Due South

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As the National Museum of African American History and Cultures celebrates its tenth birthday, the museum’s founding director, Lonnie Bunch, is retiring from the top job at the Smithsonian Institution amid pressure from the White House over how American history is portrayed. Leoneda Inge talks with one of the museum’s architects to reflect on its impact, and the challenging moment facing the spaces and places holding a light up to our nation’s history.

Zena Howard, Principal and Global Cultural and Civic Practice Chair, at Perkins &Will Architectural Firm

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A conversation with Michelle Lanier about the monuments and museums, and the battlefields and birthplaces, that are part of the North Carolina State Historic Sites program.

Michelle Lanier, Director, North Carolina Historic Sites, N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources

As Major League Baseball runs toward home plate with expansion, North Carolina is in the national conversation for getting a team. What would it take to attract a major-league team in terms of money, demographics, land availability, and a good team name? Jeff Tiberii asks two experts who have been crunching the numbers.

Michael Walden, economist, NC State University

Lou Pascucci, co-founder of MLB Raleigh/MLB 2 NC

This interview originally aired July 14, 2026.

North Carolina’s history with baseball is rooted deep like a longleaf pine — from stick-and-ball games in colonial times to players that made history, and how the state was the home of the minor leagues. We explore baseball stories and players that most folks don’t know about.

Marshal Lamm, curator, North Carolina Baseball Museum

Tony Riggsbee, baseball historian and Durham Bulls PA announcer

This interview originally aired July 14, 2026.

President Trump delivered remarks criticizing North Carolina in Gastonia, erroneously claiming crime is up while threatening to withhold Helene funding. In sports, a new tennis tournament comes to Charlotte, and a Belichick leaves Chapel Hill. We review the week in news on our North Carolina Friday News Roundup. 

Claudia Rivera Cotto, Political Reporter, Enlace Latino NC 

Bryan Anderson, Statewide Politics Reporter for The Assembly, creator of the “Anderson Alerts” newsletter 

Ely Portillo, Executive Editor, WFAE  

Danielle Battaglia, Congressional impact reporter for The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer 

Brian Murphy, WRAL, Investigative Sports Reporter

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New book sheds light on the work of an ‘after pastor’

Sarah York spent eight years pastoring a Unitarian Universalist church in Santa Barbara, California during the 1990s. She was appointed in the aftermath of clergy misconduct and inherited the many challenges that come with caring for a congregation rocked by scandal. She talks to Due South about her new memoir on the subject.

Sarah York, retired Unitarian Universalist minister, “after pastor,” author of Trouble in Paradise: A Story of Ministry in the Aftermath of Clergy Misconduct

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At Playmakers, the ancient story of Oedipus can be viewed through new eyes

A sweeping tale of fate, prophecy and reckoning, the Greek tragedy of Oedipus makes its way to Playmakers Repertory Company. This fresh adaptation of a timeless story opens Playmakers’ historic 50th anniversary year.

Carey Perloff, adapter, director, Oedipus: King/Colonus

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Duke University and Durham are commemorating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence by bringing three rare, historic prints of the document to the main library in downtown Durham and then to the Nasher Museum of Art. Deborah Rutter, Vice Provost of the Arts at Duke University, joins host Leoneda Inge to discuss why it’s important to engage with a text that can seem both out of date and out of touch.

Deborah Rutter, Vice Provost of the Arts at Duke University

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Public radio fans probably remember Joshua Johnson from his years as a founding host of the national talk show 1A. His most recent reinvention is as a fake TV news host for the satirical news network, The Onion, a viral TED talk speaker, an expert on overcoming conflict and the creator of an online conflict resolution game called “The Resolution.” He joins host Jeff Tiberii to talk about his career arc and what public radio taught him about humor, neutrality and our democracy.

Joshua Johnson, Actor for the Onion News Network and creator of The Resolution online conflict resolution game

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Gloria Steinem’s impact on feminism and journalism 

Groundbreaking journalist and public intellectual Gloria Steinem passed away on September 2 at the age of 92. Best-known as the co-founder of Ms. Magazine and a prominent voice in second-wave feminism, Steinem also had some North Carolina connections, as a speaker at various colleges and conferences across the state.

Katherine Turk, associate professor of history and adjunct associate professor of women's and gender studies at UNC-Chapel Hill; author of The Women of NOW: How Feminists Built an Organization that Transformed America

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Mark Anthony Neal takes a long look at fatherhood in America

Professor Mark Anthony Neal has been called "the preeminent scholar on Black masculinity in America." In his latest book, "Save a Seat for Me: Notes on American Fatherhood," Neal confronts "the various political, cultural, historical narratives and messages that inform the role of Black fatherhood...which puts him at odds with the way he fathers his own children."

Mark Anthony Neal, James B. Duke Professor of African American Studies, Duke University; author of “Save a Seat for Me – Notes on American Fatherhood”

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A new biography explores the underreported civil rights legacy of legendary gospel singer and activist Mahalia Jackson. The co-authors discuss Jackson's rise from humble beginnings in Louisiana to superstardom, crossover success and civil rights movement prominence.

Timothy B. Tyson, researcher and author of five books, including the New York Times bestseller The Blood of Emmett Till

Mary D. Williams, gospel singer, civil rights historian, and former adjunct professor at Duke University

This interview originally aired August 25, 2026.

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On a chilly evening in 1961, a B-52 crashed in rural eastern North Carolina near the town of Goldsboro. Any plane crash is bad, but this one was particularly dangerous because onboard that bomber were two nuclear weapons. The event was perhaps the closest the United States has ever come to accidentally detonating a nuclear bomb — and kicking off a nuclear war.

Jay Price, Military and Veterans Affairs reporter at WUNC News and The American Homefront Project

Stephen Schwartz, independent nuclear weapons expert and author of “Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940”

This excerpt of The Broadside was hosted by Anisa Khalifa. It was produced by
Charlie Shelton-Ormond and edited by Jerad Walker.

On this week’s Friday News Roundup… live from The Sunrise Theater in Southern Pines, Jeff Tiberii speaks to local reporters and WUNC’s Colin Campbell about the 25th anniversary of 9/11, local midterm elections and longstanding Southern Pines institutions like The Pilot newspaper and Sandhills Community College.

Leoneda Inge talks to two local community advocates about historical preservation efforts for West Southern Pines, one of the first Black townships on the East Coast.

Colin Campbell, Capitol Bureau Chief, WUNC News

David Woronoff, Publisher, The Pilot

Morgan Casey, Reporter and Report for America fellow, Border Belt Independent

Kim Wade, West Southern Pines town historian, president of the West Southern Pines Civic Club

Asya Walden, administrative manager, Southern Pines Land and Housing Trust

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Tomorrow is a sobering day - the 25th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks in the United States that killed nearly three thousand people. The subsequent military operation in Afghanistan lasted 20 years, while the concurrent operation in Iraq lasted nine years. That left more than four million veterans in the United States who served after 9/11. 

Emiliano Enea is one of them. He is a veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan as a member of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. He joins Jeff Tiberii to share his story and talk about what the anniversary means to him as a veteran.

Emiliano Enea, Vice President, Brothers & Sisters Like These; Outreach Coordinator for the Buncombe County Veterans Council

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The sounds of the Hopscotch Music Festival will take over downtown Raleigh from September 10-12. Leoneda and Jeff talk with two music reporters about the history of the festival, how it’s changed in recent years, the response to the festival’s lineup and what they’ll be looking out for this weekend.

Ryan Cocca, Founder/Editor of Super Empty

Brian Burns, Music Reporter, WUNC News

For more than a decade American politics has been framed by the Trump era, and during that time Trump's longstanding support from the religious right has hardly wavered. Within that religious bloc exist factions — including Christian nationalism — bringing new meaning to the crossroads of theology and politics. A new book explores the impacts of these dynamics using history as a guide, and considers religious reckoning in the name of democracy.

Robert P. Jones, president and founder, Public Religion Research Institute and author of Backslide: Reclaiming a Faith and a Nation after the Christian Turn Against Democracy