Race

This week, the legendary singer and civil rights figure Mavis Staples is turning 85 and there's no sign of her slowing down: She released a new song, "Worthy," and a children's book, Bridges Instead of Walls: The Story of Mavis Staples.

Today, Mavis joins host Brittany Luse to share stories from her life: what it was like to be mentored by Mahalia Jackson, how she helped create the soundtrack for the Civil Rights movement, how she was spurned by the church then welcomed back, and what it was like to collaborate with Prince.

Want to be featured on IBAM? Record a voice memo responding to Brittany's question at the end of the episode and send it to ibam@npr.org.

The Louisiana plantation home where one of the largest slave revolts in U.S. history began has Black owners for the first time. They say the 1811 uprising can inspire a new generation to fight racism.

Cash payments to Black descendants of the formerly enslaved have been a key part of the reparations movement. California lawmakers have set aside $12 million, but cash payments aren’t in the plan.

California recently allocated $12 million for reparations for the state's Black residents as a way to compensate them for the harm caused by the legacy of slavery and current discrimination.

Although it's not clear what the money will be spent on, it is clear it won't be directed toward cash payments at the moment, which many in the reparations movement say is the best way to atone for the legacy and harm of slavery.

NPR's Adrian Florido speaks with NPR race and identity correspondent Sandhya Dirks about the latest on California's attempts to lead the way on reparations.

Birmingham, Alabama was one of the fiercest battlegrounds of the Civil Rights Movement. And in order to understand the struggle, you don't have to look any further than Rickwood Field, the oldest baseball stadium in the country. Over more than a century it's hosted Negro League baseball, a women's suffrage event, a Klan rally — and eventually, the first integrated sports team in Alabama.

Today on the show, we're joined by host Roy Wood, Jr., to bring you the first episode of Road to Rickwood, an original series from WWNO, WRKF, and NPR telling the story of America's oldest ballpark.