With Good Reason

In 1979, members of the KKK shot and killed five labor and civil rights activists in Greensboro, North Carolina. Aran Shetterly (Virginia Humanities Fellow), who is writing a book about the incident, says it still reverberates in the racial politics of Greensboro today. Also: The European philosophers of the Enlightenment argued that Europeans were civilized, but Africans were barbarians. Stefan Wheelock (George Mason University) describes how radical African American writers used those same philosophical principles to unmask the barbarism of slavery.

Later on: One of the darkest chapters of American history is the racial terror inflicted on thousands of African Americans through lynching. Gianluca De Fazio (James Madison University) and his students have developed a website Racial Terror: Lynching in Virginia, 1877-1927 that focuses on telling the stories of the 104 known lynching victims who were killed in Virginia between 1877 and 1927, nearly all of them African American men. Plus: Renee Hill (Virginia State University) coordinated a memorial service to pay tribute to the lives of the thousands of people who suffered lynching in the United States.

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Christine Labuski and Nick Copeland (Virginia Tech) are the authors of “The World of Walmart: Discounting the American Dream.” They say there is a disconnect between the values that Walmart purports to champion and the reality of how it operates in our society.

Plus: After 9-11, Brian Ulrich (Virginia Commonwealth University) has spent a decade photographing the landscape of consumerism across the United States.

Later on: In the early 20th century, the border between Mexico and the United States was essentially open. What changed? Daniel Morales (James Madison University) is author of the forthcoming book The Making of Mexican America: The Dynamics of Transnational Migration 1900-1940.

And: Appalachian communities are seeing a resurgence of organizing efforts, including the West Virginia teachers’ strike. Elizabeth Catte, author of What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia and co-editor of 55 Strong: Inside the West Virginia’s Teachers’ Strike, and public historian Josh Howard give their take on labor movements in Appalachia.

This week we’re debuting a new podcast series called Broken Ground, produced by the Southern Environmental Law Center and hosted by Claudine Ebeid McElwain. Episode 1: The Kingston, Tennessee coal ash spill of 2008 and and its devastating consequences for hundreds of workers who had to clean up the toxic mess. Find more episodes at brokengroundpodcast.org.

Later in the show: In 2010 the small, mostly black community of Fulton, Virginia, was shocked to learn a black mountain of 85,000 cubic yards of toxic coal ash had been dumped at the edge of a landfill half a mile from the town center. Jason Sawyer (Norfolk State University) says low income communities are often targeted by industrial polluters, looking for the cheapest and easiest way to dispose of toxic materials.

Also: Rob Atkinson (Christopher Newport University) and Jon Hallman (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation) discuss the decline of the Atlantic White Cedar, a tree found in vast stands from Maine to Florida, whose wood once supplied roofs, barrels, and ships for Colonial America.

Some of the Vietnam War's most enduring legacies are the Vietnamese communities of America, made up of refugees who arrived en masse after the Fall of Saigon. In our final episode, we explore how these communities became a key to economic success for refugees, and how many still grappled with the complexities of gratitude, guilt, and silence. Members of the next generation share the delicate balance of growing up as both Vietnamese and American, and discuss immigration in the U.S. today.

The end of the war and American withdrawal also marked the final days of a homeland for more than a million South Vietnamese people. We tell the story of the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam as seen from both sides of the war.

The Fall of Saigon marked the bitter end of the American War in Vietnam and the loss of a homeland for hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese people. We share stories of the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops, along with heroic rescues and harrowing escapes of Vietnamese citizens. Then we take a glimpse into post-war life under communist rule in Vietnam.

Later in the show: Some of the Vietnam War’s most enduring legacies are the Vietnamese communities of America, made up of refugees who arrived en masse after the Fall of Saigon. In our final episode, we explore how these communities became a key to economic success for refugees, and how many still grappled with the complexities of gratitude, guilt, and silence. Members of the next generation share the delicate balance of growing up as both Vietnamese and American, and discuss immigration in the U.S. today.

As robots become ubiquitous, will humans trust or fear them? James Bliss (Old Dominion University) is studying how people might interact with robots that act as military peacekeepers.

Scott England (Virginia Tech) is part of a team that won an award for discoveries on Mars. Now he’s leading a new NASA mission to explore this lesser known upper atmosphere.

A fourth-generation shipbuilder is helping bring paperless shipbuilding to the U.S. Navy. Jennifer Grimsley Michaeli (Old Dominion University) is the great-granddaughter of a man who built ships for England in the 1800’s.

Andrew Folsom fell in love with welding after taking classes at Blue Ridge Community College. Now, thanks to a big investment by the state of Virginia, he’s training others and the classes are packed.

An English professor who loves the Harry Potter books brings a few lucky students each year to London to visit the magical sites in the fantasy series. Alicia DeFonzo (Old Dominion University) leads them to the set of Hogwarts school and Platform 9 ¾ at King’s Cross Station for 3 weeks of study of magical creatures, potions, and herbology. And: The epic fantasy series Game of Thrones will return for its six-episode, eighth and final season April 14. Matthew Gabriele (Virginia Tech) shows how the women of Westeros gain and lose power in the fictional patriarchal world of dragons and warfare.

Later in the show: When segregation and Jim Crow locked African Americans out of Hollywood, the first independent film industry was born. L. Roi Boyd, III (Virginia State University) explains what motivated these early indie directors and who you might recognize acting in the films.