Undisciplined

This episode explores the activism of Black Teachers in the 1950s. When a number of teachers lost their jobs during the desegregation period, they sprang into action triggering the actions of the NAACP. As public education became a highly contested terrain, teachers moved to the forefront in this oft-forgotten chapter of the Civil Rights Movement.

We talk with Arkansas International Writer-at-Risk, Uchenna Awoke about his debut novel, "The Liquid Eye of a Moon." Described as a modern day, A Nigerian Catcher in the Rye, Uchenna Awoke’s masterful debut breaks the silence about a hidden and dangerous contemporary caste system. The Liquid Eye of a Moon" is by turns hilarious and poignant, capturing all the messiness of adolescence, and the difficulty of making your own way in a world that seeks to oppress you.

In this podcast episode, we speak to Michad Holliday a PhD student in education about his upcoming documentary that covers the massive educator exodus that is presently plaguing our public school system. He investigates the cause through a social justice lens, by connecting the initial southern exodus following the Sweat vs Painter and McLaurin versus Oklahoma State Regents higher learning cases, which set the precedent for the landmark, Brown V. Board of Education Supreme Court decision. He also explores how the 14th Amendment set off another public-school exodus and eventually what happened in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957, "The Little Rock Nine" and cover Charter Schools and the privatization of public education, which has recently been exacerbated by the new Arkansas LEARNS Act.

In this podcast episode, we tell you who we are as host and cohost, what Undisciplined is all about and in providing a brief breakdown of the upcoming season we highlight why you the listeners should tune in to us.

In this episode, we shift the narrative of summer school from punishment to enrichment. Dr. Lakia Scott, Assistant Provost for Faculty Development & Diversity at Yale University, shares her experience as the Founding Executive Director of the Baylor Freedom Schools Program. This episode explores the program's enrichment impact on students, strategies for fostering successful collaborations with local school districts and other sponsors, and the logistical and cultural considerations in building the program and curricula. The program's unique focus on texts that explore citizenship, government, History, and culture as a pathway to expand African American students' access to educational enrichment, equity, and opportunity is particularly relevant in an education policy era that may be widening the opportunity gap.

Historian, Angela Sutton, speaks to us about her groundbreaking new book, PIRATES OF THE SLAVE TRADE: THE BATTLE OF CAPE LOPEZ AND THE BIRTH OF AN AMERICAN INSTITUTION, in which she explores how a pivotal battle between the British navy and a notorious pirate crew, led by “Black Bart” Roberts, cleared the way for an explosion of the slave trade, the establishment of chattel slavery in the Americas, and the deadly racism that still permeates U.S. society. She also speaks to us about her current work at Fort Negley and what it means to do the work of breaking the barriers created by slavery, racism, and other inequities.

In this episode, we chat with Victor Luckerson, journalist and author of Built From the Fire, recognized as a Best Book of the Year by the New York Times, is a multigenerational saga of a family and a community in Tulsa’s Greenwood district, known as “Black Wall Street.” Listeners can look forward to exploring the differences between the mythology about the Tulsa Race Massacre and the evidential facts of what occurred before, during, and after the massacre. Join us as we explore the connections between the forms of racial violence of the past and modern forms of racial violence enacted through policies like urban renewal and gentrification. Enjoy the lessons that critical figures of Black Wall Street have to teach us about women, Black love, wealth, and success.

In this episode of Undisciplined, we explore the complexities, conscientious choices, and cultural considerations that impact the development of textbooks. American Historian, author, and academic Dr. Kathleen DuVal talks with us about how her interests in early American history led to her co-authorship on Give Me Liberty! We put the textbook in conversation with the current textbook culture throughout the United States, its use and relevance for curriculum and instruction in the 7-12 social studies classroom, and the topics yet to be explored. This episode is a fascinating dive into understanding how the everyday citizen should read, question, and analyze textbooks for their storytelling of truth versus fact.

This podcast is based on Roberts' recent book, I've Been Here All the While: Black Freedom on Native Land. We explore questions around Black freedom and Native American relationships. The trail of tears runs through NWA and Native Americans moved though the area with their enslaved Africans. Furthermore, with westward expansion onto Native land, the question of black citizenship would be co-mingled with the issue. As Black, white, and Native people recreated concepts of race, belonging, and national identity, Indian Territory became a space where Black people could flee to escape the ravishes of Jim Crow, as well as finally become landowners and while also exercising political rights. But Blacks have had to sue Native Nations for citizenship rights in recent years. Now with increasing calls for reparations and demands for land, Black and Native relationships are necessary to understand. Alaina Roberts, Associate professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh.Check out her website: https://alainaeroberts.com/

In this episode, we get to know Dr. Karynecia Elizabeth Conner, the new Co-host of Undisciplined Podcast! We learn about the twists and turns on Karynecia's life path that has led her to us and the University of Arkansas! You'll learn how she used tragedy to triumph, what makes her so Texas, what her greatest inspirations are, and what the listeners can expect from her as a co-host. Don't miss this one!