This podcast is an audio companion to the book, Can I Get a Witness? Thirteen Peacemakers, Community Builders, and Agitators for Faith & Justice. In each episode of this podcast, host Shea Tuttle talks with one of our authors about the person they profiled for the book and about their writing process. These twelve podcasts are a great companion to the book, illuminating new insights and untold stories. Journey with the authors as they explain their personal connection with these witnesses and how these stories transformed their lives.
In the Union of the Spirit: Cesar Chavez and the Quest for Farmworker Justice
Daniel P. Rhodes discusses Cesar Chavez, who organized farmworkers through strikes, boycotts, and pickets—and through less common organizing practices such as Eucharist, fasting, and pilgrimage.
Solomon’s Son: The Wise Tenderness of Howard Thurman
Donyelle McCray discusses Howard Thurman, civil rights leader, preacher, writer, mystic and thinker who was a mentor to Dr. King and the founder of the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples.
Setting the Captives Free: Yuri Kochiyama and Her Lifelong Fight against Unjust Imprisonment
Grace Y. Kao reflects on Yuri Kochiyama, an activist known for her cross-racial solidarity work on causes such as reparations, Puerto Rican independence, and black nationalism.
Dreaming and Doing: Howard Kester and His Search for Prophetic Christianity
Peter Slade discusses Howard Kester, an activist and organizer known for his work with the Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union and for the reports he wrote on his investigations of lynchings, which helped to put an end to festival lynching in the American South.
We Who Believe in Freedom: Ella Baker’s Creed
Nichole M. Flores shares her research and reflections on Ella Baker, a civil rights activist and organizer whose work in the civil rights movement focused on empowering the poor and the young.
The Conflict of Flesh and Spirit: A Reading of Dorothy Day
Carlene Bauer discusses Dorothy Day, a writer, editor, journalist, and activist best known for being one of the founders of the Catholic Worker movement.
Befitting the Dignity of a Human Being: John A. Ryan, Father of the Living Wage
Heather A. Warren reflects on John A. Ryan, a Catholic priest who worked for labor reform and coined the phrase “a living wage” in the early 1900s.
Living into the Prophetic Voice: Frank William Stringfellow’s Greatest Witness
Becca Stevens shares her insights on William Stringfellow, an activist, writer, and lawyer whose prophetic voice called the church—and many other institutions—to accountability.
I Will Move on Up a Little Higher: Mahalia Jackson’s Power to Witness through Music
W. Ralph Eubanks discusses Mahalia Jackson, the great gospel singer who was a tenacious, savvy, quiet witness for justice.
Standing Tall: Richard Twiss, a Witness to Native American Humanity
Soong-Chan Rah reflects on Richard Twiss, a Native American writer, speaker, scholar, and activist, whose witness to Evangelicals (and beyond) critiqued prevailing understandings of Native communities.
I See What I See: Daniel Berrigan’s Witness to Christ, Gospel, and Sanity Itself
David Dark shares his research and reflections on Daniel Berrigan, a Catholic priest and anti-war activist best known for being a participant in the Catonsville Nine action when Catholic activists burned draft files in protest of the Vietnam War.
A Midwife of Grace: Mary Stella Simpson and the Transcendence of Accompaniment
M. Therese Lysaught discusses Mary Stella Simpson, a Catholic sister and midwife who transformed maternity care in the United States and took her healing work to the Jim Crow-ravaged town of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, where she cheerfully and unrelentingly worked for change.
The podcast is available on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to your podcasts!