Bring It On! – September 11, 2023: African-American Ex-Slaves as Western Expansion Pioneers (Re-Broadcast)

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This program was originally aired on July 29, 2019.

Today’s show focuses on how African-American ex-slaves were pioneers and part of the U.S.’s expansion into the Western Frontier, focusing on free-black settlers in Indiana and other parts of the Midwest. Hosts, Clarence Boone and Liz Mitchell, speak with La Vella Hyter, President of the Board of Directors for the Indiana Roberts Settlement*, and Stanley Madison, Chairman of the Board for Lyles Station Historic Preservation Corporation**.

They are also joined by Dr. Anna-Lisa Cox, author, award-winning historian, and Non-Resident Fellow at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. Dr. Cox’s newest book is The Bone and Sinew of the Land: America’s Forgotten Pioneers and the Struggle for Equality, which chronicles the long-hidden stories of America’s black pioneers of the Western frontier.

*The Roberts Settlement was an early rural settlement in Jackson Township, Hamilton County, Indiana, dating from the 1830s whose first settlers were free people of color, most of whom migrated from the Beech Settlement, located 40 miles (64 km) southeast in rural Rush County, Indiana.

**The Lyles Station Historic Preservation Corporation (LSHPC), a not-for-profit (501(C)3) organization, was established in August 1998 for the specific and primary purpose of preservation of the oral, written, and physical history, artifacts, buildings, and land which identifies and/or describes events, activities and life experiences of the people and the community known as Lyles Station in Gibson County, Indiana. Lyles Station is an early black settlement started in the 1830s.

For more information on today’s topic, visit the following interview guest links :

• Ms. La Vella Hyter – President of the Board of Directors for the Indiana Roberts Settlement
• Mr. Stanley Madison – Chairman of the Board for Lyles Station Historic Museum and School
• Dr. Anna-Lisa Cox – Author and Non-Resident Fellow, Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University

CREDITS:
Today’s hosts are Clarence Boone and Roberta Radovich.
Our show’s producer is Clarence Boone.
The board engineer is Chantalle LaFontant.
Our original theme music is created by Jamyl Efiom, with additional background tracks by David Baker.