Podcasts about edda fields black

Join us this Monday morning as we welcome back renowned Black politics expert Dr. James Taylor to our classroom! He will tackle pressing issues, including the alarming violent arrest of a Black woman for allegedly jaywalking in San Francisco. Before Dr. Taylor, we have the privilege of hearing from the 2025 Pulitzer Prize-winning author Dr. Edda Fields-Black, who will shed light on her remarkable book about Harriet Tubman's invaluable Civil War service and the pivotal Combahee River Raid. Kicking off our lineup, The founder of The Black Lawyers for Justice, attorney Malik Shabazz, will share his insights and perspectives.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

She's known for helping to free people through the Underground Railroad, but Harriet Tubman was also a spy during the Civil War. And with the intelligence she collected, the Maryland native became the first woman to lead men into battle on gunboats down the Combahee River in South Carolina. The Combahee River Raid destroyed several vital Confederate rice plantations and liberated more than 750 people from enslavement.   Social historian Edda Fields-Black reveals new details about the raid and Tubman. And later in the episode, Ernestine Wyatt, Tubman's great-great-great-grandniece, discusses the importance of Harriet's espionage work and the legacy of her dedication to democracy.  If you liked this episode, check out these links: The Real Harriet Tubman African Americans in Espionage | International Spy Museum Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/ And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by E-mail at spycast@Spymuseum.org,  This show is brought to you from Goat Rodeo, Airwave, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian and author Edda L. Fields-Black tells us the fascinating and action-packed story of one of the most daring spy operations and raids of the entire Civil War – led by the Harriet Tubman. 

Noted Black historian Edda Fields-Black joins us to talk about her new text, “COMBEE: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War".

Most Americans know of Harriet Tubman's legendary life: escaping enslavement in 1849, she led more than 60 others out of bondage via the Underground Railroad, gave instructions on getting to freedom to scores more, and went on to live a lifetime fighting for change. Yet the many biographies, children's books, and films about Tubman omit a crucial chapter: during the Civil War, hired by the Union Army, she ventured into the heart of slave territory--Beaufort, South Carolina--to live, work, and gather intelligence for a daring raid up the Combahee River to attack the major plantations of Rice Country, the breadbasket of the Confederacy. In Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War (Oxford UP, 2023), Edda L. Fields-Black--herself a descendent of one of the participants in the raid--shows how Tubman commanded a ring of spies, scouts, and pilots and participated in military expeditions behind Confederate lines. On June 2, 1863, Tubman and her crew piloted two regiments of Black US Army soldiers, the Second South Carolina Volunteers, and their white commanders up coastal South Carolina's Combahee River in three gunboats. In a matter of hours, they torched eight rice plantations and liberated 730 people, people whose Lowcountry Creole language and culture Tubman could not even understand. Black men who had liberated themselves from bondage on South Carolina's Sea Island cotton plantations after the Battle of Port Royal in November 1861 enlisted in the Second South Carolina Volunteers and risked their lives in the effort. Using previous unexamined documents, including Tubman's US Civil War Pension File, bills of sale, wills, marriage settlements, and estate papers from planters' families, Fields-Black brings to life intergenerational, extended enslaved families, neighbors, praise-house members, and sweethearts forced to work in South Carolina's deadly tidal rice swamps, sold, and separated during the antebellum period. When Tubman and the gunboats arrived and blew their steam whistles, many of those people clambered aboard, sailed to freedom, and were eventually reunited with their families. The able-bodied Black men freed in the Combahee River Raid enlisted in the Second South Carolina Volunteers and fought behind Confederate lines for the freedom of others still enslaved not just in South Carolina but Georgia and Florida. After the war, many returned to the same rice plantations from which they had escaped, purchased land, married, and buried each other. These formerly enslaved peoples on the Sea Island indigo and cotton plantations, together with those in the semi-urban port cities of Charleston, Beaufort, and Savannah, and on rice plantations in the coastal plains, created the distinctly American Gullah Geechee dialect, culture, and identity--perhaps the most significant legacy of Harriet Tubman's Combahee River Raid. 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

Most Americans know of Harriet Tubman's legendary life: escaping enslavement in 1849, she led more than 60 others out of bondage via the Underground Railroad, gave instructions on getting to freedom to scores more, and went on to live a lifetime fighting for change. Yet the many biographies, children's books, and films about Tubman omit a crucial chapter: during the Civil War, hired by the Union Army, she ventured into the heart of slave territory--Beaufort, South Carolina--to live, work, and gather intelligence for a daring raid up the Combahee River to attack the major plantations of Rice Country, the breadbasket of the Confederacy. In Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War (Oxford UP, 2023), Edda L. Fields-Black--herself a descendent of one of the participants in the raid--shows how Tubman commanded a ring of spies, scouts, and pilots and participated in military expeditions behind Confederate lines. On June 2, 1863, Tubman and her crew piloted two regiments of Black US Army soldiers, the Second South Carolina Volunteers, and their white commanders up coastal South Carolina's Combahee River in three gunboats. In a matter of hours, they torched eight rice plantations and liberated 730 people, people whose Lowcountry Creole language and culture Tubman could not even understand. Black men who had liberated themselves from bondage on South Carolina's Sea Island cotton plantations after the Battle of Port Royal in November 1861 enlisted in the Second South Carolina Volunteers and risked their lives in the effort. Using previous unexamined documents, including Tubman's US Civil War Pension File, bills of sale, wills, marriage settlements, and estate papers from planters' families, Fields-Black brings to life intergenerational, extended enslaved families, neighbors, praise-house members, and sweethearts forced to work in South Carolina's deadly tidal rice swamps, sold, and separated during the antebellum period. When Tubman and the gunboats arrived and blew their steam whistles, many of those people clambered aboard, sailed to freedom, and were eventually reunited with their families. The able-bodied Black men freed in the Combahee River Raid enlisted in the Second South Carolina Volunteers and fought behind Confederate lines for the freedom of others still enslaved not just in South Carolina but Georgia and Florida. After the war, many returned to the same rice plantations from which they had escaped, purchased land, married, and buried each other. These formerly enslaved peoples on the Sea Island indigo and cotton plantations, together with those in the semi-urban port cities of Charleston, Beaufort, and Savannah, and on rice plantations in the coastal plains, created the distinctly American Gullah Geechee dialect, culture, and identity--perhaps the most significant legacy of Harriet Tubman's Combahee River Raid. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Most Americans know of Harriet Tubman's legendary life: escaping enslavement in 1849, she led more than 60 others out of bondage via the Underground Railroad, gave instructions on getting to freedom to scores more, and went on to live a lifetime fighting for change. Yet the many biographies, children's books, and films about Tubman omit a crucial chapter: during the Civil War, hired by the Union Army, she ventured into the heart of slave territory--Beaufort, South Carolina--to live, work, and gather intelligence for a daring raid up the Combahee River to attack the major plantations of Rice Country, the breadbasket of the Confederacy. In Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War (Oxford UP, 2023), Edda L. Fields-Black--herself a descendent of one of the participants in the raid--shows how Tubman commanded a ring of spies, scouts, and pilots and participated in military expeditions behind Confederate lines. On June 2, 1863, Tubman and her crew piloted two regiments of Black US Army soldiers, the Second South Carolina Volunteers, and their white commanders up coastal South Carolina's Combahee River in three gunboats. In a matter of hours, they torched eight rice plantations and liberated 730 people, people whose Lowcountry Creole language and culture Tubman could not even understand. Black men who had liberated themselves from bondage on South Carolina's Sea Island cotton plantations after the Battle of Port Royal in November 1861 enlisted in the Second South Carolina Volunteers and risked their lives in the effort. Using previous unexamined documents, including Tubman's US Civil War Pension File, bills of sale, wills, marriage settlements, and estate papers from planters' families, Fields-Black brings to life intergenerational, extended enslaved families, neighbors, praise-house members, and sweethearts forced to work in South Carolina's deadly tidal rice swamps, sold, and separated during the antebellum period. When Tubman and the gunboats arrived and blew their steam whistles, many of those people clambered aboard, sailed to freedom, and were eventually reunited with their families. The able-bodied Black men freed in the Combahee River Raid enlisted in the Second South Carolina Volunteers and fought behind Confederate lines for the freedom of others still enslaved not just in South Carolina but Georgia and Florida. After the war, many returned to the same rice plantations from which they had escaped, purchased land, married, and buried each other. These formerly enslaved peoples on the Sea Island indigo and cotton plantations, together with those in the semi-urban port cities of Charleston, Beaufort, and Savannah, and on rice plantations in the coastal plains, created the distinctly American Gullah Geechee dialect, culture, and identity--perhaps the most significant legacy of Harriet Tubman's Combahee River Raid. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Most Americans know of Harriet Tubman's legendary life: escaping enslavement in 1849, she led more than 60 others out of bondage via the Underground Railroad, gave instructions on getting to freedom to scores more, and went on to live a lifetime fighting for change. Yet the many biographies, children's books, and films about Tubman omit a crucial chapter: during the Civil War, hired by the Union Army, she ventured into the heart of slave territory--Beaufort, South Carolina--to live, work, and gather intelligence for a daring raid up the Combahee River to attack the major plantations of Rice Country, the breadbasket of the Confederacy. In Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War (Oxford UP, 2023), Edda L. Fields-Black--herself a descendent of one of the participants in the raid--shows how Tubman commanded a ring of spies, scouts, and pilots and participated in military expeditions behind Confederate lines. On June 2, 1863, Tubman and her crew piloted two regiments of Black US Army soldiers, the Second South Carolina Volunteers, and their white commanders up coastal South Carolina's Combahee River in three gunboats. In a matter of hours, they torched eight rice plantations and liberated 730 people, people whose Lowcountry Creole language and culture Tubman could not even understand. Black men who had liberated themselves from bondage on South Carolina's Sea Island cotton plantations after the Battle of Port Royal in November 1861 enlisted in the Second South Carolina Volunteers and risked their lives in the effort. Using previous unexamined documents, including Tubman's US Civil War Pension File, bills of sale, wills, marriage settlements, and estate papers from planters' families, Fields-Black brings to life intergenerational, extended enslaved families, neighbors, praise-house members, and sweethearts forced to work in South Carolina's deadly tidal rice swamps, sold, and separated during the antebellum period. When Tubman and the gunboats arrived and blew their steam whistles, many of those people clambered aboard, sailed to freedom, and were eventually reunited with their families. The able-bodied Black men freed in the Combahee River Raid enlisted in the Second South Carolina Volunteers and fought behind Confederate lines for the freedom of others still enslaved not just in South Carolina but Georgia and Florida. After the war, many returned to the same rice plantations from which they had escaped, purchased land, married, and buried each other. These formerly enslaved peoples on the Sea Island indigo and cotton plantations, together with those in the semi-urban port cities of Charleston, Beaufort, and Savannah, and on rice plantations in the coastal plains, created the distinctly American Gullah Geechee dialect, culture, and identity--perhaps the most significant legacy of Harriet Tubman's Combahee River Raid. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history

Most Americans know of Harriet Tubman's legendary life: escaping enslavement in 1849, she led more than 60 others out of bondage via the Underground Railroad, gave instructions on getting to freedom to scores more, and went on to live a lifetime fighting for change. Yet the many biographies, children's books, and films about Tubman omit a crucial chapter: during the Civil War, hired by the Union Army, she ventured into the heart of slave territory--Beaufort, South Carolina--to live, work, and gather intelligence for a daring raid up the Combahee River to attack the major plantations of Rice Country, the breadbasket of the Confederacy. In Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War (Oxford UP, 2023), Edda L. Fields-Black--herself a descendent of one of the participants in the raid--shows how Tubman commanded a ring of spies, scouts, and pilots and participated in military expeditions behind Confederate lines. On June 2, 1863, Tubman and her crew piloted two regiments of Black US Army soldiers, the Second South Carolina Volunteers, and their white commanders up coastal South Carolina's Combahee River in three gunboats. In a matter of hours, they torched eight rice plantations and liberated 730 people, people whose Lowcountry Creole language and culture Tubman could not even understand. Black men who had liberated themselves from bondage on South Carolina's Sea Island cotton plantations after the Battle of Port Royal in November 1861 enlisted in the Second South Carolina Volunteers and risked their lives in the effort. Using previous unexamined documents, including Tubman's US Civil War Pension File, bills of sale, wills, marriage settlements, and estate papers from planters' families, Fields-Black brings to life intergenerational, extended enslaved families, neighbors, praise-house members, and sweethearts forced to work in South Carolina's deadly tidal rice swamps, sold, and separated during the antebellum period. When Tubman and the gunboats arrived and blew their steam whistles, many of those people clambered aboard, sailed to freedom, and were eventually reunited with their families. The able-bodied Black men freed in the Combahee River Raid enlisted in the Second South Carolina Volunteers and fought behind Confederate lines for the freedom of others still enslaved not just in South Carolina but Georgia and Florida. After the war, many returned to the same rice plantations from which they had escaped, purchased land, married, and buried each other. These formerly enslaved peoples on the Sea Island indigo and cotton plantations, together with those in the semi-urban port cities of Charleston, Beaufort, and Savannah, and on rice plantations in the coastal plains, created the distinctly American Gullah Geechee dialect, culture, and identity--perhaps the most significant legacy of Harriet Tubman's Combahee River Raid. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

Most Americans know of Harriet Tubman's legendary life: escaping enslavement in 1849, she led more than 60 others out of bondage via the Underground Railroad, gave instructions on getting to freedom to scores more, and went on to live a lifetime fighting for change. Yet the many biographies, children's books, and films about Tubman omit a crucial chapter: during the Civil War, hired by the Union Army, she ventured into the heart of slave territory--Beaufort, South Carolina--to live, work, and gather intelligence for a daring raid up the Combahee River to attack the major plantations of Rice Country, the breadbasket of the Confederacy. In Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War (Oxford UP, 2023), Edda L. Fields-Black--herself a descendent of one of the participants in the raid--shows how Tubman commanded a ring of spies, scouts, and pilots and participated in military expeditions behind Confederate lines. On June 2, 1863, Tubman and her crew piloted two regiments of Black US Army soldiers, the Second South Carolina Volunteers, and their white commanders up coastal South Carolina's Combahee River in three gunboats. In a matter of hours, they torched eight rice plantations and liberated 730 people, people whose Lowcountry Creole language and culture Tubman could not even understand. Black men who had liberated themselves from bondage on South Carolina's Sea Island cotton plantations after the Battle of Port Royal in November 1861 enlisted in the Second South Carolina Volunteers and risked their lives in the effort. Using previous unexamined documents, including Tubman's US Civil War Pension File, bills of sale, wills, marriage settlements, and estate papers from planters' families, Fields-Black brings to life intergenerational, extended enslaved families, neighbors, praise-house members, and sweethearts forced to work in South Carolina's deadly tidal rice swamps, sold, and separated during the antebellum period. When Tubman and the gunboats arrived and blew their steam whistles, many of those people clambered aboard, sailed to freedom, and were eventually reunited with their families. The able-bodied Black men freed in the Combahee River Raid enlisted in the Second South Carolina Volunteers and fought behind Confederate lines for the freedom of others still enslaved not just in South Carolina but Georgia and Florida. After the war, many returned to the same rice plantations from which they had escaped, purchased land, married, and buried each other. These formerly enslaved peoples on the Sea Island indigo and cotton plantations, together with those in the semi-urban port cities of Charleston, Beaufort, and Savannah, and on rice plantations in the coastal plains, created the distinctly American Gullah Geechee dialect, culture, and identity--perhaps the most significant legacy of Harriet Tubman's Combahee River Raid. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

Most Americans know of Harriet Tubman's legendary life: escaping enslavement in 1849, she led more than 60 others out of bondage via the Underground Railroad, gave instructions on getting to freedom to scores more, and went on to live a lifetime fighting for change. Yet the many biographies, children's books, and films about Tubman omit a crucial chapter: during the Civil War, hired by the Union Army, she ventured into the heart of slave territory--Beaufort, South Carolina--to live, work, and gather intelligence for a daring raid up the Combahee River to attack the major plantations of Rice Country, the breadbasket of the Confederacy. In Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War (Oxford UP, 2023), Edda L. Fields-Black--herself a descendent of one of the participants in the raid--shows how Tubman commanded a ring of spies, scouts, and pilots and participated in military expeditions behind Confederate lines. On June 2, 1863, Tubman and her crew piloted two regiments of Black US Army soldiers, the Second South Carolina Volunteers, and their white commanders up coastal South Carolina's Combahee River in three gunboats. In a matter of hours, they torched eight rice plantations and liberated 730 people, people whose Lowcountry Creole language and culture Tubman could not even understand. Black men who had liberated themselves from bondage on South Carolina's Sea Island cotton plantations after the Battle of Port Royal in November 1861 enlisted in the Second South Carolina Volunteers and risked their lives in the effort. Using previous unexamined documents, including Tubman's US Civil War Pension File, bills of sale, wills, marriage settlements, and estate papers from planters' families, Fields-Black brings to life intergenerational, extended enslaved families, neighbors, praise-house members, and sweethearts forced to work in South Carolina's deadly tidal rice swamps, sold, and separated during the antebellum period. When Tubman and the gunboats arrived and blew their steam whistles, many of those people clambered aboard, sailed to freedom, and were eventually reunited with their families. The able-bodied Black men freed in the Combahee River Raid enlisted in the Second South Carolina Volunteers and fought behind Confederate lines for the freedom of others still enslaved not just in South Carolina but Georgia and Florida. After the war, many returned to the same rice plantations from which they had escaped, purchased land, married, and buried each other. These formerly enslaved peoples on the Sea Island indigo and cotton plantations, together with those in the semi-urban port cities of Charleston, Beaufort, and Savannah, and on rice plantations in the coastal plains, created the distinctly American Gullah Geechee dialect, culture, and identity--perhaps the most significant legacy of Harriet Tubman's Combahee River Raid. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most Americans know of Harriet Tubman's legendary life: escaping enslavement in 1849, she led more than 60 others out of bondage via the Underground Railroad, gave instructions on getting to freedom to scores more, and went on to live a lifetime fighting for change. Yet the many biographies, children's books, and films about Tubman omit a crucial chapter: during the Civil War, hired by the Union Army, she ventured into the heart of slave territory--Beaufort, South Carolina--to live, work, and gather intelligence for a daring raid up the Combahee River to attack the major plantations of Rice Country, the breadbasket of the Confederacy. In Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War (Oxford UP, 2023), Edda L. Fields-Black--herself a descendent of one of the participants in the raid--shows how Tubman commanded a ring of spies, scouts, and pilots and participated in military expeditions behind Confederate lines. On June 2, 1863, Tubman and her crew piloted two regiments of Black US Army soldiers, the Second South Carolina Volunteers, and their white commanders up coastal South Carolina's Combahee River in three gunboats. In a matter of hours, they torched eight rice plantations and liberated 730 people, people whose Lowcountry Creole language and culture Tubman could not even understand. Black men who had liberated themselves from bondage on South Carolina's Sea Island cotton plantations after the Battle of Port Royal in November 1861 enlisted in the Second South Carolina Volunteers and risked their lives in the effort. Using previous unexamined documents, including Tubman's US Civil War Pension File, bills of sale, wills, marriage settlements, and estate papers from planters' families, Fields-Black brings to life intergenerational, extended enslaved families, neighbors, praise-house members, and sweethearts forced to work in South Carolina's deadly tidal rice swamps, sold, and separated during the antebellum period. When Tubman and the gunboats arrived and blew their steam whistles, many of those people clambered aboard, sailed to freedom, and were eventually reunited with their families. The able-bodied Black men freed in the Combahee River Raid enlisted in the Second South Carolina Volunteers and fought behind Confederate lines for the freedom of others still enslaved not just in South Carolina but Georgia and Florida. After the war, many returned to the same rice plantations from which they had escaped, purchased land, married, and buried each other. These formerly enslaved peoples on the Sea Island indigo and cotton plantations, together with those in the semi-urban port cities of Charleston, Beaufort, and Savannah, and on rice plantations in the coastal plains, created the distinctly American Gullah Geechee dialect, culture, and identity--perhaps the most significant legacy of Harriet Tubman's Combahee River Raid. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-south

Most Americans know of Harriet Tubman's legendary life: escaping enslavement in 1849, she led more than 60 others out of bondage via the Underground Railroad, gave instructions on getting to freedom to scores more, and went on to live a lifetime fighting for change. Yet the many biographies, children's books, and films about Tubman omit a crucial chapter: during the Civil War, hired by the Union Army, she ventured into the heart of slave territory--Beaufort, South Carolina--to live, work, and gather intelligence for a daring raid up the Combahee River to attack the major plantations of Rice Country, the breadbasket of the Confederacy. In Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom During the Civil War (Oxford UP, 2023), Edda L. Fields-Black--herself a descendent of one of the participants in the raid--shows how Tubman commanded a ring of spies, scouts, and pilots and participated in military expeditions behind Confederate lines. On June 2, 1863, Tubman and her crew piloted two regiments of Black US Army soldiers, the Second South Carolina Volunteers, and their white commanders up coastal South Carolina's Combahee River in three gunboats. In a matter of hours, they torched eight rice plantations and liberated 730 people, people whose Lowcountry Creole language and culture Tubman could not even understand. Black men who had liberated themselves from bondage on South Carolina's Sea Island cotton plantations after the Battle of Port Royal in November 1861 enlisted in the Second South Carolina Volunteers and risked their lives in the effort. Using previous unexamined documents, including Tubman's US Civil War Pension File, bills of sale, wills, marriage settlements, and estate papers from planters' families, Fields-Black brings to life intergenerational, extended enslaved families, neighbors, praise-house members, and sweethearts forced to work in South Carolina's deadly tidal rice swamps, sold, and separated during the antebellum period. When Tubman and the gunboats arrived and blew their steam whistles, many of those people clambered aboard, sailed to freedom, and were eventually reunited with their families. The able-bodied Black men freed in the Combahee River Raid enlisted in the Second South Carolina Volunteers and fought behind Confederate lines for the freedom of others still enslaved not just in South Carolina but Georgia and Florida. After the war, many returned to the same rice plantations from which they had escaped, purchased land, married, and buried each other. These formerly enslaved peoples on the Sea Island indigo and cotton plantations, together with those in the semi-urban port cities of Charleston, Beaufort, and Savannah, and on rice plantations in the coastal plains, created the distinctly American Gullah Geechee dialect, culture, and identity--perhaps the most significant legacy of Harriet Tubman's Combahee River Raid.

This week Edda Fields-Black joins in to talk about her book on Harriet Tubman and the film Harriet. We talk about the importance of accurate terminology in black history, the role of religion in enslaved people's lives, the challenges of escaping from South Carolina, and the emotional impact of historical research. We also get into the need for more biopics on historical figures and recommend books and scholars for further reading. Edda's new book is gonna CHANGE THINGS, y'all. I hope you like the pod.About our guest:Edda Fields-Black is a specialist in the trans-national history of West African rice farmers, peasant farmers in pre-colonial Upper Guinea Coast and enslaved laborers on rice plantations in the South Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry during the antebellum period.Fields-Black's new book, COMBEE: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War (Oxford University Press, trade list, February 2024) offers the fullest account to date of Tubman's Civil War service. This narrative history tells the untold story of the Combahee River Raid from the perspective of Tubman and the enslaved people she helped to free based on new sources not previously used by historians, as well as new interpretations of sources familiar to Tubman's biographers. It is the story of Harriet Tubman's Civil War service during which she worked as a cook and nurse in Beaufort, SC, and gathered intelligence among freed people and enslaved Blacks. It is the story of enslaved people who labored against their wills on seven rice plantations, ran for their lives, boarded the US gunboats, and sailed to freedom.

In celebration of Black History Month, explore the history of the African American fight for freedom during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods with historians Edda Fields-Black, author of Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War, and James Oakes, author of Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861-1865. Thomas Donnelly, chief content officer at the National Constitution Center, moderates. Additional Resources Edda L. Fields-Black, COMBEE: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War James Oakes, Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861–1865 James Oakes, The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics UUSCT Pension Files Stay Connected and Learn More Continue the conversation on Facebook and Twitter using @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly. Please subscribe to Live at the National Constitution Center and our companion podcast We the People on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Harriet Tubman's Untold War Saga: The Combahee River Raid - A Riveting Tale of Courage and Liberation The Not Old - Better Show, Smithsonian Associates Interview Series  Welcome to the Not Old - Better Show, Smithsonian Associates Interview Series on radio and podcast. where Black History Month 2024 comes alive through the stories that shaped our world. Today's episode takes us back to a pivotal yet often underrepresented chapter in American history, starring one of its most fearless figures – Harriet Tubman. Known for her indomitable spirit in leading slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad, Tubman's legacy extends far beyond. In this episode, we delve deep into a crucial and audacious phase of her life – her role during the Civil War, particularly in the Combahee River Raid. This event, not just a mere footnote in history, saw Tubman not only guiding slaves to freedom but actively shaping the course of the war. We're joined by Smithsonian Associate, historian and author Edda L. Fields-Black, a descendant of one of the soldiers who fought in this raid, and a consultant for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Edda Fields-Black's insights, drawn from her book "Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War," along with previously unexamined documents, bring a new dimension to our understanding of this event. She will shed light on how Tubman commanded a network of spies and scouts, and her role in liberating over 750 individuals in a single, daring expedition. Edda Fields-Black will be appearing at Smithsonian Associates coming up so please check out the Smithsonian Associates website for more details, but we have Edda Fields Black today, in honor of Black History Month 2024. Let's listen as Edda Fields Black reads a brief passage from her wonderful new book, "Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War,”  harkening back to a time of enslavement and when slaves returned to slave terriorory, a very exclusive club of Harriet Tubman's brigage. Through this episode, we're not just revisiting history; we're uncovering the layers of bravery, strategy, and humanity that defined Harriet Tubman's life. Her story resonates deeply, especially with our community of listeners over 60, reminding us that the pursuit of freedom and change knows no age. Stay with us as we explore this extraordinary tale of courage, leadership, and liberation – a testament to the enduring power of the human spirit. This is tthe Not Old - Better Show, Smithsonian Associates Interview Series on radio and podcast Let's begin. My thanks to  Smithsonian Associate, historian and author Edda L. Fields-Black,  Edda Fields-Black will be appearing at Smithsonian Associates coming up so please check out the Smithsonian Associates website for more details in honor of Black History Month 2024.  My thanks to the Smithsonian team for their ongoing support of the show.  My thanks to you my wonderful audience on radio and podcast.  Please be well, be safe, and Let's Talk About Better™. The Not Old - Better Show, Smithsonian Associates Interview Series on radio and podcast.  Thanks, everybody and we'll see you next week.

Once you discover where you're from, the knowledge can lead to not only self identification, but to a lifelong curiousity. For author, professor and reknowned speaker Dr. Edda Fields- Black, her Gullah roots launched a career in the study of rice and the incredible stories that came out of Harriet Tubman's infamous Combahee River Raid. Along the river, enslaved people toiled over rice. The raid freed close to 750 people and some went from slave to soldier as US Colored Troop Soldiers with some incredible stories to tell.

How did rice become a very commonly grown, rock-star grain in many parts of the world? What is the legacy of rice-growing in South Carolina, specifically? How has rice reshaped wetlands—and cultures? Following up on our conversation with Dr. Edda Fields-Black regarding the rice and the West African diaspora, we speak with another historian of rice: Peter H. Wood, Professor Emeritus of History at Duke University and Adjunct Professor of History at the University of Colorado–Boulder. Dr. Wood has been researching the transfer of knowledge regarding rice between West Africa and the Southern United States, including the legacy of the enslavement of Africans on the lands of the United States today. We talk about the history of rice-growing around the world, how it was grown in South Carolina hundreds of years ago and today, and the present and likely future impacts of climate disruption on the state's coastal wetlands. (If you haven't already listened to our conversation with Dr. Edda Fields-Black, check it out.) Dr. Wood is the author of Black Majority: Negroes in Colonial South Carolina from 1670 through the Stono Rebellion (1974), Strange New Land: Africans in Colonial America (2002), and Created Equal: A Social and Political History of the United States (2004). Follow Fields for more explorations of the intersections of urban and rural agriculture, and more discussions of how farming's history shapes our present food systems.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Fields by becoming a member!Fields is Powered by Simplecast.

How did knowledge of grains from West Africa shape rural lands and cities in North America? Why has it taken so long for historians to address the agricultural knowledge work of enslaved persons? Dr. Edda Fields-Black, Associate Professor of History at Carnegie Mellon University, joins us to discuss these vitally important questions. She tells us all about rice farming in the United States, including the agricultural traditions of the Gullah and Geechee peoples, including her personal connection to this history. We also talk about her new book about Harriet Tubman—and her symphony, Unburied, Unmourned, Unmarked: Requiem for Rice, which is a contemporary classical and multimedia music symphonic work and the first symphonic work about slavery. Dr. Fields-Black is the author of Deep Roots: Rice Farmers in West Africa and the African Diaspora (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008). Check out Dr. Fields-Black's books and beautiful symphony, and follow Fields for more conversations about the urban–rural continuum and the inescapable political dimensions of growing grains.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Fields by becoming a member!Fields is Powered by Simplecast.

Guests include: Peter W. Singer of New America (at the 1:43 mark); Joint Chiefs Chairman Army Gen. Mark Milley (7:56); Greg Jackson of the U.S. Army Special Forces (12:24); Habib Hassan, former Afghan interpreter (17:15); Retired Army Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule (22:41); Dr. Edda Fields-Black of Carnegie Mellon University (28:15); Brian Castner of Amnesty International (36:38); And Defense One's Patrick Tucker (39:58).

On Reclaiming History, Lovonia speaks with Dr. Edda L. Fields-Black is Associate Professor, Carnegie Mellon Lovonia Mallory discuss Harriett Tubman freeing more the 700 people during a military raid in South Carolina. This is part 2 of a multi-part segment. Dr. Edda L. Fields-Black is Associate Professor, Carnegie Mellon University in the Department of History. She is author of her upcoming book entitled, Combee': Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War (Oxford University Press).

This episode we’re going to learn about the Combahee River Raid, the first U.S. military operation to be organized and led by a woman. That woman was abolitionist Harriet Tubman. Dr. Edda Fields-Black of Carnegie Mellon University joins us to tell the story. Find a transcript of this episode here.

Dr. Edda L. Fields-Black is Associate Professor, Carnegie Mellon University in the Department of History. She is author of Roots: Rice Farmers in West Africa and the African Diaspora and Rice: Global Networks and New Histories and executive producer and librettist of Unburied, Unmourned, Unmarked: Requiem for Rice, the first full symphonic work with three-time Emmy Award winning classical music composer, John Wineglass. In Part 1 of this episode of Reclaiming History with Lovonia Mallory subtitled, On Harriet Tubman- Black Female Patriot, Dr Fields-Black discusses her upcoming book ‘Combee’: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War (Oxford University Press).

This week we are exploring the story of Priscilla, a woman whose journey across the Atlantic from Africa towards the rice plantations of Charleston, SC has been captured through rare records. Together we imagine what it would be like if every Black person in this country knew even a bit more about their ancestor's personal journey.We are also joined by Dr. Edda L. Fields-Black, a history professor, librettist, and self-proclaimed expert on rice. We are talking about her personal connection with her work, and delving into her piece dedicated to remembering our ancestors who worked on rice plantations. To learn more about her piece, Requiem for Rice, check out the website here: http://www.requiemforrice.com/Please let me know what you think about this episode! Feel free to reach out via email (biasbender@gmail.com) or via Facebook or Instagram (@biasbender). If you are enjoying the show please give it a rating and review! And tell a friend or two ;)As always, all podcast info can be found here: https://linktr.ee/biasbenderCover Art by Michelle Li. (https://michellejli.com/)Original Music by Adam Westerman. (Spotify Page)

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day – especially for students. Beginning each school day with a belly full of a nutritious morning meal is linked to better performance overall. And yet, Massachusetts is ranked 33rd in the nation when it comes to school breakfast. But a bill passed and signed by Governor Charlie Baker this August seeks to change that, by requiring schools TO offer breakfast right after the bell rings.  We talked about the need for the bill last November, when it was first introduced. Guests: Erin McAleer – President of Project Bread, a Massachusetts-based anti-hunger not-for-profit. Andy Vargas – Massachusetts State Representative for the third Essex District and co-sponsor of the Breakfast After the Bell bill. Later in the show:  Under cover of darkness on June 2, 1863, two Union ships stole up the Combahee River in a mission that would liberate over 750 slaves from South Carolina plantations. What became known as the Combahee Ferry Raid, was the first major U.S. military operation led by a woman - Harriet Tubman. The same Harriet Tubman whose remarkable life as a spy, abolitionist, nurse, and cook included connections to Boston. Many know her name, but few know her story. Author and historian Elizabeth Cobbs connects the dots in her latest historical novel about one of Harriet Tubman's greatest achievements.  Guests: Dr. Elizabeth Cobbs, Melbern G. Glasscock Professor of History at Texas A&M University. She's the author of several historical fiction novels – the latest of which is the Tubman Command, a dramatized account of Harriet Tubman's activities around the Combahee Ferry Raid.  L'Merchie Frazier, director of education and interpretation at the Museum of African American History, Boston. Dr. Edda Fields-Black, associate professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University. Show Credits: That's it for this week's encore show. Find us on the web and wherever you get your podcasts. Under the Radar with Callie Crossley is a production of WGBH, produced by Hannah Uebele and engineered by Dave Goodman. This encore show was originally produced by Franziska Monahan and engineered by Doug Shugarts. Our theme music is FISH AND CHIPS by #weare2saxys', Grace Kelly and Leo P.

Whether it be a "mysterious communication system" that the enslaved created to spread the news about Union gunboats coming to free them from the shores of the Combahee River to John Henry McCray and his newspapers, Black folk have long crafted tools to dispense vital information within their communities. On this episode, Mika discusses the subversive methods Gullah/Black people relied upon in their fight for freedom. Also, listen to the debut of Benny Starr's Lighthouse, a song inspired by the life and work of John Henry McCray the creator of the historic Lighthouse and Informer newspaper. New to the show? Check out this previous episode: bit.ly/MicdUpSouthernScholarship Sign-up for the Charleston Activist Newsletter: bit.ly/CANLIST I run on love and support: bit.ly/SupportCAN , $mikagadsden on CashApp Support this podcast via Patreon: patreon.com/ChsActNet Follow the Charleston Activist Network on Social Media: IG: @charlestonactivistnetwork Twitter: @ChsActNet FB: @charlestonactivistnetwork Email Mika: Tamika@charlestonactivistnetwork.com Website: www.charlestonactivistnetwork.com Clip used in the show: Dr. Edda Fields-Black lecture https://youtu.be/grGGYCfFT4M The Roland Martin Show feat. Sid Bedingfield https://youtu.be/F7QDNJXHE0A

Edda Fields-Black discusses her contemporary symphonic work “Casop: A Requiem for Rice,” which tells the story of enslaved laborers on rice plantations in Lowcountry South Carolina and Georgia. She also previews her upcoming book about an often-untold story about Harriet Tubman. The first woman to lead men into battle in a major U.S. military operation, Tubman recruited spies, scouts, and pilots who guided 150 African American Union soldiers to rescue more than 750 blacks enslaved on rice plantations in the Combahee River Raid during the Civil War.

Edda Fields-Black discusses her contemporary symphonic work “Casop: A Requiem for Rice,” which tells the story of enslaved laborers on rice plantations in Lowcountry South Carolina and Georgia. She also previews her upcoming book about an often-untold story about Harriet Tubman. The first woman to lead men into battle in a major U.S. military operation, Tubman recruited spies, scouts, and pilots who guided 150 African American Union soldiers to rescue more than 750 blacks enslaved on rice plantations in the Combahee River Raid during the Civil War.

Edda Fields-Black discusses her contemporary symphonic work “Casop: A Requiem for Rice,” which tells the story of enslaved laborers on rice plantations in Lowcountry South Carolina and Georgia. She also previews her upcoming book about an often-untold story about Harriet Tubman. The first woman to lead men into battle in a major U.S. military operation, Tubman recruited spies, scouts, and pilots who guided 150 African American Union soldiers to rescue more than 750 blacks enslaved on rice plantations in the Combahee River Raid during the Civil War.

Edda Fields-Black discusses her contemporary symphonic work “Casop: A Requiem for Rice,” which tells the story of enslaved laborers on rice plantations in Lowcountry South Carolina and Georgia. She also previews her upcoming book about an often-untold story about Harriet Tubman. The first woman to lead men into battle in a major U.S. military operation, Tubman recruited spies, scouts, and pilots who guided 150 African American Union soldiers to rescue more than 750 blacks enslaved on rice plantations in the Combahee River Raid during the Civil War.

The new edited volume by Francesca Bray, Peter Coclanis, Edda Fields-Black and Dagmar Schafer is a wonderfully interdisciplinary global history of rice, rooted in specific local cases, that spans 15 chapters written by specialists in the histories of Africa, the Americas, and several regions of Asia. Rice: Global Networks and...

The new edited volume by Francesca Bray, Peter Coclanis, Edda Fields-Black and Dagmar Schafer is a wonderfully interdisciplinary global history of rice, rooted in specific local cases, that spans 15 chapters written by specialists in the histories of Africa, the Americas, and several regions of Asia. Rice: Global Networks and New Histories (Cambridge University Press, 2015) creates a conversation among regional and disciplinary modes of studying and narrating rice histories that have often been conducted in isolation. Specifically, the project brings together two large-scale debates that emerge from very different rice historiographies: the “Black Rice” and “agricultural involution” debates frame the inquiry here, and as you listen to my conversation with Francesca and Dagmar (the two co-editors with whom I spoke for the podcast) you’ll hear them offer an overview of the nature and stakes of both of those areas of inquiry. In the course of the conversation we also had a chance to talk about the collaborative process that produced the volume, a process that successfully maintained the specificity of the local case studies while still enabling authors to contribute to and participate in a common, global conversation that made new kinds of comparisons possible. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new edited volume by Francesca Bray, Peter Coclanis, Edda Fields-Black and Dagmar Schafer is a wonderfully interdisciplinary global history of rice, rooted in specific local cases, that spans 15 chapters written by specialists in the histories of Africa, the Americas, and several regions of Asia. Rice: Global Networks and New Histories (Cambridge University Press, 2015) creates a conversation among regional and disciplinary modes of studying and narrating rice histories that have often been conducted in isolation. Specifically, the project brings together two large-scale debates that emerge from very different rice historiographies: the “Black Rice” and “agricultural involution” debates frame the inquiry here, and as you listen to my conversation with Francesca and Dagmar (the two co-editors with whom I spoke for the podcast) you’ll hear them offer an overview of the nature and stakes of both of those areas of inquiry. In the course of the conversation we also had a chance to talk about the collaborative process that produced the volume, a process that successfully maintained the specificity of the local case studies while still enabling authors to contribute to and participate in a common, global conversation that made new kinds of comparisons possible. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new edited volume by Francesca Bray, Peter Coclanis, Edda Fields-Black and Dagmar Schafer is a wonderfully interdisciplinary global history of rice, rooted in specific local cases, that spans 15 chapters written by specialists in the histories of Africa, the Americas, and several regions of Asia. Rice: Global Networks and... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new edited volume by Francesca Bray, Peter Coclanis, Edda Fields-Black and Dagmar Schafer is a wonderfully interdisciplinary global history of rice, rooted in specific local cases, that spans 15 chapters written by specialists in the histories of Africa, the Americas, and several regions of Asia. Rice: Global Networks and New Histories (Cambridge University Press, 2015) creates a conversation among regional and disciplinary modes of studying and narrating rice histories that have often been conducted in isolation. Specifically, the project brings together two large-scale debates that emerge from very different rice historiographies: the “Black Rice” and “agricultural involution” debates frame the inquiry here, and as you listen to my conversation with Francesca and Dagmar (the two co-editors with whom I spoke for the podcast) you’ll hear them offer an overview of the nature and stakes of both of those areas of inquiry. In the course of the conversation we also had a chance to talk about the collaborative process that produced the volume, a process that successfully maintained the specificity of the local case studies while still enabling authors to contribute to and participate in a common, global conversation that made new kinds of comparisons possible. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new edited volume by Francesca Bray, Peter Coclanis, Edda Fields-Black and Dagmar Schafer is a wonderfully interdisciplinary global history of rice, rooted in specific local cases, that spans 15 chapters written by specialists in the histories of Africa, the Americas, and several regions of Asia. Rice: Global Networks and New Histories (Cambridge University Press, 2015) creates a conversation among regional and disciplinary modes of studying and narrating rice histories that have often been conducted in isolation. Specifically, the project brings together two large-scale debates that emerge from very different rice historiographies: the “Black Rice” and “agricultural involution” debates frame the inquiry here, and as you listen to my conversation with Francesca and Dagmar (the two co-editors with whom I spoke for the podcast) you’ll hear them offer an overview of the nature and stakes of both of those areas of inquiry. In the course of the conversation we also had a chance to talk about the collaborative process that produced the volume, a process that successfully maintained the specificity of the local case studies while still enabling authors to contribute to and participate in a common, global conversation that made new kinds of comparisons possible. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new edited volume by Francesca Bray, Peter Coclanis, Edda Fields-Black and Dagmar Schafer is a wonderfully interdisciplinary global history of rice, rooted in specific local cases, that spans 15 chapters written by specialists in the histories of Africa, the Americas, and several regions of Asia. Rice: Global Networks and New Histories (Cambridge University Press, 2015) creates a conversation among regional and disciplinary modes of studying and narrating rice histories that have often been conducted in isolation. Specifically, the project brings together two large-scale debates that emerge from very different rice historiographies: the “Black Rice” and “agricultural involution” debates frame the inquiry here, and as you listen to my conversation with Francesca and Dagmar (the two co-editors with whom I spoke for the podcast) you’ll hear them offer an overview of the nature and stakes of both of those areas of inquiry. In the course of the conversation we also had a chance to talk about the collaborative process that produced the volume, a process that successfully maintained the specificity of the local case studies while still enabling authors to contribute to and participate in a common, global conversation that made new kinds of comparisons possible. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Starting in November 1861, the Union Army held the city of Beaufort, South Carolina, using the Sea Islands as a southern base of operations in the Civil War. Harriet Tubman joined the Army there, debriefing freedom seekers who fled enslavement in nearby regions and ran to seek the Union Army's protection in Beaufort. With the intelligence Tubman gathered, she and Colonel James Montgomery led 150 Black soldiers on a daring raid along the Combahee RIver in June 1863, destroying seven rice plantations in the heart of the Confederate breadbasket, causing $6 million worth of damages and liberating 756 people from enslavement on the rice fields.Joining me in this episode is Dr. Edda Fields-Black, Associate Professor of HIstory at Carnegie Mellon University and author of COMBEE: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War.Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is "Dangerous," by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. The episode image is Mcpherson & Oliver, photographer. “2nd South Carolina Infantry Regiment raid on rice plantation, Combahee, South Carolina,” by Mcpherson and Oliver, published in Harper's Weekly, July 4, 1863; the image is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress.Additional Sources:“Port Royal, Battle of,” by Stephen R. Wise, Encyclopedia of South Carolina, Originally published June 20, 2016, and updated August 22, 2022.“Nov. 7, 1861: The Port Royal Experiment Initiated,” Zinn Education Project.“The Port Royal Experiment,” The Lowcountry Digital History Initiative (LDHI).“Port Royal Experiment: Reconstruction Era in Beaufort, South Carolina with Park Ranger Chris Barr [video],” National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT), August 23, 2022.“Life on the Sea Islands (Part I),” by Charlotte Forten Grimké, The Atlantic, May 1864.“Life on the Sea Islands (Part II),” by Charlotte Forten Grimké, The Atlantic, June 1864.“Harriet Tubman's Great Raid,” by Paul Donnelly, The New York Times, June 7, 2013.“After the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman Led a Brazen Civil War Raid,” by Alexis Clark, History.com, Originally published November 1, 2019, and updated August 29, 2023.