This is an opportunity to hear and ask questions of Gretchen Gerzina, presenter of the 2017 BBC Radio 4 series “Britain’s Black Past.” In 2020, she expanded upon the series with an edited book that bears the same title – a collection of essays that offers further stories and analyses through the lens of a recovered past. By means of both radio series and book, she brings to light hidden people, places, and narratives.
Our April event is made possible as part of the North American Friends of Chawton House series. The 2022 North American Friends of Chawton House speaker subscription series gives us access to the type of global expertise that, pre-Zoom, was out of reach due to prohibitive travel costs for speakers. The NAFCH 2022 speakers are waiving their usual honoraria for clubs or groups with a NAFCH subscription in order to raise awareness for Chawton House. All talks connect to the two-pronged mission of Chawton House: to preserve both a historic Austen-family site and the unique legacy of early women writers housed there. All funds raised with these NAFCH subscriptions goes straight to Chawton House in support of their mission.
The Listening Assignment
To prepare for our meeting, we have a new type of pre-meeting assignment: a listening to select episodes from Gerzina’s BBC Radio 4 series “Britain’s Black Past.” These are the episodes to listen to (each is about 13 minutes):
- Ignatius Sancho
- Pero Jones and Fanny Coker
- Olaudah Equiano
- Dido Belle and Frances Barber
- Nathaniel Wells
The Details
What: JASNA-NC Member Meeting, Britain’s Black Past with Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina
When: April 24, 2022 at 2 p.m. EST
Where: In the comfort of your home via Zoom
RSVP: This is a member-only event; it is FREE but registration is required.
About Our Speaker
Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina has published nine books, including Black London: Life Before Emancipation and Mr. and Mrs. Prince: How an Extraordinary Eighteenth-Century Moved out of Slavery and into Legend. She has been a tenured professor at Vassar College, Barnard College, Dartmouth College and now the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she is the Paul Murray Kendall Professor of Biography and Professor of English. She has appeared extensively on both British and American radio and is currently working on a book about early black women who married British men.