In The Past Lane - The Podcast About History and Why It Matters

The Pit Stop is a weekly mini-episode from In The Past Lane, the podcast about history and why it matters. Every Monday, The Pit Stop tells you what happened in American history this week - in just about 5 minutes. We drop these minis in between our full-length episodes that feature interviews with historians about their latest books, feature pieces, and more. 

For more information about the In The Past Lane podcast, head to our website, www.InThePastLane.com 

Production Credits for The Pit Stop

Original music and Voice Over by Devyn McHugh 

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions, "Pat Dog" via the Free Music Archive 

Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer

Associate Producer: Tyler Ferolito

Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson

Photographer: John Buckingham

Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci

Website by: ERI Design

Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too

Social Media management: The Pony Express

Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates

Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight

© In The Past Lane, 2019

This week In The Past Lane, the American history podcast, looks into the little known and yet hugely significant development of the ice and refrigeration industries in US history. 1) first we tell the story of the Frederick Tudor, The "Ice King," who single-handedly invented the ice industry way back in 1806. This development radically redefined the American life, especially the American diet. 2) Then we check in with historian Jonathan Rees, the nation's leading authority on all things related refrigeration, to learn how mechanical refrigeration and machine-made ice accelerated this transformation of everyday life. 3) Finally, we take just a few minutes to visit a unique bar in New York City. It's called Minus 5 and with the exception of the floor and ceiling, it's made entirely of ice and kept at a temperature of Minus 5 centigrade (minus 19 F). Yeah, I know ...

Episode 127 notes and credits

Further Reading about the history of ice and refrigeration

Oscar Edward Anderson, Jr. Refrigeration in America: A History of a New Technology and Its Impact (Princeton University Press, 1953).

Mariana Gosnell, Ice: The Nature, the History, and the Uses of an Astonishing Substance (Knopf, 2005)

Jonathan Rees, Refrigeration Nation: A History of Ice, Appliances, and Enterprise in America (John Hopkins University Press, 2013)

Jonathan Rees, Refrigerator (Bloomsbury, 2015)

Carl Seaburg and Stanley Paterson, The Ice King: Frederic Tudor and His Circle (Massachusetts Historical Society and Mystic Seaport, 2003).

Gavin Weightman, The Frozen-Water Trade: A True Story (Hyperion, 2003)

Music:

Jay Graham, ITPL Intro (courtesy, JayGMusic.com)

Kevin McCleod, "Impact Moderato" (Free Music Archive)

Lee Rosevere, "Going Home" (Free Music Archive)

Andy Cohen, "Trophy Endorphins" (Free Music Archive)

The Bell, "I Am History" (Free Music Archive)

The Bell, "On The Street" (Free Music Archive)

Jason Shaw, "Jenny's Theme (Free Music Archive)

The Pit Stop is a weekly mini-episode from In The Past Lane, the podcast about history and why it matters. Every Monday, The Pit Stop tells you what happened in American history this week - in just about 5 minutes. We drop these minis in between our full-length episodes that feature interviews with historians about their latest books, feature pieces, and more. 

For more information about the In The Past Lane podcast, head to our website, www.InThePastLane.com 

Production Credits for The Pit Stop

Original music and Voice Over by Devyn McHugh 

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions, "Pat Dog" via the Free Music Archive 

Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer

Associate Producer: Tyler Ferolito

Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson

Photographer: John Buckingham

Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci

Website by: ERI Design

Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too

Social Media management: The Pony Express

Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates

Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight

© In The Past Lane, 2019

The Pit Stop is a weekly mini-episode from In The Past Lane, the podcast about history and why it matters. Every Monday, The Pit Stop tells you what happened in American history this week - in just about 5 minutes. We drop these minis in between our full-length episodes that feature interviews with historians about their latest books, feature pieces, and more. 

For more information about the In The Past Lane podcast, head to our website, www.InThePastLane.com 

Production Credits for The Pit Stop

Original music and Voice Over by Devyn McHugh 

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions, "Pat Dog" via the Free Music Archive 

Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer

Associate Producer: Tyler Ferolito

Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson

Photographer: John Buckingham

Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci

Website by: ERI Design

Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too

Social Media management: The Pony Express

Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates

Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight

© In The Past Lane, 2019

The Pit Stop is a weekly mini-episode from In The Past Lane, the podcast about history and why it matters. Every Monday, The Pit Stop tells you what happened in American history this week - in just about 5 minutes. We drop these minis in between our full-length episodes that feature interviews with historians about their latest books, feature pieces, and more. 

For more information about the In The Past Lane podcast, head to our website, www.InThePastLane.com 

Production Credits for The Pit Stop

Original music and Voice Over by Devyn McHugh 

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions, "Pat Dog" via the Free Music Archive 

Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer

Associate Producer: Tyler Ferolito

Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson

Photographer: John Buckingham

Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci

Website by: ERI Design

Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too

Social Media management: The Pony Express

Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates

Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight

© In The Past Lane, 2019

This week at In The Past Lane, the American History podcast, we look at the largely unknown story of Black nationalist women in the struggle for freedom, equality, and justice in the mid-20th century. To explain this history, I speak with historian Keisha N. Blain about her new book, "Set The World On Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom." As she explains, in the 30+ years before the emergence of Malcolm X and the Black Panthers, women like Amy Jacques Garvey. Mittie Maude Lena Gordon, Celia Jane Allen, and Audley "Queen Mother" Moore kept alive and broadened the reach of black nationalist thought and activism.

So just what is black nationalism? According to Keisha N. Blain, it's "the political view that people of African descent constitute a separate group or nationality on the basis of their distinct culture, shared history, and experiences." Over the last nearly 200 years, black nationalists have advocated a wide range of initiatives, including back to Africa movements, anti-colonialism, racial separatism, black pride, political self-determination, and economic self-sufficiency.

In the United States, black nationalism has its origins in the late 1820s and 1830s with the writings of David Walker and Maria Stewart. They were followed in each succeeding generation by new advocates of black liberation, self-determination, and racial pride – people like Bishop Henry Turner. Black nationalism reached a high point of popularity among African-Americans and recognition by white Americans in the early 20th century when a Jamaican immigrant named Marcus Garvey launched an organization called the Universal Negro Improvement Association in 1914. His goal was to unify people of African descent worldwide and to encourage the migration of African-Americans to move to the African nation of Liberia. But 1920 Garvey's organization counted some 4 million members who were attracted by his message of black liberation.

But this was the 1920s, at the height of white supremacy and Jim Crow. So it wasn't long before J. Edgar Hoover, head of the Bureau of Investigation – the precursor to the FBI –decided to bring Garvey down. Garvey was charged with committing mail fraud, convicted, and sentenced to five years in prison. When he was released in 1928 he was immediately deported back to Jamaica.

In the traditional history of black nationalism in the United States, it's said that after Garvey's downfall, black nationalism in the US went fallow for the next 30+ years until it re-emerged – seemingly out of nowhere – with the appearance of Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam and the Black Panthers in the 1960s.

But now, with the publication of Keisha Blain's new book, we know this is to be untrue. Black nationalism did not go into hibernation. It was kept alive, both in the US and internationally, through the efforts of black nationalist women in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.

------------

Keisha Blain teaches history at the University of Pittsburgh and serves as editor-in-chief of The North Star, a recently re-booted version of Frederick Douglass' 1847 newspaper of the same name. She's also the editor of a collection of essays and resources titled, Charleston Syllabus: Readings on Race, Racism, and Racial Violence. In this episode she talks about her latest book, Set the World On Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom.

Recommended reading:

Keisha N. Blain, Set The World On Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom (U. Penn Press, 2018)

Wilson J. Moses, Classical Black Nationalism: From the American Revolution to Marcus Garvey

Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar, Black Power: Radical Politics and African American Identity

Ula Yvette Taylor, The Veiled Garvey: The Life and Times of Amy Jacques Garvey

William L. Van Deburg, Modern Black Nationalism: From Marcus Garvey to Louis Farrakhan

More info about Keisha N. Blain - website

Follow In The Past Lane on

Twitter @InThePastLane

Instagram @InThePastLane

Facebook: InThePastLanePodcast

YouTube: InThePastLane

Music for This Episode

Jay Graham, ITPL Intro (JayGMusic.com)

Kevin McCleod, "Impact Moderato" (Free Music Archive)

Andy Cohen, "Trophy Endorphins" (Free Music Archive) Ketsa, "Stay the Course" (Free Music Archive)

Jon Luc Hefferman, "Winter Trek" (Free Music Archive)

The Bell, "I Am History" (Free Music Archive)

Production Credits

Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer

Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson

Podcasting Consultant: Dave Jackson of the School of Podcasting

Podcast Editing: Wildstyle Media

Photographer: John Buckingham

Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci

Website by: ERI Design

Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too

Social Media management: The Pony Express

Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates

Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight © In The Past Lane, 2019

Recommended History Podcasts

Ben Franklin's World with Liz Covart @LizCovart

The Age of Jackson Podcast @AgeofJacksonPod

Backstory podcast – the history behind today's headlines @BackstoryRadio

Past Present podcast with Nicole Hemmer, Neil J. Young, and Natalia Petrzela @PastPresentPod

99 Percent Invisible with Roman Mars @99piorg

Slow Burn podcast about Watergate with @leoncrawl

The Memory Palace – with Nate DiMeo, story teller extraordinaire @thememorypalace

The Conspirators – creepy true crime stories from the American past @Conspiratorcast

The History Chicks podcast @Thehistorychix

My History Can Beat Up Your Politics @myhist

Professor Buzzkill podcast – Prof B takes on myths about the past @buzzkillprof

Footnoting History podcast @HistoryFootnote

The History Author Show podcast @HistoryDean

More Perfect podcast - the history of key US Supreme Court cases @Radiolab

Revisionist History with Malcolm Gladwell @Gladwell

Radio Diaries with Joe Richman @RadioDiaries

DIG history podcast @dig_history

The Story Behind – the hidden histories of everyday things @StoryBehindPod

Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen – specifically its American Icons series @Studio360show

Uncivil podcast – fascinating takes on the legacy of the Civil War in contemporary US @uncivilshow

Stuff You Missed in History Class @MissedinHistory

The Whiskey Rebellion – two historians discuss topics from today's news @WhiskeyRebelPod

American History Tellers ‏@ahtellers

The Way of Improvement Leads Home with historian John Fea @JohnFea1

The Bowery Boys podcast – all things NYC history @BoweryBoys

Ridiculous History @RidiculousHSW

The Rogue Historian podcast with historian @MKeithHarris

The Road To Now podcast @Road_To_Now

Retropod with @mikerosenwald

The Pit Stop is a weekly mini-episode from In The Past Lane, the podcast about history and why it matters. Every Monday, The Pit Stop tells you what happened in American history this week - in just about 5 minutes. We drop these minis in between our full-length episodes that feature interviews with historians about their latest books, feature pieces, and more. 

For more information about the In The Past Lane podcast, head to our website, www.InThePastLane.com 

Production Credits for The Pit Stop

Original music and Voice Over by Devyn McHugh 

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions, "Pat Dog" via the Free Music Archive 

Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer

Associate Producer: Tyler Ferolito

Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson

Photographer: John Buckingham

Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci

Website by: ERI Design

Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too

Social Media management: The Pony Express

Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates

Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight

© In The Past Lane, 2019

The Pit Stop is a weekly mini-episode from In The Past Lane, the podcast about history and why it matters. Every Monday, The Pit Stop tells you what happened in American history this week - in just about 5 minutes. We drop these minis in between our full-length episodes that feature interviews with historians about their latest books, feature pieces, and more. 

For more information about the In The Past Lane podcast, head to our website, www.InThePastLane.com 

Production Credits for The Pit Stop

Original music and Voice Over by Devyn McHugh 

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions, "Pat Dog" via the Free Music Archive 

Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer

Associate Producer: Tyler Ferolito

Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson

Photographer: John Buckingham

Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci

Website by: ERI Design

Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too

Social Media management: The Pony Express

Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates

Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight

© In The Past Lane, 2019

This week at In The Past Lane, the American History podcast, we look at a #MeToo incident from the Gilded Age. It involved a powerful congressman and a mistress he kept for ten years. But when he broke his promise to marry her, she did the unthinkable – she sued him for "breach of promise." The scandal and subsequent trial captivated the nation. To explain how this young women took down a congressman, I speak with Patricia Miller about her new book, "Bringing Down The Colonel: A Sex Scandal of the Gilded Age, and the 'Powerless' Woman Who Took on Washington."

The #MeToo movement originated in 2007 when civil rights activist Tarana Burke coined the phrase to unite women who were victims of sexual violence. But it really took off in 2017 with revelations in the New York Times and New Yorker magazine about women coming forward to accuse film mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault and rape. It has since gained increased momentum and legitimacy as more and more powerful men have been exposed for their abusive and often criminal behavior towards women.

It's quite common when stories of this magnitude make the news for journalists to look to the past for historical precedents. Think of the many stories about past financial scams that were written up in the wake of the Bernie Madoff scandal. Or past environmental disasters in the wake of the catastrophic B.P. Oil spill in 2010.

Not surprisingly, the #MeToo movement has likewise elicited stories about sexual predators from the past, including re-examinations of the Clinton-Lewinsky affair and a renewed debate over filmmaker Roman Polansky who in 1977 pled guilty to raping a 13-year old girl and then fled the country to avoid prison. He's continued to make films, several of which have been honored with Academy Awards.

But as any good historian will tell you, one can always go much further back in time to find individuals and incidents that connect with our present. For example, have you ever heard of Elizabeth Jennings? Well, in 1854 – 101 years before Rosa Parks resisted a racist segregation policy on a Birmingham, Alabama bus, Elizabeth Jennings did much the same on a New York City streetcar. And like Parks, her resistance led to the desegregation of the city's streetcars.

Well, in this episode we meet Madeline Pollard, a young woman who in the 1890s stood up to the patriarchy and took down an abusive and exploitive congressman. Here to tell us more about it is Patricia Miller, author of the new book, Bringing Down The Colonel: A Sex Scandal of the Gilded Age, and the "Powerless" Woman Who Took on Washington.

In the course of our conversation, Patricia Miller discusses:

How women in the Gilded Age began to take on new roles, including the pursuit of higher education, entry into the paid workforce, and participation in a wide array of reform movements.

How a 47-year old Kentucky lawyer and Congressman named Col. William Breckinridge began a sexual relationship with a 17-year old girl named Madeline Pollard. And how this relationship lasted a decade and produced two babies until it was exposed.

Why the woman at the center of this story decided, despite the likelihood that she would be condemned as a gold-digging harlot, to go public in 1894 and sue Col. Breckinridge.

How and why wealthy and socially prominent women supported Pollard in her lawsuit against Col. Breckinridge.

How in the aftermath of the trial, women in Washington, DC and Kentucky successfully mobilized to bring about the political demise the Col. Breckinridge.

Patricia Miller is an award-winning author and journalist. Her work on the interplay of politics and sexual morality has appeared in The Atlantic, Salon, The Nation, Huffington Post, and Ms. Magazine. She is with me today to talk about her first book, Bringing Down The Colonel: A Sex Scandal of the Gilded Age, and the "Powerless" Woman Who Took on Washington (Sarah Crichton Books, an imprint of Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Recommended reading:

Patricia Miller, Bringing Down The Colonel: A Sex Scandal of the Gilded Age, and the "Powerless" Woman Who Took on Washington (Sarah Crichton Books, 2018).

Jean V. Matthews, The Rise of the New Woman: The Women's Movement in America, 1875-1930

Edward T. O'Donnell, Henry George and the Crisis of Inequality: Progress and Poverty in the Gilded Age

Martha H. Patterson, Beyond the Gibson Girl: Reimagining the American New Woman, 1895-1915

Cecelia Tichi, What Would Mrs. Astor Do?: The Essential Guide to the Manners and Mores of the Gilded Age

Richard White, The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States During Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896

More info about Patricia Miller - website

Follow In The Past Lane on

Twitter @InThePastLane

Instagram @InThePastLane

Facebook: InThePastLanePodcast

YouTube: InThePastLane Related ITPL podcast episodes:

044 Historian Richard White talks about his book, The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States During Reconstruction and the Gilded Age

052, 053, 054 a three-part series on What Was the Gilded Age?

Music for This Episode

Jay Graham, ITPL Intro (JayGMusic.com)

Kevin McCleod, "Impact Moderato" (Free Music Archive)

Andy Cohen, "Trophy Endorphins" (Free Music Archive) The Womb, "I Hope It Hurts" (Free Music Archive) Jon Luc Hefferman, "Discovery" (Free Music Archive)

Jon Luc Hefferman, "Winter Trek" (Free Music Archive)

The Bell, "I Am History" (Free Music Archive)

Production Credits

Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer

Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson

Podcasting Consultant: Dave Jackson of the School of Podcasting

Podcast Editing: Wildstyle Media

Photographer: John Buckingham

Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci

Website by: ERI Design

Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too

Social Media management: The Pony Express

Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates

Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight

© In The Past Lane, 2019

Recommended History Podcasts

Ben Franklin's World with Liz Covart @LizCovart

The Age of Jackson Podcast @AgeofJacksonPod

Backstory podcast – the history behind today's headlines @BackstoryRadio

Past Present podcast with Nicole Hemmer, Neil J. Young, and Natalia Petrzela @PastPresentPod

99 Percent Invisible with Roman Mars @99piorg

Slow Burn podcast about Watergate with @leoncrawl

The Memory Palace – with Nate DiMeo, story teller extraordinaire @thememorypalace

The Conspirators – creepy true crime stories from the American past @Conspiratorcast

The History Chicks podcast @Thehistorychix

My History Can Beat Up Your Politics @myhist

Professor Buzzkill podcast – Prof B takes on myths about the past @buzzkillprof

Footnoting History podcast @HistoryFootnote

The History Author Show podcast @HistoryDean

More Perfect podcast - the history of key US Supreme Court cases @Radiolab

Revisionist History with Malcolm Gladwell @Gladwell

Radio Diaries with Joe Richman @RadioDiaries

DIG history podcast @dig_history

The Story Behind – the hidden histories of everyday things @StoryBehindPod

Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen – specifically its American Icons series @Studio360show

Uncivil podcast – fascinating takes on the legacy of the Civil War in contemporary US @uncivilshow

Stuff You Missed in History Class @MissedinHistory

The Whiskey Rebellion – two historians discuss topics from today's news @WhiskeyRebelPod

American History Tellers ‏@ahtellers

The Way of Improvement Leads Home with historian John Fea @JohnFea1

The Bowery Boys podcast – all things NYC history @BoweryBoys

Ridiculous History @RidiculousHSW

The Rogue Historian podcast with historian @MKeithHarris

The Road To Now podcast @Road_To_Now

Retropod with @mikerosenwald

The Pit Stop is a weekly mini-episode from In The Past Lane, the podcast about history and why it matters. Every Monday, The Pit Stop tells you what happened in American history this week - in just about 5 minutes. We drop these minis in between our full-length episodes that feature interviews with historians about their latest books, feature pieces, and more. 

For more information about the In The Past Lane podcast, head to our website, www.InThePastLane.com 

Production Credits for The Pit Stop

Original music and Voice Over by Devyn McHugh 

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions, "Pat Dog" via the Free Music Archive 

Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer

Associate Producer: Tyler Ferolito

Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson

Photographer: John Buckingham

Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci

Website by: ERI Design

Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too

Social Media management: The Pony Express

Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates

Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight

© In The Past Lane, 2019