Episodes

  • New Years Day for the Enslaved

    New Years Day for the Enslaved
    Dec 29 2024
    Today taking time to celebrate the holidays has become tradition. For enslaved people, the coming new year might have been a time of fear, dread or the anxious time that they've been waiting for to escape.
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    18 mins
  • The Seven Principles of A Joyous Kwanzaa

    The Seven Principles of A Joyous Kwanzaa
    Dec 23 2024
    For generations, celebrating Kwanzaa from December 26th to January 1st has been a end of the year holiday tradition that's becoming more widely known and practiced. So what is Kwanzaa and why are the seven principles so important to our daily living? Intrigued? Here's a deep dive into this valued African American holiday that's based on family, empowerment and economic development.
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    47 mins
  • Watch Night Service | Freedom’s Eve

    Watch Night Service | Freedom’s Eve
    Dec 23 2024
    The Watch Night Service is a tradition that grew out of slavery, yet still is an important part of how, for many African Americans, is the only way that a new year should be brought in. The practice, called “Freedom Night” or named the Watch Night Service, began in 1862, when anxious slaves were waiting on confirmation of their freedom based on the Emancipation Proclamation. Today, the service continues in the church with prayers of gratitude for another year and blessings over what’s to come.
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    13 mins
  • A Sea Island Christmas

    A Sea Island Christmas
    Dec 11 2024
    Living on an island and the isolation that comes with it, made Gullah holidays a little different, but special nonetheless. Getting ready for the sea island holidays was a year long process which made the seasonal harvests an an important part in the preparation that involved the entire family, from children to the elders.
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    15 mins
  • Kujichagulia = Self-Determination

    Kujichagulia = Self-Determination
    Dec 2 2024
    Sometimes, we forget that the ancestors left behind all of the tools that we need for success. Through creative storytelling, proverbs, and skills, they passed us all a toolbox full of ways that they, even though they were beaten, found ways not to be broken.
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    47 mins
  • Gullah Food Traditions

    Gullah Food Traditions
    Nov 24 2024
    Every day, Americans are using Gullah Geechee traditions in what we say, do and eat. The culture and its foodways can be traced directly back to West Africa for several centuries. One pot meals are just the beginning of a great meal that's full of some amazing cultural flavors, ingredients and Gullah Geechee impacts to American dishes that we enjoy today.
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    21 mins
  • Back from the Motherland - Part 1

    Back from the Motherland - Part 1
    Nov 17 2024
    Being able to travel around the world and experience other cultures, tastes and languages is a gift that usually becomes imbedded in to our memories that we can cherish for a lifetime. For most people and destinations, that is definitely the case. Traveling to Africa, however, is not just a trip, nor is it just another stamp in your passport; especially if you are the descendent of an enslaved person. It is a spiritual and emotional experience that touches your spirit and connects with your soul. This episode is part one of several takeaways from my slave pilgrimage and tour of Ghana.
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    34 mins