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In 1892, 17-year-old Freda Ward was walking to the river landing when she was attacked with a razor blade and had her throat slit. The ensuing legal battles brought national attention to Memphis, Tennessee, and challenged her society's views on gender and love.Sources:Abate, Michelle Ann. Tomboys: A Literary and Cultural History. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2008).Astor, Vincent. “Alice & Freda: In 1892, Memphis girls' young love ends tragically, creates national headlines.” Focus LGBT. February, 2018. https://focuslgbt.com/blog/alice-freda-1892-memphis-girls-young-love-ends-tragically-creates-national-headlines/Coe, Alexis. Alice + Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis. (Minneapolis: Zest Books, 2014).“A Very Unnatural Crime.” The Toast. September 6, 2013. https://the-toast.net/2013/09/06/crime-history-alice-mitchell/ “Girl Slays Girl: An Excerpt From ‘Alice + Freda Forever'.” Jezebel. October 7, 2014. https://jezebel.com/girl-slays-girl-an-excerpt-from-alice-freda-forever-1643363496“How My Book Infected My Nightmares.” VICE. October 28, 2014. https://www.vice.com/en/article/znw8dj/alice-in-the-asylum-1027Cortez, Ali. “A Love Gone South in ‘Alice + Freda Forever'.” Deep South Mag. October 3, 2014. https://deepsouthmag.com/2014/10/03/a-love-gone-south-in-alice-freda-forever/Duggan, Lisa. Sapphic Slashers: Sex, Violence, and American Modernity (Durham: Duke University Press, 2000).Fowler, Russell. “Evil on the Bench: The Rise and Fall of Judge Julius J. DuBose.” Tennessee Bar Association. February 1, 2020. https://www.tba.org/?pg=Articles&blAction=showEntry&blogEntry=52583“Jenny Higbee and the Memphis Higbee School.” Historic Memphis. http://www.historic-memphis.com/biographies/higbee/higbee.htmlLindquist, Lisa J. “Images of Alice: Gender, Deviancy, and a Love Murder in Memphis.” Journal of the History of Sexuality. Vol. 6. No. 1. (July, 1995) pp. 30-61.Newspapers: The Bolivar Bulletin, The San Francisco Call, The New York TimesMusic: Credits to David Fesilyan For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com
A new biography published about George Washington is unlike any other. Described as “form-shattering and myth-crushing,” “keen and savage,” as well as “spirited and engaging,” historian Alexis Coe’s “You Never Forget Your First” chronicles the life of our first president from a 21st century and “decidedly feminist” perspective. Coe says, “I set out to write a book that was true, and different, and that added any kind of diversity in approach, perspective, and, of course, author. I set out to take a giant leap away from hagiography and great man history—and really mean it.” This conversation will be moderated by Professor Jeffrey Engel. Alexis Coe has frequently appeared on CNN and the History Channel, and in the New York Times and many other publications. She is a host of Audible’s “Presidents Are People Too!” and “No Man’s Land.” Coe holds an MA in history from Sarah Lawrence College and graduated from the honors college at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She was a research curator at the New York Public Library and her first book, “Alice + Freda Forever,” is set to become a motion picture. Jeffrey A. Engel is the founding director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University and professor in the Clements Department of History. He graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University. Engel also studied at St. Catherine's College, Oxford University, and received his M.A. and Ph.D. in American history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He taught American history, international relations, and grand strategy at the University of Wisconsin, Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Haverford College. At Texas A&M's Bush School of Government & Public Service, he was a professor and director of programming for the Scowcroft Institute for International Affairs. . . Do you believe in the importance of international education and connections? The nonprofit World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth is supported by gifts from people like you, who share our passion for engaging in dialogue on global affairs and building bridges of understanding. While the Council is not currently charging admission for virtual events, we ask you to please consider making a one-time or recurring gift to help us keep the conversation going through informative public programs and targeted events for students and teachers. Donate: https://www.dfwworld.org/donate
In this episode, Matt chats to Alexis Coe an award-winning historian and New York Times Bestselling Author of YOU NEVER FORGET YOUR FIRST and ALICE+FREDA FOREVER (which will soon be a major motion picture). She appears in and was a Consulting Producer on the History Channel's WASHINGTON, Executive Produced by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Alexis is the host of NO MAN'S LAND, The Wing's podcast on women's history, and co-hosted PRESIDENTS ARE PEOPLE TOO! from Audible. Tune in as Matt and Alexis discuss American leadership, George Washington and revolution. Gifts from the Matt Brown Show - If you grab a copy of Alexis's book from the store https://www.booksaremagic.net/ she will then allow for anyone with a receipt to ask her a question which she will respond in a one minute video back to you. Send a copy of your receipt to mav@digitalkungfu.com Don't forget to grab your FREE copy of #1 Best Selling Book 'Your Inner Game' today - https://mattbrownshow.com/your-inner-game/
The modern biography as we know it dates to the eighteenth century when Scottish author and lawyer James Boswell published The Life of Samuel Johnson. Boswell produced an account of the rascally Englishman, a friend of his for more than twenty years, that became a kind of template that future biographers have followed. We've all read our fair share of biographies, especially presidential biographies, to know that they follow a similar structure. This is especially true of biographies of the American Revolutionary generation. So how can we shake up this genre? And perhaps more importantly, how can we shake up biographies of George Washington, a man who seems at times opaque and beyond reproach? On today's episode, historian Alexis Coe helps us re-imagine what a biography can be so that we can better understand George Washington and the world around him. Coe is the author of the new book, You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington, and if the title is any hint of what's between the covers, this isn't your father's standard Washington biography. About Our Guest: Alexis Taines Coe is an historian. She is the author of the narrative history book, Alice+Freda Forever, and is a consultant on the movie adaptation. Her second book, You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington, was published by Viking (Penguin Random House) on February 4, 2020. Alexis is a consulting producer on the Doris Kearns Goodwin's three part George Washington series (February 2020) on the History Channel. She is the host of "No Man's Land" from The Wing/Pineapple and co-hosted "Presidents Are People Too!" from Audible. Alexis curated the ACLU'S 100 exhibition and was the assistant curator of the NYPL's centennial exhibition in Bryant Park. She has appeared on CNN, the History Channel, C-SPAN, and CBS, and lectured at Columbia, West Point, Georgetown, Sarah Lawrence, NYU, the New School, the University of San Francisco, and many others. She has given talks sponsored by Hulu, Chanel, and Madewell. About Our Host: Jim Ambuske, Ph.D. leads the Center for Digital History at the Washington Library. A historian of the American Revolution, Scotland, and the British Atlantic World, Ambuske graduated from the University of Virginia in 2016. He is a former Farmer Postdoctoral Fellow in Digital Humanities at the University of Virginia Law Library. At UVA Law, Ambuske co-directed the 1828 Catalogue Project and the Scottish Court of Session Project. He is currently at work on a book about emigration from Scotland in the era of the American Revolution as well as a chapter on Scottish loyalism during the American Revolution for a volume to be published by the University of Edinburgh Press.
The modern biography as we know it dates to the eighteenth century when Scottish author and lawyer James Boswell published The Life of Samuel Johnson. Boswell produced an account of the rascally Englishman, a friend of his for more than twenty years, that became a kind of template that future biographers have followed. We've all read our fair share of biographies, especially presidential biographies, to know that they follow a similar structure. This is especially true of biographies of the American Revolutionary generation. So how can we shake up this genre? And perhaps more importantly, how can we shake up biographies of George Washington, a man who seems at times opaque and beyond reproach? On today’s episode, historian Alexis Coe helps us re-imagine what a biography can be so that we can better understand George Washington and the world around him. Coe is the author of the new book, You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington, and if the title is any hint of what’s between the covers, this isn’t your father’s standard Washington biography. About Our Guest: Alexis Taines Coe is an historian. She is the author of the narrative history book, Alice+Freda Forever, and is a consultant on the movie adaptation. Her second book, You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington, was published by Viking (Penguin Random House) on February 4, 2020. Alexis is a consulting producer on the Doris Kearns Goodwin's three part George Washington series (February 2020) on the History Channel. She is the host of "No Man's Land" from The Wing/Pineapple and co-hosted "Presidents Are People Too!" from Audible. Alexis curated the ACLU'S 100 exhibition and was the assistant curator of the NYPL's centennial exhibition in Bryant Park. She has appeared on CNN, the History Channel, C-SPAN, and CBS, and lectured at Columbia, West Point, Georgetown, Sarah Lawrence, NYU, the New School, the University of San Francisco, and many others. She has given talks sponsored by Hulu, Chanel, and Madewell. About Our Host: Jim Ambuske leads the Center for Digital History at the Washington Library. He received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Virginia in 2016 with a focus on Scotland and America in an Age of War and Revolution. He is a former Farmer Postdoctoral Fellow in Digital Humanities at the University of Virginia Law Library. At UVA, Ambuske co-directed the 1828 Catalogue Project and the Scottish Court of Session Project. He is the co-author with Randall Flaherty of "Reading Law in the Early Republic: Legal Education in the Age of Jefferson," in The Founding of Thomas Jefferson's University ed. by John A. Rogasta, Peter S. Onuf, and Andrew O'Shaughnessy (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2019). Ambuske is currently at work on a book entitled Emigration and Empire: America and Scotland in the Revolutionary Era, as well as a chapter on Scottish loyalism during the American Revolution for a volume to be published by the University of Edinburgh Press. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/mountvernon/message
Alexis Coe discusses Alice + Freda Forever, the book, podcast and movie; also the research and writing process + her forthcoming bio of George Washington.
Alexis Coe is a historian and the author of " Alice+Freda Forever." We talked about setting weed rules for yourself, why it's hard to leave a legalization state behind, and which Presidents she thinks might have smoked weed.
Brea and Mallory talk about true crime books and interview author and investigative journalist Billy Jensen. Use the hashtag #ReadingGlassesPodcast to participate in online discussion! Email us at readingglassespodcast at gmail dot com! Reading Glasses Merch Links - Pre-Order Mallory’s Book! The Lady from the Black Lagoon Reading Glasses Transcriptions on Gretta Reading Glasses Facebook Group Reading Glasses Goodreads Group Apex Magazine Page Advice Article Amazon Wish List True Crime Article Billy Jensen https://twitter.com/Billyjensen Books Mentioned - Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry Alice + Freda Forever by Alexis Coe People Who Eat Darkness by Richard Lloyd Perry American Fire by Monica Hesse I’ll Be Gone In The Dark by Michelle McNamara Bad Blood by John Carreyrou The Alienist by Caleb Carr The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson Paperbacks from Hell by Grady Hendrix We Eat Our Own by Kea Wilson
Alexis Coe is the guest. She is the author of Alice + Freda Forever, available now from Pulp/Zest Books. Peter Orner says "Alexis Coe rescues a buried but extraordinarily telling episode from the 1890's that resonates in all sorts of ways with today. That in itself would be an accomplishment. But this is a book that is truly riveting, a narrative that gallops. Lizzy Borden eat your heart out. Here's a real crime of passion. Or was it? 'And so Alice carried the razor around every day in her dress pocket, just in case Freda came to town…' I dare you to pick this one up and try, just try to put it down." And Vol. 1 Brooklyn says "Though the history recounted in Alexis Coe's Alice + Freda Forever is captivating in its own right, Coe also provides a larger context for it, elevating this to the level of a societal indictment. This story of a star-crossed love with a violent ending at times reads like a microcosm of Memphis at the end of the 19th century. As Coe's narrative delves into perceptions of sexuality and the ways in which the case touched on different aspects of daily life, it never loses sight of the tragic romance at its core." Monologue topics: mail, Chelsea Hodson, prurience, sex, manners, gender. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Alexis Coe is a former research curator for the New York Public Library and has had her writing published in publications such as The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and Modern Farmer. Zest Books has published her debut Alice + Freda Forever, which is a true crime story of same sex romance which ended in murder in the 1890s in the American South.
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