Unsung History

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John H. Johnson & Ebony Magazine Feb 13, 2023

Show notes

When businessman John H. Johnson died in 2005, Ebony Magazine, the monthly photo-editorial magazine that he launched in 1945, reached an estimated 10 million readers. Under the direction of executive editor Lerone Bennet Jr. for several decades, Ebony helped shape Black culture and perceptions of Black history. Johnson Publishing Company helped shape Chicago history, too, when they opened their Loop location in 1972, at 820 S. Michigan Ave. The now-iconic 11-story, 110,000 square-foot building was the first major downtown building to be designed by an African American architect, John W. Moutoussamy, and the first skyscraper owned by an African American in the Loop.

Joining me this week to help us understand more about Johnson Publishing is Dr. E. James West, a Lecturer at University College London, co-director of the Black Press Research Collective, and author of Ebony Magazine and Lerone Bennett Jr.: Popular Black History in Postwar America, A House for the Struggle: The Black Press and the Built Environment in Chicago, and Our Kind of Historian: The Work and Activism of Lerone Bennett Jr.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-roll audio is from the Sol Taishoff Award ceremony on February 25, 1986, where Don Hewitt, John Johnson and John Quinn were recognized for Excellence in Journalism. The video was aired on C-SPAN and is in the public domain. The episode image is “Ebony magazine, Volume LX, Number 12 honoring the life of John H. Johnson, the founder of Johnson Publishing Company, publisher of Ebony magazine,” from the Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Bunch Family.

Additional Sources:

“Succeeding Against the Odds: The Autobiography of a Great American Businessman,” by John H. Johnson and Lerone Bennett, Jr., Johnson Publishing Company, October 1, 1992.
“John H. Johnson, 87, Founder of Ebony, Dies,” by Douglas Martin, The New York Times, August 9, 2005.
“The Radical Blackness of Ebony Magazine,” by Brent Staples, The New York Times, August 11, 2019.
“Lerone Bennett Jr., Historian of Black America, Dies at 89,” by Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times, February 16, 2018.
“75 Years of Ebony Magazine,” The National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian.
“Under new ownership, 'Ebony' magazine bets on boosting Black business,” by Andrew Craig, NPR Weekend Edition Sunday, October 31, 2021.
“New apartments pay homage to Ebony/Jet building's history,” by Dennis Rodkin, Crain’s Chicago Business, September 9, 2019.

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The History of the Cook County Jail Feb 06, 2023

Show notes

The first Cook County Jail was a wooden stockade, built in 1833 in Chicago, which was then a town of around 250 people. Today, the Cook County Department of Corrections, which takes up 8 city blocks on the Southwest Side of Chicago, is one of the largest single-site jails in the country and incarcerates nearly 100,000 people a year. The history of the jail’s expansion is a story of urban politics and patronage, battles over criminal justice reform, and the racist underpinnings of mass incarceration.

Joining me to help us learn more about the Cook County Jail is Dr. Melanie Newport, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Connecticut and author of This Is My Jail: Local Politics and the Rise of Mass Incarceration.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-roll audio is “Slow E-Guitar Blues Solo” by JuliusH from Pixabay. The image of the Cook County Department of Corrections is by Stephen Hogan on Flickr and was taken on October 24, 2017; it is used under Creative Commons (CC BY 2.0).

Additional Sources:

“Learning about American History and Politics through American Jails,” by Elaina Hancock, UConn Today, November 15, 2022.
“Jails and Prisons,” by Jess Maghan, Encyclopedia of Chicago.
“Cook County Jail’s History,” Cook County Sheriff’s Office.
“A rare glimpse into a transformative time at Cook County Jail,” by Renata Cherlise, Chicago Reader, December 9, 2016.
“Blues in the Big House [video]”
“When a Psychologist Was in Charge of Jail,” by Melanie Newport, The Marshall Project, May 21, 2015.
“The COVID-19 Struggle In Chicago's Cook County Jail,” Cheryl Corley, NPR, April 13, 2020.
“Cook County to Proceed With End of Cash Bail in Wake of SAFE-T Act Ruling,” NBC5 Chicago, December 29, 2022.

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The Green Book Jan 30, 2023

Show notes

In 1936, Victor Hugo Green published the first edition of what he called The Negro Motorist Green Book, a 16-page listing of businesses in the New York metropolitan area that would welcome African American customers. By its final printing in 1966, the Green Book had gone international, with a 100-page book that included not just friendly businesses throughout the United States but also hotels and resorts that would be safe for African American travelers in Canada, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, and Africa, along with a list of currency exchange rates.

Joining me this week to help us learn more about why African American travelers needed the Green Book and how Victor Green and his family created such an important and long-lasting publication is award-winning television and radio broadcaster and financial educator Alvin Hall, author of the new book, Driving the Green Book: A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The musical interlude and music under the outro is: "Whiskey on the Mississippi," by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 4.0 License. The image is "The Travelers' Green Book: 1961," Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. The New York Public Library Digital Collections.

Additional Sources:

“Navigating The Green Book,” Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library.
“How the Green Book Helped African-American Tourists Navigate a Segregated Nation,” by Jacinda Townsend, Smithsonian Magazine, April 2016.
“The Green Book: The Black Travelers’ Guide to Jim Crow America,” by Evan Andews, History.com, March 13, 2019.
“Traveling While Black: The Green Book’s Black History,” by Brent Staples, The New York Times, January 25, 2019.
“A look inside the Green Book, which guided Black travelers through a segregated and hostile America,” by George Petras and Janet Loehrke, USA Today, February 19, 2021.
“The Movie Green Book Is Named for a Real Guide to Travel in a Segregated World. Its Real History Offers a Key Lesson for Today,” by Arica L. Coleman, Time Magazine, November 17, 2018.
“The Long-Lasting Legacy of the Great Migration,” by Isabel Wilkerson, Smithsonian Magazine, September 2016.
“Sundown Towns,” by Ross Coen, BlackPast, August 23, 2020.
“Sundown Towns,” Tougaloo College.

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American Women Writers in Italy in the 19th Century Jan 23, 2023

Show notes

The second half of the nineteenth century was a momentous time in Italian history, marked by the unification of the peninsula and the formation of the Kingdom of Italy. Three American women writers had a front-seat view of this history while they lived in Italy: Caroline Crane Marsh, the wife of the United States Minister; journalist Anne Hampton Brewster; and Emily Bliss Gould, founder of a vocational school for Italian children.

Joining me to help us learn more about these American women in Italy in the late 19th Century is Dr. Etta Madden, the Clif & Gail Smart Professor of English at Missouri State University and author of several books, including Engaging Italy: American Women's Utopian Visions and Transnational Networks.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Photo credits: Engraving of Emily Bliss Gould, by A.H. Ritchie, based on a portrait by Lorenzo Suszipj, in A Life Worth Living, by Leonard Woolsey Bacon, 1879, Public Domain; Anne Hampton Brewster, Albumen photograph, ca. 1874, McAllister Collection, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Caroline Crane Marsh, ca 1866, Fratelli Alinari, Florence, Special Collections Library, University of Vermont.

Additional Sources:

“How Italy became a country, in one animated map,” by Zack Beauchamp, Vox, December 1, 2014.
“Issues Relevant to U.S. Foreign Diplomacy: Unification of Italian States,” Office of the Historian, US Department of State.
“The Italian Risorgimento: A timeline,” The Florentine, March 10, 2011.
“About George Perkins Marsh,” The Marsh Collection, Smithsonian.
“Ambasciatrice, Activist, Auntie, Author: Caroline Crane Marsh,” by Etta Madden, New York Public Library, December 19, 2018.
“Traveling with Caroline Crane Marsh,” University of Vermont Special Collections, June 11, 2020.
“Anne Hampton Brewster,” Archival Gossip Collection.
“Anne Hampton Brewster: Nineteenth-Century News from Rome,” by Etta Madden, November 21, 2018.
“Anne Hampton Brewster papers finding aid,” Library Company of Philadelphia.
“Emily Bliss Gould: An American in Italy–A Guest Post,” by Etta Madden, History in the Margins, September 30, 2022.

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The 1968 Student Uprising at Tuskegee Institute Jan 16, 2023

Show notes

Days after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and after months of increasing tension on campus, the students at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama occupied a building on campus where the Trustees were meeting, demanding a number of reforms, including a role for students in college governance, the end of mandatory ROTC participation, athletic scholarships, African American studies curriculum, and a higher quality of instruction in engineering courses.

Joining me to tell the story of the Tuskegee student uprising is Dr. Brian Jones, Director of New York Public Library’s Center for Educators and Schools and author of The Tuskegee Student Uprising: A History.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Photo credit: The photo used for this episode comes from: http://sammyyoungejr.weebly.com/the-movement.html.

Additional Sources:

“The Overlooked History of a Student Uprising That Helped Institutionalize Black Studies in the U.S.,” by Olivia B. Waxman, Time, October 4, 2022.
“History of Tuskegee University,” Tuskegee University.
“Tuskegee Institute's Founding,” National Park Service.
“Tuskegee Institute--Training Leaders,” African American Odyssey, Library of Congress
“Tuskegee University (1881-),” by Allison O’Connor, Blackpast, October 27, 2009.
“Booker T. Washington,” History.com, October 29, 2009.
“The Tuskegee Student Uprising & Black education in America,” The Black Table, S1 E38.
“Tuskegee Halts All its Classes; Tells Students to Go Home – Acts After Protests,” The New York Times, April 9, 1968.
“The Moral Force of the Black University,” by Brian Jones, The Chronicle of Higher Education, November 3, 2022.
“Jan. 3, 1966: Sammy Younge Jr. Murdered,” Zinn Education Project.
“Nov. 14, 1960: Gomillion v. Lightfoot,” Zinn Education Project.
Sammy L. Younge, Jr.: The First Black College Student To Die In The Black Liberation Movement

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Shirley Chisholm Jan 09, 2023

Show notes

Throughout her life, Shirley Chisholm fought for coalitional change. She was the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress in 1968, the first Black woman to run for President of the United States in 1972, co-founder of both the Congressional Black Caucus and the National Women’s Political Caucus, both in 1971, and co-founder of the National Congress of Black Women in 1984. Toward the end of her life, Chisholm told an interviewer: “I want history to remember me … as a Black woman who lived in the 20th century and who dared to be herself. I want to be remembered as a catalyst for change in America.”

Joining me in this episode is Dr. Anastasia Curwood, Professor of History and Director of the Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies at the University of Kentucky, and author of Shirley Chisholm: Champion of Black Feminist Power Politics.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is Shirley Chisholm speaking at the Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida, on July 12, 1972. The photographer was Warren K. Leffler, and the photograph is in the public domain and available via the Library of Congress.

The audio clip of Shirley Chisholm speaking is from her presidential campaign announcement on January 25, 1972, in Brooklyn; the audio is courtesy of the New York City Municipal Archive, via C-SPAN. The audio clip of Rep. Barbara Lee is from Two Broads Talking Politics, Episode 433: Barbara Lee, which originally aired on October 9, 2020; the episode was recorded, edited, and produced by Kelly Therese Pollock and is used with express permission.

Additional Sources:

“‘Unbought and Unbossed’: When a Black Woman Ran for the White House,” by Jackson Landers, Smithsonian Magazine, April 25, 2016.
“‘Unbought and Unbossed’: How Shirley Chisholm Helped Paved the Path for Kamala Harris Nearly Five Decades Ago,” by Stuart Emmrich, Vogue, August 20, 2020.
“Politicians reflect on Shirley Chisholm's legacy 50 years after her historic presidential run,” by Anna Lucente Sterling, NY1, February 17, 2022.
“CHISHOLM, Shirley Anita,” House.gov.
“What You May Not Know About TC Alum Shirley Chisholm,” Teacher’s College, Columbia University, Published Wednesday, November 30, 2022.
“Shirley Chisholm, 'Unbossed' Pioneer in Congress, Is Dead at 80,” by James Barron, The New York Times, January 3, 2005.
“Congressional Black Caucus swears in its largest group in history,” by Cheyanne M. Daniels, The Hill, January 3, 2023.
“Democratic women lawmakers who broke through in 2018 now step into leadership roles,” by Grace Panetta and Mel Leonor Barclay, The 19th, January 3, 2023.
“Rep. Lauren Underwood elected to House Democratic leadership position,” by Lynn Sweet, Chicago SunTimes, December 1, 2022.

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The Aerobics Craze of the 1980s Jan 02, 2023

Show notes

In the late 1960s, Air Force surgeon Dr. Kenneth Cooper was evaluating military fitness plans when he realized that aerobic activities, what we now call cardio, like running and cycling, was the key to overall physical health. His 1968 book Aerobics launched the aerobics revolution that followed, as he inspired women like Jacki Sorensen and Judi Sheppard Missett to combine dance with exercise, creating Dance Aerobics and Jazzercise in the process.

I’m joined on this episode by Dr. Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Associate Professor History at The New School and author of Fit Nation: The Gains and Pains of America's Exercise Obsession.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is: “Jacki Sorensen at an Aerobic Dancing, Inc., event in New York,” photographed by an employee of Aerobic Dancing, Inc., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Additional Sources:

“The Fitness Craze That Changed the Way Women Exercise,” by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, The Atlantic, June 16, 2019.
“History of Aerobic Exercise.”
“Kenneth H. Cooper, MD, MPH,” CooperAerobics.
“The 75-Year-Old Behind Jazzercise Keeps Dancing on Her Own,” by Samantha Leach, Glamour, June 21, 2019.
“Jane Fonda’s 1982 Workout Routine Is Still the Best Exercise Class Out There,” by Patricia Garcia, Vogue, July 7, 2018.
“Jane Fonda’s first workout video released,” History.com.
“History: IDEA Health & Fitness Association.
“Interview with Richard Simmons,” by Eric Spitznagel, Men’s Health, April 25, 2012.

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Stede Bonnet, the Gentleman Pirate Dec 26, 2022

Show notes

Stede Bonnet lived a life of luxury in Barbados, inheriting from his father an over 400-acre sugarcane plantation, along with 94 slaves. But in late 1716, when he was 29 years old, Bonnet decided to leave behind his plantation, his wife, and his three surviving children, all under the age of 5, to become a pirate, despite having no experience even captaining a ship. As Captain Charles Johnson put it in A General History of the Pyrates: “He had the least Temptation of any Man to follow such a Course of Life, from the Condition of his Circumstances,” blaming it on a “Disorder in his Mind.”

So why did Bonnet leave behind his privileged life, and would he have made the choice again if he knew how it would turn out? Joining me in this episode to help us understand more about Stede Bonnet and his possible motivations is freelance historian Jeremy R. Moss, author of The Life and Tryals of the Gentleman Pirate, Major Stede Bonnet.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode audio is “Oh, Better Far To Live And Die,” from The Pirates Of Penzance, written by Gilbert & Sullivan and performed by the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1959, available via the Internet Archive. The episode image is: “Print engraving of Stede Bonnet in Charles Johnson's A General History of the Pyrates,” Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The HBO Show loosely based on the life of Stede Bonnet that we reference in the episode is Our Flag Means Death, created by David Jenkins and starring Rhys Darby as Stede Bonnet and Taika Wititi as Blackbeard.

Additional Sources:

“The Gentleman Pirate: How Stede Bonnet went from wealthy landowner to villain on the sea,” by Amy Crawford, Smithsonian Magazine, July 31, 2007.
“The Life Of Stede Bonnet, The Gentleman Who Became A Pirate On A Whim,” by Genevieve Carlton, All That’s Interesting, August 9, 2022.
“A Pirate’s Life Was His, Stede Bonnet’s,” North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, September 27, 2016.
“Top-Earning Pirates,” Forbes, September 19, 2008.
“Stede Bonnet and the Golden Age of Piracy: Part One,” by Danielle Herring, Library of Congress, December 8, 2022.
“Stede Bonnet, Gentleman Pirate: how a mid-life crisis created the 'worst pirate of all time',” by Jeremy R. Moss, History Extra, March 3, 2022.
“A General History of the Pyrates: from their first rise and settlement in the island of Providence, to the present time,” by Captain Charles Johnson, 1724.

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Smallpox Inoculation & the American Revolution Dec 19, 2022

Show notes

In 1775, a smallpox outbreak struck the Continental Northern Army. With many of the soldiers too sick to fight, their attempted capture of Quebec on December 31, 1775, was a devastating failure, the first major defeat of the Revolutionary War for the Americans, and cost General Richard Montgomery his life. Eventually, George Washington, the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, realized that the only way to avoid repeated outbreaks was to order mass inoculation of the amy, a controversial and risky decision that proved successful.

Joining me to help us learn more about smallpox inoculation during the American Revolution is Dr. Andrew M. Wehrman, Associate professor of history at Central Michigan University, and author of The Contagion of Liberty: The Politics of Smallpox in the American Revolution.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is: “The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec, December 31, 1775,” a painting by John Trumbull from 1786; photo credit: Yale University Art Gallery; public domain.

Additional Sources:

“How an Enslaved African Man in Boston Helped Save Generations from Smallpox,” by Erin Blakemore, History.com, February 1, 2019.
“The origins of inoculation,” by Arthur Boylston, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (2012), 105(7), 309–313.
“On This Day in 1721, Dr. Zabdiel Boylston Inoculates his Son Against Smallpox,” Boston.gov, June 26, 2017.
“Smallpox, Inoculation, and the Revolutionary War,” Boston National Historical Park, National Park Service.
“Letter from John Adams to Abigail Smith, 13 April 1764 [electronic edition],” Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society.
“How a public health crisis nearly derailed the American Revolution,” by Andrew Lawler, National Geographic, April 16, 2020.
“Edward Jenner and the history of smallpox and vaccination.” by Stefan Riedel, Proceedings (Baylor University. Medical Center) 2005, 18(1), 21–25.
“History of the Smallpox Vaccine,” The World Health Organization.

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The Sea Islands Hurricane of 1893 Dec 12, 2022

Show notes

On August 27, 1893, a massive hurricane struck the coast of South Carolina and Georgia, battering the Sea Islands and Lowcountry through the next morning. Around 2,000 people in the thriving African American community perished that night, and many more died in the coming days and weeks as the impacts of the storm continued to be felt. The Red Cross, led by Clara Barton, organized relief efforts in conjunction with the local communities but with little money, as both the state legislature and the US Congress declined appeals to help.

Joining me to help us understand more about this 1893 hurricane and how it affected the course of South Carolina politics is Dr. Caroline Grego, Assistant Professor of History at Queens University of Charlotte, and author of Hurricane Jim Crow: How the Great Sea Island Storm of 1893 Shaped the Lowcountry South.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is: “Black women prepare potatoes for planting, February 1894,” from Clara Barton, The Red Cross, 199; the image is in the public domain.

Additional Sources:

“Remembering the Great Sea Island Storm of 1893: Mermaids, culpability, and the postbellum Lowcountry,” by Caroline Grego, Erstwhile: A History Blog, September 21, 2016.
“1893 Sea Islands Hurricane,” by Michele Nichole Johnson, New Georgia Encyclopedia.
“The Sea Island Hurricane of 1893, 4th deadliest in U.S. history,” Eat Stay Play Beaufort.
“The Great Sea Island Storm of 1893,” By Fran Heyward Bollin, Welcome to Beaufort.
“The Sea Island Hurricane of 1893,” by Betty Joyce Nash, Economic History, Winter 2006.
"Black Autonomy, Red Cross Recovery, and White Backlash after the Great Sea Island Storm of 1893," by Caroline Grego, Journal of Southern History, vol. 85 no. 4, 2019, p. 803-840.
“Sea Islands Hurricane,” Scribner’s Magazine, February 1894.

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