Affirmative Action’s Back Story

---

John Biewen is the Audio Director of the audio program at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, where he produces and hosts the award-winning podcast, Scene on Radio. Biewen has reported for NPR News, American Public Media, and Minnesota Public Radio and is a two-time winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Award for outstanding coverage of the disadvantaged. Scene on Radio’s 2017 series exploring the history of white supremacy, Seeing White, and its 2020 series on American democracy, The Land That Never Has Been Yet, were each nominated for a Peabody Award. Biewen is co-editor of the book, Reality Radio: Telling True Stories in Sound, published by the University of North Carolina Press.

Dr. Chenjerai Kumanyika is a scholar, producer and advocate who works in NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. He specializes in using narrative non-fiction audio journalism to critique the ideology of American historical myths about issues such as race, the Civil War, and policing.  Kumanyika is co-creator, co-executive producer and co-host of Uncivil, Gimlet Media’s podcast on the Civil War and he is the collaborator and co-host for Scene on Radio’s influential Season 2 “Seeing White,” and Season 4 on the history of American democracy. His work has been recognized with several prestigious honors including the George Foster Peabody Award (2018) for Uncivil.