Buried Truths - podcast cover

Buried Truths

“Buried Truths” acknowledges and unearths still-relevant stories of injustice, racism, and resistance in the American South. We can’t change our history, but we can let it guide us to understanding. The podcast is hosted by journalist, professor, and Pulitzer-prize-winning author Hank Klibanoff.

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Episodes

The Trial | S5 E7

What happened inside of the courtroom when Joe Cameron stood trial for the murder of Reverend Pickett? The trial tells a deeper story about who could receive equal justice in a small southern community where everyone, from the prosecutor, to the judge, and even the lawyer representing Clarence Pickett’s family, knew each other. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 30, 202551 minSeason 5Ep. 7

The Investigation | S5 E6

The Columbus police investigate one of their own, Joe Cameron in the Reverend Pickett’s death and come up with a surprising conclusion. Meanwhile, J. Edgar Hoover sends in the FBI. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 23, 202531 minSeason 5Ep. 6

“Absolutely no mercy” | S5 E5

Did the World War II battle of Peleliu, where more than 20,000 American and Japanese combatants fought on an island they could walk across, shape Rev. Pickett’s fate? For more, visit buriedtruths.org See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 16, 202542 minSeason 5Ep. 5

Medicine and Race | S5 E4

How medical myths about Black people led American health care to fail Clarence Pickett in 1957. It is a tragedy that, 70 years later, is still failing African-Americans. For more, visit buriedtruths.org See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 09, 202535 minSeason 5Ep. 4

"Baby, they done killed me" | S5 E3

Rev. Clarence Pickett’s final days: his arrest, his beating and how he saw a doctor one day and was dead the next. For more, visit buriedtruths.org See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sep 02, 202535 minSeason 5Ep. 3

The boy preacher | S5 E1

Rev. Clarence Horatious Pickett was a celebrated young pastor who developed behavioral problems that drew attention and arrests. But none should have led to what followed. For more, visit buriedtruths.org See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 26, 202537 minSeason 5Ep. 1

"I still hear the screams" | S5 E2

After enthralling congregations for several years, Rev. Pickett landed in the Georgia state mental institution, then a county jail where the jailer beat him to the edge of death. For more, visit buriedtruths.org See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 26, 202537 minSeason 5Ep. 2

Season 5 | A Preacher, a Policeman, and a Physician | Trailer

Four days before Christmas in 1957, Clarence Horatious Pickett, a preacher and newspaper ad salesman in Columbus, Georgia, walked into town to pick up his paycheck. Forty-eight years old and known as “Reverend” to many, the tall, lean man with wire-rimmed glasses left his home and headed toward The Columbus World , a black newspaper where Pickett worked. Pickett, who’d been a boy preacher, was showing signs of mental instability and had spent time in the county jail and the state mental hospital...

Aug 04, 20253 min

“The valley of dry bones” | S4 E12

Caroline Herring is a singer, songwriter and scholar of the South. She discusses the evolution of her music and of the song she wrote for Buried Truths. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 09, 202323 minSeason 4Ep. 12

“There will never be closure” | S4 E10

Buried Truths Live, Part I: a special evening onstage with the daughters of James Brazier, who share the pain of his loss some 60 years after their father died. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 02, 202349 minSeason 4Ep. 10

“My world just stopped turning” | S4 E11

Buried Truths Live, Part 2: Our special event continues with a conversation between Hank and Kelley Stinson, granddaughter of the policeman who killed James Brazier. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aug 02, 202342 minSeason 4Ep. 11

“I’m not brave like you” | S4 E9

An anonymous letter in the files of Donald Lee Hollowell captures white attitudes in the South. Some whites harbored no hatred for Black people but were too afraid to say so. What about today? And tomorrow? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 05, 20231 hr 1 minSeason 4Ep. 9

A season of fire | S4 E8

Voting rights activists in Terrell are met with shootings and arson, attracting the attention of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Jackie Robinson and an angry President Kennedy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 29, 202351 minSeason 4Ep. 8

Courtroom drama | S4 E7

Penniless and heartbroken, Hattie Bell Brazier pulls the only lever of power available to her: she sues Mathews and Cherry in federal court, setting up a tense battle between leading lawyers for and against civil rights. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 22, 202349 minSeason 4Ep. 7

The unexpected email | S4 E6

James Brazier’s family will never forget his killing, but what about the family of Weyman Cherry? His granddaughter reaches out to us after learning of his brutal racism. She accepts the truth but struggles with it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 15, 202329 minSeason 4Ep. 6

Light in the heart of darkness | S4 E5

An underground railroad of information smuggles the story of Terrible Terrell out of Georgia and onto the Washington Post’s front page. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 08, 202350 minSeason 4Ep. 5

The vanishing knife | S4 E4

The police said Willie Countryman had a knife, but did he? And his girlfriend is left to wonder about his love for her. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mar 01, 202349 minSeason 4Ep. 4

The witnesses in the jail | S4 E3

The cops had already hurt James Brazier when they arrested him and took him to jail. But they returned late that night to finish him. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 22, 202338 minSeason 4Ep. 3

The police come for James Brazier | S4 E2

On one April day, three generations of the Brazier family, including 10-year-old James Jr., were beaten by white Dawson police. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 22, 202337 minSeason 4Ep. 2

Life in Terrible Terrell | S4 E1

Terrell County was like a lot of rural communities in Georgia. But in some ways, it was like no other place on earth. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 22, 202341 minSeason 4Ep. 1

Trailer | S4 E0

James and Hattie Brazier worked hard and earned more than most people in Dawson, white or black. But this black couple's prosperity was a provocation to white police. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 13, 20232 min

By Hands Now Known | Bonus

An interview with Margaret Burnham about her new book, By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow’s Legal Executioners . The book is so revealing that we wanted to share a conversation she had with the public radio program, Fresh Air (produced by WHYY in Philadelphia and distributed by NPR). See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 03, 202239 min

A turn signal, an explosion, an American Reckoning | Bonus

A gruesome, unpunished 1967 murder reveals little-known stories of the civil rights movement and Black resistance in Mississippi and Louisiana. " American Reckoning " on Frontline, from PBS, tells the story of Wharlest Jackson Sr. and the search for those who killed him. In this episode of Buried Truths, host Hank Klibanoff talks to the filmmakers behind this documentary, Brad Lichtenstein and Yoruba Richen. Klibanoff also speaks with Stanley Nelson, the weekly newspaper editor who brought this ...

Feb 15, 202241 min

Killers Sentenced | S3 Bonus

The men convicted of killing Ahmaud Arbery have now been sentenced. Host Hank Klibanoff and his Emory colleague, professor Carol Anderson, talk about Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley’s decision on the public radio program Closer Look with Rose Scott , from WABE Atlanta. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jan 08, 202237 minSeason 3Ep. 13

The Verdict | S3 Bonus

The jury finds all three defendants guilty of murder. Sentencing will come later, but the three will almost surely live out their years in prison. A case that was all about race comes to a close with almost no mention of race in the courtroom. Outside the court, two of the defense attorneys are condemned for comments that inflamed much of the nation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 25, 202135 minSeason 3Ep. 12

Trial Begins| S3 Bonus

Although the racial composition of the jury – 11 white jurors, one black – has set off alarm bells, the trial commences with three opening statements and the first prosecution witness. A Glynn County police officer’s body-cam footage filled the somber courtroom with horrific images from the scene of Ahmaud Arbery’s killing. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nov 06, 202119 minSeason 3Ep. 11

Murder Trial Preview | S3 Bonus

The murder trial for defendants Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan is set to begin in October and there have been some recent, critically important twists leading up to this point. WABE’s Rose Scott talks with Buried Truths host Hank Klibanoff and WABE legal analyst Page Pate to preview the trial and discuss the indictment of former Glynn Co. district attorney Jackie Johnson for obstructing the Ahmaud Arbery case. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....

Sep 09, 202127 minSeason 3Ep. 10

Race and Remembrance in Hank’s Alabama Hometown | Bonus

In February 2020, Hank Klibanoff was invited back to his hometown of Florence, Alabama for a live community event. It got him thinking about growing up in a state that was notorious for its civil rights abuses. Hank’s recollection of his childhood in the 1950’s and 60’s is that Florence seemed to be more progressive than the rest of Alabama. But… was it really? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 01, 20211 hr 2 min

One Year Later | S3 Bonus

One year after the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, Hank Klibanoff returns to Closer Look with Rose Scott to discuss the latest developments in the case. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 24, 202149 minSeason 3Ep. 9

Behind the Podcast | S3 Bonus

Join host Hank Klibanoff, his team of Emory University student researchers, and the WABE production team as they deconstruct the podcast to show you how they gather information to uncover hidden history and reveal a complete and compelling story. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 23, 202156 minSeason 3Ep. 8
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