Today we’re flipping through some fresh arrivals to the shop: issues of Ebony magazine from the 1970s. In print from 1945 to 2019 (and still published online), Ebony documented mid-century Black life in the United States with the same upbeat and aspirational tone that mainstream magazines once reserved for white America. From glossy fashion spreads and celebrity profiles to coverage of politics, civil rights, and everyday life, Ebony built a vivid visual record of a rapidly changing country. Today, Ebony offers a rich and fascinating archive of the African American experience, along with a quietly radical reminder that Black people’s lives were always worthy of glamour, curiosity, and cultural memory.
Brattlecast #191 - Doris Kearns Goodwin
In today’s episode we’re talking about acclaimed author—and friend of the shop—Doris Kearns Goodwin. She’s known for insightful and engaging presidential biographies such as Team of Rivals, The Bully Pulpit, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning No Ordinary Time. Goodwin’s latest book, An Unfinished Love Story, weaves together memoir and historical analysis, exploring the 1960’s through the lens of her own life and through the extensive archives of her late husband Richard Goodwin, a presidential aide and speechwriter for Lyndon B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy.
Signed copies are available through our own friendly rival, Beacon Hill Books & Cafe.
Brattlecast #150 - Antiques Roadshow Memories
In this episode, Ken talks about some especially notable TV appraisals from his years on Antiques Roadshow. The highlights include a Civil War letter with a surprising twist, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph, and one item that… actually didn’t work out so well. The show is currently in the midst of its 27th season; you can catch new episodes Monday nights on PBS, or watch online here: www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow.
Brattlecast #112 - African American Periodicals
Today we’re talking about historic African American periodicals. These newspapers and magazines often had smaller circulations than their white, mainstream counterparts, making them harder to find and more collectible today. It’s a broad and varied field, which includes the abolitionist newspapers of the early 1800s like Freedom’s Journal and The North Star, the literary journals of the Harlem Renaissance, and more recent lifestyle magazines like Ebony and Jet. These periodicals were influential in promoting the social movements of their times and can provide an important parallel history directly from the Black voices that were all too often excluded from and ignored by the mainstream American press.
Brattlecast #95 - The Liberator & The North Star
Finally, some good news! Today we’re taking a look at the abolitionist newspapers of the 1800s. The Liberator was published here in Boston by William Lloyd Garrison, and argued that the institution of slavery was so deeply immoral that it must be ended immediately, a radical position at the time. Although it had a relatively small circulation, The Liberator was influential, shaping abolitionist thought and inspiring others to start their own publications, including Frederick Douglass, who founded his anti-slavery newspaper, The North Star, in 1847. Today, as a new chapter in America’s troubled civil rights history unfolds, these antique newspapers remain impressive for their fierce moral clarity in the face of violent opposition and for their insistence on emancipation and full equality.