Due South

Due South checks in with WABE political reporter Sam Gringlas about what the first presidential debate in Atlanta could mean for Georgia, the South, and the country.

Then, black bear sightings are up in North Carolina, including in cities and in suburban backyards. Colleen Olfenbuttel of the NC Wildlife Resources Commission joins us to talk about where you might find black bears this summer and what to do if you encounter one.

And, a light-hearted take on the serious topic of pay inequity. Salary Transparent Street's Hannah Williams breaks taboos by asking strangers how much money they make. She tells Due South all about what happens when people open up about pay.

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A cardiologist breaks down the data. Plus, members of local chapters of Black Men Run, Black Girls Run and Latinos Run join co-host Jeff Tiberii to talk about finding welcoming communities to explore the challenges and joys of running — together.

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This hour originally released on April 15, 2024.

2024 is shaping up to be quite the interesting year in country music.

The release of Beyonce's Cowboy Carter on March 29 shook up the industry when one of her lead singles, "Texas Hold 'Em," shot to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the Hot Country Songs chart, making the chanteuse the first Black woman to top the country chart in Billboard history.

Little more than a week later, acclaimed author Alice Randall released her memoir, My Black Country: A Journey Through Country Music's Black Past, Present and Future. In it, she chronicles her early life and career as a country music enthusiast, songwriter and producer in Nashville. Her story is told against the backdrop of other Black country artists making their way through an overwhelmingly white industry.

Co-host Leoneda Inge chats with Randall, who joined us from Nashville Public Radio's studios, about her life, her memoir and the compilation album that accompanies it, My Black Country: The Songs of Alice Randall.

Later, two artists featured on that album stop by our WUNC studios to chat with Leoneda Inge.

Pulitzer Prize-winning singer and musician Rhiannon Giddens talks about her personal experiences with country music audiences and her involvement on Beyonce's single, "Texas Hold 'Em."

Singer-songwriter Rissi Palmer weighs in on what it was like to be a "traditional" country music artist in her early career, including being the first Black woman in 20 years to make the country charts with her 2007 single, "Country Girl." The host and creator of the Apple Music podcast, "Color Me Country," also discusses what it has been like preserving and amplifying the little-known histories of Black artists in the country music industry.

Palmer is currently curating a monthly music series at The Carolina Theatre. Her upcoming show featuring Gabe Lee will be held on April 25.

Guests

Rhiannon Giddens, singer, musician and historian

Rissi Palmer, singer-songwriter and host of Apple Music's Color Me Country

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The archivists who are digitizing radio programs in Houston from the 1970s on, in which openly gay hosts led listeners, out or not, into pride parades, and tough conversations. Plus, encore broadcasts of a segment on a summer program to get children food, and a Southern Mixtape with Brian Burns.

Guests

Emily Vinson, Preservation Coordinator at Houston University

Bethany Scott, Head of Preservation & Reformatting at Houston University

Tamara Baker, Project & Communications Director at the Carolina Hunger Initiative 

Brian Burns, WUNC music director

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More than 2,000 jobs coming to Greensboro to build supersonic passenger jets, a heat wave welcomes in summer, and budget talks continue at the state legislature.

Plus, a conversation about the U.S. Open at Pinehurst last weekend, and future plans for more big tournaments there.

Join Due South co-host Leoneda Inge and a panel of reporters for discussion of the week's news.

Guests

Colin Campbell, WUNC’s Capitol Bureau Chief

Gary Robertson, statehouse reporter for the Associated Press

Dawn Vaughan, Capitol Bureau Chief for The News & Observer

Mitch Northam, Digital Producer at WUNC and author of High School Basketball on Maryland's Eastern Shore: A Shore Hoops History

Will Atwater, staff reporter at NC Health News

New $6.6 mil initiative to restore Sugarloaf Island is underway
If you summer on the coasts of North Carolina, you may be familiar with Morehead City, a popular port town in Carteret County. But slightly less well-known is the barrier island adjoining the town: Sugarloaf Island. The man-made stretch of land is just off the waterfront and for years has been a draw for tourism. It’s also a layer of protection for the coastline. However, a substantial portion of Sugarloaf Island has eroded over the last few decades. The city hopes that a new restoration initiative will reverse the damage.
Celeste Gracia, WUNC environmental reporter

Impact of sea level rise and beach erosion on coastal communities
We head to the coast, where sea levels are rising, buildings falling, as development continues. Coastal geologist Rob Young joins us to discuss rising seas and beach erosion and what, if anything, can be done to lessen the impact in coastal communities.
Robert S. Young, director, Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines and professor of Coastal Geology, Western Carolina University

In his new book, Evan Dalton Smith explores Andy Griffith's life and his own
When writer Evan Dalton Smith began to research his book on the life of Andy Griffith, he did not realize that he was related to the famous actor. It was one of many new discoveries about the Mount Airy, NC native's life — as well as his own. In his new book, Looking for Andy Griffith: A Father's Journey, Smith explores grief, Southernness and fatherhood.
Evan Dalton Smith, author of Looking for Andy Griffith: A Father's Journey and 2024 Southeastern Library Association awardee for Outstanding Southeast Author

Reimagining land at the site of a former North Carolina plantation
Durham County is home to what was once one of the largest slave plantations in the South. Today part of that former plantation is called “Historic Stagville.” This weekend, people of all backgrounds and even descendants of those enslaved there, will gather for “Juneteenth” – the federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. Triangle Land Conservancy has been working to preserve property like Horton Grove, adjacent to Stagville – the oldest section of a vast plantation complex. Leoneda Inge talks with that organization’s director about their work preserving land.
Sandy Sweitzer, executive director of the Triangle Land Conservancy

“Rooted” author Brea Baker explores legacies of land theft
This “Juneteenth,” we introduce you to Brea Baker, author of “Rooted – The American Legacy of Land Theft and the Modern Movement for Black Land Ownership.” The book tells the story of Black land gain during Reconstruction and then the dramatic loss that followed. Baker also gives us a peep into her family’s North Carolina land history.
Brea Baker, author of “Rooted: The American Legacy of Land Theft & The Modern Movement for Black Land Ownership”

'40 Acres and a Lie' More than 1000 formerly enslaved people were given land, only to have it taken back
Reveal’s newest series '40 Acres and a Lie' uncovers the government program that gave formerly enslaved people land titles, only to take the land back. “Forty acres and a mule” is more than reparations that didn’t happen.
Alexia Fernandez Campbell, reporter for the Center for Public Integrity
Ruth Wilson, descendent who lives in Wake Forest, NC

Reparations for past harms to Black people is a concept that many Americans have come to support, but how to put the idea into practice has become complicated and controversial.

Sala Menaya-Merritt, Director of Equity and Inclusion for the City of Asheville, talks with co-host Leoneda Inge about the efforts of Asheville’s Community Reparations Commission and the challenges they've faced as they try to provide redress for Black community members.

Then, Leoneda talks with economist Dr. William ("Sandy") Darity and writer A. Kirsten Mullen about their research on the direct connection between slavery and today’s racial wealth gap, and how reparations from the federal government are essential to our country’s reckoning with our past and present. They are two of the editors of The Black Reparations Project: A Handbook for Racial Justice.

Guests

Sala Menaya-Merritt, Director, Equity and Inclusion, City of Asheville

William A. (“Sandy”) Darity Jr., Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy, Professor of African and African American Studies and Professor of Economics, Duke University

A. Kirsten Mullen, writer, folklorist, museum consultant, and lecturer whose work focuses on race, art, history, and politics

On the heels of World War II, a handful of entrepreneurial Americans saw dollar signs. Surplus weapons in European countries were being destroyed, or sat in warehouse storage at great cost.

At the same time, millions of American soldiers were returning home. With leisure time, and an intimate familiarity with firearms.
Samuel Cummings was one of the men who put two and two together. He bought up surplus, and soon to be outdated, rifles and pistols from countries like Finland. And he made millions importing, selling and shipping them to Americans on the cheap.

In his new book, Gun Country: Gun Capitalism, Culture & Control in Cold War America, historian Andrew C. McKevitt argues this influx of military-grade weapons formed what is now, undoubtedly, the gun country.

Guest

Andrew C. McKevitt is the John D. Winters Endowed Professor of History at Louisiana Tech University. His new book, Gun Country: Gun Capitalism, Culture & Control in Cold War America came out with UNC Press in November. His first book is Consuming Japan: Popular Culture and the Globalizing of 1980s America.

The Durham County Board of Commissioners approved a budget this week that includes $27 million designated for Durham Public Schools.

Pinehurst hosts the U.S. Open golf tournament for the first time in a decade.

NC State and UNC are two of the eight college baseball teams that made it to the College World Series.

A panel of reporters joins co-host Jeff Tiberii to dig in to the week's news in the Triangle and across North Carolina.