When we travel to North Carolina with Satterfield to meet cultural preservationist Gabrielle Etienne and become enamored of her community garden and commitment to both food accessibility and intergenerational connection, we’re told that the government is coming for not only her farm, but her family’s homes, under the guise of “eminent domain.” (Their properties stand where a proposed highway expansion is to take place.)
When we explore the world of the Black rodeo in Texas, we learn not just how erased they’ve been from popular culture, but that the word “cowboy” itself has ties to slavery.
Across its four hours, High on the Hog is full of moments like these, pieces of past and present that fill in an American history that we all ought to know, but don’t. (Wait until you hear about the origins of catering. It’ll blow your mind, but also make perfect sense.) And while it’s a shame that, in the year 2021, a Netflix docuseries is where most people will learn these things for the first time, there’s some solace to be taken in the tender and thoughtful way in which these stories are finally being told.