WASHINGTON, DC.- The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History will introduce season two of its podcast, “Collected,” with a trailer Jan. 23 highlighting a season that looks at Black women entertainers in American popular music. Focusing on four musical artists, the six-episode series begins Jan. 30 followed by weekly episodes through March 6. An examination of the work of Beyoncé Knowles-Carter kicks off a season that will touch on musical genres such as jazz, rock, spirituals and disco—and one that spans approximately 100 years, from the 1920s to today.

The host, museum curator Krystal Klingenberg, will bring together scholars, music critics and authors to give perspective to a pantheon of women who changed the popular culture soundscape. Over six weeks, audiences will learn about several core figures to see how Black female artists have fought their way to the big stages and survived once they arrived there. The conversations will explore the evolution of the musical careers of Ella Fitzgerald, Tina Turner, Donna Summer and Bernice Johnson Reagon.

“Collected” is distributed by PRX, a Pulitzer and Peabody Award-winning public media organization. The podcast is available free on-demand across all podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Overcast and Pocket Casts. Listeners can find information and the podcast trailer and listen to and download individual episodes via the companion website. The site will also include links to the museum’s artifacts and archival resources related to the women profiled.

“I’m really excited for this next season of the podcast,” said Anthea M. Hartig, the museum’s Elizabeth MacMillan Director. “It is building on the conversations explored in our first season on contemporary Black feminist history and continuing the discussion from a musical perspective. We aim to show how Black women have made and continue to make history.”

“Black women have dominated the mainstream stages of American popular music for almost a century,” Klingenberg said. “This season on ‘Collected,’ my guests and I are looking at the labor, spirit and genius that got them there. How have these women advocated for themselves and fought against stereotypes that tried to dictate their path? How can their stories contextualize what we see on the stage today? This next chapter of the podcast will take our listeners on a rich musical journey through the lives of women you know, but stories you may not.”

A project of the museum’s African American History Curatorial Collective, the podcast is funded by the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative and produced by Smithsonian Enterprises’ Digital Studio. The museum holds one of the largest archive and object collections related to Fitzgerald.