🎙️ Episode 13

This Film Became a Movement | W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel with a Cause Premieres on PBS

After more than four years of research, interviews, travel, fundraising, collaboration, and faith, W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel with a Cause premieres nationally on PBS.

In this special episode, Rita Coburn reflects on the journey of bringing this documentary to life and the overwhelming response from audiences across the country. From Los Angeles and Cleveland to Atlanta, New York, Santa Monica, Chicago, and Memphis, this film has sparked something larger than a documentary screening. It has become a movement.

This episode explores why the work and warnings of W.E.B. Du Bois remain urgent today. As conversations around democracy, voting rights, citizenship, history, and Black identity continue to shape the national landscape, Du Bois’s message speaks directly into the present moment.

Rita also reflects on the meaning of history, the importance of protecting truth, and why Black history is American history, international history, and Pan-African history.

🔍 What You’ll Hear in This Episode

• The four-year journey behind W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel with a Cause
• Audience reactions from screenings across the country
• Why this documentary became more than a film
• Connections between Du Bois, voting rights, and present-day democracy
• The importance of the 14th and 15th Amendments
• Why history continues to be contested and protected
• How Du Bois used media, scholarship, and storytelling as tools for liberation
• Why this moment calls for education, vigilance, and collective action

🧠 Key Themes

• W.E.B. Du Bois and democracy
• Voting rights and citizenship
• Black history as American history
• Pan-African identity and connection
• Historical memory and resistance
• Education and civic engagement
• Art as cultural transformation

📣 Resources / Links

🎬 Upcoming Events
https://www.ritacoburn.com/upcoming-events

📸 Event Photos Download
https://www.ritacoburn.com/event-photos

📱 Social Media Tool Kit
https://www.ritacoburn.com/social-media-tool-kit

🎬 Share the trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kMsik6rDQM

📄 Transcript available here
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2598323

📺 Watch here
https://youtu.be/XSuCVNqwtLk

🎧 Listen here
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2598323/episodes

🔗 Stay connected
https://linktr.ee/ritacoburnmedia

🎬 About the Series

Our Truth, Our History, Our Story (Our THS) explores the people, ideas, and cultural forces shaping Black history and storytelling today.

👥 Production Credits

Host: Rita Coburn
Executive Producer: Andrew T. Carr
Producers: Christine Coburn Whack, H. Lee Whack

🎙️ Episode 12

“Will We Survive This Democracy?” | David Levering Lewis (Part 2)

W.E.B. Du Bois was born in 1868 and died in 1963 on the eve of the March on Washington, passing the baton to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In this episode, we return to Du Bois not only as a historical figure, but as a living question for our present moment: How do we move forward from here?

In conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Levering Lewis, we explore how the struggles Du Bois documented, civil rights, democracy, citizenship, and dignity, echo powerfully in 2026.

This is not just history. It is an inheritance.

🔍 What You’ll Hear in This Episode

• The final question W.E.B. Du Bois leaves us with: how do we move forward?
• Why this moment feels like a continuation of the civil rights struggle
• The connection between Du Bois’s ideas and today’s debates on democracy and voting rights
• Reflections on “double consciousness” and its modern meaning in Black life
• How historical cycles of exclusion and resistance continue to repeat
• Why historians matter in moments of political and cultural tension
• The urgency of documenting, protecting, and understanding Black history in real time
• The global context of democracy, power, and historical memory

🧠 Key Themes

• Civil rights then and now
• Democracy under pressure
• Historical memory vs. historical erasure
• Black intellectual tradition
• Citizenship, voting rights, and power
• The responsibility of historians
• Survival, resistance, and forward movement

💬 A Defining Idea from This Episode

We may not recognize the moment we are in while we are in it, but history often reveals itself only when we are forced to act within it.

📣 Resources / Links

🎬 Share the film
W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel with a Cause premieres May 19, 2026
Watch the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kMsik6rDQM

📄 Transcript available here
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2598323

📺 Watch here
https://www.youtube.com/@ritacoburn9240

🎧 Listen here
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2598323/episodes

🔗 Stay connected
https://linktr.ee/ritacoburnmedia

🎬 About the Series

Our Truth, Our History, Our Story (Our THS) explores the people, ideas, and cultural forces shaping Black history and storytelling today.

👥 Production Credits

Host: Rita Coburn
Executive Producer: Andrew T. Carr
Producers: Christine Coburn Whack, H. Lee Whack

🎙️ Episode 11

Black Mothers and Our History | A Legacy of Healing

As we approach Mother’s Day, this episode invites us into a deeper reflection on the legacy of Black motherhood, one shaped by history, resilience, trauma, community, and profound love.

From the motherland to enslavement, from separation to survival, Black motherhood carries a story that is both painful and powerful. In this moving and personal reflection, Rita Coburn explores how generations of Black women have mothered not only their own children, but entire communities, often under unimaginable circumstances.

Through storytelling, history, and lived experience, this episode asks an important question:
What does Mother’s Day mean when we understand the full truth of our history?

🔍 What You’ll Hear in This Episode
The historical roots of Black motherhood, beginning in Africa and through enslavement
The legacy of separation, survival, and communal caregiving
How Black women have mothered across generations, often beyond their own families
Personal stories about Rita’s mother and the lessons of “mother wit”
The impact of community mothers, including figures like Maya Angelou and Merri Dee
Reflections on single motherhood, resilience, and cultural strength
What it means to honor mothers with truth, gratitude, and understanding

💬 A Defining Idea from This Episode

Motherhood is not only about birth. It is about vision, sacrifice, and the ability to give what is needed, even when it is not understood in the moment.

📚 Reading Resources

📖 Black-Eyed Peas for the Soul: Stories by and about Black Women by Donna Marie Coles Johnson
Includes Rita Coburn’s short story “Two Women and a Little Olive Oil,” a reflection on spiritual guidance, caregiving, and the lessons passed between women.

📖 Rise Up Singing: Black Women Writers on Motherhood by Cecelie S. Berry and Janice Liddell
A powerful collection exploring the many dimensions of Black motherhood through personal essays and storytelling.

📣 Resources / Links

🎬 Share the film
W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel with a Cause premieres May 19, 2026
Watch the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kMsik6rDQM

📄 Transcript available here
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2598323

📺 Watch the episode
https://youtu.be/qRAmp6Q5-Nw

🎧 Listen on your favorite platform
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2598323/episodes/19009870

🔗 Stay connected
https://linktr.ee/ritacoburnmedia

🎬 About the Series

Our Truth, Our History, Our Story (Our THS) explores the people, ideas, and cultural forces shaping Black history and storytelling today.

👥 Production Credits

Host: Rita Coburn
Executive Producer: Andrew T. Carr
Producers: Christine Coburn Whack, H. Lee Whack