One of the first descriptions of North Carolina by the English that would later colonize the area was given by Ralph Lane, the governor of the first attempted colony. In 1585, Gov. Lane referred to the land as "the goodliest soil under the cope of heaven" in his letters back to England. This podcast will tell the stories of its history, help people see the connections, not only between its "officials" but also between people that history either forgot or chose not to listen to. We will tell their stories; the plantation owners, the enslaved people, the displaced native Americans...all...
Latest episodes
-
13 min
99 Luftballoons
In 1945, Sula Hansley was a girl in a city of ash and ruins. A few years later, she was a woman in a quiet, tobacco-farming town in North Carolina. This episode explores the imposs…
-
14 min
Sign Your Name
From Reconstruction to 1969—a 92-year silence in Johnston County's official history. Were there really no Black elected officials in between? Dive into the Fusion era's lost Black…
-
16 min
The Show Must Go On
Why was a Canadian-born Black actor named on a school in Selma, North Carolina? In this episode of JoCoYo, we trace the surprising story of Richard Berry Harrison, The Green Pastur…
-
13 min
Fast Car
October 1912: A man steps off a train in Clayton, North Carolina, carrying a heavy secret hidden beneath fifty pounds of camera gear. He is Lewis Hine, a former schoolteacher turne…
-
13 min
Footloose
In 1901, a barn dance in Selma sparked a full-blown war between a preacher, a deacon, and a fiddler. What started as a night of music and foot-stomping turned into a courthouse cas…
-
14 min
This Land Is Your Land
John Lawson knew the Tuscarora better than almost any Englishman alive. He ate at their tables, learned their names, wrote the book that advertised their land to English settlers —…
-
14 min
Won't Get Fooled Again
In 1771, Samuel Johnston handed the colonial governor the legal weapon he needed to crush a farmer uprising over taxation without representation. In 1776, Samuel Johnston led the m…
-
11 min
Say My Name
Imagine writing the menu, prepping the kitchen, and getting pulled out mid-service — and then the review says the food was unremarkable. That is, more or less, what history did to…
-
14 min
Running on Empty
It's 1779. You live in Smithfield, North Carolina — population: several dozen, ambitions: modest. Then one Thursday morning, the entire government of North Carolina comes riding do…
-
13 min
White Lightning
In 1792, a Johnston County man left his son a still in his will. It seemed straightforward enough. Two hundred years, ten federal indictments, that tradition is now open Thursday t…
-
12 min
Bad Blood (Ghost Town)
People who visit Hannah Creek Swamp report cold spots, feelings of dread, and the sound of a hanging. Johnston County has a lot of history, but this particular stretch of swamp has…
-
14 min
Pipeline
It could have been a great April Fool's joke if it weren't so...yikes!In May 2021, a Russian criminal gang broke into the largest fuel pipeline in America using one password. One f…
-
6 min
Save a Prayer
In March 1865, Sherman's army stood poised to burn Raleigh to the ground. What stopped it wasn't a general, a battle, or a treaty — it was a railroad stationmaster with no rank, no…
-
15 min
We're Not Gonna Take It
March 5th, 1943. Clayton, North Carolina. A federal government rationing office gets mobbed. Fistfights break out. Arrests are made.Over gasoline coupons.Now — before you judge the…
-
15 min
The Greatest
There's a Chuck Norris joke you've never heard: there was someone who could beat him. Repeatedly. That man grew up on a farm in Knightdale, trained under Bruce Lee, sold Chuck Norr…
-
9 min
People Get Ready
March 1849. Stone Creek, Johnston County. Two thousand acres of cotton. Forty-five enslaved people. And a family about to be orphaned by death — then torn apart by war.The Snead br…
-
12 min
Turn the Page
In 1893, the American economy collapsed — and Johnston County's cotton farmers watched decades of work evaporate at six cents a pound. What came next was a gamble: build a curing b…
-
8 min
Life in the Fast Lane (Suburbanization)
For 250 years, Johnston County was farmland. Then Interstate 40 arrived, and Raleigh suddenly felt like a neighbor. This is the story of how one county went from tobacco rows to ro…
-
13 min
Life is a (Green) Highway
Before it was I-95, before it was US 301, before Johnston County even had a name — there was a path. Deer made it first. The Tuscarora walked it for centuries. Colonial settlers us…
-
11 min
Man in the Mirror
He was a free Black saddler from Fayetteville, North Carolina. He had a wife, a newborn daughter, and a rare kind of stability. He gave it all up — and walked into Harpers Ferry wi…