Curious Roots

We take a closer look into Isaac Baisden Jr.'s life and the events brewing around him in the summer of 1939 when he met William R. Bascom in Harris Neck. Newsreel clips from the  Internet Archive . Music by Clarence Williams' Blue Five - Everybody L oves My Baby Curious Roots is executive produced by Michelle McCrary for DayClean Communications and Moonshadow Productions. Music and additional co-p...

William R. Bascom and Zora Neale Hurston were both trained anthropologists interviewing communities for Federal Project Number One. Looking at their work for the W.P.A. begs the question, what are the limits of scholar/researcher engaging in research outside their own culture? How did those limits affect the work of the Georgia Federal Writers Project? Episode two digs into both those questions. Z...

Welcome to season three of Curious Roots! A new piece of research about my second great-grandfather Isaac Baisden Jr. sets up the new season of the podcast. The story begins three years before the destruction of Harris Neck . Original music in this episode is inspired by the rhythm of the Ring Shout . Curious Roots is executive produced by Michelle McCrary for DayClean Communications and Moonshado...

The second part of our interview with Mr. Griffin Lotson brings us to our final episode of season two. Mr. Lotson continues his story about Kumbaya. Discussed in this episode, Drums and Shadows: Survival Studies Among the Georgia Coastal Negroes and its connection to Mr. Lotson's story about Kumbaya as well as the infamous Old Man Thorpe father to my third great grandmother Ethel "Effie" Proctor....

Rounding out the final two part episode of season two, is Mr. Griffin Lotson, Georgia Commission Vice Chair for the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission,Chief Executive Officer of the non-profit Sams Memorial Community Economic Development, Inc., and manager of the nationally acclaimed Geechee Gullah Ring Shouters.  I sat down with Mr. Lotson last year to discuss his own deep roots...

We continue our conversation with Adolphus Armstrong of the Lowcountry DNA Project in this episode. We return once again to the issues of land, removal, heirs property, and exploited labor as those topics relate to Harris Neck and beyond.  We also talk about the book The Half Has Never Been Told : Slavery And The Making Of American Capitalism by Edward E. Baptist and how the patterns  of enslavers...

Researcher and genealogist Terri Ward always says all roads lead back to Coastal Georgia.  This week's guest Adolpohus Armstrong, who heads up the Lowcountry DNA Project with Ujima Genealogy, helps people trace those roads of their roots back to Coastal Georgia. Adolphus shares how he got started with the project and the many fascinating stories that have emerged from his work. Learn more about th...

Season two of Curious Roots continues with the second part of our interview with Mr. Winston Relaford.  He shares the difficulties of attempting to get justice from the federal government and the struggle to find politicians who are willing to stand up and do what's right. Mr. Relaford also reminds us what it means to have Harris Neck restored both to the community and to the cultural legacy of Gu...

Curious Roots begins its second season with three two-part interviews with community members and descendants of Harris Neck. Our series of interviews begins with Mr. Winston Relaford   who is the Chairman of the Harris Neck Land Trust and direct descendant and son of Harris Neck. We spoke to Mr. Relaford in July of 2023 to talk about his family's deep roots in Harris Neck and the community's conti...

In the final bonus episode, we trace the roots of the current unrest in state legislatures across the country to the politics born out of the Reconstruction era.  We discuss the Tennessee state  legislature in particular and how it compares to what happened to the Georgia state legislature under Reconstruction.  Image of the Tennessee State Capitol Building is courtesy of The Tennessee State Libra...

Welcome to bonus episode two!  Terri Ward researcher and geneaologist from Ujima Geneaology joins me for a closer look at the legacy of Mustapha Shaw.  Terri and I unpack what instructions this ancestor left for us in his legacy of defiance and "surthrival." Image of the 33rd United States Colored Infantry Regiment in Beaufort South Carolina courtesy of the Library of Congress.  Mustapha Shaw and...

We end season one of the podcast by uncovering the roots of the fight to return to Harris Neck and reflect on what the future may hold for this struggle.

Miss Mary tells the story of what happened in Harris Neck on July 1942 in her own voice.

In this episode we'll learn what life was like on Harris Neck from some of my ancestors and how their deep connection to this piece of land on Turtle Island makes their removal especially harmful. 

We continue to unravel the history of Harris Neck with researcher and genealogist Terri Ward of Ujima Genealogy that includes my ancestor's connection to the legendary Mustapha Shaw.

Researcher and genealogist Terri Ward of Ujima Genealogy frames the history of Harris Neck inside the larger story of Coastal Georgia. Find Terri Ward at Ujima Genealogy of Coastal Georgia: https://ujimagen.org/ Episode features 4o Acres and Mule by Oscar Brown Jr .: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm_opzUhQj4 Music courtesy of Makaih Beats : https://makaihbeats.net/

The story of Harris Neck comes alive for me at the kitchen table of Mr. Wilson Moran and his late mother, Miss Mary Moran in the summer of 2000. Music courtesy of Makaih Beats  https://makaihbeats.net/

The Curious Roots podcast digs deep in the living earth of our personal, familial and communal lives to help us understand how we exist in the world today. Season one of the podcast begins with the maternal story of my own curious roots, still buried, but breathing and holding fast in Harris Neck, Georgia.   Curious Roots is hosted by Michelle McCrary and is co-produced by Moonshadow Productions a...