On a cold, rainy afternoon in 1968 a Memphis garbage truck malfunctioned and killed the two "garbage packers" riding inside. It was the last straw for the city's more than 1,000 sanitation workers, who walked off the job in protest of the conditions. But they ran head-on into an immovable Mayor, and the ensuing battle brought Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to town for what was to be his last march. After you listen, click over to the Southern Hollows website for the pictures, credits, and links for this episode: www.southernhollows.com/episodes/memphissanitationstrike

Breaking Down

Southern Hollows is home to the dark side of southern history. These true stories, often little known, take you into historical moments and introduce you to historical figures that we ought never forget. Hear stories of the well-known United States history periods like Reconstruction, Jim Crow, Civil Rights, and Native American Removal, but also stories of the individuals who oppressed and disenfranchised -- and the historical settings that made it possible. If you love challenging stories from history -- especially challenging stories from southern history -- you've found it at Southern Hollows.

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

In the Spring of 1944, the town of New Iberia, Louisiana, threatened, beat, and expelled key leaders of the town’s black community – leaders who had recently formed a new NAACP branch and were in danger of getting, by some accounts, the “upper hand.” Among the expelled were the town’s only black physicians, and their removal left the town without a black doctor – or strong black community leadership – until the civil rights movement. Photos, show notes and more at: http://www.southernhollows.com/episodes/doctorsorders

Doctors Orders

When filmmaker D.W. Griffith released Birth of a Nation in 1915, the revolutionary film changed the way America thought about the movies, and in many respects launched the modern film industry. But lesser known is the role Birth of a Nation had in the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan. Long eradicated, the Klan was relaunched alongside the film and rode its wave to grow to millions of members. Pictures, sources, credits and more are at www.southernhollows.com/episodes/birthofanation.

Moving Pictures

The short-lived period of Reconstruction in the former Confederacy was met with defiance, violence, and a growing sense of chaos and danger — and that powder keg exploded on Easter Sunday in 1873, when the residents of tiny Colfax, Louisiana went to war with each other. This is the little-known story of bloody battle that happened years after the end of the war. Want to get the pictures and other extra content that go with each episode? Sign up for Episode Extras at http://www.southernhollows.com/extras.html.  

Fire and Bones

After emancipation decimated the labor supply of a Nashville-area plantation, its struggling master offers a former slave the chance to return. The response he received is one for the history books. Get the episode extras for this episode at www.southernhollows.com, where you can also sign up to have the episode and the extras sent to your in-box each time.

Breaking Down

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