ICYMI - Decoder Ring: The Forgotten Video Game About Slavery
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4.2 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 27 December 2023
⏱️ 44 minutes
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Summary
In 1992, a Minnesota-based software company known for its educational hit The Oregon Trail released another simulation-style game to school districts across the country. Freedom! took kids on a journey along the Underground Railroad, becoming the first American software program to use slavery as its subject matter.
Less than four months later, it was pulled from the market. In this episode, we revisit this well-intentioned, but flawed foray into historical trauma that serves as a reminder that teaching Black history in America has always been fraught.
We hear from Julian Lucas, Mike Palmquist, Rich Bergeron, Josh Bergeron, Kamau Kambui, Yamro Kambui Fields, Halim Fields, Mawusi Kambui Pierre, Nanyamka Salley, John Ojanen, Darrolyn Sharp, Byron Sharp, and Dean Kephart.
This episode was written by Willa Paskin. Decoder Ring is produced by Willa Paskin and Katie Shepherd. This episode was also produced by Benjamin Frisch, and edited by Erica Morrison. Derek John is executive producer. Joel Meyer is senior editor-producer and Merritt Jacob is senior technical director.
We’re grateful to Julian Lucas for his expertise, reporting, and generosity, without which this episode would not have been possible. His New Yorker article, “Can Slavery Reenactments Set Us Free?,” revisits the Freedom! story as part of an exploration of the live Underground Railroad re-enactments that Kamau Kambui pioneered.
Thank you to Jesse Fuchs for suggesting this topic. Thanks also to Coventry Cowens, Brigitte Fielder, Bob Whitaker, Alan Whisman, Wayne Studer, Alicia Montgomery, Rebecca Onion, Luke Winkie, and Kamau Kambui’s children: Yamro Kambui Fields, Halim Fields, Mawusi Kambui Pierre, Nanyamka Salley, and Kamau Sababu Kambui Jr.
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If you’re a fan of the show, please sign up for Slate Plus. Members get to listen to Decoder Ring without any ads and have total access to Slate’s website. Your support is also crucial to our work. Go to Slate.com/decoderplus to join Slate Plus today.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, I'm Candice Lim, and you're listening to Icy Y-M-I in case you missed it, |
| 0:18.0 | Sleyts Podcast about Internet Culture. And today we have a special treat because we're bringing you an amazing |
| 0:25.5 | episode from Slate's Dakota Ring podcast. In this episode, host Willipaskin, |
| 0:31.2 | staff writer at the New Yorker Julian Lucas, and a team of incredible experts, |
| 0:35.5 | revisit the well-intentioned, but flawed video game, Freedom, which took kids on a journey along the |
| 0:42.4 | Underground Railroad, |
| 0:43.5 | becoming the first American software program to use slavery |
| 0:46.5 | as its subject matter. |
| 0:48.5 | As you can imagine, it did not go well. |
| 0:51.5 | And without further ado, here's the show. |
| 0:57.6 | Just a heads up before we begin this episode contains some adult language. When Julie and Lucas, now a staff writer at the New Yorker was just a kid. He became fascinated by video games. |
| 1:15.2 | I had plenty of late night sleepovers playing Super Smash Brothers Malay. |
| 1:19.9 | It was the late 90s early 2000s and he played all different kinds of games, |
| 1:24.7 | fighting games and computer games, educational games, |
| 1:27.6 | racing games and first person shooter games. |
| 1:30.7 | But there was one kind he liked most of all. |
| 1:33.0 | Models of the world. |
| 1:35.0 | Whether it was space exploration |
| 1:38.0 | or conquering the Roman Empire |
| 1:40.0 | or building an ancient Chinese city, something that felt like I had an entire world |
| 1:46.5 | contained on my computer that I could improvise on and modify and control. That's what really appealed to me. But when Julian |
| 1:55.4 | got the college he started thinking more critically about this medium he |
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