What is the Porchtales podcast?
Porchtales, HumanitiesDC’s original podcast, allows curious listeners to experience the District through the eyes of those who make up the fabric of our nation’s capital. From the history, to the culture, to the arts, each season takes a deep dive, dedicating five to six episodes towards exploring and celebrating a unique topic or set of stories that help shape this fascinating city. Porchtales brings together guest producers and HumanitiesDC to collaboratively create exceptional seasons and lively discussion. Our team is always looking for new topics to explore. Please contact us with your story ideas at programs@humanitiesdc.org.
Season two: Lanier
Episode 1 – The Corner store
Katie Davis takes us on a walk she has taken hundreds of times. Down Lanier Place to a corner store in Adams Morgan. It’s been called Wayne’s, Mattie’s and the Kim’s and each era has different stories. Katie Davis collects history on the street she grew up on in Washington D.C.– the street she still lives on. It’s a familiar walk, and yet one that constantly brings new revelations and lessons.
Episode 2 – Mayor of Adams morgan
A lot of people just walked by the man on his porch. Turns out that John, the porch sitter, was the thread that kept his block together. Neighbors called him the Mayor of Adams Morgan, and they knew he wouldn’t let things get out of hand on his street. Meet this unexpected hero.
Episode 3 – Bring It Home
People know who causes trouble on their block. Who goes to jail or prison. Some criminals though return to the scene of their crimes to try to undo. We follow the story of Bobby, as he tries to make things right by coaching a little league baseball team in Adams Morgan.
Episode 4 – Snake Hill
A kid on a bike can go places and discover a neighborhood. Pedaling slow and pushing fast, they have perfect balance and the thrill of floating free down a steep hill known as “Snake Hill.” They feel free and in control. Katie Davis shares stories of a Fix-a-Bicycle summer camp that started on Lanier in July 2000.
Episode 5 – The Park
At the end of Lanier, there is a park that began as wilderness that was walked by Native Americans. Then it was farmed, and later became home to two burial grounds. In the 1960’s, neighbors took control of the land and made a park. We go to the park in this episode- to Walter Pierce Park.
Season One: The Disappearance of Sister Koko
For the premier season, HumanitiesDC teamed up with DC historian and podcaster Prof. D. Boose to introduce the world to Sister Koko and her extraordinary story. For nearly 60 years, Sister Koko has been a Black freedom fighter in America. She was a former Civil Rights activist, a one-time Black Panther Party associate, a core anti-apartheid activist in the US, and a decades-long Pan-Africanist organizer. Yet today, she lives in the heart of DC, unknown to most. But why? And what’s lost in her disappearance? In this five-episode series, we meet Sister Koko and listen as she details her interactions and relationships with people like Stokely Carmichael, Miriam Makeba, Cleveland Sellers, Afeni, and Tupac Shakur, and as she shares harrowing stories of fighting racism, existing COINTELPRO, and nuances of Black living in twentieth-century America. Time and circumstance have tried to disappear Sister Koko, yet she still rises through our collective listening.
Episode 1 – A Freedom Fighter Next Door
Who is Sister Koko? What roles has she played in Black freedom struggles? Why do many people–even in DC–not know about her? Join Prof. D. Boose as we meet Sister Koko, learn about events during her childhood in Newport News, Virginia, that began her community organizing work, and start to explore her experiences as a Black freedom fighter and what we risk losing if her stories disappear.
Episode 2 – Howard’s Doorway to Activism
How did Dorothy Jean McQueen become Sister Koko? Explore her memories as she reflects on being a student at Howard University amidst the 1963 March on Washington and organizing for Freedom Summer.
Episode 3 – Becoming A Black Power Activist
This episode explores how entwined rising anxieties over the spread of nuclear weapons, poverty, and the Vietnam war, coincided with the ever-increasing Black Freedom activism in the mid-1960s.
Episode 4 – Black Rebellion
As the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., sparked rebellions across the US, Sister Koko describes her experience of the uprising in DC and how King’s death personally affected her.
Episode 5 – Freedom Ain’t Free
In the final episode, Sister Koko recounts the resolution of the firearm charges against her, details ongoing FBI surveillance, and explains her trajectory from SNCC and the Black Panther Party to Pan African and anti-Apartheid activism.
Bring some humanity to your inbox:
Subscribe to our Newsletter.