Episode 31: How to Open | The U.S. Open, New York City & the Black History Along the Way

How do you do the U.S. Open?

For me, going to the Open has become about much more than tennis. It is a New York experience, a chance to enjoy the city, spend time in Harlem, eat some wonderful food, hear great music and, because you know me, discover more of the Black history that surrounds us.

I am actually a relatively new tennis fan. But one of the things that has drawn me into the sport is its history. Learning about the people who fought to play, competed when the doors were not always open to them, and ultimately changed the game has made watching tennis even more meaningful to me.

So in this episode of Our Truth. Our History. Our Story., I am sharing how I do the Open.

Come with me to New York as I share some of the ways I enjoy the U.S. Open and the city around it. We will talk tennis, travel, food, music and, of course, history.

One of our stops is Red Rooster Harlem, where food and culture come together with some extraordinary music. I had the opportunity to enjoy the talented vocalists and musicians of Sing Harlem!, the award-winning artist collective and breakout choir of Mama Foundation for the Arts. Sing Harlem! gives graduates of Mama Foundation's music training and artist-development programs opportunities to perform professionally, and its longstanding partnership with Red Rooster has made the group's music part of the restaurant's Harlem experience.

That's part of what I love about New York. History isn't confined to a museum or a history book. Sometimes you find it at a tennis match. Sometimes you hear it in the music. Sometimes you taste it in the food. And sometimes you discover it simply by paying attention to where you are.

Whether you're a longtime tennis fan, new to the game like me, or planning your first trip to the U.S. Open, let me show you How to Open.

LINKS & RESOURCES

Watch Episode 31: How to Open

Rita Coburn & W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause

Our Truth. Our History. Our Story. RSS Feed

Sing Harlem!

Red Rooster Harlem

FEATURED LOCATIONS

USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Queens, New York

PEOPLE, MUSIC & HISTORY

Sing Harlem! The award-winning artist collective and musical breakout choir of Mama Foundation for the Arts. The group grew from Mama Foundation's music education and artist-development programs and provides performance opportunities for developing and professional artists. Proceeds from Sing Harlem! performances support Mama Foundation's tuition-free music training programs in Harlem.

Mama Foundation for the Arts A Harlem cultural organization dedicated to preserving and promoting gospel, jazz and R&B while training and developing new generations of artists.

Red Rooster Harlem The Harlem restaurant at 310 Lenox Avenue that combines food, music and community and has a longstanding partnership with Mama Foundation and Sing Harlem!

Black Tennis History The generations of Black players and pioneers whose perseverance and excellence challenged barriers in tennis and helped create opportunities for the players who followed.

IN THIS EPISODE

How I discovered tennis and became a U.S. Open fan

HOW TO OPEN

You don't have to know everything about tennis to fall in love with the U.S. Open.

Go for the tennis, but experience the city.

Walk around. Eat. Listen to the music. Meet people. Learn something you didn't know before.

And pay attention to the history.

Because when we understand who came before us and what it took for them to get there, we experience the people playing today differently.

That's what Our Truth. Our History. Our Story. is about.

History is everywhere.

You just have to know where to look.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Host: Rita Coburn

2026 RCW Media Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

EPISODE 30

2026 U.S. OPEN | THE BLACK TENNIS HISTORY BEHIND TODAYS CHAMPIONS

The 2026 U.S. Open made history, but the story of Black tennis in America began long before today's champions stepped onto the courts of Arthur Ashe Stadium.

In this episode of Our Truth. Our History. Our Story., Rita Coburn takes us from the segregated tennis courts of the early 20th century to the 2026 U.S. Open, tracing the Black athletes who challenged barriers, changed the game and created opportunities for the champions we watch today.

The journey begins with the American Tennis Association, founded in 1916 because segregation prevented Black players from competing in many of America's leading tennis tournaments.

We remember Ora Washington, one of the greatest Black athletes of her generation, and Althea Gibson, who broke one of tennis's most visible racial barriers when she became the first Black player to compete in the U.S. National Championships in 1950.

Then came Arthur Ashe.

In 1968, Ashe became the first Black man to win the men's singles championship at the U.S. Open. Today, the largest tennis stadium in the world bears his name.

The generations that followed continued to push the game forward: Zina Garrison, MaliVai Washington and James Blake.

Then two sisters from Compton changed tennis forever.

Venus and Serena Williams transformed the power, style, culture and business of the sport. Serena won her first major singles championship at the 1999 U.S. Open at just 17. Venus won back-to-back U.S. Open singles titles in 2000 and 2001 and became a powerful advocate for equal prize money for women.

Their influence can be seen in the generations that followed.

Sloane Stephens defeated Madison Keys in an all-American final to win the 2017 U.S. Open. Coco Gauff, who grew up admiring Venus and Serena, became the 2023 U.S. Open women's singles champion at only 19.

And the story continues today.

At the 2026 U.S. Open, Coco Gauff reached the semifinals, while Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton faced each other in an historic all-American men's semifinal. Shelton's victory made him the first Black American man to reach the U.S. Open singles final since Arthur Ashe in 1972.

Taylor Townsend continues to challenge expectations with her creative game and determination, representing another generation of Black athletes reshaping what tennis looks like.

But representation cannot stop with the champions we see on television.

Tennis remains an expensive sport. Lessons, equipment, travel, tournament fees, and access to courts can place the game beyond the reach of many young people.

If we want to discover the next Althea Gibson, Arthur Ashe, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Coco Gauff, Frances Tiafoe or Ben Shelton, young people must have access to the game long before anyone knows they might become champions.

Championships tell us who won the tournament.

History helps us understand what it took for everyone to have the opportunity to compete.

That is Our Truth. Our History. Our Story.

NEXT WEEK

We're staying with tennis!

Every year, my husband Andrew and I travel to New York for the U.S. Open. Next week, I'll take you along and share how we do the Open, from arriving in New York to navigating the grounds and making the most of the experience.

Even if you've never been, come along with us.

Let's talk about how to Open.

Game. Set. Match.

LINKS & RESOURCES

Watch Our THS on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/@ritacoburn9240/podcasts

Listen on the ALIVE Podcast Network
https://alivepodcastnetwork.com/our-_ths/

Follow Our THS on your favorite podcast app
https://rss.alivepodcastnetwork.com/our-truth-our-history-our-story-our-ths

Our THS Website
https://www.ritacoburn.com/ths-podcast

Follow Rita Coburn Media
https://linktr.ee/ritacoburnmedia

Rita Coburn
https://www.ritacoburn.com

ABOUT OUR THS

Our Truth. Our History. Our Story. explores the people, places and moments in history that continue to shape who we are today.

Hosted by Peabody and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Rita Coburn.

New episodes premiere Mondays at 7:30 PM Central on YouTube and are available on the ALIVE Podcast Network and wherever you listen to podcasts.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Who inspired your love of tennis?

Was it Althea Gibson, Arthur Ashe, Venus and Serena Williams, Coco Gauff, Frances Tiafoe, Ben Shelton or someone else?

And who do you think will write the next chapter of Black tennis history?

Tell us in the comments, and share this episode with someone who loves tennis, history or both.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Host: Rita Coburn
Written by: Rita Coburn
Executive Producer: Andrew T. Carr
Communications Director & Producer: Christine Coburn Whack
Producer: H. Lee Whack

Produced by RCW Media Productions, Inc.
2026 RCW Media Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

#USOpen #USOpen2026 #Tennis #BlackTennis #BlackHistory #ArthurAshe #AltheaGibson #SerenaWilliams #VenusWilliams #CocoGauff #BenShelton #FrancesTiafoe #TaylorTownsend #OurTHS

EPISODE 29

Passing the Baton | W.E.B. Du Bois, Dr. King and the March on Washington

On August 28, 1963, more than 250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. They came demanding an end to segregation, protection for voting rights, fair employment and economic justice.

But the night before, W.E.B. Du Bois died in Ghana at the age of 95.

The following day, NAACP leader Roy Wilkins announced Du Bois death from the podium at the March on Washington. Later, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic I Have a Dream speech.

In this episode of Our Truth. Our History. Our Story., I reflect on that extraordinary moment as a symbolic passing of the baton from one generation of civil rights leadership to another.

Then we return to Great Barrington, Massachusetts, the birthplace of W.E.B. Du Bois, to explore the community that helped shape him.

We visit the historic Clinton A.M.E. Zion Church, hear about the effort to preserve the Black history of the Berkshires, and spend time at Macedonia Baptist Church, where I had the opportunity to speak about Du Bois, the power of reading, representation and why preserving our stories matters.

We also visit the Du Bois family gravesite and trace the final chapter of his life from America to Ghana, where he died on August 27, 1963.

Du Bois dedicated his life to scholarship, writing, protest and the fight for equality. Dr. King and a new generation carried that struggle forward.

Different generations. Different approaches. The same long race toward freedom.

As we remember the March on Washington, we also remember the man whose death was announced from its podium.

Our leaders have always carried the baton forward.

That is our truth. Our history. Our story.

RESOURCES & LINKS

Watch Live:

https://youtu.be/1eXdS-hP0D0 

Follow Rita Coburn Media:
https://linktr.ee/ritacoburnmedia

Listen to Our Truth. Our History. Our Story:
https://rss.alivepodcastnetwork.com/our-truth-our-history-our-story-our-ths

Learn more about W.E.B. Du Bois:
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/naacp/prelude.html

Learn more about the March on Washington:
https://www.nps.gov/articles/march-on-washington.htm

ABOUT OUR THS

Our Truth. Our History. Our Story. explores the people, places and moments in history that continue to shape who we are today.

Hosted by Peabody and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Rita Coburn.

New episodes Mondays at 7:30 PM CST.

GARY, INDIANA: THE STORM IS ONLY PART OF THE STORY

Gary, Indiana, is recovering from a devastating derecho that tore across northern Illinois and Indiana on August 11, 2026, with winds reaching nearly 100 miles per hour. Thousands of residents were left without power, some for nearly two weeks.

But the storm is only part of Garys story.

WATCH HERE:
https://youtu.be/j1P1DwmRhtQ

In this episode of Our Truth. Our History. Our Story., Rita Coburn looks beyond the immediate disaster to examine the history of a city that helped build America.

Founded by U.S. Steel in 1906, Gary became a destination for Black families leaving the South during the Great Migration in search of jobs, safety and opportunity. Generations of Black steelworkers helped create a working and middle class, bought homes, educated their children and built political power.

Gary also gave America extraordinary cultural and political figures, from Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 to Richard G. Hatcher, one of the first Black mayors elected to lead a major American city.

But automation, declining steel employment, suburbanization, white flight, discriminatory housing and lending practices, population loss and decades of disinvestment dramatically changed the city.

Today, this predominantly Black community is confronting the aftermath of a natural disaster on top of economic challenges that have been building for more than half a century.

This episode asks a larger question: What happens when disaster strikes a community that has already spent decades fighting to recover?

Gary needs relief today, but it also needs investment for tomorrow.

HELP GARY RECOVER

Greater Gary Storm Recovery and Relief Fund
Administered by Legacy Foundation, Lake Countys community foundation. Legacy Foundation has waived administrative fees so 100% of donations support disaster response and recovery.

https://legacyfdn.org/gary-storm-relief/

RESOURCES AND REPORTING

FEMA Disaster Assistance
https://www.disasterassistance.gov/

Indiana 211
https://in211.communityos.org/

National Weather Service
https://www.weather.gov/

Capital B Gary
Local reporting on Gary and the storm:
https://gary.capitalbnews.org/gary-power-outages-indiana-storm/

NBC News
Gary, Indiana, nears full power restoration 2 weeks after violent storms
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/gary-indiana-nears-full-power-restoration-2-weeks-violent-storms-rcna594456

Chicago Tribune
Reporting on storm recovery and assistance for Lake County residents:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/08/28/uninsured-residents-with-storm-damage-can-seek-relief-at-four-lake-county-sites/

WANE 15
Derecho confirmed after Tuesday afternoon storms
https://www.wane.com/top-stories/derecho-confirmed-after-tuesday-afternoon-storms/

Indiana Landmarks
History of Gary and the Gary Land Company Building:
https://www.indianalandmarks.org/2019/07/designation-protects-garys-first-local-landmark/

KEEP THE RESOURCES MOVING

Know an organization or someone providing resources, relief or trusted reporting on Garys recovery? Tag them in the comments or drop a link to a trusted website connecting residents with assistance. Lets help connect people to the information and support they need.

FOLLOW OUR THS

Articles, resources, podcast links and more:
https://linktr.ee/ritacoburnmedia

RSS Feed:
https://rss.alivepodcastnetwork.com/our-truth-our-history-our-story-our-ths

New episodes Mondays at 7:30 PM CST on YouTube.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Host: Rita Coburn
Written by: Rita Coburn
Executive Producer: Andrew T. Carr
Communications Director & Producer: Christine Coburn Whack
Producer: H. Lee Whack

Produced by RCW Media Productions, Inc.
2026 RCW Media Productions, Inc.

#OurTHS #GaryIndiana #Derecho #GaryStormRecovery #Indiana #GreatMigration #BlackHistory

We took W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause to the Marthas Vineyard African American Film Festival, and it was the exact documentary for the moment.

Getting there was a journey of its own: plane, bus, ferry, and finally Vineyard Haven. But once we arrived, we entered a gathering place for Black filmmakers, artists, scholars, actors, and audiences coming together to celebrate our stories and our culture.

In this episode of Our Truth. Our History. Our Story., Im bringing you inside our MVAAFF conversation about W.E.B. Du Bois with actor Courtney B. Vance, sociologist and scholar Dr. Karida Brown, and our moderator, Dr. Nii-Quartelai Quartey.

We explore the freedom Du Bois experienced as a young man studying in Berlin, his groundbreaking use of data and empirical sociology in The Philadelphia Negro, and why his scholarship remains so relevant today.

As Dr. Brown reminds us, we are still living in a Du Boisian moment. Scholarship, intellectual rigor, journalism, art, and storytelling have always been part of the Black freedom struggle.

Courtney B. Vance takes us deeper into Du Bois evolution as a thinker, scholar, activist, and creative, and why we must support those who continue doing the work of telling our stories.

And we talk about something essential to my own approach to documentary filmmaking: the grit of it all.

Du Bois story includes extraordinary accomplishments, but it also includes pain, loss, mistakes, contradictions, racism, lynching, and the death of his young son. If we want to understand a life, we cannot turn away from its difficult parts.

It is our job as filmmakers to take you beyond the pleasant parts of a life and into the grit of it all.

This is our truth. Our history. Our story.

And this is only the beginning of our Marthas Vineyard journey. Over the next two episodes, Ill share more from MVAAFF and some of what was happening beyond the festival.

W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause
Learn more about the documentary:
https://ritacoburn.com

The Root: W.E.B. Du Bois Doc Rebel With a Cause Isnt History. Its a Warning.
https://www.theroot.com/w-e-b-du-bois-doc-rebel-with-a-cause-isnt-history-it-2000120737

Our Truth. Our History. Our Story. RSS Feed
https://rss.alivepodcastnetwork.com/our-truth-our-history-our-story-our-ths

Watch this episode
https://youtu.be/cVitIRg86w8

Marthas Vineyard African American Film Festival (MVAAFF)

Vineyard Haven, Marthas Vineyard

Courtney B. Vance Emmy and Tony Award-winning actor who performs the words of W.E.B. Du Bois in W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause and narrated David Levering Lewis Pulitzer Prize-winning Du Bois biographies.

Dr. Karida Brown Sociologist, author, and scholar whose work examines race, Black communities, culture, and the African American experience.

Dr. Nii-Quartelai Quartey Moderator of our MVAAFF conversation.

Rita Coburn Director, writer, and producer of W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause and host of Our Truth. Our History. Our Story.

W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause

The Philadelphia Negro by W.E.B. Du Bois

The Crisis

David Levering Lewis biographies of W.E.B. Du Bois

Taking W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause to MVAAFF

Why Du Bois years in Berlin transformed his understanding of what freedom could look like

The Philadelphia Negro and Du Bois pioneering role in empirical sociology

How Du Bois used facts, data, and evidence to challenge ideas of Black inferiority

Why Black scholars and intellectuals remain essential to the Black freedom struggle

Du Bois as both scholar and creative

Courtney B. Vance on discovering the complexity of Du Bois

The disagreements among Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, and other Black leaders

Confronting lynching, racism, grief, loss, and the death of Du Bois son

Why documentary filmmakers cannot tell only the pleasant parts of a person's life

The responsibility to tell the truth, including the grit of it all

History becomes more powerful when we allow people to be fully human.

We cannot understand W.E.B. Du Bois only through his degrees, books, organizations, and accomplishments. We also have to understand what he witnessed, what he lost, where he struggled, and how those experiences shaped the man he became.

We cannot turn away from what happened to us.

That is part of the responsibility of documentary filmmaking: to use the words, images, scholarship, music, performances, and historical record to bring us closer to the whole person.

Not just the pleasant parts of life.

The grit of it all.

Music by Damien Sebe - so good - https://thmatc.co/?l=D6BE065E

Host, Writer & Producer
Rita Coburn

Communications Director & Producer
Christine Coburn Whack

Producer
H. Lee Whack

A Production of RCW Media Productions, Inc.

What gives you hope? What keeps you inspired when life becomes difficult?

History can do more than tell us where we've been. It can give us the strength to keep moving forward.

In this episode of Our Truth. Our History. Our Story., I reflect on the people who have taught me how to remain hopeful, from historical figures like W.E.B. Du Bois, Marian Anderson, and Maya Angelou to someone much closer to home: my beloved aunt, Mama Mae Mae.

Mama Mae Mae taught me about faith, intuition, and listening to the spirit inside of us. Growing up in Mississippi as a sharecropper, she learned to trust what she felt and what she knew. Years later, those lessons became part of my own foundation.

As I prepare to take W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause to the Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival, I'm thinking about what Du Bois and so many of our ancestors carried with them through extraordinary challenges: hope.

Everyone walks into a room carrying all their good and all their bad. The question is: How do we take everything we carry and remain inspired to do better each day?

We look and listen deeply, so we are ready to act.

Our ancestors sowed into us because we were their hope. Now it is our turn to sow hope into someone else.

You are the gift your ancestors gave. You are the hope. Let's rise.

Rita Coburn & W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause
https://ritacoburn.com

Watch This Episode

https://youtu.be/B7GbcW0nync

Our Truth. Our History. Our Story. RSS Feed
https://rss.alivepodcastnetwork.com/our-truth-our-history-our-story-our-ths

Mississippi

Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts

Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival

W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause

Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise

American Masters Marian Anderson: The Whole World in Her Hands

Mama Mae Mae My aunt and second mother, whose faith, intuition, and spiritual awareness taught me to trust the spirit within myself.

W.E.B. Du Bois Scholar, activist, writer, and one of the architects of the modern civil rights movement whose extraordinary life reminds us of what one person can accomplish despite opposition and human imperfections.

Marian Anderson An extraordinary artist whose voice carried her around the world and whose life demonstrated the power of perseverance, dignity, and purpose.

Maya Angelou Poet, author, activist, and a powerful voice of resilience who reminded generations that we carry the dreams and hopes of our ancestors.

How history can help us remain inspired

Finding strength in family, faith, and our ancestors

Learning to trust the spirit and intuition within us

Turning challenges into opportunities to build strength

The difference between simply looking and learning to see deeply

Preparing to take W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause to Martha's Vineyard

Understanding that we are creating our own history every day

Becoming a source of hope and strength for someone else

Our history reminds us that the challenges in front of us are not the entirety of our story.

What happens in the future will depend, in part, on what we can see within ourselves. The lives of those who came before us can help us envision something beyond what is immediately visible.

So be a Mama Mae Mae to someone.

Be a fighter. Be a singer. Be a teacher.

Whoever you are, exercise your faith.

You are the gift your ancestors gave.
You are the hope.
Let's rise.

Host: Rita Coburn

Written by: Rita Coburn

Executive Producer: Andrew T. Carr

Communications Director & Producer: Christine Coburn Whack

Producer: H. Lee Whack

Produced by: RCW Media Productions, Inc.

2026 RCW Media Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

In Part 2 of my journey to Great Barrington, Massachusetts, I continue exploring the land that shaped one of America's greatest scholars and human rights advocates, W.E.B. Du Bois.

Standing at Du Bois' boyhood homesite, now a National Historic Landmark, I reflect on democracy, justice, memory, and why preserving history matters. More than 100 years after Du Bois wrote Darkwater, his words continue to challenge us to ask difficult questions about our nation, our communities, and ourselves.

History is never just about the past. As we discover where we come from and the people who came before us, we become more rooted in ourselves, more engaged with our communities, and better prepared to shape the future.

I also share how creating W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause transformed me personally, why I hope you'll spend time reading Du Bois' own words, and why preserving Black history is an act of protecting democracy itself.

As Du Bois reminds us:

"Democracy is a method of realizing the broadest measure of justice."

More than a century later, that challenge still speaks to each of us.

https://youtu.be/c-EvKeUNYZA

Watch Part 1 here:
https://youtu.be/uQkRLGCfN_g?si=pUhvTDzus1hMwS3I

Subscribe on Your Favorite Podcast App (RSS Feed)

Listen on ALIVE Podcast Network
https://alivepodcastnetwork.com/our-_ths/

New episodes premiere every Monday at 7:30 PM CST.

Great Barrington, Massachusetts

W.E.B. Du Bois Boyhood Homesite National Historic Landmark

Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil (1920), W.E.B. Du Bois

The Souls of Black Folk (1903), W.E.B. Du Bois

W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause (Documentary)

Democracy as "the broadest measure of justice"

Justice or Just Us?

Preserving Black history and historic places

Reading W.E.B. Du Bois to better understand ourselves

How place, memory, and history shape identity

The phrase "Justice or Just Us" has been used by several hip-hop artists over the years. One of its earliest prominent recorded uses is by KRS-One, whose work frequently explored themes of justice, race, and social consciousness.

If this conversation inspired you:

Read W.E.B. Du Bois.

Share this episode with someone who loves history.

Support documentaries that preserve our collective stories.

Follow the journey of W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause as we continue our campaign toward Academy Award and Emmy recognition, helping this story reach audiences for generations to come.

Website
https://ritacoburn.com

Facebook
https://facebook.com/ritacoburn

Instagram
https://instagram.com/ritacoburn

Host, Writer & Producer
Rita Coburn

Communications Director & Producer
Christine Coburn Whack

Producer
H. Lee Whack

A Production of RCW Media Productions, Inc.

Music by Damien Sebe mini vlog

https://thmatc.co/?l=FD636076

Journey to Great Barrington, Massachusetts, the birthplace of W.E.B. Du Bois, where one of America's greatest scholars, writers, and human rights advocates began his remarkable journey. In this special episode of Our Truth. Our History. Our Story., Rita Coburn takes listeners behind the scenes of W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause and shares how an unexpected conversation with Maya Angelou inspired her four-year journey to tell Du Bois's story. Joined by award-winning historian Chad L. Williams and fellow Du Bois Forum panelists Andrew Coles and Saida Grundy, this conversation explores the community that shaped Du Bois, the making of the documentary, and the enduring relevance of his ideas in today's world.

• Rita Coburn shares the personal journey that led her to create W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause.

• How Maya Angelou inspired Rita to learn more about Du Bois.

• Why Great Barrington was foundational in shaping Du Bois's life and worldview.

• Award-winning historian Chad L. Williams discusses Du Bois's deep connection to his hometown and the influence of place on his scholarship.

• Andrew Coles and Saida Grundy offer insights into Du Bois's enduring impact on American history and contemporary society.

• Behind-the-scenes stories from researching, writing, and producing the documentary.

• Why Du Bois's ideas about justice, democracy, and global human rights continue to resonate today.

• Rita Coburn Director, Writer & Producer, W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause

• Andrew Coles Executive Director, The Du Bois Forum

• Chad L. Williams Award-winning historian; Samuel J. and Augusta Spector Professor of History and African and African American Studies, Brandeis University

• Saida Grundy Associate Professor of Sociology and African American Studies, Boston University

• Great Barrington, Massachusetts

• W.E.B. Du Bois Homesite

• Berlin, Germany

• Accra, Ghana

• W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With A Cause

• The Souls of Black Folk

• Writings of W.E.B. Du Bois

• Place and identity

• The making of a documentary

• Historical truth

• Black intellectual history

• Scholarship and activism

• The enduring legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois

As Rita reflects on the responsibility of telling Black history, she reminds us that documentary filmmaking is more than collecting factsit's about carefully uncovering stories that have too often been overlooked. The challenge is to go from truth, to history, to power, ensuring that the past is faithfully explored so it can help shape a more informed future.

Watch THS episode: https://youtu.be/uQkRLGCfN_g

Catch upcoming film events with Rita Coburn:
https://www.ritacoburn.com/upcoming-events

Listen on the ALIVE Podcast Network
https://alivepodcastnetwork.com/our-...

Follow in your favorite podcast app
https://rss.alivepodcastnetwork.com/o...

Watch Our Truth. Our History. Our Story on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/@ritacoburn9240

Visit the Our THS website
https://www.ritacoburn.com/ths-podcast

Music by Damien Sebe - conversations - https://thmatc.co/?l=65EB71D7

What part of W.E.B. Du Bois's story surprised you the most? How has place shaped your own journey? Share your thoughts in the comments using #OurTHS.

Hosted by Peabody and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Rita Coburn, Our Truth. Our History. Our Story. explores the people, places, and events that have shaped Black history and continue to influence our world today. Through compelling conversations with historians, artists, scholars, and changemakers, each episode connects history to the present and invites listeners to see familiar stories in new ways.

The journey continues as we explore W.E.B. Du Bois's enduring legacy and why his ideas remain as relevant today as they were more than a century ago.

Host: Rita Coburn

Executive Producer: Andrew T. Carr

Communications Director & Producer: Christine Coburn Whack

Producer: H. Lee Whack

Summer is the season for reading, but for African Americans, books have always meant far more than a way to pass time. In this episode of Our Truth. Our History. Our Story, Rita Coburn explores the powerful history of Black literacy in America, from anti-literacy laws during slavery to the determination of formerly enslaved people to build schools after emancipation.

Rita reflects on the books that shaped her life, celebrates Black authors and independent bookstores, and reminds us that every book we open honors those who risked everything for the right to read.

Reading is more than education. It is resistance. It is memory. It is freedom.

• Why reading was once illegal for many Black Americans.
• Anti-literacy laws after the Denmark Vesey and Nat Turner rebellions.
• Frederick Douglass and his pursuit of literacy.
• How formerly enslaved people built schools after emancipation.
• The legacy of Black teachers during Reconstruction and Jim Crow.
• Brown v. Board of Education and the fight for educational equity.
• Why summer reading matters in the Black community.
• Rita's memories of growing up in a family that valued books.
• Authors and books that shaped Rita's understanding of identity and history.
• Why supporting Black bookstores and authors matters today.
• Black book clubs and reading communities continuing this tradition.

• Rita Coburn
• Frederick Douglass
• Sophia Auld
• Denmark Vesey
• Nat Turner
• W.E.B. Du Bois
• David Levering Lewis
• Toni Morrison
• Maya Angelou
• Viola Davis
• James Patterson
• Nikole Hannah-Jones
• Karida L. Brown
• Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
• Amy Tan
• Terry McMillan
• Sister Souljah
• Sidney Poitier
• Diahann Carroll
• Lela St. Mosley
• Cecel S. Berry
• Vivian G. Harsh
• Tania Davis

• Homewood, Illinois
• Beyond the Book Bookstore, Homewood, Illinois
• The American South
• Reconstruction-era Freedmen's Bureau schools
• Woodson Regional Library, Chicago, Illinois

• The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison
• Jazz Toni Morrison
• Finding Me Viola Davis
• Judge Stone Viola Davis & James Patterson
• Corduroy Takes a Bow Viola Davis
• W.E.B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race, 18681919 David Levering Lewis
• W.E.B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century, 19191963 David Levering Lewis
• The Souls of Black Folk W.E.B. Du Bois
• And Still I Rise Maya Angelou
• The 1619 Project Nikole Hannah-Jones
• The Battle for the Black Mind Karida L. Brown
• Begin Again Eddie Glaude Jr.
• Democracy in Black Eddie Glaude Jr.
• The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan
• Mama Terry McMillan
• The Coldest Winter Ever Sister Souljah
• The Measure of a Man Sidney Poitier
• Diahann! Diahann Carroll
• Meant to Be Rita Coburn
• Black-Eyed Peas for the Soul Anthology featuring Rita Coburn; edited by Lela St. Mosley
• Rise Up Singing Anthology featuring Rita Coburn; edited by Cecel S. Berry

Watch this episode
https://youtu.be/8U59un8Caiw

Watch Our Truth. Our History. Our Story on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/@ritacoburn9240

Listen on the ALIVE Podcast Network
https://alivepodcastnetwork.com/our-_ths/

Follow in your favorite podcast app
https://rss.alivepodcastnetwork.com/our-truth-our-history-our-story-our-ths

Visit the Our THS website
https://www.ritacoburn.com/ths-podcast

Stay connected with Rita Coburn
https://linktr.ee/ritacoburnmedia

Learn more about the NCTE African American Read-In
https://ncte.org/get-involved/african-american-read-in/

Support a Black-owned bookstore or your local library. Every book you read helps preserve our stories and history.

New episodes of Our Truth. Our History. Our Story premiere every Monday at 7:30 PM Central on YouTube and are available on the ALIVE Podcast Network and wherever you listen.

Subscribe, follow, turn on notifications, and share this episode with someone who believes history deserves to be told truthfully.

What book has changed your life?

Share one book that expanded your understanding of yourself, your history, or the world around you.

How are you celebrating the freedom to read this summer?

Leave your recommendations in the commentswed love to hear from you.

Our Truth. Our History. Our Story. is hosted by Peabody and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Rita Coburn.

Each episode explores the people, events, and ideas that have shaped African American history and continue to influence our lives today, uncovering stories often omitted from traditional history books while celebrating the resilience and contributions of Black communities.

Host: Rita Coburn

Written by: Rita Coburn

Executive Producer: Andrew T. Carr

Communications Director & Producer: Christine Coburn Whack

Producer: H. Lee Whack

Produced by: RCW Media Productions, Inc.

2026 RCW Media Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.