Kevin J Barnum

1 week ago | ctpublic.org | Kevin J Barnum |Khalilah L. Brown-Dean |Robyn Doyon-Aitken |Megan Fitzgerald

By Kevin Chang Barnum, Khalilah Brown-Dean, Robyn Doyon-Aitken , Megan Fitzgerald Published June 20, 2025 at 7:30 AM EDT Peniel E. Joseph's new book 'Freedom Season' takes us through 1963, a watershed year in the civil rights movement. He explains not only the history of the year, but also how decisions made back then still impact us today. 1963 changed the course of U.S. history.

3 weeks ago | ctpublic.org | Kevin J Barnum

At a workshop in Hamden, Michael Byrd and James Flynn are standing at their stations, smoothing thin slabs of wood with sandpaper. It’s the first step in building a bookcase. Their work is part of Freedom Reads, a Connecticut-based nonprofit that delivers hand-crafted bookcases full of new books to prisons across the country. Building these bookcases is personal for Byrd and Flynn — both craftsmen have served time in prison. “I’m doing a lot of things that I never thought I could do,” Byrd said.

2 months ago | ctpublic.org | Mini Docs |Kevin J Barnum

Legendary trumpeter Terence Blanchard is the first Black composer to have had an opera performed at the Metropolitan Opera. But, as he says, he isn't the first Black composer qualified to do so. This hour, we talk to musicians who are changing the face of opera by bringing new stories to the fore. GUESTS:Terence Blanchard: Executive Artistic Director at SF Jazz and Multiple Grammy Award-winning trumpeter and composer.

Mar 28, 2025 | ctpublic.org | Mini Docs |Kevin J Barnum

By Kevin Chang Barnum, Khalilah Brown-Dean, Robyn Doyon-Aitken , Meg Dalton, Megan Fitzgerald Published March 28, 2025 at 2:46 PM EDT Historian Martha S. Jones was looking through a book one day when she found a section mentioning her grandfather. It referred to her grandfather as white. But in reality, her grandfather’s father was a free man of color, and his mother was born enslaved.

Mar 21, 2025 | ctpublic.org | Kevin J Barnum

By Kevin Chang Barnum, Khalilah Brown-Dean, Robyn Doyon-Aitken , Meg Dalton, Megan Fitzgerald Published March 21, 2025 at 1:20 PM EDT Five years ago, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Since that time, the world has changed dramatically, from the way we think about public health to the way we socialize to the way we watch movies. But those changes haven't had the same impact on everyone.