Truth Telling from the Banks of the Ohio River
In this episode, Hannah Drake and Josh Miller from the (Un)Known Project speak with host Deepa Iyer about how sharing the names and stories of enslaved Black men, women and children in Kentucky transforms our understanding of history.
“You don’t change because of shame. You change when you face the truth.”
ABOUT THE EPISODE GUESTS
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Hannah Drake is a blogger, podcast host, activist, public speaker, poet, and author of 11 books. She serves as the chief creative officer at IDEAS xLab and co-lead artist of the (Un)Known Project, which seeks to discover the hidden names and stories of Black people who were enslaved in Kentucky and beyond. She writes commentary on politics, feminism, and race, and her writing has been featured online at Cosmopolitan, the Washington Post, the Bitter Southerner, the Lily, Harper’s Bazaar, and Revolt TV. In 2022, Drake was named a Soros Equality Fellow and recognized by Today’s Woman magazine as the Most Admired Woman in the Arts. Drake was honored as a Kentucky Colonel, the highest title of honor bestowed by the Kentucky governor, recognizing an individual’s outstanding service. Drake holds a bachelor’s in communications from the University of Colorado and was granted an honorary doctorate in humanities by HBCU Simmons College of Kentucky.
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Josh Miller is a queer changemaker, public speaker, photographer, and outdoor explorer. He is the co-lead artist of (Un)Known Project and the co-founder and CEO of IDEAS xLab—an organization that uses the art of storytelling and community collaboration to impact public health. Miller’s work has been featured by the New York Times, the Aspen Institute, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He is a Soros Equality Fellow and received the 2022 Nonprofit Visionary Leader Award from Louisville Business First and was selected for Business Equality Magazine’s Forty LGBTQ+ Leaders under 40 and Louisville Business First’s Forty under 40. Miller is a two-time TEDx speaker and has been described as a “force in our community.” He holds an MBA from Indiana University and an undergraduate degree from Bellarmine University. Previously, he served as an advisor to the Derby Diversity & Business Summit and co-chair for the Louisville Health advisory board’s communications committee.
EPISODE RESOURCES
View the transcript for this episode