The Debt: What Tennessee owes its HBCU (Call-in)

What happens when government funding is withheld from a public university that’s served generations of Black Tennesseans? And what could be possible if that debt were finally paid?Today's This is Nashville call-in episode is a companion to the one-hour radio special from WPLN News and the Tennessee Lookout. Listen now or though the WPLN podcast feed.From Nashville Public Radio and the Tennessee Lookout, The Debt traces Tennessee State University’s decades-long fight for fair funding — through an overlooked Civil Rights lawsuit, a historic merger with a predominantly white university, a dramatic student hunger strike, and a lawmaker who discovered his father’s old research on underfunding.This episode was produced by Camellia Burris.Guests: Dr. Learotha “Dr. Lee” Williams, Jr., Scholar of African-American Civil War and Reconstruction, and Public History at Tennessee State University Dr. George Pruitt, retired university administrator; former president, TESU; former vice-president of student affairs at TSU; author, From Protest to President Camellia Burris, Education reporter, WPLN Emily Siner, Contributing reporter, WPLN