School Sagas
The SCHOOL SAGAS narrative podcast traces racial and class discord at the schoolhouse — where we cheer and learn together, where the gap between textbook “equality” and real world implementation is on display.
The memories of interviewees, ranging in age from seventeen to seventy, help measure what changes over generations and what heritage lessons continue to be instilled.
Our Season One
Season One is set in Caddo Parish, Louisiana where the last Confederate flag was lowered signifying the South’s surrender after the Civil War.
With a majority Black population but an ultra-conservative business community, Caddo schools remained primarily segregated until the spring of 1970—fifteen years after Brown v Board of Education declared separate-but-equal facilities unconstitutional.
Episode 1 – The Rebel in Us All
In Episode One, The Rebel in Us All, Black students were transferred in 1970 from the newer, larger Herndon High (named for the Black philanthropist who bequeathed money for “Negro education”) to North Caddo High, Home of the Rebels. It was . . . awkward.
Our Partners
Listen to SAGAS broadcasts on the NPR stations in the Red River Radio system serving the Ark-La-Tex where Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas meet.
The National Endowment for the Humanities and the Bishop Blue Foundation: exploring the human endeavor!
The SCHOOL SAGAS project is being supported
in part by an African American Civil Rights grant
administered by the National Park Service, Department of the Interior
The views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed on this website do not necessarily represent those of its funders.