621. Elisa M. Speranza, part 1

621. Part 1 of our interview with Elisa M. Speranza, author of The Italian Prisoner. "1943. New Orleans. Rose Marino lives with her Sicilian immigrant parents and helps in the family grocery store. Her older brother and sister both joined the Army, and Rose prays for their safety as World War II rages overseas.When the parish priest organizes a goodwill mission to visit Italian prisoners of war at a nearby military base, Rose and her vivacious best friend, Marie, join the group. There, Rose falls for Sal, a handsome and intelligent POW. Italy has switched sides in the war, so the POWs are allowed out to socialize, giving Rose and Sal a chance to grow closer.

620. Rien Fertel, Part 2.

620. Part 2 of our conversation with Rien Fertel. “I’m a Louisiana-born and based writer and teacher. My most recent book, out September 2022, is Brown Pelican, a human history of the very best bird. I’ve penned three earlier books. The Drive-By Truckers’ Southern Rock Opera, #133 in Bloomsbury's 33 1/3 series, about a road trip based on a recent classic album about a road trip. The One True Barbecue: Fire, Smoke, and the Pitmasters Who Cook the Whole Hog,

619. Rien Fertel, Part 1.

619. Part 1 of our interview with Rien Fertel. “I’m a Louisiana-born and based writer and teacher. My most recent book, out September 2022, is Brown Pelican, a human history of the very best bird. I’ve penned three earlier books. The Drive-By Truckers’ Southern Rock Opera, #133 in Bloomsbury's 33 1/3 series, about a road trip based on a recent classic album about a road trip. The One True Barbecue: Fire, Smoke, and the Pitmasters Who Cook the Whole Hog,

618. Shannon Eaves, Part 2

 Part 2 of our interview with Shannon Eaves. "Her book, Sexual Violence and American Slavery: The Making of a Rape Culture in the Antebellum South, was published by UNC Press in 2024. This study examines how the rape and sexual exploitation of enslaved women created a rape culture that was woven into the very fabric of antebellum society, influencing daily life for both the enslaved and enslavers....

617. Shannon Eaves, Part 1

617. Part 1 of our interview with Shannon Eaves. "Her book, Sexual Violence and American Slavery: The Making of a Rape Culture in the Antebellum South, was published by UNC Press in 2024. This study examines how the rape and sexual exploitation of enslaved women created a rape culture that was woven into the very fabric of antebellum society, influencing daily life for both the enslaved and enslavers....

616. Ed Branley, Part 2

616. Part 2 of Ed Branley's return to the podcast. This time the NOLA history guy talks to the most NOLA topic of them all — Mardi Gras! Ed traces Carnival season and Mardi Gras from its humble beginnings to now Ed is a writer, teacher, historian, and computer nerd who lives in New Orleans. He graduated from the real Brother Martin High School. Edward dated several girls who attended the real St. Mary's Dominican High School, eventually marrying one of them.

615. Ed Branley, part 1

615. Part 1 of  Ed Branley's return to the podcast. This time the NOLA history guy talks to the most NOLA topic of them all--Mardi Gras! Ed traces Carnival season and Mardi Gras from its humble beginnings to now Ed is a writer, teacher, historian, and computer nerd who lives in New Orleans. He graduated from the real Brother Martin High School. Edward dated several girls who attended the real St. Mary's Dominican High School, eventually marrying one of them.

614. Ana Croegaert, Part 2

614. Part 2 of out chat with Ana Croegaert about the removal of Confederate monuments. We also talked to her about her participation in second line parades around the city. “In 2017, the City of New Orleans removed four segregation-era monuments celebrating the Southern Confederacy and valorizing white supremacist ideology. As in other cities, efforts to remove such monuments are not new, and historically have been connected to collective challenges to racialized inequality, and more recently to transnational postcolonial struggles.

613. Ana Croegaert, Part 1

613 Part 1 of out chat with Ana Croegaert about the removal of Confederate monuments. We also talked to her about her participation in second line parades around the city. “In 2017, the City of New Orleans removed four segregation-era monuments celebrating the Southern Confederacy and valorizing white supremacist ideology. As in other cities, efforts to remove such monuments are not new, and historically have been connected to collective challenges to racialized inequality, and more recently to transnational postcolonial struggles.

612. Carlis Wright Robinson, Part 2

612. Part 2 of our conversation with Carlis Wright Robinson. In response to racial segregation in Major League Baseball, African American players and officials formed their own league, titled, The Negro Leagues. Despite not playing in Major League Baseball, Wright, like countless other African Americans in baseball at that time, by their mere presence and participation in baseball at that time in America, rejected racism and served as pioneers for future generations. Johnny Wright was one of the excellent players who remained in the Negro League.

611. Carlis Wright Robinson, part 1

611. Part 1 of our conversation with Carlis Wright Robinson about her father's, Johnny Wright's, baseball career. In response to racial segregation in Major League Baseball, African American players and officials formed their own league, called The Negro League. Despite not playing in Major League Baseball, Wright, like countless other African Americans in baseball at that time, by their mere presence and participation in baseball at that time in America, rejected racism and served as pioneers for future generations.

610. Dean Snow on David Ingram

610. Join us this week as David Snow tells us about English traveler David Ingram. "In The Extraordinary Journey of David Ingram, author Dean Snow rights the record on a shipwrecked sailor who traversed the length of the North American continent only to be maligned as deceitful storyteller. In the autumn of 1569, a French ship rescued David Ingram and two other English sailors from the shore of the Gulf of Maine. The men had walked over 3000 miles in less than a year after being marooned near Tampico, Mexico.

609. David Armand, Part 2

 609. Part 2 of our visit with author David Armond. Armand is the 2022 recipient of the Louisiana Writer Award, presented annually by the Louisiana Center for the Book in the State Library of Louisiana. He is the twenty-third recipient of the prestigious award presented to recognize outstanding contributions to Louisiana’s literary and intellectual life exemplified by a contemporary Louisiana writer’s body of work.

608. David Armand, Part 1

608. Part 1 of our 2nd interview with David Armond, winner of the 2022 Louisiana Writer Award. He has written the memoir titles: My Mother’s House & Mirrors.  He has published four novels, The Pugilist's Wife, Harlow, The Gorge, and The Lord's Acre. He has also published three collections of poems, The Deep Woods, Debt, and The Evangelist.

607. Rain Gomez, D. G. Barthe, & Andrew Jolivette, Part 2

607. Part 2 of our conversation with Rain Prud'homme-Cranford (Rain C. Goméz) & her friends D. G. Barthe and Andrew Jolivette about their book, Louisiana Creole Peoplehood. “Over the course of more than three centuries, the diverse communities of Louisiana have engaged in creative living practices to forge a vibrant, multifaceted, and fully developed Creole culture. Against the backdrop of ongoing anti-Blackness and Indigenous erasure that has sought to undermine this rich culture, Louisiana Creoles have found transformative ways to uphold solidarity, kinship, and continuity, retaking Louisiana Creole agency as a post-contact Afro-Indigenous culture.