Buried Truths

“Buried Truths” has been widely recognized for its deep, historical understanding, intensive research, and moving storytelling – winning the 2021 Silver Gavel Award for the third season of Buried Truths, a Peabody Award, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Journalism Award, Edward R. Murrow Award, and a Webby honoree.

NEW – Season 5 introduces listeners to Rev. Clarence Horatious Pickett, a youthful pastor whose gifts for writing and preaching were sought by congregations, fellow pastors and women. At the same time, he was beset by emotional turbulence, alcohol dependency and mental instability – none of which would justify what happened to him.  

We follow Rev. Pickett as he enters two notorious, medieval, racist institutions in Georgia in 1957: the Milledgeville state mental hospital, where doctors brought to work their own addictions, poor training and racist beliefs, and the county jail, where a white policeman beat, kicked and stomped him.  

Even more shocking was the physician’s response as he watched Rev. Pickett crying in pain.  

Previous Seasons of Buried Truths

Season 1 tells the story of Isaiah Nixon, a father of six who, in 1948, exercised his right to vote and paid with his life. Isaiah’s story provides insight into voter suppression, disenfranchisement, and much more.

Season 2 tells the story of A.C. Hall, a black teenager who was mistakenly identified as a gun thief in 1962, Macon, Georgia. Through A.C.’s story, host Hank Klibanoff examines police privilege, racial conditioning, community activism, and much more.

Season 3 investigates the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery, and reveals details about the case that are at once both disheartening and inspiring.

Season 4 focuses on a five-week period in 1958 in Dawson, Terrell County, Georgia, when local law enforcers engage in a reign of terror against the Black community. Jealous that James Brazier is using his income from three jobs to buy a 1958 Chevrolet Impala, the police badger, harass, jail him, abduct him from jail in the middle of night and beat him to death. Five weeks later, the same police confront Willie Countryman, kill him in his backyard, then plant a knife as a self-defense deception. But the racism of the police, listeners learn, is not passed down to future generations of their families, who are moved to apologize to the families of the victims. This season also features a powerful song written by Caroline Herring in tribute to James Brazier.  

Students in the Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases class who investigated the killing of Rev. Pickett in 2014, 2023 and 2024 and whose research contributed to Season 5 of the podcast, Buried Truths, “A Preacher, a Policeman and a Physician.”

Nitin Aradhya, Kozbi Bayne,Erika Burgess, Nicholas Cepero, Abigail Charak, Chloe Chen, Sarah Davis, Ellie Fivas, Clarke Harned, Isabel Hughes, Dylan Jagla, Jenn Ji, Eliza Jones, Eric Jones, Michael Krensavage, John Kuhr, Rachel Lee, Olivia Leon, Jaytrice Mackey, Tyler Martinez, Lola McGuire, Sasha Melamud, Ross Merlin, Hannah Nelson, Madi Olivier, Sophia Peyser, Arden Phoenix, Sophie Reiss, Leilani Robinson, Adelaide Rosene, Joey Seidman, Trisha Sengupta, Madeline Shapiro, Oli Turner, Sonam Vashi, Safa Wahidi, Chloe Wegrzynowicz-Garcia-Avila, Ted Wilson, Jason Yanowitz.

Thanks also to Jessica N. Hawkins, then a Columbus State University student, and Emily Norweg, PhD, for their research for Season 5.

The 86 students who have taken studied and investigated the James Brazier and Willie Countryman cases as part of the Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases class at Emory, 2012-2022

2012 – James Brazier
Simran Khosla, Jorge Menocal, Emily White, Kate Albers, Robin Ayers, Nelson Adams, Dylan Jackson, Mary Claire Kelly, Molly Lenowitz, Chelsea Rierson, Eva Zenilman, Jennifer Seibert, Youhee Choi, Ashley Brintle, Brea Daniels, Kayla Davis

2013 – James Brazier
Hannah Coleman, Alexandria Smith, Lucas Buyon, Jordan Friedman, Nathaniel Meyersohn, Avery Suber, Lauren Browning, Alison Chetkof, Ami Fields-Meyer, Emily Moore, Christa Nutor, Scott Schlafer, Sonam Vashi, Lily Weinberg, Rupsha Basu, Arianna Skibell, Erika Burgess, Dania De La Cruz, Kalysea Lovan, Taylor Madgett, Sanai Meles, Erica Sterling, Nicole VanderMeer, Lamon Cherry III

2019 – James Brazier
Deanna Altomara, Shannon Anderson, Jake Busch, Hannah Charak, Annie Cohen, Hayden Davis, Priyanka Desai, Amani Elkhatib, Jordan Flowers, Whitney Forbis, Cameron Katz, Sage Mason, Franklin Nossiter, Katie Pleiss, Kassie Sarkar, Lauren Taylor

2021 – James Brazier, Willie Countryman
Wittika Chaplet, Tanika Deuskar, Julia Fayer, Jake Furgele, Isaac Gittleman, Sheena Holt, Victoria Jordan, Ana Kilbourn, Philip Lee, Camilla Li, Sophia LiBrandi, Sarina McCabe, Olivia Milloway, Zoe Moskowitz, Xavier Stevens

2022 – James Brazier, Willie Countryman
Brammhi Balarajan, Julia Biniek, Hannah Book, Carly Colen, Madeline Gordon, Jake Green, Danielle Jacoby, Gabriella Lewis, Klaire Mason, Adisa Ozegovic, Ellie Purinton, Emma Rosenau, Sabrina Schoenborn, Chaya Tong, Kristopher Wallen