Buried Truths
“Buried Truths” acknowledges and unearths still-relevant stories of injustice, racism, and resistance in the American South. We can’t change our history, but we can let it guide us to understanding. The podcast is hosted by journalist, professor, and Pulitzer-prize-winning author Hank Klibanoff.
Episodes
The Trial | S5 E7
What happened inside of the courtroom when Joe Cameron stood trial for the murder of Reverend Pickett? The trial tells a deeper story about who could receive equal justice in a small southern community where everyone, from the prosecutor, t…
The Investigation | S5 E6
The Columbus police investigate one of their own, Joe Cameron in the Reverend Pickett’s death and come up with a surprising conclusion. Meanwhile, J. Edgar Hoover sends in the FBI.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
“Absolutely no mercy” | S5 E5
Did the World War II battle of Peleliu, where more than 20,000 American and Japanese combatants fought on an island they could walk across, shape Rev. Pickett’s fate? For more, visit buriedtruths.orgSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy i…
Medicine and Race | S5 E4
How medical myths about Black people led American health care to fail Clarence Pickett in 1957. It is a tragedy that, 70 years later, is still failing African-Americans. For more, visit buriedtruths.orgSee omnystudio.com/listener for privac…
"Baby, they done killed me" | S5 E3
Rev. Clarence Pickett’s final days: his arrest, his beating and how he saw a doctor one day and was dead the next. For more, visit buriedtruths.orgSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The boy preacher | S5 E1
Rev. Clarence Horatious Pickett was a celebrated young pastor who developed behavioral problems that drew attention and arrests. But none should have led to what followed. For more, visit buriedtruths.orgSee omnystudio.com/listener for priv…
"I still hear the screams" | S5 E2
After enthralling congregations for several years, Rev. Pickett landed in the Georgia state mental institution, then a county jail where the jailer beat him to the edge of death. For more, visit buriedtruths.orgSee omnystudio.com/listener f…
Season 5 | A Preacher, a Policeman, and a Physician | Trailer
Four days before Christmas in 1957, Clarence Horatious Pickett, a preacher and newspaper ad salesman in Columbus, Georgia, walked into town to pick up his paycheck. Forty-eight years old and known as “Reverend” to many, the tall, lean man w…
“The valley of dry bones” | S4 E12
Caroline Herring is a singer, songwriter and scholar of the South. She discusses the evolution of her music and of the song she wrote for Buried Truths.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
“There will never be closure” | S4 E10
Buried Truths Live, Part I: a special evening onstage with the daughters of James Brazier, who share the pain of his loss some 60 years after their father died.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
“My world just stopped turning” | S4 E11
Buried Truths Live, Part 2: Our special event continues with a conversation between Hank and Kelley Stinson, granddaughter of the policeman who killed James Brazier.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
“I’m not brave like you” | S4 E9
An anonymous letter in the files of Donald Lee Hollowell captures white attitudes in the South. Some whites harbored no hatred for Black people but were too afraid to say so. What about today? And tomorrow?See omnystudio.com/listener for pr…
A season of fire | S4 E8
Voting rights activists in Terrell are met with shootings and arson, attracting the attention of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Jackie Robinson and an angry President Kennedy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Courtroom drama | S4 E7
Penniless and heartbroken, Hattie Bell Brazier pulls the only lever of power available to her: she sues Mathews and Cherry in federal court, setting up a tense battle between leading lawyers for and against civil rights.See omnystudio.com/l…
The unexpected email | S4 E6
James Brazier’s family will never forget his killing, but what about the family of Weyman Cherry? His granddaughter reaches out to us after learning of his brutal racism. She accepts the truth but struggles with it. See omnystudio.com/liste…
Light in the heart of darkness | S4 E5
An underground railroad of information smuggles the story of Terrible Terrell out of Georgia and onto the Washington Post’s front page.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The vanishing knife | S4 E4
The police said Willie Countryman had a knife, but did he? And his girlfriend is left to wonder about his love for her. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The witnesses in the jail | S4 E3
The cops had already hurt James Brazier when they arrested him and took him to jail. But they returned late that night to finish him. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The police come for James Brazier | S4 E2
On one April day, three generations of the Brazier family, including 10-year-old James Jr., were beaten by white Dawson police. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Life in Terrible Terrell | S4 E1
Terrell County was like a lot of rural communities in Georgia. But in some ways, it was like no other place on earth. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Trailer | S4 E0
James and Hattie Brazier worked hard and earned more than most people in Dawson, white or black. But this black couple's prosperity was a provocation to white police.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
By Hands Now Known | Bonus
An interview with Margaret Burnham about her new book, By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow’s Legal Executioners. The book is so revealing that we wanted to share a conversation she had with the public radio program, Fresh Air (produced by WHYY in…
A turn signal, an explosion, an American Reckoning | Bonus
A gruesome, unpunished 1967 murder reveals little-known stories of the civil rights movement and Black resistance in Mississippi and Louisiana. "American Reckoning" on Frontline, from PBS, tells the story of Wharlest Jackson Sr. and the sea…
Killers Sentenced | S3 Bonus
The men convicted of killing Ahmaud Arbery have now been sentenced. Host Hank Klibanoff and his Emory colleague, professor Carol Anderson, talk about Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley’s decision on the public radio program Closer Look w…
The Verdict | S3 Bonus
The jury finds all three defendants guilty of murder. Sentencing will come later, but the three will almost surely live out their years in prison. A case that was all about race comes to a close with almost no mention of race in the courtro…
Trial Begins| S3 Bonus
Although the racial composition of the jury – 11 white jurors, one black – has set off alarm bells, the trial commences with three opening statements and the first prosecution witness. A Glynn County police officer’s body-cam footage filled…
Murder Trial Preview | S3 Bonus
The murder trial for defendants Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan is set to begin in October and there have been some recent, critically important twists leading up to this point. WABE’s Rose Scott talks with Bu…
Race and Remembrance in Hank’s Alabama Hometown | Bonus
In February 2020, Hank Klibanoff was invited back to his hometown of Florence, Alabama for a live community event. It got him thinking about growing up in a state that was notorious for its civil rights abuses. Hank’s recollection of his ch…
One Year Later | S3 Bonus
One year after the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, Hank Klibanoff returns to Closer Look with Rose Scott to discuss the latest developments in the case.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Behind the Podcast | S3 Bonus
Join host Hank Klibanoff, his team of Emory University student researchers, and the WABE production team as they deconstruct the podcast to show you how they gather information to uncover hidden history and reveal a complete and compelling …
Groundswell | S3 E7
With the video released, the public outcry grew to a rolling boil.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Stripped | S3 E6
What happens when a police officer skips school?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
74 Days | S3 E5
How did the men who killed Ahmaud Arbery come so close to escaping all scrutiny? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Roots |S3 E4
The Georgia coast, where Ahmaud Arbery was born and killed, is steeped in history. Hank Klibanoff and his students trace the family roots of Ahmaud and the men who chased him, and marvel at what they find.See omnystudio.com/listener for pri…
Maud Moments | S3 E3
Funny, humble, and always saying “I love you.” The officer who approached Ahmaud as he sat alone in his parked car saw something different.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This Horrible Thing | S3 E2
Why did they chase him in the first place? Investigators find disturbing Instagram posts and text messages. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Trapped | S3 E1
Ahmaud Arbery went for a Sunday afternoon jog in a quiet neighborhood near the Georgia coast. He never made it home.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Season 3 Trailer | Ahmaud Arbery
The afternoon of February 23, 2020, was a typically beautiful winter day on Georgia’s coast. Sunny and clear with a high near 65. At about 1 p.m., Ahmaud Arbery was taking advantage of the near-perfect running weather. He’d gone for a jog d…
Sallie Mama 1923-2020 | Season 1 Update
Sallie Nixon was small in stature, but large in spirit, strength and willpower. In 1948, she watched as two white men killed her husband Isaiah Nixon because he dared to vote. She lived on, overcame obstacles and inspired generations of fam…
The Story of Thomas Finch
In 1936, a black man named Thomas Finch was shot and killed by an Atlanta police officer who later became leader of the Ku Klux Klan. Very little was known publicly about Finch’s death until his name appeared at a new memorial to the victim…