Welcome to Karen Hunter's awesome.

I am Karen Hunter, and during this Black History Month, I'm committed to making sure that we talk black history.

Okay.

So I did an interview with Shelley Williams before I knew that she was this amazing Broadway producer, Broadway person. Of course, producer Viita, The Wiz, a bunch of other things. But I met her because she was the author of Your Legacy, a bold reclaiming of our enslaved history. It's a children's book. It is a beautifully written, beautifully illustrated children's book that celebrates the legacy

of African people.

The story begins in Africa.

And if we're going to sit down with our children, no matter what their complexion,

we should tell the story from its origin.

We shouldn't open the book

in the middle and read a few pages and think that that's the history. So I love this book. I love

Shelley Williams. Up next to my interview with Shelly, S-C-H-E-L-E, by the way, S-C-H-E-L-E-Williams.

Stay tuned. Joining me is a woman who was directing all of the things, and she has a new book out. She's actually doing a revival of the Whiz. I've got to talk to about that as well. Let me welcome to the show, the one and only, Shelly Williams. Welcome. Hi, Karen. It's wonderful to be here. Good to have you. Good to have you. First of all, before we get into this beautiful,

amazing book, Your Legacy,

a bold reclaiming of our enslaved history.

We were talking a little bit off, Mike.

You also are directing the revival of IEDA.

And I said, I want to lean into the whiz because that's us.

And you said, well, my Iida is And I said, I want to lean into the whiz because that's us. And you said,

well, my Iita is us too. So tell, because I saw Iita on Broadway and I want I wonder, oh,

Deborah Cox was in it on Broadway. She was amazing. But the man pissed me off because I'm like,

he is not Egyptian or whatever, or whatever.

He was a white guy who kept growling singing and I was really mad.

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