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The Broadside

WUNC

Each week, The Broadside highlights a story from the heart of the American South and asks why it matters to you. From news to arts and culture, we dive into topics that might not be on a front page, but deserve a closer look. Along the way, we explore the nuances of our home—and how what happens here ripples across the country.

Hosted by Anisa Khalifa, The Broadside is a production of North Carolina Public Radio-WUNC. Find it every Thursday wherever you listen to podcasts.

Each week, The Broadside highlights a story from the heart of the American South and asks why it matters to you. From news to arts and culture, we dive into topics that might not be on a front page, but deserve a closer look. Along the way, we explore the nuances of our home—and how what happens here ripples across the country.

Hosted by Anisa Khalifa, The Broadside is a production of North Carolina Public Radio-WUNC. Find it every Thursday wherever you listen to podcasts.

19hr 13min
Thumbnail for "Robert F. Williams' bold history lesson".
One man’s fascinating and unusual legacy in a Southern town is challenging how we talk about the Civil Rights Movement.
February 29, 202426min 7sec50.22 MB
Thumbnail for "Hurricanes, helicopters and how we help".
Hurricane Helene left behind widespread destruction in Appalachia, a region that poses unique challenges for relief and recovery.
October 10, 202422min 44sec43.68 MB
Thumbnail for "The art and alarming science of political ads".
Billions will be spent on political ads this year. Where that money goes and what it buys might alarm you.
October 3, 202423min 41sec45.61 MB
Thumbnail for "The gravestone grudge that changed cemetery law".
What happens when a murder accusation, literally written in stone, turns out to be a lie?
September 26, 202414min 44sec28.33 MB
Thumbnail for "The Latino South".
Latinos are often portrayed as newcomers with an uncomplicated backstory in the South. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.
September 19, 202423min 34sec45.34 MB
Thumbnail for "How y'all conquered the world (Revisited)".
English speakers outside the South are embracing the word y’all. And the reasons may surprise you.
September 12, 202419min 58sec38.47 MB
Thumbnail for "Is this the death of DEI?".
Over the past decade, universities across America embraced DEI policies. But then… came the backlash.
September 5, 202418min 49sec36.26 MB
Thumbnail for "The new Southern Hollywood".
Lights. Camera. Tax breaks, y’all.
August 29, 202425min 32sec49.2 MB
Thumbnail for "How the Greensboro Six changed golf forever".
In 1955, six Black men did something radical: they played a round of golf.
August 22, 202414min 55sec28.7 MB
Thumbnail for "What happens after a hate crime".
The aftermath of a shocking act of violence shows us how America handles hate and the gaps in our approach to justice.
August 15, 202427min 57sec53.76 MB
Thumbnail for "Pro wrestling climbs back to the top rope".
Regional pro wrestling was once a major cultural institution throughout the South. Can it make an unlikely comeback?
August 8, 202422min 6sec42.62 MB
Thumbnail for "Love found while ‘chasing the light’".
Cheryl Shelton-Roberts and her husband Bruce worked for years to preserve North Carolina’s iconic lighthouses. Meanwhile, their relationship blossomed into a love story unlike any other.
August 1, 202418min 7sec34.85 MB
Thumbnail for "How beach music taught Southerners to 'dance sexy'".
The subculture that embraced taboo during segregation endures and is strutting into the 21st century.
July 25, 202427min 20sec52.55 MB
Thumbnail for "Bigfoot is from North Carolina".
Sasquatch is Southern. And its cultural and economic impact on Appalachia is sizable.
July 18, 202419min 8sec36.87 MB
Thumbnail for "Can we bring red wolves back from the brink (again)?".
The iconic Southern carnivore’s biggest threat is also its best hope for survival: humans.
July 11, 202419min36.57 MB
Thumbnail for "The other Declaration of Independence".
Either someone’s lying — or we may need to rethink everything we know about American independence.
July 4, 202418min 17sec35.26 MB
Thumbnail for "The surprising cricket capital of the South".
The future of cricket in America is in a field next to an airport in the small town of Morrisville, North Carolina.
June 27, 202421min 3sec40.51 MB
Thumbnail for "The science behind saving an island".
The project to save North Carolina’s Sugarloaf Island could offer a solution for coastal erosion across the country.
June 20, 202417min 57sec34.55 MB
Thumbnail for "Craft beer’s emerging Southern flavor (Revisited)".
Can you put a place in a pint?
June 13, 202419min 18sec37.15 MB
Thumbnail for "Charlotte the stingray's tangled web".
A small-town aquarium in western North Carolina claimed a stingray got impregnated by a shark. Then, things got weird.
June 6, 202421min 31sec41.37 MB
Thumbnail for "The hunt for a long-lost musical masterpiece".
The final years of legendary jazz musician Mary Lou Williams’ life were shrouded in mystery. Until now.
May 30, 202421min 58sec42.33 MB
Thumbnail for "Billy Graham’s statue and the legacy of ‘America’s Pastor’".
As a new monument is unveiled at the US Capitol, we look at the legacy of one of America's most influential religious figures.
May 23, 202421min 37sec31.15 MB
Thumbnail for "NASCAR's racing simulator revolution (Revisited)".
Video games are fundamentally changing the real world of motorsports.
May 16, 202421min 9sec40.08 MB
Thumbnail for "Our trash lives next to this community".
A rural community has endured living next to North Carolina's largest landfill for generations. But its residents are determined to keep fighting for a clean home.
May 9, 202417min 59sec25.97 MB
Thumbnail for "How many dollar stores are too many? (Revisited)".
Dollar stores can be convenient and even necessary, but some advocates warn their rapid spread is creating food deserts.
May 2, 202421min 18sec40.31 MB
Thumbnail for "Zombie deer and our looming conservation crisis".
A decline in hunters and a deadly disease are threatening the foundation of our wildlife management system.
April 25, 202420min 42sec39.8 MB
Thumbnail for "Can we save the banana from extinction?".
A deadly fungus is devastating worldwide banana crops. The cure may be growing in an office park in North Carolina.
April 18, 202412min 53sec24.81 MB
Thumbnail for "Breaking Southern baseball's color barrier".
A little more than 75 years ago, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball. But integration in the South took a slightly different path.
April 11, 202421min 23sec41.12 MB
Thumbnail for "The toxic spill that left a legacy of change".
A decade ago, toxic coal ash poured into the Dan River. That was just the beginning of the story.
April 4, 202420min 22sec39.21 MB
Thumbnail for "Teachers challenge the nation's toughest union ban".
The Carolinas are the only two states that ban all government employees from unionizing.
March 28, 202422min 22sec42.9 MB
Thumbnail for "Women's basketball is having its moment".
Women's basketball has finally hit the mainstream. Why did it take so long?
March 21, 202420min 48sec39.99 MB
Thumbnail for "Tornado Alley is moving to the South".
Traditional tornado patterns in the US are moving and the South is directly in the path.
March 14, 202417min 38sec34.05 MB
Thumbnail for "Why cola became king".
The South is the birthplace of all the big cola brands. But why?
March 7, 202421min 18sec41.01 MB
Thumbnail for "Purple, teal and the rise of basketball fashion".
The Charlotte Hornets lost 60 games in 1988, but they looked incredible while doing it. Their iconic uniforms would launch a global fashion trend.
February 22, 202416min 36sec31.97 MB
Thumbnail for "More power poles, more problems".
As the energy grid expands, so does demand for power poles — and the trees we use to make them.
February 15, 202415min 15sec29.32 MB
Thumbnail for "Craft beer’s emerging Southern flavor".
Can you put a place in a pint?
February 8, 202419min 18sec37.15 MB
Thumbnail for "How one business built Black Wall Street".
For decades, the epicenter of America’s Black middle class was in a midsize city in central North Carolina. Now that it's gone, what legacy does it leave?
February 1, 202424min 45sec47.63 MB
Thumbnail for "NASCAR's racing simulator revolution".
Video games are fundamentally changing the real world of motorsports.
January 25, 202420min 39sec39.9 MB
Thumbnail for "Place, Erased: Environmental ghost towns".
Explore Southern communities transformed by forces beyond their control.
January 18, 202419min 37sec37.71 MB
Thumbnail for "EVs are reshaping the South one small town at a time".
Stanton, Tennessee is a microcosm of the powerful new economics at play in states throughout the American South.
January 11, 202417min 41sec34 MB
Thumbnail for "The remarkable story of daredevil Tiny Broadwick".
The Wright Brothers aren’t the only icons of early aviation with ties to the South.
January 4, 202425min 13sec48.46 MB
Thumbnail for "Featuring: Embodied - How fandoms build community".
We hear a lot about toxic fandoms — but this episode of the award-winning podcast Embodied has a lot to share about the brighter side.
December 28, 202336min 47sec35.96 MB
Thumbnail for "The kids are alright: NPR Student Podcast Challenge finalist".
A young journalist tells us how she uncovered the history of her neighborhood and fought to preserve it for future generations.
December 21, 202317min 53sec34.43 MB
Thumbnail for "Recovering from long Covid could be a long journey".
We check in on a group of long Covid patients and doctors from the Carolinas to see how we’re adapting to the second silent pandemic.
December 14, 202318min 3sec34.7 MB
Thumbnail for "Millions across the South can’t trust their tap water".
When you turn on the faucet, you really don’t want to think twice about the quality of the water coming out. But that’s the reality for millions of people across the South.
December 7, 202319min 15sec36.99 MB
Thumbnail for "One state could be a test case for tackling the opioid crisis".
North Carolina will spend $1.5 billion in opioid settlement funds. Its unique model could be a compelling test case for solving the opioid crisis across the country.
November 30, 202317min 33sec33.74 MB
Thumbnail for "Featuring: North Carolina pottery from clay to kiln".
This Thanksgiving, we take a look at what's under your meal.
November 23, 202324min 33sec47.15 MB
Thumbnail for "The process to return Native American remains is broken".
A once-promising process for returning looted Native American remains has slowed to a crawl. We ask what can be done to fix the problem.
November 16, 202321min 33sec41.4 MB
Thumbnail for "My next-door neighbor is a weapon of mass destruction".
For more than half a century, the citizens of Richmond, Kentucky lived in the shadow of something extraordinary and terrible: an arsenal of chemical weapons.
November 9, 202324min 39sec47.34 MB
Thumbnail for "The takeover of The Robesonian".
In 1988, two armed Native American men occupied a newspaper office in a North Carolina community. 35 years later, we look at the legacy of the takeover of The Robesonian.
November 2, 202320min 14sec38.88 MB
Thumbnail for "How many dollar stores are too many?".
Dollar stores can be convenient and even necessary, but some advocates warn their rapid spread is creating food deserts.
October 26, 202321min 1sec39.87 MB
Thumbnail for "What it takes to make music in prison".
Influential, exploitative and ever-evolving, this week we look between the bars of Southern prison music.
October 19, 202326min 5sec50.1 MB
Thumbnail for "Asian American Studies has arrived".
Fifty years after the first movement for Asian American Studies, we explore why it's finally having its moment at universities across the South.
October 12, 202320min 19sec39.03 MB
Thumbnail for "A look inside America’s climate data bunker".
A basement in the mountains of North Carolina might hold the keys to the climate crisis. Meet the keepers of America’s weather data.
October 5, 202321min 32sec41.36 MB
Thumbnail for "How y'all conquered the world".
English speakers outside the South are embracing the word y’all. And the reasons may surprise you.
September 28, 202319min 46sec38 MB
Thumbnail for "Introducing: The Broadside".
Weekly stories from the American South - and why they matter to you.
September 14, 20231min 28sec2.83 MB

Robert F. Williams' bold history lesson

Thumbnail for "Robert F. Williams' bold history lesson".
February 29, 202426min 7sec

As the president of the local chapter of the NAACP, Robert F. Williams led the small town of Monroe, North Carolina in protesting racism and segregation during the 1950s. But he was also head of a local NRA chapter that urged African Americans to defend themselves by meeting violence with violence. His story is one of the most fascinating and unusual in American history, and, in Monroe and elsewhere, it’s challenging how we talk about the Civil Rights Movement today.

Featuring: 

  • Robert Heath, Monroe resident and community organizer 
  • Patricia Poland, retired genealogy and local history librarian of the Union County Library
  • Ormand Moore, Monroe native and Humanities Instructor at North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics

Special thanks to the Henry Hampton Collections at Washington University Libraries, the Southern Oral History Program at UNC-Chapel Hill, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, and WBTV in Charlotte. 

Links: 

  • You can find a transcript of the episode here.

Donate: The Broadside is made possible by contributions from listeners like you. Support WUNC-North Carolina Public Radio and this podcast by making a donation

Thumbnail for "Robert F. Williams' bold history lesson".
Robert F. Williams' bold history lesson
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