With the Kentucky Derby coming up on Saturday, May 2, we’re taking a deep dive this week into all things Southern — cuisine, music, culture, and more. Let’s break out the mint juleps and hats and travel down South from the comfort of your own newsletter.
Yours in media,
Elizabeth He, Visual Communications Editor
P.S. This Friday and Saturday are our annual Public Media Giving Days. Please show your appreciation and support for GBH by visiting this link. Thank you! ❤️
This is a web edition of GBH's The Deep Dive, a weekly newsletter bringing you the best GBH has to offer.
Horse Racing — Giddy Up!
Independent Lens: BACKSIDE: The Unseen Hands of Horse Racing
Immigrant grooms work year-round on the hidden “backside” of Churchill Downs. Rising before dawn, they care for some of the world’s most prized Kentucky Derby racehorses, revealing how race, labor, and class shape an elite American industry. Honor the resilience behind the spectacle.
Inside the Kentucky Derby
Learn the storied history, see the milliners in action, visit the backside morning workouts, and take a tour of Millionaire’s Row.
Hats Off to the Fashionable Forsytes
The Kentucky Derby began in 1875, right around the setting of MASTERPIECE’s The Forsytes. As time went on, fashions changed, but hats remained a horse race mainstay. Take a look at some of the best toppers from this season.
“Seabiscuit-itis”
In the late 1930s, as the Depression hovered persistently over the nation, Americans turned to one newsmaker with joyous devotion. His name was Seabiscuit. One sportswriter called the nation’s addiction “Seabiscuit-itis.” AMERICAN EXPERIENCE explores the popular athlete.
Under the Radar Book Club: Geraldine Brooks’ Horse
This story follows the twinned histories of top racing horse Lexington and the people who admired her. It is a thrilling narrative that stretches across centuries, set against a backdrop of racial turbulence, art history, and scientific inquiry. Listen to the tale.
ANTIQUES ROADSHOW Appraisal 1955 Willie Shoemaker Kentucky Derby Trophy
Ooo, so shiny! How much is this trophy worth? Watch to find out.
Stories of the South
Finding Your Roots: Southern Roots
Questlove, Dr. Phil, and Charlayne Hunter-Gault, three guests of disparate backgrounds dig into their Southern roots. Here’s how growing up in the South shaped them.
REEL SOUTH: Quilted Education
Karen Hinton Robinson quilts the Black history lessons absent from the Texas school curricula. See how her craft supplements education.
The Mind of a Chef: Southerners
Explore some of the unique regional cuisines in the South. Travel with your tastebuds.
By One Vote: Woman Suffrage in the South
In August of 1920 in Nashville, Tennessee, legislators cast the deciding vote to ratify the 19th Amendment, giving women in the U.S. the right to vote. Follow the events leading up to the turbulent, nail-biting showdown.
Southern Storytellers
Southern creators of literature, music, and film explore their deep ties with the South: Billy Bob Thornton reflects on a life of writing songs and screenplays, Adia Victoria celebrates music and marriage near Nashville, and more.
Recipe of the Week
Chocolate-Walnut “Derby” Bars
Bring this sweet New England take on Kentucky Derby Pie to your viewing party. Spice it up with a special secret ingredient!
Southern Terrain
- The Mississippi River stretches far beyond the Deep South. From the frozen north down through the nation’s agricultural heart and to the steamy Southern swamps, watch Rivers of Life to see the many faces of the Mississippi.
- How did the legacy of plantation slavery shape today’s environmental crises? Dr. Joy Banner traces the “plantation to pollution” through line – from sugarcane cultivation built on extractive enslaved labor to the modern fertilizer and pesticide industries that now pollute Black communities along Louisiana’s Mississippi River corridor, often called “Cancer Alley.”
- Can South Carolina’s salt marshes be saved? Many seafood dishes depend on this ecosystem that’s easy to overlook.
- Head to the idyllic Golden Isles to photograph St. Simons Island and Jekyll Island with View Finders. Chris and Paul meet with experts who talk about the history and ecology of the region.
- How did PFAS, the forever chemicals once used in popular stain-resistant carpets, end up in the water and environment in parts of Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina? FRONTLINE investigates what happened and the ongoing health impacts.
- Let’s go backpacking through the mountains, trails, and landscapes of West Virginia. Country roads, take me home!
Dive Into America 250
How Did Apples Become a Symbol of American Patriotism and Tradition?
Under the Radar explores the tasty history of the apple, from arriving on North America’s shores to a symbol of westward expansion, American tradition and patriotism.
Off Topic
- Tuppence Middleton shares advice for her character Frances from The Forsytes over a cup of tea in Tea with Tuppence.
- GBH News’ Craig LeMoult and Edgar B. Herwick III examine a 100-year-old edition of The Boston Post and talk about the news of the day on The Curiosity Desk.
- GBH News Rooted's Paris Alston and musician Rhiannon Giddens talk about the Black American impact on folk music. And that’s on folk!
