History From the Old Brick Church St. Luke's Historic Church & Museum

In this podcast we explore the time period of the English Republic with Historian Anna Keay, author of the book "The Restless Republic: Britain without a Crown." This time period is often reduced to the time of Oliver Cromwell, but there are many other players and ordinary people who were affected by this tumultuous period. It was a time of great hopes that were never quite realized and a time of extraordinary violence. 
Dr. Anna Keay is the Director of the Landmark Trust; a British Non-Profit whose mission is to rescue buildings of historic and architectural significance. Dr. Keay is the former curator for the Historic Royal Palaces, she has a PhD from the University of London. In addition to her latest work on the "Restless Republic" she is also the author of "The Last Royal Rebel: the Life and Death of James Duke of Monmouth." 

David Callaway discusses the modern challenges to religious freedom with host John Ericson. 

David Callaway is the Religious Freedom Specialist for the Freedom Forum, a non-profit fostering First Amendment freedoms for all. David oversees the Freedom Forum’s religious freedom work acting as a resource for educators, journalists, and the general public on the role of religious freedom and religious literacy in a pluralistic democracy. David specializes in religion and public schools and has trained thousands of educators and administrators on how to teach about religion constitutionally and academically.

In this episode, we interview Dr. Katharine Gerbner, Professor of History at the University of Minnesota, about her research on the religious dimensions of the Atlantic slave trade. Dr. Gerbner studied three groups: Anglicans, Quakers, and Moravians analyzing how they engaged with, defended, and benefited from the slave trade in Barbados and other English Colonies. How did groups that we associate with pacifism and abolitionism justify owning other human beings? What was the focus of the Established Church of England in relation to the expansion of the British Empire? Our latest episode explores these and other related topics that help us understand our early American religious experience. 
Dr. Katharine Gerbner holds degrees from Columbia and Harvard Universities. She is a native of Germantown PA and is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Minnesota. She writes; “My first book, Christian Slavery: Conversion and Race in the Protestant Atlantic World, shows how debates between slave-owners, black Christians, and missionaries transformed the practice of Protestantism and the language of race.” 

There’s an old ghost story about an Anglican Minister who is buried right behind the east wall of St. Luke’s. His name is Alexander Norris. But, Norris’ real story is even more intriguing than the ghost story. In this episode, we talk with Isle of Wight County Museum Curator, Rachel Popp, about Norris and other notable people buried in the Old Brick Church Cemetery. 
Rachel Popp is the Curator at the Isle of Wight County Museum. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from Christopher Newport University. She is the former Education Coordinator at St. Luke’s Historic Church and museum, She participates in other Virginia Museum Organizations including Virginia Emerging Museum Professionals (Hampton Roads Ambassador), Peninsula Museums Forum (President), and the Virginia Association of Museums (Member/Student of the Certificate in Museum Management Program).

In this episode, we discuss, with Buck Woodard, the religious experience of the Indigenous people of the Chesapeake, their interactions with the Church of England and the Native American School at the College of William & Mary, the Brafferton School. 

Buck Woodard is a cultural anthropologist specializing in historical and applied research, with interests in ethnographic and ethnohistorical writing, and ethnological study of indigenous North America. Buck is a Professorial Lecturer at American University. He holds degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University and the College of William and Mary. 

In 2019, there were many lectures and commemorations of the first African Americans to arrive in the Colony of Virginia who were forced into labor for the Planter class. But, 1619 was also the year that brought the first large influx of English Women to the Colony. Why did these women agree to become wives to men they had never met? What was the role and status of these women at Jamestown? What new laws gave incentive for these women to come to a place that posed so many threats to their well-being? How did the Established Church look upon women?  Today we will discuss with Jamie Helmick the answer to these and other fascinating questions. 

Jamie Helmick is the Special Projects and Programs Manager for Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. Jamie has degrees from Christopher Newport University (CNU) and Old Dominion University.