1 00:00:06,519 --> 00:00:15,400 Speaker 1: Novel. Before we begin, a content warning the following episode 2 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:22,439 Speaker 1: contains difficult themes and violence. In twenty fourteen, there was 3 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:28,000 Speaker 1: a show running on HBO called Boardwalk Empire. Boardwalk Empire 4 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:32,440 Speaker 1: takes place in nineteen twenties New Jersey during Prohibition. It 5 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:36,680 Speaker 1: follows the life of corrupt politician Nukie Thompson, whose underworld 6 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:40,480 Speaker 1: connections to some of the country's most notorious gangsters help 7 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:45,120 Speaker 1: his bloody rise to the top. Steve Buscemi plays Nuckie Thompson, 8 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:49,120 Speaker 1: who's based on Enoch Johnson, a real life New Jersey 9 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:53,360 Speaker 1: politician and crime boss. The second to last episode is 10 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:56,920 Speaker 1: called Friendless Child and is set in the early nineteen thirties. 11 00:00:57,760 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 1: Will Thompson, Nukie's nephew, is working as an assistant district attorney. 12 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:06,800 Speaker 1: His boss, a black woman, tells him to pull all 13 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:09,600 Speaker 1: the prostitution cases north of one hundred and tenth Street. 14 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:13,920 Speaker 2: You need me too, mister Hodge does. 15 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:19,880 Speaker 1: Will resent the instructions, and the unnamed black woman becomes conciliatory. 16 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:22,680 Speaker 2: I'm sorry, okay, I don't make the assignments. 17 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:24,119 Speaker 3: Would be any different if you did. 18 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:29,280 Speaker 1: Yes, it's not a big role, but it's based on Unis, 19 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:33,600 Speaker 1: and from what I've learned about Unis so far, watching 20 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:38,840 Speaker 1: that scene made me almost angry at this portrayal of her. 21 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:40,679 Speaker 2: I know you're good at your job. 22 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:47,400 Speaker 1: Mister Hodge does too. I doubt Unics would have tried 23 00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:50,559 Speaker 1: to sue the sensitive male ego in such a simpering way. 24 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:55,120 Speaker 1: The character is named in the credits as Beatrice Carson. 25 00:01:56,400 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 1: That's similar enough to Unice Carter. Right when it aired 26 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:04,440 Speaker 1: in twenty fourteen, many people thought it was totally and 27 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:09,959 Speaker 1: utterly ridiculous, unrealistic, but not because of the simpering. 28 00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:12,200 Speaker 2: They were like, oh, this is made up. You're just 29 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 2: inserting black people into places where they weren't. But the 30 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:17,560 Speaker 2: thing is, there was a black woman prosecutor. And it's 31 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:21,520 Speaker 2: not even just that not everyone remembers Unice, but that 32 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:25,600 Speaker 2: people don't even believe she could have existed. The idea 33 00:02:25,639 --> 00:02:28,280 Speaker 2: that she could have existed seems like a fantasy to people. 34 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:34,800 Speaker 1: When I first learned about Unice Carter, I was so 35 00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 1: excited to find out about her life. The more I read, 36 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:43,399 Speaker 1: the more I alternated between being sad, frustrated, and angry. 37 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:47,800 Speaker 1: Unice was a well known woman of her time, a 38 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:52,960 Speaker 1: published writer, a socialite, daughter of a well known trailblazing 39 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:57,640 Speaker 1: couple a prosecutor. She is the reason one of the 40 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:01,040 Speaker 1: most notorious mobsters of all time was sent to jail. 41 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:06,359 Speaker 1: Unis had so many recorded accomplishments and yet still manages 42 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 1: to be an obscure character in American history. You could 43 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:15,120 Speaker 1: have a string of first after your name and still 44 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:19,400 Speaker 1: be forgotten. How much does a black woman have to 45 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:22,920 Speaker 1: do in order to stay bold faced throughout history. 46 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:31,880 Speaker 2: I think it's really fascinating that she was so prominent 47 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:33,600 Speaker 2: at the time. I think I knew a little bit 48 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:35,600 Speaker 2: about the things she had done, but I actually didn't 49 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:38,800 Speaker 2: know that she had achieved notoriety for them at the time. 50 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:42,640 Speaker 2: I think when it comes to black history in the 51 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:49,080 Speaker 2: US specifically, often we remember people because their legacy can 52 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:53,960 Speaker 2: be used to serve a particular narrative. And I sort 53 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:56,040 Speaker 2: of wonder if, for Unis, she just never really fit 54 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:59,360 Speaker 2: neatly into any particular narrative. Which is not to say 55 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:02,920 Speaker 2: she's not remember at all, but she's not as much 56 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 2: of a household name as she could be, given the 57 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:07,920 Speaker 2: things she accomplished and how well known she was in 58 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:12,000 Speaker 2: her heyday. I think also there has been a real 59 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:18,279 Speaker 2: erasure in US history of Black people who were movers 60 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:22,440 Speaker 2: and shakers or who had access to power in their time. 61 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:26,480 Speaker 2: I think that it speaks to who gets remembered and 62 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 2: who doesn't. 63 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:32,880 Speaker 1: But it's clear that Eunice, perhaps more than anything, wanted 64 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:37,880 Speaker 1: to be remembered. She had a certain type of ambition. 65 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:39,800 Speaker 1: She wanted to move in certain circles and to be 66 00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:42,400 Speaker 1: recognized in the world in a certain way. She wanted 67 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:44,840 Speaker 1: people to know that she was smart, that she was accomplished. 68 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:49,240 Speaker 1: She wanted to have some proximity to power. She wanted 69 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:51,200 Speaker 1: to be a judge. That was ultimately what she felt 70 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:55,400 Speaker 1: she wanted to do. The things Eunice Carter did were 71 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:57,640 Speaker 1: seen as so out of the ordinary for a black 72 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:00,680 Speaker 1: woman at the time that when she appeared a character 73 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:05,200 Speaker 1: in a television show many decades later, viewers didn't think 74 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:09,760 Speaker 1: she could have even existed. Why. 75 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:15,640 Speaker 2: I suspect she would think it's because she didn't get 76 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 2: to achieve everything she wanted to achieve. 77 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:25,680 Speaker 1: From the teams at iHeartRadio and novel. I'm Nicole Perkins 78 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:53,440 Speaker 1: and this is the final episode of The Godmother, Episode eight, 79 00:05:54,640 --> 00:06:07,039 Speaker 1: Finding Unice. On November seventeenth, nineteen forty two, Eunice writes 80 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:10,880 Speaker 1: Dewey a letter. Six years have passed since the Lucky 81 00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:16,640 Speaker 1: Luciano trial. Her handwriting is sure and strong, no splotches, 82 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:20,719 Speaker 1: no words crossed out to fix any mistakes. At the time, 83 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:23,839 Speaker 1: she's still working in the Prosecutor's office, but she's in 84 00:06:23,839 --> 00:06:26,760 Speaker 1: a new role now, one that Dewey promoted her to 85 00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:30,159 Speaker 1: just a couple of years earlier. The letter opens with 86 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:35,960 Speaker 1: dear Boss, handwritten on what looks like quality paper, but 87 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:38,840 Speaker 1: Dewey has left the Prosecutor's office by the time of writing. 88 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:44,039 Speaker 1: In nineteen forty two, Eunice is congratulating him for recently 89 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:45,679 Speaker 1: winning the election for governor. 90 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:51,200 Speaker 4: After the case things changed. Dewe became very well known. 91 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:54,920 Speaker 4: He was a big crime buster national reputation. 92 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:58,960 Speaker 1: And Dewey uses that popularity to launch a successful political career. 93 00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:02,600 Speaker 5: He was Governor of New York from nineteen forty three 94 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:04,560 Speaker 5: until nineteen fifty four. 95 00:07:05,240 --> 00:07:08,400 Speaker 1: As governor, Dewey signed into law the ives Quinn Act, 96 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:11,400 Speaker 1: which made New York the first state to ban job 97 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:16,640 Speaker 1: discrimination based on race, religion, or creed. He increased unemployment 98 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:20,600 Speaker 1: and disability benefits, and helped create the state university system, 99 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 1: plus many other accomplishments that helped make the Republican Party 100 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:28,160 Speaker 1: more progressive than it had been before. But there's one 101 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:31,360 Speaker 1: big twist of his career that must have chafed His 102 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:34,320 Speaker 1: new life in politics puts him in a position where 103 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:37,160 Speaker 1: he has to undo one of the biggest triumphs of 104 00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:42,800 Speaker 1: his career. During World War Two, New York's government finds 105 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:46,560 Speaker 1: themselves in need of a very particular kind of deal broker. 106 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:50,360 Speaker 1: At that time, New York's waterfront had less of a 107 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:53,800 Speaker 1: touristy vibe than it does these days. It was run 108 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:54,440 Speaker 1: by the mob. 109 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:02,000 Speaker 4: The waterfront was the Fulton Fish Mawaukeet, and fish was 110 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:03,040 Speaker 4: a big racket. 111 00:08:03,400 --> 00:08:06,720 Speaker 1: But World War Two is underway and the US Navy 112 00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:09,680 Speaker 1: sees that it's imperative new York's port is protected. 113 00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:13,800 Speaker 6: New York was a huge port, even bigger than in 114 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:15,760 Speaker 6: many ways than it is today. 115 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:19,520 Speaker 1: The US Navy needs someone to persuade the mob controlling 116 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:22,080 Speaker 1: the port that they should work with authorities to keep 117 00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:27,120 Speaker 1: New York safe. Someone the mob will trust, and who 118 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:31,200 Speaker 1: better than the former boss of bosses who's been languishing 119 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:36,240 Speaker 1: in prison for the last decade, Lucky Luciano himself. 120 00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:45,640 Speaker 6: He uses his connections within Italy and his connections through 121 00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:49,360 Speaker 6: organized crime groups across New York to make sure that 122 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:53,319 Speaker 6: the ports remain free, safe and open during World War Two. 123 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 4: If you see anything suspicious, you have to pass the 124 00:08:56,920 --> 00:08:57,720 Speaker 4: word along. 125 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:02,839 Speaker 1: Because of his operation, Lucky gets himself a deal. 126 00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:06,840 Speaker 4: Jay ed go over later, so sarcastically remarked that they 127 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:10,280 Speaker 4: did everything but give Luciano the Naval Cross. 128 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:15,480 Speaker 1: He's pardoned, and not just any pardon, but a pardon 129 00:09:15,559 --> 00:09:18,560 Speaker 1: from the Governor of New York himself, which by nineteen 130 00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:26,880 Speaker 1: forty six is of course Thomas E. Dewey that had 131 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:27,320 Speaker 1: to hurt. 132 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:31,080 Speaker 5: Luciano was released from prison in forty six and goes 133 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:31,680 Speaker 5: off to Italy. 134 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:37,040 Speaker 1: Lucky remains active in organized crime, silently financing ventures in 135 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:41,480 Speaker 1: New York, Las Vegas, Cuba for the most part from 136 00:09:41,559 --> 00:09:44,480 Speaker 1: across the ocean, until he dies of a heart attack 137 00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:48,760 Speaker 1: at Naples International Airport in nineteen sixty two. His body 138 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:52,800 Speaker 1: is buried in a cemetery in Queens. His path and 139 00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:59,240 Speaker 1: Dewey's are finally unspoiled, which leaves Dewey and Unice. 140 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:04,200 Speaker 4: I have no doubt that Dewey respected Unice and Eunice 141 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:08,439 Speaker 4: I think respected him she actually campaigned for him. 142 00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:12,560 Speaker 1: But governor of New York is no small feat. He 143 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:16,240 Speaker 1: doesn't just have pardoning power as governor, he can also 144 00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:22,600 Speaker 1: appoint every election Eunice is by Dewey's side. Dewey even 145 00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:24,800 Speaker 1: makes a bid for the White House in nineteen forty 146 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:29,640 Speaker 1: four and forty eight, unsuccessfully, of course, although it was close. 147 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:34,640 Speaker 1: At any moment in that eleven year reign, Dewey could 148 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:39,599 Speaker 1: have helped Unice achieve her own career ambitions. 149 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:45,199 Speaker 6: He was very comfortable singing her praises as far as 150 00:10:45,240 --> 00:10:48,480 Speaker 6: the role that she'd played, but he never reached the 151 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:53,600 Speaker 6: point where he was comfortable giving her a public face. 152 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:57,959 Speaker 4: It was kind of a point of controversy that he 153 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:01,480 Speaker 4: could have appointed her as a judge. He never appointed her. 154 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:09,439 Speaker 4: I don't think you can look up and go. He 155 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:12,400 Speaker 4: just never had the opportunity. Why didn't he appoint here? 156 00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:15,960 Speaker 4: He knew she was very confident, She was very devoted 157 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:16,320 Speaker 4: to him. 158 00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:20,120 Speaker 1: Dewey was progressive enough to appoint Unice to his team 159 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:24,080 Speaker 1: and express admiration for all of her hard work. But 160 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:26,400 Speaker 1: why was it so hard for him to help her 161 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:29,760 Speaker 1: move to the bench. It's clear she was a star 162 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:33,040 Speaker 1: on the rise. But her career seemed to plateau while 163 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:35,640 Speaker 1: the men in the good old boys network surrounding her 164 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:40,320 Speaker 1: kept climbing to success. I honestly can't say I'm surprised 165 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:43,480 Speaker 1: that Dewey had no problem taking advantage of Unice's support 166 00:11:43,480 --> 00:11:46,120 Speaker 1: and expertise without letting it pay. 167 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:46,480 Speaker 2: Off for her. 168 00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:50,320 Speaker 1: But why was unus so loyal to Dewey when he 169 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:54,040 Speaker 1: didn't seem interested in helping her without benefit to himself. 170 00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:58,439 Speaker 1: It all seems to follow that old axum. Black people 171 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:01,360 Speaker 1: have to work twice as hard to get half, and 172 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:04,120 Speaker 1: that's not accounting for the unique challenges of being a 173 00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:08,960 Speaker 1: black woman. Unis may have felt that a judgeship could 174 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:11,839 Speaker 1: have created a legacy for her, would have written her 175 00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:15,680 Speaker 1: more firmly than anything else could have into the pages 176 00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:20,120 Speaker 1: of American history, but it didn't happen. That's not to 177 00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:23,520 Speaker 1: say she didn't make an impact. Unice's work with Dewey 178 00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:27,079 Speaker 1: did leave a precedent of sorts that continues to influence 179 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:32,240 Speaker 1: the modern justice system. Unice didn't pioneer these things, but 180 00:12:32,320 --> 00:12:35,319 Speaker 1: she was part of a pivot in the American legal system. 181 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:41,160 Speaker 1: Like Dewey's joinder law used so effectively to convict Lucky 182 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:46,080 Speaker 1: Luciano in association with his co defendants. Modern iterations of 183 00:12:46,120 --> 00:12:49,920 Speaker 1: that law are still in use to this day, sometimes 184 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:51,880 Speaker 1: in ways that UNICE would have supported. 185 00:12:52,280 --> 00:12:55,840 Speaker 7: It's actually what groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center 186 00:12:56,040 --> 00:13:00,319 Speaker 7: used to bankrupt the Ku Kuk Klan in certain cities. 187 00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:03,720 Speaker 1: But in the criminal world, laws like the Joinder law 188 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:07,120 Speaker 1: have often been used in ways that are heavily racialized, 189 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:10,560 Speaker 1: like targeting gang violence in la and New York. 190 00:13:10,920 --> 00:13:15,920 Speaker 7: Those investigations are often heavily raced based. They're looking for 191 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:21,160 Speaker 7: young black men who have certain associations, who wear certain 192 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:25,120 Speaker 7: kinds of clothing, and really sweep in large numbers of 193 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:28,400 Speaker 7: people in the community in the effort to try to 194 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:30,880 Speaker 7: turn back gun violence in a particular area. 195 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:33,760 Speaker 1: We've even seen it used against protest movements. 196 00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:37,440 Speaker 7: We've seen that in the state of Georgia, where the 197 00:13:37,520 --> 00:13:41,800 Speaker 7: governor has gone after activists attempting to stop the creation 198 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:46,240 Speaker 7: of a large training facility near Atlanta called cop City. 199 00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:50,280 Speaker 1: None of these were inventions of UNISES, and she's not 200 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:53,720 Speaker 1: responsible for the way they've evolved into their current forms. 201 00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:56,880 Speaker 1: But I do wonder whether history would have remembered units 202 00:13:56,880 --> 00:13:59,959 Speaker 1: better if she'd worked against the system as it was then, 203 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:04,440 Speaker 1: instead of from within it, whether or not she yearned 204 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:07,040 Speaker 1: to dismantle it change it. With her very presence in 205 00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:10,320 Speaker 1: those rooms of power, history has seemed to remember the 206 00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:18,120 Speaker 1: radicals and the protesters a little more clearly. I think 207 00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:21,640 Speaker 1: back to her essay breaking Through that road map of 208 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:26,320 Speaker 1: sorts she wrote for her own career trajectory, but also 209 00:14:26,640 --> 00:14:30,960 Speaker 1: of the people of Harlem trapped in the modern ghetto. 210 00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:35,200 Speaker 1: Could she have imagined that nearly a century after she 211 00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:38,680 Speaker 1: wrote those words, thirty eight percent of those imprisoned in 212 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:43,080 Speaker 1: the US are black, despite being only thirteen percent of 213 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:48,600 Speaker 1: the country's population, removed from their communities in service to 214 00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:52,200 Speaker 1: a sprawling brand of law enforcement that her own work 215 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:56,440 Speaker 1: helped lay down in history. 216 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:04,320 Speaker 7: A problem with situations like Unice Carter is if you 217 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:09,000 Speaker 7: are the one person, if you are one of few people, 218 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:15,040 Speaker 7: and you don't have meaningful access to power in that office, 219 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:19,000 Speaker 7: and you don't have a meaningful voice in that office, 220 00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:23,880 Speaker 7: it too easily devolves into tokenism. Right, It's too easily 221 00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:29,200 Speaker 7: transformed into Now the institution is using you to validate 222 00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:35,040 Speaker 7: itself because it's gone out and created a more diverse workforce, 223 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:38,800 Speaker 7: and you yourself find that two years, three years in, 224 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:41,360 Speaker 7: you really haven't been able to shift the institution. 225 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:46,520 Speaker 1: Unice, perhaps sinsing that the judgeship was never going to happen, 226 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:49,400 Speaker 1: quits the world of law for good in the early 227 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:50,360 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties. 228 00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:52,880 Speaker 7: If you are somebody who is trying to rock the boat, 229 00:15:53,480 --> 00:15:56,520 Speaker 7: you are always subject to the status quo rocking it 230 00:15:56,640 --> 00:15:59,960 Speaker 7: right back. And that applies for anyone rocking the boat, 231 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:02,800 Speaker 7: but I think it applies with special force to black 232 00:16:02,840 --> 00:16:03,920 Speaker 7: people who are trying to do that. 233 00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:08,360 Speaker 1: Unice's guiding belief has always been help me further my 234 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:11,480 Speaker 1: career and I'll be loyal to you. But the flip 235 00:16:11,520 --> 00:16:13,800 Speaker 1: side of that coin is the toll it ends up 236 00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:17,280 Speaker 1: taking on Unice's personal life, because when those dreams don't 237 00:16:17,320 --> 00:16:21,120 Speaker 1: come to fruition, she looks for someone to blame and 238 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:24,240 Speaker 1: finds him a little closer to home. 239 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:31,320 Speaker 2: She was never made a judge, but I think she 240 00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:35,680 Speaker 2: always felt that it was because of Alvius' politics. 241 00:16:37,160 --> 00:16:42,440 Speaker 1: As in Eunice's younger brother Addie and William's only son 242 00:16:43,480 --> 00:17:03,160 Speaker 1: Alfaeus hunting. When there's anything going on in my life, 243 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:06,600 Speaker 1: good or bad, I turned to the group chats, A 244 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:11,120 Speaker 1: bad date, a single thumbs down, emoji a good date, 245 00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:16,920 Speaker 1: thumbs up A very very good date. Well that gets 246 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:17,760 Speaker 1: full sentences. 247 00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:20,880 Speaker 2: My impression of Unice is not that she was someone 248 00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:24,000 Speaker 2: who had a lot of close girlfriends or friends who 249 00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:27,239 Speaker 2: she really talked to about everything that was going on 250 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:30,919 Speaker 2: with her internally, people who she hung out with and 251 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:32,880 Speaker 2: gossiped with and confided in. 252 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:36,040 Speaker 1: The picture I see of Unice in her later years 253 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:45,439 Speaker 1: is a lonely one. I find myself yearning still to 254 00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:48,800 Speaker 1: know what kind of friend Unice was, Who does she 255 00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:54,879 Speaker 1: share secrets with, share her dreams with? But there doesn't 256 00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:59,320 Speaker 1: seem to be any of that in Unice's life. For 257 00:17:59,359 --> 00:18:02,879 Speaker 1: a while, Unis has one friend, Mary McLeod Bethune. 258 00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:07,199 Speaker 2: Bethoon was that person, even though they had kind of 259 00:18:07,200 --> 00:18:10,159 Speaker 2: a mentor mentee relationship, but you know, they were also close. 260 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:14,800 Speaker 1: Mary McLeod Bethune is a civil rights activist and educator. 261 00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:18,480 Speaker 1: Unice met through her mother, Addie Hunton, but they eventually 262 00:18:18,520 --> 00:18:21,760 Speaker 1: have a major falling out over something that seems kind 263 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:26,080 Speaker 1: of trivial looking back. Unice is hoping to be chosen 264 00:18:26,119 --> 00:18:28,639 Speaker 1: to represent the National Council of Negro Women at a 265 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:32,680 Speaker 1: major event, but she isn't and for some reason or 266 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:35,919 Speaker 1: another she blames Mary for the fact that she was overlooked. 267 00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:39,600 Speaker 2: That was just a sad thing. You know, when you 268 00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:43,720 Speaker 2: watch two friends break up, and it's just depressing. I 269 00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:48,320 Speaker 2: think sometimes her personal relationships they weren't always great. 270 00:18:50,640 --> 00:18:53,439 Speaker 1: There's another anecdote about Unice that also speaks to me 271 00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:58,040 Speaker 1: about her loneliness. It's a memory of Lyle Carter Junior's, 272 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:02,760 Speaker 1: Unice's only child. He lived most of his childhood away 273 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:06,320 Speaker 1: from his parents, often on long stays with extended family 274 00:19:06,359 --> 00:19:10,480 Speaker 1: and Barbados. But on one occasion, when Lyle Junior is 275 00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:13,840 Speaker 1: around eleven or twelve, he finds himself alone with his 276 00:19:13,960 --> 00:19:18,560 Speaker 1: mother and Eunice asks Lyle Junior for advice. Does he 277 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:22,240 Speaker 1: think she should get a divorce from her husband? His father. 278 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:26,680 Speaker 1: There have been rumors of affairs throughout Unice's marriage to 279 00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:31,560 Speaker 1: Lyle Carter sor her dentist husband, but there's something tragic 280 00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:34,720 Speaker 1: about the idea of Unice asking her pre adolescent son 281 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:38,960 Speaker 1: for advice. She could have used a girlfriend at that moment. 282 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:49,080 Speaker 2: Her marriage, from what we can tell, wasn't the happiest. 283 00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:53,720 Speaker 2: I can't say for sure why that was, and I 284 00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:56,040 Speaker 2: certainly am not influenced to blame it on her ambition, 285 00:19:56,640 --> 00:20:05,600 Speaker 2: just doing my personal principles. But yeah, but I reading 286 00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:13,920 Speaker 2: the correspondence with Bathoon, I can see how her attitude 287 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:16,800 Speaker 2: would make personal relationships difficult for her. 288 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:20,520 Speaker 1: Sometimes she could have used even a sibling to turn 289 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:24,359 Speaker 1: to at that moment, But Eunice's path and the path 290 00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:29,800 Speaker 1: her younger brother Alfaeus took they went in totally different directions. 291 00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:35,159 Speaker 1: Alfaus Hunting was a scholar and an activist who was 292 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:38,320 Speaker 1: a tall, slim man with a thick mustache and eyebrows. 293 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:42,280 Speaker 1: Possibly Alfaus had been her companion during the riots in 294 00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:47,320 Speaker 1: Atlanta and their mother's adventures in Germany. Like Eunice in adulthood, 295 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:52,160 Speaker 1: Alfaus is committed to the project of racial uplift. 296 00:20:51,480 --> 00:20:54,439 Speaker 3: Not only African American people, but all people of color 297 00:20:54,680 --> 00:21:00,719 Speaker 3: and fighting for working class rights, fighting for unions, fighting 298 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:03,920 Speaker 3: for national liberation against colonialism. 299 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:07,919 Speaker 1: Also, like his sister, he works with some major leading 300 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:11,200 Speaker 1: figures like Paul Robeson and W. E. B. Du Boyce. 301 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:15,360 Speaker 1: But unlike Unics, who remains in the Republican Party her 302 00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:19,560 Speaker 1: entire life, Alphaeus takes a sharp political left turn. 303 00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:24,639 Speaker 2: Alpheus was a communist, like a real communist. 304 00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:27,119 Speaker 1: The same year that the Trial of the Century unfolds, 305 00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:31,600 Speaker 1: Alpheus makes a career choice of a very different kind. 306 00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:36,760 Speaker 3: In nineteen thirty six, al Faeus officially joined the Communist Party. 307 00:21:37,119 --> 00:21:39,720 Speaker 2: He was active with a lot of left wing organizations. 308 00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:42,520 Speaker 2: He was a supporter of Mao and Stalin. He was, 309 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:43,879 Speaker 2: you know, the real deal. 310 00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:48,560 Speaker 3: I think that was the beginning of the troubles for Alphaeus. 311 00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:52,840 Speaker 1: It's fascinating to think of Alphaeus finding his way to communism. 312 00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:56,040 Speaker 1: My siblings and I are all very different from each other. 313 00:21:56,440 --> 00:21:59,600 Speaker 1: But my older sister, the firstborn, is the golden child 314 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:02,600 Speaker 1: of the Fa family. She always does the right thing 315 00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:05,040 Speaker 1: and is the kind of person who waves as strangers 316 00:22:05,080 --> 00:22:09,399 Speaker 1: like they're best friends. She also keeps the peace. My 317 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:12,800 Speaker 1: mother says, I'm her rebel, but I tend to set 318 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:16,320 Speaker 1: up tougher boundaries than my sister and my brother. Plus 319 00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:19,760 Speaker 1: I'm the middle child, It's my birthright to cause a 320 00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:24,160 Speaker 1: little havoc. Alphaeus is the baby brother, the only boy. 321 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:27,800 Speaker 1: I wonder if part of the reason these two siblings 322 00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:30,360 Speaker 1: are so different is so that they can stand out 323 00:22:30,359 --> 00:22:35,399 Speaker 1: from each other. Like Uni studies at Smith, a predominantly 324 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:38,760 Speaker 1: white private women's college, with her fees paid for by 325 00:22:38,800 --> 00:22:42,320 Speaker 1: a wealthy friend of their mother. Alphaeus, on the other hand, 326 00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:45,360 Speaker 1: works as a railway porter at a train station through 327 00:22:45,359 --> 00:22:48,879 Speaker 1: his college years at Howard University, a historically black school. 328 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:51,720 Speaker 2: I'm not saying he became a communist because he was 329 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:54,080 Speaker 2: frustrated that his sister's college was paid for and his wasn't, 330 00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:57,119 Speaker 2: But he would have been hanging out with pullman porters 331 00:22:57,119 --> 00:23:00,320 Speaker 2: and getting exposed to the labor movement. He did have 332 00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:04,240 Speaker 2: very different experiences. 333 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:05,920 Speaker 1: In nineteen forty one, as Unice is playing the perfect 334 00:23:05,960 --> 00:23:10,240 Speaker 1: respectable Republican, the FBI is creating a file on her 335 00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:16,439 Speaker 1: younger brother. One day in May, Alfaz is reading a 336 00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:20,439 Speaker 1: newspaper when he comes across his own name. It's in 337 00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:24,119 Speaker 1: an article which states that the House of Unamerican Activities Committee, 338 00:23:24,359 --> 00:23:27,359 Speaker 1: created to examine any behavior considered to be a threat 339 00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:32,639 Speaker 1: to the public like communist thought, has branded him a communist. 340 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:38,600 Speaker 3: He actually read in the newspaper the charges against him 341 00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:41,480 Speaker 3: before he was informed by the committee that he was 342 00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:42,440 Speaker 3: even being charged. 343 00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:46,440 Speaker 1: He writes to the committee demanding the right to testify, 344 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:50,119 Speaker 1: but it's not until the following year that he receives 345 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:54,040 Speaker 1: a letter from the FBI exonerating him of all charges. 346 00:23:56,160 --> 00:24:00,919 Speaker 1: But as the years progressed, his file grows thicker notes 347 00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:03,119 Speaker 1: reports associations. 348 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:16,000 Speaker 3: Presumably al Faeus saw in socialism and communism the path 349 00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:20,199 Speaker 3: for African American equality and black liberation. I think Unice 350 00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:22,000 Speaker 3: saw a different path. 351 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:27,280 Speaker 1: As their paths diverge, Eunice and al Faus clashed publicly 352 00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:28,320 Speaker 1: with each other. 353 00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:31,920 Speaker 2: Not directly, but they were ideologically opposed on a lot 354 00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:35,560 Speaker 2: of things. For example, when Thomas Dewey was running for President, 355 00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:38,200 Speaker 2: ALTHEUS was calling him a reactionary in the press, which 356 00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:39,879 Speaker 2: I'm sure she didn't like very much. 357 00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:44,760 Speaker 1: By the early nineteen fifties, Unice has given up Act 358 00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:47,480 Speaker 1: of Law and is working with a few prominent black 359 00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:50,800 Speaker 1: women's associations on their domestic and international efforts. 360 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:54,359 Speaker 2: She was at the founding of the United Nations, I 361 00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:56,640 Speaker 2: think on behalf of the National Council of Negro Women. 362 00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:01,919 Speaker 2: After World War Two there was a lot going on. 363 00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:06,240 Speaker 1: One of those things is the UN Convention on Genocide Postwar. 364 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:09,760 Speaker 1: The Convention aims to define genocide so it can be 365 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:11,479 Speaker 1: considered an international crime. 366 00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:15,200 Speaker 2: And in the early fifties there was a movement to 367 00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:17,160 Speaker 2: get the United States to ratify the Convention. 368 00:25:17,960 --> 00:25:20,840 Speaker 1: Unice wants to get the US on board, and for 369 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:24,640 Speaker 1: a while it's a family affair because so doaes alphaeis. 370 00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:28,080 Speaker 2: Eunice testified before the Senate in favor of for ratification. 371 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:31,000 Speaker 2: She was actually the only black person to testify for it. 372 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:34,959 Speaker 1: But there are significant levels of pushback against the idea 373 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:40,080 Speaker 1: of ratification in America. One in particular, becomes a sticking point. 374 00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:45,920 Speaker 2: One of the arguments against the US's ratification of the 375 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:50,199 Speaker 2: Convention was that the US itself was in violation of 376 00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:52,720 Speaker 2: the Convention. The number one concern was because of the 377 00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:55,800 Speaker 2: prevalence of lynching and overall because of the treatment of 378 00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:56,639 Speaker 2: black Americans. 379 00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:03,560 Speaker 1: Imagine Units going to the podium wearing one of her 380 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:08,280 Speaker 1: white lace collars is the nineteen fifties, sir hat and 381 00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:12,040 Speaker 1: gloves probably would have been on points. She's standing in 382 00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:15,359 Speaker 1: front of a panel of senators, a room full of 383 00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:19,000 Speaker 1: people behind her. She speaks some of the few words 384 00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:21,240 Speaker 1: we have of hers that have lasted through the years 385 00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:24,919 Speaker 1: to be brushed off and examined again in the harsh 386 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:26,000 Speaker 1: light of present day. 387 00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:30,399 Speaker 8: The situation of the Negro people in this country is 388 00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:34,679 Speaker 8: in no way involved the lynching of an individual or 389 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:38,520 Speaker 8: of several individuals has no relation to the extinction of 390 00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:42,240 Speaker 8: masses of people because of race, religion, or political belief. 391 00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:47,840 Speaker 1: Over seventy percent of people lynched in America were black. 392 00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:52,440 Speaker 1: That's at least three thousand, four hundred and forty six 393 00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:56,840 Speaker 1: Black Americans. Up until nineteen sixty eight that we know of, 394 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:02,359 Speaker 1: lynching was off in a form of vigilante justice, with 395 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:06,320 Speaker 1: white people hanging and mutilating black people accused of any 396 00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:11,040 Speaker 1: number of crimes from loitering to making eye contact to 397 00:27:11,359 --> 00:27:15,640 Speaker 1: sexual assault without any formal charges, a way of eradicating 398 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:20,600 Speaker 1: black life based on race. It was absolutely a form 399 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:24,880 Speaker 1: of genocide. So we don't know whether UNUS really believed 400 00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:27,920 Speaker 1: this or not, but I think she felt we want 401 00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:30,280 Speaker 1: to get it ratified. We need to convince people that 402 00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:32,200 Speaker 1: it's not going to cause problems for the US, and 403 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:34,400 Speaker 1: so this is what I'm going to say. It's hard 404 00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:37,199 Speaker 1: to remember our icons could have been as flawed as 405 00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:40,040 Speaker 1: the rest of us, especially when you have to follow 406 00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:44,119 Speaker 1: certain cultural moras. Don't speak ill of the dead, don't 407 00:27:44,119 --> 00:27:49,520 Speaker 1: disrespect your elders, don't share family business with outsiders. We 408 00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:52,120 Speaker 1: see it when it comes to looking beyond Martin Luther 409 00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:55,879 Speaker 1: King Junior's legacy to see him as a human being 410 00:27:55,960 --> 00:27:59,320 Speaker 1: who may have made mistakes in his marriage. He became 411 00:27:59,359 --> 00:28:02,600 Speaker 1: a martyr of civil rights movement, and to speak beyond 412 00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:08,040 Speaker 1: his accomplishments is to be disrespectful. It's disappointing that Unus 413 00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:10,639 Speaker 1: would argue that lynching should not be a part of 414 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:14,480 Speaker 1: this basic human rights consideration. But if that is how 415 00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:18,160 Speaker 1: Unus feels, her brother Alphaeus does not agree. 416 00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:23,800 Speaker 2: Alpheus was not willing to make that concession. An organization 417 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:27,240 Speaker 2: that he worked with, called the Civil Rights Congress, drafted 418 00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:30,280 Speaker 2: a document called we Charge Genocide, which was submitted to 419 00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:33,200 Speaker 2: the UN, essentially saying yes, the situation in the US 420 00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:36,560 Speaker 2: is exactly the type of thing that the Genocide Convention 421 00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:40,040 Speaker 2: speaks to, and Alpheus was involved in drafting it and 422 00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:42,520 Speaker 2: was also a signatory to the document. 423 00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:47,480 Speaker 1: I wonder if Unus was angry with her brother for 424 00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:51,600 Speaker 1: being at such cross purposes. It probably caused a lot 425 00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:53,920 Speaker 1: of tongue wagging for this brother and sister to be 426 00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:57,840 Speaker 1: so at odds. Did Unis take Alphaeus's stance as a 427 00:28:57,840 --> 00:28:59,280 Speaker 1: personal attack against her. 428 00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:02,760 Speaker 2: I don't think he was doing it personally. It wasn't 429 00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:06,160 Speaker 2: about her, but I think Unis probably, both in that 430 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:09,840 Speaker 2: situation and in the Thomas Dewey situation, felt very undermined 431 00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:13,600 Speaker 2: by him. She probably felt frustrated that he was taking 432 00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:17,760 Speaker 2: public positions. She probably took his politics a little personally. 433 00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:28,240 Speaker 3: I think that she took the wrong stance. I think 434 00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:32,400 Speaker 3: because of her background in law enforcement, she knew it 435 00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:35,680 Speaker 3: was the wrong stance. I think that it was either 436 00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:39,720 Speaker 3: incredibly naive or disingenuous for her to blame her brother 437 00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:43,960 Speaker 3: for the limitations that were placed on her in a 438 00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:46,880 Speaker 3: Jim Crow racist, sexist society. 439 00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:51,960 Speaker 1: It's a rift they never come to rectify. In the 440 00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:56,440 Speaker 1: year that followed Unis testifying, in nineteen fifty one, Alphaeus 441 00:29:56,440 --> 00:30:01,160 Speaker 1: stood before the House of Unamerican Activities Committee time in person. 442 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:04,800 Speaker 1: He refuses to give up the names of those who'd 443 00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:07,680 Speaker 1: contributed to a civil rights fund which had come under 444 00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:09,440 Speaker 1: the scrutiny of the committee. 445 00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:14,640 Speaker 3: And because al Fais took the principled stand that he 446 00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:18,760 Speaker 3: would not divulge their names, he was sentenced to six 447 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:19,600 Speaker 3: months in prison. 448 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:28,880 Speaker 2: He had a vision of what he thought was best 449 00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:34,160 Speaker 2: for the world, and he was willing to sacrifice a 450 00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:35,280 Speaker 2: lot personally for it. 451 00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:39,760 Speaker 1: After that prison stint, was over, Alfaus finds it difficult 452 00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:41,880 Speaker 1: to get a foot back on the ladder of politics 453 00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:42,440 Speaker 1: in America. 454 00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:45,120 Speaker 2: A lot of the organizations that he had worked with 455 00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:48,720 Speaker 2: sort of fell apart. He basically couldn't find work in 456 00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:51,160 Speaker 2: the US, and he ended up spending most of the 457 00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:52,320 Speaker 2: rest of his life in Africa. 458 00:30:56,600 --> 00:30:59,280 Speaker 1: For the rest of her life, Unice will blame her 459 00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:03,680 Speaker 1: failure to see of a judge ship on Alpheus's communist misadventures. 460 00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:07,160 Speaker 1: Maybe it was easier to point the finger at someone 461 00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:10,120 Speaker 1: she felt had betrayed her than to confront the fact 462 00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:13,840 Speaker 1: that Dewey, someone she'd been loyal to, had let her down. 463 00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:18,880 Speaker 1: Maybe it was easier to blame her brother, a black man, 464 00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:22,160 Speaker 1: than it was to point the finger at Dewey, a 465 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:28,840 Speaker 1: white man with power. Whatever the reason, as Unice aged, 466 00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:32,680 Speaker 1: she'd broken off her relationships with her brother, was living 467 00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:36,480 Speaker 1: in a rocky marriage, had strained her relationship with her son, 468 00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:41,120 Speaker 1: and had lost her only friend. When people looked at 469 00:31:41,160 --> 00:32:14,880 Speaker 1: Unice as she moved into later life, what did they see. 470 00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:06,520 Speaker 2: When I was growing up? The image I had was 471 00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:11,600 Speaker 2: more just a stern faced woman with like a fur coat. 472 00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:14,200 Speaker 2: I think I had this idea that she were for 473 00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:14,560 Speaker 2: a goat? 474 00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:16,680 Speaker 1: Is that from some pictures that you saw now? 475 00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:18,440 Speaker 2: I think it came from just the way my dad 476 00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:19,200 Speaker 2: talked about her. 477 00:32:19,920 --> 00:32:23,120 Speaker 1: Leah Carter is the great granddaughter of Eunice Hunt and Carter. 478 00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:28,000 Speaker 1: Leah's voice has been featured throughout the series. Her contributions 479 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:30,560 Speaker 1: have been some of the only direct contact I found 480 00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:33,440 Speaker 1: with Unice when searching for a sense of who she was, 481 00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:37,360 Speaker 1: above and beyond her historical record. As well as being 482 00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:41,720 Speaker 1: Unus's great granddaughter, Leah has spent time carrying out meticulous 483 00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:45,840 Speaker 1: research for her father's book. Her father is Stephen L. Carter, 484 00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:51,560 Speaker 1: a lawyer, professor, and author and Eunice Carter's grandson. 485 00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:55,400 Speaker 2: She was apparently always very glamorously dressed and put together. 486 00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:59,960 Speaker 1: Before Leah spent her days going through archives, letters, journals. 487 00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:03,480 Speaker 1: There were the bright yet hazy details passed down to 488 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:05,760 Speaker 1: her from the childhood memories of her own father. 489 00:33:06,760 --> 00:33:08,640 Speaker 2: I knew a few things that my dad had told 490 00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:11,600 Speaker 2: stories about her, just as his grandmother. I can't remember 491 00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:13,400 Speaker 2: if he said that she wore her coats or I 492 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:16,640 Speaker 2: just ad lipped that in my mind, but that was 493 00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:18,240 Speaker 2: sort of my childhood image for her. 494 00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:22,400 Speaker 1: Leah's father remembers unus as a stern grandmother and an 495 00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:27,120 Speaker 1: imposing presence. The grandchildren were all a little scared of her. 496 00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:31,120 Speaker 2: She would correct his grammar, and he always said she 497 00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:33,240 Speaker 2: used the type of person who would correct to the 498 00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:35,080 Speaker 2: way that they were using their silverware at dinner. 499 00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:39,800 Speaker 1: That makes sense to me. Eunice in her life always 500 00:33:39,840 --> 00:33:44,280 Speaker 1: had to be pristine. She was detail oriented, and she 501 00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:46,680 Speaker 1: was often in the kinds of spaces that were full 502 00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:50,000 Speaker 1: of white people who probably looked for the slightest flaw 503 00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:54,200 Speaker 1: on how she carried herself or communicated. She probably tried 504 00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:57,840 Speaker 1: to train her grandchildren for the harsh world she'd experienced. 505 00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:00,400 Speaker 2: She traveled a lot in her life. Her life went 506 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:03,840 Speaker 2: on a lot of cruises, and I don't know if 507 00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:07,320 Speaker 2: that sort of added to their image of her as 508 00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:09,720 Speaker 2: like kind of an imposing, faraway figure. 509 00:34:10,239 --> 00:34:14,080 Speaker 1: What stands out to me is how Eunice's accomplishments always 510 00:34:14,120 --> 00:34:16,960 Speaker 1: seemed to keep her on the edges of time, from 511 00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:19,680 Speaker 1: the Luciano trial to her own family law. 512 00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:23,640 Speaker 2: When I was younger, she was just this figurehead of 513 00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:27,240 Speaker 2: here's the type of thing you're supposed to be achieving. 514 00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:29,800 Speaker 2: Not that anyone ever told me that you too should 515 00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:32,320 Speaker 2: be accomplished as Unis, but just I think that's probably 516 00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:35,719 Speaker 2: what I would have felt like her father and her 517 00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:41,799 Speaker 2: father's father and Eunice herself. Leo became a lawyer, but 518 00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:44,960 Speaker 2: it was only when researching her great grandmother that Leah 519 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:49,560 Speaker 2: discovered the earlier parts of Unice's professional life, including one 520 00:34:49,640 --> 00:34:52,880 Speaker 2: aspect that overlapped with a writer who reminds me of 521 00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:56,000 Speaker 2: Unis in many ways. I thought about this way back 522 00:34:56,040 --> 00:34:59,160 Speaker 2: in episode two. I didn't know that she had been 523 00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:01,799 Speaker 2: a writer. One of my favorite facts was she was 524 00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:06,960 Speaker 2: inducted into the Harlem Writers Guild along with Zorn Neil Hurston, 525 00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:10,200 Speaker 2: which was so amazing to me. I was like, oh, 526 00:35:10,239 --> 00:35:12,279 Speaker 2: my gosh, that's my great grandma. Hey, I was Sara 527 00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:15,520 Speaker 2: in Hurston really overwhelmed by that. 528 00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:19,880 Speaker 1: Unice achieved a lot of recognition in her own time, 529 00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:24,600 Speaker 1: especially in the black press. It's no exaggeration to say 530 00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:28,560 Speaker 1: she was famous all over America, but her current day 531 00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:32,640 Speaker 1: legacy seems to be fading in real time. That's a 532 00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:35,279 Speaker 1: big part of why I decided to do this podcast. 533 00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:38,960 Speaker 2: I could go on about this for a while, about 534 00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:42,239 Speaker 2: the way that we talk about or don't talk about 535 00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:44,279 Speaker 2: black history in this country, the way that we treat 536 00:35:44,320 --> 00:35:49,960 Speaker 2: black history as separate from history. I certainly felt, especially 537 00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:52,520 Speaker 2: when I was very young, what we were taught about 538 00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:57,880 Speaker 2: black people was that nobody had really done anything until 539 00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:02,239 Speaker 2: quite recently. That there was slavery, and then everyone was 540 00:36:02,239 --> 00:36:04,839 Speaker 2: a sharecropper for a while, and then the civil rights 541 00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:07,719 Speaker 2: movement happened, and now everything's great. And I'm not saying 542 00:36:07,719 --> 00:36:10,520 Speaker 2: we shouldn't talk about slavery or sharecropping. Obviously those things 543 00:36:10,520 --> 00:36:14,280 Speaker 2: are really important, But there are so many things that 544 00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:18,680 Speaker 2: black people have done that have been forgotten or kind 545 00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:21,719 Speaker 2: of just buried, and that is very frustrating. 546 00:36:22,719 --> 00:36:26,720 Speaker 1: Eunice Hunting Carter is responsible for the most sensational trial 547 00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:30,319 Speaker 1: in the history of American organized crime. Why does her 548 00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:33,600 Speaker 1: legacy only seem to survive in the realm of hazy 549 00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:36,759 Speaker 1: childhood memories of a stern, older woman in a fur 550 00:36:36,840 --> 00:36:41,600 Speaker 1: coat correcting grammar. She was a legend in the making 551 00:36:42,080 --> 00:36:44,400 Speaker 1: long before the Lucky Luciano trial. 552 00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:48,520 Speaker 2: Obviously she intimidated her grandkids, but I think she intimidated 553 00:36:48,520 --> 00:36:50,840 Speaker 2: a lot of people in real life. She was just 554 00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:52,520 Speaker 2: kind of a fierce person. 555 00:37:00,280 --> 00:37:02,800 Speaker 1: It's hard to know what kept Unis from her judgeship 556 00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:06,400 Speaker 1: or why someone with such an outstanding work ethic and 557 00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:11,160 Speaker 1: influential connections did not go further in her career. Is 558 00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:14,279 Speaker 1: it just enough to point the finger at racism and misogyny? 559 00:37:15,239 --> 00:37:19,560 Speaker 1: Was she too dedicated to her ambitions? Her years as 560 00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:22,239 Speaker 1: a Harlem socialite proved she knew how to let her 561 00:37:22,239 --> 00:37:26,520 Speaker 1: hair down and shake a tail feather. What exactly was 562 00:37:26,520 --> 00:37:29,400 Speaker 1: the secret password that would have opened up her career 563 00:37:29,719 --> 00:37:34,040 Speaker 1: and made her a household name. I wish I had 564 00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:37,000 Speaker 1: that time machine so I could go back and ask 565 00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:42,000 Speaker 1: Thomas E doing look here, fella, what gives? He'd probably 566 00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:45,040 Speaker 1: have me sent away and lobotomized. But I still try 567 00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:48,440 Speaker 1: to fight for my girl. Unis would she had fought 568 00:37:48,440 --> 00:37:55,160 Speaker 1: for me? I can relate in many ways to Unis, 569 00:37:55,960 --> 00:37:59,800 Speaker 1: the pressure of navigating predominantly white spaces while they constantly 570 00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:03,520 Speaker 1: in your right to be there, having a strong idea 571 00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:05,960 Speaker 1: of how you see your career going, and trying to 572 00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:09,240 Speaker 1: be a team player while others take credit for your work. 573 00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:12,319 Speaker 1: I know what it's like to be too direct with 574 00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:16,600 Speaker 1: firm boundaries, or to be called unlikable as shorthand for 575 00:38:17,239 --> 00:38:21,200 Speaker 1: she won't let me bully her. I even know what 576 00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:24,880 Speaker 1: it means to stay in an unhappy relationship for security 577 00:38:25,080 --> 00:38:28,840 Speaker 1: and status. But I've never been good at brown nosing 578 00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:31,640 Speaker 1: or staying loyal to someone who doesn't seem to support 579 00:38:31,640 --> 00:38:35,279 Speaker 1: my growth. I also wouldn't sacrifice my community for the 580 00:38:35,320 --> 00:38:37,560 Speaker 1: sake of a greater good that doesn't take my people 581 00:38:37,560 --> 00:38:43,400 Speaker 1: into consideration. If Unison I met today, she'd probably be 582 00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:47,040 Speaker 1: aghast at the lack of structure in my working life, 583 00:38:47,640 --> 00:38:52,879 Speaker 1: but maybe she'd secretly admire the freedom of my dating life. 584 00:38:53,560 --> 00:38:57,080 Speaker 1: I'd let her read my memoir and poetry. I think 585 00:38:57,120 --> 00:38:59,440 Speaker 1: she'd be proud to see me making a living out 586 00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:03,600 Speaker 1: of my createsivity and disappointed that the only dining silverware 587 00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:13,560 Speaker 1: etiquette I know is outside in and looking for Unice's story. 588 00:39:14,040 --> 00:39:16,319 Speaker 1: I am reminded of all the other black women in 589 00:39:16,360 --> 00:39:19,440 Speaker 1: America who have had their stories buried or forgotten. 590 00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:24,399 Speaker 2: If you do something valuable with your life, it's still 591 00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:27,560 Speaker 2: valuable even if people don't remember it. The influence that 592 00:39:27,600 --> 00:39:33,120 Speaker 2: you have while you're alive matters, even if after you're 593 00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:37,560 Speaker 2: gone everyone forgets about you. Even though that's frustrating, but 594 00:39:37,600 --> 00:39:39,440 Speaker 2: I think it doesn't mean that it was all for nothing. 595 00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:52,440 Speaker 1: Legacy is important to me. I understand Unice's desire to 596 00:39:52,520 --> 00:39:56,040 Speaker 1: leave her mark on history. Time has worn it down, 597 00:39:56,600 --> 00:39:59,000 Speaker 1: but if you know where to look, you can still 598 00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:02,920 Speaker 1: make it out. I have a fear of being forgotten, 599 00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:08,040 Speaker 1: that my life, my art, my work will disappear, and 600 00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:13,160 Speaker 1: I don't even have a fourth of Unice's accomplishments. But 601 00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:16,520 Speaker 1: as I've learned about Unice Hunting Carter, I know that 602 00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:20,920 Speaker 1: someone somewhere down the line will find a faint marking 603 00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:25,040 Speaker 1: of me. And even if it's only one person who 604 00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:28,919 Speaker 1: tries to track down the history of me, that will 605 00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:35,520 Speaker 1: be enough. As a child free woman, I don't have 606 00:40:35,640 --> 00:40:38,560 Speaker 1: children who will bless me with grandkids and great grandkids 607 00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:40,840 Speaker 1: who might one day research and write a book about me. 608 00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:47,960 Speaker 1: Fortunately Unice Hunting Carter does, and now we can see 609 00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:53,680 Speaker 1: that she was a complicated, fascinating, perhaps unlikable, definitely beloved 610 00:40:54,120 --> 00:40:58,479 Speaker 1: and smart woman whose tenacity took down New York's most 611 00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:04,960 Speaker 1: notorious gangster amid the racism and sexism of nineteen thirties America, 612 00:41:05,360 --> 00:41:11,000 Speaker 1: and who fought just as fiercely for herself. And one 613 00:41:11,040 --> 00:41:13,680 Speaker 1: of those great grandchildren has some advice for you. 614 00:41:19,680 --> 00:41:23,720 Speaker 2: Find these stories, dig them up if they've been buried. 615 00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:31,520 Speaker 1: You've been listening to the Godmother. 616 00:41:43,120 --> 00:41:47,680 Speaker 2: My name's Leah Carter. I am Eunis Carter's great granddaughter. 617 00:41:48,280 --> 00:41:52,000 Speaker 2: My dad, Stephen Carter, wrote the book Invisible, the Forgotten 618 00:41:52,040 --> 00:41:54,440 Speaker 2: story of the black woman lawyer who took down America's 619 00:41:54,480 --> 00:41:56,400 Speaker 2: most famous mobster, and I did a lot of the 620 00:41:56,440 --> 00:41:57,400 Speaker 2: research for that book. 621 00:41:57,880 --> 00:42:01,040 Speaker 4: I'm Marilyn Greenwald. I'm a professor of of journalism at 622 00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:05,280 Speaker 4: Ohio University, and I'm the author of five biographies, including 623 00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:06,840 Speaker 4: one of Eunice Hunting Carter. 624 00:42:07,239 --> 00:42:11,560 Speaker 5: My name is Robert Whalan and I'm an emerathus Professor 625 00:42:11,560 --> 00:42:15,040 Speaker 5: of history at Queen's University of Charlotte here in Charlotte, 626 00:42:15,080 --> 00:42:15,800 Speaker 5: North Carolina. 627 00:42:16,239 --> 00:42:18,080 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Ellen Paulson. 628 00:42:18,960 --> 00:42:23,239 Speaker 5: I research and I write books about women who were 629 00:42:23,239 --> 00:42:27,920 Speaker 5: involved with notorious gangsters and desperadoes. 630 00:42:28,760 --> 00:42:31,360 Speaker 6: I am Claire White and I am the director of 631 00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:34,800 Speaker 6: education at the Mob Museum in downtown Las Vegas. 632 00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:37,320 Speaker 7: My name is Brandon Busky and I am the director 633 00:42:37,400 --> 00:42:40,160 Speaker 7: of the Criminal Law Reform Project at the ACLU. 634 00:42:40,719 --> 00:42:45,319 Speaker 3: My name is Tony Passanowski and I am a independent 635 00:42:45,600 --> 00:42:50,799 Speaker 3: historian and author. Aside from Dorothy Hunton's biography of her 636 00:42:50,920 --> 00:42:55,600 Speaker 3: husband Alveus, my book is the only standalone biography of 637 00:42:55,640 --> 00:42:56,560 Speaker 3: Alfaus Hunting. 638 00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:08,960 Speaker 1: The Godmother is produced by Novel for iHeartRadio. For more 639 00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:13,480 Speaker 1: from Novel, visit novel dot Audio. The Godmother is hosted 640 00:43:13,520 --> 00:43:18,400 Speaker 1: and written by me Nicole Perkins. Our producer is Leona Hamid. 641 00:43:18,960 --> 00:43:24,640 Speaker 1: Additional production from Ajuajima Broumpong, Ronald Young Junior and Zianna Yusuf. 642 00:43:25,239 --> 00:43:29,399 Speaker 1: Our editor is Ajua Jima Broompong. Additional story editing from 643 00:43:29,440 --> 00:43:32,759 Speaker 1: Max O'Brien and Mitha Lee Raw and our researcher is 644 00:43:32,840 --> 00:43:37,239 Speaker 1: Zaiana Yusuf. Additional research from Mohammed Ahmed. David Waters is 645 00:43:37,239 --> 00:43:41,720 Speaker 1: our executive producer. Field production by Tnito Romani and Pallas Shaw, 646 00:43:42,239 --> 00:43:46,760 Speaker 1: Sound design, mixing and scoring by Daniel Kempsen. Our score 647 00:43:46,880 --> 00:43:51,000 Speaker 1: was written, performed and recorded by Jeff Parker. Music supervision 648 00:43:51,040 --> 00:43:55,640 Speaker 1: by Nicholas Alexander and David Waters. Production management and endless 649 00:43:55,640 --> 00:44:00,840 Speaker 1: patients from Sharie Houston, Sarah Tobin and Charlotte Wolfe. Fact 650 00:44:00,880 --> 00:44:05,359 Speaker 1: checking by Fendell Fulton and Donia Suleiman. Story development by 651 00:44:05,440 --> 00:44:11,040 Speaker 1: Madeline Parr, Jess Swinburne, Esseiana Yusuf. Willard Foxton is our 652 00:44:11,080 --> 00:44:16,200 Speaker 1: creative director of Development. Special thanks to Leah Carter, Stephen Carter, 653 00:44:16,800 --> 00:44:24,400 Speaker 1: Angela J. Davis, Andrew Fernley, Marilyn Greenwald, Sondra Lebedy, Katherine Godfrey, 654 00:44:25,080 --> 00:44:32,120 Speaker 1: Nadia Maidie, Amalia Sortland, Sean Glenn, Neil Krishnan, Julia Bromberg, 655 00:44:32,560 --> 00:44:36,640 Speaker 1: Katrina Norvelle, Carly Frankel, and all the team at w 656 00:44:36,800 --> 00:44:37,120 Speaker 1: Emmy 657 00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:46,640 Speaker 2: Novel