The promise of American democracy could not be fulfilled until all Americans were free.
How Black People Built American Democracy: A Juneteenth Celebration airs Wednesday, June 19 at 12 p.m. on WXXI News (FM 105.9)
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 “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 at Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church – a historically Black house of worship in Houston where Jordan was a member – host Wright and Jordan biographer Mary Ellen Curtin explore the legacy of the first Black woman elected to the Texas senate after Reconstruction. They also discuss how Black voters continue to shape politics in an election year that’s crucial to the sustainability of our democracy.