The promise of American democracy could not be fulfilled until all Americans were free.

Following the moment of Black liberation marked by Juneteenth, Black Americans began the ongoing project of securing and protecting their rights to vote and to lead. This Juneteenth, join AHF through its We The People Coalition and Notes from America with Kai Wright to trace the lineage of our democracy being actualized to the period after Emancipation, when political leadership like that of Texas Congresswoman Barbara Jordan emerged and began to shape the potential and the power of the Black vote on our nation.

Recorded live on June 16, 2024, at Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Houston where Jordan was a member, Wright welcomes Rev. Ronald Bell, the church's senior director of membership; and scholar Mary Ellen Curtin, author of the forthcoming biography "She Changed The Nation: Barbara Jordan's Life and Legacy in Black Politics," to reflect on the first Black person elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction and the first Black woman from the South to serve in Congress. They're also joined by Sonny Messiah-Jiles, CEO and Publisher of Houston's Defender Media Group, a Black community news organization, to discuss how Black voters continue to shape politics in an election year that's crucial to the sustainability of our democracy.

And before the conversation, enjoy the preshow, presented by the We The People Coalition featuring performances by spoken word artist Kayenne Nebula, a word from Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church pastor D.Z. Cofield, and vocalists from the church's choir.

Learn more about We The People here: https://wtpmarch.org

Companion listening for this episode from the Notes from America podcast "Juneteenth is an Act of Bravery." Listen here: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/...

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Notes from America airs live on WNYC (https://www.wnyc.org) in New York on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET., and nationally on public radio stations.