1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,280 Speaker 1: Hey, y'all. We're rerunning two episodes today, which means you 2 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: might hear two hosts. Enjoy the show. Welcome to this 3 00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:10,200 Speaker 1: Day in History Class from how Stuff Works dot Com 4 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:12,680 Speaker 1: and from the desk of Stuff you Missed in History Class. 5 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:15,080 Speaker 1: It's the show where we explore the past one day 6 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:17,160 Speaker 1: at a time with a quick look at what happened 7 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:24,439 Speaker 1: today in history. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 8 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:29,720 Speaker 1: Tracy V. Wilson, and it's November three. John Willis Minard 9 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:32,680 Speaker 1: was elected to Congress on this day in eighteen sixty eight. 10 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:36,720 Speaker 1: This made him the first black American to be so elected, 11 00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:41,240 Speaker 1: but Congress refused to see him. Minard had been born 12 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:44,440 Speaker 1: in Illinois on April three, eight thirty eight. He was 13 00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:47,440 Speaker 1: born to free parents who were of French Creole descent. 14 00:00:48,159 --> 00:00:50,640 Speaker 1: He went to college in Ohio and then started working 15 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:52,919 Speaker 1: as a journalist and then as a clerk in the 16 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:55,800 Speaker 1: Department of the Interior during the United States Civil War. 17 00:00:56,760 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 1: During that war, he spent some time in Central America 18 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 1: and some of the Caribbean. This included some time in Jamaica, 19 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:05,200 Speaker 1: where he met his wife and got married. He also 20 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:08,440 Speaker 1: took part in a rebellion there after which he was 21 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 1: deported to the United States and he moved to Louisiana. 22 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 1: Once he was living in Louisiana, he established his own newspaper, 23 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:18,399 Speaker 1: was called The Radical Standard, and it was a huge 24 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:24,000 Speaker 1: advocate for civil rights causes. Louisiana Representative James Mann died 25 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:27,600 Speaker 1: in office and a special election was held to fill 26 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:32,479 Speaker 1: his seat, so John Willis Minard ran against Caleb S. Hunt, 27 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:36,600 Speaker 1: and Minard won. He won sixty four percent of the 28 00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:39,240 Speaker 1: vote on that election, which was held as we sat 29 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:43,000 Speaker 1: at the top of the show on November three. But 30 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:48,160 Speaker 1: Hunt contested the election, and when that failed to instead 31 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 1: awarded to him, he argued that Manard wasn't eligible to 32 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:56,320 Speaker 1: take his seat in Congress. Both men were invited to 33 00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:59,560 Speaker 1: address Congress about this, but Minard was the only one 34 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:01,560 Speaker 1: of the two of them who did. He delivered a 35 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:06,520 Speaker 1: speech on February eighteen sixty nine. It started this way, 36 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:10,520 Speaker 1: Mr Speaker, I appear here more to acknowledge this high 37 00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:14,520 Speaker 1: privilege than to make an argument before this House. It 38 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:17,360 Speaker 1: was certainly not my intention at first to take any 39 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:20,080 Speaker 1: part in this case at all, But as I have 40 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:24,079 Speaker 1: been sent here by the votes of nearly nine thousand electors, 41 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:27,840 Speaker 1: I would feel myself recreant to the duty imposed on 42 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 1: me if I did not defend their rights on this floor. 43 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 1: I wish it to be well understood before I go 44 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:38,080 Speaker 1: any further, that in the disposition of this case, I 45 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:41,120 Speaker 1: do not expect, nor do I ask, that there shall 46 00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:43,960 Speaker 1: be any favor shown to me on account of my 47 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:48,160 Speaker 1: race or the former condition of that race. I wish 48 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 1: the case to be decided on its own merits and 49 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:54,800 Speaker 1: nothing else. The decision was that he would not be seated. 50 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:58,760 Speaker 1: Future President James A. Garfield said, quote, it was too 51 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:01,600 Speaker 1: early to admit an grow to the U. S. Congress. 52 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:04,200 Speaker 1: It was moved for the seat to be held vacant 53 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:07,880 Speaker 1: and the associated salary for it, which was five thousand dollars, 54 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:11,520 Speaker 1: to just be saved. After all of this, Minard moved 55 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:13,880 Speaker 1: to Florida. He was appointed to the state House of 56 00:03:13,919 --> 00:03:17,079 Speaker 1: Representatives there, and eventually he moved to Washington, d C. 57 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:20,680 Speaker 1: And worked in the census office. So when this election 58 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:24,519 Speaker 1: happened in Louisiana, when Minard was elected, that was after 59 00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:27,560 Speaker 1: the end of the United States Civil War, the Thirteenth 60 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:30,840 Speaker 1: Amendment to the Constitution that outlawed slavery and in injured 61 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:33,600 Speaker 1: servitude except in the punishment of a crime, that had 62 00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:36,600 Speaker 1: been passed and it had been ratified, But the fourteenth 63 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:39,760 Speaker 1: and fifteenth Amendments, which addressed equal rights and citizenship and 64 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:42,320 Speaker 1: the right to vote for black men, had not yet 65 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:46,040 Speaker 1: been passed or ratified. After the fifteenth Amendment was ratified 66 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:48,440 Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy, it gave black men the right to vote, 67 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:51,480 Speaker 1: and many more black men were elected to public office 68 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:55,400 Speaker 1: as Minard had been. The first black man actually seated 69 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:58,840 Speaker 1: in Congress was Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina in 70 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:01,960 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy, and the first black man elected to the 71 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:05,360 Speaker 1: Senate was Highram Rhodes Revels of Mississippi when he served 72 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:09,000 Speaker 1: from eighteen seventy to eighteen seventy one. However, Southern states 73 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:12,960 Speaker 1: in particular retaliated against reconstruction and against these amendments to 74 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:17,440 Speaker 1: the Constitution. One of those retaliations was discriminatory voting laws 75 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:21,360 Speaker 1: and Jim Crows segregation. So by eighteen eighty seven, after 76 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:26,159 Speaker 1: these initial advances and getting equal representation for men in Congress, 77 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:30,919 Speaker 1: there were no black members of Congress at all. Thanks 78 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:33,560 Speaker 1: very much to Christopher Hassiotis for his research work on 79 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:36,680 Speaker 1: this episode, and to Ksey Pigram and Chandler Mays for 80 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:39,760 Speaker 1: their audio work on the show. You can subscribe to 81 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:42,840 Speaker 1: the Stay in History Class on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts 82 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:44,960 Speaker 1: and We're Realty your podcasts, and you can tune in 83 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:57,360 Speaker 1: tomorrow for a massive military defeat. Greetings, I'm Eves and 84 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:00,560 Speaker 1: welcome to this Day in History Class, a show believes 85 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:12,520 Speaker 1: no day in history is a slow day. The day 86 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:17,520 Speaker 1: was November three, s A lamp de Gouche was sentenced 87 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:21,880 Speaker 1: to death and executed by guillotine. Googe was a playwright 88 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:25,120 Speaker 1: and an activist who advocated for women's rights and the 89 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:29,760 Speaker 1: abolition of slavery. Googe was born Marie Goose in southern 90 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:34,680 Speaker 1: France in seventeen She married Louis Aubrey, a man much 91 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 1: older than her, in seventeen sixty five, and they had 92 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:41,919 Speaker 1: a son together, but Aubrey died not long into the marriage, 93 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:46,520 Speaker 1: and Googe vowed to never marry again. She became close 94 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:50,320 Speaker 1: to a businessman named Jacques Beatrix de Rosier, who set 95 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:54,000 Speaker 1: her up in Paris. He supported her for several years 96 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:57,840 Speaker 1: until his resources ran dry. Not a lot is known 97 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:00,800 Speaker 1: about her early education, but it is evident that she 98 00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 1: was mostly self educated. She preferred to use secretaries to 99 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:08,919 Speaker 1: transcribe her literary work. Though she was often accused of 100 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:11,919 Speaker 1: being illiterate, she was knowledgeable about the ideas of the 101 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:17,160 Speaker 1: Enlightenment and familiar with the works of many philosophers. In Paris, 102 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:21,520 Speaker 1: she rubbed shoulders with famous writers and philosophers. Googe herself 103 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:26,320 Speaker 1: wrote plays, novels, and socio political pamphlets. By the late 104 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:29,120 Speaker 1: seventeen eighties, she was believed to be the author of 105 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:32,640 Speaker 1: novellas in several plays in the style of drama bourgeois, 106 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:35,640 Speaker 1: which was popular in France in the late eighteenth century. 107 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:40,919 Speaker 1: Dramatist Luis Vastien Mercier helped her navigate the Comdie Francaise 108 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:44,599 Speaker 1: the National Theater in France, and published in stage some 109 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:48,400 Speaker 1: of her plays. Unlike other women play rights at the time, 110 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:51,719 Speaker 1: Googe chose to publish her plays under her own name 111 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:55,080 Speaker 1: and defy the standards of what content was appropriate for 112 00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:59,279 Speaker 1: women to produce. Her early plays had mixed reviews, but 113 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:03,560 Speaker 1: her later plays, which were more political, produced stronger reactions. 114 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:08,360 Speaker 1: They often explored themes of injustice. Her play The Generous 115 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:14,400 Speaker 1: Man explored the political powerlessness of women. Her first stage production, 116 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:18,480 Speaker 1: originally called Zamore and Mirza or The Happy Shipwreck, was 117 00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:22,280 Speaker 1: accepted by the Comedy Francaise when it was submitted anonymously, 118 00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:24,800 Speaker 1: but once they found out she was the author, the 119 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:28,920 Speaker 1: play was shelved. In it too enslaved people were liberated. 120 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:32,720 Speaker 1: After revisions, the play was performed under the title Black 121 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:38,080 Speaker 1: Slavery or The Happy Shipwreck in sev nine. Abolitionist praised 122 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:41,280 Speaker 1: the production, but some actors and French colonists tied to 123 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:45,320 Speaker 1: the slave trade protested. Since the play highlighted the inhumanity 124 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:48,640 Speaker 1: of slavery. Some thought it would incite revolt in the colonies, 125 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:51,720 Speaker 1: and the play shut down after only a few performances. 126 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:54,960 Speaker 1: By this point, France was on the verge of the 127 00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:59,560 Speaker 1: French Revolution. Goose tried light comedy, but most of her 128 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:02,720 Speaker 1: play Right Name was political and responded to contemporary issues. 129 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:06,440 Speaker 1: In her plays, she discussed girls who were forcibly sent 130 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:10,559 Speaker 1: to convents, imprisonment for debt, and the powerlessness of women 131 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:14,679 Speaker 1: in marriage. Through her plays, she often expressed the ideas 132 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:17,960 Speaker 1: that all women have agency and the injustices that women 133 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:22,480 Speaker 1: face are tied to larger social ones. Still, in her work, 134 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:27,440 Speaker 1: she negatively depicted revolutionaries and monarchists in the Revolution. She 135 00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:30,120 Speaker 1: was critical of the Queen and king, but maintained the 136 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:33,160 Speaker 1: view that a constitutional monarchy was the best way to 137 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:37,719 Speaker 1: go for France. Gluch remained a monarchist almost until the end, 138 00:08:38,040 --> 00:08:41,680 Speaker 1: when she became disillusioned by the monarchies in action. She 139 00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:44,840 Speaker 1: was also a political activists. Outside of her socially charged 140 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:48,679 Speaker 1: literary work, she advocated for governmental and social reform in 141 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:52,600 Speaker 1: the press and in her pamphlets. She called for elimination 142 00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:56,160 Speaker 1: of the sexual double standard, and she championed women's independence 143 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:59,920 Speaker 1: and access to political rights. She wrote The Rights of 144 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:02,440 Speaker 1: Woman as a response to the Declaration of the Rights 145 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:05,360 Speaker 1: of Man and of the Citizen, criticizing the document for 146 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:09,320 Speaker 1: its omission of women's rights. As the revolution ramped up, 147 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:12,920 Speaker 1: her writings became more charged. She published a poster called 148 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:15,520 Speaker 1: the Three Urns, calling for a plebiscite for a choice 149 00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:20,559 Speaker 1: between a unitary republic, a federalist government, or a constitutional monarchy. 150 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:23,760 Speaker 1: She was arrested and the Jacobins sentenced her to death 151 00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:28,160 Speaker 1: first edition and calls to reinstate the monarchy. Gluge was 152 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:31,240 Speaker 1: the only woman executed first edition during the Reign of Terror, 153 00:09:31,559 --> 00:09:34,680 Speaker 1: a period during the French Revolution, marked by massacres in 154 00:09:34,679 --> 00:09:39,040 Speaker 1: public executions. According to an obituary, she was also executed 155 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:43,800 Speaker 1: for quote having forgotten the virtues of her sex. I'm 156 00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:45,959 Speaker 1: each Jeff Coote and hopefully you know a little more 157 00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:49,840 Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. If you're hungry 158 00:09:49,880 --> 00:09:53,319 Speaker 1: for more history, you can find us on Twitter, Facebook, 159 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:58,719 Speaker 1: and Instagram at t d i h C Podcast, or 160 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:00,800 Speaker 1: you can go the old fashioned route and send us 161 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:05,559 Speaker 1: an email at this Day at i heeart media dot com. 162 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:08,040 Speaker 1: Thanks for going on this trip through history with us. 163 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:18,400 Speaker 1: We'll see you again tomorrow with another episode. For more 164 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:20,960 Speaker 1: podcasts from I Heeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 165 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:23,600 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.