'Marked!' explores Georgia’s stories from the American Revolution

A new Georgia Public Broadcasting series is turning roadside history into something much bigger.

Marked! takes the brief text you might see on a historical marker and expands it into full stories, focusing on Georgia’s role in the American Revolution ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary.

The series includes stories of more well-known Georgia figures like Button Gwinnett, as well as lesser-known but influential people like Nancy Hart, a Revolutionary War-era spy, and William Jasper, a soldier who turned down a leadership role because he couldn’t read or write.

Host Maiya May says the show also highlights Georgia's Revolutionary War-era stories that often get overshadowed by better-known events such as the Boston Tea Party or the battles at Lexington and Concord.

She spoke with GPB's Pamela Kirkland about the series. 

And you can watch Marked! now on GPB.org.

Transcript:

Pamela Kirkland: This is GPB, I'm Pamela Kirkland. If you've ever driven along a Georgia highway, you've probably passed one: those bronze historical markers tucked off on the side of the road. I know you've seen them, but what if those markers are just the beginning of the story? A brand new GPB series called Marked! zooms in on 12 of Georgia's more than 2,000 roadside markers to explore the people and the places that shaped the state during the Revolutionary era. It's hosted by Maiya May, who you may know from the PBS series Weathered, and Maiya joins me now. Welcome to Morning Edition. 

Maiya May: Thanks for having me. Yes, this is my first time in a GPB talk show studio. 

Pamela Kirkland: Oh, well, welcome. 

Maiya May: Yeah, this is really cool. But yeah, I've done work with PBS for quite a while now. Yes. And this is an exciting new series to work on. 

Pamela Kirkland: So when you pass a historical marker, you get maybe a paragraph of text, take it in and kind of move on. This series literally built an entire series around what those markers say. How did you do that? 

Maiya May: It was great to be able to like actually take a moment and actually learn more about the markers. And basically we just took 12 of the most interesting stories related to the Revolutionary period. And this season commemorates the ideals and the leaders and the moments that inspired the birth of our nation. Just makes sense because it aligns with America's 250th birthday. And so, you know, compiling the particular markers that we wanted to talk about really came down to what were the most interesting stories. And making the show was cool in a lot of ways. I learned a lot. It was a whirlwind in a lot of ways, but also refreshing as well, even though the history of our country is very complex and sometimes, some of these markers in the story surrounding the markers were very hard to talk about. But it was a great experience. And I think people are gonna get a lot from the show. 

Pamela Kirkland: Say more about how the series zooms in on that American Revolutionary era. As you said, it's the 250th anniversary of the United States, and so that's part of the reasoning behind this, but what was it like kind of revisiting and retelling those stories? 

Maiya May: Looking at the American Revolution from the lens of Georgia is not done as often, right? You think of Lexington and Concord, and you think of the crossing of the Delaware, Boston Tea Party. And there's also these stories of courage and bravery that come out of Georgia that I had no idea about that I think are really cool and I think people are really gonna enjoy learning more about these stories, especially if you're from Georgia. Because I feel like there's a certain pride that comes with being from Georgia.

Pamela Kirkland: I want to play a quick moment from the Button Gwinnett episode. He's a Georgia signer of the Declaration of Independence, namesake of Gwinnett County. Take a listen. 

Marked Clip: After the election of Treutlen, McIntosh goes before the Georgia Assembly, the Commons Assembly, and puts Gwinnett on notice. McIntosh calls Gwinnett a lying rascal and a scoundrel. I mean, that is attached to his integrity and his honor as a man. 

Maiya May: Today, you might call this putting someone on blast. So Button challenges McIntosh to a duel: a "two guys, two guns, and one doesn't come out alive" kind of duel.

Pamela Kirkland:  I love that you come away learning something, but it doesn't feel like a Ken Burns documentary necessarily when you're talking about the Revolutionary era. 

Maiya May: Yeah, I think that was a big part of what we wanted to do with this show. We love Ken Burns here, he's great. But we didn't want this to be just a documentary series that the dads will want to watch. We wanted to be very intentional about making this show digestible, putting these stories in more kind of bite-sized, quick pieces. And adding animation, too. I think the element of animation is important, especially for a history series. And we wanted to be very intentional and use that as inspiration for this show. So that was a big part of just making the show and trying to keep it more engaging for not only the dads of the world that love Ken Burns, but also the millennials of the word that are victim of the doomscroll and our attention spans have been — have been hindered by social media. I think it does a really good job of that. And I'm excited for people to see it. 

Pamela Kirkland: Do you have a favorite story? 

Maiya May: I have a lot of favorite stories. We talk a lot about these individual characters that are kind of kooky, mythological in a lot of ways, that are prevalent in Georgia folklore. Like Nancy Hart. She's a mother, she's a spy, she's vigilante for the patriot cause and her claim to fame is this, like, sly capture of British soldiers that arrived at her cabin. Some of the stories really get into the depths and they're like microcosms, again, of what the American Dream was. There was this story of the the town of New Ebenezer, and the founders who created the settlement were religious refugees from modern-day Austria, who were basically seeking a new beginning. We did a story on William Jasper, who did a lot, not only in the state of Georgia, but died for that cause. He had the opportunity to be a leader in the military and he turned it down because it's, like, "I can't read or write. I don't want to put that burden on the other soldiers." Those are the episodes that kind of stick out to me that really represent what the American Revolution was and how Georgia contributed to the revolution. 

Pamela Kirkland:  I'm excited to spend time with more of these episodes. So, for someone after they watch an episode, what do you hope happens the next time they pass one of those historical markers on the side of the road?

Maiya May:  Man, I hope people read them. I think there's a lot — I think there's a lot to learn about thinking about the past and that's what these markers do. They highlight the the history that created our state and so I do hope that people will stop and read those markers more often after watching our show and I just hope they like the show. 

Pamela Kirkland: Maiya May is the host of Marked!, a new GPB series. Thank you so much for speaking with me in the studio. 

Maiya May: Thank you for having me. This is great.