We continue our way through the life of Leadbelly in Part 4. In this episode we see Leadbelly make a plea for a pardon with his music, and watch as he tries adjusting to life outside of prison. As hard as he tries starting life anew, he finds himself once again behind bars, this time in Angola, known as the Alcatraz of the South, one of the bloodiest prisons in US history.
We finally meet John Lomax and his son Allen who would become key figures in Leadbelly’s life as they traveled the South searching for American folk music to preserve for the Library of Congress. We clear up some Leadbelly myth with primary sources, learn a bit about the earliest attempts at musical preservation through recording, and even get to hear a 130-year-old Passamaquoddy war song recorded by anthropologist Jesse Walker Fewkes.
The adventure continues.
Leadbelly Part 1: Prodigy
Irena Sendler, the Titanic Engineers, Invisible Hands, and Stubby the War Dog
The Prehistory of Compassion and the Search for Human Happiness
John Robert Fox, Buffalo Soldier
Miep Gies, the Dutch Resistance, and a Girl Who Changed the World
The Elephant Angel of Belfast
A Heroic Goat, an Angry Cat, and a Graveyard Full of Daredevils
The Edmund Fitzgerald
Olympias Part 3: The Rise and Fall of a Legend
Olympias Part 2: Mother of Empire
Olympias Part 1: Witch of Epirus, Mother of Alexander the Great
The First Robot
Why Does Fruitcake Even Exist? Eggnog, Yule Logs, and a Cannibalistic Christmas Troll
The Lost Voyage of Shackleton: The Edge of Human Endurance Part 5 of 5
The Lost Voyage of Shackleton: The Edge of Human Endurance Part 4 of 5
The Lost Voyage of Shackleton: The Edge of Human Endurance Part 3 of 5
Père Lachaise Cemetery: A History of Death in Paris
The Screaming Mummies of Guanajuato and a Horde of Egyptian Cats
The First Monsters
The Lost Voyage of Shackleton: The Edge of Human Endurance Part 2 of 5
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