Our Ancestors Were Messy - Coming Soon: The Revolutionary Black Loyalists - Live! (July 8)

Episode Date: July 6, 2026

A preview of an upcoming episode about the Black Loyalists. Thousands of our ancestors escaped slavery during the American Revolution, fought for the British on the promise of freedom, and left an unbelievable legacy in the US, Canada, and beyond!  Full episodes air July 8th starring writer, sociologist, and MacArthur Fellow Tressie McMillian Cottom taped live on Juneteenth at the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU in Richmond, VA. You'll also get to hear the same story told again to the co-hosts of Code Switch, B.A. Parker and Gene Demby taped live at the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University in Washington, DC. Different guests. Different audiences. Very different perspectives! Support this independent production and access bonus content at https://ourancestorsweremessy.supercast.com Stay in touch at [e-mail] Follow the show on Instagram at @ourancestorsweremessy Follow the show on TikTok at @ourancestorsweremessy Learn more about the show at https://ourancestorsweremessy.com Listen on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@OurAncestorsWereMessy 

How's it going, y'all? Please welcome to the stage, Nicole Hill. Thank you so much for coming out. I am the hosting creator of our ancestors, We're Messy. Yeah, thank you so much. Typically, I tell stories from 1865 to 1955. However, today, I'm doing something a little different. Oh, let's go.

Because it's America's semi-Quincennial, which is the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Say the word again? semi-Quincennial. All right. It's an important and real word. And the, I have a feeling that this current regime might not celebrate black folks. What makes you say that?

I don't know why I think that. But we were there. So I was like, let's talk about it here today. Stories are the only thing that changed the world, man. And this is why. Because when you're faced with choices that are bigger than anything, you could actually probably just settle for yourself. It's bigger than anything you know.

Yes. All you've got is, well, I got a story that says if I step out there. And that's why people move. We are in church right now. Wow. So I'm going to be telling a story from the revolutionary era of America, the colonial revolutionary, that whole period. So it's pre-newspapers, which I like to pull from gossip columns when I'm telling

these stories. This is pre-newspapers, but not pre-Mess. Don't worry. It will be in here. Like Christmas Addicts, miss? A band of war-wary vets embark on a quest to find the promised land. Along the way, they'll face obstacles that pit them against the elements, the unemployed, and each other.

This episode stars New York Times columnist and 2020 MacArthur Fellow, Tressie McMillan Cottom. If I'm Phyllis, I would tell him, go send you a letter to tell me how it is. They sent for me later. This episode stars co-hosts of NPR's Code Switch, B.A. Parker and Jane Demby. There's such a, like, a naivete and hopefulness that comes from David. And he's like, yes, white lady, let me put you into the water.

Everything is going to be all right. We also got to remember that it's like, we know this now. We know this now. But, like, this is the first time that was happening. Like, this is the first time that people were trying to negotiate what it means to be in international spaces. Yeah. In a post-slavery environment. Like, all right, girl, I guess.

Live from the Moreland Spingarne Research Center in Washington, D.C., live from the ICA at VCU, this is Our Ancestors Were Messy, a show about our ancestors and all their drama. I love this.