Unpacking 1619 features interviews with scholars from around the country in which we unpack topics relating to the 1619 Project and race in America. Hosted by Adult Services Librarian John Piche.
John Piché
John Piché is an Adult Services Librarian at Heights Libraries. He has over 30 years of experience working in libraries, and an academic background in American History. In 2019, John launched a monthly 1619 Project discussion group at the Library. As the program grew in popularity, he began interviewing scholars on topics relating to the 1619 Project in 2020. He is excited to expand access to those interviews in the Unpacking 1619 podcast.
All Episodes
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Episode 69 - History of Controlling Pregnancy with Kathleen Crowther
Nov 12, 2024 •
Kathleen M. Crowther discusses her book, Policing Pregnant Bodies: From Ancient Greece to Post-Roe America. She explores the deeply rooted medical and philosophical ideas that continue to reverberate in the politics of women’s health and reproductive autonomy. From the idea that a detectable heartbeat is the voice of the unborn…
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Episode 68 - Teaching White Supremacy with Donald Yacovone
Oct 29, 2024 •
Donald Yacovone, lifetime associate at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, discusses his book, “Teaching White Supremacy: America’s Democratic Ordeal and the Forging of Our National Identity.” He talks about the evidence of white supremacy’s deep-seeded roots in our nation’s educational system by looking at nearly…
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Episode 67 - Book Learning and Slave Education with Christopher Span
Oct 15, 2024 •
Christopher Span, Professor of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, discusses his work, “Sam’s Cottonfield Blues” and “Quest for Book Learning: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom.” He discusses why literacy was so feared by white enslavers and crucial to slaves. Detailing how slaves subverted…
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Episode 66 - Texas: Race, War, Colonialism with Gerald Horne
Oct 1, 2024 •
Professor Gerald Horne discusses his book, The Counter-revolution of 1836: Texas Slavery & Jim Crow and the Roots of American Fascism. Prof. Horne explains his thesis that Texas was a goldmine for Euro-Americans since it provided the dual economics of land speculation and the expansion of slavery, praxis for settler…
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Episode 65 - Black Homicide Victims with Gian Maria Campedelli
Sep 17, 2024 •
Gian Maria Campedelli, research scientist at Fondazione Bruno Kessler in Italy, discusses his research article, “Homicides Involving Black Victims are less likely to be Cleared in the United States.” Drawing upon three databases the FBI’s national incident-based reporting system (NIBRS) and the Murder Accountability Project (MAP), which combines data from…
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Episode 64 - White Christian Nationalism and the Church with Jim Wallis
Sep 3, 2024 •
Jim Wallis, the founding Director of the Georgetown University Center on Faith and Justice, discusses his book, The False White Gospel: Rejecting Christian Nationalism, Reclaiming True Faith, and Refounding Democracy. He argues that the civic promotion of fear, hate, and violence as the trajectory of our politics under a banner…
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Episode 63 - Why You Might End Up In Prison with Justin Brooks
Aug 20, 2024 •
Professor Justin Brooks, director of the LLM Program in U.S. Law in Spanish at the University of San Diego, discusses his book, You Might Go to Prison, Even Though You’re Innocent. Prof. Brooks explains how bad lawyering, bad science, and inadequate investigations, lead to wrongful conviction. We look into how…
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Episode 62 - Police Violence and Pregnant People with Jaquelyn Jahn
Aug 6, 2024 •
Jaquelyn Jahn, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at Drexel University, discusses her articles “Neighborhood Proactive Policing and Racial Inequities in Preterm Birth in New Orleans, 2018‒2019” and “Gestational Exposure to Fatal Police Violence and Pregnancy Loss in U.S. Core Based Statistical Areas, 2013-2015.” Professor Jahn discusses how police violence and over-policing…
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Episode 61 - Land and Identity in Africa with Kevin C. Dunn
Jul 23, 2024 •
Kevin C. Dunn, the Donald R. Harter ’39 Professor of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Hobart and William Smith Colleges talks about his book, Politics of Origin in Africa: Autochthony Citizenship, and Conflict. Prof. Dunn discusses how concepts of origins and land help define African politics, both consolidating and excluding…
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Episode 60 - War on the Klan with Fergus Bordewich
Jul 9, 2024 •
Fergus Bordewich discusses his newest book, Klan War: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction. Mr. Bordewich explains how the Klu Klux Klan was America’s first terrorist organization intent on counterrevolution after the Civil War. How President Grant mobilized the Federal government to challenge and ultimately dismantle the…