Laura Milkins
In Search of the Great America Podcast
2020-2021
In Search of the Great America is a weekly podcast asking people to define their Great America: past, present and future. The guests come from a broad spectrum of backgrounds and experiences in 100 cities and towns. The plan is to get to know this country through these communities and to discover what makes each place special.
Using the history of each town as a way to connect with guests in the community, The Resident historian, Tom Prezelski, researches the history of each location, searching for a time in history when that city or town was considered “great” and who was and was not included in that great America. This could be an exciting economic boom time, a calm, peaceful moment in its history or a time when the town came together to solve a problem. The guests are selected by community organization with a relationship to that history.
Each interview is 12-15 minutes and the guest discusses their vision of a Great America. These interviews uncover the diversity, complexity, and community connections that already make us great.
So… What’s your Great America?
To listen to all the episodes, click on the link below:
Episode 1: Clottee Hammons describes a Great America where there is the "cultivation of what it means to be a neighbor." She is the founder and creative director of Emancipation Arts in Phoenix, which has the mission to use the arts to raise the profile of black artists in the community in Arizona. And to use the arts to create collaborations between egalitarian arts and community. As a black woman, there was no Great America in the past, but she finds promise in the present that can grow into a better future.