Separate and Elite Society in THE GILDED AGE (Ep. 43)

Historical Drama with The Boston Sisters

In episode 43 we welcome back CARLA L. PETERSON (from Ep. 28), author of the 2011 book “Black Gotham: A Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City.” Carla takes us inside the parties, pleasures, and fashionable lifestyles of New York's Black middle class of the 19th century, and how the philsophy of "taste" informed the lives of that century's Black American elite. We also talk about how the separate and elite lives of 19th century New York “old money,” “new money,” and the Black elite are interpreted for the HBO series, THE GILDED AGE.

Carla’s book, “Black Gotham,” served as a resource for the creation of the Scott family in THE GILDED AGE now in its second season. THE GILDED AGE is created by Julian Fellowes (DOWNTON ABBEY).

Content note: The word “colored” is used in its African American historical context.

Download the TRANSCRIPT for Ep. 43 from this link⁠⁠.⁠⁠

PLEASE NOTE: TRANSCRIPTS ARE GENERATED USING A COMBINATION OF SPEECH RECOGNITION SOFTWARE AND HUMAN TRANSCRIBERS, AND MAY CONTAIN ERRORS.

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TIMESTAMPS

04:24 Taste in 19th century African American community

08:48 Taste, morality, and community in 19th century Manhattan (New York)

14:31 Fashion as linguistic code

19:12 Black pleasure in 19th century New York

24:47 Art and social status in 19th century New York

35:41 BREAK

37:06 Education and Black Upward Mobility

44:51 Tuskegee Institute/Booker T. Washington and The Talented Tenth/W.E.B. DuBois

48:38 Race, identity and strategic passing

53:12 Upstairs/Downstairs and Capital/Labor Plots

1:01 What if a Scott Family sequel

1:06:04 Where to watch THE GILDED AGE

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