Scene on Radio

For Eddie Wise, owning a hog farm was a lifelong dream. In middle age, he and his wife, Dorothy, finally got a farm of their own. But they say that over the next twenty-five years, the U.S. government discriminated against them because of their race, and finally drove them off the land. Their story, by John Biewen, was produced in collaboration with Reveal. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

For years, Myra Greene had explored blackness through her photography, often in self-portraits. She wondered, what would it mean to take pictures of whiteness? For her friends, what was it like to be photographed because you’re white? With another conversation between host John Biewen and series collaborator Chenjerai Kumanyika. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

For hundreds of years, the white-dominated American culture has raised the specter of the dangerous, violent black man. Host John Biewen tells the story of a confrontation with an African American teenager. Then he and recurring guest Chenjerai Kumanyika discuss that longstanding image – and its neglected flipside: white-on-black violence. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The story of Bhagat Singh Thind, and also of Takao Ozawa – Asian immigrants who, in the 1920s, sought to convince the U.S. Supreme Court that they were white in order to gain American citizenship. Thind’s “bargain with white supremacy,” and the deeply revealing results. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In 1919, a white mob forced the entire black population of Corbin, Kentucky, to leave, at gunpoint. It was one of many racial expulsions in the United States. What happened, and how such racial cleansings became “America’s family secret.” The history of Corbin as presented by the Corbin city government, with no mention of the 1919 racial expulsion. Elliot Jaspin’s book, Buried in the Bitter Waters: The Hidden History of Racial Cleansings in America Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Scientists weren’t the first to divide humanity along racial – and and racist – lines. But for hundreds of years, racial scientists claimed to provide proof for those racist hierarchies – and some still do. Resources for this episode: Fatal Invention, by Dorothy Roberts The History of White People, by Nell Irvin Painter Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

“How attached are you to the idea of being white?” Chenjerai Kumanyika puts that question to host John Biewen, as they revisit an unfinished conversation from a previous episode. Part 7 of our series, Seeing White. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

When it comes to America’s racial sins, past and present, a lot of us see people in one region of the country as guiltier than the rest. Host John Biewen spoke with some white Southern friends about that tendency. Part Six of our ongoing series, Seeing White. With recurring guest, Chenjerai Kumanyika. Image: A lynching on Clarkson Street, New York City, during the Draft Riots of 1863. Credit: Greenwich Village Society of Historical Preservation. Shannon Sullivan’s books, Revealing Whiteness and Good White People. Thanks to Chris Julin, whose 1991 NPR report on the Wisconsin fishing rights dispute we featured. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Growing up in Mankato, Minnesota, John Biewen heard next to nothing about the town’s most important historical event. In 1862, Mankato was the site of the largest mass execution in U.S. history – the hanging of 38 Dakota warriors – following one of the major wars between Plains Indians and settlers. In this documentary, originally produced for This American Life, John goes back to Minnesota to explore what happened, and why Minnesotans didn’t talk about it afterwards. Image: The Minnesota State Seal, 1858 Key sources for this episode: Gwen Westerman, Mni Sota MakoceMary Wingerd, North Country: The Making of Minnesota Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

“All men are created equal.” Those words, from the Declaration of Independence, are central to the story that Americans tell about ourselves and our history. But what did those words mean to the man who actually wrote them? By John Biewen, with guest Chenjerai Kumanyika. Key sources for this episode: Nell Irvin Painter, The History of White People Ibram Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning The Racial Equity Institute Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Chattel slavery in the United States, with its distinctive – and strikingly cruel – laws and structures, took shape over many decades in colonial America. The innovations that built American slavery are inseparable from the construction of Whiteness as we know it today. By John Biewen, with guest Chenjerai Kumanyika. Key sources for this episode: The Racial Equity Institute Ibram Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning Nell Irvin Painter, The History of White People Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

For much of human history, people viewed themselves as members of tribes or nations but had no notion of “race.” Today, science deems race biologically meaningless. Who invented race as we know it, and why? By John Biewen, with guest Chenjerai Kumanyika. Photo: The Monument to the Discoveries, Lisbon, Portugal. The highlighted figure in the center is an effigy of Gomes Eanes de Zurara. The figure at the top right is Prince Henry the Navigator. Photo by Harvey Barrison. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Events of the past few years have turned a challenging spotlight on White people, and Whiteness, in the United States. An introduction to our series exploring what it means to be White. By John Biewen, with special guest Chenjerai Kumanyika. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Facts can be ignored by the powers that be and still ignite a movement. An interview with Tim Tyson, author of the new book, The Blood of Emmett Till. Tyson was the first historian or journalist to interview the former Carolyn Bryant, the woman in whose name Emmett Till was murdered in 1955. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

There’s a long and painful history in the U.S. of white men killing black men and boys without punishment. In this episode, we listen in on “Dar He,” the one-man play by Mike Wiley that brings to life the story of Emmett Till. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The last in our series exploring the spirit of America in the footsteps of one of its greatest writers, John Steinbeck. At key spots on Steinbeck’s 1960 journey across the country, we team up with artists to explore how things have changed, or not, and to talk back to Steinbeck across the years. In this episode, visits with theater director Troy Nickerson in Spokane, Washington, and poet Diana Garcia in Monterey, California. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The second in a three-part series, journeying into the soul of America through the eyes of artists, while following in the footsteps of Nobel Prize-winning writer John Steinbeck who drove across the country in 1960 for his iconic book, Travels with Charley. In this episode, photographer Wayne Gudmundson in eastern North Dakota, and Yurok basket weaver Susan “Tweet” Burdick in Humboldt County, California. Produced by John Biewen. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

First in a three-part journey into the soul of America, through the eyes of working people who happen to be artists. In this episode, David Slater in Sag Harbor, New York, and Kalamu ya Salaam in New Orleans. Retracing the 1960 journey by writer John Steinbeck for his book, “Travels with Charley in Search of America.” Produced by John Biewen. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Siler City, North Carolina used to be a typical Southern town. Everybody was white or black. Now the town’s population is half Latino. One community’s journey through the “five stages of grief” – all the way to acceptance? By John Biewen and Tennessee Watson. Music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lucas Biewen. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

How to grieve when the deaths come so quickly? How, as an African American mother, to protect your child’s innocence and hope? An audio essay by Stacia Brown. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The last installment in our Storymakers series. Four pieces by citizen storytellers on living together, and apart, in Durham, North Carolina. By Vimala Rajendran, Chip and Teddy Denton, Courtney Reid-Eaton, and Nia Wilson. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

More from our team of citizen storytellers in Durham, NC. Stories by Courtney Smith, Katt Ryce, and Kimani Hall, exploring the things that unite and divide people in Durham and in America. Part of Storymakers: Durham, a project of the national Localore: #FindingAmerica initiative. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Three stories conceived and made by citizen storytellers Jamila Davenport, Roberto Nava, and Debby Bussel explore race, class, and gentrification in Durham, North Carolina. Part of Storymakers: Durham, a project of the national Localore: #FindingAmerica initiative. Music by Lucas Biewen and Blue Dot Sessions. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Can stories help to bring a community together? How about radio stories, conceived and made by citizen storytellers? Introducing Storymakers: Durham, a project of the national Localore: #FindingAmerica initiative. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The word “Hiroshima” may bring to mind a black-and-white image of a mushroom cloud. It’s easy to forget that it’s an actual city with a million people and a popular baseball team. How did the cataclysm of 1945 reverberate in the place where it happened? Hearing Hiroshima is a production of Minnesota Public Radio, from American Public Media. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

It can take a lifetime to make sense of a parent, or to get over him. Or, just maybe, to come to terms. By Ruxandra Guidi. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The people we love have power—the power to upend our lives, or at least to make things interesting. Two stories of surprises, curveballs thrown by family members. Pieces by Qathi Hart and John Rash. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

A quartet of very short works exploring memory – most inspired by Third Coast Audio Festival ShortDoc Challenges. Pieces by Ligaiya Romero, Madeline Miller, Nan Pincus, and John Biewen. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

A punk farmer. A tale of rogue chickens on the loose in the city. A pair of refreshing takes on the whole Food thing, in and around Durham, NC. Pieces by Emily Hilliard and Joseph Decosimo. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

A refugee from Bosnia. An NYC-born survivor who grew up poor, black, Muslim, and gay. And how one, and her music, saved the other. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

People in two communities – one in Alaska, one in New York State – wrestle with questions about energy and the environment. We listen in on democracy close to home. Stories by John Biewen and Jon Miller, edited by Deb George. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

A South Sudanese refugee and the music that cuts his heart to pieces. Thelonious Monk’s North Carolina roots. Music and home. Pieces by Nusaibah Kofar-Naisa and John Biewen. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

It happens. A happy, healthy young person suddenly gets a grave diagnosis. What does not usually happen: The patient rolls tape. By Ibby Caputo. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

It waits for us all. A lot of people want to think about death as little as possible. Others want to dive right in and explore the mystery. Two short docs on the Big D. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Music can be a powerful gift – if you get the song right, or the right song. Two stories from North Carolina. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

There’s a long and painful history in the U.S. of white men killing black men and boys without punishment. In this episode, we listen in on “Dar He,” the one-man play by Mike Wiley that brings to life the story of Emmett Till. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

A father turns on a recorder while tucking in his 7-year-old, having no idea he’s about to capture a poignant growing-up moment in his son’s life. (Advisory: This episode is not suitable for some young children.) Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The surest way for a woman to declare herself a Muslim is to wear the head scarf — the hijab. In these two short pieces, young Muslim women explore the often unwelcome questions and perceptions that come with the scarf, and the deeply personal decision to wear it. Short documentaries by Reem Alfahad and Sofiya Volubuyeva. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Tens of millions of Americans, most of them men, tune in to sports talk radio. Is sports talk a haven for old-school guy talk, including misogyny and gay-bashing? For the final episode in our series on sports and society, “Contested,” host John Biewen listened in. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Two families, both making big investments of time and money to involve their kids in sports. But the investments they’re able to make are very different. In Part 5 of “Contested,” our series on sports, society and culture: Sports and the American Dream. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Tal Ben-Artzi didn’t worry about being an out bisexual athlete at Penn State. Maybe she would have if she’d known the school’s history. How much have times changed? In Part 4 of “Contested,” our series on sports, society and culture: stories of LGBTQ women athletes, past and present. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Two small towns, one in Idaho, the other in Upstate New York, try to decide whether to change the nickname of their high school sports teams: The Redskins. (Produced in 2015. Listen for the update at the end.) Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

More from suburban St. Louis, post-Ferguson, on the popular notion that sports unites communities. Can the camaraderie of a team sport make race and class status “disappear” for the kids involved or their parents? Scene on Radio host and producer John Biewen hangs with a girls’ high school basketball team to test the idea. Scene on Radio comes from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Can a winning baseball team bring St. Louis together post-Ferguson? John Biewen explores the question in the inaugural episode of Scene On Radio, a new podcast of audio stories from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices