597. Liz Ellis, part 1.

597. Part 1 of Liz Ellis joining us to discuss her excellent book,  The Great Power of Small Nations. Part 1.Large Power of Small Nations. Part 1. In The Great Power of Small Nations, Elizabeth N. Ellis (Peoria) tells the stories of the many smaller Native American nations that shaped the development of the Gulf South. Based on extensive archival research and oral histories, Ellis’s narrative chronicles how diverse Indigenous peoples—including Biloxis, Choctaws, Chitimachas, Chickasaws, Houmas, Mobilians, and Tunicas—influenced and often challenged the growth of colonial Louisiana.

596. Myra Lavigne. Rise St. James

596. Today we talk to Myra Lavigne, a volunteer with Rise St. James. Rise St. James is a faith-based grassroots organization that is fighting for environmental justice as it works to defeat the proliferation of petrochemical industries in St. James Parish, Louisiana. Nicknamed “Cancer Alley” for the above-average rates of cancer there, the area is home to a high concentration of polluting industries.

595. Derby Gisclair on Hadacol

595. Our old friend Derby Gisclair returns to talk about his research into Louisiana politician and snake oil salesman (to the degree they're different!) Dudley J. LeBlanc. "Coozan Dud" was a moderately successful Louisiana politician and a wildly successful salesman of Hadacol, the patent medicine. He hosted a traveling variety show to sell the elixir he created in his bathtub with vitamins, other ingredients, hydrochloric acid, and 12% alcohol. Join us to learn more about this drink that's good for what ails you.

594. Nick Douglas. Jazz, Part 2.

594. Part 2 of our interview with Nick Douglas about  New Orleans jazz and civil rights. “I am working with my filmmaking partner Doug Harris on a documentary called the Reconnect: The Untold History of Jazz. It is a true story about the actual formation of jazz in the only place it could have formed: New Orleans. But it is more it identifies for the first time New Orleans as the cradle of the Civil Rights Movement.