The black-eyed pea is not your average bean. Like many staple foods of the African Diaspora, it’s become a powerful symbol of food sovereignty and survival. With the migration of the black-eyed pea from West Africa during the transatlantic slave trade came a superstition about good luck. This belief combines folklore from West Africa and Western Europe in the American South. Our episode follows the journey of the black-eyed pea, time traveling through the folklore of the past and an Afrofuturist vision of what’s still to come.

This episode was reported and produced by Sarah Holtz.

Special thanks go to:

Michael Twitty

Adrian Miller

B. Brian Foster

Ira Wallace

Music by:

"Neuanfang" by Kielicaster

"Shangri La" by Kielicaster

"Dusty" by Crowander

"Clay Pawn Shop" by Blue Dot Sessions

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