Episode 21: REMEMBERING THE HISTORY OF MARGARET GARNER with Dr. Cassandra Jones
In honor of Black History Month, Kat, Jen, and Christina welcome Dr. Cassandra L. Jones (https://uc.academia.edu/CassandraLJones/CurriculumVitae) to discuss the tragic story of Margaret Garner, a young woman who escaped to Cincinnati with her family from the home in Boone County where they were enslaved. The tragedy and trial were catalysts of the Civil War but her own voice has been lost. She never had the opportunity to tell her story; appropriated by both sides to push their narrative.
Toni Morrison based her book Beloved on Margaret’s story and imbued it with a paranormal subplot.
Dr. Cassandra Jones, an Assistant Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Cincinnati and an affiliate faculty member in Film and Media Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, helps us navigate this devastating part of Cincinnati and American history and its relevance in today’s society and media.
Listener discretion!
Tonight we are talking about an iconic Cincinnati true crime, but this story is more than that. The Garner family story is about fighting for liberation during the years before the American Civil War, how it was denied, and its impact on society to this day.
Trigger warning for child death and trauma. This is a hard story to hear but I would not suggest skipping it.
NOTE: Due to the winter storm, there were some bandwidth issues and we had to turn our cameras off during the round table discussion.
Resources used for tonight’s show: The Cincinnati Enquirer, the New York Times (2019, 1856), Blackpast.org, Colored Conventions Project Digital Records, Soul of America, The Anti-Slavery Bugle (Salem, Ohio 1856), Weekly Indiana State Sentinel (Indianapolis, Indiana 1856), Wikipedia.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/obituaries/margaret-garner-overlooked.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Garner
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/margaret-garner-incident-1856/
https://www.soulofamerica.com/us-cities/cincinnati/cincinnati-historic-sites/
https://shenandoahliterary.org/blog/2016/02/the-slave-mother-a-tale-of-ohio-by-frances-ellen-watkins-harper/
https://omeka.coloredconventions.org/items/show/1509
Recommended Books:
Beloved-Toni Morrison
MODERN MEDEA-Steven Weisenburger
Frontiers of Freedom: Cincinnati’s Black Community 1802–1868 (Law Society & Politics in the Midwest)-Nikki M. Taylor
Driven toward Madness: The Fugitive Slave Margaret Garner and Tragedy on the Ohio (New Approaches to Midwestern History)-Nikki M. Taylor
Science Fiction Books:
Kindred-Octavia E. Butler
The Good House: A Novel-Tananarive Due
Binti Trilogy-Nnedi Okorafor
Ted Talk about the mathematics of African design: https://www.ted.com/talks/ron_eglash_the_fractals_at_the_heart_of_african_designs?language=en#t-995743
Email us your hometown haunt story and we will read it on our next episode! hometownhauntedmail@gmail.com
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