1 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:03,320 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. 2 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:06,800 Speaker 2: Something that came up in passing in the research for 3 00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:10,240 Speaker 2: this week's episode on George Washington Williams was that he 4 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:14,239 Speaker 2: knew Richard T. Greener, first black graduate of Harvard and 5 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:17,800 Speaker 2: father of Belle DaCosta Green, and I thought, Hey, we 6 00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:21,319 Speaker 2: talked about her on the podcast. She is one of 7 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:24,560 Speaker 2: the three women we discussed in this episode, Gertrude Belle, 8 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:28,800 Speaker 2: Ellian Belle Da Costa Green, and Dido Elizabeth Bell. It 9 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:31,720 Speaker 2: is Today's Saturday Classic and it originally came out on 10 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:38,400 Speaker 2: December eleventh, twenty seventeen. Enjoy Welcome to Stuff You Missed 11 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:49,120 Speaker 2: in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome 12 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:50,640 Speaker 2: to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. 13 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:52,800 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. 14 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:55,760 Speaker 2: Today we have another episode in which we're going to 15 00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:59,080 Speaker 2: devote some time to three unique women, all of whom 16 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:02,000 Speaker 2: are notable in their way. And the two things that 17 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:04,000 Speaker 2: they have in common is that each of them has 18 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:06,920 Speaker 2: an element to their story that really surprised me in 19 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:09,600 Speaker 2: some way, and the other is that they each have 20 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:15,560 Speaker 2: the name Belle. If you're wondering, Hey, Tracy, why is 21 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:18,440 Speaker 2: this not a six impossible episodes, It's because a lot 22 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:21,560 Speaker 2: of the other bells were already taken. You will find 23 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:24,600 Speaker 2: Belle Boyd, Bell Star, and Bell Ganness in the archive, 24 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:27,399 Speaker 2: along with Gertrude Bell, whose name doesn't have the E 25 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:29,840 Speaker 2: on the end, and even the Bell which he was 26 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:35,280 Speaker 2: not a person. The three women today are Gertrude Bell Ellien, 27 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:40,080 Speaker 2: Belle DaCosta Green, and Dido Elizabeth Bell. Dido Elizabeth Bell 28 00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:44,160 Speaker 2: is a frequent listener request, including more recently from Renee 29 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:46,840 Speaker 2: and Melissa. And then the other two are people I 30 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:51,360 Speaker 2: learned about kind of stumbled over in various travels. Gertrude 31 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:55,720 Speaker 2: Bell Ellien, known as Trudy, was born on January twenty third, 32 00:01:55,840 --> 00:01:59,320 Speaker 2: nineteen eighteen. Her father, Robert, was a dentist who had 33 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:01,800 Speaker 2: immigrated from Lithuania and moved to New York at the 34 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:05,600 Speaker 2: age of twelve. Her mother, Bertha Cohen, had immigrated from 35 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:08,120 Speaker 2: a part of Russia that is now Poland when she 36 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:12,000 Speaker 2: was fourteen years old. The family was Jewish, and Robert 37 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:15,600 Speaker 2: was from a long line of rabbis. Ellien grew up 38 00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:19,400 Speaker 2: in a Manhattan apartment adjacent to her father's dentistry practice, 39 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:22,240 Speaker 2: and when she was six, a younger brother, Herbert, was 40 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:25,520 Speaker 2: born Not long after that, the family moved to the Bronx, 41 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:28,040 Speaker 2: which was at the time considered more of a suburb 42 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:30,440 Speaker 2: than an actual part of New York City. 43 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:34,560 Speaker 1: In nineteen thirty three, Ellian graduated from high school, and 44 00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: her family at that point was in pretty dire financial streets. 45 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:40,200 Speaker 1: Like much of the rest of the country and in 46 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:43,560 Speaker 1: some cases, the world, they had suffered huge losses in 47 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:48,399 Speaker 1: the Great Depression, and her father had declared bankruptcy. Fortunately, though, 48 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:51,560 Speaker 1: because Elien had been such an exceptional student, she was 49 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:54,680 Speaker 1: accepted at Hunter College, which was at the time a 50 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:57,440 Speaker 1: tuition free women's college. 51 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:01,840 Speaker 2: Ellien's grandfather died of cancer that she graduated from high school, 52 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:04,040 Speaker 2: and she wanted to pursue a career that would let 53 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:07,880 Speaker 2: her fight the disease. But she also had kind of 54 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:11,720 Speaker 2: an aversion to dissection, so she got around this difficulty 55 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:13,080 Speaker 2: by studying chemistry. 56 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:17,720 Speaker 1: Ellien graduated from Hunter College summa cum laude in nineteen 57 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:21,640 Speaker 1: thirty seven, but in spite of her excellent academic record, 58 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:24,960 Speaker 1: she couldn't find work as a chemist because of her gender. 59 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:28,960 Speaker 1: She got a job teaching biochemistry to nursing students at 60 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:31,800 Speaker 1: the New York Hospital School of Nursing but that was 61 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:35,320 Speaker 1: only a temporary position, with the course only taught once 62 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:38,720 Speaker 1: every nine months, and when she finally did find a 63 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:42,040 Speaker 1: job working as a lab assistant, it was unpaid and 64 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:46,120 Speaker 1: it slowly and gradually increased from zero to twenty dollars 65 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:49,680 Speaker 1: a week. She saved as much money as she could, 66 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:52,880 Speaker 1: and her parents gradually recovered from the Great Depression thanks 67 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 1: to her father's loyal dentistry patients, so by nineteen thirty 68 00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 1: nine she had enough money to go back to school. 69 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 1: She enrolled at New York University and the chemistry department 70 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:06,240 Speaker 1: as its only female master's degree student, earning her MS 71 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:10,040 Speaker 1: in nineteen forty one, not long after the United States 72 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:13,080 Speaker 1: entered World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. 73 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:15,840 Speaker 1: We often talk about World War two as a time 74 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:19,080 Speaker 1: when more women were entering the civilian workforce because so 75 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:22,680 Speaker 1: many men were entering the military, and that's often discussed 76 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:26,400 Speaker 1: in terms of factory labor or wartime industries, but the 77 00:04:26,440 --> 00:04:30,119 Speaker 1: same concept applied to other jobs as well. So during 78 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:33,040 Speaker 1: the war, Elian was finally able to get work as 79 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:36,839 Speaker 1: a chemist, starting out in the Quaker Made Company's quality 80 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:39,880 Speaker 1: control department. She didn't really. 81 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:42,400 Speaker 2: Love doing this work, she was doing things like testing 82 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:45,279 Speaker 2: the acidity of pickles, and it was pretty repetitive, but 83 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:48,120 Speaker 2: it did give her a lot of practice at conducting 84 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:51,960 Speaker 2: tests quickly and efficiently and doing them accurately. When she 85 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:54,000 Speaker 2: felt like there wasn't anything else she could learn at 86 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:56,560 Speaker 2: Quaker Maide, she looked for another job and was hired 87 00:04:56,640 --> 00:05:00,080 Speaker 2: in a research position at Johnson and Johnson, but that 88 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:02,680 Speaker 2: company shuttered the research lab when she'd been there for 89 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:04,280 Speaker 2: only about six months. 90 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:07,440 Speaker 1: Then in nineteen forty four, she got a position doing 91 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:09,680 Speaker 1: what she had really wanted to do since high school, 92 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:14,120 Speaker 1: working as a research chemist at pharmaceutical company Burrow's Welcome, 93 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:18,080 Speaker 1: where she started out as an assistant to doctor George H. Hitchings. 94 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:22,440 Speaker 2: Side note that after many moves and name changes, Burrow's 95 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:27,960 Speaker 2: Welcome is now glaxosmith Klein. This new role was really 96 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:31,160 Speaker 2: ideal for her. Hitchings encouraged her to learn as much 97 00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:34,680 Speaker 2: as she could, including branching out from the field of chemistry. 98 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:38,720 Speaker 2: He progressively gave her more and more responsibility, and often 99 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 2: when Hitchings got promoted, she got promoted into his old role. 100 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:46,080 Speaker 2: By nineteen sixty seven, she had risen through the ranks 101 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:50,400 Speaker 2: to become Burrow's Welcome's Head of Experimental Therapy, a position 102 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:51,920 Speaker 2: that she would hold until the end. 103 00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:55,760 Speaker 1: Of her career. When Ellian started working at Burrow's Welcome, 104 00:05:56,040 --> 00:05:59,640 Speaker 1: a lot of pharmaceutical research was carried out basically on 105 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:03,000 Speaker 1: a try, vile and error basis, but Elien and the 106 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:06,080 Speaker 1: rest of their team took a different approach, examining and 107 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:10,960 Speaker 1: then exploiting biochemical differences between healthy cells and pathogens so 108 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:12,960 Speaker 1: that they could develop targeted drugs. 109 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:17,560 Speaker 2: While at burrows Welcome, Elien and Hitchings developed the first 110 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:22,039 Speaker 2: successful chemotherapy for the treatment of childhood leukemia. They developed 111 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:25,719 Speaker 2: the world's first anti rejection drug, which made kidney transplants 112 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:29,400 Speaker 2: possible between people who weren't related to one another. Elian 113 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:35,400 Speaker 2: also develops treatments for a number of other diseases, including gout, lupus, malaria, meningitis, 114 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:39,000 Speaker 2: and arthritis. In the late nineteen sixties, after she had 115 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:42,560 Speaker 2: become head of the Department of Experimental Therapy, Elien did 116 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:47,160 Speaker 2: pioneering work in anti viral drugs. The conventional wisdom at 117 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:49,880 Speaker 2: this point was that any drug that could successfully work 118 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:53,359 Speaker 2: against viruses would be far too toxic to be tolerated 119 00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:58,120 Speaker 2: by the human body. The department's first breakthrough was a cyclovire, 120 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:02,120 Speaker 2: invented by Howard Schaeffer. A cyclovier, used to treat herpes, 121 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 2: was the world's first truly successful targeted antiviral medication. There 122 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:09,479 Speaker 2: were a few other antiviral drugs at this point, but 123 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 2: most of them had been developed as treatments for non 124 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:16,760 Speaker 2: viral diseases, they were discovered to actually have some antiviral efficacy, 125 00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:20,880 Speaker 2: or they were broad spectrum treatments that were really hard 126 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:24,520 Speaker 2: on the patient. Ellien's work with a cyclovier included refining 127 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:28,240 Speaker 2: its development, as well as figuring out exactly why it worked, 128 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:30,680 Speaker 2: and then applying those findings to other drugs. 129 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:34,600 Speaker 1: Elien's techniques also led to the development of a zidathymidine, 130 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:37,880 Speaker 1: more commonly known as AZT, which in nineteen eighty seven 131 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:40,760 Speaker 1: became the first drug approved by the FDA for the 132 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:45,080 Speaker 1: treatment of HIV. By the time AZT was developed, Elien 133 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:48,760 Speaker 1: had retired and was serving as scientist emeritus and consultant, 134 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:51,400 Speaker 1: so she had more of a supervisory role than a 135 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:55,480 Speaker 1: hands on one. Early in her career at Burroughs Welcome, 136 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:59,080 Speaker 1: Ellien had wanted to continue her education. She enrolled in 137 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:03,400 Speaker 1: the PhD proget Brooklyn Polytechnic, going to school part time 138 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:06,840 Speaker 1: while continuing to work. But after two years in the program, 139 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:09,120 Speaker 1: the dean told her she needed to choose between her 140 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:12,120 Speaker 1: job and her studies. She chose the job, and she 141 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:16,080 Speaker 1: never finished her doctorate. So she rose to these incredible 142 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:18,960 Speaker 1: heights with two strikes against her, the fact that she 143 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:21,200 Speaker 1: was a woman and the fact that she didn't have 144 00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:24,040 Speaker 1: a PhD. Been her own words. Quote. 145 00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:27,360 Speaker 2: Years later, when I received three honorary doctorate degrees from 146 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:31,120 Speaker 2: George Washington University, Brown University, and University of Michigan, I 147 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:33,800 Speaker 2: decided that perhaps that decision had been the right one 148 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 2: after all. 149 00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:38,719 Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty eight, Gertrude Bell Ellion and George H. 150 00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:42,439 Speaker 1: Hitchings were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. 151 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:46,280 Speaker 1: In the words of the Nobel Assembly, they quote demonstrated 152 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:53,040 Speaker 1: differences in nucleic acid metabolism between normal human cells, cancer cells, protozoa, bacteria, 153 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:56,840 Speaker 1: and virus. On the basis of such differences, a series 154 00:08:56,920 --> 00:09:00,160 Speaker 1: of drugs were developed the block nucleic acid synthesis in 155 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 1: cancer cells and noxious organisms without damaging the normal human cells. 156 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:09,079 Speaker 1: Ellien in that moment, became the fifth woman to earn 157 00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:12,160 Speaker 1: a Nobel Prize in medicine, the ninth woman to earn 158 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:15,520 Speaker 1: a Nobel Prize in any science category, and one of 159 00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:18,080 Speaker 1: a very few people to earn a Nobel Prize in 160 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:22,600 Speaker 1: the sciences without having a doctorate. As a side note, 161 00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:25,800 Speaker 1: also receiving the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 162 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:29,600 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty eight was James W. Black, who developed beta blockers, 163 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:32,000 Speaker 1: which are used to treat high blood pressure and heart disease, 164 00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:36,199 Speaker 1: and eight two antagonists, which are used to treat peptic ulcers. 165 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:40,000 Speaker 1: Ellien Is also listed on the patents for more than 166 00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:44,559 Speaker 1: forty drugs. She received more than twenty honorary doctoral degrees, 167 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:47,440 Speaker 1: and in nineteen sixty eight she was awarded the Garvin 168 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:50,920 Speaker 1: Medal from the American Chemical Society, and in nineteen eighty 169 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:55,280 Speaker 1: five she earned the American Chemical Society Distinguished Chemist Award. 170 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:58,600 Speaker 1: She also earned the American Cancer Society Medal of Honor, 171 00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:02,520 Speaker 1: the National Medal of Science in the Lemmelson MIT Lifetime 172 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:06,280 Speaker 1: Achievement Award, among others. In nineteen ninety one, at the 173 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:09,400 Speaker 1: age of seventy three, she became the first woman inducted 174 00:10:09,679 --> 00:10:11,880 Speaker 1: into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. 175 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:16,640 Speaker 2: She also served as a leader in several organizations dedicated 176 00:10:16,679 --> 00:10:19,280 Speaker 2: to health and research, including serving on the board of 177 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:23,160 Speaker 2: directors of the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, 178 00:10:23,200 --> 00:10:26,440 Speaker 2: and the Multiple Sclerosis Society. She was also a member 179 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:30,520 Speaker 2: of the American Academy of Pharmaceutical Scientists, the National Academy 180 00:10:30,559 --> 00:10:34,600 Speaker 2: of Sciences, the American Chemical Society, and the American Association 181 00:10:34,679 --> 00:10:38,600 Speaker 2: of Cancer Research, also serving as its president. In addition 182 00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:40,880 Speaker 2: to all of this, she did a lot of outreach 183 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:45,640 Speaker 2: to encourage children to study the sciences, especially girls. She 184 00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:48,720 Speaker 2: was an avid traveler and photographer, and she also loved 185 00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:54,359 Speaker 2: music that she subscribed to the Metropolitan Opera for forty years. Eventually, 186 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:57,679 Speaker 2: brose Welcome moved its headquarters to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 187 00:10:57,840 --> 00:11:01,160 Speaker 2: and Ellien moved as well. While in North Carolina, she 188 00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:03,839 Speaker 2: taught at both the University of North Carolina and at 189 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:08,520 Speaker 2: Duke University in Durham. She died in Chapel Hill on Sunday, 190 00:11:08,559 --> 00:11:11,800 Speaker 2: February twenty first, nineteen ninety nine, at the age of 191 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:15,920 Speaker 2: eighty one. I learned about her at the National Museum 192 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:19,240 Speaker 2: of Jewish American History in Philadelphia. I had never heard 193 00:11:19,280 --> 00:11:22,440 Speaker 2: of her before, and it is amazing that she did 194 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:26,280 Speaker 2: such important and groundbreaking work in the field of chemistry, 195 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:30,880 Speaker 2: and especially in pharmaceutical chemistry without as would typically be 196 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:34,000 Speaker 2: expected a PhD. Like for her to be at that 197 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:37,199 Speaker 2: rank within the company without a PhD and also a woman, 198 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:42,479 Speaker 2: is amazing. Yeah, we're going to talk about another fascinating 199 00:11:42,559 --> 00:11:44,560 Speaker 2: lady with the name Belle in just a moment, But 200 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:46,840 Speaker 2: first we're going to pause and have a little sponsor break. 201 00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:58,920 Speaker 2: Beginning in about eighteen ninety, wealthy financier and banking titan 202 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:03,400 Speaker 2: John Pierpont Morgan Senior started amassing a huge collection of 203 00:12:03,559 --> 00:12:07,400 Speaker 2: rare and antique books, artifacts and art, and other assorted 204 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:10,920 Speaker 2: treasures at his home at two nineteen Madison Avenue in 205 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:15,600 Speaker 2: New York City. He acquired a Gutenberg Bible on vellum, 206 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:18,360 Speaker 2: the first of three Gutenberg Bibles that he would go 207 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:23,360 Speaker 2: on to own. Also for Shakespeare, folios, signed manuscripts by 208 00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:27,160 Speaker 2: John Keats and Charles Dickens, a fourteen fifty nine edition 209 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:28,560 Speaker 2: of The Man's Psalter. 210 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:34,880 Speaker 1: On and on a very impressive collection. It was extensive 211 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:38,000 Speaker 1: and expensive as well as being impressive, so much so 212 00:12:38,040 --> 00:12:41,240 Speaker 1: that in nineteen oh two, he commissioned an architect to 213 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:44,680 Speaker 1: build a library adjoining his home to house it all. 214 00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:47,600 Speaker 1: And while he did seem to have the knowledge, taste, 215 00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:50,200 Speaker 1: and money to build a good collection, he didn't really 216 00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:53,280 Speaker 1: have a head for curating or organizing it. For that, 217 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:55,319 Speaker 1: he needed a librarian. 218 00:12:57,040 --> 00:12:59,960 Speaker 2: That librarian was bell to Costa Green, who he high 219 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:03,319 Speaker 2: in nineteen oh five when she was twenty two. Green 220 00:13:03,559 --> 00:13:07,400 Speaker 2: born on December thirteenth, eighteen eighty three, was of Portuguese heritage. 221 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:10,200 Speaker 2: She'd been born in Virginia and grew up in Alexandria, 222 00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:12,880 Speaker 2: and she'd gone directly from public school to working at 223 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:15,880 Speaker 2: the Princeton University Library in nineteen oh one or nineteen 224 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:19,640 Speaker 2: oh two. Although she had no prior training as a librarian, 225 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:22,920 Speaker 2: her time at Princeton had made her quite skilled at 226 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:26,600 Speaker 2: cataloging and reference work, and she'd had a lifelong affinity 227 00:13:26,679 --> 00:13:29,320 Speaker 2: for rare books and illuminated manuscripts. 228 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:31,800 Speaker 1: I would imagine that would seem like a dream job then, 229 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:35,360 Speaker 1: at least that is the biography that she probably gave 230 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:38,520 Speaker 1: to JP Morgan, who had been introduced to Green through 231 00:13:38,559 --> 00:13:43,520 Speaker 1: his nephew Junia Spencer Morgan, Associate librarian at Princeton, and 232 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:45,400 Speaker 1: it is also the one she presented to the world 233 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:47,720 Speaker 1: at large, and you will still find some of those 234 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:49,960 Speaker 1: details in articles about her life. 235 00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:53,720 Speaker 2: Green did go to public school and work in a 236 00:13:53,760 --> 00:13:58,400 Speaker 2: Princeton University library, but biographer Heidi Artisan puts her birth 237 00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:02,720 Speaker 2: at November twenty one, six, eighteen seventy nine, in Washington, 238 00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:06,360 Speaker 2: d C. So slightly different place and also a little older. 239 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:09,680 Speaker 2: From there, her family moved to New York in eighteen 240 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:12,720 Speaker 2: eighty five, and then after graduating from high school, Green 241 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:15,440 Speaker 2: went on to Teachers College, as well as possibly taking 242 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:19,000 Speaker 2: a library apprenticeship at New York Public Library and a 243 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:21,200 Speaker 2: bibliography course at Amherst College. 244 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:24,720 Speaker 1: And her name was not initially Belle Da Costa Green. 245 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:29,440 Speaker 1: It was Bell Marion Greener. Her father, Richard T. Greener, 246 00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:32,920 Speaker 1: was the first black man to graduate from Harvard, the 247 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:36,720 Speaker 1: first black librarian and professor at the University of South Carolina, 248 00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:40,720 Speaker 1: and a former dean at Howard University, a historically black 249 00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:42,440 Speaker 1: university in Washington, d C. 250 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:47,400 Speaker 2: Green may have had some Portuguese ancestry. Her parents both 251 00:14:47,400 --> 00:14:50,880 Speaker 2: had very like complexions, but the name the Costa and 252 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:53,800 Speaker 2: the change of her last name from Greener to Green 253 00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:56,920 Speaker 2: both came after her father left the family and moved 254 00:14:56,960 --> 00:15:00,440 Speaker 2: to Russia to take on a consular post. Race that 255 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:05,320 Speaker 2: was listed on Green's birth certificate was colored. It's virtually 256 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:08,240 Speaker 2: certain that Belle da Costa Green could not have gone 257 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:10,440 Speaker 2: on to the life that she had and the work 258 00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:13,360 Speaker 2: that she did had she presented herself to the world 259 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:16,680 Speaker 2: as a black woman. Her father was able to rise 260 00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:19,680 Speaker 2: to some prominence, largely thanks to when he was born. 261 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:23,160 Speaker 2: His admission to Harvard and his job at USC were 262 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:27,160 Speaker 2: products of reconstruction happening during the brief window when the 263 00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:31,640 Speaker 2: nation made reluctant strides towards racial equality. But Bell de 264 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:34,240 Speaker 2: Coosta Green went to work for JP Morgan in nineteen 265 00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:37,800 Speaker 2: oh six, well into the Jim Crow era. Even though 266 00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:41,280 Speaker 2: the South has a much more notorious reputation for segregation 267 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:45,000 Speaker 2: and racist violence, segregation and racism were present in the 268 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:47,680 Speaker 2: rest of the nation as well, although often in a 269 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:51,600 Speaker 2: somewhat subtler way. We have a whole library of podcast 270 00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:54,840 Speaker 2: episodes called not Just in the South that relate to 271 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:57,080 Speaker 2: this whole idea, which we will link to in our 272 00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:01,480 Speaker 2: show notes. So after her father's depart Green, along with 273 00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:05,280 Speaker 2: her mother and siblings, changed their last names with a brother, 274 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:09,760 Speaker 2: adding DaCosta to his as well. They distanced themselves from 275 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:13,600 Speaker 2: Richard T. Greener, his reputation and his color, and they 276 00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:17,440 Speaker 2: joined the white world. For Bell's part, she had far 277 00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:20,240 Speaker 2: more opportunity available to her as a white woman straight 278 00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:22,360 Speaker 2: out of high school than is the daughter of a 279 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:26,320 Speaker 2: black Harvard graduate who had attended college and possibly completed 280 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:29,800 Speaker 2: a library apprenticeship. Can I take just a moment to 281 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:32,720 Speaker 2: talk about the idea of passing because it has come 282 00:16:32,800 --> 00:16:35,920 Speaker 2: up Yeah, previous episodes a couple of times, like the 283 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:40,360 Speaker 2: idea of passing. So a person of color living within 284 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:43,080 Speaker 2: the white world as a white person has its connotation 285 00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:47,200 Speaker 2: of deception and doing something wrong. But to be clear, 286 00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:51,280 Speaker 2: what is wrong is the society that made it impossible 287 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:54,840 Speaker 2: for people of color to live the same life as 288 00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:59,720 Speaker 2: white people had access to. So what she was basically 289 00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:02,440 Speaker 2: doing here was just not playing by the rules that 290 00:17:02,480 --> 00:17:06,239 Speaker 2: white society was establishing for people of color, doing her 291 00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:09,040 Speaker 2: own thing. Yeah, it is one of those things that's 292 00:17:09,119 --> 00:17:12,720 Speaker 2: sometimes framed as sort of sneaky, but when you look 293 00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:15,160 Speaker 2: at it really as the comparative that Tracy laid out 294 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:17,800 Speaker 2: in these notes of like, here's a woman who is educated, 295 00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:20,440 Speaker 2: she has all of these skills, she is super smart. 296 00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:23,080 Speaker 2: But if she presents herself as black, she will never 297 00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:25,879 Speaker 2: get this job. Versus saying, oh no, I'm just an 298 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:28,560 Speaker 2: enthusiast straight out of high school, but I'm white and 299 00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:31,520 Speaker 2: gets the job. Like that's a pretty clear indicator of 300 00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:36,040 Speaker 2: why passing became something that people tried to do. Yes, So, 301 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:40,280 Speaker 2: for her first three years working for Pierpont Morgan, Green 302 00:17:40,359 --> 00:17:43,119 Speaker 2: spent most of her time sorting out this collection he 303 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:48,120 Speaker 2: had accumulated, organizing catalog and curating this whole haphazard mess 304 00:17:48,119 --> 00:17:51,680 Speaker 2: into an actual private library, and then from there, while 305 00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:55,119 Speaker 2: still acting as his personal librarian, she started traveling around 306 00:17:55,160 --> 00:17:58,919 Speaker 2: the world on his behalf, basically as an acquisitions agent. 307 00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:05,120 Speaker 1: In this Green was highly confident and completely confident. Particularly 308 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:07,320 Speaker 1: in her early career. There was quite a bit of 309 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:11,560 Speaker 1: media coverage that painted her as a flibbertygibbet, but she 310 00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:14,960 Speaker 1: carried herself with such assurance that it increasingly offset the 311 00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:18,000 Speaker 1: fact that she was, to everyone else's eye, a twenty 312 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:21,240 Speaker 1: somethingter woman who had never been to college. She was 313 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:24,600 Speaker 1: also quite spylish and fashionable, playing up her so called 314 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:28,720 Speaker 1: quote exotic appearance. Reportedly saying, quote, just because I am 315 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:31,040 Speaker 1: a librarian doesn't mean I have to dress like one. 316 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:35,280 Speaker 1: She was openly flirtatious with everyone, and she had a 317 00:18:35,320 --> 00:18:39,280 Speaker 1: string of lovers, rumored to include women and men. She 318 00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:42,800 Speaker 1: was briefly engaged to a few of the latter. There 319 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:46,080 Speaker 1: were rumors that she was involved with Morgan himself, which 320 00:18:46,119 --> 00:18:49,880 Speaker 1: she neither confirmed nor denied, just saying we tried when 321 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:52,199 Speaker 1: asked about it, like, what does that even mean? I 322 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:52,600 Speaker 1: don't know. 323 00:18:56,119 --> 00:18:59,520 Speaker 2: Her longest and most important relationship was with married art 324 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:03,520 Speaker 2: historian Bernard Berenson, who she wrote more than six hundred 325 00:19:03,560 --> 00:19:07,680 Speaker 2: letters to between nineteen ten and nineteen forty four. Green 326 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:11,280 Speaker 2: also neither confirmed nor denied speculation about whether she had 327 00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:15,960 Speaker 2: quote crossed the color line, which went on throughout her life. Instead, 328 00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:20,520 Speaker 2: she lived exuberantly and passionately, presenting herself as a mysterious, 329 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:24,680 Speaker 2: intriguing woman with a sharp tongue and shrewd bargaining skills, 330 00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:29,120 Speaker 2: who also became highly internationally respected for her work as 331 00:19:29,119 --> 00:19:33,160 Speaker 2: a librarian and her ability to negotiate for new acquisitions. 332 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:34,760 Speaker 1: Belle de Costa. 333 00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:38,360 Speaker 2: Green expanded Pierpont Morgan's holdings into one of the finest 334 00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:42,400 Speaker 2: private library collections in the world. By the time Morgan 335 00:19:42,480 --> 00:19:46,560 Speaker 2: died in nineteen thirteen, his library contained six hundred rare 336 00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:51,360 Speaker 2: and valuable volumes. It included an incredible collection of medieval 337 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:55,159 Speaker 2: and Renaissance manuscripts, along with a sizable collection of books 338 00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:58,880 Speaker 2: printed by William Caxton, in large part thanks to Green 339 00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:02,720 Speaker 2: negotiating a private purchase the night before an entire set 340 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:05,560 Speaker 2: was supposed to be sold at auction, and one of 341 00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:09,480 Speaker 2: her most famous acquisitions, she secured another caxpan An edition 342 00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:13,440 Speaker 2: of La Morte d'erteur for forty two eight hundred dollars, 343 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:16,159 Speaker 2: which is a lot of money, but it is a 344 00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:19,320 Speaker 2: whole lot less than the one hundred thousand dollars that 345 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:22,359 Speaker 2: Morgan had offered her to had authorized her to pay 346 00:20:22,359 --> 00:20:27,160 Speaker 2: for it. After Morgan's death, Green's future was briefly uncertain. 347 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:31,000 Speaker 2: His son, JP Morgan Junior, known as Jack, was not 348 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:34,960 Speaker 2: particularly interested in his father's collection, but in about nineteen 349 00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:38,399 Speaker 2: twenty he changed his mind, and Green resumed her travels 350 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:42,320 Speaker 2: to Europe to continue acquiring manuscripts, books and art, now 351 00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:45,240 Speaker 2: hoping to develop the Morgan collection until it rivaled the 352 00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:48,919 Speaker 2: world's finest public institutions and make it into something that 353 00:20:48,960 --> 00:20:53,880 Speaker 2: the public could access. Jack Morgan ultimately agreed with this goal, 354 00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:57,479 Speaker 2: and the Morgan Library became a public institution in nineteen 355 00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:00,520 Speaker 2: twenty four, at which point Green became its He became 356 00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:04,160 Speaker 2: its first director. For the next twenty four years, Bell 357 00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:07,359 Speaker 2: de Costa Green worked to transform the Morgan Library into 358 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:11,719 Speaker 2: an internationally recognized center for academic study. She developed an 359 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:16,240 Speaker 2: information services department, a copying services department. She arranged public 360 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:20,760 Speaker 2: lectures and publications. She also continued to travel and acquire 361 00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:23,840 Speaker 2: new works until nineteen thirty six, when her health started 362 00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:24,440 Speaker 2: to decline. 363 00:21:25,119 --> 00:21:28,040 Speaker 1: She worked at the Morgan Library until her retirement in 364 00:21:28,119 --> 00:21:31,760 Speaker 1: nineteen forty eight, and she died on May tenth, nineteen fifty. 365 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:35,080 Speaker 1: Although she was seventy one and the people in her 366 00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:38,439 Speaker 1: life thought she was more like sixty seven, people wondered 367 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:41,320 Speaker 1: whether she had been ill or whether her lifestyle had 368 00:21:41,359 --> 00:21:45,480 Speaker 1: contributed to her early death. She was a lifelong smoker 369 00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:48,000 Speaker 1: and a heavy drinker, and she'd always burned the candle 370 00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:51,520 Speaker 1: at both ends in a life of passion, travel and adventure. 371 00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:56,000 Speaker 2: The Morgan Library, which is now the Morgan Library and Museum, 372 00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:59,480 Speaker 2: held an exhibition the year before her death which featured 373 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:01,399 Speaker 2: more than two a few hundred and fifty of the 374 00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:04,760 Speaker 2: most notable items she had acquired for the library, and 375 00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:09,359 Speaker 2: today her presence is still definitely felt there. There's including 376 00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:13,000 Speaker 2: a piece about her in the free audio tour that 377 00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:15,120 Speaker 2: you can get if you go to the Morgan, which 378 00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:17,720 Speaker 2: is how I first learned about Harry. It was actually 379 00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:21,520 Speaker 2: on my second trip to the Morgan. For whatever reason, 380 00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:25,119 Speaker 2: my first time there, I hadn't flipped through to that 381 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:27,679 Speaker 2: part and I was there my second time around with 382 00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:29,560 Speaker 2: my husband and he came over to me was like, hey, 383 00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:33,560 Speaker 2: have you listened to this about the librarian? Listen to 384 00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:37,679 Speaker 2: the one about the librarian. She sounds amazing, So we 385 00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:39,920 Speaker 2: have one more amazing woman to talk about after one 386 00:22:39,920 --> 00:22:51,920 Speaker 2: more quick sponsor break. Hanging in Schoon Palace in Perth, 387 00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:56,399 Speaker 2: Scotland is a striking and beautiful portrait of two young women. 388 00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:58,879 Speaker 2: The woman on the right is in a pink gown 389 00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:02,240 Speaker 2: with a gauzy white overlay. It's pretty traditional, maybe even 390 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:04,960 Speaker 2: a little bit old fashioned for the time. She's holding 391 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:07,520 Speaker 2: a book in one hand and the other woman's farm 392 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:10,760 Speaker 2: in the other. Her expression is a little reserved, but 393 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:13,880 Speaker 2: it has kind of a playful, little smile. The woman 394 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:17,280 Speaker 2: on the left is dressed more exotically, a white satin 395 00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:20,760 Speaker 2: dress with a silken blue shawl flowing back from her arms, 396 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:24,639 Speaker 2: and a white turban decorated with a fashionable ostrich bloom 397 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:28,320 Speaker 2: in a little gold embellishments. She's carrying a basket of 398 00:23:28,359 --> 00:23:31,439 Speaker 2: fruit and holding one finger up to her cheek, wearing 399 00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:36,520 Speaker 2: a decidedly mischievous expression. Given their clothing, their jewelry, and 400 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:40,879 Speaker 2: the setting, both women are clearly wealthy. They're also obviously 401 00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:44,479 Speaker 2: fond of one another. The painting's composition suggests that they 402 00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:48,440 Speaker 2: might be sisters and in what's most striking about the portrait, 403 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:51,240 Speaker 2: which dates back to the late seventeen seventies, is that 404 00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:53,200 Speaker 2: the woman on the right is white and the woman 405 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:56,480 Speaker 2: on the left is black. In a dramatic departure from 406 00:23:56,480 --> 00:23:58,639 Speaker 2: what would have been accepted at the time and what 407 00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:02,440 Speaker 2: is really depicted in paintings from the time, it presents 408 00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:03,840 Speaker 2: them as near equals. 409 00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:07,679 Speaker 1: That woman on the left is Dido Elizabeth Bell, and 410 00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:11,800 Speaker 1: on the right is her cousin, Lady Elizabeth Murray. Both 411 00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:15,400 Speaker 1: were grand nieces of William Murray, first Earl of Mansfield 412 00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:18,520 Speaker 1: and the Lord Chief Justice of Britain, who, along with 413 00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:22,119 Speaker 1: his wife, raised them at the estate of Kentwood House. 414 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:26,840 Speaker 1: Their fathers were two of Lord Mansfield's nephews. Lady Elizabeth 415 00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:30,040 Speaker 1: Murray's father was an ambassador and her mother had died 416 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:31,840 Speaker 1: when she was still a baby, which is why she 417 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:34,520 Speaker 1: was being raised at Kenwood House. Dido. 418 00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:38,360 Speaker 2: Elizabeth Bell's father was a British Navy officer, Sir John Lindsay. 419 00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:42,159 Speaker 2: Her mother was an enslaved woman named Maria, who Lindsay 420 00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:46,920 Speaker 2: either stole or rescued, depending on who you ask, from 421 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:51,560 Speaker 2: a Spanish vessel in the Caribbean. We know virtually nothing 422 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:55,040 Speaker 2: concrete about Maria's life. We don't know whether she was 423 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:58,040 Speaker 2: bound from Africa to the Caribbean when Lindsay encountered the 424 00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:00,920 Speaker 2: ship she was on, or whether she had already been 425 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:03,680 Speaker 2: in the colonies and then was being transported elsewhere. 426 00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:06,399 Speaker 1: We don't even know what ship it was. 427 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:11,720 Speaker 2: We also know virtually nothing about her connection to John Lindsay. 428 00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:15,480 Speaker 2: It was extremely common for a ship's crew to rape 429 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:19,480 Speaker 2: enslaved women in transit, but it was unheard of for 430 00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:22,920 Speaker 2: a British officer to return home with an enslaved woman 431 00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:26,399 Speaker 2: who was carrying his child. Which, according to what the 432 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:29,360 Speaker 2: one surviving second hand account that we have, is what 433 00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:30,440 Speaker 2: John Lindsay did. 434 00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:33,920 Speaker 1: It would have been simple enough for Lindsay to set 435 00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:37,160 Speaker 1: Dido and her mother up with comfortable living arrangements somewhere 436 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:41,240 Speaker 1: in London, the city's black community numbered about fifteen thousand 437 00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:45,159 Speaker 1: in the eighteenth century, but instead he acknowledged his daughter 438 00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:47,360 Speaker 1: and made arrangements for her to be brought up as 439 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:50,800 Speaker 1: a lady in a manner befitting his family and his station, 440 00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:55,760 Speaker 1: and in seventeen seventy two, roughly eleven years after Dido's birth, 441 00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:59,560 Speaker 1: he gave her mother land in Pensacola, Florida, suggesting both 442 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:01,960 Speaker 1: that she was free and that they had an ongoing 443 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:05,760 Speaker 1: relationship in the years after Dido's birth in seventeen sixty one. 444 00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:08,960 Speaker 1: There is just so much we don't know here. 445 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:13,800 Speaker 2: Belle and her cousin were raised, not quite as equals, 446 00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:16,879 Speaker 2: but much closer to one another than one would have 447 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:21,160 Speaker 2: expected given Bell's birth and color. Lord and Lady Murray 448 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:24,160 Speaker 2: had no children, and while there's some debate about exactly 449 00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:26,959 Speaker 2: what Bell's position was in the family, they seemed to 450 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:31,280 Speaker 2: have raised both girls as daughters. Household accounts show orders 451 00:26:31,280 --> 00:26:34,520 Speaker 2: for things like bedding and dresses being ordered in paars. 452 00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:37,439 Speaker 2: Dido was able to read and write, and seems to 453 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:40,040 Speaker 2: have had the same education that Elizabeth did. 454 00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:44,080 Speaker 1: At the same time, there were clear differences in their stations. 455 00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:47,960 Speaker 1: Both ladies received an allowance, but Dido's was thirty pounds 456 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:52,159 Speaker 1: a year Elizabeth's was one hundred. At least some of 457 00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:54,720 Speaker 1: the time, Dido was not allowed to eat with the 458 00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:57,920 Speaker 1: family when they were entertaining guests, and she was also 459 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:01,840 Speaker 1: expected to work. She super the dairy and the poultry yard, 460 00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:05,720 Speaker 1: and took dictation for Lord Murray's letters. All of this 461 00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:08,920 Speaker 1: was pretty typical for how the aristocracy treated quote poor 462 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:12,640 Speaker 1: relations and out of wedlock children who they actually liked, 463 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:14,639 Speaker 1: but it was not at all typical for how the 464 00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:19,600 Speaker 1: aristocracy treated people of color. Bell's life at Kenwood House 465 00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:23,080 Speaker 1: and her relationship with the Lord Chief Justice drew some criticism. 466 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:26,359 Speaker 1: Lord Mansfield was already the subject of some scrutiny. He 467 00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:29,520 Speaker 1: was a scot from a line of Catholic Jacobites, although 468 00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:32,480 Speaker 1: he had distanced himself from Scotland and from his Scottish 469 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:36,520 Speaker 1: family in his young adulthood. Having his nephew's multi racial 470 00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:39,679 Speaker 1: natural daughter living in his home and treating her with 471 00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:44,520 Speaker 1: obvious familial affection raised even more eyebrows. This was particularly 472 00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:47,480 Speaker 1: true when it came to Lord Mansfield's work as Lord 473 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:51,280 Speaker 1: Chief Justice, especially when it came to cases relating to slavery. 474 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:55,200 Speaker 1: In seventeen seventy two, Lord Mansfield heard what's known as 475 00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:59,840 Speaker 1: the Summrset case. Charles Stewart, a customs official from Boston, 476 00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:04,160 Speaker 1: had brought his enslaved servant, James Somerset with him to England. 477 00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:09,280 Speaker 1: Somerset escaped, was recaptured, and was forced onto a ship 478 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:12,480 Speaker 1: bound for Jamaica to be sold back into slavery. 479 00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:16,520 Speaker 2: So the question was whether the capture and sale of 480 00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:20,920 Speaker 2: Somerset was lawful. After a lengthy and often delayed process, 481 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:24,960 Speaker 2: Mansfield ruled, quote, no master ever was allowed here to 482 00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:27,480 Speaker 2: take a slave by force to be sold abroad because 483 00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:30,679 Speaker 2: he deserted from his service, or for any other reason whatsoever. 484 00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:35,840 Speaker 2: Therefore the man must be discharged. This meant that enslaved 485 00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:39,560 Speaker 2: people who had escaped their enslavement in England could not 486 00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:43,600 Speaker 2: be recaptured and sold back into slavery, and more specifically, 487 00:28:43,640 --> 00:28:46,120 Speaker 2: that James Somerset was free. 488 00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:49,600 Speaker 1: Mansfield's ruling also noted that there was nothing in English 489 00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:54,640 Speaker 1: common law specifically establishing slavery as legal, so the decision 490 00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:57,920 Speaker 1: was widely misunderstood at the time as freeing all slaves 491 00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:02,120 Speaker 1: in Britain immediately. There continues to be some debate about 492 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:04,760 Speaker 1: how it was put into practice at the time, but 493 00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:06,960 Speaker 1: this was certainly more of a starting point than an 494 00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:11,200 Speaker 1: ending point, bolstering the movement for abolition throughout the British Empire. 495 00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:17,320 Speaker 2: So naysayers suggested that Mansfield's decision was influenced by the 496 00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:20,240 Speaker 2: fact that Dido Elizabeth Bell was living in his home 497 00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:23,600 Speaker 2: as a member of his family. It's certainly possible or 498 00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:27,000 Speaker 2: even probable, that her place in his life shaped his views. 499 00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:31,480 Speaker 2: At multiple points he described slavery as odious and unnatural, 500 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:35,400 Speaker 2: but his work as Lord Chief Justice was really dedicated 501 00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:42,320 Speaker 2: to meticulously interpreting, clarifying, consolidating and following the law, particularly 502 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:45,640 Speaker 2: commercial law, and there are other cases where it's hard 503 00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:48,000 Speaker 2: to imagine that he was thinking of Bell at all. 504 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:51,520 Speaker 1: For example, he was also involved in the case of 505 00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:55,400 Speaker 1: the Zong Massacre, was a seventeen eighty one incident in 506 00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:58,080 Speaker 1: which the crew of a slave ship threw more than 507 00:29:58,160 --> 00:30:01,720 Speaker 1: one hundred sick and dying in slaved people overboard during 508 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:05,240 Speaker 1: an epidemic, claiming that this was necessary because the ship 509 00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:08,680 Speaker 1: was running out of water. The ship's owners filed an 510 00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:11,920 Speaker 1: insurance claim over the loss of their enslaved property, which 511 00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:16,440 Speaker 1: was granted. Lord Mansfield held a hearing regarding the insurer's 512 00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:21,520 Speaker 1: appeal in seventeen eighty three. Lord Mansfield did suggest that 513 00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:24,360 Speaker 1: a new trial might be in order, largely because of 514 00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:27,360 Speaker 1: evidence that the ship's captain and crew had passed up 515 00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:30,960 Speaker 1: the opportunity to take on fresh water and had continued 516 00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:35,360 Speaker 1: culling the enslaved people after rains had replenished the water supply, 517 00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:38,800 Speaker 1: But he didn't really consider the question of whether this 518 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:42,440 Speaker 1: was murder. He approached it strictly from the perspective that 519 00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:46,200 Speaker 1: the people on board were insured property, even at one 520 00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:50,160 Speaker 1: point comparing them to horses. The insurers may be worried 521 00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:53,600 Speaker 1: that another trial might lead to murder convictions stop pursuing 522 00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:57,200 Speaker 1: the case, even though Mansfield, down in their favor didoh 523 00:30:57,240 --> 00:31:00,520 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Bell lived with Lord Mansfield until his death in 524 00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:04,480 Speaker 1: seventeen ninety three. At that point, his wife Elizabeth had 525 00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:07,840 Speaker 1: also died, and the younger Lady Elizabeth Murray had married 526 00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:11,640 Speaker 1: and left the house. Lord Mansfield left Bell five hundred 527 00:31:11,640 --> 00:31:14,680 Speaker 1: pounds upon his death, plus one hundred pounds a year 528 00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:17,440 Speaker 1: for the rest of her life. In his will, he 529 00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:20,400 Speaker 1: also confirmed that she was free, so that there would 530 00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:23,000 Speaker 1: be no doubt about it in anyone else's mind. 531 00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:27,080 Speaker 2: It's also the way that he phrased that was not 532 00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:30,200 Speaker 2: that he granted her her freedom, but that he confirmed it, 533 00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:34,000 Speaker 2: so he was basically confirming something that already existed. The 534 00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:38,240 Speaker 2: following year, Dido married a Frenchman named John Divinier, and 535 00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:40,400 Speaker 2: they lived on land that had been left to her 536 00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:43,280 Speaker 2: by her father, who by this point had also died, 537 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:46,560 Speaker 2: leaving one thousand pounds to his children, named in his 538 00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:50,000 Speaker 2: will as Elizabeth and John. It's widely believed that this 539 00:31:50,120 --> 00:31:53,840 Speaker 2: Elizabeth is died oh Elizabeth Bell and not another Elizabeth, 540 00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:55,440 Speaker 2: even though Elizabeth. 541 00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:56,640 Speaker 1: Was a really common name in that family. 542 00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:00,880 Speaker 2: Obviously, John would have been either her brain or a 543 00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:04,719 Speaker 2: half brother by another woman. John Lindsay had no children 544 00:32:04,760 --> 00:32:05,440 Speaker 2: with his wife. 545 00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:09,600 Speaker 1: Dido and her husband John had at least three children together, 546 00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:13,440 Speaker 1: and could have lived comfortably on her income. There's little 547 00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:16,360 Speaker 1: else about her in the historical record, but she died 548 00:32:16,400 --> 00:32:18,880 Speaker 1: at the age of forty two in July of eighteen 549 00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:19,360 Speaker 1: oh four. 550 00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:23,680 Speaker 2: Her father's obituary in the London Chronicle, though, suggests that 551 00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:26,719 Speaker 2: she was admired outside the family, and also sums up 552 00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:29,320 Speaker 2: her story a little bit. It describes her as quote 553 00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:32,160 Speaker 2: a mulatto who has been brought up in Lord Mansfield's 554 00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:36,160 Speaker 2: family almost from her infancy, and whose amiable disposition and 555 00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:40,160 Speaker 2: accomplishments have earned her the highest respect from all his 556 00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:45,280 Speaker 2: Lordship's relations and visitants. There is also a highly fictionalized 557 00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:48,400 Speaker 2: dramatization of her life, a film that came out a 558 00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:50,280 Speaker 2: couple of years ago that's simply titled Bell. 559 00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:53,280 Speaker 1: I watch that. It's enjoyable, but it. 560 00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:57,600 Speaker 2: Is highly fictional, highly fictional life also at times maybe 561 00:32:57,640 --> 00:32:58,560 Speaker 2: a little melodramatic. 562 00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:01,960 Speaker 1: What a movie melodramatic? 563 00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:07,560 Speaker 2: Ever, So, those are the three astonishing Bells that I 564 00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:10,480 Speaker 2: found talk about on the podcast today. I'm not gonna 565 00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:19,960 Speaker 2: disguise the fact I unabashedly love all of them. Thanks 566 00:33:20,040 --> 00:33:22,680 Speaker 2: so much for joining us on this Saturday. Since this 567 00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:24,800 Speaker 2: episode is out of the archive, if you heard an 568 00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:27,760 Speaker 2: email address or a Facebook RL or something similar over 569 00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:30,440 Speaker 2: the course of the show, that could be obsolete. 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