Emmy Award-winning journalist, historian, entrepreneur, and bestselling author of eleven books, Dr. Janus Adams is the host of public radio’s “The Janus Adams Show” and podcast.
A frequent on-air guest, she has appeared on ABC, BET, CBS, CNN, Fox News, NBC’s The Today Show, and NPR’s All Things Considered. With more than 500 articles, essays and columns to her credit, her work has been featured in Essence and Ms. Magazines, The New York Times, Newsday, USA Today, and The Washington Post. Her syndicated column ran in the Hearst Newspapers for sixteen years. Her commentary has been broadcast on CBS and NPR, and published in the Huffington Post.
Her book, Glory Days: 365 Inspired Moments in African American History, was licensed by McDonald’s and reached more than 3 million readers.
A pioneer of issue-oriented African-American and women’s programming she has hosted her own radio and television talk shows for more than ten years. Her series, “Milestones in African-American Business History,” ran on public radio’s Marketplace. Her 19-hour International Women’s Day marathon broadcasts brought her to NPR as the network’s first National Arts Correspondent and opened the New York News Bureau.
An entrepreneur, as founder of BackPax (a children’s publishing company) and Harambee (the first national book club for African American literature), she changed the publishing landscape for authors and audiences. A dynamic speaker and passionate storyteller, she is known for her unique perspectives on current events through the lens of history.
Indeed, Dr. Adams has been engaged by history and culture since childhood. A northern school desegregation pioneer at 8, she was one of the four children selected to break New York’s de facto segregation in the public schools in the wake of Brown v. Board of Education. A classically-trained pianist, she is a graduate of New York’s High School of Performing Arts. Her master’s is the nation’s first graduate degree in Black Studies. Her doctoral chair was author and composer Shirley Graham Du Bois (widow of Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois, the “Father of Pan-Africanism” and co-founder of the NAACP).
Her honors include Doctor of Humane Letters degrees from Shaw University and the State University of New York.
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THE JANUS ADAMS SHOW, a weekly public radio program, is show about race and courage. The show airs and streams live Saturdays at 11:00 am ET on WJFF — www.WJFFradio.org.
Three women click into a Zoom. OMG.
Why them? Why now? Why should anyone care?
All it takes is one question — the first question, “How are you?” — and everything we think we knew about each other can suddenly change. Who are we? How do we come to be who we are? What’s in a name? What’s in a story? What happens when we openly speak our truths?
Join me for this week’s episode of “The Janus Adams Show” with my guests: authors Hasna Muhammad (“BREATHE IN THE SKY: Poems, Prayers and Photographs”) and Gail Straub (“HOME INSIDE THE GLOBE: Embracing Our Human Family”).
In this unstructured non-interview, three women click into a Zoom and the rest is a reflection of these tense times, our lives and, perhaps, something of your own: family legacy, the strength to endure amid societal upheaval, the journey of reclaiming identity, the art of holding space for complexity.
Traveling the globe through our shared stories, we explore history (up close and personal), current events, justice, injustice, sorrow, and joy. Reading to and for each other, the conversation delivers a timely blueprint for courageous connection.
GUESTS
– Hasna Muhammad, author, “BREATHE IN THE SKY: Poems, Prayers, and Photographs”
website: BirthmarkMedia.com https://www.birthmarkmedia.com/
– Gail Straub, author, “HOME INSIDE THE GLOBE: Embracing the Human Family”
website: GailStraub.com https://gailstraub.com/
THEMES
– Facing challenging times with hope and solidarity
– The meaning and reclamation of identity and legacy
– Generational wisdom, vulnerability, and mutual encouragement
– Navigating and healing divisions—personal, social, historical
– The restorative power of storytelling, poetry, and community
MOMENTS YOU’LL WANT TO EXPERIENCE FOR YOURSELF
“I am well, I am strong … There are people around the world, especially those in the war-torn areas, who are starving and dying and bleeding, and they cannot be strong. But I have the opportunity to be strong. … We must each have our own set of skills, our own ideals and desire to move forward.”
— Hasna Muhammad [0:04:49]
“I read an article recently about prisoners of war and how they maintain hope in those dire circumstances. A key thing they found was this paradox of fully facing how bad It is and simultaneously, equally at the same time, knowing that they’ll get through this. I’m wanting to do that. [But] it’s not hope, because that’s a complicated word.”
— Gail Straub [0:08:40]
“I admit to feeling conflicted. I have a friends who are packing up to leave the country, something I completely understand. On the other hand, I’m the granddaughter of four immigrants, three of whom left relatively privileged circumstances to emigrate to America. Two came with their young children. Two met here. I would not exist had they not dared sacrifice their all and make possible my life. ”
— Janus Adams [0:13:10]
Learn more at JanusAdams.com https://www.janusadams.com/
