Terrell Dempsey tells the untold story of Mark Twain and the slave culture in Missouri that helped shape him.  The discussion focuses on slavery in Hannibal and northeast Missouri where Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) grew up.  The "accidental historian" describes the nature of slavery in Hannibal as well as the small anti-slavery groups that developed across the river in Quincy, Illinois.  The talk covers the preacher David Nelson and how he was driven out of Missouri to establish the Mission Institute in Quincy.  Nelson impacted the lives of Elijah Lovejoy and Dr. Richard Eells.  Dempsey covers the case of abolitionists Thompson, Work and Burr and their failed attempt at rescuing blacks from slavery.  The conversation covers the religious changes in America and how those changes had an effect on slavery in America.  Terrell discusses John Marshall Clemens the father of Samuel Clemens and his views on slavery.  He describes the horrors of slavery and explains how myths about slaves developed.  He covers some individual events like the murders in Marion County by the slave Ben, which perpetuated stereotypes and increased fear in the white citizenry.  The conversation ends by discussing how slave culture formed Mark Twain and influence his writing, and finishes with Samuel Clemens's action at the beginning of the Civil War.

HOST: Rob Mellon

FEATURED BREW: Tom Sawyer Blonde Ale (Mark Twain Brewing Company, Hannibal, MO) 
http://marktwainbrewery.com/

BOOK:  Searching for Jim: Slavery in Sam Clemens's World
https://www.amazon.com/Searching-Jim-Slavery-Clemenss-Circle/dp/0826215939

MUSIC:  Bones Fork
https://bonesfork.com/