Cauline Yates was at a family reunion the first time she heard she was a descendant of Thomas Jefferson. She later helped develop the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at the University of Virginia. And: Clint Smith is the author of the award-winning book, How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America. He traveled to 9 historic sites to understand how slavery is remembered and taught.

Later in the Show: Gayle Jessup White was on a tour at Monticello when she raised her hand and told the guide she was related to Sally Hemings. She says that moment changed her life forever. Her memoir, Reclamation: Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson and a Descendant’s Search for Her Family’s Lasting Legacy, chronicles uncovering her family’s roots at Thomas Jefferson’s home. Plus: Descendants recently gained structural parity at James Madison’s plantation home, Montpelier. When this interview was originally recorded, James French represented the descendant community on Montpelier’s board.

REPLAY: Expanding Our Origin Story

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Hampton Roads is home to the largest coal export operation in the United States. Crosswinds, a podcast from the University of Virginia’s Repair Lab, follows the efforts of Lathaniel Kirts and his friend and collaborator Malcolm Jones, as they seek environmental justice for decades of coal dust that they, and their community, inhaled. Crosswinds is produced by Adrian Wood. 

Later in the show: People want to breathe better air in Hampton Roads, Virginia. How Kim Fields and the Repair Lab are working with community members to seek environmental justice for the decades of coal dust that they’ve inhaled. Plus: The success of citizen science according to Mike Shell.

Presenting: Crosswinds

Teenagers have long turned to books for a guide on how to live, but for kids of immigrant parents, those guides can be particularly important. Addie Tsai’s first novel was a YA book that wrestled with many of the same complex issues they faced as a kid. And: SJ Sindu says that everything she writes is translated through the lens of her experience as an immigrant, a refugee, and a queer person. Those perspectives come out in the outsider characters from her YA graphic novel Shakti and her new short story collection, The Goth House Experiment.

Later in the show: Majo Delgadillo immigrated from Mexico to the U.S. as an adult and these days, she writes in both English and Spanish. Majo says that because she comes to English as an immigrant, it still feels a bit weird and that gives her English stories permission to be a bit weird themselves. Plus: Most immigrants are deeply familiar with the challenge of translation, but Yuemin He takes on the extra challenge of translating poetry.

United We Stand: In Our Words

Last year, thick smoke from Canadian wildfires wafted down and blanketed a broad swath of the East Coast - from New York to North Carolina. The wildfire smoke had us East Coasters feeling like the apocalypse had arrived. But fires aren’t always doom and gloom. Stockton Maxwell says they can actually be restorative for forests. And: Coral reefs are one of the most beautiful ecosystems of the natural world. But they’re more than just a feast for the eyes. Pamela Grothe says coral reefs offer a map to the past, helping researchers track climate history over many hundreds of years. 

Later in the show: By now most of us know about the harsh reality of sea-level rise. But you’ve probably never heard of groundwater overuse. Manoochehr Shirzaie says it’s causing US coastal land to sink at an alarming rate - in some places close to 20 inches per year! Plus: The Equity Center at the University of Virginia helps empower communities to tackle climate injustice. Barbara Brown Wilson is a co-founder of the Equity Center. She shares some of her favorite projects across Virginia - from heat islands in Charlottesville to coastal flooding on the Eastern Shore.

Mapping Climate History

In the midst of the Harlem Renaissance, W.E.B. DuBois wanted children to have something to read. Something that was speaking to them. So he started The Brownies’ Book, a monthly periodical for “children of the sun.” One hundred years later, sociologist Dr. Karida Brown and visual artist Charly Palmer bring us The New Brownies. And: Why Brenton Boyd says that Black Americans and Carribeans have already coped with the rapture. 

Later in the show: What William Grant Still and Undine Smith Moore’s early 20th century compositions tell us about then and now, according to Bianca Jackson.

New Brownies

Who decides what makes a language? In countries all over the world, there are official organizations with that job–in France, Croatia, India, Denmark, Nigeria, Mexico. But Ilan Stavans reminds us that in the United States, the people decide our language. And: Katrina Powell shares the expected immigrant narrative and the ways in which writers are constantly resisting and countering that expected story.

Later in the show: Cristina Stanciu author of The Makings and Unmakings of Americans, argues that it’s worth looking at turn of the century immigrant narratives alongside another group–Native Americans–who were also trying to prove their case as Americans in the public sphere. Plus: In the U.S., Hispanic neighborhoods sit at an intersection of American and Latin identities. Christina Rodriguez says these barrios play a big part in Latinx literature, but you’ve got to walk their streets to know how.

United We Stand: The People's Tongue

With Good Reason

REPLAY: Expanding Our Origin Story

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