How An Ancient Ocean Shaped US History

From ancient seas to fertile soils, evolutionary biologist Shane Campbell-Staton explores the remarkable journey that transformed the Cretaceous coastline into the fertile “Black Belt” region of the American South. He joins oceanographer Craig McClain, professor Sven Beckert, and geneticist Steven Micheletti to learn how millions of years of deposits shaped the events of Black American history.

Human Footprint explores the impact of humans on the planet. Join Shane as he travels from farms to restaurants, from high-tech labs to street markets, and from forests to cities to uncover the consequences of our unique human history. Are you ready to explore our past, present, and future as a species?

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[BAD]

Another reason to love geology. It is not just the past ❤

[mariais]

This is a magnificent example of what happens when we engage in inter- and transdisciplinary studies: Geology, genetics, and history all bonded together by a powerful tool, GIS. BRAVO!

[qarljohnson]

This is exactly the type of show I look for from PBS Terra.
How ancient Earth/Terran processes impact our past, present & futures.
Thank you!

[nekkidnora]

That black belt is truly stunning. It's insane how lasting an effect that's had on literally all of the history of your country. I have to wonder what similarly seemingly minor landscape features have affected every other place on earth, it's mind-boggling.

[xela]

This episode was deeper than I was ready for

This episode was deeper than what the headline gave off. I needed MORE of this topic of DNA and historical graphs

[brendalong]

This information should be taught in all US schools. Thank you for researching and airing it.

[jonludovico]

That band is also called the I-95 line or the water fall line, because many rivers have water falls when they hit this rock change. This made ideal locals to set up cities where cargo had to be off loaded from barges, explaining why a major high way connects the points. The cities may be an additional reason for the demographic and politic map.

[EricHunt]

Growing up in the 80s in Alabama we were taught about the Black Belt and that it was an ancient coastline but none of the socio-economic and demographic connections and correlations were ever mentioned. This video really should be taught in every school in the USA today.

[jamesdeininger]

This is the best thing I’ve seen from PBS in a while. Great episode.
I didn’t know this channel existed. You guys should really cross-advertise with the other channels more often. SpaceTime, Eons, and Smart did an awesome collab a few years back.

[arkansasoutpost]

I love learning about these kinds of connections. "It's the same band over and over again." That's when the video went from interesting to fascinating for me. We know that old geology affects the modern world, but this was a particularly striking example.

[garbo]

This is why they continue to try to gerrymander these areas. Thank you for this. So fascinating.

[RobertSaxy]

Anyone else needed a moment to gather themselves after this one? What an amazing episode. I feel this one could have been at least twice in length with how deep and layered the subject matter turned out to be. I especially loved the allowance to sit with those uncomfortable moments in the conversations without blame or judgment

[FreeManFreeThought]

"The places we live, and even the soil under our feet, make a certain set of histories possible; but they don't make any one history inevitable" Powerful words from Shane Campbell-Staton.

[AllTheHappySquirrels]

This is the interdisciplinary story that explains why we need to teach social sciences _and_ STEM.

[SarasotaDance]

Human activity is shaped by the location of activity and the region's resources, the study of this correlation is called "geography". It is a fascinating subject of study.

[dorie]

Not only are these facts phenomenal, but you who studied it and put it together for us to watch are the real phenomenon to be proud of! Thank you!

[kats]

Jesus, that bit about "European paternal line, African maternal line" truly made me tear up and feel ill. It's disgusting that that kind of abuse (on top of the horror of enslavement) was common enough to leave a lasting genetic impact. Thank you for sharing this.

[StephenLewisful]

"I welcome diversity in my genome, I just don't like how it got there." This part of the video with the 23nMe guy was impactful. Everyone should understand what this science is uncovering.

[mrfriendlolo]

This is so interesting and like someone else said in these comments, a lot deeper than I thought it would be. As someone from Atlanta, it now makes sense how the Piedmont feels different compared to the rest of the South.