Black Tea Podcast
- Jan 29, 2020
- 4 min read

Trailer- Black Tea: February Special

Updated: Feb 24, 2020

Top Photo: Angel Davis, Bottom Photo: March on Washington

Length: 5:44

Audio: https://anchor.fm/johannah-chanteria/episodes/Black-Tea-February-Special-eacpdp/a-a1bo9s4

[Intro: "Hip Hop Instrumental 2" by Ketsa]

Jo'Hannah: Hey guys, I'm Jo'Hannah Valentin.

Shay: And I'm Shay Milner.

Jo: And you're listening to: Black Tea.

Shay: Black Tea is a podcast through Vanderbilt University that strives to highlight underrepresented and undiscovered perspectives on campus. Our goal for this podcast is to include everything from self care options available on campus, interviews with faculty of color and minority student orgs on campus, and showcasing black artists and authors.

Jo: As the name states, on every episode we'll be drinking different types of tea and talking to you about black and brown people, organizations, and issues.

Jo: Today, we are drinking Honey Vanilla Chamomile Tea—

Jo: —we're drinking Black Tea—

Jo: — we are drinking Passion Tea—

[record scratching effect]

Shay: Today is not a formal episode like our past ones. For this, I guess talk that we're going to have, we just want to give you guys an overview of what's coming for February, in a mini series that we want to do that's going to focused on Black History Month.

Jo: So, throughout Black History Month, we just want to focus on faculty on campus because they know more about, you know, black history than we do. And so, we want to interview faculty on campus about various topics that involve black history, including what the Diaspora is, influential thinkers and writers, and the history of black freedom.

Shay: Like we've said before, in our other episodes, we post every Saturday at 4pm central, and this is the series you're not going to want to miss—

Jo: —because Black History Month is the best month.

Shay: It's a very important month. Um, so another change that is going to happen— just for this month— is, instead of the themes for each episode, we're going to be replacing that with facts or experiences that pertain to black history. So, to give you guys a taste of that, today, Jo'-Hannah will be explaining her experience during the Martin Luther King joint day of service that Vanderbilt hosted on January 20.

Jo: So you all know Martin Luther King days in January, and, during that time, Vanderbilt has a joint day of service with Tennessee State University and Fisk University. So, this is a pretty recent thing. More than 10 years ago, Vanderbilt didn't celebrate Martin Luther King Day at all, so this is just a really big day, we really like to get everyone involved. So I had volunteered early in the morning, and I helped with basically loading the buses, swiping people in so that they can go to the march, and just seeing like, how many people came was one, awe inspiring, and the fact that people were going to march on Martin Luther King day, taking the time out of their day that they could be sleeping in. You know, it was like eight o'clock in the morning, they could have been in their bed. So, just that idea of a lot of people coming together including, people from TSU and from Fisk, is amazing. Also, later that day around one 1:00- 1:30, I went on a Commodore Cruise, which was focusing on the civil rights movement in Nashville. And we saw historic spots that were key to desegregation in Nashville, like a lot of places on Jefferson Street. We went to Fisk University, Meharry Medical and Dental college. We also went to the Looby House that was bombed in the 1960s. Our tour guide was someone who experienced these changes in Nashville and he, he was one of the Freedom Riders, he described the struggle and the fight just for the humanity of black people to be seen by other people in the United States. So, it was an amazing day, and I would totally do it again. Hopefully, I can do some more service next year. Just that was an amazing day just to see so many people coming together for that.

Shay: So, just like Jo'-Hannah, if you guys would like to send in any opportunities that are happened during this month, or any experiences that you guys have pertaining to black history this month, we'd love to get you guys on our show, whether that be through a recorded message or you guys, just send us an email that you want us to read out, you can just reach us through one of our various platforms.

Jo: Yeah, so guys, thank you so much for listening. We're very excited for Black History Month. It's one of my favorite months, of course, because my birthday is this month, but also because black history is amazing. And we really don't get to experience a lot of black history, just some like normal history classes that are about US history, just the fact that they hide a lot of things. So, I take this month to just delve in even deeper than what I normally do during the academic year, and just to see, like, what black history is because it's so intertwined with American history, and just what it means to be American as well. So, we just want this to be an opportunity to have a resource to learn about and delve deep into the different aspects of black history—

Jo: —and to just get interested in it as well. Because, I mean, there are a lot— the fact that we have classes here you know, you can go to a university and take classes— but also there's so many resources on the internet that if you're just interested in something it's so easy to delve deep into that and find the right resources that can tell you the truth that's been hitting a lot of times.

Shay: So, remember to tune in every Saturday this February for an episode that pertains to Black History Month.

Jo: It's gonna be amazing!

Shay: Great! So you guys this Saturday

Jo: This has been Black Tea. Thanks for listening.

Jo & Shay: Cheers!

[glass clinking sound]

[Outro: "Hip Hop Instrumental 2" by Ketsa]

Credits

Shay Milner, co-host

Jo'Hannah Valentin, co-host

Music by Ketsa at https://freemusicarchive.org/

Episode edited with Audacity