Over eight episodes, Holy Week explores the uprisings that adopted the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, and the way these seven days in America diverted the course of a social revolution.
Today, The Atlantic launched a trailer asserting Holy Week, a brand new narrative podcast hosted and reported by senior editor Vann R. Newkirk II. All episodes of the podcast shall be obtainable on March 14; hearken to the trailer and subscribe now right here. Holy Week marks a return to narrative podcasts for The Atlantic following its Peabody-winning Floodlines in 2020, which was additionally hosted by Newkirk and was extensively hailed as one of many yr’s greatest podcasts.
Holy Week tells the story of the speedy aftermath of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination on April 4, 1968––a second that’s usually seen as a conclusion to a robust period of civil rights in America. But what adopted his killing was one of the crucial fiery, disruptive, and revolutionary weeks in American historical past—one which has been practically forgotten. In a variety of unique interviews, Holy Week highlights the tales of the activists who turned heartbreak into motion, the households scorched by chaos, and the politicians who labored to include the grief felt throughout America. The podcast recounts how these seven days diverted the course of a social revolution and set the stage for contemporary clashes over voting rights, police brutality, redlining, essential race concept, and racism in America.
Newkirk’s reporting for The Atlantic exposes untold or neglected components of American historical past that assist clarify the systemic situations that exist at this time. He has reported on the fantasy of voter fraud and the extraordinary political efforts to show that it’s actual and widespread; how the catastrophic final result of the levee breaches in New Orleans was a failure of presidency, media, and society; and the racist insurance policies and unlawful pressures that resulted in Black farmers within the Delta proudly owning nearly nothing of the bounty beneath their ft. In 2018, he was a co-editor of KING, a particular commemorative situation of the journal analyzing Dr. King’s life and work, and the unsteady progress towards his objectives. Newkirk’s reporting additionally helped form the function documentary Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power, launched on Peacock this month, which tells the story of the native motion and younger Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee organizers within the Sixties who fought for voting rights and for Black energy.
Holy Week begins what shall be a major yr for The Atlantic in audio, with a number of strategic initiatives set to launch within the coming months. Audio is led by Claudine Ebeid as govt producer, alongside managing editor Andrea Valdez. Ebeid joined The Atlantic from The New York Times and, earlier than that, NPR. The Holy Week crew consists of Jocelyn Frank and Ethan Brooks, with sound design by David Herman. New additions to the audio crew previously yr embody senior producer Theo Balcomb and engineer Rob Smierciak, who be a part of producer Rebecca Rashid, producer Kevin Townsend, and senior producer A.C. Valdez.
Press Contacts:
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