Shelley’s Plumbline
In construction, a plumbline is a weight suspended from a string used as a tool to find the true reference line. A plumbline will always find the vertical axis pointing to the center of gravity, ensuring everything is right, justified, and centered.
Pulling from a library of more than 3,000 shows from his storied career in broadcasting, Shelley's Plumbline leads us in a search for the truth, opening the channels of communication and understanding on tough social topics that are as relevant today as they were 40 years ago.
Join us as we explore the past, compare it to today, and craft a better future.
Episodes
140 episodes
Some Truths About Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks (Rebroadcast)
We join the nation in mourning the loss of civil rights pioneer Claudette Colvin, who passed away on January 13, 2026, at the age of 86. In her honor, we are rebroadcasting this interview with her sister, Gloria Laster, originally broadc...
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Season 13
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Episode 4
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38:21
A Review of Our Favorite Plumblines of 2025
Join Shelley's Plumbline for this powerful year-end recap, reflecting on the most impactful conversations of 2025, a year marked by the addition of co-host Dr. Ricky Jones. Jones’s arrival brought a new voice of depth and truth that...
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Season 13
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Episode 3
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42:56
Racism Today (Rebroadcast)
Hello, Plumbliners!Shelley, Mark and Ricky are going to take a break going into the holiday season. So today, we (re)present the most downloaded Plumbline episode of 2025, titled "Racism Today."In this episode, She...
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Season 13
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Episode 2
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34:36
Whatever Happened to Rosa Parks?
Today, Shelley and Ricky focus their discussion on the ongoing disregard for both Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks after the bus boycott, noting Parks' financial struggles and the general minimization of women's contributions by male movement le...
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Season 13
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Episode 1
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33:00
Some Truths About Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks
This episode of Shelley's Plumline, explores the 70th anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott with special guest Gloria Laster, the older sister of Claudette Colvin. The discussion centers on the overlooked role of Colvin, the 15-year-old arr...
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Season 12
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Episode 10
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38:21
Shelley's Role in The Children's March
In this episode, Shelley and Ricky discuss the key role that Shelley played in the Children's March. The scene is Birmingham, Alabama, April and May of 1963.Martin Luther King Jr.’s advisors had deliberately chosen the city to confront t...
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Season 12
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Episode 9
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35:51
Shelley's Encounters with the KKK
In this episode, Shelley recounts his conflicts with the Ku Klux Klan in Birmingham in the 1950s, intensified by his refusal to adhere to segregated customs in local stores. Shelley reveals that many Klan members were police officers and local ...
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Season 12
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Episode 8
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39:15
Are We Afraid to Have A Dream?
This week, Shelley chats once again with Dr. Ricky Jones, Professor of Pan-African Studies at the University of Louisville. Dr. Jones highlights W.E.B. Du Bois's views on broad educational access for African Americans and critiques the negative...
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Season 11
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Episode 4
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36:33
Education Can Happen Anywhere
What’s education got to do with it? Everything. But in a system built to hold us back, education isn’t even the top concern—discrimination is. In this bold and necessary conversation, Dr. Stewart sits down with Attorney Tom Larkin to unpa...
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Season 11
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Episode 3
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36:29
From Projects to PhD: An Interview with Ricky Jones on the Importance of Education (Rebroadcast)
🔥 “People who are in control of the country because of racial stratification want to stay in control by keeping people stupid about the country’s history.” — Dr. Ricky JonesIn this compelling episode of Shelley’s Plumbline, Dr. Jones ca...
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Season 11
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Episode 3
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36:46