BackStory with the American History Guys » native americans

Indian Country Virginia: Real & Imagined

cm6ay — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 17:19:04 +0000

Louis Firetail (Sioux, Crow Creek), wearing tribal clothing, in American history class, Hampton Institute, Hampton, Virginia, ca. 1900 (Library of Congress)

In this live performance at Colonial Williamsburg’s Kimball Theatre, the History Guys take on the history of Indians in Virginia. From Jamestown to Thomas Jefferson to Disney’s Pocahontas, they consider some of the ways Virginian Indians have been imagined by non-Native people, and reflect on how those images have shifted over the centuries. Along the way, they are joined by two special guests, actor Larry Pourier and Colonial Williamsbug’s own Buck Woodard — both of whom contributed to the 2005 film The New World.

Guests Include

Larry Pourier, native production manager for Colonial Williamsburg
Buck Woodard, manager at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and adjunct instructor at Virginia Commonwealth University and the College of William and Mary

“Black and White” — Further Reading

Tony (BackStory Producer) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 18:57:24 +0000

The following links and documents relate to the BackStory episode “Black and White: The Idea of Racial Purity,” broadcast in January of 2009. You can listen to the entire episode here.

Read up on the origins and history of the idea of race.
Peruse an excerpt from The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family, by Annette Gordon Reed, which won the 2009 Pulitizer Prize in History.
Watch Barack Obama’s March 2008 speech about race.
Listen to the story of Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court decision that ended laws against intermarriage or read about it.

“Black and White” — Features and Highlights

Tony (BackStory Producer) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 18:56:03 +0000

Thomas and Sally — Historian Annette Gordon Reed speaks with 18th Century History Guy Peter Onuf about Thomas Jefferson’s relationship with his slave, Sally Hemings. Reed proposes that historians have come to erroneous conclusions trying to “save” Jefferson’s reputation.

Slavery & Science — Historian Daryl Scott discusses rise of scientific racism and how race has evolved–and not evolved–in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Black & White: The Idea of Racial Purity

cm6ay — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:36:33 +0000

On this episode of BackStory, the History Guys look for the roots of America’s obsession with race, and ask why the line between black and white has remained so bold despite centuries of racial mixing.

Were the categories of “black” and “white” already in place when Africans first came to America, and if not, when did they take shape? How did the founders think about race, and what are we to make of the contradictions between the public writings of men like Jefferson and their behavior in private? What is the “one-drop rule,” and where did it come from? In what ways have religion and science affirmed and challenged notions of racial difference? It’s not hard to see the progress that’s been made on the road to racial equality, but what have been the major setbacks and reversals along the way?

Guests include:

*Pulitzer Prize winner Annette Gordon Reed (The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family) reflects on why Thomas Jefferson’s relationship with his slave, Sally Hemings, continues to be so controversial

*Historian Daryl Scott (Howard University) parses the differences between race consciousness and racism throughout the 20th century

Features & Highlights

Hear more about racial purity and racism in these interviews with Annette Gordon Reed and Daryl Scott. Listen here.