Episode 2: Finding Freedom, Founding Freedom (special Black History Month episode)

Discussing the vital contributions of people of African descent to human rights as we know them.

Our guest is Christina-Proenza Coles, author of “American Founders: How People of African Descent Established Freedom in the New World.”

In honor of Black History Month, Talking Human Rights welcomes special guest Christina Proenza-Coles, author of the groundbreaking new book, American Founders: How People of African Descent Established Freedom in the New World (NewSouth, March 2019). 

Please join us for this expansive conversation exploring the contributions of African-Americans to the story of human rights and freedoms. 

In this Episode...

Heather Roberson Gaston

Talking Human Rights host and creator Heather Roberson Gaston is a writer, adviser, and educator in the field of human rights. She holds an undergraduate degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of California at Berkeley; a Master’s in Human Rights from Columbia University; and a Certificate in the Advanced Study of Central and Eastern Europe from the Harriman Institute. 

Heather co-authored Macedonia: What Does it Take to Stop a War? a graphic novel based on an early solo research trip to the Balkans as an undergraduate. She is now working on a narrative work exploring the many lives and deaths of the Israeli-Palestinian peace movement, for which she spent the better part of a year living and working in Israel and the West Bank.

Christina
Proenza-Coles

Special guest for Episode 2, Christina Proenza-Coles holds a dual PhD in Sociology and History from the New School for Social Research. She is the author of American Founders: How People of African Descent Established Freedom in the New World (NewSouth, March 2019). 

Christina is a former Assistant Professor of the Atlantic World/African Diaspora at Virginia State University, and has spent her career studying and writing on American culture and history while living and working in Miami, New York, Havana, and Charlottesville, Virginia. 

You can order her book here. If you’d like a quick read from Christina, we recommend this piece from the Daily Beast. You can also find her on Twitter and Instagram at @proenzacoles. 

Sibet Partee

Sibet Partee is Talking Human Rights’ fearless Assistant Producer and Editor. A graduate of University of Virginia where she studied English Literature and co-founded UVA’s podcast network, Sibet has worked on all aspects of the Talking Human Rights launch.

Based in New York City, Sibet also acts in various productions and is studying improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. Sibet is credited as series assistant producer and editor, a catchall title that (Heather writes) doesn’t do justice to the full range of her talents in episode planning, social media advising, mic training, and other training and consulting that turns out to be necessary for Heather who has been out in the field interviewing people for 15 years, but has never done so on air. If you would like to see more of Sibet’s work and if you would like to hire Sibet for your podcasting needs, head on over to sibet.com

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