In the series finale of About South, we travel to the E.W. Shell Fisheries Center at Auburn University to discuss a subject near and dear to our hearts -- crayfish. Jim Stoeckel, an Associate Professor at Auburn, and Brian Helms, an Assistant Professor at Troy University, generously share with us their knowledge, expertise, and enthusiasm for this small yet remarkable creature. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa Danso. Jessica Parker is an assistant producer. Music is...
Nov 15, 2019•48 min
In this special short episode, we hear from several listeners who have made About South possible. Series finale airs Friday, November 15. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa Danso. Jessica Parker is an assistant producer. Music is by Brian Horton. You can find his music at www.brianhorton.com. Learn more at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com
Nov 14, 2019•9 min
This week's guest practically needs no introduction because you've been listening to him on our show for years. Dr. Brian Horton is a professor at North Carolina Central University, a jazz history scholar, and a prolific musician. Gina calls him up to talk about all of the above and music programs at historically Black colleges and universities. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa Danso. Jessica Parker is an assistant producer. Music is by Brian Horton. You can find hi...
Nov 08, 2019•40 min
In this week’s episode, we present our first full-length phone interview with returning guest Dr. Tara Bynum, a Mellon research scholar in African American history at the Library Company of Philadelphia, and Assistant Professor at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. Tara takes us back in time to an era before the Revolutionary War in Newport, Rhode Island, where we are introduced to an enslaved man named Cesar Lyndon, whose remarkable story offers us a glimpse into colonial enslavement ...
Nov 01, 2019•38 min
This week, we keep it in the family as Gina sits down with new About South co-producer Jessica Parker. Jessica grew up in Fayette County, GA, home of the Line Creek Petroglyph, a large, engraved rock with a complicated history. Jessica first learned about the petroglyph when it became the subject of national news -- because someone had stolen it. Years later, she and Gina attempt to solve the mystery of the Line Creek Petroglyph. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa Dan...
Oct 25, 2019•36 min
In this week’s episode of About South, we travel to St. John the Baptist Parish in Louisiana to meet with Ashley Rogers, executive director at the Whitney Plantation museum and memorial site, to discuss the history of plantation enslavement in the U.S. South. As the only plantation museum in Louisiana with a focus on slavery, its rare and vital approach in exhibiting the area’s gruesome agricultural industrial complex sheds light on one of the most painfully minimized eras of American history. A...
Oct 11, 2019•36 min
This week, co-producer Kelly Vines sits down with Dwight Billings, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Kentucky. Dwight researches social inequality and poverty, especially in Appalachia, where Kelly’s family has a long history. The pair discusses what drew the coal mining industry to southern Appalachia and the future of the region. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa Danso. Jessica Parker is an assistant producer. Music is by Brian Horton. You can fi...
Oct 04, 2019•45 min
This week on About South, we are joined by Dr. Calinda Lee, Vice President for Historical Interpretation and Community Partnerships at the Atlanta History Center. We dive headfirst into the topic of our hometown’s complicated past, and how we choose to tell the story of our past to others. Calinda helps us to understand the unique challenges in framing Atlanta history correctly, avoiding the pitfalls of past interpretations, and how we can plan for the future presentation of our historical under...
Sep 27, 2019•44 min
In this week’s episode, we sit down with Hillary Holley from Fair Fight to discuss the 2018 gubernatorial election that had the whole nation watching. We cover a variety of topics, including the tactics utilized by Brian Kemp’s office to suppress minority voters in Georgia, the ensuing litigation spearheaded by Stacey Abrams, and the hope for the future of Georgia elections. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa Danso. Jessica Parker is an assistant producer. Music is by...
Sep 20, 2019•37 min
On June 24, 1973, an arsonist set fire to the Upstairs Lounge, a gay bar in New Orleans’ French Quarter. Dozens of people lost their lives that night, but the event isn’t widely known about. This week, we sit down with Ryan Prechter, a visiting lecturer in Georgia State University’s History Department. Ryan studies queer history in the south, particularly in New Orleans. We revisit the tragedy with Ryan to better understand why it happened and how it relates to where we are now. About South is p...
Sep 13, 2019•39 min
In honor of Randi Byrd's personal best record and the 50th Annual Coharie Pow Wow, we're rebroadcasting our talk on pumpkins-- giant pumpkins. Although Randi always had a green thumb, she only connected her interest in agricultural practice to her fascination with pumpkins in 2009. Growing a 700+ pound pumpkin is a difficult feat that often requires the support of family and friends. Randi talks about the community she found not only in fellow growers of giant pumpkins but also in the local Indi...
Sep 07, 2019•36 min
This week, iconic Atlanta drag performer Brigitte Bidet joins Gina for a conversation about all things drag in the South. Brigitte is a classically trained dancer, a favorite host for southern queer publication WUSSY Mag, and a founding member of Legendary Children ATL. You may even have seen her as Dolly Parton #5 in the Netflix original film Dumplin’, starring Jennifer Anniston. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa Danso. Jessica Parker is an assistant producer. Music...
Aug 30, 2019•33 min
In this week’s episode of About South, we present the second half of our two-part conversation with policy advocate and longtime friend Sanford Johnson. We cover a wide variety of Mississippi-related topics, including the Jackson ICE raids, the 2020 election, and the defacing of the Emmett Till historical marker. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa Danso. Jessica Parker is an assistant producer. Music is by Brian Horton. You can find his music at www.brianhorton.com. L...
Aug 23, 2019•32 min
In this week’s episode, we travel to Clarksdale, Mississippi to sit down with education policy advocate Sanford Johnson for a conversation so good, we had to bring it to you in two parts. In part one, we reminisce about student government at Auburn, discuss education reform in the Mississippi Delta, and dive into that viral video that had everybody talking about safe shoe-wear activity. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa Danso. Jessica Parker is an assistant producer....
Aug 16, 2019•33 min
This week, Sara Patenaude of the Handmaid Coalition of Georgia joins Gina for a discussion of reproductive rights in the state and beyond and what it means to stage a successful protest in the U.S. South. The Handmaid Coalition of Georgia formed in 2017 during a national 50 maids in 50 states protest. Georgia’s chapter is one of the most active largely because of HB481, six-week abortion ban introduced this past legislative session. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa ...
Aug 09, 2019•32 min
In this week’s episode, we travel to Copenhagen, Denmark to sit down with Martyn Bone, a southern studies scholar and Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen, to discuss globalism and a postsouthern idea on an international scale. We touch on everything from overseas interest in U.S. Southern literature to the U.S. South’s long history with immigration, as well as our hometown Atlanta’s role in this international conversation. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and ...
Jul 26, 2019•35 min
This week we’re bringing you a local story about independent community radio station WRFG-89.3FM. Gina sits down with station co-founder Harlon Joye at WRFG’s Little Five Points studio to discuss the history of station as well progressive media in the city, the region, and the nation. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa Danso. Jessica Parker is an assistant producer. Music is by Brian Horton. You can find his music at www.brianhorton.com. Learn more at www.aboutsouthpo...
Jul 19, 2019•37 min
In this week’s episode, we sit down with Brian Ward, historian and Professor in American Studies at Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, to discuss his 2017 book Martin Luther King: In Newcastle Upon Tyne about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s landmark 1967 visit to Newcastle University. Brian explains what makes this brief yet historic visit to northeastern England so exceptional, and we discuss the context of King’s journey, his motivation for coming to Newcastle, and the impac...
Jul 12, 2019•37 min
About South kicks off its farewell season with a trip to England where we talk to Dr. Gavan Lennon, a professor at Canterbury Christ Church University, about southern studies in the UK and Ireland. Gavan highlights the sense of solidarity those from Ireland and the UK might feel with the vibrant and productive history of African American resistance and cultural production in the U.S. South. Our guest also describes some of the problems with how white southerners use the term “Scotch-Irish” as we...
Jul 05, 2019•43 min
This week we’re wrapping season 3 of About South with a conversation about the legend of Trahlyta, a pice of folklore that says a “Cherokee princess” is buried under a pile of rocks in Dahlonega, GA. Gina and Allison Yost discuss the tale’s origins, why people are so connected to it, and the ways it mirrors many troubling ideas about Native identity in the South. About South is produced by Gina Caison, Kelly Vines, and Adjoa Danso. Lindsey Baker is our Marketing Director. Music is by Brian Horto...
Nov 16, 2018•36 min
We get a little bit meta in this week’s episode as we sit down for a conversation with Michelle Khouri, host of The Cultured Podcast and owner of FRQNCY Media Company. FRQNCY is a first-of-its-kind podcast production and marketing company in Atlanta, Georgia. Michelle talks about how her background as a writer compelled her to find a medium to tell stories more deeply, eventually leading her to podcasting. Through FRQNCY Media, Michelle hopes to create a podcasting hub in Atlanta that will conne...
Nov 09, 2018•36 min
This week we talk with Malinda Maynor Lowery and William Sturkey, both professors of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, about the recent removal of the Confederate monument known as Silent Sam. The monument was erected in 1913 on the upper quad known as McCorkle Place ostensibly to remember "the sons of the University who died for their beloved Southland 1861-1865.” Malinda and William note the important distinction between a memorial and a monument: a memorial honors a ...
Nov 02, 2018•40 min
This week, we talk pumpkins-- giant pumpkins. Randi R. Byrd serves as the Community Engagement Coordinator for the American Indian Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and facilitates the Healthy Native North Carolinians Network. She is also an award-winning grower of giant pumpkins. Although Randi always had a green thumb, she only connected her interest in agricultural practice to her fascination with pumpkins in 2009. Growing a 700-pound pumpkin is a difficult feat that o...
Oct 26, 2018•36 min
While working as a street hustler and fortune teller in 1930s New York, Eddie Owens Martin fell ill and had his first vision of Pasaquan. When his mother died in 1957, Eddie moved back to Buena Vista, Georgia, changed his name to St. EOM, and began building Pasaquan, a seven-acre site with over 900 feet of painted masonry walls. The site is currently being renovated, and this week, we talked with site director Michael McFalls about St. EOM and his Pasaquoyan legacy. About South is produced by Gi...
Oct 19, 2018•34 min
This week, we’re back in Boone — well, Banner Elk — North Carolina. We sat down with Zackary Vernon, an assistant professor in the Department of English at Appalachian State University. Zack has lived in Boone for three years and chronicled his early days in the high country in the essay, “Adventures of a Bad Environmentalist.” The piece was published in the North Carolina Literary Review and won the first Alex Albright Creative Nonfiction Prize. We talked with Zack about what it means to be an ...
Oct 12, 2018•40 min
In this episode, Gina visits Dr. Ben Frey, a citizen of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and a professor in the American Studies department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Ben talks about the current state of the Cherokee language and revitalization efforts in North Carolina. As Cherokee is the only surviving language in the Southern Iroquoian language family, it is remarkably unique. Ben discusses the importance of the language not only linguistically, but also as a tool...
Oct 05, 2018•44 min
This week Gina, Kelly, and Adjoa took a trip to Boone, North Carolina, a city in the southern Appalachian Mountains with its fair share of mythology and nostalgia from its namesake, Daniel Boone, to its contemporary tourist economy. Although Boone and Watauga County were largely spared from the ravages of mining and mountaintop removal, it is nevertheless a complicated space mired in controversies about gentrification that eerily echo Watauga County’s colonial history. As they travel through the...
Sep 21, 2018•57 min
This week we talk to geologist Josh Poole about Providence Canyon, also known as the “Little Grand Canyon,” in southwest Georgia. The canyon, however, is not an ancient geological formation. Providence Canyon emerged as a gully resulting from the destructive agricultural practices between Creek Removal in the early 1800s and the U.S. Civil War. We talk to Josh about the history of the canyon, the emergence of the anthropocene, and how geologists think about regional distinctions. About South is ...
Sep 14, 2018•39 min
Before Maurice Hobson became a Professor of African American Studies at Georgia State University, he was a Division I football player at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He has since worked with student athletes at institutions across the South. We talked with Maurice about how he became interested in football, his experiences as a player and the race and class politics of southeastern football. As a former player and a fan, Maurice offers a unique perspective on the current problems fac...
Sep 07, 2018•40 min
On June 24, 1973, an arsonist set fire to the Upstairs Lounge, a gay bar in New Orleans’ French Quarter. Dozens of people lost their lives that night, but the event isn’t widely known about. This week, we sit down with Ryan Prechter, a visiting lecturer in Georgia State University’s History Department. Ryan studies queer history in the south, particularly in New Orleans. We revisit the tragedy with Ryan to better understand why it happened and how it relates to where we are now. About South is p...
Aug 31, 2018•39 min
