Fenly Foxen

The history of Juneteenth goes like this: President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. But two years later, on June 19, 1865, slaves in Texas finally got the news that they were free. Now Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. However, many people have never heard of the holiday or even celebrate it. Historian and storyteller Lillian Grant Baptiste joined us from Savannah to give the history of Juneteenth and why people should celebrate the holiday.

On Second Thought introduces a new series of conversations with influential Georgians with Tony Award-winning director Kenny Leon. Long before he made it to Broadway and the silver screen, Leon made a deep impression on Atlanta's arts and culture scene. As the first African-American artistic director at the Alliance Theatre, Leon staged premieres of Pearl Cleage's "Blues for an Alabama Sky" and Elton John and Tim Rice's musical "Aida." In 2002, he founded Kenny Leon's True Colors Theatre Company in Atlanta, which is still active today. 

The United Methodist Children’s Home reports there are more than 15,000 children in Georgia's foster care system — and that number is growing. But because of the increased need, UMCH has to say turn away children in need at least 40 times a week, so it reached out to churches for help. That's how Brett Hillesheim started fostering children. Hillesheim has fostered 18 kids within the past few years, and he now works with UMCH. 

Flannery O’Connor is regarded by many as Georgia’s greatest fiction writer. Her books are written with dark humor, eccentric characters, and it’s all set in a devout Catholic faith. All of which made her a leading voice in southern gothic literature.

According the United States Census Bureau, there are nearly 50,000 homeless veterans in America. In order to combat these issues with housing, popular TV shows like “Tiny House Hunters”are looking to create tiny homes as a solution.

The Chatham Savannah Authority for Homeless has organized the “Tiny Home Project” in order to fight this growing problem.

Listener Nury Castillo-Crawford of Gwinnett County got in touch with On Second Thought after hearing a interview on mental health issues within immigrant communities. The guest on the show was an immigrant shielded from immigration through the federal DACA program. Nury wrote a book this year about her own experiences coming to this country as a young child from Peru. The children's book is called "3,585 Miles to be an American Girl".

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta says suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States, and according to a new report, the number of people who take their own lives has risen substantially since 1999. Per the report, nearly 45,000 Americans age 10 or older took their own lives in 2016. Georgia alone saw a 16 percent increase in suicides from 1999-2016. Emory University professor Nadine Kaslow and Doreen Marshall of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention say more needs to be done to prevent these tragedies.

Morehouse College in Atlanta is one of the nation’s most renowned and distinguished historically black colleges. Tiago Rachelson, who is white, is one of them.

Suicide is a leading cause of death in Georgia and has touched the lives of many people in the state. Schrence Echols of Fairburn, Georgia, lost her son Marquise Tolbert in 2012, when Tolbert took his own life.

Every month approximately 374 girls are sexually exploited in Georgia. On average, they are 12-14 years old. Last month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Atlanta office collaborated with nearly 40 local law enforcement agencies to rescue 148 missing children who had become victims of human trafficking. Some were as young as three years old.To learn more about Operation Safe Summer, we spoke with FBI agent Nathan Whiteman, who spearheaded the operation.

The Federal Reserve's roots trace back to Georgia’s Jekyll Island. It all started in November 1910, when  six men secretly convened at the Jekyll Island Club to reform the country's banking system. The participants did not admit that the meeting happened until the 1930s.

Thirty-seven million Americans live in poverty today. According to the National Women's Law Center, more than half of them are women. Race, health and gender discrimination contribute to this disparity, but to learn about the economic history that led us to where we are today, we spoke with Diana Pearce and George Robb.

Jason Reynolds didn't get through a whole book until he was 17. He's now a bestselling author, and he's trying to change the way young people feel about reading.

Jason Reynolds didn't get through a whole book until he was 17. He's now a bestselling author, and he's trying to change the way young people feel about reading. Inspired by hip-hop, Reynolds now writes books to get young people to excited about reading. He has various awards to his name, including an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work for Youth/Teen and a National Book Award finalist designation for his book "Ghost."

The Georgia 2018 legislative session recently legalized the use of cannabis oil for treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD affects about 31 million people in the United States. The disorder is often associated with veterans, but another group of heroes — first responders — also struggle with the disorder. According to one survey, one in 15 paramedics and EMTs has attempted suicide. Heather Harp, a paramedic in Atlanta, says she and her colleagues need more support in their battle against PTSD. 

Graduation Achievement Charter High School was founded in 2012 to help at-risk students earn their diplomas. But after six years of poor performance, Georgia’s first virtual charter high school — and only “alternative”  school within the state charter system — is shutting down. The last senior class graduates later this month. To learn more about the future of virtual and alternative charter schools in Georgia, we spoke with Atlanta Journal-Constitution education reporter Vanessa McCray.

It’s been nearly 30 years since charter schools were proposed as an alternative to public schools. Minnesota passed the country’s first charter school law in the early 1990s. Since then, charter schools have spread across the U.S. In Georgia, there were more than 86,000 students enrolled in public charter schools for the 2017-18 school year, according to the Georgia Charter Schools Association.

The 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education made segregation of America’s public schools illegal. But decades before Thurgood Marshall argued for Linda Brown's right to attend the all-white school closest to her house in Topeka, Kansas, lawsuits brought by little girls and young women chipped away at the foundations of segregated education. New research finds their grassroots efforts paved the way for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's (NAACP) legal battle to integrate schools nationally.

“The Predator” is slashing its way back into theaters this fall. Arnold Schwarzenegger won’t be making a special appearance, but Shane Black, a supporting character from the 1987 movie is now the director. 

We sat down with the man under "The Predator" mask, Georgia-native Brian Prince.

Well-known author, David Sedaris, is  a pioneer, who was publicly recognized in 1992 when National Public Radio broadcast his essay "SantaLand Diaries".  Ten books later, he’s a best-selling author who draws thousands of fans to his public readings.