We Are North Nashville, a multimedia storytelling project created to honor and preserve the wisdom and lived experiences of North Nashville elders, is releasing two bonus episodes that will serve as the final chapters of its powerful project. Launched in 2024 and led by artist, writer and community organizer M. Simone Boyd, We Are North Nashville has woven together oral histories, essays, portraits, and community gatherings.
At its heart, the project has always been about neighbors talking to neighbors — elders who lived through racialized terror and systemic destruction, and the new generations who continue to carry on and reimagine North Nashville’s spirit today. We Are North Nashville was born in the wake of Simone’s mother-in-law’s passing — a loss that sparked a realization about how easily stories can slip away, and how urgent it was to preserve them now. These bonus episodes carry that mission forward.
The first bonus episode, debuting September 19th, features children and grandchildren of North Nashville — from the 1980s to the present — reflecting on a lineage of poets, makers, and leaders nurtured from the community’s enduring love.
On September 26th, listeners will also hear longtime elders and newer residents consider what it means to show up for one another: reminding us, in today’s divisive times, that neighborliness still has the power to heal divides and create belonging.
These final episodes link past and present, celebrating North Nashville’s resilience and spirit across generations. The project is supported by Andrea Tudhope, an award-winning journalist who has spent her career amplifying community voices, and Steve Haruch, an acclaimed writer and editor whose work has appeared in outlets like The New York Times, The Atlantic, and NPR’s Code Switch. To mark the conclusion of the podcast, We Are North Nashville will also host a sunset celebration on October 21st, 2025, gathering community members to honor the stories shared and the elders who gave their time and wisdom. New episodes drop September 12th and September 19th on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Castbox, Amazon, Pocket Casts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
ABOUT THE SHOW
We Are North Nashville: The Podcast is about the lives of elders who call North Nashville home — in their own words. It’s about how they’ve kept joy alive in their neighborhood in spite of all the challenges it has faced. It’s about the history that newcomers to the city don’t always know, or even think to ask about. It’s about walking the streets and still seeing the ways people held this place together, even when city planners set about tearing it apart. This is a show about North Nashville. It’s also a story about the United States, where Black communities have been cut apart, razed, and deprived for generations in the name of “progress” that did not include them. Most importantly, We Are North Nashville is what happens when the people who live history get to tell it.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
We Are North Nashville is a two-year multimedia, interdisciplinary storytelling project, with a goal to gather, document, and share wisdom and sacred knowledge from North Nashville community elders to fortify us for the uncertain future ahead. This project will also redistribute wealth via resources raised for the project back to community members. Follow We Are North Nashville on Instagram and Facebook..
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