It's the Brian Lairr Show on WNYC.

Welcome back, everybody.

I'm Kushan Avedar, filling in for Brian today.

This week marks the beginning of Black History Month, and this year, the annual commemoration

of Black Heritage and Resilience celebrates its 100th anniversary.

In the years after Reconstruction, Carter G. Woodson established the precursor to Black

History Month in 1926.

He wrote that year, If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition,

it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world and it stands in danger of

being exterminated. Let truth destroy the dividing prejudices of nationality and teach

universal love without distinction of race, merit, or rank.

A hundred years later, that quote is being challenged by the Trump administration.

It has, in its second term, taken down references of black history at National Parks.

Juneteenth is no longer a free admission day at National Parks, and last month it removed

an exhibit on slavery in Philadelphia.

This is all according to ABC News.

Still, the celebrations go on.

Scholars, civil rights activists, and artists are putting together events around the

country to commemorate the centennial.

And in honor of Black History Month, we'll now take a closer look at one

family's story as it intersects with America's ongoing struggle with structural racism,

what's been accomplished and what still needs to be done. Joining us now right in the studio,

...