Trivial Trivia - taking trivia to new levels

[Rogerm]

I believe that Lincoln referred to Gideon Welles as his "Neptune." But, I doubt that your question has anything to do with him.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Does it refer to this Neptune?
   

[L Verge]

I'm sorry to be late checking in this morning. Great job, Anita, you got what I thought would be an impossible piece of trivia to decipher.

It does come from Frederick Douglass' description of his childhood competition with the dog, Old Nep, for scraps of food. The full title of our program is "Fighting Old Nep: The Food Culture of Enslaved Afro-Marylanders." As many of you know, Southern cuisine (especially) has been heavily influenced by the culinary history brought to America from civilizations in western and central Africa from our colonial days.

Our presenter for this is Michael Twitty, who is doing something called a Southern Discomfort Tour. He travels from Maryland across the South in search of his genealogical roots as well as regional cuisine related to those roots. I love the analogy of the term "Discomfort" -- disturbing to learn the history, and uncomfortable to eat some of the foods (heavy in fiber and thus causing bloating and other intestinal discomfort).

[Anita]

Thanks Laurie.

Wish I could be there for Michael Twitty's presentation at Surratt House. I love food and history and Michael does a great job bringing them together to teach cultural heritage.

I can't find his book "Fighting Old Nep: Foodways of Enslaved Afro-Marylanders, 1634-1864". It's out of print. Can you ask him if he plans to have a new edition or where I can get a copy of the old one? It's really more of a pamphlet-70 pages.

[L Verge]

I shall certainly try to remember to ask him about his booklet. Are you familiar with this http://today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/PRN-them...3221.aspx?

[Anita]

(01-31-2014 08:59 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Are you familiar with this http://today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/PRN-them...3221.aspx?

I am now! Thanks. I just picked up a used copy.

[L Verge]

The Civil War Round Table of New York puts out a small, but informative newsletter. The February issue cited Eva's work on researching the Rathbones in Germany. On the back page, they posted a tidbit of trivia that I had never heard before.

When Booth was killed, one of the significant things used to identify his body was a stick (stock) pin that he had used to hold together some of his underwear. The pin had been a present from his friend, Daniel Emmett, and was so engraved.

Daniel Emmett is well-known by people who enjoyed music of the mid-1800s. He is credited with authoring "Dixie Land," the original name of what we have shortened to "Dixie." The tune was first performed in a theater at 472 Broadway in 1859 by Bryant's Minstrels, the most popular blackface troupe in the city. It soon became a great favorite with lower-Manhattan's white, working class citizens - many of whom had high sympathies for the Southern cause.

This little newsletter tidbit states that the song draws from both black and white folk traditions and its authorship (like that of many minstrel tunes) gets a big tangled. Daniel Emmett was from Ohio, and he is buried in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, just three miles from another gravestone of Ben and Lew Snowden, sons of freed slaves from the South. The Snowden gravestone is inscribed, "They taught 'Dixie' to Dan Emmett.

Rich and Jim - do you have photos of either of those stones? I am also curious as to whether the Snowdens may have originated in Maryland. One of our public, historic house museums here in Prince George's County is Montpelier Mansion (which rivals anything Williamsburg has to offer). It was the ancestral home of a very wealthy Quaker family, which ended up freeing their slaves.

Here I go believing in Six Degrees of Separation again when it comes to the Lincoln assassination story.

[RJNorton]

(02-04-2014 03:14 PM)L Verge Wrote:  The Civil War Round Table of New York puts out a small, but informative newsletter. The February issue cited Eva's work on researching the Rathbones in Germany.

Congratulations, Eva!

[L Verge]

Anita,

I'm fighting a "bug" of some sort and did not make the program with Michael Twitty, "Fighting Old Nep," today. However, I did call in and ask my staff to inquire about reprints of his book of the same name. Mr. Twitty says it is being republished; it's in the works, but he doesn't know exact dates.

[Anita]

(02-08-2014 08:05 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Anita,

I'm fighting a "bug" of some sort and did not make the program with Michael Twitty, "Fighting Old Nep," today. However, I did call in and ask my staff to inquire about reprints of his book of the same name. Mr. Twitty says it is being republished; it's in the works, but he doesn't know exact dates.

Thanks Laurie. Sorry you missed the talk. Take care.

[L Verge]

Who does the term The Secret Six refer to? Who was the famous wife of one of them?

[Gene C]

I'd tell you, but then it wouldn't be a secret any more.
I can tell you this, it has something to do with Harpers Ferry.

The wife's name is a real mystery. She ran a women's boutique. They just called her "Victoria"
(Fido put me up to that)

[L Verge]

Gene's hint about Harpers Ferry is correct. How do the Secret Six fit in? Hint #2: Forget his hint about the wife.

[L Verge]

Hint #3 - Follow the money AND Follow the bouncing red ball (let's see how many of our oldtimers remember that).

[Gene C]

You had me stumped until you mentioned the bouncing red ball. With that musical conection the wife's name has to be Jeannie C Riley who had a hit song "The Harpers Ferry PTA" back in 1868

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ivUOnnstpg

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