What is Juneteenth and Why Do We Celebrate?

What is Juneteenth and Why Do We Celebrate?

Juneteenth isn’t just a date; it’s a lesson about how freedom can be promised on paper and still withheld in practice. I’m joined by Clint Smith, the New York Times bestselling author of *How the Word Is Passed* and a staff writer at The Atlantic, to trace why so many Americans grew up barely hearing about Juneteenth and what changes when we finally tell the story plainly. We walk through the history that made Juneteenth necessary: the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, the end of the Civil War in 1865, and the reality that enslaved people in Texas often did not learn they were free until Union troops arrived in Galveston on June 19, 1865. Clint explains how this wasn’t simply a communication delay. In many cases, freedom was deliberately kept quiet so enslavers could keep extracting labor, a detail that reshapes how we think about emancipation, historical memory, and the ongoing fight to teach accurate Black history. From there, we dig into “reflective patriotism” and Clint’s idea of America as “both and” a country capable of remarkable opportunity and profound injustice. Juneteenth holds that tension: celebration for liberation and mourning for the lives consumed by slavery and by delayed freedom. We also talk about what it looks like to commemorate Juneteenth beyond a single day, how to resist turning it into a product, and where to start learning, including Annette Gordon-Reed’s work and accessible resources like Crash Course Black American History. [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtNYJO8JWpXO2JP0ezgxsrJJ] If you care about civic education, American history, and the power of honest storytelling, listen through and share this conversation with someone you want to learn alongside. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: what should Juneteenth ask of all of us today? Check Out the Civic Literacy Curriculum [https://civics.asu.edu/civic-literacy-curriculum]! School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership [https://scetl.asu.edu/] Center for American Civics [https://civics.asu.edu/]

Lore of the Founding- An Introduction

America’s founding didn’t spring from a blank page. It grew out of a loud, messy argument that had been running for centuries about how people should govern themselves, and Joanna Kenty helps us follow that argument back to its classical roots. We talk with Joanna, a former classics professor and civic education writer, about what “classical history” actually means beyond “great books.” She maps the Greek and Latin-speaking Mediterranean world, the timelines most people mean when they say “the classics,” and why certain authors like Plato, Sophocles, Cicero, and Virgil still feel provocative thousands of years later. From there, we zoom in on 18th-century America, where Latin study and Greco-Roman references were common, visible in mottos, coins, and a culture that constantly borrowed symbols like Liberty and Columbia to explain what the new republic hoped to become. Then we dig into the founders’ political education: why Athens mattered as an early democracy, why it also terrified later thinkers, and why the Roman Republic often became the more practical model for stability, offices, and restraint. Joanna also explains the historical accident that shaped the curriculum for generations: the West kept Latin while Greek became harder to access until the Renaissance. Along the way, we point teachers and curious readers to foundational sources, including John Adams’s love of Cicero, and we connect ideas to physical space through Jefferson’s neoclassical architecture at Monticello and the University of Virginia. If you care about the US Constitution, civic education, the Federalist Papers, or why Washington, DC looks the way it does, this conversation gives you a clearer origin story. Subscribe for the rest of the series, share this with a history-loving friend, and leave a review with your take: which ancient lesson feels most urgent right now? Subscribe to the Renovator. [https://therenovator.substack.com/] Check Out the Civic Literacy Curriculum [https://civics.asu.edu/civic-literacy-curriculum]! School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership [https://scetl.asu.edu/] Center for American Civics [https://civics.asu.edu/]

The War Powers Act Explained

The Constitution draws a bright line that most of us never hear clearly: Congress declares war, and the President commands the military. So why does modern American conflict so often start without a formal declaration, and why does the “commander in chief” argument keep winning in practice? We sit down with Dr. Sean Beienberg to unpack the War Powers Act, also known as the War Powers Resolution of 1973, and the long tug-of-war over constitutional war powers. We connect the founding debates in Federalist 69, Pacificus, and Helvidius to the Civil War-era Prize Cases, where the Court recognizes defensive presidential action while still rejecting the idea that one person should decide to move the nation from peace to war. From there, we track how authorizations for use of military force (AUMFs) become the modern workaround, and how Korea and Vietnam reshape expectations about what “counts” as war. The most sobering part is enforcement. Courts largely treat these fights as political questions, meaning they won’t order troops home, and Congress is left with blunt tools like funding cuts that are politically risky. We also dig into how the 2011 Office of Legal Counsel Libya memo broadens the modern theory of presidential power by narrowing what qualifies as “real war” and expanding what qualifies as a U.S. interest. The result is a War Powers framework that exists on paper, but often feels hollow in real time. If you care about separation of powers, checks and balances, and how U.S. military force gets authorized, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves civics, and leave a review with your take: should Congress reclaim the war power, or has the presidency already absorbed it? Check Out the Civic Literacy Curriculum [https://civics.asu.edu/civic-literacy-curriculum]! School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership [https://scetl.asu.edu/] Center for American Civics [https://civics.asu.edu/]

How Primaries Pick Candidates And Reshape Elections

Primaries decide far more than most voters think and the process that was supposed to make politics cleaner may be one reason it feels uglier. We sit down with Dr. Sean Beienberg to unpack what primary elections actually are, why they took off in the early 20th century, and how they replaced the old convention system where party leaders and delegates negotiated nominees behind closed doors. If you’ve ever heard “smoke-filled room” and assumed the cure was obvious, this conversation adds the missing context: those insiders were often obsessed with one boring metric that mattered a lot, picking someone who could win. We walk through how primaries and caucuses work today, including the difference between open primaries and closed primaries, and why low primary turnout gives a small slice of voters outsized power. Then we dig into the central irony: instead of producing more moderate, broadly responsive candidates, modern primaries can reward people who are more extreme in style and less willing to compromise. Dr. Bienberg connects the dots between nomination incentives, campaign finance rules that weaken party organizations, small-dollar fundraising pressure, and the way cable news and social media can turn outrage into strategy. We also zoom out to the larger election ecosystem: gerrymandering and “safe” districts can make the primary the most dangerous election for many officials, which shifts their focus from governing to surviving the next nomination fight. We close by revisiting why conventions used to be unpredictable and substantive, and why they’re mostly spectacle now. If you want to understand polarization, party power, and why Congress struggles, start here, then check your state’s primary rules and vote. Subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review with your take on whether primaries help or hurt democracy. Check Out the Civic Literacy Curriculum [https://civics.asu.edu/civic-literacy-curriculum]! School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership [https://scetl.asu.edu/] Center for American Civics [https://civics.asu.edu/]

The Senate Filibuster Explained

The filibuster gets treated like an ancient feature of the U.S. Senate, but the version that drives today’s gridlock is surprisingly modern. We sit down with Dr. Sean Beienberg to unpack how a procedure that’s not even named in the Constitution ends up acting like a standing 60-vote requirement for most legislation. We start with the basics: what a filibuster is, what it is supposed to do, and why the classic image of someone heroically talking for hours is more myth than daily reality. From Aaron Burr’s rule change that helped create unlimited debate to the Senate’s 1917 cloture rule, the story is really about Senate procedure and incentives. Then we hit the turning point: two-tracking in the 1970s, when the Senate began treating an intent to filibuster as enough, dramatically lowering the cost of obstruction and sending filibuster use through the roof. From there, we follow the consequences. Why can the budget move when other bills cannot? How did fights over executive branch nominees and judicial nominations escalate from up-or-down votes into procedural warfare, with ripple effects that shape Supreme Court confirmations? We also explore the argument that the filibuster may be constitutionally suspect because the Constitution calls for supermajorities only in specific situations, plus realistic reform ideas like ending two-tracking or forcing debate to actually happen. If you’ve ever wondered why “just pass a bill” is rarely that simple in Congress, this conversation connects the dots. Subscribe for more clear, practical civics, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review with your take: should the Senate keep the filibuster, restore the talking filibuster, or scrap it entirely? Check Out the Civic Literacy Curriculum [https://civics.asu.edu/civic-literacy-curriculum]! School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership [https://scetl.asu.edu/] Center for American Civics [https://civics.asu.edu/]