2021-01

This week, we’re talking about the 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition. Opened for over 100 days, from September through December of that year, it would attract around 800K visitors from across the US and 13 different countries. In 1895, Atlanta had 75,000 people, of which 40% were African American, there were 125 miles of electric trolley lines and you could feel the energy about the upcoming exposition - good and bad.
Links:
"Race and the Atlanta Cotton States Exposition of 1895"
"The Atlanta Exposition"
Want to support this podcast? Visit here
Email: thevictorialemos@gmail.com
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

At the turn of the century, Georgia was one of three states that did not allow women to practice law. That changed in 1911, when Minnie Anderson Hale graduated from the Atlanta Law School and was denied admission to the bar because of her sex. A new bill was introduced but not signed until 1916, making her the first official woman lawyer in Georgia/Atlanta. 
It was not until 1943 that Rachel Pruden Herndon became the first Black woman to practice law in the city and state. She never went to law school, instead learned from her boss, A.T. Walden, by reading all the books in the office and through a correspondence course.
Want to support this podcast? Visit here
Email: thevictorialemos@gmail.com
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

This week, I’m talking about volunteer militia formed by Black men in Atlanta from the 1870s thru 1903. These men, just years out of the slavery system and most of them Radical Republicans, pushed for the militia for two reasons - military service was the epitome of masculine, model citizen Victorian manhood and also for protection. The end of Reconstruction left African Americans in the South unprotected. There were five militias in Atlanta, led by prominent businessmen and community leaders and I share some fun stories of parades, encampments and mock battles. 
Want to support this podcast? Visit here
Email: thevictorialemos@gmail.com
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Regardless of age, I bet you have a personal memory that involves a pair of roller skates - and almost every decade, from 1870 onward, had them too. Through this research I learned that the skating trend ebbs and flows, rinks come and go, but the activity has stood the test of time. 
Want to support this podcast? Visit here
Email: thevictorialemos@gmail.com
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter