A to Z Episode Guide
Explore the A to Z of Democracy: twenty-six stories, twenty-six original songs and a big question for every letter.
Explore the Full Episode Library
26 letters • story-first lessons • original songs • classroom and family friendly • A to H free in the demo
Accountability
What do we owe each other after a mistake?
A is for Accountability
What do we owe each other after a mistake?
The story
Naomi takes on every job for Listening Day at Lot 47, and when it falls apart she blames the library printer. Then Mika presses the button and a clean test page slides out. Instead of punishment, the Crew learns repair: tell the truth, name who was affected, own it without excuses, fix what you can, and change the process so it doesn't happen again.
Freedom School
Ella Baker and the idea of accountable leadership.
The song
Somebody Gotta Own It
Status
Free to watch now in the demo.
Ballot
Who gets a say in decisions they have to live with?
B is for Ballot
Who gets a say in decisions they have to live with?
The story
A new rule says students with a detention can't vote in the student council election. The Crew splits, and every side has a real reason, until Mika asks whether those students still have to follow what the council decides. Nora finds the flaw in her own argument, and the Crew rewrites the rule so every enrolled student votes. A ballot's not a gold star. It's a way to have a say.
Freedom School
SNCC canvassers, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and the Lowndes County Freedom Organization, who built their own way to vote when they were shut out.
The song
Count Me In
Status
Free to watch now in the demo.
Citizen
What does it really mean to belong?
C is for Citizen
What does it really mean to belong?
The story
Lina's exhibit for the library's citizenship celebration is accurate, but a younger child reads it and decides that people who aren't citizens don't belong. The Crew learns the difference between a citizen, a community member and a participant, and Lina rebuilds the exhibit: not less accurate, more complete.
Freedom School
Septima Clark, Bernice Robinson and the Citizenship Schools, which taught adults the skills they needed to use their rights.
The song
Already Home
Status
Free to watch now in the demo.
Democracy
Is democracy just a vote, or something we do together?
D is for Democracy
Is democracy just a vote, or something we do together?
The story
Naomi wins a fair election six to four, then starts deciding everything alone, and her courtyard plan puts stairs in front of Nora. The Crew learns that an election chooses a leader but doesn't hand over everyone's power. They build a process that shares it, and the gavel goes into a rotating box.
Freedom School
Ella Baker and the SNCC organizers, including Diane Nash, Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson and Bob Moses, and the many people a movement needs.
The song
Pass the Power
Status
Free to watch now in the demo.
Equity
Is the same thing for everyone always fair?
E is for Equity
Is the same thing for everyone always fair?
The story
The Preview Festival at Lot 47 gives every station the same budget, the same size and the same supplies, and some people still can't take part. The Crew learns that equality and equity are two different jobs, and redesigns the festival with the people it left out. Same isn't always fair.
Freedom School
Brad Lomax and the disability rights organizers who won access for themselves.
The song
Everybody Needs Something
Status
Free to watch now in the demo.
Franchise
Who was kept from voting, and how did the door open?
F is for Franchise
Who was kept from voting, and how did the door open?
The story
Sofia is sure that everyone can vote, so everyone should. Then her great-grandmother Buela tells the story of her first vote: she had the right in 1920 but couldn't use it until 1952. The Crew sorts voting rules into barriers and protections with one question: does it protect the vote, or protect power from voters?
Freedom School
Fannie Lou Hamer and the SNCC and SCLC organizers who worked beside hundreds of local people.
The song
The Key
Status
Free to watch now in the demo.
Government
Who do you call when something's broken?
G is for Government
Who do you call when something's broken?
The story
Mika's corner is flooded and the streetlight has been out since August, so he calls the government. Four calls later he knows the light, the pole, the water and the road each belong to a different office. He turns it into four questions anyone can ask: who owns it, who pays for it, who decides, and who answers when nothing happens.
Freedom School
Shirley Chisholm, Patsy Mink and Barbara Jordan, and how government really works from the inside.
The song
Borrowed Power
Status
Free to watch now in the demo.
Human Rights
Can a vote take away a right that's already yours?
H is for Human Rights
Can a vote take away a right that's already yours?
The story
Family Night will require a government photo ID at the door, for a real safety reason, and three families can't come. When the student government moves to vote on an exception, Mika asks whose grandma is the no. The Crew learns that some rights can't be handed over or outvoted, and finds another way to keep everyone safe.
Freedom School
Pauli Murray and the Howard sit-ins, then Hansa Mehta and Eleanor Roosevelt writing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.
The song
Not Yours to Give
Status
Free to watch now in the demo.
Independence
Can you accept help and still decide for yourself?
I is for Independence
Can you accept help and still decide for yourself?
The story
Naomi thinks independence means needing nobody. Then a memo offers the Crew four hundred dollars with four conditions, including no "political activity," a phrase it never defines. Using the practice Yani's nation uses with its treaty, the Crew reads the terms, asks what they cost and puts its own definitions in writing.
Freedom School
Independence movements around the world, and tribal nations rebuilding their own constitutions, courts and elections.
The song
Green Light
Status
Coming soon.
Justice
When two places get the same bad news, why do they get different answers?
J is for Justice
When two places get the same bad news, why do they get different answers?
The story
The block voted for a garden on Lot 47, but the soil tests come back with lead. Lina finds that another neighborhood got the same finding the same year and got a real cleanup, while Freedom Hill got a leaflet. DJ learns to trace why, and the Crew turns a statement into a dated, costed request for repair.
Freedom School
Warren County, North Carolina, in 1982, a protest that lost the fight and helped start the environmental justice movement.
The song
Who Calls It Even?
Status
Coming soon.
Knowledge
Where did that information come from?
K is for Knowledge
Where did that information come from?
The story
Teo hears that Lot 47 was sold and spreads it at full volume. Nobody lied, but it was wrong, and the rumor moved faster than the fix. Lina checks the deed, Mika points out that nobody reads page five, and Grandma Jo shows that a neighbor can be a primary source.
Freedom School
The 1964 Mississippi Freedom Schools and the Sea Islands Citizenship Schools.
The song
Trace It
Status
Coming soon.
Laws
Who wrote the rules, and who did they forget?
L is for Laws
Who wrote the rules, and who did they forget?
The story
Nora runs the student government meeting exactly by the handbook, and only nine people come. The activity bus leaves ten minutes after the final bell. The Crew learns that a rule can be followed perfectly and still leave people out, and adds a 7:50 meeting because the morning bus arrives at 7:47.
Freedom School
Charles Hamilton Houston, Constance Baker Motley and Pauli Murray, and the teachers who counted textbooks to prove a rule wasn't fair.
The song
Fine Print
Status
Coming soon.
Majority Rule
If most people win, what happens to everyone else?
M is for Majority Rule
If most people win, what happens to everyone else?
The story
Sofia counts a clean vote, nine to four, for a banner and speakers. What lost was translation and an interpreter for the Lot 47 meeting, and the people it affected never had a vote at all. Sofia doesn't overturn her own vote. She proposes an access floor that comes off the top of the budget before anything is voted on.
Freedom School
The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and the Freedom Vote.
The song
Under the Vote
Status
Coming soon.
Nation
Is a nation only a line on a map?
N is for Nation
Is a nation only a line on a map?
The story
When Ms. Grant asks what a nation is, the whole class turns to look at Yani. Ms. Grant builds a Nations Wall where everyone researches a panel and brings a source, and when Zuri posts Yani's family map without asking, Yani says it plainly: you asked about me, you didn't ask me. The Crew learns that a country is a border, a nation is a people, and you can belong to more than one.
Freedom School
Lenape removal, and Native nations that never stopped governing.
The song
More Than One Map
Status
Coming soon.
Organize
What turns a good idea into real change?
O is for Organize
What turns a good idea into real change?
The story
Naomi runs the Freedom Commons kickoff from one clipboard, and it fails in eleven specific ways. Grandma Jo's 1994 phone tree shows the Crew what organizing really is: every person gets a job, every job has a backup, and nobody has to be the whole thing.
Freedom School
Ella Baker, who refused to hand SNCC to a single famous leader.
The song
Build It So It Stands
Status
Coming soon.
Policy
What does "make it fair" look like in writing?
P is for Policy
What does "make it fair" look like in writing?
The story
Teo gets the crowd cheering for the city to make it fair, until someone asks what that means on paper. The Crew learns that a value only becomes a policy when it's specific enough to write down and measure.
Freedom School
Larry Itliong, Dolores Huerta and the farmworker movement.
The song
Say It With a Number
Status
Coming soon.
Question
Who gets to ask the questions?
Q is for Question
Who gets to ask the questions?
The story
A Youth Voices Forum lets kids into the room but only takes questions written ahead of time. Mika challenges it without preparing, and it partly backfires. Zuri investigates properly, and the next forum moves to six o'clock with fifteen minutes for unscripted questions.
Freedom School
Diane Nash and Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson.
The song
Off the Script
Status
Coming soon.
Representation
Can you speak for people you never asked?
R is for Representation
Can you speak for people you never asked?
The story
Naomi is invited to speak for all young people, until someone asks whether she asked them. Councilmember Renee Carter agrees to carry the Crew's proposal, then compromises to keep it alive, and the recreation building survives as Phase Two with a review date. A date isn't a promise, but it isn't nothing.
Freedom School
Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.
The song
Did You Ask Me?
Status
Coming soon.
Speech
How do we disagree without doing harm?
S is for Speech
How do we disagree without doing harm?
The story
Teo oversells the campaign on a street corner, and his words travel further than he meant. Zuri's youth paper prints a story the student government office doesn't like, and Naomi learns she has no power to shut it down, and shouldn't want it.
Freedom School
Fannie Lou Hamer, Barbara Jordan and the Freedom Singers.
The song
Where the Words Land
Status
Coming soon.
Transparency
If it's a public decision, why can't we see how it was made?
T is for Transparency
If it's a public decision, why can't we see how it was made?
The story
A meeting about Lot 47 happened and the Crew was never told. Nobody hid it; the notice went to a list nobody reads. Lina learns that a record can be public and still invisible, and the Crew brings the city three specific asks.
Freedom School
Ida B. Wells and movement journalism.
The song
Show Your Work
Status
Coming soon.
Universal Suffrage
When we say everybody, who do we really mean?
U is for Universal Suffrage
When we say everybody, who do we really mean?
The story
Nora runs a mock election and finds barriers everywhere, then turns the question on the Crew's own election. Who was actually allowed to vote? The answer is uncomfortable: the winning margin was smaller than the group that couldn't vote at all.
Freedom School
Fannie Lou Hamer, Mary Church Terrell, Mabel Ping-Hua Lee and Zitkala-Ša.
The song
Who's Everybody?
Status
Coming soon.
Voter Education
How do you get ready to make a choice?
V is for Voter Education
How do you get ready to make a choice?
The story
Teo makes a thirty-second hype video and calls it voter education. Lina makes something accurate that nobody finishes reading. Together they build a guide that explains the choices without telling anyone what to choose, and holding that line takes discipline.
Freedom School
Septima Clark and the Citizenship Schools.
The song
Before You Choose
Status
Coming soon.
Woke
What do we do once we notice something's wrong?
W is for Woke
What do we do once we notice something's wrong?
The story
Zuri's youth paper runs a story headlined NOBODY CAME. The reporting is accurate, but the conclusion is wrong: people were already awake, and at work, at second jobs and at home with younger siblings. Noticing a problem and carrying it are different jobs.
Freedom School
Ida B. Wells, Ella Baker and Grace Lee Boggs.
The song
Already Awake
Status
Coming soon.
Xenodochy
How do we make newcomers truly welcome?
X is for Xenodochy
How do we make newcomers truly welcome?
The story
Lina's delivery log is perfect: 412 flyers, every address initialed and dated. Newcomer families still couldn't use the meeting. When they help design it, they change the plan itself, and the Crew admits the first plan was worse.
Freedom School
Yuri Kochiyama and immigrant organizers.
The song
Set Another Place
Status
Coming soon.
Youth Engagement
Are young people invited to lead, or just to pose?
Y is for Youth Engagement
Are young people invited to lead, or just to pose?
The story
The city invites the Crew to what turns out to be a photo opportunity, and Naomi is tempted by a Youth Ambassador lanyard. Students from another Philadelphia neighborhood show her why some wins last and some disappear, and the Crew turns the invitation into real youth seats that rotate, so the first person to sit in one isn't Naomi.
Freedom School
SNCC, Diane Nash and John Lewis.
The song
Not Just for the Picture
Status
Coming soon.
Zealous Participation
What happens after the win?
Z is for Zealous Participation
What happens after the win?
The story
Lot 47 is approved as Freedom Commons. Then Grandma Jo opens her archive of past campaigns that were approved and never built, and DJ asks who's going to watch. Mika builds a tracker a third-grader can reach, and months later the fence comes down on ground that's still bare. Not yet isn't no.
Freedom School
John Hulett and the Lowndes County Freedom Organization, and Larry Itliong and the farmworker movement.
The song
Not Yet Isn't No
Status
Coming soon.
