ICYMI: Decoder Ring: The Forgotten Video Game About Slavery

Slate Technology

Slate

Society & Culture, Technology, History

4.6 • 636 Ratings

🗓️ 27 December 2023

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

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. If you haven’t please yet, subscribe and rate our feed in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And even better, tell your friends. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I made you think you was real.
0:02.0	My name is Caden Sinclair.
0:04.0	Some people call us American royalty.
0:06.0	We were liars.
0:07.0	A new series on Prime Video.
0:09.0	We were happy. We wanted for nothing.
0:12.0	Based on the best-selling novel.
0:15.0	Something terrible happened last summer,
0:17.0	and I have no memory of what or who hurt me.
0:20.0	No one in my family will tell me.
0:22.7	When you're left for dead, you want answers.
0:25.2	We Will Liars. New series, watch now, only on Prime Video. Hey, I'm Candace Lim, and you're listening to I-C-Y-MIMI.
0:47.1	In case you missed it, Slate's podcast about internet culture.
0:50.9	And today, we have a special treat because we're bringing you an amazing episode from Slate's Decoder Ring podcast.
0:58.6	In this episode, host Willa Paskin, staff writer at the New Yorker Julian Lucas, and a team of incredible experts revisit the well-intentioned, but flawed video game, Freedom, which took kids on a journey along the Underground Railroad,
1:13.4	becoming the first American software program to use slavery as its subject matter.
1:18.2	As you can imagine, it did not go well.
1:21.5	And without further ado, here's the show.
1:26.9	Just a heads up before we begin.
1:29.2	This episode contains some adult language.
1:38.0	When Julian Lucas, now a staff writer at The New Yorker, was just a kid.
1:42.4	He became fascinated by video games.
	...

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