Been There, Done That

Historical Reenactments

Member of the Chesapeake and Potomac Vintage Baseball Club (photo credit: Eric Mennel)

Published: October 12, 2012

Americans have a fascination with their past – not just discussing it, but actually reliving it. And we’re not just talking about the Civil War. Every weekend, there are people in various parts of the country putting on the clothes of old time baseball players, enslaved people — even KKK members.

And so on this episode, we’re asking what drives Americans to the scripts of the past. Is it purely educational? Or is there something deeper, more personal, at stake? What events do we reenact and why? Are there some chapters of American history that are still off-limits for this sort of treatment?

Tags: african american history, american history, civil war, military history, racism, social history

Man o’ War

Author Charlie Schroeder talks with the American History Guys about how he reenacted his way through history and lived to write a book about it.

To Reenact, or Not to Reenact?

Brian talks with Vince Vaise from Hampton National Historic Site about “Slave for a Day,” a proposed living history event at Hampton Plantation that, when announced, caused a controversy.

Where the Buffalo Roam

Brian chats with historian Richard Slotkin about how Buffalo Bill’s Wild West brought scenes from the American West to audiences around the globe.

Georgia On Our Mind

Contributor Jacqueline Olive tells the story of a group of people who get together each year to reenact the notorious 1946 Moore’s Ford lynching in Georgia.

Telling the Untold Story Pt. 1

The American History Guys speak with Marvin Greer about why he spends his weekends playing the part of a slave at Civil War reenactments.

Telling the Untold Story, Pt. 2

Arik Greenberg explains to Peter, Ed, and Brian what compels him to reenact the Vietnam War.

Ball Boys

BackStory producer Eric Mennel attends a vintage baseball game and, in the process, learns the value of a bib.

Guests Include:

e Charlie Schroeder, Journalist, author, and reenactor
e Richard Slotkin, Wesleyan University
e Vince Vaise, Hampton National Historic Site
e Arik Greenberg,, Loyola Marymount University
e Marvin Greer, Atlanta History Center

Further Exploration

Resources galore! Peruse this list of books, articles, and interesting links we’ve put together, to provide a more complete picture of reenactment culture in the United States.

Mentioned on the Show:

Man of War: My Adventures in the World of Historical Reenactment by Charlie Schroeder
Always in Season, filmmaker Jacqueline Olive’s documentary-in-progress.
Gunfighter Nation by Richard Slotkin

Outside Links:

An article on baseball during the Civil War and some pictures of what it used to look like.
The Buffalo Bill museum in Denver has photos of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West.
This forum for reenactors can tell you about events in your area (plus where to find all the cool gear)
The Atlanta History Center, where reenactor Marvin Greer works.
Photos taken shortly after the Moores’s Ford Bridge lynching (these are not graphic):
Here’s Hampton Plantation, the National Historic Site that planned to host the “Slave for a Day” event

Bibliography:

Auslander, Mark. “Holding onto Those Who Can’t Be Held: Reenacting a Lynching at Moore’s Ford, Georgia.” Southern Spaces. Web. 8 November 2010.
Kasson, Joy S. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West: Celebrity, Memory, and Popular History. New York: Hill and Wang, 2000.
Thompson, Jenny. War Games: Inside the World of 20th-Century War Reenactors. Washington: Smithsonian Books, 2004.
Warren, Louis S. Buffalo Bill’s America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.

Wexler, Laura.Fire in a Canebrake: The Last Mass Lynching in America. New York: Scribner, 2003.

Playing some "Base Ball"

Some photos of the Chesapeake and Potomac Vintage Baseball Club doing what they do best – playing “base ball,” 1860s style… (photo credits: Eric Mennel)

The BackStory to this Episode...

Read the listener discussion that helped shape the show.

Tracks

Your Face Left Before You
Riposte
Buke and Gass

Rude Boys Don’t Cry
Sounding a Mosaic
Bedouin Soundlash

Casio Daisy
Lucky Shiner
Gold Panda

Cats and Dogs
The Head And The Heart
The Head And The Heart

Dino Damage
Tell It To The Volcano
Miniature Tigers

By This River
Summvs
Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto

Out to Sea
Another Happy Day (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Olafur Arnalds

The Seasons, Opus 37a juni
Reading Music
Tchaikovsky

Kill Monsters in the Rain
Trampoline
Steel Train

I’ve Let You Go
Trampolice
Steel Train

It’s All Been Done
Stunt
Barenaked Ladies

Comments (2)

{ Add New Comment

Peter E
October 19, 2012 at 8:08 AM
Wow – what a great show! Maybe the best yet. Keep up the good work, and thank you.
Reply
Tim Powell
December 14, 2012 at 9:39 AM
I enjoyed this podcast very much, but I had trouble believing that anyone would reenact a lynching till I watched it on youtube. I couldn’t actually make it all the way through the video. It was very heartbreaking. Mans inhumanity to Man seems to be a recurring theme throughout history, but you don’t really get a sense of what it was like reading it out of a book. Please keep making these podcasts, its the type of history they don’t teach in school, and thats a shame.
Reply

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