On this episode, Aíne Norris (Old Dominion University), guides us through one story of an age-old accusation levied against women throughout colonial and early American history: witchcraft.
In 1891, newspapers across America printed a story about known witches in the Appalachian Mountains and their supernatural powers. “Sally Friddly” of Potts Creek, Alleghany County, Virginia, was among those named, accused of enchanting a milk pail to steal cream from her neighbors. The blurb and alleged incantation were picked up and re-printed in papers across the country for the next five years, but Fridley’s name was not otherwise associated with witchcraft within public records. Today, the allegation remains, forever naming Fridley, and others, as Virginia witches. Researching their footsteps for over a year led Norris through the mountain roads of Alleghany County and to the doorsteps of descendants, all in a larger discussion of power, lore, and legacy. Production support by Crystal Donkor (Southern Methodist University). Transcript available at bit.ly/S09E04Transcript Resources: bit.ly/S09E04Resources
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On this episode, Aíne Norris (Old Dominion University), guides us through one story of an age-old accusation levied against women throughout colonial and early American history: witchcraft.
In 1891, newspapers across America printed a story about known witches in the Appalachian Mountains and their supernatural powers. “Sally Friddly” of Potts Creek, Alleghany County, Virginia, was among those named, accused of enchanting a milk pail to steal cream from her neighbors. The blurb and alleged incantation were picked up and re-printed in papers across the country for the next five years, but Fridley’s name was not otherwise associated with witchcraft within public records. Today, the allegation remains, forever naming Fridley, and others, as Virginia witches. Researching their footsteps for over a year led Norris through the mountain roads of Alleghany County and to the doorsteps of descendants, all in a larger discussion of power, lore, and legacy. Production support by Crystal Donkor (Southern Methodist University). Transcript available at bit.ly/S09E04Transcript Resources: bit.ly/S09E04Resources
“The Time and Place of Performance” looks at the vast circuits of nineteenth-century performance. Amy Huang (Bates College) and Kellen Hoxworth (University at Buffalo, SUNY) consider how nineteenth-century performances move backward and forward, citing past moments, and themselves undergoing processes of recycling and re-presentation to move into the future and challenge the framework of the nation-state. This conversation explores the transoceanic circuits of plays and artists (such as Ira Aldridge and Rose Quong) and the unexpected connections between blackface and yellowface performance to consider how and whether it might be important to teach nineteenth-century theatre and performance. Although Huang and Hoxworth both find some of this theatre “bad,” they discuss how we might teach these plays and performances in ways that do not depend on shoring up these works’ exemplariness or exceptionality. How might we stay with the “bad,” the partial, and the minor moments of theatre and performance history? Full transcript available at https://bit.ly/S08E02Transcript.
C19: America in the 19th Century
On this episode, Aíne Norris (Old Dominion University), guides us through one story of an age-old accusation levied against women throughout colonial and early American history: witchcraft.
In 1891, newspapers across America printed a story about known witches in the Appalachian Mountains and their supernatural powers. “Sally Friddly” of Potts Creek, Alleghany County, Virginia, was among those named, accused of enchanting a milk pail to steal cream from her neighbors. The blurb and alleged incantation were picked up and re-printed in papers across the country for the next five years, but Fridley’s name was not otherwise associated with witchcraft within public records. Today, the allegation remains, forever naming Fridley, and others, as Virginia witches. Researching their footsteps for over a year led Norris through the mountain roads of Alleghany County and to the doorsteps of descendants, all in a larger discussion of power, lore, and legacy. Production support by Crystal Donkor (Southern Methodist University). Transcript available at bit.ly/S09E04Transcript Resources: bit.ly/S09E04Resources
