Afleveringen
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Today weâre bringing you a really interesting episode from our friends at This Guy Sucked, a podcast hosted by historian and writer Claire Aubin about the worst people in history. Each episode, Claire sits down with an expert to pull back the scholarly curtain on a terrible person from their research. Because, as they say on the show, itâs never too late to have haters, and you canât libel the dead.
This particular episode is about the early 20th century filmmaker D. W. Griffith whose 1915 film âThe Birth of a Nationâ led to the resurgence of the KKK among other cultural repercussions weâre still feeling today. Africana studies scholar Kellie Carter Jackson joins the episode to tell us exactly why this guy sucked.
If you like what you hear, you can listen to the rest â and dozens of other great episodes â by searching for âThis Guy Suckedâ wherever you find podcasts.
Guest
Our guest Dr. Kellie Carter Jackson is an Associate Professor of Africana Studies at Wellesley College and host of This Day from Radiotopia. Her book We Refuse is available here.
Sensitive Themes & Topics
Racism and racial violence, slavery, sexual violence
Credits
- Host & Executive Producer: Claire E Aubin.
- Editor: Julia Schifini.
- Music: Marshall Dean Williams
- Multitude: multitude.productions
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Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist, climate scientist and activist. Recently, she sat down with Jordan Kisner, of the Thresholds podcast, to talk about our climate future. You may have heard clips of their conversation in our last episode about Silent Spring. Today, we're playing the full interview as a partnership with Thresholds, a show about about the messiness, overlap, u-turns, revelations, and friction points in the lives and work of artists.
If you like what you hear, head on over to thisisthresholds.com to find more great episodes and subscribe!
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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When Silent Spring came out in 1962, it was an instant best-seller and led to the establishment of the EPA, as well as the ban of harmful pesticides such as DDT. But Rachel Carsonâs seminal work also shifted our way of thinking about nature. For the first time, the environment was not just something out there that could be tracked and measured, but something that lived inside all of us.
You can read a transcript of this episode on our website, and visit learn more about the topics brought up in this episode.
Check out our booklist with books recommended for this episode.This episode was a collaboration with the podcast Thresholds. You can listen to Jordan Kisenerâs full interview with Ayana Elizabeth Johnson here. And check out Johnsonâs new book, What If We Get It Right? Read Bob Musilâs book, Rachel Carson and Her Sisters, and learn more about the Rachel Carson Council. Read Rachel Frazinâs book, Poisoning the Well, which she co-wrote with Sharon Udasin.Watch Rachel Carsonâs full speech to the National Womenâs Democratic Club in 1962. -
Molly Crabapple is an artist and writer who documents the extremes, from nightclubs to war zones. Sheâs also the author of several books, including Drawing Blood and Brothers of the Gun, a memoir of the Syrian War co-written with Marwan Hisham. We sat down with Crabapple to talk about the difference between words and images, making art in the world, and the power of cartoonists to disrupt fascism.
You can read a transcript of this episode here. And check out the following links:
Check out our booklist with books recommended for this episode.Read Molly Crabappleâs Drawing Blood, and you can pre-order her new book about the Jewish Labor Bund.See Mollyâs drawings and articles about the Dallas Six and the NYC taxi driver strike. You can also read Mollyâs interview with Art Spiegelman.Art Spiegelmanâs comic collaboration with Joe Sacco was published in The New York Review of Books earlier this year. You can check out Saccoâs Palestine and his more recent War on Gaza from the library. -
Art Spiegelman is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the graphic novel Maus, the story of his parentsâ experience during the Holocaust. We got to sit down with Spiegelman at Brooklyn Public Libraryâs recording studio earlier this month to talk about Maus almost forty years after it first came out, about censorship, about the war in Gaza, and about what it means to stand up for others.
You can read a transcript of this episode on our website, and check out these further resources:
Check out our booklist with books recommended by Art Spiegelman, and more.Art Spiegelmanâs comic collaboration with Joe Sacco was published in The New York Review of Books earlier this year. You can check out Saccoâs Palestine and his more recent War on Gaza from the library.Watch Art Spiegelman discuss MetaMaus with Dan Nadel at Brooklyn Public Library. -
Art Spiegelmanâs Maus almost single-handedly elevated comics from throw-away inserts in newspapers to a serious literary art worthy of winning the highest award in book publishing. But itâs not an accident that this book is coming back to us now. Maus was swept once again into the public eye three years ago, when the conservative movement to target marginalized stories took aim at the beloved graphic novel. In this episode, we examine how comic book censorship in the 1950s led to the creation of Maus, and eventually shifted the way we tell stories about resistance, memory, and authoritarianism.
You can read a transcript of this episode on our website. Further resources:
Check out our booklist with books recommended by Art Spiegelman, and more.Read Amy Kurzweilâs Flying Couch and Molly Crabappleâs Drawing Blood. You can read more about both of them on their websites.Art Spiegelmanâs comic collaboration with Joe Sacco was published in The New York Review of Books earlier this year. You can check out Saccoâs Palestine and his more recent War on Gaza from the library.Learn more about the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and the history of comic book censorship.Listen to our interviews with Maia Kobabe, author of Gender Queer, and Mike Curato, author of Flamer from our previous series, Borrowed and Banned.Watch Art Spiegelman discuss MetaMaus with Dan Nadel at Brooklyn Public Library. -
This episode comes to us from our friends at Book Riot! In this segment, you'll hear Book Riotâs Erica Ezeifedi speak with Rodney Freeman, a librarian and producer of the forthcoming documentary, Are You a Librarian? The Untold Story of Black Librarians. This is part of their Reading and Resistance series, which looks at the relationship between reading and the pursuit of freedom in America.
Subscribe to Book Riot: The Podcast wherever you listen!
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Matt de la Peña is the Newbery Medal-winning author of seven Young Adult novels and five picture books. We talked with him about writing small stories and what it means to write a book that is, as he calls it, âDiversity 2.0.â
You can read a transcript of this episode on our website.
Check out our booklist with books by Matt de la Peña and more!Learn more about de la Peña on his website, and see more illustrations by Christian Robinson.Protect the freedom to read by getting involved with Books Unbanned. -
Meg Medina is an award-winning author of books for kids and young adults, and she was the 2023-2024 National Ambassador for Young Peopleâs Literature. We talked to her about what it meant to be the first Latinx author in that role, about the need for more diverse kids books, and the importance of reading in families.
You can read a transcript of this episode on our website.
Check out our booklist with books by Meg Medina and more!Learn more about the We Need Diverse Books movement. Read about the National Ambassador for Young Peopleâs Literature at the Library of Congress. -
The Snowy Day wasnât the first picture book to feature a Black child as its beloved protagonist, but it might be the most visible. When it came out in 1962, it challenged the publishing industry to champion books that depict kids of color. Today, we find ourselves in a moment not so different from the one Ezra Jack Keats was in when he sat down to create The Snowy Day. We are, once again, fighting for the right to let kids read the books they love, and weâre still reminding each other that the characters kids see in those books really matters.
Read a transcript of this episode on our website and check out these great links:
Check out our booklist with titles related to The Snowy DayLearn more about the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation, the EJK Award, and the yearly bookmaking competition for kids in NYC public schools.Check out these digitized copies of The Browniesâ Book, books by Black creatorsRead about diversity in childrenâs book publishing, from âThe All-White World of Childrenâs Booksâ (1965) to more recent history, like this 2018 graphic that compiles data from the Cooperative Childrenâs Book Center.Learn more about the most frequently banned childrenâs books in schools (PEN America) and, as always, check out our Books Unbanned initiative for ways you can help.Attend an in-person event with Art Spiegelman at BPLâs Central Library on September 10th. -
When Howard Zinnâs A Peopleâs History of the United States came out in 1980, it literally rocked the boat. Instead of starting where most histories of the Americas start â on the deck of Columbusâs ship as it approached land â Howard Zinn flipped the script, focusing instead on what the people standing on the shore would have seen. In this episode, we look at the ripple effects of Zinnâs radical take on history.
You can read a transcript of this episode on our web page.
Check out our booklist with titles related to A Peopleâs History of the United States.You can find Nick Withamâs book Popularizing the Past at the University of Chicago Press.Learn more about the ReVisioning History series from Beacon Press.Read more about Howard Zinn, and visit the Zinn Education Project for tons of resources for teachers and students.History books are one of the subject areas targeted for censorship right now. Learn what you can do to help by visiting our Books Unbanned homepage, or listening to Borrowed and Banned, our previous series about the state of book banning in America. -
Reginald Dwayne Betts is a poet, a lawyer, and the founder and CEO of Freedom Reads, an organization with the goal of bringing a library to every cell block in America. We talked with him about what he read â and wrote â while he was incarcerated, and what it taught him about what it means to be free, to be loved, and to be part of a community.
Read a transcript of this episode on our website, and find books by Betts in our library catalog.
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There are so many reasons to read â and reread â The Autobiography of Malcolm X. But for this episode, weâre revisiting the book with the perspectives of readers who are, or were, incarcerated. Malcolm Xâs story isnât just radical for its narrative of change and self-improvement; it also encourages readers to think more critically about the prison system itself.
You can read a transcript of this episode on our website.
Check out our booklist with titles related to The Autobiography of Malcolm X.Learn more about the work that BPLâs Justice Initiatives does for patrons who are incarcerated. You can donate recently-published paperback books to the jail and prison collections at Williamsburgh Library or Central Library only during drop-off times. Please contact librarian Claire Mooney (cmooney [at] bklynlibrary [dot] org) for guidance on what to donate, and when.Learn about Reginald Dwayne Bettsâs Freedom LibrariesWatch Inside Story, a video series produced by BPLâs Donald Washington and others who are formerly-incarcerated.Read about censorship in prison libraries and other radical ways to read with Book Riotâs Reading and Resistance series. -
N.K. Jemisin is a New York Times-bestselling science fiction and fantasy writer. Sheâs a Brooklynite, the recipient of a MacArthur âGeniusâ Fellowship, and the first author to win three Best Novel Hugos in a row. We talked to her about Octavia Butlerâs influence on her writing, and how she processes the present moment in her own fiction.
You can read a transcript of this episode on our website, and check out our booklist with titles from Octavia Butler, N.K. Jemisin, and more!
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In these unfathomable moments, when the world seems to be falling apartâwe often turn to stories for guidance. For the folks in Southern California earlier this year, that story was Parable of the Sower. Readers are returning to the book today because it shows us how speculation â and Afrofuturism in particular â can help us move through the world with our eyes open.
Read a transcript of this episode on our website.
Check out our booklist with titles from Octavia Butler, N.K. Jemisin, and more! Learn more about how you can help Octaviaâs Bookshelf in Altadena by supporting their Patreon. And, you can check out the Altadena Community Land Trust.If youâre in California, check out Ode to âDena: Black Artistic Legacies of Altadena,â an exhibit at the California African American Museum that features Nikki High and others.Listen to Octaviaâs Parables, a podcast from adrienne maree brown and Toshi Reagan that follows the Parable books, or Jessica Bethelâs League of Extraordinary Readers podcast. You can also check out her virtual book club, Literature Noir, or Toshi Reaganâs opera based on the Parable books. -
Borrowed and Returned is a new podcast series that examines what our reading public borrowed in the past, and what weâre all reading now. In conversations with library workers, authors and readers across the country, weâll return to the books that changed us, and changed America, too.
First episode drops July 8, with new episodes coming out weekly. Spend your summer re-reading with us!
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A new exhibit at BPL's Center for Brooklyn History explores the history and legacy of slavery here in Brooklyn. The team at CBH gathered documents and accounts from people who were touched by slavery in Brooklyn, and traced the descendants of both the enslaved and enslavers.
"Trace/s" is up at the Center for Brooklyn History (128 Pierrepont Street) through August 30, 2025. This audio story is a companion to the exhibit, and it was produced by audio journalist and historian Ula Kulpa.
Trace/s is supported as part of the Dutch Culture USA FUTURE 400 program by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York, and by the Alvin and Fanny B. Thalheimer Foundation in memory of Bill Coleman. You can find more information about the exhibition, and listen to Part 2 of Finding Traces here: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/exhibitions/traces
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As 2024 comes to a close, we wanted to share with you an episode that we produced all the way back in 2020. That year, we went to Coney Island to record the Coney Island Polar Bear Club, the group of swimmers that congregate on Coney Island every Sunday in winter to swim in the frigid ocean as a way to renew themselves. Itâs a fun one, and we hope you enjoy!
Look at historic photos of the Polar Bear Club and Coney Island.Take the plunge with the Polar Bear Club this New Year's Day.Help us shape our next podcast series! Fill out this survey and let us know what books you think changed America. Check out the books we loved in 2024.
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Graphic novels, Haitian-American book bingo, and The Power Broker. These are just a few of the book clubs happening at Brooklyn Public Library! This episode, we take a tour around the borough to listen in on our patrons' reading habits and ask why we still read together.
Check out our book clubs happening across the borough!Want to read The Power Broker? You can join the club at Macon Library or follow along with the podcast 99% Invisible.Read books by Haitian authors for our Haitian Heritage Book Bingo, or comics in Chinese. Join a quiet reading party or an anime club for teens.
Read a transcript of this episode here.
Further resources:Check out what our staff are reading in âThe Cover Is Blueâ book club.
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We're pulling out all the stops for the first annual Freedom to Read Day of Action on Saturday, October 19th! Hear from libraries in Los Angeles, San Diego, Hoboken, NJ and Austin, TX about what they're doing to promote the freedom to read. And, if you're in Brooklyn, meet us on the steps of Central Library this Saturday for a book rally!
Join Brooklyn Public Library on October 19th for our Freedom to Read Day of Action! Or check out events across the country.Visit San Diego Public Library and LA County Library online to learn about their Freedom to Read Day of Action events. And you can brush up on the California Freedom to Read Act. You can read the New York Times story about SDPLâs LGBTQ+ book displaysLearn more about Hoboken Library and the book sanctuary movement. Austin Public Library has events planned for October 19th, and a new podcast called Save the Books!
You can read the transcript here.
Further resources: - Laat meer zien
