Coming up, on the road to now.

But what's going on most recently, I think in the United States, very clearly in the South, is a urban rural split.

The cities are winning.

I'm telling your listeners that if you want to understand what's going on now, you need to understand this history.

Because the arguments that people are having today are informed by that history.

Charlotte basically has never quit reinventing.

We've gone from fields to factories to finance. We've gone from slavery to segregation to civil

rights. I'm Ben Sawyer. And I'm Bob Crawford. And this is The Road to Now. We are back at George

Mason University for another set of interviews. But today we are bringing you a fantastic interview.

We just did Tuesday, actually,

when we were both in Charlotte, North Carolina, an interview with a great guy named Thomas Hanchett,

who is a former curator and director at the Levine Museum of the New South in Charlotte, and is

currently a community researcher. And he shared with us his expertise on the city urban history the

New South, the relationship between the state and the city which is a very pressing issue

now with HB2. We spoke about these things in historical context and Tom was fantastic.

He was incredible and first let me say thank George Mason for once again hosting us.

This is our second home. It's beginning to feel like and they keep their grass well,

well cut, which is really, you'll hear that in a future episode. But it was a great interview

with Tom and what really stuck out for me was the urban rural split

and the history of the urban rural split

that we're seeing, I think being played out

in the HB2 debate in North Carolina.

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