Queering Reality with Michelle Duster

In this episode of Queering Reality, I’m joined by Michelle Duster — author, public historian, and the great-granddaughter of pioneering journalist and anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells. Our conversation centers on legacy: what it means to inherit a history shaped by resistance, and how we are called to reckon honestly with the past rather than mythologize it. Together, we explore the emotional and political labor of confronting historical erasure, the ways feminism is strengthened by truth-telling, and how remembering our ancestors can be an act of radical activism in the present. Through Michelle’s work and lived experience, this dialogue invites listeners to consider legacy not as something fixed, but as something we actively shape through accountability, courage, and collective action.