Ever since humans came out of the African savannah, they have had to work to survive.
But the nature of work has changed dramatically since we had to hunt wooly mammoths for food. We’ve gone from hunting to farming to sitting in front of a computer making podcasts.
Along the way, labor has become a subject of study for economists, an organizing force in politics, and a driving force in culture.
Learn more about human labor and how it changed over time on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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From Japan to South Korea, from China to Taiwan, family structures are becoming less traditional. More premarital cohabitation, single parenthood and two-income households are influencing demographics—with worrying consequences. And we pay tribute to 50 years of hip-hop. The New York-born genre is taking the world by storm, and picking up new influences along the way (9:22).
For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, try a free 30-day digital subscription by going to www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer
At the age of 19, Phillis Wheatley published the first book in English by a person of African descent and the third book of poetry by a North American Woman. She was a poet but also a political actor and celebrity – the most famous African in North America and Europe during the era of the American Revolution. George Washington wrote to her. Thomas Jefferson ridiculed her.
In The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet's Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence (FSG, 2023) – a joint exercise in history and literary criticism, Dr. David Waldstreicher writes that Wheatley is “Homer and Odysseus and the slaves and the women they knew or imagined. She aimed for the universal without forgetting who was suffering most and why.” Reading Wheatley’s poetry in historical context reveals the extent to which the American Revolution both strengthened and limited black slavery – and also how Wheatley herself affected the debates about American slavery and independence.
Mastering the Bible, Greek and Latin translations, and the works of Pope and Milton, Wheatley composed elegies for local elites, celebrated political events, and praised warriors. Despite her skill, knowledge, and fame, she often had to write indirectly about subjects that mattered deeply to her – race, slavery, and discontent with British rule. During a period in which writing was central to political conversation, she used her verse to lampoon, question, and assert the injustice of her enslaved condition. As Waldstreicher demonstrates, Wheatley wrote about events and people – turning what was available and acceptable for a person in her position into poetry that could be read for its art – but also subversively for its political ideas. He concludes that her work proves that the story of the American revolution and Phillis Wheatley are inextricably joined – and that story is one of “resilience and creativity, of antislavery and antiracist possibilities, and of backlash and loss, dreams dashed and deferred.”
Dr. David Waldstreicher is distinguished professor of history, American Studies, and Africana Studies at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His research interests include U.S. cultural and political history, colonial and early US, African American history, slaver, and antislavery. He is the author of Slavery’s Constitution: From Revolution to Ratification (Hill and Wang) and Runaway American: Benjamin Franklin, Slavery, and the American Revolution (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux). His public facing writing includes contributions to The New York Times Book Review, the Boston Review, and The Atlantic.
Susan Liebell is a Professor of Political Science at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.
We're telling you about a racist shooting rampage in Florida and where the shooter first tried to go before security sent him running.
And we have three major weather events to tell you about: a hurricane on the way, tornadoes that already hit, and an update on the record-breaking heat still hovering over parts of the country.
Also, a kiss seen around the world is now leading to calls for a top official to step down.
Plus, it's been 60 years since the iconic 'I Have a Dream' speech, there seems to be an exact age for Americans to make their best financial decisions, and Simone Biles set another new record.
A white gunman shot and killed three Black people in a racist attack at a Dollar General store on Saturday in Jacksonville, Florida. The attack is the latest incidence of racist gun violence perpetrated by a young, white gunman in the United States, and it is being investigated as a hate crime.
Georgia Republicans have expedited the passing of a new state law that would allow the legislature to remove local prosecutors — particularly Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who recently indicted Donald Trump. This is the GOP’s latest attempt to remove prosecutorial power from DAs across the country.
And in headlines: Russian officials finally confirmed that Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a plane crash outside of Moscow, at least seven people were shot and killed just outside of Haiti’s capital, and members of the United Auto Workers union overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike.
Crooked Coffee is officially here. Our first blend, What A Morning, is available in medium and dark roasts. Wake up with your own bag at crooked.com/coffee
“We must continue to work,” Sears says. “We must make sure that our children understand that they must take their place in society, that their job is no less than preserving America for the next generation.”
She was elected as the state’s lieutenant governor Nov. 3, 2021, becoming the first black woman to hold the position.
“So we can’t afford to baby our children. They’re the adults now, and we look to them to keep that charge,” Sears says.
America, she adds, “must remain the city on a shining hill."
Sears joins today’s episode of “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss her book, what inspired her to get involved in politics, and how her Marine Corps service informs her work as lieutenant governor in the administration of Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
As the What Next team catches its breath at the end of summer, we’re revisiting some of the biggest stories of the year. This story originally ran on March 30. What Next will resume regular programming next week.
Two weeks after Roe v. Wade was overturned, Lauren Hall found out the baby she was carrying had a fatal condition: her head and skull weren’t properly developing. Texas’s three overlapping bans on abortion forced her to fly to Washington to terminate the unviable pregnancy. With the Center for Reproductive Rights, she became one of thirteen plaintiffs suing the state, so no one else will have to go through what she did.
Recently, a district court judge decided in their favor, but the state of Texas immediately appealed, leaving pregnant Texans in limbo until the appeals process finishes.
Guest: Lauren Hall, plaintiff suing the state of Texas over its abortion bans.
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Melissa, Leah, and Kate invite two guests to zoom out and analyze how the current Supreme Court got to be the way that it is... and what progressives are doing to push back. Michael Waldman, author of The Supermajority: How the Supreme Court Divided America, provides historical context for other times the Supreme Court has challenged the country. And Brian Fallon, co-founder of Demand Justice, reflects on his tenure as Executive Director as the group challenged Democrats to get on board with judicial reform.
Order The Supermajority by Michael Waldman at Bookshop.org. Code STRICT10 gets you 10% off!
