‘It’s UATL’: Black history you didn’t get in school
One thing about Black History Month that’ll always be true: There are more stories to be told than days available to tell them.
For the past 11 years, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution — led by senior reporter Ernie Suggs — has worked across our newsroom to deliver original reporting during Black History Month.
This week, Suggs spoke to the hosts about what goes into producing an annual series that publishes at least one new story every day of Black History Month.
“For a city like Atlanta that calls itself ‘the Black mecca’ — which also claims to be the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement — I think it’s incumbent upon an organization like The Atlanta Journal-Constitution to continue to try to tell that story,” Suggs said.
This week’s episode
In addition to our Black History Month discussion, this week’s episode takes listeners inside the AJC’s photo archives for a story from Suggs and host Nedra Rhone. The piece, “Atlanta in Black and white: A century of becoming,” is built around an effort from longtime AJC archivist Sandi West, who combed through thousands of photographs searching for rare and overlooked images.
Rhone explains that her muse came from seeing how publications such as Ebony and Jet offered nuanced snapshots of Black life in America.
“I wondered, what did a newspaper, a mainstream newspaper cover, what did that look like in 1930,” she asks. “What were we taking pictures of in the Black community?”
The hosts also talk about the loss of Rev. Jesse Jackson, Douglasville’s Elana Meyers Taylor nabbing a gold medal at the Winter Olympics and J. Cole’s recent adventures in ATL.
Lastly, is Tyra Banks a villain or misunderstood? Hosts Najja Parker and DeAsia Paige talk about the eye-opening moments from the Netflix docuseries “Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model.”
Related reads from UATL and AJC
Follow the stories that inspired this week’s episode.
- Black history at 100: Five years that changed Atlanta
- Atlanta in Black and white: A century of becoming
- In Atlanta, Jesse Jackson found a home and a stage
- Elana Meyers Taylor’s Olympic triumph lifts us all
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About the Author
Gavin Godfrey is an editor and Team Lead for UATL, the AJC's Black culture franchise. He's an award-winning writer and editor from Atlanta who's covered everything from OutKast to the water boys. Before joining the AJC, Gavin worked for Capital B Atlanta, CNN, and Creative Loafing.