Slavery
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Peter looks at the ideal arrangement of the state in Aristotle’s Politics, his critique of Plato’s Republic and his views on slavery.
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The 17th century Ethiopian rationalist Zera Yacob, hailed as the first modern Africana philosopher.
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The spread of Islamic scholarship in subsaharan Africa, focusing on intellectuals of the Songhay empire around the Niger River in the 15th-17th centuries.
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An introduction to Africana philosophical thought as it emerged from the modern experience of slavery and colonization by Europeans.
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Anton Wilhelm Amo, brought to Germany from his native Ghana, defends a rigorous dualism of mind and body. Was this philosophy connected to his African origins?
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Eighteenth century black authors touch on philosophical themes in autobiographical narratives, poetry, and other literary genres.
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Phillis Wheatley astonishes colonial Americans with her exquisite and precocious poetry and reflects on the liberating power of the imagination.
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Preacher and Revolutionary War soldier Lemuel Haynes argues that the principles of the American Revolution demand the abolition of slavery.
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Ignatius Sancho and Benjamin Banneker make their mark on the history of Africana thought through letters that reflect on the power of sentiment.
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Quobna Ottobah Cugoano and Olaudah Equiano advance the goals of the abolitionist movement through a groundbreaking political treatise and an influential autobiography.
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In an age of revolutions and revolutionary ideas, the Haitian Revolution of 1791-1804 stands out as the most radical of them all.
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The Baron de Vastey unveils the horror of colonialism as a system and defends the monarchy of King Christophe in the tense early years of Haiti’s independence.
Note: this episode repeats some of Vastey's vivid descriptions of violence against slaves, so please think twice before listening to it around kids for example.
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An interview with Doris Garraway on the background, intellectual basis, and legacy of the Haitian Revolution.
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Building black institutions in early American history, with Prince Hall and the Masons in Boston, and Richard Allen and the Methodists in Philadelphia.
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Questions of political autonomy and group identity in the emigration movement led by Paul Cuffe, Daniel Coker, John Russwurm and others.
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An interview with James Sidbury about the emergence of a self-conscious African identity in the diaspora.
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David Walker defends violent resistance in his incendiary and influential Appeal.
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Maria W. Stewart’s public addresses bring the concerns of African American women into the struggle against racial prejudice.
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Hosea Easton’s Treatise provides an overlooked but fascinating theory of race and racism.
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Melvin Rogers joins us to discuss David Walker, Maria Stewart, and Hosea Easton.
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Frederick Douglass' journey from slave to leading figure of 19th century American thought.
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In two speeches marking holidays, Frederick Douglass champions the idea of world citizenship, the power of appeals to conscience to bring change, and the role of violence.
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Henry Highland Garnet encourages, or actually demands, that enslaved Americans throw off their chains and debates Douglass over how best to resist slavery.
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He is called a “father of black nationalism,” but Martin Delany also promoted integration in American society. Can the apparent tension be resolved?
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The moral crusades of Sojourner Truth and Frances Harper, activists against racial and gender oppression.
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Mary Ann Shadd and Samuel Ringgold Ward reflect on what Canada can offer African Americans, differing on the problem of racism.
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Abolitionists Luiz Gama and Joaquim Nabuco, and the great novelist Machado de Assis, react to the injustices of slaveholding in Brazil.
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A late 19th-century churchman tries to explain how slavery fit into God’s plan and decide whether the future for African Americans lies in Africa or America.
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Co-host Chike joins Peter to look back at series two and ahead to series three.
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Sociologist E. Franklin Frazier critiques the Harlem Renaissance and the “black bourgeoisie” for failing to embrace values that will empower black Americans.
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Two Trinidadian political thinkers: sociologist Oliver Cox analyzes the nature of racial prejudice, and historian Eric Williams connects capitalism to slavery.
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Pan-Africanist and Marxist historian Walter Rodney rethinks Black Power, engages with Rastafari, and opposes racial division in his home country of Guyana.
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The eventful life and penetrating philosophy of Angela Davis, an icon of resistance deeply informed by Marxism and influential on black feminist thought.
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Can Shakespeare’s Tempest be read as a reflection on the English encounter with the peoples of the Americas?
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The author of an important book on Glissant joins us to talk about his approach to this major Caribbean thinker.
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Cedric J. Robinson reflects on the power and limitations of Marxism while charting the past and prospects of black radical thought.
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Bartholomé De las Casas argues against opponents, like Sepúlveda, who believed that Europeans had a legal and moral right to rule over and exploit the indigenous peoples of the Americas.
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In this interview we learn about the main issues in modern-day philosophy of disability, and the relevance of this topic for the European encounter with the Americas.
