In observance of Black History Month we’ve re-edited opening and closing thoughts to two episodes that were first published back in September of 2019. A lot has happened since then, but we felt that the conversation and the history contained in these episodes is as relevant now as ever:
In this second of a two-part conversation I talk to Major Joe Womack (USMC-retired) about AfricaTown. Now part of Mobile, Alabama, AfricaTown was founded by survivors of the last slave ship to bring Africans to the US. And the shipwreck was just discovered in 2019. Joe was born and raised there and now he is leading a fight to prevent its ongoing exploitation and pollution by toxic industries. It’s a story that goes to the heart, not only of the Deep South, but of America’s failure to reconcile itself to the darkest chapters of its history. It’s also a story of how those events might be used to breathe new life into a struggling community.
Joe Womack (photo credit, Mike Kittrell, Birmingham Times)
