The Jenkins Family, Finding Freedom

In this episode of The Last Generation, Civil Rights, three generations of the Jenkins family, grandfather Crawford Jenkins, his son Jayanta Jenkins, and grandson Phoenix Jenkins, come together to talk about freedom, legacy, and what gets passed down.

Abe reflects on the Civil Rights era, his friendships with Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., and being drafted into the Vietnam War while still denied full freedom at home. In the midst of that contradiction, music became his refuge, and a way to feel free.

That love of music, and what it made possible, was passed to Jayanta, and now to Phoenix. This conversation captures how freedom isn’t only fought for, it’s felt, heard, and carried forward through family.