We Are North Nashville

Episode Eight [Bonus]: Reclaiming

What happens when a neighborhood is torn in half? In the 1960s, the state of Tennessee sent an interstate straight through the heart of North Nashville, the city's predominantly Black neighborhood, a thriving, self-contained community with an incredible legacy. Homes were demolished, residential blocks ripped up, streets bulldozed, and hundreds of businesses choked off from their customers — all in the name of progress. June 29 marks 70 years since the passage of the Federal-Aid Highway Act that made this possible. The original route had I-40 going through a majority white neighborhood. That's when the state intervened. North Nashville residents fought against it, but the state won. Those wounds are not fully healed, and in some corners, still not even acknowledged. But the elders of this community who managed to stay despite the devastation and all that followed, are still here and reclaiming their space. An embodiment of the resilience and connectedness that the interstate threatened to eliminate. Hosted by M. Simone Boyd and Andrea Tudhope Produced, mixed and edited by Andrea Tudhope Original music by S-Wrap Additional production by Steve Haruch

Episode Seven [Bonus]: Good Neighbors

When Carlos Partee was growing up in North Nashville, this neighborhood was his whole world. Everyone was here: parents, grandparents, uncles, cousins. And even neighbors who weren't blood relations were like kin. People knew each other. Jerome Moore started a business with his father on Buchanan, a historic street that has seen revitalization in recent years. As entrepreneurs themselves, Carlos and Jerome see a lot of positive change in the form of new businesses in the area. But not all of the change has been good. And as the Council of Elders have shared, they're not opposed to change — just do it the right way. At a gathering on Buchanan, a group of new neighbors talked about what that might look like, and took home a few words of wisdom from the elders. Hosted by M. Simone Boyd and Andrea Tudhope Produced, mixed and edited by Andrea Tudhope Original music by S-Wrap Additional production by Steve Haruch

Episode Six [Bonus]: A New Generation

Before he was an acclaimed poet and professor, Major Jackson was a kid from Philly who spent his summers in North Nashville — where his interest in language and storytelling first sparked. It’s a place that has cultivated wisdom, legacy and love for generations. A place that eventually drew Major back — to teach, but also to reconnect. In this episode, descendants of North Nashville OGs reflect on the kind of community care that’s sustained across generations, despite the lingering effects of time and systemic destruction. Through it all, North Nashville has produced movers and shakers. Its institutions, from Fisk University to the Eighteenth Avenue Family Enrichment Center, have served as beacons to the world. But most importantly, it is still a place that takes care of its own. Hosted by M. Simone Boyd and Andrea Tudhope Produced, mixed and edited by Andrea Tudhope Original music by S-Wrap Additional production by Steve Haruch

Episode Five: Belonging

John Streator Jr. was one of two African American photographers in Nashville back in the 1950s and ’60s. He was well known in the community, because he was everywhere — social clubs, sit-ins, food banks. Today, his daughter, Dr. Patricia Streator Jackson, still lives in the home she grew up in. The interstate changed North Nashville forever, and after decades of distress and underinvestment, it's changing again. This time, more affluent newcomers are moving in, often with little or no knowledge of the history this place holds. The elders who have stayed here aren't against change. They just want it to happen the right way. And they want to be part of it. Hosted by M. Simone Boyd and Andrea Tudhope Produced, mixed and edited by Andrea Tudhope Original music by S-Wrap Additional production by Steve Haruch

Episode Four: Repair

Keeping North Nashville clean is important to Larry Turnley Jr., who owns a trash hauling business. It's about making a living, but it's also about pride in community. His father, Larry Sr. — known in the neighborhood as Fever — now works alongside him. For a long time, this didn’t seem like it’d ever be possible. After the tumult of the '60s and '70s, the destruction that made way for the interstate, and the hard times that followed, Fever found himself among those in the community struggling to make ends meet. He ended up incarcerated, and then, his son was sentenced to life in prison.  Hosted by M. Simone Boyd and Andrea Tudhope Produced, mixed and edited by Andrea Tudhope Original music by S-Wrap Additional production by Steve Haruch