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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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Booking probability
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Guest openness
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Signup to Generate a PitchIn 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.
Recent episodes include "Episode 10: The Flags We Plant" (21 July 2026, 28 minutes), "Episode 9: You Can't Hide History" (14 July 2026, 30 minutes), and "Episode 8: Son of A Mitch" (7 July 2026, 37 minutes).
Rebel Spirit publishes roughly weekly, with episodes averaging 31 minutes across 28 episodes.
Booking probability for Rebel Spirit is 31%, and the host is rated Selective on guests. Rebel Spirit requires a Pod Score of 80 or higher. Rebel Spirit's contact route on record: verified email.
Rebel Spirit is a society podcast with 28 episodes published.
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Episode #10
In our final episode of Season 2, Akilah reflects on the journey of replacing the Jefferson Davis statue in the Kentucky State House and everything she has learned along the way through incredible conversations with our...
Episode #9
Still slightly reeling from last week's revelations, Akilah takes a step back to look more broadly at the role monuments play in telling our country's full history. Through a conversation with Hamza Walker, director of...
Episode #8
After a shocking new development in her efforts to replace the Jefferson Davis statue in the Kentucky State Capitol, Akilah learns you sometimes have to be careful what you wish for. Rebel Spirit is a production...
Episode #7
Throughout this season Akilah has spoken with many people - historians, politicians, journalists, artists, designers - and in every conversation one name keeps coming up. The Daughters of the Confederacy. So in today's...
Episode #6
Historian and retired Brigadier General Ty Seidule speaks with Akilah about his experience as vice chair of the Congressional Naming Commission which was tasked with redesignating Department of Defense assets that honor...
Episode #5
This week, Akilah takes a close look at Shenandoah County, Virginia, where one of the more public fights over Confederate iconography has been playing out over the past few years. In 2020, two schools...
Episode #4
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 required to help...
Episode #3
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 preservationists, she...
Episode #2
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 of the...
Episode #1
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 America. Through...
Rebel Spirit
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 experiences, Season Two...
Episode #12
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 more diverse...
Episode #11
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; there are meetings...
Rebel Spirit
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 High School, they...
Rebel Spirit
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 expanded look at...
Episode #10
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 a racist mascot at...
Rebel Spirit
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 this podcast over the...
Episode #9
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 endless roadblocks keep...
Episode #8
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 of Facebook, Akilah...
Episode #7
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 Rebels into the Ravens...
Recent guests on Rebel Spirit. Study who booked and why before you pitch.
executive director, The Brick
columnist and YouTube commentator, The New York Times
Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Law Office of Karen D. Cox
Brigadier General (Ret.) of the US Army, Professor Emeritus of history at West Point, United States Military Academy at West Point
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