This week, we’re revisiting our episode “What Is Appalachia?” from December 2021. Appalachia connects mountainous parts of the South, the Midwest, the Rust Belt and even the Northeast. That leaves so much room for geographic and cultural variation, as well as many different views on what Appalachia really is.
Us & Them host Trey Kay joined a small group to travel through America’s southern states learning about the country’s racial past and the impact of the civil rights movement today. This immersive journey took them across several states to places that have come to define periods in America’s racial history — from Charleston, South Carolina’s slave trade market to Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.
The group visited sites that put this country’s racist history on display, and Kay was along to hear them reflect on our nation and themselves.
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council and CRC Foundation.
Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond.
James Person, one of the original Freedom Riders, in Atlanta, GA, with Us & Them host Trey Kay.
Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public BroadcastingProf. Todd Allen speaking to a tour group at King Center in Atlanta, GA.
Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public BroadcastingUs & Them host Trey Kay at Ebeneezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA.
Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public BroadcastingFinal resting place for Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King in Atlanta, GA.
Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public BroadcastingBetsy Disharoon in her art studio in the suburbs of Boston, MA.
Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public BroadcastingMcLeod Plantation is a former slave plantation located on James Island, near Charleston, SC.
Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public BroadcastingJohn Gardiner stands in front of small cabins, which once house enslaved people, and speaks about the history of the McLeod Plantation and the slave trade in Charleston, SC.
Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public BroadcastingAziz Abu Sarah, founder of Mejdi Tours, rides on a bus heading to Charleston, SC and tells travelers about his experience as a Palestinian growing up in Jerusalem.
Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public BroadcastingMejdi Tours’ Civil Rights Journey stops at the site of the future International African American Museum in Charleston, SC.
Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
This week, we’re revisiting our episode “What Is Appalachia?” from December 2021. Appalachia connects mountainous parts of the South, the Midwest, the Rust Belt and even the Northeast. That leaves so much room for geographic and cultural variation, as well as many different views on what Appalachia really is.
If you feel under the weather, how do you know when it’s time to see a doctor? Also, a growing movement to make Appalachia the “truffle capital of the world,” is being led by a small-town farmer in southern Kentucky.
On this West Virginia Week, health care in the state may see transformation, Gov. Patrick Morrisey wants to bring out of state foster kids home, and we explore the origins of a popular American hymn.
This week, too often, people with mental health challenges or substance use disorder wind up in jail. But crisis response teams offer another way. Also, changes to the Endangered Species Act could benefit big business. They could also kill animals like the eastern hellbender. And, in troubled times, a West Virginia writer says to find peace in nature.