Summary:

In this episode, I welcome Petrina Jackson, Executive Director of the Schlesinger Library at Harvard University. Petrina joined us to speak about advocacy and navigating the politics of white institutions.

Episode Resources:

W.E.B. Du Bois (1903). The Souls of Black Folks. https://law.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/2282858/Du-Bois,-Souls-of-Black-Folk.Chapters-1-to-4.pdf

Ruha Benjamin (2024). Imagination: A Manifesto. https://www.ruhabenjamin.com/imagination-a-manifesto

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson and Robyn Maynard (2022). Rehearsals for Living. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/675719/rehearsals-for-living-by-robyn-maynard-and-leanne-betasamosake-simpson/9781039000650

Jarrett M. Drake (2019). “‘Graveyards of Exclusion:’ Archives, Prisons, and the Bounds of Belonging.” Medium. https://medium.com/community-archives/graveyards-of-exclusion-archives-prisons-and-the-bounds-of-belonging-c40c85ff1663

@this.cypher [Instagram] “All Skin Folk Ain’t Enemies.” https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKkpWFbxeNj/?igsh=NWtoeWUzYzY4eXJw

Stay Connected:

If you enjoyed listening to this podcast you can follow, rate, and share it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon.

To learn more about my work, visit my blog at ⁠https://melissajnelson.com⁠. You can connect with me on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ or Instagram⁠ contact me at melissa.j.nelson@outlook.com.

Summary:

In this episode, I welcome Shane Laptiste and Tura Cousins Wilson, leading architects of Studio of Contemporary Architecture (SOCA). Shane and Tura joined us to speak about Black geographies and Black built environments as sites of remembrance.

Episode Resources:

Studio of Contemporary Architecture (SOCA). https://socadesign.ca/

(Eds.) Katherine McKittrick and Clyde Woods. (2007). Black Geographies and the Politics of Place. https://btlbooks.com/book/black-geographies-and-the-politics-of-place

Tura Cousins Wilson and Shane Laptiste. (2025). “Conjay's First Walk Home.” In, Messy Cities: Why We Can't Plan Everything. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/messy-cities-zahra-ebrahim/1146454519

Amanda Nkeramihigo (June 27, 2025). Afrofuturism and Postapocalyptic Subjectivity. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09593543251347548

Michael McMillan. (2024). AGO. The Front Room: Diaspora Migrant Aesthetics in the Home. https://ago.ca/events/michael-mcmillan-front-room

Azure Magazine. (October 26, 2023). Design/Community: The Collaborative Future of Canadian Architecture. https://www.azuremagazine.com/article/design-community-the-collaborative-future-of-canadian-architecture/

Stay Connected:

If you enjoyed listening to this podcast you can follow, rate, and share it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon.

To learn more about my work, visit my blog at ⁠https://melissajnelson.com⁠. You can connect with me on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ and ⁠Instagram⁠ or contact me at melissa.j.nelson@outlook.com.

Summary:

In this episode, I welcome Audra A. Diptee, an Associate Professor of History at Carleton University. Audra joined us to speak about her research on the weaponization of colonial archives to rewrite history.

Episode Resources:

Audra A. Diptee. https://www.audradiptee.com/

Audra A. Diptée. (Apr 27, 2023). The records the British Empire didn't want you to see. YouTube. https://youtu.be/oPGVGckn7kQ?si=CnHTyoE6T6WH6DOG

Alex Williams. (2016). The Pass System. http://thepasssystem.ca/

Michel-Rolph Trouillot. (1995). Silencing the Past. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/246609/silencing-the-past-by-michel-rolph-trouillot/

Donald J. Trump. Executive Order. Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History. (March 27, 2025). https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/restoring-truth-and-sanity-to-american-history/

Stay Connected:

If you enjoyed listening to this podcast you can follow, rate, and share it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon.

To learn more about my work, visit my blog at ⁠https://melissajnelson.com⁠. You can connect with me on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ or Instagram⁠ contact me at melissa.j.nelson@outlook.com.

Summary:

In this episode, I welcome Gabrielle Miller, a Program Specialist and Archaeologist for the Center for the Study of Global Slavery at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Gabrielle joined us to speak about the Slave Wrecks Project, which searches for slave ships and tends to watery graveyards.

Episode Resources:

Omnia Saed (August 26, 2024). For Black Archaeologists, the Atlantic Ocean is an Ancestral Graveyard. https://atmos.earth/for-black-archaeologists-the-atlantic-ocean-is-an-ancestral-graveyard/

Slave Wrecks Project. Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. http://slavewrecksproject.org

In Slavery’s Wake. Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.https://www.searchablemuseum.com/in-slaverys-wake/

Christina Sharpe. (November 2016). In the Wake: On Blackness and Being. https://www.dukeupress.edu/in-the-wake

Stay Connected:

If you enjoyed listening to this podcast you can follow, rate, and share it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon.

To learn more about my work, visit my blog at ⁠https://melissajnelson.com⁠. You can connect with me on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ and Instagram⁠ or contact me at melissa.j.nelson@outlook.com.

Summary:

Welcome to the opener for season 4! In this episode, I welcome Camille Turner, an artist and scholar whose work combines Afrofuturism and historical research. Camille joins us to speak about her Afronautic Research Lab, a performance and social practice project that approaches colonial archives from the point of view of a liberated future.

Episode Resources:

Camille Turner. “Afronautic Memory and the Archive.” 2022. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13534645.2022.2073691

Camille Turner. https://www.camilleturner.com/

Black Memory Collective. [Instagram]. “What if archivists were time travellers walking backwards into the future?” https://www.instagram.com/p/C9fGMjwARaF/

Stay Connected:

If you enjoyed listening to this podcast you can follow, rate, and share it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon.

To learn more about my work, visit my blog at ⁠https://melissajnelson.com⁠. You can connect with me on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ and ⁠Instagram⁠ or contact me at melissa.j.nelson@outlook.com.

Summary:

It’s the last episode of the year. In this episode, I welcome Cheryl Foggo, an author, filmmaker, playwright and community historian. Cheryl joins us to speak about her work recovering Black Prairie histories through film and storytelling.

Episode Resources:

Cheryl Foggo (January 24, 2022). Here: The Prairies are rich with the collective memories of the Black people who came before us. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/here

Cheryl Foggo (2020). Pourin’ Down Rain: A Black Woman Claims Her Place in the Canadian West. https://bookpublishers.ab.ca/titles/pourin-down-rain-2/

Cheryl Foggo (2020). John Ware Reclaimed. (Film). https://www.nfb.ca/film/john-ware-reclaimed/

Stay Connected:

If you enjoyed listening to this podcast you can follow, rate, and share it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon.

To learn more about my work, visit my website at⁠ ⁠https://melissajnelson.com⁠⁠. You can connect with me on⁠ ⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠ and⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠⁠ or by email at ⁠melissa.j.nelson@outlook.com.

Summary:

In this episode, I welcome Phil Vassell and Donna McCurvin, co-founders of Canada Black Music Archives. Phil and Donna join us to speak about this digital archive which aims to research, preserve, and amplify the rich, largely untold music history of Black Canadians.

Episode Resources:

Canada Black Music Archives. https://thecbma.com/

Kayla McLean (August 10, 2024). A walk through time: New tour spotlights Little Jamaica’s music history. Global News. https://globalnews.ca/news/10690013/toronto-little-jamaica-tour/amp/

Stay Connected:

If you enjoyed listening to this podcast you can follow, rate, and share it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon.

To learn more about my work, visit my website at ⁠https://melissajnelson.com⁠. You can connect with me on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ and ⁠Instagram⁠ or by email at melissa.j.nelson@outlook.com.