Episode 39 “The Orphan Trains and Charles Loring Brace”: Michael T. Keene In 1848 Ireland was gripped by famine. Nearly a million people would die of starvation and typhoid Fever. Desperate for survival a million more Irish would abandon their homeland and come to America. Many settled in the Five Points section of lower Manhattan infamous for its squalor, violence and disease By the end of the Civil War, an estimated 30,000 orphaned and homeless children roamed the streets of New York City. They survived by resorting to petty crime, by begging, and by selling newspapers for a nickel a piece. In response to this crisis the age of orphan asylums began, culminating in one of the most improbable and audacious episodes in American history. Inspired by Charles Loring Brace, it was called the Orphan Train Movement. It endeavored to save these children by heroes who fought for their liberation.   Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book,    NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS   Pre-Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/ *Orders will ship on or after Oct 14, 2019   Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene https://michaeltkeene.com/about/   Send questions / comments / suggestions to: https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/   Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/  

Talking Hart Island

The Orphan Trains and Charles Loring Brace

Episode 38 “Lloyd “The Whistler” Threlkeld”: with Douglass Fraser, Professor and Musicologist. Lloyd Buford Threlkeld, also known as “The Whistler” for his ability to make sweet melodious sounds emerge from his practiced nose flute, also played the guitar and sang. “Whistler and his Band” was one of the most famous jug bands of its time. Threlkeld was born in Kentucky and in 1932 moved to Harlem in New York City. He continued performing, but had stopped recording. In May of 1935 he was admitted to Bellevue Hospital with tuberculosis where he died, later that year. He was without family or friends and, like thousands before and since in similar circumstances, was buried on Hart Island. Listen to Professor Douglass Fraser as he takes us on a musical tour of not only jug band music, but also jazz and rock in-roll, which incredibly owed their very origins to this pioneering music. Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book,  NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/ Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene https://michaeltkeene.com/about/ Send questions / comments / suggestions to: https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/ Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/

Lloyd “The Whistler” Threlkeld with Douglass Fraser

Episode 37 “AIDS-The First Five Years”: with Jean Ashton, Director, New York Historical Society Resources & Programs. It is estimated that during the AIDS epidemic thousands of AIDS victims were buried on Hart Island. Many because they had become disowned by their family and died unclaimed, and many more because there was no one left to take charge of their burials. AIDS was particularly cruel and terrifying during the first few years of its existence, because of the lack of knowledge of what it actually was. Even the medical community was at a loss to explain this new contagion. The book, “AIDS The First Five Years”, is an attempt to explain what happened and why. Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book,  NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/ Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene https://michaeltkeene.com/about/ Send questions / comments / suggestions to: https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/ Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/

AIDS-The First Five Years with Jean Ashton

Episode 36 “Burial Grounds in a Segregated City”: with Tom Angotti, Professor Emertis, Hunter College. During the period of Dutch and English settlement, New York City was one of the nation’s largest urban centers for the slave trade and served as a financial patron, of the plantation economy, in the South. In the Dutch colony, as many as 40 percent of the population were slaves. Slaves had no choice of residence, were treated like a commodity, and even in burial were denied equal access. At the end of the 17th century, Trinity Church formally banned blacks from its cemetery in lower Manhattan as land in the fortified city became scarce. The African Burial Grounds in lower Manhattan were a result of this process. And perhaps most shocking of all, it even limited their access to New York City’s Potters Field, Hart Island. Even in death their discrimination persisted. Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book,  NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/ Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene https://michaeltkeene.com/about/ Send questions / comments / suggestions to: https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/ Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/

Burial Grounds in a Segregated City with Tom Angotti

Episode 35 “AIDS”: with Michael Bronsky, Professor, Harvard University. On a hot midsummer night in June of 1969, a group of police officers stormed into Greenwich Village’s tiny Stonewall Inn, one of Manhattans early gay and lesbian bars. The patrons of Stonewall revolted. For many this confrontation would eventually become known as the Gay Liberation Movement.    As a result, New York City became the rallying place for gay men throughout the country. Beginning in the early 1980’s a terrifying and mysterious disease appeared. For the next twenty years the disease known as AIDS, would eventually take the lives of over 100,000 people in New York City alone. Many would end up on Hart Island. This is their story. Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book,  NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/ Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene https://michaeltkeene.com/about/ Send questions / comments / suggestions to: https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/ Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/

AIDS with Michael Bronsky

Episode 34 “Grave Yard of Strangers”: with Norma Jean Gradsky. Leo Birinski was a playwright, screenwriter and director. He worked in Austria-Hungary, Germany and in the United States. Birinski was the screenwriter of many Hollywood productions including, “Song of Song”s starring Marlene Dietrich, “The Lady Has Plans”, starring Paulette Goddard, and perhaps his most famous, “Mata Hari” starring the screen legend Greta Garbo. Until recently, only a minimal amount of information about his life was available. In addition there were many legends and rumors concerning Birinski’s person, some of them even spread by himself. For example, the false report of his “suicide” in 1920 even found its way from the newspaper obituaries into encyclopedias. But it wouldn’t be until 1951 that Birininski actually died. At the time he was alone and penniless, interred for all eternity on Hart Island. Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book,  NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/ Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene https://michaeltkeene.com/about/ Send questions / comments / suggestions to: https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/ Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/

Grave Yard of Strangers with Norma Jean Gradsky

Episode 33 “Angels of Mercy”: with William Seraile, Professor Emeritus, Lehman College, City University of New York. The Colored Orphan Asylum was founded, in New York City in 1836, as the nation’s first orphanage for African American children. The agency weathered three wars, two major financial panics, a devastating fire during the 1863 Draft Riots (in which over 120 people died and 2,000 injured), several epidemics, waves of racial prejudice, and severe financial difficulties, to care for orphaned, neglected and delinquent children. Incredibly, although African Americans inmates from Rikers Jail are the primary “grave diggers” on Hart Island, there is no evidence that there was, until very recently, any African Americans actually buried on Hart Island. “Angels of Mercy” not only weaves together African American history of an unsung institution, but also offers a unique window onto complex racial dynamics, during a period when many failed to recognize equality among all citizens, as a worthy purpose. William Seraile is a professor emeritus at Lehman College, City University of New York, where he taught African American history for 36 years. His most recent books are “New York’s Black Regiments During the Civil War” and “Bruce Grit: The Black Nationalist Writings of John Edward Bruce”. Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book,  NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/ Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene https://michaeltkeene.com/about/ Send questions / comments / suggestions to: https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/ Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/

Angels of Mercy with William Seraile

Episode 32 “Boroughs of the Dead”: with Marie Carter, Editor, writer, teacher, and tour guide. When detectives and forensic scientists were called to investigate the Hart Island human remains, found littering its beach, none of them could have known they had been probably treading on additional mass graves, hidden beneath New York City’s parks, buildings, and sidewalks. Hart island might be New York City’s largest mass grave, but it wasn’t the first. Join us on a tour of perhaps lesser known burial sites that stand quietly and nearly forgotten just beneath the crushing grind of growth and change. Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book,  NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/ Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene https://michaeltkeene.com/about/ Send questions / comments / suggestions to: https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/ Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/

Boroughs of the Dead with Marie Carter

Episode 31 “Potters Field(s)”: with Andrew Berman, Executive Director, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. By the early 1800’s New York City boasted a population of over 200,000, qualifying it as the largest city in the Western Hemisphere. As New York City’s population grew, so did its number of dead. The fact that the number of interred, in Trinity Church’s graveyard in 1822, was estimated at 120,000 was just that, an estimate! New York City was facing an unprecedented crisis at an unprecedented speed. Existing accommodations in the city’s burial grounds could not keep up with the staggering number of people dying. Other grounds in the city faced the same problem; among them were the North Dutch Church and St. Paul’s, all within a close radius to Trinity Church. The solution to the burial dilemma would of course become the purchase of Hart Island in 1869. Join us as Andrew Berman takes us on a tour of some of Greenwich Villages more notable cemeteries as well as other iconic landmarks of New York City. Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book,  NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/ Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene https://michaeltkeene.com/about/ Send questions / comments / suggestions to: https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/ Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/

Potters Field(s) with Andrew Berman

Episode 30 “Six to Celebrate” Simeon Bankoff, Executive Director of Historic District Council. In 2017 the annual “Six to Celebrate” initiative from the Historic Districts Council, highlighted six neighborhoods in New York City, in need of preservation attention: Hart Island, the city’s potter’s field which contains the mass grave of over one million people, was an unexpected addition to the list. “The Hart Island facility is incredibly important to the history and social responsibility in America and we look forward to promoting public awareness about, and access to, this fascinating historic site”, said Simeon Bankoff. Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book,  NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/ Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene https://michaeltkeene.com/about/ Send questions / comments / suggestions to: https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/ Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/

Six to Celebrate Simeon Bankoff

Episode 29 “Hebrew Free Burial Society”: with Amy Koplow, Executive Director. While many of the young women and men who perished in the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory Fire could be identified, many could not. As unclaimed or identified deaths, according to New York City policy, bodies were traditionally shipped to the City Morgue at Bellevue and later passed on to potter’s field at Hart Island. It was certain that the 22 identified victims of the Triangle Shirt Waist fire would be laid to rest there, as well, except for the extraordinary intervention of the Hebrew Free Burial Society. Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book,  NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/ Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene https://michaeltkeene.com/about/ Send questions / comments / suggestions to: https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/ Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/

Hebrew Free Burial Society with Amy Koplow, Executive Director

Episode 28 “Louisa Van Slyke”: with Author Gail Jarrow. The ship lurched in the heavy North Atlantic swell, its bow plunging deep in the troughs as it pitched sharply, its seasick passengers crammed into its small hold. The young lady, dressed simply, was just another anonymous face in the crowded ship. She kept to herself, as she’d always done. But the new world beckoned, and she tried to think about what awaited her. Her name was Louisa Van Slyke, and little did she know how short her stay would be. Louisa, would die of Yellow Fever in 1869 like thousands before her and after, from a multitude of diseases that swept through New York City, in the 19th century. With no friends or relatives to claim her, she would become the first of almost a million to be laid to rest in the Potters Field on Hart Island. Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book,  NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/ Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene https://michaeltkeene.com/about/ Send questions / comments / suggestions to: https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/ Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/

Louisa Van Slyke with Author Gail Jarrow.

Episode 27 “Greta Garbo”: with Lois Banner, Professor (ret) USC. Leo Birinski was a playwright, screenwriter and director. He worked in Austria-Hungary, Germany and in the United States. Birinski was the screenwriter of many Hollywood productions including, “Song of Song”s staring Marlene Dietrich, “The Lady Has Plans”, staring Paulette Goddard, and perhaps his most famous, “Mata Hari” staring the screen legend Greta Garbo. Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book,  NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/ Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene https://michaeltkeene.com/about/ Send questions / comments / suggestions to: https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/ Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/

Greta Garbo with Lois Banner

Episode 26 “Ghosts of St Vincents”: with Tom Eubanks. Founded in 1849 to care for indigent immigrants in Greenwich Village, St. Vincent’s Hospital was sold in 2010 to create multi-million-dollar homes. In its 161 years of existence, the legendary institution treated survivors of the Titanic, tended to victims of both World Trade Center attacks, and served as Ground Zero of the AIDS Crisis. With honesty, humor, and flights of historical fancy, GHOSTS OF ST. VINCENT’S tells the hospital’s story through the eyes of a man who spent a winter on its 7th floor AIDS ward and who survived just in time for the drug “cocktail” that saved so many lives, but which also witnessed the deaths of over a thousand people subsequently buried on Hart Island. Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book,  NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/ Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene https://michaeltkeene.com/about/ Send questions / comments / suggestions to: https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/ Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/

Ghosts of St Vincents with Tom Eubanks

Episode 25 “The Tenement Museum”: with Kevin Jennings, Director. The Lower East Side Tenement Museum, located at 97 and 103 Orchard Street, in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, is a National Historic Site. The Museum’s two historical tenement buildings were home to an estimated 15,000 people, from over 20 nations, between 1863 and 2011. The museum’s exhibits and programs include restored apartments and shops open daily for public tours, depicting the lives of immigrants who lived at 97 Orchard Street between 1869 and 1935 and 103 Orchard Street from the 1950s to the 1980s. The museum also provides a documentary film and offers tours, with costumed interpreters portraying the building’s former residents, tastings of their communities’ typical foods, and neighborhood walks. Michael T. Keene is the author of Folklore and Legends of Rochester, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Mad~House, Question of Sanity, and now his new book,  NEW YORK CITY’S HART ISLAND: A CEMETERY OF STRANGERS Order a signed, soft cover copy of the book: New York City's Hart Island, directly from the Author https://michaeltkeene.com/hart-island-soft-cover-book/ Learn more about Author / Host / Filmmaker Michael T. Keene https://michaeltkeene.com/about/ Send questions / comments / suggestions to: https://michaeltkeene.com/contact/ Connect with Michael T. Keene on Social Media Twitter https://twitter.com/talkhartisland Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkingHartIsland/

The Tenement Museum with Kevin Jennings, Director

A weekly podcast about America's largest mass grave, located on a small island in New York.

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Talking Hart Island

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