March 2006

Big Trees (Mar. 4 - 10)

Recently, retired educator Byron Carmean discovered a tract of old growth timber in Virginia where he believes he’s found the largest and possibly the oldest Tupelo Cypress in the United States. Carmean and extension specialist Jeff Kirwan (VT) discuss the remarkable trees of Virginia.

Also: political scientist Glenn Sussman (ODU) has analyzed the environmental records of modern presidents and finds party politics matter very little. He ranks Richard Nixon as our “greenest” president.

 

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Israel on the Appomattox (Mar. 11-17)

Starting in the 1790s, about 90 African Americans (free blacks and former slaves) formed the community of Israel Hill in Prince Edward County. Historian Melvin Ely (W&M) says with their white neighbors they did business together, sued each other, worked side by side for equal wages, and even founded a Baptist congregation together.

Also: historian Brian McKnight (UVA-Wise) disputes the popular perception that Virginia coal camps were dreary, dirty, and depressing places. After dozens of interviews with former coal town residents, he sheds new light on the lives they led.

To talk with Melvin Ely and hundreds of authors about their work, come to the Virginia Festival of the Book, March 22-26

 

The Ritalin Dilemma (Mar. 18-24)

According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, approximately 20% of American children now take some type of psychiatric drug, with most taking the stimulant Ritalin (and newer medications) for Attention Deficit Disorder. Dr. David Stein (LU) says Ritalin is not the answer and offers behavioral therapy as an alternative to drugs.

 

Jamestown : Pirates, Silver, and Imperial Ambition (Mar. 25-Mar. 31)

The landing at Jamestown was a jumping off point for a Virginia and U.S. story in which hardy settlers brave the hazards of a "new world." But the Jamestown experiment was also framed by more than a hundred years of international European competition, involving the silver trade, the search for a Northwest Passage, pirates and privateers, and the imperial designs of Spain, France, Portugal, Holland, England, and even Turkey.

 

Douglas Foard (GMU) and J. H. Elliott (Oxford) explore how Spanish strategies for the continent collided with those of others, historian Henry Kamen talks of religion and Spanish colonial objectives, and James Horn (W&M) views Jamestown as Britain's "Spanish colony" in America.

This is the second of five WGR programs--produced with special support from the Rosenstiel Foundation--devoted to "New Perspectives on Jamestown " and leading up to 2007 and the 400th anniversary of the founding of the settlement.