Lee Hawkins

Lee Hawkins unpacks his family history and upbringing in What Happened In Alabama?, a podcast to end the cycles of trauma for Lee, his family, and Black America. Hawkins Family (L-R, Back row: Tiffany Hawkins, Tammy Hawkins, Lee Hawkins, Jr. Front row: Lee Hawkins, Sr. and Roberta Hawkins) What Happened in Alabama? is an audio series produced by Minnesota Public Radio’s APM Studios, born out of personal experiences of intergenerational trauma, and the impacts of Jim Crow that stretch from the South to communities in Minnesota. Told through the family history of award-winning journalist Lee Hawkins, Jr., he shares the rarely discussed stories of his father, Lee Hawkins, Sr., who left Alabama for Minnesota’s Rondo community in 1961 at the age of 12, shortly after his mother died from kidney failure exacerbated by a lack of health care for Black people. For years, Lee Hawkins, Sr. was plagued by nightmares, and when asked why he would cry out at night, he told Lee, “Alabama, son. Alabama.” Through interviews with experts, family members and genealogical research,