
People’s History Podcast
Coming November 19, People’s History is a new documentary podcast series from Jacobin and the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.
Inspired by Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, the podcast focuses on several important events in working-class history. Season one traces a social history of Boston from the urban rebellions of the 1960s through busing in the 70s.
People’s History looks at these moments through the lens of one community: Columbia Point, the largest public housing project in New England. Built on an isolated landfill site next to the Boston city dump, it was the site of major organizing, from welfare rights to a free breakfast program. It was also the first public housing project to be sold off and redeveloped as private “mixed-income” development (and was a model for the federal policy “HOPE VI”).
Featuring new music from Marisa Anderson, Liz Harris, and Ilyas Ahmed, this is the untold story of the tenant struggles in and around Boston public housing. It’s a story about regular people—mainly Black mothers—standing up to the mayor’s office, organizing sit-ins to get the services they were owed, fighting evictions, and creating their own power.
Season one, episode one comes November 19. Visit the website to learn more or subscribe via Apple Podcasts. Make a donation via Patreon today.
Conor Gillies is an audio producer at Radio Open Source and specializes in cultural documentaries.
Co-published with Jacobin.