3 chapters across the catalog
The hosts pay tribute to the late Cicely Tyson, an Emmy and Tony award-winning actress and close friend of Tyler Perry. They question why her death was "swept under the rug" without a massive public funeral, despite her iconic status in the Black community. The segment highlights her role in *The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman* and her importance as a representative of the ADOS (American Descendants of Slavery) experience.
A biographical clip depicts Bayard Rustin challenging Martin Luther King Jr. for keeping guns in his home while leading a non-violent movement. Rustin, an openly gay communist, was a key strategist for King and was posthumously honored by President Barack Obama in 2013. The hosts predict that future narratives will emphasize Rustin’s leadership to further marginalize the role of cisgender black men in the civil rights story.
The FBI, under J. Edgar Hoover, heavily surveilled Bayard Rustin due to his membership in the Young Communist League and the Socialist Party. While Rustin's 1953 arrest for "lewd vagrancy" in Pasadena was used against him, his political radicalism was the primary concern for federal authorities. Decades later, Rustin was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, marking a shift in his official historical standing.
