Curious Roots

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 in McIntosh County, Georg...

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 trafficking stolen African...

Researcher and genealogist Terri Ward always says all roads lead back to Coastal Georgia.  This week’s guest, Adolpohus Armstrong,  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 the Lowcountry DNA Project and...

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 Gullah Geechee descendants a...

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 continuing struggle for justice....

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 Library and Archives. This image...

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 my third great grandfather ...

In this first of three special bonus episodes, Curious Roots, takes a closer look at an episode from Hulu's special 1619 Project docuseries called “Justice” which featured the story of Harris Neck. I break down some thoughts about the episode with genealogist and researcher Terri Ward of Ujima Genealogy of Coastal Georgia.  

Image of the 1940 McIntosh County,Georgia census enumeration district map courtesy of the National A...

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 and Converge Collaborative.