Credit: Senior Producer

2020 PEABODY NOMINATION, RADIO/PODCAST

A 10-part podcast that investigates the lynching of a wealthy black farmer in Arkansas at the dawn of the Civil Rights movement. Available on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen.

In June 1954, three weeks after the momentous Supreme Court decision that overturned segregation, Isadore Banks was kidnapped, tortured, chained to a tree and set on fire. Banks’ murder terrorized the black community on the Arkansas Delta, foreshadowing a wave of white violence that would soon sweep the broader South. In his hometown of Marion, Banks’ killers worked quickly to steal his land and erase his name, while intimidating those who had begun standing against oppression.

Sixty-five years later, we investigate Banks’ murder, joining his family in their attempt to restore his legacy and solve the crime before the story goes cold forever. Combining the stylistic turns and documentary scope of S-Town and West Cork with the deep reporting of In the Dark, this podcast illuminates one man’s life and explores the system of white supremacy that surrounded him. What we find—in forgotten court records, fading FBI files, and testimony of elderly witnesses—will shake a small town from its half-century silence and reveal the divisions that lie at the heart of America’s unfinished business.

Created and reported by Taylor Hom and Neil Shea. Executive produced by Lynn Nottage, Tony Gerber, and Peter Clowney. Produced by Stephanie Kariuki and Laura Colleluori