NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A project to tell the history of North Nashville through the people who lived it publishes its first podcast episode on Thursday. It is called "We Are North Nashville."
Writer, artist, and community organizer M. Simone Boyd leads the project. She said the elders told stories about what North Nashville was like before I-40 was built through the neighborhood, which displaced people and thriving businesses.
"Before the interstate was here, there were families who lived here, but this interstate did a lot of harm to our community," said Boyd. "Yet and still, there were people who remained and have held this community with their love and their care."
Rev. Dr. Margreat Smithson of Watson Grove Baptist Church is one of those elders who watched the neighborhood change.
"People did not realize they were losing their homes until they got a notice, and it was a public domain," said Smithson. "They say it takes a village to raise a child. That's what our neighborhoods were. Little villages. We took care of one another. Our mothers, our grandmothers, took care of each other."
Boyd said it was important to her to document their experiences so that their history is not forgotten amid the busy interstate and new homes being built throughout the neighborhood.
"It's important to get wisdom from them while they're still here," said Boyd. "It's important to add their voices and their story to public memory."
Thursday, people can celebrate the launch of the We Are North Nashville podcast at the Frist Art Museum. If you come early, tickets to the event come with free gallery admission.
Then the Frist Auditorium will open doors at 6 p.m., and people can enjoy light snacks ahead of the event officially getting started at 6:30. Malone Studios Dance Academy will perform, and then you can learn more about what is in store for the podcast and about how M. Simone Boyd and her We Are North Nashville project aims to honor the elders.
"It is fantastic to know that my children, my grandchildren, my great-grand children, will be able to go and find out what happened during these times how grandmother lived," said Rev. Dr. Smithson.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at brianna.hamblin@newschannel5.com.
Forrest Sanders recently introduced us to a Nashville hero named Eudora Boxley. She was the first black woman to have a cooking show on TV in Nashville. Her grandson was precious describing Eudora and how she raised him and how proud he and the family were of her impact not only on WLAC but on a city during the turbulent Civil Rights Era. A woman who did extraordinary things at a time when history did not expect her to.
-Amy Watson
