In a Truth Social post last week, President Donald Trump referred to Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson as a “low IQ person.” Trump repeated that line of attack in a separate post this past weekend, directed at former MAGA ally Candace Owens. His post included a doctored image of Time magazine labeling the conservative pundit as “Vile Person of the Year.” Trump’s use of the…
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2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the American Revolutionary War. While the national mythology behind the “America at 250” celebrations focuses on the 18th-century battle between Patriot and Loyalist elites, what does the story of the American Revolution and the founding of the United States look like through the eyes of enslaved people? In this episode of Rattling the Bars, host Mansa Musa speaks with Professor Justene Hill Edwards, author of Unfree Markets: The Slaves’ Economy and the Rise of Capitalism in South Carolina.
Guests:
Justene Hill Edwards is an associate professor of History in the Corcoran Department of History at the University of Virginia. Her research explores the intersection of African American history, the history of slavery, and the history of American capitalism. She is the author of Unfree Markets: The Slaves’ Economy and the Rise of Capitalism in South Carolina and Savings and Trust: The Rise and Betrayal of the Freedman’s Bank.
Credits:
Producer / Videographer / Editor: Cameron Granadino
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.
Mansa Musa:
This year marks the 250th anniversary of the Revolutionary War, a conflict that we typically frame as a struggle between the colonialists and the British. However, we rarely examine the age of revolution from the perspective of the enslaved and the enslaved has a voice in this matter, as we will see. Join us today as the University of Virginia Professor of History, Justine Hill Edwards, an author of Unfree Market: The Slave Economy and the Rise of Capitalism in South Carolina. And Saviors and Trust. Professor, welcome to Rattling the Bars
In a Truth Social post on Wednesday evening, President Donald Trump shared a transcript of a far right podcast that delved into racist viewpoints against nonwhite immigrants entering the United States. The podcast from host Michael Savage railed against immigrants from countries he deemed as undesirable, using those bigoted views to justify terminating the birthright citizenship clause of the…
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On Thursday, during congressional testimony, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was questioned on his past remarks promoting the “re-parenting” of Black children being treated with mental health medication. Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Alabama), one of several lawmakers who questioned Kennedy during the hearing, referred to a 2024 interview in which he made the comments.
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When Courtney Patterson was born on his family’s farm in Lenoir County, North Carolina, 80 years ago, he was fortunate that a country doctor recorded his birth, ensuring that he would have a document later. “But many other people who grew up with me didn’t even have that,” Patterson recalled. Babies were usually delivered at home by midwives who were illiterate. On the rare occasions a doctor…
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We get an update on the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran from Israel, where reports are growing of discrimination against non-Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel attempting to seek shelter from Iranian drone and missile attacks. While Jewish neighborhoods are “well protected” by bomb shelters, shelters are much rarer in Palestinian neighborhoods within the highly segregated country…
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