S04 E19 An Interview with Edward Ball author of "Slaves in the Family"

02/01/21 • 64 min

Award-winning author - as well as former journalist & lecturer - Edward Ball joined the show to talk about his compelling book "Slaves in the Family".We spent the hour talking about what brought him to write such an unvarnished and forthright family history book, his family's history as enslavers, and meeting some of the descendants of those his family enslaved. And how he came to meet African American cousins who were not only enslaved by his family - but are cousins via the same family connection. Edward also eloquently spoke about acts of restitution.The conversation also touched on the kind of writing discipline required to compose a non-fiction work of this nature...with some history thrown in for good measure.It was a riveting hour for us. We hope it is riveting viewing for you too.

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S04 E18 Book Club Chat: "The House Of Bondage Or Charlotte Brooks And Other Slaves"

In this episode, we discussed the first book covered in our Book Club: "The house of bondage: or, Charlotte Brooks and other slaves" by Octavia Victoria Rogers Albert (New York, Hunt & Eaton, 1890).Octavia met Charlotte Brooks for the first time in 1879 and later decided to interview her, as well as other former slaves from Louisiana, for a biographical sketch of slavery's "House of Bondage." These sketches were originally published in the Methodist newspaper Southwestern Christian Advocate but were not compiled into book form until 1890, after Octavia Albert's death.Rather than provide a comprehensive chronology of the events in Charlotte's life, Albert focuses on episodes that illustrate hostility from slave masters, as well as the ways in which religion influenced the slaves' everyday lives. In addition to interviewing Charlotte Brooks, Albert interviews several other former slaves, including John and Lorendo Goodwin, Lizzie Beaufort, Colonel Douglass Wilson, and a woman known merely as Hattie—though Charlotte's interviews make up the bulk of the text. These anecdotes are woven together to provide a harrowing image of the horrors suffered by slaves, as well the progress that former slaves are able to make through education.The book club chat included some of the genealogical issues that were apparent to us in the book in terms of researching enslaved people, social issues, and U.S. politics back then and in 2020.This book is free to read or download online via: https://archive.org/details/housebondageorc00mallgoog/page/n11/mode/2upTo see the first part of this serialized installment originally published in the Southwestern Christian Advocate (1890, New Orleans, La.), please visit: https://archive.org/details/southwesternchri1890sout/page/n3/mode/2up?q=octavia+V+albertIf you would like to buy the book, it is available for the on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/House-Bondage-Octavia-Rogers-Albert/dp/1596052546/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=octavia+V.+albert&qid=1611528442&sr=8-1

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S04 E20: Barbara Johns & the Robert Russa Moton Museum with Cameron Patterson

This episode is the first in our "Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement" series as part of Black History Month. And we're here to bring some Black Girl Magic from the depths of the 1950s Jim Crow Era in the U.S.In 1951, Barbara John, a 16-year-old black girl - with the support of fellow students, teachers, her family, and the black community - took on Prince Edward County, Virginia in an epic battle challenging "separate but equal" education. Spoiler alert: She won.Brown v Board of Education was the landmark case that made the decision to desegregate the public school system. But there were several cases that were part of the push to desegregate U.S. schools. Barbara Johns was a young 16-year-old girl in VA who was unhappy with the education that she and her fellow students received. Ms. Johns organized a strike at her high school, Robert Russa Moton High, that attracted the attention of the NAACP. Her strike became one of five cases that led to the historic Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision of 1954.In this episode, Cameron Patterson talks us through this historic journey as part of our Heroes of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement series during Black History Month.Cameron Patterson is the executive director of the Robert Russa Moton Museum (Moton), a National Historic Landmark that preserves and constructively interprets the history of Civil Rights in Education, specifically as it relates to Prince Edward County and the leading role its citizens played in America’s transition from segregation towards integration.The Moton Museum: https://motonmuseum.org

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