Alabama’s Black Belt stretches in a strip 25 miles wide across the center of the state. Named for the rich soil that enabled cotton to flourish, the Black Belt was once Alabama’s most prosperous and politically powerful region. It held most of the state's enslaved people, and African Americans still comprise the majority of the Black Belt population today.
"New Stewards on Old Homesteads in Alabama" provides a contemporary look at Black Belt land and its stewards: the most recent chapter in a long history of transformation. Younger generations are now returning to family land in the Black Belt, often to find it reclaimed by wilderness. We learn how they strive to make a living from the land and the challenges faced in a rural food system. We consider opposing notions of agricultural life: one that inflicts trauma, and one that heals from it. Andrew Williams of the Deep South Food Alliance in Linden and Yawah Awolowo of Mahala Farms in Cuba are our guides.
This batch of Gravy is reported and produced by Jackie Clay, Executive Director at the Coleman Center for the Arts in rural Sumter County, AL; Matt Whitson, production audio mixer and video editor at Alabama Public Television in Birmingham, AL; and Emily Blejwas, Executive Director of the Alabama Folklife Association. The Southern Foodways Alliance is the organization behind the podcast.
Henry Perry, Kansas City's Barbecue King
Bread and Friends
Making that Dough
Fresh Flour to the People
Bread by Fire
Genealogy of a Bakery
Even After Those Roses Bloom
Can Co-Ops Fix a Broken Food Delivery Model?
The Bare Minimum
The Bitter and the Sweet of Craft Chocolate in the Global South
Memphis Restaurant Workers Unite!
What's in the Fridge?
"Married," by Jo McDougall
Thresh & Hold
"Carlo Flunks the Seventh Grade," by Greg Brownderville
Filipino Balikbayan is Homecoming in a Box
New Orleans Street Vendors, Then and Now
The Skinny on the South Beach Diet
The Kitchen Electric: Selling Power to Rural America
Pulp Fact: How Orange Juice Created the Sunshine State
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Gastropod
Dinner SOS by Bon Appétit
The Clever Cookstr’s Quick and Dirty Tips from the World’s Best Cooks
Pride and Prejudice
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Splendid Table: Conversations & Recipes For Curious Cooks & Eaters
The Menu