The Agitators: The Story of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass

Trailer: The Agitators, an adaptation of the play by Mat Smart

Host Ashley C. Ford introduces The Agitators, a six-part play-turned-podcast coming Nov. 18, 2020. We’re joined by the team from the onstage production: Actors Cedric Mays (Frederick Douglass) and Madeleine Lambert (Susan B. Anthony), Director Logan Vaughn, and Composer Juliette Jones of Rootstock Republic.

Episode 1. Beginnings: 1849 and 1861

When Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony met in the late 1840s, he was one of the most well-known people in the United States and she was an unknown schoolteacher who had just quit her job because of unequal pay.  Not long after, Frederick recruited Susan to be a lecturer with him in the Anti-Slavery Society and their friendship deepened.

Episode 2. from Bondage to Freedom: 1861

From facing an angry mob to speak out against slavery to waiting for Harriet Tubman to arrive with African-Americans escaping slavery, this episode brings to life Frederick and Susan’s agitations during the Civil War.

Episode 3. Reconstruction: 1867 and 1869

In the years after the Civil War, Frederick and Susan fight to make the United States a country for all, where everyone can vote. What gets in the way of this dream? Will their friendship survive betrayal?

Episode 4. Seeing Anew: 1870 and 1872

In the unlikeliest of places, an integrated baseball game in 1870, Susan and Frederick attempt to repair the rift between them. Then, in 1872, an act of hate threatens to push them even further apart.