Scenic Roots

(NewSouth Books) The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called him “the greatest preacher to ever live.” The Rev. C.T. Vivian was one of the leaders of the civil rights movement alongside Dr. King and others in the 1950’s and 1960’s. When Rev. Vivian tried to register Black voters in Selma, Alabama in 1965, Sheriff Jim Clark punched him - a scene caught on camera and broadcast on television nationwi...

(Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce) DIVERSIFY is an annual business summit here in Chattanooga that highlights diversity, inclusion and today’s workplace. The pandemic and last year’s unrest have underscored the high cost of racial and economic inequality for a business community that aims to be for everyone.   This year’s DIVERSIFY - which will be virtual - takes place on Friday, presented by...

Lorne Steedley of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce. Steve Fiffer on the memoir of Rev. C.T. Vivian, civil rights pioneer. Mountain Spirit:  Ariella at the Isis Music Hall in Asheville, NC. These voices - and more - on this edition of “Scenic Roots.”

(Creative Commons) Richard Winham shares a session with Dylan Kussman - a finalist from the Chattown Stages’ Songwriters Stage - along with songwriter Rachelle Barr - recorded live downtown at The Chattanooga Public Library. 

(WTCI PBS) Napoleon "Donut" Williams - Chattanooga's first African-American police detective - is the next guest on “The A List with Alison Lebovitz," tonight at 8:30 PM on WTCI PBS. For The A List archive, watch here .

(Make Music Chattanooga) Make Music Chattanooga is a daylong celebration of learning and creating music. This year’s celebration on Monday, June 21st will be hosted at all four locations of the Chattanooga Public Library. Mark Anderson will be leading the harmonica workshops. I spoke with him - and the Library’s Crissy Varnell.  

(Obvious Dad) Here in Chattanooga, Obvious Dad is a new theatre company that promises bold live performances. Its first season begins a week from Friday with “You Got Older” by Claire Barron - on our campus, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Blake Harris is the artistic director of Obvious Dad.  

(Creative Arts Guild) A Low Country Boil is a culinary and cultural staple here in the South.   Maybe you’re thinking of the kind from South Carolina - or the style from Louisiana - or the one that you’ll find on Saturday in Dalton at the Creative Arts Guild, starting at 6 PM. Leanne Martin and Sarah Murry are with the Guild.  

(The Bethlehem Center) Juneteenth commemorates African-American emancipation in the United States after the Civil War. A week from Saturday, the Bethlehem Center here in Chattanooga will hold its first annual Juneteenth Festival. Reginald F. Smith II is the Center’s executive director.    

(City of Chattanooga’s Office of Multicultural Affairs) If you’re in downtown Chattanooga these days, you’ll see flags celebrating Black-owned businesses in this city. The flags are part of “Chattanooga Recreates Black Wall Street,” a month-long spotlight on those businesses that is also grounded in history - from Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921 to Chattanooga’s own past to Juneteenth, which will be a cit...

"Chattanooga Recreates Black Wall Street" in the downtown. The Bethlehem Center’s Juneteenth Festival; Obvious Dad. A Low Country Boil in Dalton; Make Music Chattanooga These voices - and more - on this edition of “Scenic Roots.”  

(Grosvenor House Publishing Limited ) Richard Winham shares the first half of a conversation with Geoffrey Littlefield, author of “Nelson Riddle:  Music With A Heartbeat” - the authorized biography of the legendary arranger of American popular music, written in collaboration with Riddle’s son Christopher.

(The Tennessee Aquarium) At the Tennessee Aquarium here in Chattanooga, you can learn how microplastics can impact not only our rivers, streams and lakes - but also our oceans. What is on display is funded by a grant from the Tennessee Department of Transportation’s “Nobody Trashes Tennessee” campaign to reduce litter across the state. Dr. Anna George is the Aquarium’s vice president of conservati...

(TVA) Microplastics are fragments of any type of plastic less than five millimeters in length. Think of larger pieces of plastic that have broken apart - or resin pellets for plastic manufacturing - or those microbeads in health and beauty products. These tiny particles easily pass through water filtration systems - and they end up in our ecosystem, a potential threat to aquatic life. The Universi...

Microplastics in Tennessee’s watershed - and beyond. Talking Writing:  “Music With A Heartbeat” - Part I. These voices - and more - on this edition of “Scenic Roots.”  

The story of Clark Brewer, Jr. in the film “Bigger Than Me.” Mountain Spirit Acoustic Series:  Brother & The Hayes, Part II. These voices - and more - on this edition of “Scenic Roots.”  

(isisasheville.com) Richard Winham shares the first half of a performance by Brother & The Hayes - David Bingaman and Jennie Hayes Kurtz - infused with the blues, country and bluegrass from the Isis Music Hall in Asheville, NC.      

(HES) “Rescues on the Runway” is back. This year’s show for the Humane Educational Society takes place on Friday, June 26th - starting at 6 PM - at the Chattanooga Convention Center. Taylor Hixson is director of fundraising and special events at HES. I spoke with her - and two volunteers:  Kathy Mindel and Laurie Milliner.       

(Chattanooga Area Food Bank) Throughout the pandemic, food banks have seen a surge in demand from people who need food. That demand remains high now - and it will stay that way for quite a while.     The Chattanooga Area Food Bank is the largest hunger relief organization in Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia, serving twenty counties. Jennifer Lockwood Fritts is the Food Bank’s grants and c...

Jennifer Lockwood Fritts of the Chattanooga Area Food Bank. “Rescues on the Runway” for the Humane Educational Society. Mountain Spirit Acoustic Series:  Brother & The Hayes, Part I. These voices - and more - on this edition of “Scenic Roots."          

Dr. Kelly Rodney Arnold is the founder and medical director of Clinica Medicos here in Chattanooga. She’s the next guest on “The A List with Alison Lebovitz," tonight at 8:30 PM on WTCI PBS. For the A List archive, watch here .  

(Pennsylvania State University Libraries) Besides trains, horses and mules carried the armies of the Civil War. Who took care of the animals - and how did they do it? On Saturday, a tour at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park will explain - starting at 2 PM.   Brian Autry is a ranger with the park. For more information about Saturday’s tour, visit nps.gov/chch .  

A century ago, Rosenwald Schools educated Black children throughout the Jim Crow South despite segregation. (Paul Perdue) Photographer Andrew Feiler examines that story - and what remains of those schools today - in his new book, “A Better Life for Their Children:  Julius Rosenwald, Booker T. Washington and the 4,978 Schools That Changed America,” published by the University of Georgia Press. Andr...

(DEA.gov) For another perspective on the rise in overdoses and drug-related deaths during the pandemic, we turn to Dr. Rick Dierenfeldt.   He spent more than ten years as a police officer and a criminal investigator before turning to academia - and he is now an assistant professor of criminal justice here on this campus, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Rick and his colleagues at UTC ha...

(iStockphoto) The opioid epidemic in this country is taking its toll on the Chattanooga area during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, according to the Hamilton County Medical Examiner’s office, 270 residents in this county died to due COVID-19, while 160 died from overdoses and drug-related deaths. Knox Farmer is marketing director at CADAS - the Council for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services...