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47 - Lorena Bobbitt and Harriet Tubman
39 Plays2 days ago
Sam tells the story of Lorena Bobbitt, whose name became a media frenzy in the 1990s and whose experience reveals deeper truths about domestic abuse and public perception.
Jeff tells the story of Harriet Tubman, the iconic abolitionist, Civil War scout, spy, and humanitarian whose bravery changed the course of American history.
📌 Visit us on Linktree for the collection of links, Instagram, or email us at downtherabbitholepod@gmail.com.
🔗 Jeff's sources:
- Harriet Tubman – Wikipedia
- My Hero Project – Harriet Tubman
- Student Potential – Celebrating Harriet Tubman
- Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom by Catherine Clinton (2004)
- The Dollop Podcast – Harriet Tubman
🔗 Sam's sources:
Recommended
Transcript
Playful Banter and Podcast Introduction
00:00:01
Jeff Rogers
Hello, Sam. Hello, Jeffrey. Do you know... Muffin Man? The Muffin Man. The Muffin Man!
00:00:30
Jeff Rogers
Hello and welcome to Down the Rabbit Hole. I'm Jeff. And I'm Sam. Yes, yes, yes. You can get our you can listen to us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Amazon.
00:00:43
Jeff Rogers
Follow us, rate us, review us, subscribe, give us all the stars, let us know what you think. Yes. Reach out to us ah down the rabbit hole the pod at at gmail.com or find us, follow us on Instagram at downtherabbitholethepod.
Podcast Improvements and Episode Announcements
00:00:58
Jeff Rogers
And we are a little show. We're coming at you every Thursday with good stories. Really, I think we're improving every day, don't you? i do. It's cringy to say what the Gen Zers say. Is that what the generation is? Cringy, is that what they say? Is that a word? It's cringy. Let me tell you what's cringy is when somebody plays my voice in front of me.
00:01:19
Jeff Rogers
Yeah, it gets me every time. It's less cringy than before, though. I'm kind of used to it at this point. yeah yes Yes, but I don't think you and I are the kind of people that will ever really be used to it I think that you know when we're big and famous in a couple of years, it's still going to be weird.
00:01:34
Jeff Rogers
so we have today's show coming at you and then on monday we have a little happy show but next wednesday we're going to give a little something special about something that's currently in the news and it's going to be interesting don't you think i think it's great i think it's very interesting so that's next wednesday but today And for today only, you get us right here, right now, in your ear holes.
00:02:00
Jeff Rogers
who Right here, right now. Tim's dancing. I am. Oh, I didn't fix the dates. um What do you have
Weekend Adventures and Swimming Preferences
00:02:10
Jeff Rogers
to tell me about?
00:02:10
Jeff Rogers
I have um nothing new. Really? but What's happened? Oh, I worked the whole weekend. I worked the whole weekend and we just had a lunch with Kristen and we sat outside for the first time this year. We could sit outside in the very nice weather. Thank God was nice weather outside today. That was good. was lovely. It was lovely. It was perfect.
00:02:34
Jeff Rogers
Down by the Potomac in the sunshine. right there. It was perfect. It's the cleaner part of the Potomac. It's not D.C. Potomac. The cleaner. Yeah. and I was talking to my nephew about that because he was telling me how he hates rivers and lakes and that kind of stuff the same way that you do.
00:02:54
Jeff Rogers
He would rather be in a pool where he can see and he can open his eyes and get maybe a little chlorine in it, but not, you know, fish poop, as he said. And i was like, listen, I have survived swimming in the Potomac, so I'm fine. He was like, well, it's not the Hudson, Joe. and I was like, yeah, but the Potomac's basically the Hudson.
00:03:13
Jeff Rogers
And he goes, we'll talk about details later. was like, because their 13 year old just i'm with him i'm with him it is this irrational furor and i could when i lived in hawaii i could swim in the ocean not a problem and that's a dangerous thing i'm not like oh the ocean around hawaii is dangerous you don't know the waves are strong the current is
Pittsburgh Trip and Sports Rivalry
00:03:35
Jeff Rogers
strong it is very dangerous and i did it not a problem only because i could see you know the video You know the video that I sent you, the man screaming in the lake. But I also showed you the videos of float day last year, and you could see all the way to my feet standing in the water. I'm just saying.
00:03:51
Jeff Rogers
So I'm just saying. You're just saying. I'm just saying. Let's get on with this vortex of fuckery before I get mad at you. yeah
00:04:02
Jeff Rogers
You got mad at me last year. they did. and No, I didn't. Half a year ago, and then four months ago, and two months ago. to ah Okay.
00:04:13
Jeff Rogers
um I think that's it. ah Yeah. we don't really We don't really have a lot today because we worked all weekend. We didn't do lunch yesterday. oh I didn't work all weekend. I went to...
00:04:23
Jeff Rogers
Yes. I went to Pittsburgh yes how was that with Francois. And as you are well aware, because of the FaceTimes that happened, it was an adventure. Yeah.
00:04:38
Jeff Rogers
Went for the Cavs game. You know, soccer. Love it. i do love soccer. It was the final game of the season for the Washington Capitals. And we have been an absolutely stellar team all season. Okay. And then the last half of the season, we have just slumped hard. Okay. There have been a couple of games where it's woo, right? And then obviously Opie breaks Gretzky's record.
00:05:01
Jeff Rogers
Woo! Even more. But then we just are not showing up. So, of course, I go to Pittsburgh and I am all talking smack. Deep down, i'm fully aware that we're likely going to lose because that's just us, right?
00:05:16
Jeff Rogers
But I go into this game cocky as a motherfucker. I'm wearing my jersey. I'm all about it. And I'm like, shit talking to Francois because he's a Penns fan. There I am. I find myself surrounded by Penns fans in PPG Arena.
00:05:34
Jeff Rogers
We didn't just lose. We got rocked. We got rocked. And me being, you know, me. I'm still in there just trying to talk shit and, like, vamp people up. And I'm going for it. Everyone around me is like, oh, honey. It's fine. That's so sad. And I was like, you know what?
00:05:52
Jeff Rogers
I can't even be mad. i can't. Because the Pittsburgh Penguins showed up. They came to play. They came to kick our asses. And they did. so so i Reluctantly held through on the bet that I had made and I had to strip off my Ovechkin jersey and wear Sidney Crosby's jersey, which I'm pretty sure my skin burned.
00:06:20
Jeff Rogers
um But I did it. And then we wandered the streets of Pittsburgh. And then we laid down in the streets of Pittsburgh. Got the picture. i love wait did i show you the picture. those FaceTime calls.
00:06:36
Jeff Rogers
ah yeah At one point, you got on the phone. This is a picture of Kelsey on the way home. Oh, God. Tragic. Kelsey. Oh, Kelsey, you're not doing good. We were not doing well.
00:06:48
Jeff Rogers
So at one point, Francois FaceTimed me, and I didn't understand a lot of what was going on In the background, you were saying, Jeff, do not FaceCall or FaceTime Francois right now. And I was like, I didn't FaceTime anybody.
00:07:07
Jeff Rogers
Was that at the beginning of our night or the end? Oh, that was at the beginning. good. Good, good, good. Well, that was about 1030. Oh, that was the end then. That was the end then. Because I remember calling you in the Uber on the way to the game. Yeah.
00:07:20
Jeff Rogers
yeah everything after i know i remember seeing francois kelsey gabby and you and i'm like who's driving that car but the uber driver who was very pleased to get rid of us yeah um yeah you know i felt young for about a minute and then i realized i was too old for that shit and it took me two full days to recover i love the picture of you and francois laying on the ground it just it goes from us standing upright comrades Caps, pens, standing right next to each other, and then us laying on the floor, or on the ground in the middle of Pittsburgh.
00:07:52
Jeff Rogers
It devolved. It did. That's okay. But you know what? Fun. Went in Rome. Kelsey didn't look okay in that picture, though. She wasn't doing okay. Are you ready? Should we um get
Sparkling Pear Juice and Coin Conversations
00:08:05
Jeff Rogers
to it?
00:08:05
Jeff Rogers
Yes. Today we are drinking... Should business? Let's get down. down to business. I knew you would sing it. i was waiting on that. What are we drinking? We're drinking ah sparkling...
00:08:17
Jeff Rogers
Pear juice. Say it. I can't say it in French, right? And if somebody listens to this that speaks French, they'll be like, Jus de poire. What's the last word? Petit lanc.
00:08:29
Jeff Rogers
Petit lanc. There you go. Okay. These French people, their language is so fancy. But you do love their coffee and their pastry. I love everything.
00:08:40
Jeff Rogers
ah can't wait to go to Marseille next year. I know. know.
00:08:45
Jeff Rogers
you Oh, God. Sam is about pop a cork. It's going to be horrible. Shielding my face. Shielding my eyes.
00:08:56
Jeff Rogers
ah okay. oppa Pour me up a cup. Oh, wait, wait. You do yours. I'll do mine. Oh, well, I'm already there.
00:09:08
Jeff Rogers
Merci beaucoup. I don't know. De nada. De nada.
00:09:18
Jeff Rogers
right, this is courtesy of Mr. Fuller. Yes. And his fancy little self. Uh-oh. Okay, let's have a sip of this. Let's see what this pear juice, sparkling pear juice tastes like.
00:09:30
Jeff Rogers
Cheers, quiz. Cheers, quiz.
00:09:37
Jeff Rogers
God almighty. That is definitely from a gas station outside of Baltimore. You know what? I love gas station pear juice. It's just a little strong.
00:09:49
Jeff Rogers
if are we sure this is non-alcoholic? Okay, it does say non-alcoholic. But don't know. It feels like it's got a kick to it. It's like you just sucked on a lemon, you know? Okay.
00:10:01
Jeff Rogers
Sugar rush is all right. All right. Ready? What do you think about us getting something to put the coins in? Instead of a display, like something to put them in so you can shake them to pick out a coin.
00:10:13
Jeff Rogers
I don't disagree with that. Okay. You don't like my... Because I feel pressure. Okay, tell me one.
00:10:22
Jeff Rogers
Five, four, three. Stop. I feel like you pick the same one every week, too. No, this one's different.
00:10:35
Jeff Rogers
and so I haven't flipped this one before, I don't think. It QE2.
00:10:43
Jeff Rogers
G Reg F D 2006. 50 pence. um Obviously, you're the queen. And I will be this Greek goddess that's leaning back on a fucking whatever with her shield and spear. Hell yeah.
00:11:01
Jeff Rogers
Hell yeah.
00:11:04
Jeff Rogers
You caught the coin. ah It is the Greek goddess. Why is there a Greek goddess on the coin with Queen Honestly, it's probably not a Greek goddess. I don't know. I'm looking at it, and it's... I don't know. It looks like Athena, but then there's a trident and an olive branch and a lion, maybe?
00:11:21
Jeff Rogers
That's the British pints, though, Look at that. I don't know. i mean, Kiwi 2 is on one side. Oh. Doesn't that look like a Greek goddess?
00:11:33
Jeff Rogers
It looks like...
00:11:36
Jeff Rogers
Like a, yeah. I don't know. Well, somebody got confused. Us, probably. never Never. Okay.
The Lorena Bobbitt Case: A Deep Dive
00:11:49
Jeff Rogers
In 1989, the laws and regulations against animal cruelty far surpassed those against battery and assault on women. In 1991, Anita Hill spoke out against her former boss, Supreme Court nominee,
00:12:06
Jeff Rogers
Clarence Thomas. Her accusations were brushed aside and she was smeared in the media. Nothing was ever investigated and he was elected. This is what happens when you come forward in a he said she said.
00:12:20
Jeff Rogers
The man is granted authority and credibility over the woman. In 1992 there was a large case involving the Naval Academy. Every charge was dropped.
00:12:33
Jeff Rogers
In 1993, there were 2,000 women killed as a result of partner violence.
00:12:40
Jeff Rogers
So let's talk about John Wayne. Not the rough and rugged cowboy that we all love so well.
00:12:48
Jeff Rogers
On June 23, 1993, Lorena Bobbitt was 24 years old and her husband John Wayne was 26. I remember everything about this.
00:13:01
Jeff Rogers
So this is obviously close to home because we're in Virginia, right? So this is something that as a Virginia, well, technically Marylander that is now Virginian, right? This is something that I've heard about for ages, but I didn't know all the details.
00:13:19
Jeff Rogers
At approximately 5 AM police in Manassas, Virginia received an odd call from a local hospital. They reported that a man had been brought in after being attacked.
00:13:30
Jeff Rogers
They arrived at the hospital and found the patient, who told them what happened. They immediately dispatch officers and CSI to the Bobbitt apartment to investigate. When officers arrive at the apartment complex, they find a trail of blood in the parking lot.
00:13:45
Jeff Rogers
It leads right back to the Bobbitt apartment. They follow the trail into the bedroom, where they find a pool of blood on the bed in the shape of buttocks.
00:13:56
Jeff Rogers
The crime scene techs searched the rest of the apartment. They were unable to find a weapon or other important missing pieces. However, during their search, they found a number of pamphlets and cards related to spousal abuse and rape.
00:14:15
Jeff Rogers
While he was sleeping, Lorena decided to end the abuse and sever the relationship.
00:14:25
Jeff Rogers
She used a kitchen knife to cut off his penis. She took it with her as she fled the scene. John stumbled out of the room to a friend who was staying with them to have him take him to the hospital.
00:14:38
Jeff Rogers
Can you imagine that conversation?
00:14:42
Jeff Rogers
No. Although he denied claims of being intoxicated, authorities confirmed he was drunk, which allowed him to stay conscious through the pain and shock and make his way to the hospital.
00:14:56
Jeff Rogers
During their search of the apartment, the CSI team got a call from dispatch stating that they had heard from Lorena who told them what happened, where she was, and where the penis was.
00:15:08
Jeff Rogers
She reported that she wasn't fully aware of what she was doing when she got into her car, but as she was driving, she realized it was hard to drive while holding the bloody appendage. She decided to open her window and chuck it out.
00:15:21
Jeff Rogers
The severed appendage was found by police in a field across from a 7-Eleven.
00:15:27
Jeff Rogers
They walked across the street, placed it in a hot dog tray, and filled it with ice. Fitting. Very fitting. Nothing else. They couldn't find anything else. They got it from the 7-Eleven. They were like, look.
00:15:42
Jeff Rogers
But like you couldn't have put it in a big gulp cup. I don't know. Or a hot dog. choice had No, it had to be a hot dog. choice Well, it was. yeah So John underwent a nine hour microsurgery and surgeons were able to quote, make him whole without any lasting effects.
00:16:00
Jeff Rogers
During the surgery, police interviewed Lorena. Her story unfolded. She explained that she was an immigrant and how she had been violated and abused throughout her entire marriage to John.
00:16:12
Jeff Rogers
She reported that he and his friend had come home drunk earlier that night. He had raped her and then fallen asleep. She went into the kitchen for water and said that she looked at the kitchen knives and something just snapped.
00:16:25
Jeff Rogers
A rape kit was performed during this assessment and was positive. However, John later claimed that he never had sex with her that night.
00:16:34
Jeff Rogers
Overnight, the story hit the news. It spread like wildfire. This was the first time ever that the word penis was printed in the New York Times.
00:16:45
Jeff Rogers
And it was a headline. Whoa, really? The story was in the newspapers, TV news outlets, and late night shows. As everybody was focusing on the penis details, nobody was concerned about why or what happened to instigate such a response.
00:17:01
Jeff Rogers
Because they were married and because of the climate surrounding women's rights and sexual violence, The idea of a woman being raped by her husband was absurd to many.
00:17:12
Jeff Rogers
Lorena immediately hired a lawyer and on his suggestion, a media rep. Typically, victims of domestic cases don't have their names published in the media. John was also pressing charges against her, so he was a victim as well.
00:17:25
Jeff Rogers
When the media got wind that she had hired a rep, they took it upon themselves to start publishing her name openly. Now the case was entirely public knowledge. Her lawyer set up a proactive interview with Vanity Fair.
00:17:39
Jeff Rogers
He wanted to give her a face and sympathy to her story. Unfortunately, during the first hearing against Lorena, the prosecution read her initial statement made to authorities the morning they found her.
00:17:53
Jeff Rogers
She explained the repeated rape and abuse and then stated, and there's a little bit of a language barrier here, he have orgasm and not wait for me. He never let me orgasm.
00:18:04
Jeff Rogers
This statement was made during the initial hour after the incident occurred. She was frazzled and in a state of shock. However, it was a damning statement. Again, because of the climate for violence against women and the fact that they were married, it didn't sit right with the public.
00:18:20
Jeff Rogers
There was intense focus on the gruesome quality of the crime and heavy emphasis on the trauma of her, quote, taking away the thing that means the most to a man, as John's said. That's what I remember of this, that she was kind of portrayed as the crazy one. That's my memory anyway.
00:18:38
Jeff Rogers
Yeah. John Wayne told some insane stories of his own during the trial. and for the many years after. He claimed that Lorena made up everything about the abuse, and in truth, she was the abusive one.
00:18:53
Jeff Rogers
He claimed that she was a narcissist who demanded the American dream and was consistently unhappy with him and that he wasn't providing to her standards. He claimed that she frequently abused him.
00:19:04
Jeff Rogers
He told Fox News, I never abused her. It was all a smear campaign. He stated that she went out of her mind when he told her that he wanted a divorce. He told stories of how she had been insanely jealous throughout their marriage and she behaved poorly anytime she thought he was flirting with another woman.
00:19:22
Jeff Rogers
The trial became an international joke. During his trial, so this is the trial where she is accusing him of something, people made merchand merchandise to joke about the loss of his penis and talk shows and media outlets were covering it, leading up to and during.
00:19:41
Jeff Rogers
His story was that he went to a few clubs and came home completely sober when she just attacked him. Again, he claimed that he did not have sex that night. Then his story changed.
00:19:52
Jeff Rogers
He admitted to having sex with her that night. He claimed that he was basically asleep during it, although he wasn't drunk. He was just so tired that he wasn't actively participating. When Lorena got on the stand to testify, the judge ruled that she was not allowed to talk about anything except for the five days leading up to the incident.
00:20:12
Jeff Rogers
She wasn't allowed to mention any claims of abuse or assault prior to June 18th that year. Damn. Wait, 92? 93. 93. So five days.
00:20:24
Jeff Rogers
She has to wrap up an entire marriage of abuse and assault in five days. Mm-hmm. Doctors for the prosecution claimed that they didn't believe she was raped because she had no outward appearance of being raped, including her mental state.
00:20:40
Jeff Rogers
That's insane. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. That's insane. She cut off his penis. Is she in the right mental state to be evaluated for that? like Yeah. And who in their right state cuts off a dude's penis? She had And that's coming from me. I do it willingly.
00:20:56
Jeff Rogers
She had no outward signs. Of rape, yeah. That's, how stupid. So he was acquitted on the charges of marital rape. But keep in mind, the time in history, in order to prove marital rape, there had to be two qualifiers.
00:21:11
Jeff Rogers
One, you had to be separated and not living together at the time of the accusation. And two, you had to leave significant damage bleeding, bruising, physical damning evidence in order to even accuse someone of this.
00:21:29
Jeff Rogers
Most states didn't even acknowledge or accept that rape in marriage was possible. The claim was, if you're married, the sex is consensual, regardless of the opinions of the people involved.
00:21:42
Jeff Rogers
Years later, many jurors admitted that they lost sight of the case at hand. They changed their minds and acknowledged that he likely did rape and abuse her.
00:21:52
Jeff Rogers
They acknowledged the trial was overtaken by the gruesome images that they were shown of the crime scene, the knife, and the severed penis. The focus switched from did this man rape her to did this woman cut off her husband's penis.
00:22:08
Jeff Rogers
it It completely changed who was on trial even though he was the one on trial.
00:22:17
Jeff Rogers
Mm-hmm.
00:22:22
Jeff Rogers
this story with the Mary Jo buttafuoco have you heard of her and OJ Simpson are some of the top stories of the 90s that I remember yeah so there's one of the sources that I used is I'll send it to you personally too because it was a really really good article um
00:22:46
Jeff Rogers
In 1995, the couple finalized their divorce. John went to live on a ranch. He initially stayed private and did not engage in the nationwide jokes and such about the situation. Then he had journalists come and take photos of him riding horses.
00:23:00
Jeff Rogers
The whole, woe is me, this is so painful, but look at me, I'm getting back on the horse. Literally. He became more active in the public eye and started to participate in the jokes and stories being told. He started doing interviews and he became a celebrity.
00:23:13
Jeff Rogers
Howard Stern did his annual pageant to raise money. and raised almost $200,000 in donations. Damn. yeah John went on tour and created his own merchandise.
00:23:28
Jeff Rogers
This all happened before the trial against Lorena. So John's been acquitted of the marital rape charges. Now he's living his best life. Lorena is crumbling to pieces and just trying to stay afloat and being just beaten alive in the in the media. Yeah.
00:23:48
Jeff Rogers
The same prosecutor who prosecuted him decided to take on John's case and prosecute her, which is almost unheard of. and didn't know that.
00:23:59
Jeff Rogers
Her trial was even more publicized and chaotic. The closing statement of her team's opening statements was, a life is more valuable than a penis.
00:24:11
Jeff Rogers
I can't disagree with that. And I feel like a lot of lesbians might agree.
00:24:17
Jeff Rogers
Many instances of past abuse were given as evidence. Countless eyewitnesses came up to testify. Lorena's coworkers, neighbors, family, friends, bruises, rug burns, fights, yelling, pushing, verbal abuse, derogatory names, lacerations, all witnessed by these people.
00:24:38
Jeff Rogers
A new client from her nail salon noticed handprint shaped bruises on her forearms during a session. She offered to take Lorena home with her, but Lorena refused, stating, my husband will kill us both.
00:24:51
Jeff Rogers
One of her neighbors was slowly allowing Lorena to move her belongings into her home so that she could sneak away. All of this evidence had been previously inadmissible during the trial against John.
00:25:04
Jeff Rogers
Okay? So all of this shit that could have been used to convict him wasn't allowed to be admitted.
00:25:14
Jeff Rogers
It seems insane. It seems insane, but Clarence Thomas was elected to the Supreme Court, so it's not insane. Exactly. Exactly. Her neighbor admitted to being the one that gave her the abuse pamphlets.
00:25:28
Jeff Rogers
All of John's basketball friends even testified against him, reporting that he frequently bragged about his desire for forced sex and how much he liked to, quote, make them scream for help, and he liked to hurt them.
00:25:45
Jeff Rogers
Lorena got up to testify, trembling, fumbling over her words, and tearing up. She was traumatized, and she was being forced to relive all of this just to defend herself.
00:25:57
Jeff Rogers
Again, even though none of it was allowed against her abuser. She recounted the time that she got pregnant, and John forced her to get an abortion against her will because he threatened to leave her and not help with the child if she chose to have it.
00:26:12
Jeff Rogers
The day before the incident, as they call it, Lorena attempted to get a restraining order against him, but she was denied. God. John got up and testified and admitted that maybe he pushed her a few times, but he claimed that he never forced her to have sex and he never hit her.
00:26:31
Jeff Rogers
However, he was a former Marine, and on some of his military documentation, he admitted into the documentation signed that he had hit his wife previously.
00:26:44
Jeff Rogers
Hmm. When the attorneys brought up all of the undeniable eyewitness testimony, he just would become forgetful and confused and say that he just didn't remember any of that the way that they were saying it, refused to speak about it.
00:27:01
Jeff Rogers
In the midst of this crazy and sensational trial, Focus was briefly ripped away when Olympic skater Tanya Harding was accused of cheating by paying someone to break the knees of her competition, Nancy Kerrigan.
00:27:15
Jeff Rogers
So the nation's torn now. They're watching that shit show and they're watching this shit show. and everyone I was watching them both. yeah I was there watching them both they were even There were people who were writing into news outlets complaining about presidential coverage and complaining about actual news coverage being shown because they wanted to know more about these cases.
00:27:35
Jeff Rogers
like I don't care about what's going on in the country. Tell me what's going on with these cases. Nancy Kerrigan, Tonya Harding, Lorena Poppitt. yep ah Exactly. come The trial continued.
00:27:46
Jeff Rogers
Back on the stand, John claimed that he and his buddy came home from the bars sober, even though his friend testified that they were both extremely intoxicated and drove home drunk. Well, they did his alcohol level too at the ER, r I'm sure. Exactly. wonder what it was. Yeah, but they confirmed that he was intoxicated.
00:28:03
Jeff Rogers
John says that he got home, he got into bed, he rolled over on top of Lorena, touched her a little bit, and then fell asleep. He doesn't recall having sex. Lorena took the stand again and she broke.
00:28:16
Jeff Rogers
At this point, she's defended herself as much as she can. She said that he came home drunk. She told him that he, that she did not want to have sex, but he covered her mouth to shut her up and he did it anyway.
00:28:28
Jeff Rogers
She explained the pain that she experienced. She said, it feels like I was getting ripped open. She told the attorney questioning her that he just could not understand the pain because he was a male.
00:28:39
Jeff Rogers
John didn't understand or care enough to understand either.
00:28:44
Jeff Rogers
When she went to the fridge to get some water afterwards, the light fell across the knife on the counter. She couldn't help but think about all the abuse and the terror from the relationship so far. She said she became enraged and then couldn't remember what happened until she came back to awareness, driving in her car with a knife in one hand and a penis in the other.
00:29:04
Jeff Rogers
She said she became scared and immediately threw the penis away and then drove to her salon because she didn't know where else to go. She threw away the knife and panicked. She called the cops on herself to report what had happened. She told them where the knife was, where she was, and where the penis was.
00:29:22
Jeff Rogers
Doctors testified to her PTSD and explained that she did not have control of her actions. She literally had a psychotic break. She acted in severe distress and attacked the thing that was torturing her.
00:29:33
Jeff Rogers
This is called an irresistible impulse of insanity.
00:29:38
Jeff Rogers
Initially, doctors for John's team tried to testify that she was fully in control of her actions and she was not insane. However, after watching the testimony that she gave, one of John's doctors flipped.
00:29:52
Jeff Rogers
He altered his statement and acknowledged that she was experiencing severe PTSD and his testimony was a game changer. She was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
00:30:03
Jeff Rogers
Her lawyers argued that she had snapped because of the repeated physical, sexual, and emotional abuse that she had endured She was sentenced to time in a pyre psychiatric institution for which she served five weeks.
00:30:14
Jeff Rogers
The public was torn by the results of the trial. They were still stuck on the images of the violence and the horror of this penis. Many celebrities spoke out against Lorena.
00:30:28
Jeff Rogers
Some people even made dumb statements like, well, he's an attractive man. Why would he have to rape anyone, especially his wife?
00:30:38
Jeff Rogers
Other statements, like, I don't care what a man does, he doesn't deserve to have his penis cut off. Which, again, i think that a lot of people would disagree with. Because you do the wrong thing with it, you don't deserve it. Mm-hmm.
00:30:50
Jeff Rogers
I mean, people were making fun of her or making fun of the situation like the night. And that was the thing. It's like the entire thing became and internet. Literally reporters from Japan and China and all over the world were being sent to cover this trial because it was so ah obscure and stupid to them. They didn't – because no one was focusing on what was happening. Mm-hmm.
00:31:16
Jeff Rogers
They cared about the fact that this woman cut a dude's penis off. Nobody cared about why. So, because he's such a pillar of the community, after his favorite appendage was reattached, John began showing it off.
00:31:29
Jeff Rogers
He sold his underwear. He judged country-wide Lorena look-alike contests. He wanted to prove that he was fully recovered, so he took a job in the porn industry.
00:31:41
Jeff Rogers
This one makes me sick. One of his porn productions involved an actress who on screen was named Lorena. She was portrayed as a delicate and innocent young woman.
00:31:53
Jeff Rogers
For the movie, they were engaged in violent sex where she did not appear to be enjoying it. Many of the celebrities who supported him during the trial turned out for the red carpet showing of this film and watched him relive the rape and assault that he had been tried for.
00:32:11
Jeff Rogers
He continued to be a star and profit from his abuse of her. In a very, very small ounce of karma, he signed with a manager who ended up screwing him over and took all of the money that he had ever made from any of his porn films, and then he shortly afterwards filed for bankruptcy.
00:32:28
Jeff Rogers
He moved to Vegas and became a reverend to marry people. John then decided to get a penis enlargement procedure, which went horribly wrong.
00:32:40
Jeff Rogers
And then he got nicknamed Frankenpenis in the porn industry. Moving forward with his impressive life, he became a bartender. He got charged and convicted of domestic violence again.
00:32:54
Jeff Rogers
He was sentenced to a grand total of 60 days, which he only served 15 days. He then got arrested for robbing a store in 99.
00:33:04
Jeff Rogers
In 2003, he went to prison for a brief stint for breaking his parole. After release, he got arrested again on battery charges for his new wife. He got arrested two more times for domestic assault, and then they finally got divorced.
00:33:20
Jeff Rogers
Many years after the incident, he eventually lost a few more important appendages, all 10 toes, as a result of toxic peripheral polyneuropathy. In his lawsuit against the federal government, he claimed that his family is, quote, genetically resistant to cancer.
00:33:39
Jeff Rogers
But his exposure to the contaminated waters of Camp Lejeune inflicted him with a disorder that impacted his sensation in his feet. He underwent seven additional surgeries and lost all ten of his low peggy's.
00:33:52
Jeff Rogers
He now has to rely on prosthetics to walk around. The New Yorker, did an inspiring piece in 2019 about the story in the Amazon documentary.
00:34:03
Jeff Rogers
In the article, it reminds us that although the story is comical, the underlying truths are anything but. During the trial on the years that followed, Lorena was painted as an emotional and hot-headed Latina.
00:34:16
Jeff Rogers
Some of the country rallied behind John because the horror of a man being robbed of his manhood or his most important feature was jarring.
00:34:26
Jeff Rogers
The raucous humor that still surrounds the story that made the Bobbitts a punchline for decades disguises an unbidden and unwelcome sense of vulnerability on the part of that half of the population who had hitherto not been obliged to think of their intimate body parts as means by which they might be violated.
00:34:46
Jeff Rogers
It takes a comedian, Whoopi Goldberg, to articulate in a clip from her show the unfunny truth behind the rumor. Women live with the knowledge that weird shit can happen at any point.
00:34:57
Jeff Rogers
You go down a dark alley and whoosh, somebody grabs you. She says, now men actually have to think about this shit. Violence against women is so routine that it's unremarkable.
00:35:08
Jeff Rogers
Women's vulnerability to violence is a cultural given, understood by women themselves at a cellular level. When the worst thing that can happen to a man happened to John, it was a singular and sensational occurrence, forever lodged in our cultural memory.
00:35:23
Jeff Rogers
Lorena, the documentary, reminds viewers that the worst thing that can happen to a woman happens all the time.
00:35:31
Jeff Rogers
Lorena, who now goes by her maiden name, Lorena Gallo, turned her life and story into one of support and safety for women who suffered similarly. She is the founder of the Lorena Gallo Foundation for Battered Women and the Red Wagon Organization to help prevent domestic violence through family-centered activities.
00:35:49
Jeff Rogers
She's in a long-term relationship and has a daughter. In 1994, the Violence Against Women Act was passed. It was a landmark law that combats domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
00:36:03
Jeff Rogers
although that Although it has been amended and reworked many times over the years, we are still very aware of the shortcomings and failures that exist surrounding such crimes. We all know the cycle.
00:36:15
Jeff Rogers
It's one of the most dangerous calls that police can get. Most of the murders associated with domestic violence occur after the victim leaves the relationship.
00:36:26
Jeff Rogers
And in, like, the 2010s, John Wayne Bobbitt was still reaching out to Lorena via Facebook, like, on Messenger, and saying, hi, oh, my God, can we get back together? and Yeah, because his life was crumbling. he He was doing great when he was making all that money. Yeah.
00:36:45
Jeff Rogers
When he was being an absolute skeezball. So, yeah. They painted her like this crazy thing. And shame on her for doing that to him. But nobody focused on it. I'm telling you. All of the um late night talk shows.
00:37:03
Jeff Rogers
Saturday Night Live. Yeah. My memory of it. I think I was like...
00:37:09
Jeff Rogers
17 or something and I didn't understand the depth of it but I saw that they were making her look like a crazy person and laughing at the situation because that's what the culture was at the time and that's nobody
00:37:26
Jeff Rogers
they were so caught up in the idea that someone would finally fight back, you know? Good for her.
00:37:37
Jeff Rogers
You know? And that's the thing. Boy, would. She's strong. But she does. I mean, in her interviews now, she
00:37:44
Jeff Rogers
she says, like, I don't ah don't remember doing it. I remember being terrified. And then i can i can see why people think that it's comical, but it was all I could think to do to get out.
00:37:57
Jeff Rogers
And I just had to get out, you know? Yeah. So... She wasn't doing it to be funny. You know, she wasn't doing it to make a statement. She was doing it to protect herself and to make sure that it never happened to her again.
00:38:11
Jeff Rogers
i just wish that she had cut it a little bit more jagged. Apparently it was a clean cut, but if she had been a little bit messier, maybe put it in the garbage disposal, a blender, run it over. I don't know. do something more.
00:38:28
Jeff Rogers
Tell the cops you can't find it. Well, she's okay today. she's it She's okay today. And he's a piece of shit. Yeah. God, she's strong. Okay.
00:38:39
Jeff Rogers
Kind of switching. Kind of taking a right turn here. Okay. I mean, it's pretty different, my story, from your story. So going to go with it, Okay.
Harriet Tubman's Early Life and Escape
00:38:50
Jeff Rogers
1820-ish, maybe 1825. Okay.
00:38:51
Jeff Rogers
eighteen twenty ish maybe be eighteen twentyfive Eraminta Minty Ross was born. Her nickname was Minty, so that's what I'm going to call her. Okay.
00:39:03
Jeff Rogers
Okay. She was born on a plantation in Madison, Maryland. ah Her mom was known as Rit Ross and her dad was Ben Ross.
00:39:15
Jeff Rogers
Her parents were both enslaved and she was born to two enslaved people so that meant Minty was an enslaved person. And Minty was one of maybe 10 children.
00:39:27
Jeff Rogers
Her parents were owned by two different people. So Minty grew up with no education, and several of her her siblings were sold. She never saw them again, and when Minty was six, she was rented out to the Cook family.
00:39:40
Jeff Rogers
She was supposed to help the Cook family weave, but Minty couldn't weave. So Mrs. Cook said, Minty, I want you to go check the muskrat traps to see if we have muscle muskrats, which are in the streams and the swamps.
00:39:57
Jeff Rogers
so she would have to wade down into the water, check the muskrat traps, see if there was any. But Minty contracted measles, so she would sit back to her original owners. Her mom nursed her back to health.
00:40:10
Jeff Rogers
Once again, botuses or bodices, which were the original owners, honors returned her to the Cook family. When Minty was seven, she was hired out to Miss Susan as a nursemaid.
00:40:21
Jeff Rogers
Her job was to clean all day long, stay up all night, and take care of the kid. She would sit by the crib all night long and she would rock the baby. She's getting almost no sleep.
00:40:33
Jeff Rogers
If the baby cried, Miss Susan would whip Minty on the back of her head. Minty had these scars for the rest of her life. Every time the baby started crying, Minty was beaten.
00:40:46
Jeff Rogers
Minty stole some sugar and then ran away. She hid for several days in a pig pen. but Minty was starving, so Minty, at the age of seven, went back to Miss Susan's.
00:40:58
Jeff Rogers
Of course she was beaten, but then Minty was returned back to the original plantation one more time. She was sick and frail and starving. Once again, Minty's mom nursed her back to health.
00:41:12
Jeff Rogers
Minty's punishment for being returned was to do outdoor work, but Minty preferred this to being indoors. So when Minty was 13,
00:41:23
Jeff Rogers
an enslaved man was found off of the property by the overseer. The overseer ordered Minty to help tie up the slave so that the enslaved person, if I say slave, I mean enslaved person.
00:41:35
Jeff Rogers
I think that's, That's what I mean for sure. um But Minty got in between the overseer and the enslaved man and gave the slave a chance to run out the door.
00:41:47
Jeff Rogers
He books it. As the enslaved man is running, the overseer picked up a big weight and threw it at him. But the weight hit Minty in the head instead. mindy Minty was unconscious for days, and this would cause neurological problems for Minty for the rest of her life.
00:42:05
Jeff Rogers
She also had sleeping fits. She was aware of what was happening, but she couldn't function. Minty was having seizures. We now know that. And for the rest of her life, she would get these blank looks and everyone knew what was happening.
00:42:21
Jeff Rogers
She would wake up and go back to normal. After she was hit in the head, her owner tried to sell her. Minty would pray that things would change, but the prayer was never answered.
00:42:32
Jeff Rogers
So instead, Minty prayed that her owner would die.
00:42:38
Jeff Rogers
Then the master died. She sort of felt guilty for this, like it was her fault that she died. That's how she was taking it. the plantations honor The plantation owner's son was too young to run the plantation.
00:42:52
Jeff Rogers
He was 18. So Dr. Thompson became the manager of the plantation, and he hired out Minty and her dad to a lumber merchant. She's 14 at this time.
00:43:03
Jeff Rogers
Minty was smart. With the money she was making, she was able to buy a team of oxen. She was dragging loaded boats and cutting wood at the age of 14.
00:43:16
Jeff Rogers
And while she worked in the woods with her father, he taught her how to navigate the woods and how to find food. Now her father was manumitted in the will. Manumitted means that after the death of the owner, he was a free man.
00:43:32
Jeff Rogers
He didn't know this, though, because nobody told him. So her father wouldn't find out that he was free for another 10 years at the age of 55. He was freed.
00:43:45
Jeff Rogers
After he was freed, he continued to work for the lumber merchant. He just received money for it. So now Minty is wondering about her mom. Was her mom manumitted as well?
00:43:57
Jeff Rogers
Was she free? In the 1840s, Minty paid a white attorney $5, the equivalent to $180 today, to investigate the legal status of her mother.
00:44:08
Jeff Rogers
Writ was the mother's name. The lawyer discovered that Mr. Patterson, the grandfather of Mary Brodress, indicated in his will that Writ and any of her children would be manumitted at the age of 45.
00:44:21
Jeff Rogers
and that any children born after after they reached after she reached 45 would be freeborn. The Patterson and Brodus family ignored this stipulation when they inherited the enslaved family.
00:44:33
Jeff Rogers
By taking legal action to enforce it was an impossible task for Minty. She could take no legal action. Eventually, Minty's father would buy Ritz freedom, which he shouldn't have had to because she was free. 1844, Minty's father Minty, at about the age of 25 years old, gets married.
00:44:54
Jeff Rogers
She married John Tubman. Not a lot was known about Mr. Tubman. He was a free man and she was still an enslaved person. she blended Such blended marriages, free free people of color marrying enslaved people, were not uncommon for the eastern shore of Maryland, where by this time half of the black population was free.
00:45:17
Jeff Rogers
Most African-American families had both free and enslaved members. Minty changed her name from Eremita to Harriet soon after the marriage, though the exact tim is timing is unclear.
00:45:31
Jeff Rogers
The name change happened right after the wedding, and that could be can coincided with her plans to escape from slavery. She adopted her mother's name, possibly as a part of a religious conversion, or to honor another relative.
00:45:46
Jeff Rogers
So now Harriet Tubman was about to escape. I think this is one of the most badass women of badass women all time lists.
00:45:57
Jeff Rogers
Started young. Started young. She's badass. So when Harriet was 29, she heard a rumor that two of her brothers were about to be sold off. So the three siblings escaped on September the 17th, 1849.
00:46:12
Jeff Rogers
They didn't make it far because the brothers became scared and forced Harriet to go back with them. Harriet waits for a few days and then she runs away. Harriet said, for I had reasoned this out of my mind.
00:46:24
Jeff Rogers
There was one of two things. I had the right to liberty or the right to death. If I couldn't have would been I would have another, for no man should take me alive.
00:46:34
Jeff Rogers
I should fight for my liberty as long as my strength lasted, and if the time came for me to go, the Lord would let them take me." She didn't want to tell her family that she was leaving because it was too dangerous.
00:46:46
Jeff Rogers
Before leaving, she sang a third farewell song to hint at her intentions, which she hoped would be understood by Mary, a trusted fellow enslaved person. She would get the clue, right?
00:46:58
Jeff Rogers
the The song was I'll Meet You in the Morning, I'm bound for the promised land. That's what Minty sang to Mary. Or Harriet sang to Mary. Harriet walked 90 miles to Philadelphia.
00:47:12
Jeff Rogers
She was guided by the North Star. The route was unknown, but it's really likely that she did not use roads. She stayed in the woods and she traveled at night. She did stay with a white Quaker woman who gave her supplies and instructions for safe houses.
00:47:28
Jeff Rogers
She crossed into Pennsylvania with a feeling of relief and awe. She recalled the experience years later when she said, When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person.
00:47:41
Jeff Rogers
There was such a glory over everything. The sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, I felt like I was in heaven. By the time Harriet arrived in Philadelphia, there were few abolitionist groups working in Philadelphia.
00:47:56
Jeff Rogers
She got involved with other abolitionists and became a leader in the of the Philadelphia anti-slavery movement. Harriet got a job as a cook and a domestic worker to save money to head back to Maryland to free her relatives.
00:48:12
Jeff Rogers
In 1851, her first trip back, she freed her sister Mary, Mary's two children. a few months later, she went back for her brother and two other men.
Tubman's Role in the Underground Railroad and Civil War
00:48:20
Jeff Rogers
On her third ship trip, she went for her husband, then found out that he was already remarried to another person.
00:48:26
Jeff Rogers
In the eyes of the law, it didn't matter that he had gotten remarried because Harriet was a slave at the time they married. So their marriage really, in the eyes of the law, didn't count. So instead of bringing him back, she brought more enslaved people back.
00:48:41
Jeff Rogers
and Harriet would always travel at night and mostly in the winter because the nights were longer. And safe houses had secret knocks. On the railroad, she would sing songs and change the tempo to indicate safety or danger.
00:48:56
Jeff Rogers
When traveling with a group, she would leave them to get food, and when she would sing, if they sang back in the right way, she would know that it was safe to come back. She dressed in men's clothing or like an old woman.
00:49:09
Jeff Rogers
She bribed people who needed bribing. She carried a revolver and wrote would use it if the enslaved people wanted to turn back. If the enslaved people ran and returned, Harriet was afraid they would give clues about her.
00:49:23
Jeff Rogers
This was a no-go. So in 1850, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law. So that meant that slaves were required to be returned by their masters even if they were free.
00:49:36
Jeff Rogers
If they were caught, they were required to be returned. And Harriet said, i wouldn't trust Uncle Sam with my people no longer. I brought them all clear off to Canada because Canada was still controlled by England and slavery was illegal and they would not send escapees back to the United States.
00:49:56
Jeff Rogers
So they made it harder and she just did more.
00:50:01
Jeff Rogers
Keep moving the bar. Keep moving. I'll go for it. December 1851, Tubman guided an unidentified group of 11 escapees. there's no evidence to suggest that tubman and her group stopped at the home of abolitionists There is evidence to to suggest that Tubman and her group stopped at the home of abolitionist and former Frederick douglas Douglass and Tubman admired one another greatly as they struggled against slavery.
00:50:27
Jeff Rogers
Years later, Frederick Douglass wrote about this. He said, most that i have done and suffered in the service of our cause has been in public and i've received much encouragement every step of the way you on the other hand have labored in a private way I have wrought in the day and you at night.
00:50:44
Jeff Rogers
The midnight sky and the silent hour and the silent stars have been witness to your devotion of freedom and your heroism. Accepting John Brown of sacred memory, I know of no one has who has willingly encountered more perils and hardship to serve our enslaved people than you have.
00:51:02
Jeff Rogers
From 1851 1862, Tubman returned repeatedly to the eastern shore of Maryland, rescuing some 70 slaves in about 13 expeditions, including her brothers, Harry, Ben, and Robert,
00:51:16
Jeff Rogers
their wives, their children. She also provided specific instructions to 50 to 60 additional enslaved people so that they could escape. Because of her efforts, she was nicknamed Moses, alluding to the biblical prophet who led the Hebrews to freedom from Egypt.
00:51:34
Jeff Rogers
she called She's called Moses. She's dressing like a man. She has a gun. The southern people think she's a man named Moses. So one of her last missions into Maryland was to retrieve her aging parents.
00:51:45
Jeff Rogers
Her father purchased her mother from Eliza Broderis in 1855. But even when they were both free, the area was still really hostile. In 1857, Tubman received word that her father was at risk for a arrest for harboring a group of eight people escaping slavery.
00:52:04
Jeff Rogers
She led her parents north to saint Catherine's, Canada, where a community of formerly enslaved people, including other relatives and friends of Tubman, had gathered. Also, she took out elderly people from Maryland to Canada.
00:52:19
Jeff Rogers
This was a feat. Harriet's abduction of her parents was a huge event in the annals of the Underground Railroad. It was significant. Now, this is huge. it was significant It was significant because rarely did aged people take to the road.
00:52:35
Jeff Rogers
Because Harriet rarely did aged people take to the road, but because Harriet carried them off in a patched-together wagon in an audacious way. That represented a complete mastery of the Underground Railroad and a perfect scorn for the White Patrol.
00:52:52
Jeff Rogers
From 1851 to 1857, she lived in St. Catharines, Canada, which is now Ontario. She would take enslaved people from Maryland to Philadelphia and then ah take them from New York to upstate Albany and then into Niagara where she would border that bordered Canada where she would take them across a suspension bridge.
00:53:12
Jeff Rogers
Basically, she's a superhero. In 1860, she made her final rescue trip, and maybe maybe it was the 13th. It's really unknown. Back to Maryland. She was now she was now a known abolitionist in circles, and she was making speeches all over.
00:53:29
Jeff Rogers
Altogether, she led 80 enslaved people to freedom, and she taught another 50 or so how to escape the on their own. She now had a bounty on her head for $12,000, and it's right before the Civil War, and her friends were concerned about her.
00:53:44
Jeff Rogers
They thought that she would be arrested in the North and sent back to the South as a goodwill gesture. Her friends wanted her to go back to Canada. When the Civil War broke out in 1862, Harriet was live living in Auburn, New York.
00:53:58
Jeff Rogers
It was around this time Harriet met with the governor of Boston to talk about how she could help with the war effort. Because Harriet is not sitting still. Because of her background and her connections, she would make a good spy.
00:54:12
Jeff Rogers
Harriet was given the authority to get a roster of scouts together to infiltrate the South. Tubman's spy operation was under the direction of the Secretary of War, Edward Stanton, who considered Tubman to be the commander of her men.
00:54:27
Jeff Rogers
She was given $100 to start the network, She used enslaved enslaved people who had connections in the South. After the Union captured the Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia, Harriet and her spies were sent there acting as a humanitarian group who were sent to Port Royal Island to help the population of freed slaves.
00:54:47
Jeff Rogers
Harriet worked as a nurse because people were dying due to disease and extreme heat. Harriet said, First man I'd come to, I'd thrash away all the flies and they'd rise like bees around a hive.
00:55:00
Jeff Rogers
Then I'd begin to bathe their wounds, and by the time I bathed off three or four, the fire and heat would have melted the ice and made the water warm, and it would be a rat the water would be red as blood.
00:55:13
Jeff Rogers
Then I'd go get more ice, and by the time we got back to the next one, the flies would be around the first ones, black and thick as ever. She treated soldiers for dysentery, smallpox, malignant fever, and she was also known to make her own medicine from roots.
00:55:30
Jeff Rogers
She took the money that she was making and invested it into things like wash houses that would teach formerly enslaved women skills so they could get jobs. She gave up her military salary because she thought it was causing jealousy among the other people that she was working with.
00:55:44
Jeff Rogers
Instead, to make money, she started selling homemade root beer, pie, and gingerbread. As a spy, she was successful. She sent her agents to the South to gather information.
00:55:56
Jeff Rogers
That information was used for Colonel Montgomery to capture Jacksonville, Florida. The raid convinced commanders that extensive guerrilla commanders and guerrilla operations were doable in the South, which led to the Combahee River Raid in June of 1863. Get this.
00:56:15
Jeff Rogers
get this she had been a clandestine She had been clandestine until then. She didn't remain anonymous anymore because she had a prominent role in military operations in Combahee.
00:56:27
Jeff Rogers
She said that she wouldn't participate unless Colonel Montgomery was in charge and led the black troops, and the army agreed. So on the 2nd of June, 1863, gunboats steamed into the river just before midnight, and Tubman was with 300 black troops from the 2nd South Carolina Infantry.
00:56:46
Jeff Rogers
a board with Aboard the John Adams, the black soldiers were relieved that their lives were being entrusted to the famous Moses. Through her spy ring, Tubman had learned the location of the rebel floating mines and were they were planted below the surface of the water, so she learned where they were through her connections.
00:57:06
Jeff Rogers
She served as a lookout for the Union ships, allowing them to guide their boats around the mines. And by 3 a.m., they reached Fields Point. Montgomery sent a squad ashore to drive off the Confederates who ran it, and Tubman sent the word out ahead of times to the enslaved people on the plantations that shit was about to go down.
00:57:27
Jeff Rogers
So when the ships came, hundreds of slaves or enslaved people were waiting. She guided the boats to the designated shoreline spots where tons of enslaved people were hiding, and they scrambled onto the vessels." Tubman said, i never saw such a sight.
00:57:44
Jeff Rogers
Sometimes the women would come with twins hanging around their necks. It appears I never saw so many twins in my life. Bags on their shoulders, baskets on their heads, the young ones young ones tagging along behind, all loaded up, pigs squealing, chickens screaming, young ones squealing.
00:58:02
Jeff Rogers
Burning and looting plantations was a nice bonus for the black troops. No shit. More than 750 slaves were freed that night, and about $15,000 worth of property was taken or damaged.
00:58:16
Jeff Rogers
Harriet Tubman was successful. And she is the only known woman to have led a military a military operation and during the Civil War. Isn't that pretty badass?
00:58:28
Jeff Rogers
Just a little bit. A little bit. After this, Harriet went back to New York. And she was there when Lincoln was reelected as the third and the 13th Amendment was passed abolishing slavery.
00:58:40
Jeff Rogers
Where did she go? She went right back down to virginia to Virginia to work as a nurse until the war ended. then she went back to the North. On the train on the way back north, Harriet met the train conductor and he tried to remove her from the train. She was traveling on a government pass instead of a fully bought ticket.
00:59:00
Jeff Rogers
He didn't like that, so he tried to remove her, but she was stronger than him. He called for backup and they threw her into the baggage car. and this severely injured her arm and she wore a sling for a very long time after that.
00:59:15
Jeff Rogers
After the war, she spent a long time trying to get the government to pay her back for her military work. Not only was she not paid by the military, she didn't receive a pension for her service. Women couldn't have enlist, so she hadn't enlisted, so she wasn't a veteran.
00:59:31
Jeff Rogers
Tubman said, you wouldn't think that after I served the flag so faithfully, I should come to want under its folds. In 1867, her ex-husband was shot and killed by a white man who was acquitted for it by an all-white jury.
00:59:47
Jeff Rogers
In 1869, she married Niles Davis. He had freed himself from slavery. Harriet was generous, and this made her vulnerable. In 1873, someone told her they had gold and wanted to sell it for less than it was worth.
Tubman's Legacy and Podcast Closing Remarks
01:00:00
Jeff Rogers
It had been buried in the South and dug up and was brought back to the North. And they were going to sell it for $5,000, but they were going to sell it to her for $2,000. Like a scheme.
01:00:11
Jeff Rogers
Like the prince is has all this money for you. They were to meet in the woods. One of the guys said that he forgot the key to the trunk of gold and that he had to go get it. Instead, as she was waiting, she was knocked unconscious, tied up in gags, and they took the money.
01:00:28
Jeff Rogers
Even though she was gagged and bound, she still got home. In 1888, her husband died of tuberculosis, so now she got an $8 a month pension as a widow of the Civil War, as somebody who served in the war.
01:00:43
Jeff Rogers
Tubman opened a pig farm and a brickyard on her private property to increase income. In 1896, she won an auction to buy 25 acres next to her house, but she didn't have a down payment.
01:00:54
Jeff Rogers
But she reached out to her network in the church, and they helped her. In 1897, Congress petitioned to grant Tubman a military pension of $25 per month that soldiers earned.
01:01:07
Jeff Rogers
Some argued that she should get less because she was, quote, only a nurse.
01:01:14
Jeff Rogers
In 1899, $20 pension passed Congress and signed it and and it was signed into law by President McKinley. That took 30 years. In 1903, she couldn't financially maintain the property she owned, so she donated it to the church.
01:01:28
Jeff Rogers
with the money With that money, they built an old age home that she had always wanted to build. In 1908, the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged and Indigent opened. On March 10, 1913, Harriet Tubman died of pneumonia at the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged and Indigent.
01:01:47
Jeff Rogers
In 1970, the U.S. Postal Service issued a Harriet Tubman stamp. In 2015, a campaign with mostly female organizers launched a W-20, women on the $20 bill, to urge the government to put the woman on the $20 bill. Harriet Tubman won this vote to be to be placed on the $20 bill.
01:02:06
Jeff Rogers
president trump President Trump called it purely political correctness and suggested moving Harriet to maybe the $2 bill. Harriet Tubman led so many enslaved people to freedom personally and through educating her, including her parents.
01:02:22
Jeff Rogers
She was a conductor on the Underground Railroad. In Pennsylvania, Harriet worked with black abolitionist William Stills, who was the father of the Underground Railroad. And when the Civil War began, Harriet worked as a spy for the Union Army.
01:02:36
Jeff Rogers
She worked as a nurse during the war. Harriet Tubman became the first woman to lead a major military operation in the United States. She was she commanded a military unit of 150 black soldiers for the Union Army, which freed 700 enlisted people from the plantations.
01:02:54
Jeff Rogers
She was Araminta, she was Minty, she was Moses, and she was the general. And this is a quote from her. She said, if you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going.
01:03:07
Jeff Rogers
If they're shouting after you, keep going. Don't ever stop. And that is the story of Harriet Tubman. Holy crap.
01:03:18
Jeff Rogers
I only did that because she was in the news recently. Minty. because in the National Park Service did some removal of her. And so I was like, huh, she's one interesting thing to do.
01:03:32
Jeff Rogers
Minty. Minty. ah Oh, that was good. What an amazing woman, right? Holy crap. Again, you know these things. just kept doing it. She just kept doing it.
01:03:45
Jeff Rogers
Don't stop. Don't stop. when she got her parents to Canada, Our parents were like, it's too cold here. Can a little bit further south? I agree. Yes.
01:03:56
Jeff Rogers
Okay. That's one show. We're done. um Alan, our overqualified, underpaid master publisher extraordinaire. Ashley, the ultimate epically unmatched hype queen editor.
01:04:07
Jeff Rogers
Kelsey, our incomparable swag and merch creator. Together, our first. And forever. Fans. Thank you for listening to this vortex of fuckery.
01:04:18
Jeff Rogers
And that's it.