T'Keyah Thomas
Announcer/ProducerT’Keyah Thomas is a spoken word poet and community organizer based in Columbia, MO. A lover of all things art, Black History and Afrofuturism, TK has been a witness to, and assisted in the creation and operations of several local arts programs and cultural events over the years, including the OneMic Poetry Collective, Louder than a Bomb (Mid-MO chapter) and Soul Sessions COMO. In her role as announcer and producer for KBIA, you’re likely to catch TK on-air during the day with a Dilla beat behind her, or moderating a panel on art and local history. She’s a recipient of COMO Magazine’s 20 Under 40 Award (class of 2022) and also hosts a Saturday afternoon slot on Columbia’s community radio station, KOPN, where she and her co-hosts feature the latest and the legends in hip hop, jazz and R&B.
T'Keyah grew up a military brat, so she was used to moving around quite a bit. But since coming here in 2010, TK has found herself connecting to Columbia in ways she never experienced before. It definitely feels like a home.
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Having grown up in Columbia, Second Missionary Baptist Church Deacon Larry Monroe has seen how the city has changed over the years. He remembers the breaking down of segregation, urban renewal, and the social barriers that still remained while attending Douglass High School.
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Barbra Horrell is a life-long Columbian who worked 45 years for MU and is an advocate for African-American history and preservation with the Sharp End Heritage Committee. Annelle Whitt spent more than two decades as an insurance executive, and now runs the Columbia Public Schools district’s MAC scholars program.
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If you’re looking at the news right now, you could be forgiven for thinking that you’ve maybe entered another dimension. Things can seem more than…
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Rev. David Ballenger grew up in Columbia during the 1950s and 60s. He grew up in an African-American community in Columbia that has grown much larger than when he was a child, yet many neighborhood landmarks, family homes and businesses in the Sharp End district and on Third Street were destroyed through urban renewal.
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Reverend Clyde Ruffin has served the Columbia community wearing many hats – as a councilmember for the Columbia's First Ward council district, as a professor in MU’s Theatre department, and currently as the pastor of Columbia’s historic Second Missionary Baptist Church.
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David Ballenger has been the pastor at Log Providence Baptist Church in Columbia since 1984. He’s a familiar face in the city – he grew up in Columbia, went through its public schools, and played on its football teams.
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In this conversation for KBIA’s “You Don’t Say” series about the black experience in Columbia – Sharp End Heritage Committee chair James Whitt speaks with Second Baptist Church deacon Larry Monroe. They talked about Monroe's memories of the sights and sounds of the historic Sharp End business district.
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Barbra Horrell is a life-long Columbian who graduated in 1959, with the last segregated class at Douglass High School. She went on to become the first black student from Columbia to get a full ride in scholarships to MU, and then spent 45 years with the university before retiring. Horrell is a key advocate for historic preseration and education in Columbia with the Sharp End Heritage Committee.
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KBIA's conversation series "You Don't Say" explores the black experience in Columbia, then and now.