Talking Hart Island

Professor Holy Cross University.

There were few experienced swimmers, among the over 1,300 Lower East Side residents, who boarded the General Slocum on June 15, 1904. It shouldn’t have mattered since the steamship was chartered, only for a languid excursion, from Manhattan to Long Island Sound. But a fire erupted minutes into the trip, forcing hundreds of terrified passengers into the water. By the time the captain found a safe shore for landing, 1021 had perished. It was the worst disaster ever to occur in New York City, until the terrorist attacks, nearly one-hundred years later, on 9/11.

In his book, “Ship Ablaze”, Professor Edward T. O’Donnell draws on firsthand accounts to examine why the death toll was so high and how the city responded.

Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book, 

NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS

Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author

https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/

Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene

https://michaeltkeene.com/about/

Send questions / comments / suggestions to:

https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/

Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media

Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/

Professor, The Julliard School.

Leonard Melfi was revered by his peers as one of the most respected and creative playwrights of his generation. He is most associated with the offbeat La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, on East 4th Street in New York’s East Village, which produced twenty-two of his plays.

Struggling with alcoholism for many years, Melfi died of congestive heart failure in 2001. It was later reported that his body had been “misplaced” by hospital staff and ended up being buried on Hart Island!

Join us as Professor Berkeley recounts his collaborations with Melfi and his remarkable work.

Watch the film adaption of Leonard Melfi’s most famous play, “Bird Bath” starring Lila French.

Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book, 

NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS

Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author

https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/

Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene

https://michaeltkeene.com/about/

Send questions / comments / suggestions to:

https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/

Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media

Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/

Professor, Furman University.

Most of this generation of Italian immigrants took their first steps on U.S. soil in a place that has now become a legend—Ellis Island. In the 1880s, they numbered 300,000; in the 1890s, 600,000; in the decade after that, more than two million. By 1920, more than 4 million Italians had come to the United States, and represented more than 10 percent of the nation’s foreign-born population.

What brought about this dramatic surge in immigration? Decades of internal strife had left a legacy of violence, social chaos, and widespread poverty in Italy. As transatlantic transportation became more affordable, and as word of American prosperity came, via returning immigrants and U.S. recruiters, Italians found it increasingly difficult to resist the call of “L’America”.

This new generation of Italian immigrants was distinctly different in makeup from those that had come before. The vast majority were poor farmers and laborers looking for a steady source of work—any work. There were a significant number of single men among these immigrants and when they died from disease or violence some found their way to Hart Island.

Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book, 

NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS

Pre-Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author

https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/

Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene

https://michaeltkeene.com/about/

Send questions / comments / suggestions to:

https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/

Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media

Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/

Professor, University of Alabama at Birmingham.

American film actress Shelia Terry was a true Hollywood starlet of the 1930’s, starring in among other films, three with John Wayne before she ended her life, with an overdose of sleeping pills in 1947.

Described as one of films first glamour stars, her stunning good looks would eventually fade, as did her film roles. Although married three times and divorced, she was without family and friends to intervene. She died alone and penniless; so alone she was buried on Hart Island.

Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book, 

NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS

Pre-Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author

https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/

Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene

https://michaeltkeene.com/about/

Send questions / comments / suggestions to:

https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/

Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media

Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/

Professor, Purdue University.

Well before Hart island became New York City’s potters field, Hart Island, or Hart’s Island as it was then called, became a prime tourist destination for every rogue and scoundrel in town, when City officials banned boxing. Overnight, the ban turned the island into one of New York’s premier pugilism venues.

On April 20, 1842, James Yankee Sullivan and Englishman Billy Bell slugged it out for 24 bloody bare-knuckle rounds. Over 6,000 fans, including Yankee Sullivan’s pal Bill the Butcher Poole, sailed to the island to cheer on Sullivan. One newspaper joked that the city’s crime rate went down that day, by half !

By the time of the Civil War, fighters regularly battled on this desolate stretch of land, but the Union spoiled the fun when they realized the island’s usefulness as a prisoner of war camp, for Confederate troops. But for a brief moment in time, Hart Island reigned supreme as the Mecca for bare knuckle fighting !

Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book, 

NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS

Pre-Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author

https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/

Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene

https://michaeltkeene.com/about/

Send questions / comments / suggestions to:

https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/

Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media

Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/

Professor New York University.

As historian Robert Hughes notes, “The Tenth Ward of Lower Manhattan—the Lower East Side—had by the 1890’s, the highest concentration of people in the world: 344,000 people packed into one square mile, or nine square yards each, including street and pavement space.” There were, it was thought, 11,000 sweatshops turning out clothing, cigars, furniture, and tin ware. One of those sweatshops was the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory.

The events that unfolded on March 25, 1911 resulted in the worst industrial disaster in New York City. Called the “Triangle Shirt Waist Factory Fire”, It would also become the catalyst for an extraordinary intervention and the addition of another bizarre chapter in the history of Hart Island!

Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book, 

NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS

Pre-Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author

https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/

*Orders will ship on or after Oct 14, 2019

Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene

https://michaeltkeene.com/about/

Send questions / comments / suggestions to:

https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/

Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media

Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/

Senior Partner at Pierro, Connor, and Strauss.

She lay on the floor for three days. A slip and fall had rendered her helpless, at the mercy of fate as neighbors came and went just feet from her door. Ii was the mailman who became concerned, she had not been picking up mail, who finally called 911.

So began Leola Dickerson’s journey of hospitals, nursing homes, and a court appointed guardian that would eventually end on Hart Island.  Join us as Attorney Peter Strauss helps us navigate the complex world of Guardianship Law.

Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book, 

NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS

Pre-Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author

https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/

*Orders will ship on or after Oct 14, 2019

Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene

https://michaeltkeene.com/about/

Send questions / comments / suggestions to:

https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/

Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media

Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/

Essayist, editor, and practicing internist in New York City.

How exactly did bodies end up on Hart Island? Their first stop use to be the Bellevue Hospital Morgue.

During the 19th century, the Bellevue Morgue had become the first official repository of deceased New Yorkers. If a body was not claimed by family or friends within twenty-four hours from the time of notification of death, the New York City Department of Hospitals was authorized to allow burial on Hart Island.

But what is it like to work at Bellevue Hospital and the Morgue today?

For the answer to that question we ask Dr. Danielle Ofri. She is attending physician at Bellevue Hospital and Clinical Professor of Medicine at New York University. She is also the author of, “Singular Intimacies: Becoming a Doctor at Bellevue”.

Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book, 

NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS

Pre-Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author

https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/

*Orders will ship on or after Oct 14, 2019

Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene

https://michaeltkeene.com/about/

Send questions / comments / suggestions to:

https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/

Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media

Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/

Professor, Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic, writer, and editor.

Does the name Dawn Powell mean anything to you? I thought so. But you’re not alone.

Just as millions of people knew nothing about Hart Island, millions of people never heard of Dawn Powell, perhaps the greatest writer no-one has ever read!

It’s rather startling, in a humorous dark way, when one learns about the circumstances surrounding her demise and her burial in a mass grave on Hart Island.

Join Professor Tim Page as we learn of the remarkable life and death of novelist Dawn Powell.

Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book, 

NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS

Pre-Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author

https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/

*Orders will ship on or after Oct 14, 2019

Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene

https://michaeltkeene.com/about/

Send questions / comments / suggestions to:

https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/

Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media

Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/

Purchased by the city in 1828, the island soon harbored an almshouse, an insane asylum, a hospital, a prison and a workhouse along its narrow two-mile strip. Heating and ventilation were nonexistent, disease ran rampant. Over the next 100 years, mayhem ensued, with wrongly admitted patients, death by murder and disease, inedible food and unspeakably dirty water.

The boundaries between the four classes of people on the island (the poor, the mad, the sick and the criminal) are, in the public imagination, as blurred as ever. Blackwell Island would become another gateway leading to wide deep pits on Hart Island.

Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book, 

NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS

Pre-Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author

https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/

*Orders will ship on or after Oct 14, 2019

Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene

https://michaeltkeene.com/about/

Send questions / comments / suggestions to:

https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/

Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media

Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/