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Harpers Ferry is a historic West Virginia city and international tourist hub. But four years ago the national park and surrounding town were devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Teaching Uncomfortable History And Overlooked Stories Of Black Americans Inside Appalachia
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Lawmakers across Appalachia are debating how issues of race are taught in public schools, but the U.S. isn’t the only country with an unsettling history to deal with.
In Germany, teachers are mandated to include lessons about one oftheir nation’s darkest chapters — the Holocaust.
This week on Inside Appalachia, we look at those discussions, and hear from people in Germany, about how they teach their difficult history. And we learn about some of the often overlooked stories of Black Americans during and after the Civil War.
In This Episode:
Seizing Freedom With Kidada Williams
A Critical Moment Audio Documentary
Banning Books in Public Schools
Seizing Freedom With Kidada Williams
Kidada Williams is host of the podcast Seizing Freedom from Virginia Public Media and Molten Heart. Its first season includes stories of enslaved Black Americans whose lives were radically changed when the Civil War broke out. As the Confederacy started to fall, Union soldiers occupied parts of the South, which gave some enslaved people ideas about a way to escape to freedom. Our producer Roxy Todd spoke with Williams to learn more.
A Critical Moment Audio Documentary
While at least nine states have already banned teachers from bringing up certain topics about race in the classroom, others have legislation in the works around the issue. But, the U.S. isn’t the only country with an unsettling history to deal with. In Germany, teachers are mandated to include lessons about the Holocaust, one oftheir nation’s darkest chapters.
WFPL Arts and Culture ReporterStephanie Wolf traveled to Germany to explore how the Holocaust is covered in schools there, and she produced an audio documentary about what she learned. Wolf teamed up with her station’s education reporter, Jess Clark, to compare Germany’s approach to teaching about the Holocaust with the debate in Kentucky about how our own uncomfortable history is covered in schools. Their audio documentary is called A Critical Moment.
Banning Books in Public School The debate around Critical Race Theory is spilling into debates about what books are included in public school curricula, and even in school libraries. This issue has been front and center in Tennessee, where a school board removed a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust. Our co-host Mason Adams spoke with Blaise Gainey, a reporter who covers the state capitol in Nashville for WPLN, about the controversy.
Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Wes Swing, Jake Schepps, and Dinosaur Burps. Roxy Todd is our producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Alex Runyon is our associate producer. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. This episode was produced with assistance from Aileen LeBlanc and the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps, funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — a private corporation funded by the American people. Zander Aloi also helped produce this episode.
On this West Virginia Morning, tourists from around the world visit Harpers Ferry each year to immerse themselves in U.S. history. But the number of visitors fell in 2020, as public health restrictions ramped up nationwide. Jack Walker visited the town to learn how things have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Across the nation, there are more and more local news deserts; communities with no local newspaper, television or radio station to cover what’s going on. When a small town paper like The Welch News in McDowell County, WV, can’t compete and shuts down, losing those local eyes and ears can affect accountability. No one is there to watch over things. Local news also provides a sense of cohesion and identity for a community. What happens when it’s gone? This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.
On this West Virginia Morning, it has been a year since allegations of illicit recordings of cadets and other women at the West Virginia State Police barracks launched federal and state investigations into the law enforcement department. We speak with the superintendent of state police for an update.
On this West Virginia Morning, political analysts say the two Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate in the upcoming May primary election give voters some particular, and troubling, food for thought. The candidates themselves say voters need to focus on the positives, not the negatives.