Lineage is an archive of intimate, in-depth conversations Shani Jamila hosts with fellow contemporary socially engaged Black artists. Each individual episode has been a gift, and the collective is truly exceptional.

Episodes include the oral histories of Pulitzer prize winning playwright Lynn Nottage; poet, lawyer and MacArthur fellow Dwayne Betts; Apollo Theater Executive Producer and director of HBO’s Between the World and Me Kamilah Forbes; choreographer and the first Black woman director at the Metropolitan Opera Camille A. Brown; iconic poets and founders of the Black Arts Movement, Sonia Sanchez and Haki Madhubuti; artists and scholars Dr. Fahamu Pecou and Dr. Aimee Meredith Cox; writer, performer and Vice President at The Kennedy Center Marc Bamuthi Joseph; 2021 Rome Prize winner, painter Firelei Baez; photographer and sculptor Fabiola Jean-Louis; and musicians Jason Moran and Alicia Hall Moran. 

The full archive, which includes the inaugural season, is freely available and publicly accessible on  lineagepodcast.com. While there be sure to check out We Hold These Truths, Shani’s meditative film which features many of the brilliant guests from this current season, and subscribe, rate and review the podcast.

Stay tuned for new episodes with extraordinary guests including author Kiese Laymon and the renowned artist Carrie Mae Weems. Together, we tell an intergenerational story of what it means to be Black in America.

The Taneya Gethers Muhammad Memorial Scholarship supports young scholar activists at Spelman College. We are so pleased to share that the inaugural recipient of this $25,000 annual award has been selected.

Please join us at 7pm on Tuesday, November 9th for a virtual gathering. You will have the opportunity to meet Shauniece Frazier, the very first student to benefit from this initiative. In addition, we are so pleased to welcome a very special guest to help us mark this moment– writer and theorist adrienne maree brown.

brown is a writer living in Detroit, a student of the works of Octavia E. Butler and Ursula K. LeGuin. Grievers is her first novel. Her previous books include Octavia’s Brood, Emergent Strategy, Pleasure Activism and We Will Not Cancel Us. After sharing excerpts from her new novella, she will be in conversation with our own Dr. Ruha Benjamin, author and professor of African American Studies at Princeton University.

This event is free to attend, but you must register to receive the link. We look forward to celebrating this remarkable milestone with you next Tuesday!

About the Scholarship

The Taneya Gethers Muhammad Memorial Scholarship aims to support the academic pursuits of students who are in the tradition of alumnae whose legacies she studied, such as Pearl Cleage, Varnette Honeywood, Alice Walker, Marian Wright Edelman and Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, as well as student movement leaders like Lenora Taitt, Gwendolyn Middlebrooks, Herschelle Sullivan Challenoir, Roslyn Pope and Zoharah Simmons.

A scholarship in the amount of $25,000 will be awarded annually to a Spelman student with a demonstrated commitment to scholar activism.

Announcing the Taneya Gethers Muhammad Memorial Scholarship! Taneya was a writer, educator, librarian, community builder and a proud graduate of Spelman College. She rigorously studied the history of radicalism at Spelman, wrote about the importance of renewing our commitment to cultural activism, and created library programs to educate the community about our undertold stories.

Shani is honored to have partnered with the college and Dr. Ruha Benjamin to develop this fund in Taneya’s name, supporting young scholar activists. In providing funding for Spelman students who share her commitment to making a radical impact on campus and in the community, they will continue her fierce devotion to her family, both blood and spirit. 

Click here to learn more and to donate to the scholarship fund.