Not Even Past

In Season 3, Episode 5, of Not Even Past, host Brendan Wolfe marvels at the power of Bethany Veney‘s writing, which tells the story of her life in slavery, the time she foiled an attempt to sell her, and her journey to freedom. Wolfe and producer Miranda Bennett also talk to Jobie Hill, an architectural historian who reads such narratives in order to better understand the spaces in which enslaved people like Veney lived their lives. Read more here:...

Duration:00:41:08

A Poet on Pierce Street

In Season 3, Episode 6, of Not Even Past, host Brendan Wolfe travels to 1313 Pierce Street, the Lynchburg home of the poet Anne Spencer, a poet, gardener, and luminary of the Harlem Renaissance. What can her home tell us about this accomplished and sometimes eccentric woman? Wolfe and producer Miranda Bennett also sit down with Spencer’s granddaughter, Shaun Hester, who operates the house as a museum. Read more here: https://www.evblog.virginiahumanities.org/2019/04/a-poet-on-pierce-street/

Duration:00:34:37

He Was Who He Needed to Be

In Season 3, Episode 4, of Not Even Past, host Brendan Wolfe considers the life of Henry Martin, a formerly enslaved man who for years worked as a janitor at the University of Virginia. Something of a mascot, something of a joke—that’s how the community treated him but underneath that was a black man just attempting to survive. Wolfe and producer Miranda Bennett interview Edwina St. Rose and Bernadette Whitsett-Hammond, local historians working to maintain the cemetery where Martin is buried...

Duration:00:21:20

One of the Twenty

In Season 3, Episode 2, of Not Even Past, host Brendan Wolfe examines the life of Angela, one of the first twenty Africans to arrive at Jamestown in 1619. On the 400th anniversary of that propitious moment in Virginia history, Historic Jamestowne is looking in earnest for signs of Angela and her fellow Africans. Wolfe and producer Miranda Bennett interview Chardé Reid, an archaeologist working on the site.

Duration:00:16:27

He Danced His Way to Jail

In Season 3, Episode 1, of Not Even Past, host Brendan Wolfe introduces us to Christopher McPherson, a free black man who knew Jefferson, dined with Madison, and worked for George Wythe. He also predicted the end of the world. Wolfe and producer Miranda Bennett also interview Deborah Murdock who owns properties where McPherson once worked. Read more here: https://www.evblog.virginiahumanities.org/2019/04/he-danced-his-way-to-jail/

Duration:00:41:16

The Fighting Editor

In Season 3, Episode 3, of Not Even Past, host Brendan Wolfe admires the African American newspaperman John Mitchell Jr. Known as the Fighting Editor, Mitchell was willing to strap on a pair of Smith & Wesson revolvers and risk his own death in the fight against lynching. His life ended on a sad note, though, and today he is largely forgotten—or he might have been if not for Kimberly Wilson. A Mitchell relative living in Richmond, she tells Wolfe and producer Miranda Bennett how she keeps...

Duration:00:54:28

Crazy Bet & Mary Jane

Elizabeth Van Lew and Mary Richards Bowser were two mysterious women with deep connections to the Episcopal Church. Both Union spies during the Civil War, one ended her life a pariah while the other disappeared from history. Producer Miranda Bennett also talks to Grace Aheron, an Episcopalian grappling, like Van Lew and Bowser, with her role in a large and complex community. Read more here: https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Bowser_Mary_Richards_fl_1846-1867 and...

Duration:00:20:48

A Most Savage Tale

Thomas Savage was a Jamestown colonist who, as a boy, was given over to the Indians. He spent the rest of his life negotiating the precarious line between two warring cultures. Read more here: https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Savage_Thomas_ca_1595-before_September_1633

Duration:00:12:20

Keeping House with Marion Harland

Marion Harland's Common Sense in the Household: A Manual of Practical Housewifery was an instant success when it was published in 1871. The Virginian brought cookbooks to the masses while defending the traditional roles of women. Producer Miranda Bennett also talks to Sarah Searle, proprietor of the cooking blog the Yellow House. Read more: https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Harland_Marion_1830-1922

Duration:00:16:50

Another Man's Property

Anthony Johnson was a slaveholder on the Eastern Shore who, earlier in life, had been known only as “Antonio a Negro.” Read more here: https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/media_player?mets_filename=evm00003352mets.xml

Duration:00:12:50

A Monstrous Tongue of Flame

The Battle of the Crater was one of the strangest and most heartbreaking of Civil War battles. It began with the largest explosion to date in the Western Hemisphere and ended with a massacre. Host Brendan Wolfe and producer Miranda Bennett also interview Emmanuel Dabney, of the National Park Service, who talks about what happened at the battle’s anniversary reunion. Read more here: https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Crater_Battle_of_the

Duration:00:16:17

Her Body Was Not Her Own

Carrie Buck was the plaintiff in the notorious Supreme Court case Buck v. Bell (1927) that authorized Buck’s forced sterilization. Producer Miranda Bennett interviews the scholar Paul Lombardo and visits the former Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feeble-Minded in Lynchburg. Read more here: https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Buck_Carrie_Elizabeth_1906-1983

Duration:00:24:29

Paquiquineo Part 3

After nine years abroad, a Virginia Indian returns home with a group of Jesuits in tow. The priests write an excited letter to their superior and are never heard from again. Read more here: http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Don_LuA

Duration:00:11:49

Paquiquineo Part 2

Trapped in Mexico City, a newly baptized Indian misses his chance to return home. Back in Spain he touches the fire and bides his time. Read more here: http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Don_LuA

Duration:00:08:28

Paquiquineo Part 1

Plucked from the New World by lost Spaniards, an Indian wins an audience with King Philip II and, on death’s door, changes his name. Read more here: http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Don_LuA

Duration:00:10:56

Belle Boyd

Given a choice between common sense and her version of things, men always leaned toward her version. It was a gift that served the Confederacy well. Read more here: http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Boyd_Belle_1844-1900

Duration:00:10:31

George Wythe

Thirty years earlier he'd signed the Declaration of Independence. On this morning he ate a spartan breakfast of milk and strawberries, never even tasting the arsenic. Read more here: http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Wythe_The_Death_of_George_1806

Duration:00:10:34

Henry Box Brown

Inside he hung feet-side-up, his temples throbbing, his head near to bursting. The box was addressed to Philadelphia—or, put another way, to freedom. Read more here: http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Brown_Henry_Box_ca_1815

Duration:00:11:00

Not Even Past Trailer