Bicentennial Baby
A limited series podcast about being born in 1976 and turning 50 the year the United States turns 250.
Created and produced by Yolanda Wisher for Art Philly's What Now: 2026 Festival.
Episodes
10 episodes
Maybe It Means Everything (Yolanda)
Yolanda reflects on creating Bicentennial Baby, searching for meaning in a shared birth year, and what it means to tell our stories before they disappear.
Born at the End of Something (Michi)
Michi reflects on identity, movement work, and coming of age at what she calls “the end of a certain American delusion.”
Be Careful With Your Spirit (Laurie)
Laurie reflects on growing up between generations, carrying political memory, and learning to love a place without pretending it’s perfect.
Big Dreams (Kenny)
Kenny reflects on growing up in a generation of “big everything”—big style, big imagination, and big dreams—and what it means to hold onto hope at fifty.
We Need Each Other (Maleka)
Maleka reflects on identity, protest, and connection—tracing a life shaped by migration, memory, and the belief that community is essential to survival.
There Are At Least Two Americas (Stewart)
Stewart reflects on growing up in the South, navigating history and contradiction, and what it means to move forward in a country shaped by multiple, competing realities.
We Are the Survivors of Everything Our Ancestors Went Through (Naila)
Born in 1976, Naila reflects on movement, memory, and what it means to be a Bicentennial Baby turning fifty. Released in her memory, this episode honors a life that continues to move through us with grace and light.
Open Line: On Michael Jackson
A short meditation on Michael Jackson as a cultural mirror for Bicentennial Babies. This segment sketches the strange intimacy of growing up under his shadow.
