Ted Olson, a professor of Appalachian Studies at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee, talks about old-time music, and what fascinated him enough to spend his life focusing on it.
African American Culture
Rhiannon Giddens
Rhiannon Giddens, musician, singer, banjo player, educator, and founding member of The Carolina Chocolate Drops talks about African-American music and its place in the tapestry of folk music.
Phil Jamison
Phil Jamison, a traditional musician, player of old-time music, the fiddle, banjo, and guitar, and a dancer, discusses the history of the music and what it meant to him.
Justin Robinson
Justin Robinson, who grew up in a musical family, discusses what led him to explore the African American string band traditions.
Dom Flemons
Dom Flemons, known as the American Songster and musician, talks about how he has spent a good deal of his career advocating for traditional music in different ways.
David Holt
David Holt, singer, songwriter, and storyteller talks about his passion for music, “I wanted to play the music. I loved the sound of the music and I know I didn’t want to do anything else.”
Cece Conway
Cece Conway, a Professor of English and Folklore at Appalachian State University, talks about the African Roots of the Banjo and the history of black musicians.
Beatrice Gilbert
Beatrice talks about growing up in Overtown and her concerns for the area.
Amythyst Kiah
Amythyst Kiah, an American singer-songwriter and a student of Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music, shares her musical journey, her passion for old-time music, and the history around it.
Sushma Sheth on Liberty City
Sushma Sheth, director of the Miami Workers Center, discusses the history of Miami’s housing boom and bust and its effect on the displacement of its African-American residents and the continuing struggle for affordable housing.
Max Rameau – Overtown History
Max Rameau, founder of Take Back the Land, shares the history of Overtown in Miami-Dade County and the gentrification of the area that severely damaged a once-thriving African American community.
Enid Pinckney – Overtown History
Enid Pinckney is the founding President and CEO of the historic Hampton House Community Trust and grew up in Overtown, FL and knows the history of this historic African-American community. .