Louisiana Considered WWNO/WRKF Newsroom

In 1964, the Birmingham Barons become Alabama’s first integrated sports team. This is 17 years after Jackie Robinson integrated the Major Leagues. What took so long?Today, we hear how baseball helps desegregate America’s most segregated city. Roy Wood Jr. takes us back to 1960s Birmingham, when nonviolent protests for racial equality are met with bombings by the Ku Klux Klan. We learn about the business owner who decides to bring baseball back to Birmingham after a two-year hiatus, this time in an integrated environment. And we hear from some of the players on the city’s first integrated team about their experiences on field, in the community and on the buses traveling throughout the Deep South.This episode was written and produced by Alana Schreiber and hosted by Roy Wood Jr.Our executive producer is Alana Schreiber and our senior producer is Ben Dickstein.  Our producers are Jonah Buchanan and AL.com’s Cody D. Short. Mixing and sound design by Joaquin Cotler and story editing by Ryan Vasquez. Artwork by Xavier Murillo. Original music composition by Squeak E. Clean Studios. Voice tracking by Alt Mix Studio.Special thanks to Paul Maassen, The Friends of Rickwood Field, Birmingham Public Library archives, AL.com and WBHM. For more stories on Rickwood Field, check out https://www.al.com/rickwood-field/This podcast is produced by WWNO and WRKF. Distributed by the NPR network. Support from Major League Baseball, The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Explore St. Louis.

Former State health director, past CEO of health services at LSU, and OB-GYN Dr. Rebekah Gee is now working to bridge the gap in healthcare for Louisiana’s underserved families. Her new start-up, Nest Health, focuses on bringing comprehensive healthcare directly to families with at-home and virtual visits.She joins us for more on this program and how she hopes to see it expand across the state.The Grammy-award winning Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is gearing up for its inaugural Juneteenth concert. The event will honor the holiday that celebrates the liberation from slavery with Black musical traditions.LPO Executive Director Anwar Nasir joins us for more on this concert, called Music of a Movement: A Symphony Anthology at the Mahalia Jackson Theater.The Gulf South is full of rich stories of resilience and survival. But in rural towns, these can be lost to time, especially for marginalized communities. The Gulf States Newsroom’s Maya Miller traveled to coastal Alabama to meet a family with centuries of history in the region. She explored the land with a man who’s spent more than 15 years uncovering his native and formerly-enslaved heritage. ___Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Diane Mack. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber. Matt Bloom and Aubry Procell are assistant producers. Our engineer is Garrett Pittman.You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at 12 and 7 p.m. It’s available on Spotify, Google Play and wherever you get your podcasts. Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you’re at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you’d like to listen to.Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!

It’s an election year, and lawmakers in Baton Rouge spent a lot of time this spring discussing ways to change Louisiana’s voting system. One driving force behind a lot of the discussion was Secretary of State Nancy Landry. Landry, a Republican, has said that Louisiana elections are secure and well-run. Still she supported over 11 bills this session as part of her ‘election integrity package’, that include a ban on ranked-choice voting, tighter rules around absentee ballots and the creation of a new ‘division of election integrity’ within her department. She joins us for more on how these changes will impact voting in November.Juneteenth is just around the corner, and the Whitney Plantation in Wallace, Louisiana is gearing up for its second annual Juneteenth Freedom Festival. Director of education Erika Hernandez tells us for more on the significance of celebrating the liberation from slavery in a space where it was once the law of the land.Last week, we reported on two schools in New Orleans that not only closed for the summer, but closed for good. But in Jackson, Mississippi, the number is even higher, as 11 public schools have permanently shut their doors. The Gulf States Newsroom's Maya Miller went to the now-shuttered Wingfield High School's graduation where parents felt a mix of joy and uncertainty.___Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Karen Henderson. Our managing producer is Alana Schrieber. Matt Bloom and Aubry Procell are assistant producers. Our engineer is Garrett Pittman.You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at 12 and 7 p.m. It’s available on Spotify, Google Play and wherever you get your podcasts. Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you’re at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you’d like to listen to.Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!

It’s pride month, and this weekend, New Orleans has no shortage of events, including “gay ghost tours,” Black queer fests and a parade. In Baton Rouge, Pride Fest is coming on June 29, featuring a slew of performances at the Raising Cane’s River Center. But this month also a time of remembrance for darker chapters in Louisiana’s queer history. In June of 1973, a fire at the UpStairs Lounge – a gay bar in New Orleans’ French quarter – took the lives of 32 people. It was the largest mass killing of LGBTQ people at the time. Last year, Louisiana Considered’s Alana Schreiber spoke with local historian Frank Perez about Louisiana’s queer history, and the impact and legacy of the fire. Today we give that story a second listen. Then, we hear a series of reflections from Vincent Gloriosi Jr., the attorney who represented the victims and families seeking justice in the fire’s aftermath. His story was captured by Joe Shriner and Mark Cave, who recently spoke with Glorioso for NOLA Life Stories, a series from the Historic New Orleans Collection.Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered is hosted by Adam Vos. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber; our contributing producers are Matt Bloom and Adam Vos; we receive production and technical support from Garrett Pittman and our assistant producer, Aubry Procell.You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at 12:00 and 7:00 pm. It’s available on Spotify, Google Play, and wherever you get your podcasts. Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you’re at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you’d like to listen to.Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!

It’s Thursday, and it’s time for The Week in Politics. Joining us is Stephanie Grace, editorial director and columnist for the Times Picayune/The Advocate.This week, we recap the biggest pieces of legislation passed during the latest legislative session. Lawmakers limited access to abortion medications, gave the governor’s office more power and rewrote rules regulating the insurance industry, among other big changes.Houma will host its first annual summer Gospel Fest on June 8. The event will be run by the New Zion Baptist Church and feature choirs from around Terrebonne Parish and other parts of the state. Proceeds of this event will help fund a new computer literacy program in Houma’s east side.For more on this upcoming festival we are joined by Travion Smith, Chairman of the Leadership Committee for New Zion Baptist Church.Louisiana saw its hottest summer on record last year. And forecasts are predicting this summer could be another scorcher. The trend poses health risks to people living in southern Louisiana, but there are ways to prepare.To discuss the outlook for heat, we’re going to check in now with Jay Grymes, interim state climatologist for Louisiana and chief meteorologist at WAFB in Baton Rouge.Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Bob Pavlovich. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber; our contributing producers are Matt Bloom and Adam Vos; we receive production and technical support from Garrett Pittman and our assistant producer, Aubry Procell.You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at 12:00 and 7:00 pm. It’s available on Spotify, Google Play, and wherever you get your podcasts.Louisiana Considered wants to hear from you! Please fill out our pitch line to let us know what kinds of story ideas you have for our show. And while you’re at it, fill out our listener survey! We want to keep bringing you the kinds of conversations you’d like to listen to.Louisiana Considered is made possible with support from our listeners. Thank you!

The 1940s are the heyday for Black baseball in Alabama, the peak of the Negro Leagues – starring a high schooler named Willie Mays. But when the Major Leagues integrate, Black teams everywhere start to fold.On this episode, host Roy Wood Jr. speaks with surviving players from the Birmingham Black Barons about the soaring highs and painful lows of Negro League baseball in Alabama. Roy also explores the struggle for equality and human rights in Birmingham that served as the backdrop of this era. We see how these communities and stories overlap, and how the effort to uphold segregation leads to the temporary end of professional baseball in Birmingham.This episode was written and produced by Jonah Buchanan and hosted by Roy Wood Jr.Our executive producer is Alana Schreiber and our senior producer is Ben Dickstein. Our producers are Jonah Buchanan and AL.com’s Cody D Short. Mixing and sound design by Joaquin Cotler and story editing by Ryan Vasquez. Artwork by Xavier Murillo. Original music composition by Squeak E. Clean Studios. Voice tracking by Alt Mix Studio.Special thanks to Paul Maassen, The Friends of Rickwood Field, Birmingham Public Library archives, AL.com and WBHM. For more stories on Rickwood Field, check out https://www.al.com/rickwood-field/This podcast is produced by WWNO and WRKF. Distributed by the NPR network in association with Major League Baseball.