In 2001, Henry Louis Gates announced the discovery of an unpublished novel called The Bondswoman’s Narrative, written in the 1850s by an enslaved woman named Hannah Crafts. If Gates had the authorship right, it would be the oldest known novel by an African-American woman. But many people doubted the book’s authorship. In 2013, however, Gregg Hecimovich produced evidence that The Bondswoman’s Narrative was indeed written by a black woman in the1850s. Hannah Crafts, he demonstrated, was the pen name of Hannah Bonds, who escaped from slavery in North Carolina. Dr. Hecimovich’s new book is The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of The Bondswoman’s Narrative. It’s a biography of Hannah Bonds. It’s also a detective story, telling how Gregg Hecimovich and many others uncovered the fascinating true story behind Hannah Bonds’s fictional story.
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Episode 20: Jonny Jimison
Episode 19: James K. A. Smith
Episode 18: Sarah MacKenzie
Episode 17: Randall Goodgame
Episode 16: Rebecca Reynolds
Episode 15: Mark Meynell
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Episode 12: Joseph Patton
Episode 11: Karen Swallow Prior
Episode 10: Shawn Smucker
Episode 9: Kristy Dempsey
Episode 8: Helena Sorensen
Episode 7: Doug McKelvey
Episode 6: Russ Ramsey
Episode 5: Claire Gibson
Episode 4: Christopher Williams
Episode 3: Jennifer Trafton
Episode 2: Pete Peterson
Episode 1: Katy Bowser Hutson
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