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 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.
Season Two Coming this Summer!
For our second season, HumanitiesDC is collaborating with veteran public radio producer, broadcaster and longtime Washingtonian Katie Davis. This season we will explore one block – Lanier Place, NW – and its eclectic cast of residents. Join the journey as each episode meanders through fifty years (1968-now) predominantly through oral histories collected by Davis over the decades. Katie grew up on Lanier Place and has been observing it since 1968, first as a kid moving to a segregated neighborhood, and later as a journalist. From her unique perspective, she highlights the gems of her street including the corner store, two alleys, a shortcut, the firehouse, the park at the end of the block, and the community garden.
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