Genealogy is more than names on a family tree! Genealogist, Tracey N. Miller comes to the table for a powerful conversation exploring the intersection of family history, archival research, and the enduring legacy of the Creek Freedmen. Drawing from years of genealogical experience, Tracey shares how genealogy serves as a form of historical recovery; preserving stories that official records often overlooked or erased. Tracey is the founder of Nikki’s Roots & Records, a genealogy research company dedicated to uncovering, documenting, and preserving family stories.

Together, we discuss the transformative outcomes of her genealogical work, the inspiration behind her works, and the personal journey that led her deeper into documenting her Creek heritage and Oklahoma roots. The episode also highlights essential genealogical resources from archives and libraries to school records, census documents, and yearbooks that help families reconnect with their histories.

Our conversation further examines the historical significance of the Treaty of 1866 between the United States and the Creek Nation, the impact of the Dawes Rolls (1898–1914), and the ongoing struggles surrounding citizenship, identity, and recognition for Creek Freedmen descendants today.

This episode is a compelling exploration of ancestry, resilience, and the power of reclaiming history through genealogical research. Rather than reducing history to simple binaries, this episode challenges listeners to wrestle with the layered realities of identity, survival, power, and memory in America’s past.

As WE continue to celebrate Juneteenth and America approaches its 250th anniversary, the question isn't just what we're celebrating, it's who is celebrating.

In this episode, your scholar and gentleman pulls back the curtain on the founding documents enshrined in American mythology, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance, and examines the timing behind each one. Because timing, as it turns out, tells the real story.

From Frederick Douglass's scorching 1852 indictment of Fourth of July hypocrisy to the Star-Spangled Banner being signed into law at the height of Jim Crow, we trace the throughline of a nation whose ideals have always been fragile and whose freedom has never been equally distributed.

Armed with a 1975 bicentennial commemorative brochure and five decades of perspective, we interrogate the heritage America claims to celebrate: Was it received or was it shaped by those with the power to shape it?

We move through the last fifty years from Black History Month's expansion to the Obama years and the growing White social insecurity they unleashed arriving at a moment that may signal the return of the Nadir.

This isn't cynicism. This is clarity.

Perplexed. Bewildered. But unbothered.

In this meaningful episode, we explore the depth and complexity of Black life through the lens of joy, resistance, and humanity. Centered on the exhibition Black Joy, in Spite of…, this candid conversation illuminates how moments of happiness, connection, and pride persist even in the shadow of historical and ongoing struggle.

Joining us is Brigette Janea Jones, the visionary guest curator behind the exhibit. Jones shares the intentionality behind selecting photographs from across Tennessee that span eras from enslavement to the present, offering a three-dimensional portrayal of Black American life. Rather than centering trauma alone, the exhibit uplifts family, friendship, and the enduring spirit of joy. This episode invites us to reimagine what it means to see, honor, and embrace Black joy in the past, present, and future.

Resource: Black Joy, in Spite of. . . - Frist Art Museum