Lethe Tanner was here

Follow the amazing life of Lethe Tanner, known today as Alethia Tanner, a woman born enslaved on the outskirts of Washington DC, who was able to purchase her own freedom.Join me in this multi-part podcast, Lethe Tanner was here, as I delve into Lethe’s story from the plantation in Upper Marlboro, Maryland to the City of Washington, where she not only gains her freedom but finds enough financial successes to purchase and free over 18 family and friends from slavery. You’ll also hear about the environment in which she lived. The beginnings of a ‘less than rural’ City of Washington, the pandemics, the powerful politicians and powerbrokers, new immigrants, the racial grievances and the free and enslaved Black community. Alethia moved through it all. She began her life at the dawn of new country and lived just long enough to see the Emancipation Proclamation signed into law.For more information, please visit - LetheTannerwashere.comLethe Tanner was here.Written, edited, and produced by Susan CookJoseph Dougherty was voiced by Damien Burke. Please find Damien at https://www.fiverr.com/damo161?

At the beginning of the 1700s, as the transatlantic slave trade picked up pace, and labor from enslaved people became the dominant labor force in the American colonies, those initial landowners in the colony of Maryland enacted ever-restrictive laws that formalized and centered slavery upon the concept of one’s race and determined that they “shall serve Durante Vita.” It’s important to take the time now to explore this aspect of early American history, as It is very important to understand the patterns that emerged during this era because these are the underpinnings of the laws, economics, and social structures that are vital to understanding Lethe Tanner’s world ….and our own.This podcast is supported in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts.…………RESEARCH SOURCESKulikoff, Allan. Tobacco and Slaves: The Development of Southern Cultures in the Chesapeake, 1680-1800. University of North Carolina Press, 1986.SlaveVoyages.org, An excellent source for searching all sorts of data about the transatlantic slave trade.Law , Robin (ed.). The English in West Africa: The Local Correspondence of the Royal African Company of England, 1681-1699, Part 1,2, 3. Oxford, Oxford University Press , 2007Wilkerson, Isabel. Caste: The Origins of our Discontent, Random House, 2020Newspapers.comLand records from Maryland State Archives and Maryland State Archives, Land RecordsPrince George’s County Historical Society VOICEOVER CREDITS:All the voiceover actors who helped bring this episode to life.Stacy Thomas…..reading Slave Auction poemJP Wright…..as Commander TowgoodPete McGiffen …..reading Royal African Company charterBobby Lax…..as Captain PhillipsBud Lucas…..as Francis NicholsonUni V. Sol…..reading Maryland GazetteTalitha Huddleston..…..reading from CasteAutumn Holley…..reading punishments against women Matt Davies…..as Joseph BeltEric Little…..reading Maryland laws defining slavery/miscegenationGrace Diane Jensen…..as Mary Belt