — but something carried forward in the present.

This is not nostalgia.
It is structural clarity.

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Black history doesn’t begin or end with one nation—it’s a global story of resilience and resistance.
In this episode of Black Washed History, we travel to 1970s Notting Hill, where a small Caribbean restaurant called The Mangrove became the frontline of Britain’s civil rights movement.

Twelve police raids.
Nine activists.
One trial that changed the course of British justice.

Discover how Frank Crichlow, Altheia Jones-LeCointe, Darcus Howe, Barbara Beese, and others transformed a courtroom into a battleground for truth — forcing the British legal system to confront its own racial bias for the first time.

🎙️ Black Washed History is where we reclaim, retell, and rebuild the narratives history tried to erase.

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Black Washed History is where erased stories are unveiled, buried truths are reclaimed, and history is seen for what it truly is: a living, breathing force that continues to shape our world.

Hosted by Brittany Wilkins, this podcast explores some of the most powerful Black history stories of 2025—from Harvard legal proceedings over enslaved individuals, to Tulsa’s long-overdue reparations, to museums finally returning stolen artifacts.

This isn’t just history—it’s reclamation.

Each episode tells the truth behind the headlines, spotlighting the past and present through an unapologetically Black lens.
Because when you invest in your history, you begin to understand your destiny.

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Shots rang out in the Audubon Ballroom—and one of the most powerful voices in Black history was silenced. But while Malcolm X’s life was cut short, his legacy was never buried.

In this episode of Black Washed History, we don’t just mourn the man—we learn from him. From his early struggles and prison transformation to his pilgrimage to Mecca and evolution into a global human rights advocate, Malcolm X left behind a blueprint for personal power and collective liberation.

Join us as we uncover 10 timeless lessons Malcolm taught us about identity, truth, growth, and the fight for justice. His voice may have been silenced in 1965—but his message still echoes louder than ever.

📌 Topics Covered:

• The power of identity and self-knowledge
• How education freed Malcolm before the system ever did
• Why his pilgrimage to Mecca changed everything
• Growth, betrayal, and choosing integrity over comfort
• And why your voice may be your most powerful weapon

🔊 Listen now—and stay washed in truth.

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