Episodes

  • Legacy & Generational Impact: Storytelling, Culture & Community

    Legacy & Generational Impact: Storytelling, Culture & Community
    Dec 12 2025
    Legacy isn’t just what we leave behind — it ’ s what we build every day. In this final episode, Kenneth and Sharon Holley, owners of Zawadi Books, share how literacy, oral tradition and Black entrepreneurship shaped their lives and their community. From childhood comic - book libraries to decades of cultural stewardship, their story shows how family history becomes community history and how stories keep us rooted. A moving close to the series and a celebration of the people who preserve culture for future generations.
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    46 mins
  • End of Life & Generational Joy: Caregiving, Loss & Love

    End of Life & Generational Joy: Caregiving, Loss & Love
    Dec 12 2025
    What does it mean to care for the people who once cared for you? In this episode, Rene Petties - Jones shares her experience navigating dementia, hospice and the emotional weight of becoming a caregiver for her mother. Her story shines a light on the inequities Black families face at the end of life and the cultural traditions that bring joy and dignity even in grief. A tender exploration of memory, legacy and the love we carry forward.
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    36 mins
  • Retirement: Aging, Inequity & the Weight of a Lifetime

    Retirement: Aging, Inequity & the Weight of a Lifetime
    Dec 12 2025
    How does a lifetime of racial inequity shape life in our later years? In this episode of Truth Be Told, activist, educator and community leader Dr. Barbara Nevergold reflects on coming to Buffalo as part of the Great Migration, building a career and navigating health, caregiving and purpose in retirement. Her story reveals the long arc of injustice — and the joy, wisdom and resistance that sustain Black women across generations. A powerful meditation on aging, identity and the legacy of a life spent fighting for community.
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    50 mins
  • Fatherhood: Breaking Cycles & Rewriting the Narrative

    Fatherhood: Breaking Cycles & Rewriting the Narrative
    Dec 12 2025
    The stereotype of the “absent Black father” is powerful and deeply misleading. In this episode, Al Smith shares his journey from a childhood shaped by addiction, the crack epidemic and disrupted family systems to becoming a devoted single father and police officer. His story shows the love, intention and everyday work behind fatherhood and how one generation can choose a different path for the next. A heartfelt look at parenting, perseverance and the truth behind a harmful myth.
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    41 mins
  • Homeownership: Race, Wealth & the Fight for Belonging

    Homeownership: Race, Wealth & the Fight for Belonging
    Nov 21 2025
    Homeownership is supposed to offer stability. But for many Black families, it still comes with barriers that have nothing to do with income and everything to do with history. In this episode, Wylie and Njeri Hughes share their journey across continents and into Western New York, where they face credit hurdles, loan restrictions, closed doors, coded language and outright discrimination in their search for a home. Their experience exposes how the legacy of redlining reshapes modern lending, neighborhood culture and access to opportunity. A moving look at the emotional and financial toll of buying a home while Black and the resilience it takes to keep pushing for a place where your family can finally belong.
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    36 mins
  • Young Adulthood: Work, Opportunity & the Barriers to Economic Mobility

    Young Adulthood: Work, Opportunity & the Barriers to Economic Mobility
    Nov 21 2025
    What happens when the path to a good job is filled with obstacles you never created? In this episode, we follow Vanessa Hall, who grew up in public housing in Lackawanna and spent years juggling low - wage work, long bus rides, caregiving and limited opportunities. Her life changes when she walks through the doors of Northland Workforce Training Center — finding support, mentorship and a clear path into a stable career. Now, she helps others do the same. Vanessa ’ s journey reveals how race, poverty and policy shape who gets a fair shot in the workforce and how community, training and determination can open doors that once felt impossible to reach.
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    38 mins
  • Flying the Nest: Higher Education and the Fight for Opportunity

    Flying the Nest: Higher Education and the Fight for Opportunity
    Nov 21 2025
    What does the road to college really look like for first-generation students of color? In this episode, Sherman Webb-Middlebrooks reflects on growing up in Buffalo, discovering the HEOP program by chance and navigating hunger, culture shock and isolation on a campus where few people looked like him.
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    36 mins
  • Adolescence: Confronting the School-to-Prison Pipeline

    Adolescence: Confronting the School-to-Prison Pipeline
    Nov 21 2025
    When does school stop being a safe place and start pushing kids out? In this episode, Kenneth Simmons shares his journey from a promising student in the South to navigating poverty, instability and a school system that punished instead of supported.
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    27 mins