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Sunday

Saturday

Why does Black History Month matter?

Post racist attack in 1921 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. American National Red Cross Photograph Collection. GHI/Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images hide caption

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GHI/Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Black History Month 2022

Why does Black History Month matter?

There is an ongoing debate as to whether U.S. history segregates Black history in February or whether Black History Month brings forward necessary untold stories.

Why does Black History Month matter?

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Friday

If Russia's invasion of Ukraine feels familiar, look to Broadway in the '60s

Actor Zero Mostel, center, who portrays Tevye in the musical "Fiddler on the Roof," poses backstage with cast members after the play's opening performance at the Imperial Theatre in New York on Sept. 22, 1964. Maria Karnilova, who plays Tevye's wife, Golde, is at far left. Playing Tevye's daughters, from left, are, Tanya Everett, as Chava; Julia Migenes, as Hodel; and Joanna Merlin, as Tzeitel. AP hide caption

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AP

Ukraine invasion — explained

If Russia's invasion of Ukraine feels familiar, look to Broadway in the '60s

Why should Americans care about Ukraine? An answer from 1960s Broadway.

If Russia's invasion of Ukraine feels familiar, look to Broadway in the '60s

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Author Interviews

Frederick Douglass biographer traces the rise of a legendary abolitionist and orator

Fresh Air

David Blight's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography traced Douglass' path from slavery to abolitionist and inspired HBO's documentary, Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches. Originally broadcast in 2018.

Frederick Douglass biographer traces the rise of a legendary abolitionist and orator

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Thursday

There Are No Utopias

Robin D. G. Kelley Simon & Schuster hide caption

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Simon & Schuster

Perspective

Throughline

There Are No Utopias

It may seem bleak, but Robin D.G Kelley's view of the world says there is no promise of liberation, only struggle. Kelley has spent his career bringing to life the stories of the Black labor organizers and anti-capitalists who are often left out of history books, from radical farmers in the South to Black unions during the Gilded Age. And he's come to a provocative conclusion: that the secret to capitalism's survival is racism. His scholarship uses historical connections between race and labor to directly challenge the premise that there can be any justice within America's current economic system — and to ask what that means for the people who seek it. This week on Throughline, a view of Black history you don't often hear in February.

There Are No Utopias

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'Born on the Water' gives Black children in America their origin story

Authors Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson say it's important to be honest with children about the history of race and slavery in America. Penguin Young Readers hide caption

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Penguin Young Readers

Black History Month 2022

'Born on the Water' gives Black children in America their origin story

Authors Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson discuss the importance of teaching young people about the history of slavery and racism in America with honesty and respect.

'Born on the Water' gives Black children in America their origin story

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Wednesday

Black History Month 2022

National African American History Museum curator on George Floyd protest photo

Aaron Bryant curates photography at the National Museum of African American History and Culture Smithsonian's collection. He spoke with NPR about the collection and a 2020 photo he believes is iconic.

National African American History Museum curator on George Floyd protest photo

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Tuesday

Archaeologists find a 9,000-year-old shrine in the desert in Jordan

This photo shows two carved standing stones at a remote Neolithic site in Jordan's eastern desert. A team of Jordanian and French archaeologists said Tuesday that it had found a roughly 9,000-year-old shrine. Jordan Tourism Ministry/via AP hide caption

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Jordan Tourism Ministry/via AP

Archaeologists find a 9,000-year-old shrine in the desert in Jordan

Researchers said the find "sheds an entire new light on the symbolism, artistic expression as well as spiritual culture of these hitherto unknown Neolithic populations."

Saturday

Lawmakers want to ban discomfort in school. But Black history isn't always comfortable
Therrious Davis for NPR

Black History Month 2022

Lawmakers want to ban discomfort in school. But Black history isn't always comfortable

Scores of state bills aim to limit what schools can teach about race, politics, American history and more. For some educators, that's made teaching about Black History Month especially fraught.

Lawmakers want to ban discomfort in school. But Black history isn't always comfortable

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Friday

George Takei got reparations. He says they 'strengthen the integrity of America'

George Takei testifies before the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians in California in 1981. Kaz Takeuchi/Visual Communications Photographic Archive hide caption

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Kaz Takeuchi/Visual Communications Photographic Archive

Analysis

Asian American And Pacific Islander Heritage Month 2022

George Takei got reparations. He says they 'strengthen the integrity of America'

Eighty years ago, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed an executive order that sent thousands of Japanese Americans to internment camps. Actor George Takei was among them.

George Takei got reparations. He says they 'strengthen the integrity of America'

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Cristina Calderón, Chile's last known Yaghan speaker, dies at 93

Cristina Calderón, the last known native speaker of the Yaghan language, poses outside of the local community center in Puerto Williams, southern Chile, on April 23, 2017. Martin Bernetti/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Martin Bernetti/AFP via Getty Images

Obituaries

Cristina Calderón, Chile's last known Yaghan speaker, dies at 93

Until the end of her days, Abuela Cristina — as many knew her — bided her time making traditional reed baskets, and sharing the Yaghan language and culture with those around her.

A granddaughter passes on the legacy of 'Granny Hayden,' a midwife born into slavery

Mary Stepp Burnette Hayden, pictured around 1942, with her granddaughter, Mary Othella Burnette, and two of Hayden's great-grandchildren. Mary O. Burnette hide caption

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Mary O. Burnette

Black History Month 2022

A granddaughter passes on the legacy of 'Granny Hayden,' a midwife born into slavery

"If somebody needed help — Granny was going. Black and whites alike, it made no difference to her," Mary Othella Burnette says of her late grandmother, a second-generation midwife in Black Appalachia.

A granddaughter passes on the legacy of 'Granny Hayden,' a midwife born into slavery

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Thursday

The 'Candy Bomber' who dropped sweets during the Berlin airlift has died at age 101

Gail Halvorsen, also know as the "Candy Bomber", poses for a portrait at his son's home in Midway, Utah, in 2020. Halvorsen, who was known for his airdrops of sweets during the Berlin airlift after World War II ended, died Wednesday at the age of 101. Isaac Hale/The Daily Herald/via AP/File hide caption

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Isaac Hale/The Daily Herald/via AP/File

Obituaries

The 'Candy Bomber' who dropped sweets during the Berlin airlift has died at age 101

"Halvorsen's deeply human act has never been forgotten," Berlin Mayor Franziska Giffey said in a statement.

Marcus Garvey: Pan-Africanist (2021)

Joelle Avelino Joelle Avelino hide caption

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Joelle Avelino

Throughline

Marcus Garvey: Pan-Africanist (2021)

Black people deserve nothing less than everything: This was Marcus Garvey's simple, uncompromising message. His speeches on Pan-Africanism — the vision of a world where all people of African origin, on every continent, were united, self-sufficient, and proud — made him a powerful Black voice in the 20th century. His steamship company, the Black Star Line, was supposed to take his followers to Africa, where he said they would find true liberation. His message resonated with leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcom X. But the civil rights establishment viewed Garvey with deep suspicion. And the Black Star Line never sailed. In today's episode, we examine Marcus Garvey's life and legacy, and how he became the towering, often-misunderstood figure that he is.

Marcus Garvey: Pan-Africanist (2021)

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