Sept. 9, 1957 was MaryAnne MacKenzie's first day teaching sixth grade at Hattie Cotton School in East Nashville. It was also the first day of Nashville's desegregation of public schools. One Black girl showed up for class at Hattie Cotton that day, and for the anti-integration crowd, one Black student was one too many. In the dead of night, 99 someone detonated 99 sticks of dynamite, blowing apart the east end of the building and knocking it off its foundation. No one was hurt, but the culprits have never been caught.

Today, MaryAnne MacKenzie is the last living teacher who was working at Hattie Cotton at the time. Her husband, Stephen MacKenzie, has written a book describing the events of 1957 from her perspective, titled Hattie Cotton School: The last teacher's first-hand experiences of the 1957 bombing and aftermath. As you'll hear in this interview, the memories of that day, and what came afterward, are very much still with her.

Guest: MaryAnne MacKenzie, the last living teacher working at Hattie Cotton school when it was bombed in 1957

Host: Demetria Kalodimos

Producers: Andrea Tudhope and Steve Haruch

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North Nashville is an important, historic area and home to some of the city's most significant institutions. But it's also a place that has seen disruption, unrest and neglect. Decades ago, the interstate cut the community in half — literally — displacing residents and shuttering businesses. But for those who have chosen to stay, North Nashville has always been a place that is more than the sum of its parts. That's why one resident has dedicated herself to lifting up the stories of people who live there.

This week, we're bringing you a special presentation of the independent podcast We Are North Nashville. It's about the lives of nine elders who call North Nashville home, and it tells their stories of this place. The podcast is part of a larger storytelling project led by artist and community organizer M. Simone Boyd, who also co-hosts. Before they started working at the Banner, audio producers Andrea Tudhope and Steve Haruch had already begun this project. (Note: The Banner is an in-kind partner.) To learn more, visit the project website.

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When Smyrna native Gerold Oliver takes the stage, he has a way of winning over audiences. He's currently playing the role of Orlando in the Nashville Shakespeare Festival's production of As You Like It — which features plenty of music and Gerold on guitar. And soon, he'll also be starring in The Best School Year Ever at the Nashville Children's Theater, where he's artist in residence.

Gerold keeps busy, both because he loves acting and because he has a young son at home to support. (Yes, he and his son run lines together sometimes — even Shakespeare.) Although there's always the lure of the coastal entertainment hubs, where there might be more chances to find film roles, he's found a way to make it work here in Nashville, and our theater scene is all the better for it.

Guest: Gerold Oliver

Host: Demetria Kalodimos

Producers: Andrea Tudhope and Steve Haruch

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Five-star recruit Morgan Price made headlines in 2022 when she decided to de-commit from an SEC program in order to join Fisk University's brand-new gymnastics team — a first for a historically Black university or college. It was a fortuitous decision for the Lebanon, Tenn., native, who not only moved closer to her hometown after years pursuing the sport in Texas, but also fulfilled a lifelong wish to attend an HBCU.

In her second year, Morgan became the first gymnast from an HBCU to win a national collegiate all-around championship. It was a full-circle moment for her coach, Corrinne Tarver, who was the first African American woman to win an NCAA gymnastics all-around title. This year, expectations are high for the Fisk Gymdogs, but Morgan and the team are taking it all in stride, and in this episode she talks about her background, handling the pressure and how to come back from the twisties.

Guest: Morgan Price, Fisk University gymnast, first HBCU student to win a national title

Host: Demetria Kalodimos

Producers: Andrea Tudhope and Steve Haruch

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As a journalist and author, Amanda Little has written about the environment, energy, technology and the future of food production — traveling to far-flung locations, meeting people around the world and eating lab-created meat out of a bioreactor. As a professor, she's worked to pass along the skills she's learned along the way, by trial and error, of reporting and storytelling.

Her newest endeavor, a multi-media engagement platform called Kidizenship, began with a question from her daughter: "What does democracy look like?" That question has turned into a treasure trove of kid-created flags, anthems and presidential speeches, to name just a few of the contests that Kidizenship has run — with cash prizes — to get young people interested in civics.

Guest: Amanda Little

Host: Demetria Kalodimos

Producers: Andrea Tudhope and Steve Haruch

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Henry Martin thought he might spend a few years as federal public defender, then return to private practice as a slightly older and much wiser attorney. That was almost 40 years ago. Today, he's the longest serving federal defender in the entire country, and over his long career, he's worked alongside some of Nashville's finest legal minds.

Henry has also had some fascinating clients — a list that almost included Timothy McVeigh — and has always worked to protect the rights of the accused. He's also argued in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, though that didn't work out too well for him. (It was a 7-2 decision, under Chief Justice William Rehnquist.) At the end of the day, he enjoys a good story as much as anyone.

Guest: Henry Martin, federal public defender

Host: Demetria Kalodimos

Producers: Andrea Tudhope and Steve Haruch

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In the 1990s Jeff Holmes, and his college buddy Scot Evans started a band called The Floating Men, which quickly became one of Nashville’s most consistent live acts — blending rock, pop and jazzy interludes. As the crowds that came to see them grew, they garnered lots of of attention from big-time record labels, even if executives didn’t really know what to do with them.

As they watched talented peers get sucked into the industry machine only lose control of their own music, The Floating Men made a decision: If they couldn’t do it their way, they weren’t going to do it at all. So they got day jobs. Jeff found work in biodiversity conservation and traveled the world, leaving his guitar behind. But the fans, known as the Floatilla, would not let them give up. So now, decades later, Jeff and the band have found a way to make music their way.

Guest: Jeff Holmes, singer, songwriter and guitarist, The Floating Men

Host: Demetria Kalodimos

Producers: Andrea Tudhope and Steve Haruch

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María Magdalena Campos-Pons was born in Cuba, and spent her formative years in Matanzas, known as the "Athens of Cuba." It is perhaps fitting that her journey has brought her to Nashville, the "Athens of the South," where she teaches at Vanderbilt and makes art that is known around the world for its vivid storytelling around identity.

Her work appears around the world, and is part of more than 30 collections including the Smithsonian Institution, The Whitney, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, to name just a few. And last year, she added another feather to her cap: a MacArthur "genius" fellowship. That hasn't slowed her down one bit.

Guest: María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Art, Vanderbilt University

Host: Demetria Kalodimos

Producers: Steve Haruch and Andrea Tudhope

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With neo-Nazis demonstrating around Nashville, including at a Metro Council meeting from which they were eventually expelled, the city has been on edge. It's the second such group in as many weeks to bring their racist messaging to the streets of downtown and beyond, and some Nashvillians have shown up to oppose them publicly.

Dr. Sophie Bjork-James is an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University and a cultural anthropologist who studies racism and white nationalist movements. In this episode, she talks about the historical context for these groups, what motivates them, and why they seem to be visiting Nashville more frequently as the election approaches.

Host: Demetria Kalodimos

Producers: Andrea Tudhope and Steve Haruch

Additional recording by Jaylan Sims

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Attorney Rose Palermo still keeps an office on Music Row, where she got her start in the ’70s representing musicians. When some of those musicians started getting divorced, she took on that work, too. It helps to know the business, after all. Eventually there was so much divorce work she had to choose, and she chose divorce — though not for herself. (She and fellow attorney Denty Cheatham remain happily married, as they have been for 50-plus years.)

In the intervening decades, Rose has built a reputation as one of the toughest divorce attorneys in Music City. And her clients, including host Demetria Kalodimos, swear by her tenacity, sure — maybe you saw her come crashing into a lying huckster's office on an episode of 60 Minutes. But for the people she's guided through some of their hardest times, she's know just as much for her compassion and care.  

Host: Demetria Kalodimos

Producers: Andrea Tudhope and Steve Haruch

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