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In Season Two of Rebel Spirit, Akilah Hughes picks up where her battle to change her high school’s Confederate mascot left off and quickly realizes the problem was never just a mascot. Shifting from her high school still clinging to the “Rebels” name to the long fight over a Jefferson Davis statue in the Kentucky State Capitol, Season Two expands into a sharp, funny, and deeply reported investigation into how America decides what, and who, it chooses to honor. Along the way, Akilah speaks with politicians from both sides of the aisle about their support for change, historians who help contextualize the fight to remove Confederate monuments, and artists who are part of building monuments their whole community can be proud of. All in an effort to answer this season's big question, if we’re willing to tear down racist monuments, why is it so hard to replace them with something better?
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Recent Episodes
S2E4 Episode 4: Erasing History
Akilah welcomes Clint Smith, a writer who extensively covers race in America and has been cataloguing the dismantling of Confederate monuments and memorials since 2017. He and Akilah discuss the work…
S2E3 Episode 3: Making Monuments
After deciding on a replacement monument she wants to advocate for, Akilah dives deep into what it takes to actually get a new monument in place. Through conversations with monument makers and…
S2E2 Episode 2: The Rotunda
Akilah narrows her aim at an empty corner of the Kentucky State House where a Jefferson Davis monument once stood. She tries to chase down Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear who advocated for the removal…
S2E1 Episode 1: Back To Work
In our Season Two premiere, Akilah catches up on the latest from her hometown of Florence, Kentucky as she begins to explore how the same Confederate legacy she challenged locally is resurging across…
S2 Coming Soon... Rebel Spirit Season 2
This season, Akilah takes her fight to the Kentucky State House in an attempt to replace a recently removed Confederate statue with a monument everyone can be proud of. Grounded in her own lived…
S1 Rebel Spirit Signal Award Voting!
Help us win a Signal Award for Rebel Spirit! Voting is open through Thursday, October 9th and you can vote in each of our categories at the below link. We're nominated for Limited Series - Comedy and…
S1 Vote For Rebel Spirit To Win A Webby!
Rebel Spirit is nominated for a Webby Award and we need your help to win! Go to this link and vote for Rebel…
S1E12 Episode 12: Erasures
It's the last episode of the season, and Akilah is thinking about her home, Florence, Kentucky. Over the course of our reporting, we've been told how much the town and county are changing, how much…
S1E11 Episode 11: Open Records
Since our last episode, we've heard rumors coming out of Boone County: there WILL be a new mascot; there definitely will NOT be a new mascot; the new superintendent wants to know what's going on;…
S1 New Year Update
Akilah sits down with her producers, Dan and Elizabeth, for a check in on where the journey has taken them since airing the initial episodes. Though there hasn't been much movement from Boone County…
S1 Expanded Interviews
As Akilah and the Rebel Spirit team continue to pursue updates from BCHS on the mascot change, we wanted to share one more bonus episode before the end of the year. Within today's episode you get an…
S1E10 Episode 10: Stay Free
Akilah returns to Florence for one last push toward change as she speaks at the final Boone County High School SBDC meeting of the school year, which just so happens to be on Juneteenth. If you have…
S1 Looking Back
As we finish up our next episode, and given that everyone’s minds are probably occupied with the Election today, the Rebel Spirit team wanted to take a moment to look back on the process of making…
S1E9 Episode 9: So Disappointing
After so much research and work, it is clear that this uphill battle is not coming to a close soon as Akilah finally gets to speak in front of the school. How do you keep fighting for change when…
S1E8 Episode 8: Shaun
The biggest advice Akilah has gotten for changing the Rebels mascot has been to get in touch with NFL MVP running back and Boone County High School alum, Shaun Alexander. Using the unfortunate power…
S1E7 Episode 7: Denver South
In a set of riveting interviews with a determined high school principal and an NFL star, Calais Campbell, Akilah gets schooled on the successful process that changed the Denver South High School…
S1E6 Episode 6: Other Rebels
By now we’ve learned that changing the Rebels mascot and team name is a difficult process. For guidance and inspiration, Akilah turns to other former Rebels who didn’t take no for an answer and…
S1E5 Episode 5: Mascots
If you’re going to create a new mascot, you’ve gotta talk to the experts. In this episode, Akilah speaks with the creators of Benny the Bull, the Chicago Bulls’ mascot, and Gritty, the Philadelphia…
S1E4 Episode 4: Y'All or Nothing
Taking a step back from Akilah’s campaign, we spend some time with a local minor league baseball franchise, The Florence Y’All’s, and hear all about how they were able to rebrand their team name from…
S1E3 Episode 3: Half Measures
In speaking to alumni from Boone County High School willing to share their experiences across multiple decades, a clearer image of all the half-measures taken to remove the confederate imagery and…
Frequently Asked Questions
Rebel Spirit has published 22 episodes since June 2024, covering topics in Comedy, History.
Rebel Spirit is currently highly active with new episodes weekly. Average episode length is 35m.
Sign up on Grep.FM to access contact details for Rebel Spirit, including email and social media links.
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