Levine Museum's award-winning podcast Our New South returns

Our New South, the Signal Award and Anthem Award-winning podcast from the Levine Museum of the New South and Next Chapter Podcasts, returns for an all-new season today, January 21.

Building on the success of the debut season, Washington Post journalist Kevin Blackistone and history professor Dr. Robert Greene II host a series of conversations that explore the complexities of the many Souths that make up today’s New South.

The 10-episode season highlights the stories, communities and challenges shaping the region, diving into censorship and healthcare, tourism and religion, struggles for rights and resources, and the global reverberations of New South culture.

Inspiring stories from guests including Aarón Sánchez (chef, TV personality & philanthropist), Amanda Jones (librarian & author), Speech (hip-hop artist from Arrested Development), Dr. Tonya Matthews (President and CEO of Charleston’s International African American Museum), and more provide unique perspectives on how the South is changing, how it remains familiar, and how it may look in the future.

“Listeners from across the nation and beyond have fixed ideas about what the South is,” says Richard Cooper, Levine Museum President & CEO. “With this podcast, we aim to unravel the complexity of today’s New South: how it came to be, how it’s changing, and how it can evolve equitably. We want listeners to reflect on what progress for all can look like and challenge their beliefs about this region we call home.”

“Our New South” is produced by Next Chapter Podcasts for the Levine Museum of the New South.

Levine Museum of the New South connects the past to the future to realize the promises of a new South. For over 30 years, Levine Museum has sought to confront some of the most difficult issues facing the South today in historical context that deepens understanding, fosters empathy, and inspires action toward a better future.

Kevin Blackistone is a journalist, author, filmmaker, and professor. He is currently a sports columnist at The Washington Post, a panelist on ESPN’s “Around the Horn, “ and a professor of journalism at the University of Maryland. Blackistone co-produced and co-wrote “Imagining the Indian,” an award-winning documentary on the history of and fight against mascoting Native Americans, and is the co-author of “A Gift for Ron,” a memoir by former NFL star Everson Walls.

Dr. Robert Greene II is an Assistant Professor of History at Claflin University. He is also the Publications Chair of the Society of U.S. Intellectual Historians and the incoming President of the African American Intellectual History Society. Dr. Greene II has written extensively on the South, Black history and memory, and political history for publications such as Oxford American, The Nation, Dissent, Scalawag, and Jacobin, among others. Dr. Greene II is co-editor, along with Dr. Tyler D. Parry, of the edited volume “Invisible No More: The African American Experience at the University of South Carolina,” and he is currently at work on a book titled “The Newest South: African Americans and the Democratic Party, 1964-2000”

ABOUT NEXT CHAPTER PODCASTS Next Chapter Podcasts (www.nextchapterpodcasts.com) is an independent podcast production studio dedicated to original, authentic storytelling. We are a team of producers and sound designers, engineers, and artists with unique experience in podcast production from concept to creation. Next Chapter Podcasts include Spotify Original “The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers,” iHeart Original “The Ten News,” and award-winning “Beef with Bridget Todd.” Next Chapter Podcasts is also the parent company of Play On Podcasts, the flagship enterprise of NCP’s Scripted division, bringing epic audio adventures to listeners in the form of podcast re-creations of Shakespeare’s legendary plays. Play On Podcasts reached three-million downloads less than three years after its debut on April 9th, 2021.