This episode features a conversation between Alex Alston, Assistant Professor of Literatures in English at Bryn Mawr College, and Maurice O. Wallace, Professor of English at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, revolving primarily around the presence of nonhuman animals in nineteenth-century Antebellum slave narratives and related literature. The discussants explore the evolution of Frederick Douglass’s rhetoric and thinking around nonhuman animal life throughout his career as an editor, activist, and intellectual. They focus on The Heroic Slave, Douglass’s fictional account of a historical revolt aboard the Creole, wherein the fictional protagonist, Madison Washington, is inspired by birds and a snake to escape bondage. From Douglass’s oeuvre Alston and Wallace think out toward how the narratives of other enslaved persons and Black authors of the 19th century contemplated the condition of nonhuman animals alongside their own in a range of asymmetrical and conflicting ways. Other narratives discussed include those of Mary Prince, Moses Roper, Henry Bibb, and Jacob D. Green. The conversation also delves into relevant and recent criticism on questions of race, gender, species, etc. in 19th century texts. Post-production support by Jess Van Gilder (Georgia Tech). Transcript and bibliography available at https://bit.ly/S09E05Transcript
All content for C19: America in the 19th Century is the property of Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
This episode features a conversation between Alex Alston, Assistant Professor of Literatures in English at Bryn Mawr College, and Maurice O. Wallace, Professor of English at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, revolving primarily around the presence of nonhuman animals in nineteenth-century Antebellum slave narratives and related literature. The discussants explore the evolution of Frederick Douglass’s rhetoric and thinking around nonhuman animal life throughout his career as an editor, activist, and intellectual. They focus on The Heroic Slave, Douglass’s fictional account of a historical revolt aboard the Creole, wherein the fictional protagonist, Madison Washington, is inspired by birds and a snake to escape bondage. From Douglass’s oeuvre Alston and Wallace think out toward how the narratives of other enslaved persons and Black authors of the 19th century contemplated the condition of nonhuman animals alongside their own in a range of asymmetrical and conflicting ways. Other narratives discussed include those of Mary Prince, Moses Roper, Henry Bibb, and Jacob D. Green. The conversation also delves into relevant and recent criticism on questions of race, gender, species, etc. in 19th century texts. Post-production support by Jess Van Gilder (Georgia Tech). Transcript and bibliography available at https://bit.ly/S09E05Transcript
S09 E03 | Chesser & Holly: A Collision of Love, Race, and Law in Nineteenth-Century Arkansas
C19: America in the 19th Century
37 minutes 11 seconds
2 months ago
S09 E03 | Chesser & Holly: A Collision of Love, Race, and Law in Nineteenth-Century Arkansas
In 1888, James Chesser and Georgianna Holly married in the growing city of Fort Smith, Arkansas. A few months later during James's arrest, courts argued that Georgianna was legally a man. Legal and social structures at the time struggled for language to define this mixed-race couple in a time before rampant anti-sodomy and anti-miscegenation laws. In this episode, Rachel Trusty (Bucknell University) lays out what is known about their lives before and after arrest, and contextualizes their situation in the broader local-national politics of a post-Civil War border town. Full transcript available at https://bit.ly/S09E03ChesserAndHolly. Post-production support by Genevieve Johnson (Newcastle University) and Ryan Charlton (Georgia State University).
C19: America in the 19th Century
This episode features a conversation between Alex Alston, Assistant Professor of Literatures in English at Bryn Mawr College, and Maurice O. Wallace, Professor of English at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, revolving primarily around the presence of nonhuman animals in nineteenth-century Antebellum slave narratives and related literature. The discussants explore the evolution of Frederick Douglass’s rhetoric and thinking around nonhuman animal life throughout his career as an editor, activist, and intellectual. They focus on The Heroic Slave, Douglass’s fictional account of a historical revolt aboard the Creole, wherein the fictional protagonist, Madison Washington, is inspired by birds and a snake to escape bondage. From Douglass’s oeuvre Alston and Wallace think out toward how the narratives of other enslaved persons and Black authors of the 19th century contemplated the condition of nonhuman animals alongside their own in a range of asymmetrical and conflicting ways. Other narratives discussed include those of Mary Prince, Moses Roper, Henry Bibb, and Jacob D. Green. The conversation also delves into relevant and recent criticism on questions of race, gender, species, etc. in 19th century texts. Post-production support by Jess Van Gilder (Georgia Tech). Transcript and bibliography available at https://bit.ly/S09E05Transcript
