Notes from America with Kai Wright

Not Just Forgotten, but Erased From History: A Final Note from Notes from America


Listen Later

This is the last episode of Notes from America with Kai Wright.

If you’ve been with the show through its multi-year history and iterations as a NYC-based narrative podcast and local call-in show called The United States of Anxiety before becoming a nationally distributed program, then you may remember the conversation in this finale.

It’s with cultural historian, Columbia University professor and MacArthur fellow Saidiya Hartman, who introduces host Kai Wright to young women whose lives were obscured by respectability politics. Hartman is the author of "Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women, and Queer Radicals," which offers an intimate look into some of the Black people that have been seemingly erased from the history books. 

Through a series of readings, they explore the complicated role of Black intellectuals like W.E.B DuBois, the Black family and how a damaging moralism continues to inform the policing of marginalized communities, public space and American cultural politics today.

This episode was originally published as “The ‘Beautiful Experiments’ Left Out of Black History” on February 8, 2021.

Find Notes From America’s archive of episodes here, including the following companion listening for this episode:

Faith Ringgold Creates Space for Black Americans” (1/5/2023)

Faith Ringgold’s art is an intimate dialogue and debate between generations of Black women, stretching from the formerly enslaved to today.

Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at [email protected]. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or record one here.

Notes from America airs live on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Notes from America with Kai WrightBy WNYC Studios

  • 4.3
  • 4.3
  • 4.3
  • 4.3
  • 4.3

4.3

1,538 ratings


More shows like Notes from America with Kai Wright

View all
Science Friday by Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Science Friday

6,097 Listeners

On the Media by WNYC Studios

On the Media

9,105 Listeners

The Brian Lehrer Show by WNYC

The Brian Lehrer Show

1,537 Listeners

Radiolab by WNYC Studios

Radiolab

43,940 Listeners

This American Life by This American Life

This American Life

90,618 Listeners

Fresh Air by NPR

Fresh Air

38,173 Listeners

Death, Sex & Money by Slate Podcasts

Death, Sex & Money

7,703 Listeners

Reveal by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX

Reveal

8,213 Listeners

Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts by Slate Podcasts

Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts

3,491 Listeners

Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

Hidden Brain

43,367 Listeners

The New Yorker Radio Hour by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

The New Yorker Radio Hour

6,608 Listeners

Code Switch by NPR

Code Switch

14,534 Listeners

More Perfect by WNYC Studios

More Perfect

14,426 Listeners

It's Been a Minute by NPR

It's Been a Minute

8,923 Listeners

Spooked by KQED and Snap Studios

Spooked

16,355 Listeners

The Anthropocene Reviewed by Complexly, John Green

The Anthropocene Reviewed

9,296 Listeners

Throughline by NPR

Throughline

15,973 Listeners

Dolly Parton's America by WNYC Studios & OSM Audio

Dolly Parton's America

16,347 Listeners

Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast by WNYC Studios

Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast

673 Listeners

Radiolab for Kids by WNYC

Radiolab for Kids

1,016 Listeners

The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

The Ezra Klein Show

15,216 Listeners

The Interview by The New York Times

The Interview

1,447 Listeners