11 Podcasts About Race You Need to Hear
Updated: Jun. 12, 2020Now is the time to listen, learn and take action. Anti-racism is active—and educating ourselves can be a crucial first step. These podcasts about race will get you started and keep the conversation going.
The best podcasts about race
In the wake of protests all around the world for the deaths of George Floyd, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and other Black victims, we are all tasked with the responsibility to educate ourselves on Black history, the Black Lives Matter movement and active anti-racism measures.
If you’re looking to make the commitment to address your own biases and blindspots, there has never been a better time to start—and these podcasts about race are a great place to begin.
What Matters
Produced by the Black Lives Matter Global Network, What Matters is a great podcast to learn more about the current events. It began broadcasting in May with interviews and first-hand narratives to “create a safe dialogue to promote freedom, justice, and collective liberation.” What Matters provides helpful context and unfiltered opinions to allow all people to enter the conversation on what actually matters.
Listen: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher
Learn more about the anti-police brutality protests in Canada.
The Diversity Gap
Host Bethany Wilkinson’s The Diversity Gap tackles “the gap between good intentions and good impact” in regards to diversity, inclusion, culture and belonging. Each week, Wilkinson invites a different speaker to share their take on identity, personhood, and living in the world as a person of colour. This podcast encourages listeners to seek out solutions and mechanisms for not only coping with but healing the wounds of injustice and inequality.
Listen: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Simplecast
Intersectionality Matters!
Produced by the African American Policy Forum, Intersectionality Matters! is hosted by renowned educator, civil rights advocate, and scholar of critical race theory, Kimberlé Crenshaw. The current season, “Under the Blacklight,” dissects the intersectionality between race, gender, poverty, illness, and culture in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The podcast invites expert guests to talk about issues that are often swept under the rug or overwhelmed by other voices.
Listen: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, iHeartRadio
Truth Be Told
Truth Be Told is an advice podcast created by KQED with host Tonya Mosley. Now in its second season, the 40-minute podcast answers audience submitted questions about topics such as the stigma around therapy for Black men, the wounds of deportation, motherhood, and surviving America in a Black body. The episodes are personal and often funny, while simultaneously addressing difficult-to-discuss issues with sincerity and intent.
Listen: KQED, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher
Psychologists say we’re all prejudiced. Here’s how we can change that.
The Nod
Hosted by life-long friends Brittany Luse and Eric Eddings, The Nod has transitioned from a weekly podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts to a weekday podcast on the Quibi app produced by Gimlet Media. Luse and Eddings call themselves “Blackness’ biggest fans,” and take the victories with the hardships in tandem as they reflect and celebrate all aspects of Black life and culture.
Listen: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Pandora, Quibi
Code Switch
NPR’s Code Switch podcast has been running since 2016 and refuses to shy away from any element of the conversation around race. With hosts, journalists, and guests of colour, this podcast seamlessly integrates current events, news sound bites, pop culture, history, and vulnerability in its succinct half-hour podcasts.
Listen: NPR One, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts
1619
The New York Times builds and expands on its 1619 project with the podcast 1619. Nikole Hannah-Jones hosts this podcast that takes us all the way back to 1619, the year that the first enslaved Africans were brought to America and sold. What’s more, this podcast will show you how this past has impacted and continues to affect our present.
Listen: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher
Learn how Canada creates barriers for Black immigrants.
The Stoop
Hosted by Hana Babe and Leila Day, The Stoop is a podcast that makes the personal universal and explains how the personal is innately political. Much like its name implies, this podcast employs carefully reported narratives to intimately explores Blackness. Each episode takes a deep dive into the many well-known yet rarely discussed realities for those in Black bodies, spanning the topics of immigrant guilt, family, hair, ethos, queerness, and being “black enough.”
Listen: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, The Stoop
Here’s why you should stop saying “I don’t see colour.”
About Race with Reni Eddo-Lodge
This 2018 podcast series continues the conversation about what it means to be “anti-racist” and what people need to admit and practice as individuals and allies. She tackles the denial of racism and privilege as it is tied to guilt, silence, and shame. While the podcast is no longer running, the history and symptoms of the systemic inequality and institutional racism are just as relevant today.
Listen: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Audioboom, RadioPublic
Witness History: Witness Black History
This podcast is part of BBC World Service’s Witness History category. In this sub-series running since 2013, hosts hold conversations and interviews with those who have seen and experienced key moments in Black history firsthand. These accounts are as powerful as they are personal, amplifying Black voices and highlighting parts of the story never before heard.
Listen: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Stitcher
Pod Save the People
Pod Save the People is a podcast that aims to both dig deep and span wide on issues of race activism, culture, politics, and news. Host DeRay Mckesson, alongside Brittany Packnett, Sam Sinyangwe, and Dr. Clint Smith III, invites a group of scholars, activists, leaders, and experts to discuss recent news and past history. Each episode serves as a fact- and love-driven call to action for empathy, solidarity and activism.
Listen: Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts
Next, check out these powerful anti-racism quotes from history’s most inspiring activists.
