Inaugural season debuts today and addresses topical issues with a roster of impressive guests, including Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom, Derrick Johnson and Bakari Sellers

CHARLOTTE, NC — What does the “South” mean to you? Probably not the same thing it means to someone living in Atlanta, New York City, or Omaha.

“Our New South,” the first podcast from Levine Museum of the New South, debuts today across streaming platforms. Hosted by journalist Kevin Blackistone and historian Dr. Robert Greene II, it considers the definition of “a new South,” through conversations about the people, places, and issues that shaped this region.

“We hope the podcast moves the national conversation about the South past stereotypes and easy assumptions, and helps listeners identify complex issues shaping the identity of and life in the region today,” says Franky Abbott, Levine Museum Chief Content Strategist.

The podcast was created with the idea of contributing to an important regional and national dialogue about how the South is changing, grappling with familiar challenges, and where it is moving in the future, Abbott says. It dovetails with the museum’s ongoing efforts to reshape how and where people engage with historical content.

The inaugural guest on “Our New South” is Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Cottom, born in Harlem and raised in Winston-Salem and Charlotte, is an opinion columnist for The New York Times, and an academic expert on inequality and American higher education.

Supported by a generous grant from the Knight Foundation and The Infusion Fund, the first season will feature 10 weekly episodes of 30-45 minutes, produced by Next Chapter Podcasts. Among the topics to be addressed: voting, environmental justice, historic preservation, food, socioeconomic mobility, music, equality in education, business, and immigration.

The guests listeners will hear from over the 10 weeks will include Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); Bakari Sellers, former South Carolina state representative; Sherri Chisholm of Leading on Opportunity; Kieth Cockrell, president of Bank of America, Charlotte; DeLesslin “Roo” George-Warren of the Catawba Nation; Omar Jorge, CEO of Compare Foods and chairman of Aurora Grocery Group. 

Co-host Blackistone is a longtime sports columnist now at The Washington Post, frequent panelist on ESPN’s “Around The Horn,” and a professor of journalism at the University of Maryland. He’s a co-producer and co-writer of “Imagining the Indian,” a 2022 documentary on the history of and fight against mascoting Native Americans, and co-author of “A Gift for Ron,” a memoir by former NFL player Everson Walls that details his kidney donation to a fellow teammate.

Co-host Greene is an assistant professor of History at Claflin University in Orangeburg, SC. He has written extensively on the South, Black history and memory, and political history for numerous publications. He is working on a book “The Newest South: African Americans and the Democratic Party, 1964-2000,” about the relationship between Democratic Party leaders in the South and African American voters. 

The podcast is the latest initiative from the Levine Museum of the New South that continues to reinforce a sense of place and build community while offering perspective and education in an inclusive way. The museum launched the digital series “50 Places in Charlotte” in 2023, and has a new exhibition set to debut in early March that will share the region’s story from Catawba settlement to the present. 

The museum, at 401 S. Tryon St., will be closed Feb. 3-March 8 for installation of the exhibition.