Introduction to Season 1

Welcome to The Past, The Promise, The Presidency, Season One: Race and the American Legacy! This season explores one of the most pressing issues in all of American history—the country’s troubled and difficult history of race relations. This podcast focuses on the history of the nation’s most powerful office, the President of the United States, and its complex relationship with race. This episode discusses why we felt compelled to create this podcast, why 2020 feels different, and what we hope to learn about race and the American presidency.

Hosts Dr. Sharron Conrad, Dr. Jeffrey Engel, and Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky interview Dr. Maria Dixon Hall, Chief Diversity Officer at Southern Methodist University. Dr. Dixon Hall talks about her work, her teaching, the country's complex racial past, the role of race in American politics, and what she thinks will be necessary for racial healing and progress.