Our New South Podcast: The American South -- Its Past & Its Future

What do we know about the Southern part of the U.S.? We know that Americans are moving there in droves, due, in part, to the warmer climate, lower taxes, and perceived greater opportunities. 

What kind of place is The South? Is it the Jim Crow South? Is it still the "Lost Cause" South? Or is it something evolving from its past and still defining what it will be in the future. 

Luckily, there is a new podcast that attempts to answer these questions and more. It's called "Our New South."

 This podcast series offers a unique look at the evolution of the New South and how historic Southern cities, including Charlotte, North Carolina, are confronting complex issues facing communities across the South and nationwide, ranging from equity in education and immigration to civil rights, racial equality, and socioeconomic mobility.

The "Our New South" podcast series features inspiring stories and conversations that provide listeners with unique perspectives on how Southern cities are addressing these challenging issues by highlighting their historical roots in addition to providing direction for the future.

The “Our New South” podcast series is presented by the Levine Museum of the New South (LMNS), which, for over 30 years, has sought to confront some of the most difficult issues facing New South cities today by examining them from a historical context that deepens understanding, fosters empathy, and inspires action toward a better future.

Thirty years ago, Levine Museum of the New South -- located in Charlotte, North Carolina -- was founded as a history museum that would tell everyone’s story – a radical idea at the time and a radical idea still. We were founded as a place that would use exhibits and programs to confront some of the most difficult issues facing us today in the historical context that deepens understanding, fosters empathy, and inspires action toward a better future.

The co-hosts of Our New South are an interesting pair. Sports journalist Kevin Blackistone and Professor Robery Green II.

Kevin Blackistone is a longtime national sports columnist now at The Washington Post, a panelist on ESPN’s "Around the Horn," a professor of journalism at the University of Maryland, an occasional contributor to NPR and PBS, co-producer and co-writer of "Imagining the Indian," an award-winning 2022 documentary on the history of and fight against mascoting Native Americans, and co-author of "A Gift for Ron," a memoir by former NFL star Everson Walls published in November 2009 that details his kidney donation to onetime teammate Ron Springs.

If you're not a sports person and think Kevin Blackistone is some loudmouthed Stephen A. Smith or Skip Bayless sports lunkhead, then you'd be wrong. Blackistone represents the best sports journalism has to offer, with thoughtful opinions, blending sports with seismic socioeconomic, and cultural forces.

Robert Greene II is an Assistant Professor of History at Claflin University. He is also the Publications Chair of the Society of U.S. Intellectual Historians and the incoming President of the African American Intellectual History Society. 

Dr. Greene II has written extensively on the South, Black history and memory, and political history for publications such as Oxford American, The Nation, Dissent, Scalawag, and Jacobin, among others. Dr. Greene II is co-editor, along with Dr. Tyler D. Parry, of the edited volume "Invisible No More: The African American Experience at the University of South Carolina," and he is currently at work on a book titled "The Newest South: African Americans and the Democratic Party, 1964-2000" about the relationship between Democratic Party leaders in the South and African American voters.

Check out the trailer for Our New South here. The first episode was just released on January 23.