America is easily the most religious country among the wealthy western democracies. In almost every other nation, greater wealth and educational levels correlate with a drop-off in levels of religiosity. The USA remains a conspicuous outlier in this regard. Why? Episode 18 of Before We Were White - "New, Improved, and Super-Sanctified, Part 1" is o…

How did a musical instrument which started off hundreds of years ago in Africa end-up becoming a symbol of "white" American country music? Was this a case of simple cultural appropriation, or is there another story waiting to be told? When it comes to American history, nothing is ever as black and white as people think...…

Part Two of "Pre-Deliverance" continues our exploration of some of the forgotten roots of American culture and ethnicity. In this episode, we get closer to understanding the origins of "Hillbilly Jews".By Brian Halpin - Before We Were White

Play a game of word association with the average American. Say "banjo". Chances are, a great many would reply with words like "hillbilly" or "redneck". Some might venture to mention bluegrass music. How did a musical instrument which started off hundreds of years ago in Africa end-up becoming a symbol of "white" American music culture? And what if …

In Part 1 of "Black Paddywhackery", we learned about the origins of the Irish people, and asked why so many Americans self-identify as "Black Irish", believing themselves descended from survivors of the Spanish Armada which wrecked off the west coast of Ireland. Having shown the flaws in this folk history, in Part 2 of "Black Paddywhackery" we expl…

A curious number of Southern Appalachians like to refer to themselves or extended family members as being "Black Irish". There are Facebook discussion groups catering to Appalachian Americans (with tens of thousands of members), and almost weekly an "expert" pops up assuring other members that the "Black Irish" are a thing, and that thing is usuall…

The eastern half of the continental USA is dotted with places inaccurately described as "tri-racial isolate communities". One of the largest such population groups can be found spread over Eastern Kentucky, the western parts of Virginia, East Tennessee, and West Virginia. Widely known as "Melungeons", few Americans have been the subject of such int…

The eastern half of the continental USA is dotted with places often described as "tri-racial isolate communities". One of the largest such population groups can be found spread over Eastern Kentucky, the western parts of Virginia, East Tennessee, and West Virginia. Widely known as "Melungeons", few Americans have been the subject of such intense sc…

The eastern half of the continental USA is dotted with places often described as "tri-racial isolate communities". One of the largest such population groups can be found spread over Eastern Kentucky, the western parts of Virginia, East Tennessee, and West Virginia. Widely known as "Melungeons", few Americans have been the subject of such intense sc…

Do the mass media and film industry reflect popular culture, or create it? Where do we get our shared history, our national story, our traditions and identity? Follow us as we explore the origins of Christmas in America, while attempting to discover what connects Hollywood, Abraham Lincoln, and, um, Lebanon?…

Appalachia has no shortage of murder ballads and murder tales. And Appalachia certainly has no shortage of folklore dealing with "haints" and witches. But sometimes all of it becomes so entangled that separating folklore from fact is almost impossible. Why are so many Appalachian "witches" buried under strange "tent graves"? Did the old-time commun…

Josie and Celia both ran away from home as teenagers - one before the age of 15. Between them, these girls would travel thousands of miles to meet their similar destinies. Both would end up working as underage "sporting girls" on the 19th century American frontier, and both would become consort to a man still celebrated today in American film and f…

It is often said that we live in "post-truth" times, as if misinformation and disinformation are an innovation of the internet age. The people who bend reality to fit ideology have been around for decades - for centuries - and they play the long game. One of the most popular and long-running TV series in US history premiered in 1974. Little House o…

Announcing the first of our new "bitesized" episodes, which we hope to release regularly between our "deep dive" episodes. ***** On 4 April 2015, an unarmed man was unlawfully shot dead on the streets of Charleston, South Carolina by a police officer. The local chief of police would be called to testify in the subsequent murder trial, amid national…

November 1620. Aboard a freezing ship anchored off Cape Cod, Massachusetts... A mutual cooperation agreement is signed by a group of men representing 101 passengers who had survived a perilous north Atlantic crossing, hoping to found a colony in the "New World". This agreement would be important, because some of these passengers were members of a r…

Between the founding of Jamestown in 1607, and the end of the Anglo-Powhatan Wars in 1644, there were a mere eight years of relative peace between the rightful inhabitants of Tsenacomoco and English colonisers. Those few years of peace were largely the result of one marriage between two people from utterly different worlds. The descendants of Pocah…

A middle-aged artist named John White climbed out of a rowboat onto a beach near Roanoke in America in 1590, searching for his missing daughter and grandchildren. His paintings from that time and place have survived. But did his family survive as well?By Brian Halpin - Before We Were White

The sea can be pitiless. In 1477, a small ocean-going craft was found washed ashore in County Galway, Ireland, with the dead bodies of a man and a woman still lashed to it. Of the innumerable maritime mishaps in history, none would have a greater lasting impact on the course of world events.By Brian Halpin - Before We Were White

Before We Were White main theme, featuring Dave McLoughlin of County Sligo, Ireland on bouzouki. Theme based on the old Irish traditional Molly McAlpine, composed by famed Sligo harpist Thomas Connellan (1640 - 1698).By Brian Halpin - Before We Were White

"Before We Were White" podcast launches Thursday, 1 Oct 2020By Brian Halpin - Before We Were White