THE SUITCASE: DISCOVERING ELY GREEN

THE SUITCASE is a new podcast about the life and autobiography of Ely Green, a biracial man forced to flee his home in the mountains of Tennessee, a witness to 75 years of American history. Writing and rewriting his life story, he returns home to publish an autobiography, an epic saga entitled Too Black, Too White, that takes us from the dust of Reconstruction to the rise of the modern Civil Rights era. On the surface his story is steeped in adventure and romance, but it belies the complex and dangerous experience of a man caught between worlds and finding a way to write about it. Digging deeper, questions arise about how his work was edited, how readers and critics accepted it, and why such a cinematic story was never made into a movie. THE SUITCASE investigates Green’s original manuscripts, talks with his descendants, and tracks down the places and people that shaped the many twists and turns of this biracial autobiography. Join us to discover Ely Green.