What’s Ray Saying Podcast: History Through The Eyes Of A Born Storyteller

I first heard of the What’s Ray Saying podcast from Demetrius Bagley, the Executive Director of the Black Podcasting Awards. Demetrius mentioned that this podcast had won multiple awards at the 2024 awards ceremony, so I had to check it out. I’m glad I did because this is one of the most narratively vibrant podcasts in the audio verse.

What is, What’s Ray Saying about? Let Ray tell you: “From the repository of all Black knowledge, hidden away in the Western mountains of North Carolina…this podcast has been the triangulation of my entire life and to a perspective of the Black experience.”

In the first episode in April 2016, Ray discusses life after slavery ended in the Southern United States. In graphic terms, Ray explains that newly freed slaves were sometimes murdered by their former masters in retribution for the quest for freedom. Sadly, newly freed Blacks didn’t know their family connections since slaves were interbred indiscriminately, so family lineage was often difficult or impossible to decipher. We learn that Black men could be imprisoned, beaten, or lynched for even looking at a White woman.

Two of my other favorite episodes include the January 23, 2018, show called “Black American Naming Practices,” when Ray explains how Africans brought over on slave ships…