Podcast appearances and mentions of Carla L Peterson

In episode 43 we welcome back CARLA L. PETERSON (from Ep. 28), author of the 2011 book  “Black Gotham: A Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City.” Carla takes us inside the parties, pleasures, and fashionable lifestyles of New York's Black middle class of the 19th century, and how the philsophy of "taste" informed the lives of that century's Black American elite. We also talk about how the separate and elite lives of 19th century New York “old money,” “new money,” and the Black elite are interpreted for the HBO series, THE GILDED AGE. Carla's book, “Black Gotham,” served as a resource for the creation of the Scott family in THE GILDED AGE now in its second season. THE GILDED AGE is created by Julian Fellowes (DOWNTON ABBEY). Content note: The word “colored” is used in its African American historical context. Download the TRANSCRIPT for Ep. 43 from this link⁠⁠.⁠⁠ PLEASE NOTE: TRANSCRIPTS ARE GENERATED USING A COMBINATION OF SPEECH RECOGNITION SOFTWARE AND HUMAN TRANSCRIBERS, AND MAY CONTAIN ERRORS. ---------- TIMESTAMPS 04:24 Taste in 19th century African American community 08:48 Taste, morality, and community in 19th century Manhattan (New York) 14:31 Fashion as linguistic code 19:12 Black pleasure in 19th century New York 24:47 Art and social status in 19th century New York 35:41 BREAK 37:06 Education and Black Upward Mobility 44:51 Tuskegee Institute/Booker T. Washington and The Talented Tenth/W.E.B. DuBois 48:38 Race, identity and strategic passing 53:12 Upstairs/Downstairs and Capital/Labor Plots 1:01 What if a Scott Family sequel 1:06:04 Where to watch THE GILDED AGE STAY ENGAGED with HISTORICAL DRAMA WITH THE BOSTON SISTERS ⁠LISTEN⁠ to past past podcasts starting with the guests featured in this bonus episode ⁠SIGN UP⁠ for our mailing list SUBSCRIBE to the podcast on your favorite podcast platform You can SUPPORT this podcast on ⁠Spotify⁠ or⁠ SHOP THE PODCAST⁠ on our affiliate bookstore Thank you for listening! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/historicaldramasisters/support

Episode 28 features a conversation with CARLA L. PETERSON, author of the 2011 book “Black Gotham: A Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City.” Professor Peterson's book served as a resource for the creation of the characters, story, and the Black community in HBO's THE GILDED AGE. Part detective tale, part social and cultural narrative, "Black Gotham" is Carla Peterson's riveting account of her quest to reconstruct the lives of her nineteenth-century ancestors. As she shares their stories and those of their friends, neighbors, and business associates, she illuminates the greater history of African-American elites in New York City. (Source: Yale University Press) Carla L. Peterson is professor emerita in the Department of English at the University of Maryland, College Park, and a specialist in nineteenth-century African American literary and cultural studies. In addition to "Black Gotham: A Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City" (published in 2011) she has published numerous essays and a second book "Doers of the Word: African-American Women Speakers and Writers in the North, 1830-1880" (1995). Carla Peterson is currently at work on a new project, "Urbanity and Taste: The Making of African American Modernity in Antebellum New York and Philadelphia." Recorded 1/13/23 Download the transcript for Ep. 28 from this link. TIMESTAMPS 0:08 Podcast Generic Open 1:21 Introduction to Black Gotham and The Gilded Age Conversation 3:55 Carla Peterson Introduction 5:07 Black Family History 12:42 Historical Resources and Detective Work 22:00 New York's Black Cosmopolitans 29:42 Southern Slave Economy and Northern White Wealth 38:26 Break 29:03 The Scott Family in HBO's "The Gilded Age" 44:11 Peggy and Arthur Scott: Class, Gender, and Generational Conflict 47:41 Who Has Taste? Black Education, Peggy Scott and Agnes van Rhijn 54:41 Lightning Round: Conversation with Ancestors, Thomas Downing, Interracial Stories, and Stories of the Black Elite 1:06:07 Stay Connected with Historical Drama with The Boston Sisters 1:07 Boilerplate Closing STAY ENGAGED with HISTORICAL DRAMA WITH THE BOSTON SISTERS LISTEN to past past podcasts including bonus episodes, "Women & Power in THE GILDED AGE" part 1 and part 2. SIGN UP for our mailing list SUBSCRIBE to the podcast on your favorite podcast platform You can SUPPORT this podcast on Anchor or SHOP THE PODCAST on our affiliate bookstore. Thank you for listening! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/historicaldramasisters/support

Learn how Cluster Research helped to unravel the history of a family in 19th Century New York! Black Gotham: A Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City Yale UP, 2011- is a social and cultural history of African Americans in nineteenth-century New York City as seen through the lens of family history.  It was awarded the 2011 NYC Book Award in History from the New York Society Library and was a finalist for the 2012 Gilder-Lerhman Institute Frederick Douglass Prize.   In connection with the publication of Black Gotham, Peterson has appeared on C-SPAN Book TV. Part detective tale, part social and cultural narrative, Black Gotham is Carla L. Peterson's riveting account of her quest to reconstruct the lives of her nineteenth-century ancestors from youth to adulthood.  Her book challenges many of the accepted “truths” about African American history, including the assumption that the phrase “19-century black Americans” means enslaved people, that “New York State before the Civil War” refers to a place of freedom, and that a black elite did not exist until the 20th century.  Peterson demonstrates that despite the rise of scientific racism, the trauma of the Civil War draft riots, and the advent of Jim Crow, members of New York's 19-century elite achieved remarkable success in their public activism, trades, and professions.   Peterson is a professor in the department of English at the University of Maryland, and affiliate faculty of the departments of Women's Studies, American Studies, and African-American Studies.     

Digging up our roots seems to be the thing these days.  There are a host of genealogy resources available for anyone who cares to (re)discover their familial past.  Still, in the Americas people of African descent who want to take part in this digging encounter barriers; often there are gaps in the family histories of those whose members were bought and sold on a whim.   As she takes readers on a remarkable historical journey, Carla Peterson, author of Black Gotham:  A Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City (Yale University Press, 2011), illuminates the challenges of (re)discovering family histories and along the way, readers glean much about US national history. Armed with determination, patience beyond measure, and with several doses of serendipity, Peterson, Professor of English at the University of Maryland, College Park, takes her desire to return and find elements of her past to the archives of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.  Her persistence reveals to readers a new view of nineteenth century Gotham, as Washington Irving called the city of New York.  For example, Black Gothamprovides support for social historians who would argue that the New Negro movement–often solely associated with the Harlem Renaissance–began in the ante-bellum era.  And, those interested in the education of free African Americans pre-1865 may find it fascinating that many of the 19th century’s black elite were a part of New York’s African Free School system–the Mulberry Street School, in particular.  Celebrated alumni include James McCune Smith, Alexander Crummell, Henry Highland Garnet, George Downing, the Reason brothers–Charles and Patrick–as well as Peterson’s great-great grandfather, Peter Guignon, and her great-grandfather, Philip White.  As Peterson rediscovers her paternal family’s New York history, she at times laments the obscurity to which the women in her family were relegated; she does her best to remedy this, however, as she uses facts and imagination to piece together their lives. While the book divulges new perspectives on freedom–or the lack thereof–for black New Yorkers in the nineteenth century, it also is instructive with regards to methods of research for those who seek to dress up the scraps of memory mothers, fathers, grand-aunts or grand-uncles choose to share. Needless to say, the acts of both forgetting and remembering are found not only in personal narratives of history; the journey upon which Peterson embarks also forces readers to consider how and whom institutions choose to forget and/or remember–indeed, how the nation selectively forgets and remembers. Sankofa is an Adinkra symbol of West Africa’s Akan people that means “to go back and take it.”  It describes one impetus for Dr. Carla Peterson’s journey for she indeed goes back to see; Black Gotham:  A Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City attests to the fact that her insistence pays off significantly–both for her personally, and for lovers of history alike.  Read alongside a virtual archive http://archive.blackgothamarchive.org/ wherein one can find documents and images of New York’s black elite of the nineteenth century, the narrative moves one steadily along, inspiring new critical questions and intrigue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Digging up our roots seems to be the thing these days.  There are a host of genealogy resources available for anyone who cares to (re)discover their familial past.  Still, in the Americas people of African descent who want to take part in this digging encounter barriers; often there are gaps in the family histories of those whose members were bought and sold on a whim.   As she takes readers on a remarkable historical journey, Carla Peterson, author of Black Gotham:  A Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City (Yale University Press, 2011), illuminates the challenges of (re)discovering family histories and along the way, readers glean much about US national history. Armed with determination, patience beyond measure, and with several doses of serendipity, Peterson, Professor of English at the University of Maryland, College Park, takes her desire to return and find elements of her past to the archives of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.  Her persistence reveals to readers a new view of nineteenth century Gotham, as Washington Irving called the city of New York.  For example, Black Gothamprovides support for social historians who would argue that the New Negro movement–often solely associated with the Harlem Renaissance–began in the ante-bellum era.  And, those interested in the education of free African Americans pre-1865 may find it fascinating that many of the 19th century’s black elite were a part of New York’s African Free School system–the Mulberry Street School, in particular.  Celebrated alumni include James McCune Smith, Alexander Crummell, Henry Highland Garnet, George Downing, the Reason brothers–Charles and Patrick–as well as Peterson’s great-great grandfather, Peter Guignon, and her great-grandfather, Philip White.  As Peterson rediscovers her paternal family’s New York history, she at times laments the obscurity to which the women in her family were relegated; she does her best to remedy this, however, as she uses facts and imagination to piece together their lives. While the book divulges new perspectives on freedom–or the lack thereof–for black New Yorkers in the nineteenth century, it also is instructive with regards to methods of research for those who seek to dress up the scraps of memory mothers, fathers, grand-aunts or grand-uncles choose to share. Needless to say, the acts of both forgetting and remembering are found not only in personal narratives of history; the journey upon which Peterson embarks also forces readers to consider how and whom institutions choose to forget and/or remember–indeed, how the nation selectively forgets and remembers. Sankofa is an Adinkra symbol of West Africa’s Akan people that means “to go back and take it.”  It describes one impetus for Dr. Carla Peterson’s journey for she indeed goes back to see; Black Gotham:  A Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City attests to the fact that her insistence pays off significantly–both for her personally, and for lovers of history alike.  Read alongside a virtual archive http://archive.blackgothamarchive.org/ wherein one can find documents and images of New York’s black elite of the nineteenth century, the narrative moves one steadily along, inspiring new critical questions and intrigue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Digging up our roots seems to be the thing these days.  There are a host of genealogy resources available for anyone who cares to (re)discover their familial past.  Still, in the Americas people of African descent who want to take part in this digging encounter barriers; often there are gaps in the family histories of those whose members were bought and sold on a whim.   As she takes readers on a remarkable historical journey, Carla Peterson, author of Black Gotham:  A Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City (Yale University Press, 2011), illuminates the challenges of (re)discovering family histories and along the way, readers glean much about US national history. Armed with determination, patience beyond measure, and with several doses of serendipity, Peterson, Professor of English at the University of Maryland, College Park, takes her desire to return and find elements of her past to the archives of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.  Her persistence reveals to readers a new view of nineteenth century Gotham, as Washington Irving called the city of New York.  For example, Black Gothamprovides support for social historians who would argue that the New Negro movement–often solely associated with the Harlem Renaissance–began in the ante-bellum era.  And, those interested in the education of free African Americans pre-1865 may find it fascinating that many of the 19th century’s black elite were a part of New York’s African Free School system–the Mulberry Street School, in particular.  Celebrated alumni include James McCune Smith, Alexander Crummell, Henry Highland Garnet, George Downing, the Reason brothers–Charles and Patrick–as well as Peterson’s great-great grandfather, Peter Guignon, and her great-grandfather, Philip White.  As Peterson rediscovers her paternal family’s New York history, she at times laments the obscurity to which the women in her family were relegated; she does her best to remedy this, however, as she uses facts and imagination to piece together their lives. While the book divulges new perspectives on freedom–or the lack thereof–for black New Yorkers in the nineteenth century, it also is instructive with regards to methods of research for those who seek to dress up the scraps of memory mothers, fathers, grand-aunts or grand-uncles choose to share. Needless to say, the acts of both forgetting and remembering are found not only in personal narratives of history; the journey upon which Peterson embarks also forces readers to consider how and whom institutions choose to forget and/or remember–indeed, how the nation selectively forgets and remembers. Sankofa is an Adinkra symbol of West Africa’s Akan people that means “to go back and take it.”  It describes one impetus for Dr. Carla Peterson’s journey for she indeed goes back to see; Black Gotham:  A Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City attests to the fact that her insistence pays off significantly–both for her personally, and for lovers of history alike.  Read alongside a virtual archive http://archive.blackgothamarchive.org/ wherein one can find documents and images of New York’s black elite of the nineteenth century, the narrative moves one steadily along, inspiring new critical questions and intrigue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Digging up our roots seems to be the thing these days.  There are a host of genealogy resources available for anyone who cares to (re)discover their familial past.  Still, in the Americas people of African descent who want to take part in this digging encounter barriers; often there are gaps in the family histories of those whose members were bought and sold on a whim.   As she takes readers on a remarkable historical journey, Carla Peterson, author of Black Gotham:  A Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City (Yale University Press, 2011), illuminates the challenges of (re)discovering family histories and along the way, readers glean much about US national history. Armed with determination, patience beyond measure, and with several doses of serendipity, Peterson, Professor of English at the University of Maryland, College Park, takes her desire to return and find elements of her past to the archives of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.  Her persistence reveals to readers a new view of nineteenth century Gotham, as Washington Irving called the city of New York.  For example, Black Gothamprovides support for social historians who would argue that the New Negro movement–often solely associated with the Harlem Renaissance–began in the ante-bellum era.  And, those interested in the education of free African Americans pre-1865 may find it fascinating that many of the 19th century's black elite were a part of New York's African Free School system–the Mulberry Street School, in particular.  Celebrated alumni include James McCune Smith, Alexander Crummell, Henry Highland Garnet, George Downing, the Reason brothers–Charles and Patrick–as well as Peterson's great-great grandfather, Peter Guignon, and her great-grandfather, Philip White.  As Peterson rediscovers her paternal family's New York history, she at times laments the obscurity to which the women in her family were relegated; she does her best to remedy this, however, as she uses facts and imagination to piece together their lives. While the book divulges new perspectives on freedom–or the lack thereof–for black New Yorkers in the nineteenth century, it also is instructive with regards to methods of research for those who seek to dress up the scraps of memory mothers, fathers, grand-aunts or grand-uncles choose to share. Needless to say, the acts of both forgetting and remembering are found not only in personal narratives of history; the journey upon which Peterson embarks also forces readers to consider how and whom institutions choose to forget and/or remember–indeed, how the nation selectively forgets and remembers. Sankofa is an Adinkra symbol of West Africa's Akan people that means “to go back and take it.”  It describes one impetus for Dr. Carla Peterson's journey for she indeed goes back to see; Black Gotham:  A Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City attests to the fact that her insistence pays off significantly–both for her personally, and for lovers of history alike.  Read alongside a virtual archive http://archive.blackgothamarchive.org/ wherein one can find documents and images of New York's black elite of the nineteenth century, the narrative moves one steadily along, inspiring new critical questions and intrigue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies

Carla L. Peterson appears at the 2011 National Book Festival. Speaker Biography: Carla L. Peterson is an English professor and affiliate faculty member of the American Studies, African-American Studies and Women's Studies departments at the University of Maryland at College Park. Her works include "African-American Women Orators in the Antebellum North," "Antebellum Slave Narrators: Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs" and "Family, Memory, History: Reconstituting Black Elite Culture in Nineteenth-Century New York." Her new book, "Black Gotham: A History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City" (Yale University Press), is Peterson's riveting account of her quest to reconstruct her 19th-century ancestors' lives. For captions, transcript, and more information, visit http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=5276.

Part detective tale, part social and cultural narrative, "Black Gotham: A Family History of African-Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York" (Yale University Press, 2011), is Carla Peterson's account of her quest to reconstruct the lives of her 19th-century ancestors. As she shares their stories and those of their friends, neighbors and business associates, she illuminates the greater history of African-American elites in New York City. Speaker Biography: Carla L. Peterson is professor of English at the University of Maryland at College Park. Her expertise includes nineteenth-century African American women writers and speakers in the northern U.S., African-American novelists in the post-Reconstruction era, and gender and culture in historical literature.

Part detective tale, part social and cultural narrative, Black Gotham is Carla Peterson's riveting account of her quest to reconstruct the lives of her nineteenth-century ancestors. As she shares their stories and those of their friends, neighbors, and business associates, she illuminates the greater history of African-American elites in New York City. Told in a vivid, fast-paced style, Black Gotham is an important account of the rarely acknowledged achievements of nineteenth-century African Americans and brings to the forefront a vital yet forgotten part of American history and culture. Carla L. Peterson received her Ph.D. from Yale and is professor of English at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is the author of "Doers of the Word": African-American Women Speakers and Writers in the North, 1830-1880.