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Race Unwrapped: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Louisville Public Media
In America, we like to think that we're always talking about race. Like the conversation is happening everywhere, all the time. But race is embedded in society in ways we don't even think about -- just like fish don't see the water they're swimming in. In Race Unwrapped, host Michelle Tyrene Johnson tackles different ways to unwrap and unpack race and identity.
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- Aug 11, 20260 min
Join us for our season 5 (Un)Wrap Party!
Join us to celebrate the end of “Race Unwrapped," season five! Since its launch in 2020, this podcast has unwrapped the ways race affects our lives, whether we’re thinking about it or not. We spent the latest season exploring the intersection of art and activism, and how creators use their art to make the world better.Featuring a conversation between “Race Unwrapped” host and playwright Michelle Tyrene Johnson and Louisville poet and artist Lance G. Newman II, who performs under the name Mr. SpreadLove, an interactive workshop empowering you to create your own art with guidance from KMAC staff, and a poetry slam, where poets are invited to explore their visions for the future, and how we get there from here.When: August 29, 2026Doors at 3:00 p.m.(Un)Wrap Party 3:30 - 5:00 p.m.Poetry Slam 5:30 p.m.Where: KMAC Contemporary Art Museum (715 West Main Street, Louisville, KY)This event is free, art supplies will be provided, and all ages are welcome. Space in the gallery is limited, so reserve your spot today and spend an afternoon with us centering creativity and unlocking your own creative potential. Because when the systems we live under try to marginalize us, art reminds us: as long as you can create, you are not powerless.
- Aug 5, 202644 min
‘Look how we find joy.’ Dr. J. Drew Lanham on poetry and justice
Dr. J. Drew Lanham is an academic, poet, creative writer, curator, ornithologist and, in his words, “trending feral.” He joins us to talk about poetry, particularly his own poetry that unravels themes of representation, power, and often, birds. Dr. Lanham and host Michelle Tyrene Johnson share their experiences of Blackness as artists, and as humans.Learn more about Dr. Lanham’s work at jdrewlanham.com. This season of Race Unwrapped is supported by the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage, and by our listeners. Click here to help make this work possible (and we’ll send you a Race Unwrapped sticker)!
- Jul 29, 202632 min
‘Artists are still crossing those boundaries.’ Dr. Minkah Makalani on the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance
You can't tell the story of art and social change without visiting the brilliant minds of the Harlem Renaissance. For Dr. Minkah Makalani, Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Africana Studies at Johns Hopkins University, that's an area of particular interest and scholarship. He joins us to illustrate how the co-mingling of art and politics was present then, and draw a throughline to how artists and creators interact with our political systems today.Learn more about Dr. Makalani’s work here.This season of Race Unwrapped is supported by the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage, and by our listeners. Click here to help make this work possible (and we’ll send you a Race Unwrapped sticker)!
- Jul 22, 202635 min
'No longer am I shrinking to make somebody else comfortable.' A conversation with knitting icon Gaye "GG" Glasspie
When you think of knitting, you might think of a little old white lady in a rocking chair. Our host, Michelle Tyrene Johnson, and her extensive collection of self-made knitwear, would disagree. Or as our guest on this episode might say, "I beg your finest pardon." Gaye Glasspie, known online as GGmadeit, is an icon in the knitting community. She joins us to talk about navigating the fiber arts space as a Black woman, why orange is her favorite and signature color, and her call for would-be allies to “stand in the gap.”Learn more about GG at GGmadeit.com, or on Instagram: @ggmadeitThis season of Race Unwrapped is supported by the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage, and by our listeners. Click here to help make this work possible (and we’ll send you a Race Unwrapped sticker)!
- Jul 15, 202634 min
‘Who's telling the story about us?’ A conversation with curator Onaje Henderson
So far this season, we’ve been talking to people who create art. But art also needs an audience — people who receive it, and let it change how they think and feel. So in this episode, we’re talking to someone whose role is to create an environment where folks can bear witness to art. Onaje Henderson is a co-owner and curator of ZuCot Gallery, a Black art gallery in Atlanta, Georgia. He joins us to talk about the world of fine art, and who decides what art we get to see at all.Learn more about ZuCot Gallery at zucotgallery.com, or on Instagram: @zucotgalleryThis season of Race Unwrapped is supported by the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage, and by our listeners. Click here to help make this work possible (and we’ll send you a Race Unwrapped sticker)!
- Jul 8, 202624 min
‘The body is telling our own story.’ Ananya Chatterjea on dance and revolution
When you dance in protest, or to ask for justice, you’re putting your body itself on the line. And our guest on this episode says if you can move, you can dance. Ananya Chatterjea is a choreographer, a dance maker, and an educator. She’s a professor of dance at the University of Minnesota, and founder and artistic director of a dance company of all BIPOC women and femme artists called Ananya Dance Theatre. She lives and works in Minneapolis and her creative work has been part of the racial justice and anti-ICE protests there. She joins us to talk about the methodology of dance that she's created, the spirituality of dancing in community, and how her cultural background infuses her own work. Find more of Ananya Chatterjea’s work at ananyadancetheatre.org and on Instagram at @ananyadancetheatre.This season of Race Unwrapped is supported by the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage, and by our listeners. Click here to help make this work possible (and we’ll send you a Race Unwrapped sticker)!
- Jul 1, 202638 min
‘My weapon is my keyboard.’ Nkechi Okoro Carroll on the power of TV
Television writer, showrunner and Nkechi Okoro Carroll is a strong believer in the power of her medium to reach people’s hearts. “When people are watching TV, they're watching it to relax,” she says. “So their guards are down. Their minds are open. That’s where the beauty and the magic gets to come through.” Carroll is the showrunner and executive producer of “All American,” and creator, executive producer and showrunner of “All American Homecoming” and “Found.” She talks with our host (a proud TV junkie herself) about how real-world frustrations inspired her to create “Found,” about a crisis manager who searches for missing people whose cases have been ignored by law enforcement and the media. This season of Race Unwrapped is supported by the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage, and by our listeners. Click here to help make this work possible (and we’ll send you a Race Unwrapped sticker)!
- Jun 24, 202636 min
'I see my work as insistence.' amara tabor-smith reframes the concept of protest art
While her work is often rooted in choreography and movement, amara tabor-smith calls herself a performance maker. She’s the founder of Deep Waters Dance Theater and an educator at Stanford University, where she teaches not just dance, but a very sought-after class called Conjure Art 101: Performances of Ritual, Spirituality and Decolonial Black Feminist Magic. Amara challenged us to reframe our entire thinking about art and protest, by moving from resistance to insistence. “Protest… still centers what you’re protesting against,” she points out. “How do we recenter our awareness on what it is that we are wanting to affirm and insist upon?” She also shared her belief in art as a spiritual practice that can shift vibrations around real-world issues, and we talked about cultivating joy, even while we grieve. Learn more about amara tabor-smith at deepwatersdance.com.This season of Race Unwrapped is supported by the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage, and by our listeners. Click here to help make this work possible (and we'll send you a sticker)!
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About Race Unwrapped
In America, we like to think that we're always talking about race. Like the conversation is happening everywhere, all the time. But race is embedded in society in ways we don't even think about -- just like fish don't see the water they're swimming in. In Race Unwrapped, host Michelle Tyrene Johnson tackles different ways to unwrap and unpack race and identity.
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