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IDKMYDE: Stolen Lands · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: On today's episode. If I didn't know, maybe you didn't either.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about stolen lands in your state. I'm talking
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: about entire black towns that were built from the ground up,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: not just neighborhoods. I mean whole towns stolen. I'll explain,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know. I
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know. First stop
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Orange Mound in Memphis, Tennessee. Now, whenever I hear Orange Mound,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: I immediately think of eight Ball and MJG. But Orange
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Mound was founded in eighteen eighty by a former slave
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: named Thomas McKinney. Like I said, Look, I'm tired of
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: working for y'all, so I'm buying this land, splitting it
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: up and selling it to black folks. And black folks
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: came through like bet. They turned Orange Mound into a
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: whole vibe. Businesses, schools, churches, They had everything. Fast forward,
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: and now Orange Mound is the home to legends like
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Isaac Hayes Chef you damn right, and you're boored, Project
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Pat Uh from three to six, And y'all know, Project
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Pat put Memphis on the map. Orange Mound was the
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: original black Wall Street of Memphis got it. So now
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: let's head down to Florida Eatonville. Eatonville is historic, y'all
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  Speaker 1: because it was the first incorporated all black town in America.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: It was founded in eighteen eighty seven. And let me
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: tell you, they weren't waiting for permission. These folks got
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: together like, look, we're gonna govern ourselves and be done
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: with this foolishness. Are you familiar with the writer Zora
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Neil Hurston, one of the greatest writers to ever do it.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: She's from Eatonville, and if you read her books, she
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: pretty much wrote stories that brought Eatonville's culture to life.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Eatonville was basically Wakanda before Marvel even thought about it. Now,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: if you slide over to Oklahoma, it's a spot called Bowley.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Bowley was founded in nineteen o three and it was
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: next level. They had black doctors, black lawyers. They even
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: had their own bank. And they ain't taking no jump.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: They told white folks, don't even think about robbing this bank.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: It's a story about some robbers pulling up and the
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: folks in Boli lit them up like it was the
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: fourth of July. There's maun Byu Mississippi that were founded
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty seven by Isaiah T. Montgomery. This was
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: another all black town built for us by us. They
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: had schools, hospitals, and businesses run entirely by black folks.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: The town was so successful that even civil rights leaders
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: like Medgar Evers came through to soak up some of
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: the energy. As has been the theme this season, this
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: is another example of black folks not just surviving but thriving,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: and the spirit of these towns lives on. Look at
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: hip hop. It's all about independence, ownership and telling your story.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: That's why Kendrick Lamar's line we gonna be all right,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: or Todd Tribbett because he said that in one of
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: his songs too. Nevertheless, that's the anthem. That's the same
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: energy that built Edenville, Orange Mound, Boldi and Mound by you.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Now here's where I leave that I didn't know maybe
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: you didn't either, Audience. With a little homework, I need
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: you to look up your oldest black town in your state.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Google it, and if you're from North Carolina, I already
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: got the answer for you. It's Lakeview, founded in eighteen
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: eighty seven. You're welcome, but don't get lazy, Still do
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: your research because I didn't know. Maybe you didn't neither.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: I didn't know.