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Welcome to Drafting the Past, a podcast all about the craft of writing history. I'm Kate Carpenter, and in each episode I talk with a historian about the practices, archival frustrations and joys, drafts and revisions and more that go into writing history. In this episode, I'm delighted to be joined by Dr. Andrew Kahrl. Andrew is a professor of history and African American Studies at the University of Virginia. His third book was published by the University of Chicago Press earlier this year, titled The Black Tax: 150 Years of Theft, Exploitation, and Dispossession in America. Andrew is especially interested in issues of housing and real estate, land use and ownership, and local tax systems. He is the author of two additional books, The Land Was Ours: African American Beaches from Jim Crow to the Sunbelt South, and Free the Beaches: The Story of Ned Coll and the Battle for America's Most Exclusive Shoreline. In addition to his books, Andrew regularly writes for public outlets like the New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, and more. In our conversation, we talked about how Andrew wrestled the research for his latest book into a compelling narrative argument, and why he firmly believes in the importance of history that speaks to present-day issues. He also shared some unexpected writing advice from his dad that I think you'll enjoy hearing about. Enjoy my conversation with Dr. Andrew Kahrl.
the ripple, the wave that carried me home is a new play running at the Yale Repertory Theater, following a family of “aquatic activists” across decades, as they push for equity in access to pools.This hour, we hear from playwright Christina Anderson and director Tamilla Woodard, and we learn more about the history of racism at beaches and pool clubs where we live. GUESTS: Christina Anderson: Playwright, the ripple, the wave that carried me home Tamilla Woodard: Director, the ripple, the wave that carried me home; Chair, Acting Program at David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University Andrew Kahrl: History Professor, University of Virginia; Author, Free the Beaches: The Story of Ned Coll and the Battle for America's Most Exclusive Shoreline Henry Fernandez: Executive Director, LEAP for Kids Ryan Rooks: Aquatic Director, LEAP for Kids Where We Live is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
As summer heats up, people across New England are flocking to the beach. But there's been a long battle in CT, for access to the shoreline. This week on Disrupted, we look back at an episode about the history of exclusion on the Long Island sound. And we hear from descendants of the historically Black communities of Oak Bluffs and Sag Harbor. GUESTS: Andrew Kahrl: Professor of African-American Studies and History at The Carter G. Woodson Institute at the University of Virginia and author of Free the Beaches: The Story of Ned Coll and the Battle for America's Most Exclusive Shoreline Lee Jackson Van Allen: Innkeeper at The Inn at Shearer Cottage in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts. Erica Stanley-Dottin: 3rd generation resident of the Azurest Neighborhood in Sag Harbor. Disrupted is produced by James Szkobel-Wolff and Catie Talarski.This episode originally aired on June 21st, 2021. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
From a shocking insurrection at the Capitol, to the rise of cryptocurrency, and the continuing fight for voting rights, 2021 brought more disruptions – and our show has attempted to make sense of this complicated world.This week on Disrupted, we're wrapping up the year listening back to a few of our favorite conversations of 2021. GUESTS: Nancy Yao Maasbach – President of the Museum of Chinese in America Andrew Kahrl - Professor of African-American Studies and History at The Carter G. Woodson Institute at the University of Virginia and author of Free the Beaches: The Story of Ned Coll and the Battle for America's Most Exclusive Shoreline Martine Dherte - Refugee Services Program Manager at the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants. Salma Mousa - Assistant Professor of Political Science at Yale University. Melissa Harris-Perry – Host and managing editor of WNYC's The Takeaway. She's the Maya Angelou Presidential Chair at Wake University and founder of the Anna Julia Cooper Center Alex, Emani, Xochiquetzaly “ZoChee”, and Airiqa- Students at the High School in the Community in New Haven, Connecticut Disrupted is produced by James Szkobel-Wolff, Zshekinah Collier, and Catie Talarski. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
As summer heats up, people across New England are flocking to the beach. But there's been a long battle in CT, for access to the shoreline. This week on Disrupted, we learn about the history of exclusion on the Long Island sound. And we hear from descendants of the historically Black communities of Oak Bluffs and Sag Harbor. Andrew Kahrl - Professor of African-American Studies and History at The Carter G. Woodson Institute at the University of Virginia and author of Free the Beaches: The Story of Ned Coll and the Battle for America's Most Exclusive Shoreline Lee Jackson Van Allen - Innkeeper at The Inn at Shearer Cottage in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts. Erica Stanley-Dottin - 3rd generation resident of the Azurest Neighborhood in Sag Harbor. Disrupted is produced by James Szkobel-Wolff, Zshekinah Collier, and Catie Talarski. Our interns are Maisy Carvalho and Kelly Langevin. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
With the weather getting hotter and many indoor activities limited because of the pandemic, a trip to the water is a great way to cool off. But not every Connecticut community has a beachfront or river in town, and many wealthy communities with waterfronts have a history of limiting water access to residents only. Some of those restrictions have reappeared this summer in response to COVID-19. This hour, we talk about the implications of excluding access to our state’s natural waters, especially during a pandemic. First, have you been hit by quarantine fatigue? Many residents have limited their social interactions for months but that level of isolation can take a toll. We talk with an epidemiologist taking a “harm reduction” approach to social interactions during COVID-19. Are you wondering how to minimize your risk while trying to see family and friends? GUESTS: Julia Marcus- Epidemiologist and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. She wrote the essay "Quarantine Fatigue Is Real" for The Atlantic Andrew Kahrl - Professor of History and African American Studies at University of Virginia, and author of Free the Beaches: The Story of Ned Coll and the Battle for America’s Most Exclusive Shoreline Fred Camillo - First Selectman of Greenwich, CT, which has recently returned to making a limited number of daily beach passes available to out-of-town visitors. Lindsay Larson - A conservation projects manager at the Housatonic Valley Association Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.
In "Free the Beaches" Andrew Kahrl tells the story of activist Ned Coll and his campaign to open New England’s shoreline to African Americans, as northern white families fought to preserve their segregated beaches.
In The Past Lane - The Podcast About History and Why It Matters
This week at In The Past Lane, the history podcast, I speak with Historian Andrew W. Kahrl about his new book, Free the Beaches: The Story of Ned Coll and the Battle for America’s Most Exclusive Shoreline. Beaches, like any public space in the US, have long been contested public spaces. That’s because throughout American history, the definition of the public – the citizenry – has never been agreed-upon, leading to the marginalization and exclusion of various racial, ethnic, and economic groups, not to mention women. And so attempts to access and use public spaces by these various marginalized groups have often been met with resistance. No doubt this brings to mind classic images of civil rights activists being violently attacked for sitting at whites-only lunch counters across the south during the 1950s and 1960s. Or Rosa Parks being arrested for refusing to yield her seat to a white man on a public bus. But beyond these high profile incidents, there were many, many efforts to gain access to public spaces by African-Americans another marginalized groups. In the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, African-American civil rights activists, whose names you will never know, battled to disaggregate public golf courses, public pools, and public parks. And, yes, public beaches. As we learn in my conversation with historian Andrew Kahrl, some of these battles took place in the deep South, but others occurred in the north, in elite parts of New England like Greenwich, CT. In these instances, African Americans didn’t encounter explicit sign saying “whites only.” But they did face innumerable barriers that were subtle, but also very effective at limiting access by people deemed “outsiders.” In the course of our discussion, Andrew Kahrl explains: How for centuries the “public trust doctrine” considered waterfront land to be public property open to all. How after WWII, as suburbanization flourished and long-neglected shoreline property suddenly became valuable, communities with beaches began to restrict access to residents or members of private beach associations. How in the same era marked by public policies like redlining that promoted residential and school segregation, similar initiatives excluded people of color from beaches. How the Open Beaches movement emerged to oppose efforts to privatize parts of the American coastline and to restrict access by the public. How Ned Coll became in the 1960s and 1970s a civil rights activist who worked to force Connecticut communities – including elite towns like Greenwich, CT – to open their public beaches to all. How “wade-ins” at segregated beaches became the equivalent of “sit-ins” at segregated lunch counters during the civil rights era. Why a 2001 state Supreme Court decision that forced Connecticut communities to make their public beaches open to non-residents has led those communities to develop new exclusionary policies that perpetuate the exclusion of the poor and people of color. Why recent incidents involving white Americans calling the police on African Americans who are using public parks, pools, golf courses, and beaches is part of a long tradition of using minor ordinances to police black bodies. Recommended reading: Andrew W. Kahrl, Free the Beaches: The Story of Ned Coll and the Battle for America’s Most Exclusive Shoreline (Yale University Press, 2018) Andrew W. Kahrl, The Land Was Ours: How Black Beaches Became White Wealth in the Coastal South Andrew W. Kahrl, “The North’s Jim Crow,” New York Times, May 27, 2018 https://nyti.ms/2xkcpsF Gregory W. Bush, White Sand Black Beach: Civil Rights, Public Space, and Miami’s Virginia Key Robert J. Robertson, Fair Ways: How Six Black Golfers Won Civil Rights in Beaumont, Texas Richard Rothstein, The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America Shirley A. Wiegand and Wayne A. Wiegand, The Desegregation of Public Libraries in the Jim Crow South: Civil Rights and Local Activism Follow In The Past Lane @InThePastLane Related ITPL podcast episodes: 041 Erin Krutko Devlin on the Little Rock Crisis of 1957 035 Richard Rothstein the Color of Law Music for This Episode Jay Graham, ITPL Intro (JayGMusic.com) Kevin McCleod, “Impact Moderato” (Free Music Archive) Andy Cohen, “Trophy Endorphins” (Free Music Archive) Jon Luc Hefferman, “Discovery” (Free Music Archive) Jon Luc Hefferman, “Winter Trek” (Free Music Archive) The Bell, “I Am History” (Free Music Archive) Production Credits Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson Podcasting Consultant: Dave Jackson of the School of Podcasting Photographer: John Buckingham Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci Website by: ERI Design Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too Social Media management: The Pony Express Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight © In The Past Lane, 2018 Recommended History Podcasts Ben Franklin’s World with Liz Covart @LizCovart The Age of Jackson Podcast @AgeofJacksonPod Backstory podcast – the history behind today’s headlines @BackstoryRadio Past Present podcast with Nicole Hemmer, Neil J. Young, and Natalia Petrzela @PastPresentPod 99 Percent Invisible with Roman Mars @99piorg Slow Burn podcast about Watergate with @leoncrawl The Memory Palace – with Nate DiMeo, story teller extraordinaire @thememorypalace The Conspirators – creepy true crime stories from the American past @Conspiratorcast The History Chicks podcast @Thehistorychix My History Can Beat Up Your Politics @myhist Professor Buzzkill podcast – Prof B takes on myths about the past @buzzkillprof Footnoting History podcast @HistoryFootnote The History Author Show podcast @HistoryDean More Perfect podcast - the history of key US Supreme Court cases @Radiolab Revisionist History with Malcolm Gladwell @Gladwell Radio Diaries with Joe Richman @RadioDiaries DIG history podcast @dig_history The Story Behind – the hidden histories of everyday things @StoryBehindPod Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen – specifically its American Icons series @Studio360show Uncivil podcast – fascinating takes on the legacy of the Civil War in contemporary US @uncivilshow Stuff You Missed in History Class @MissedinHistory The Whiskey Rebellion – two historians discuss topics from today’s news @WhiskeyRebelPod American History Tellers @ahtellers The Way of Improvement Leads Home with historian John Fea @JohnFea1 The Bowery Boys podcast – all things NYC history @BoweryBoys Ridiculous History @RidiculousHSW The Rogue Historian podcast with historian @MKeithHarris The Road To Now podcast @Road_To_Now Retropod with @mikerosenwald
There are 253 miles of shoreline in Connecticut and only seven of them are free and open to the public. Andrew Kahrl Associate Professor of history and African American Studies at University of Virginia brings us the story of Ned Coll who mobilized a multi-decade battle against town residency requirements and other segregating mechanisms along the Connecticut coast which make a day at the beach expensive, impractical or simply illegal. Our conversation delves into the core of public and private rights to the water. Music credit: Ryan Andersen http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ryan_Andersen/Swimming/Set_Me_Free