IPPH On Air

For the final episode on James Madison, Former D.C Mayor, Sharon Pratt hosts the "Where Do We Go From Here Symposium" live from Montpelier, the home of James Madison.

The historic discussion includes guests:
Michael Steele (Former RNC Chair, MSNBC political analyst and former Lt. Gov., Md)
James French, Chair, Montpelier Foundation Board of Directors
Professor Hasan Jeffries, Associate Professor of History, The Ohio State University, and Vice Chair Montpelier Foundation
Dr. Tyson Reeder: Assistant Professor and Assistant Editor, Papers of James Madison, The University of Virginia
Dr. Holly Cowan Shulman, Associate Professor for Studies in Women and Gender at the University of Virginia and author “Dolley Madison: Her Life, Letters, and Legacy.”

Coming up next: Thomas Jefferson and the role he played in establishing the Nation’s Capital in the South, along the banks of the Potomac.

In episode four of the Founding Fathers' Legacy Series, Former Washington D.C Mayor Sharon Pratt engages in a deeper dive around Madison’s legacy – in particular how his legacy is complicated by his enslavement of men, women, and children on his plantation.

In 2019, the Montpelier Descendants Committee was established to ensure the narratives of the enslaved at Montpelier are remembered and honored. The Montpelier Descendants Committee is the “nation’s first independent, descendant led organization to be associated with a major historic site.” Until recently, the histories and memories of enslaved peoples have been amazingly excluded from reflection and interpretation at any of the iconic founding father sites, while the question of who gets to tell history has always been – and likely will always be – rife with tensions.

Sharon Pratt speaks with James French, chairman of the Montpelier Foundation Board of Directors and Founding Chairman of the Montpelier Descendants Committee.

For the final episode on James Madison, James French joins Michael Steele and Mayor Pratt at Montpelier for a live event, with Dr. Hasan Jeffries, Dr. Tyson Reeder and Dr. Holly Shulman.

In episode three of the Founding Fathers' Legacy Series, Former Washington D.C Mayor Sharon Pratt examines Montpelier, the family home of James Madison and the place that shaped his life. It is a place where he spent countless hours drafting iterations of his vision for a strong national government. It is also a place which embodies the paradoxes of the American Revolution – the fight for liberty while aggressively preserving the practice of slavery.

Sharon Pratt speaks with Dr. Matthew Reeves, Director of Archaeology and Landscape Restoration at Montpelier for over 20 years. Dr. Reeves works to excavate the stories of those who were essential to America's (and certainly Madison's) economic progress.

She also speaks with Dr. Holly Cowan Shulman, who is the Editor of The Dolley Madison Digital Edition at the University of Virginia, the first ever complete edition of Dolley Madison's own correspondence. Her diligent scholarship provides new insights into the Madison’s as partners and their experiences at Montpelier.

Next episode, we will delve into James Madison’s legacy with James French, the Chairman of the Montpelier Foundation Board of Directors and founding Chairman of the Montpelier Descendant Committee.

In episode two of the Founding Fathers' Legacy Series, Former Washington D.C Mayor Sharon Pratt examines the world of revolutionary America, learning more about the political, social, and economic environment the Founding Fathers operated in.

Sharon Pratt speaks with Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky, a presidential historian and award-winning author of "The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution" about the early, unsettling period for our new nation, the competing ideas and symbolic importance of the new nation's capital. She also speaks with Dr. Woody Holton, the McCausland Professor of History at the University of South Carolina, about the decision to break from Great Britain and the outsize role of Virginians in the Revolution and then the new republic.

Next episode, we will hear more about these contradictions as we explore life at Montpelier – the lifelong home of our fourth president, “the father of the Constitution," James Madison.

To understand the establishment of the city of Washington, DC by our nation’s founders is to understand the promise of the American experience and the challenges that remain to achieve that more perfect union.

In the Founding Father Legacy Series, Sharon Pratt, former Mayor of Washington D.C, explores the history of the founding of our nation’s capital, the role of the founders in the city’s creation, and the enduring idea of Washington as a symbol of democracy around the world.

This Series will look at the three men who were key to the creation of the nation and the city that is its capital, Washington, DC. Episode I explores the least well-known of the three, James Madison, and the role he played in founding our nation's capital. Mayor Pratt speaks with Fergus Bordewich, author of "Washington: The Making of the American Capital," about the characters, the compromises, and the politics of the new American capital.

The panel discusses causes for and possible solutions to the wealth divide between African-Americans and the rest of the US population. Features in-depth interviews with and bonus discussions Shawn Rochester (author of The Black Tax), Heather McGhee (author of The Sum of Us), and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.

Why is America an outlier in the world when it comes to gun violence and passion for gun ownership? What is the true origin of the second amendment? Find out the answer to these questions and more on this week's State of Play featuring interviews and bonus discussions with historian Dr. Carol Anderson author of The Second; Jocelyn Kiley of the Pew Research Center; Allison Anderman, Senior Counsel at the Giffords Law Center; Kourtney Redmond, President of the 761st Gun Club; and, anti gun violence advocate, Pastor Michael McBride.

The digital divide is just the beginning of the problems faced by black people because of the technology industry. Find out more about the consequences of and potential solutions for the technology gap. Interview guests include Dr. Nicol Turner Lee, Dr. Ruha Benjamin, Dr. Allison Scott, and Dean Devdas Shetty

Black Voters Matter co-founder, LaTosha Brown asks Mayor Pratt and her co-hosts about the fight for voting rights and the fight for D.C. Statehood

Mayor Pratt speaks with Kevin Merida, ESPN Senior Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of the sports blog The Undefeated and Bijan Bayne, award-winning Washington-based freelance columnist, critic, author and IPPH Resident Fellow in Sports. They discuss the tradition of protest in America (Boston Tea Party) and how that protest has been leveraged in sports.