bedell smith recounts the life of queen elizabeth ii who ascended the british throne in 1952 at the age of 25. it's about 45 minutes. >> before we get started, let me tell you because we're going to have a long signing line this evening. ..

i think that sally has well established herself as a prominent biographer could prominent and best-selling biographer i should say. for the past 15 years she's also been a contributing editor to vote. and before that she wrote for time and was a cultural writer for the new york times. during the times this is a personal site that she was researching this biography. she was interviewing over 200 people and spending six months that residents in one did. her daughter was married.

this is a true anglo-american event. her daughter married an english army officer at the guards chapel, which is just what she says is a stroke is thorough from buckingham palace. the part that i was just telling sally, the part of elizabeth's life that it was so impressed with was her complete dedication to be a well-informed monarch. she was regularly preached by the prime minister and assiduous he went through her diplomatic grandmother box it came to her every day that had intelligence reports, budget reports, minutes the various sessions of parliament. she was very studious into a knot.

wow, there is no recognized profession or school you can go to to become a queen. so she came out of really with no experience at all, but she really successfully created a position in which she was both monarch, wife and mother. most of all i think the royal family, marked by scandal, actually with scandal that occurred -- one scandal was the one that put her on to the throw and that was the marriage of edward the eighth to the twice divorced since then and so he advocated in order to do that and not placed are directly in line to succeed to the throne. a man on top of that, she has had three divorces and her family. three of her children have now

been divorced. she has had the lives of her two daughters in law, diana and camilla parker bowles both been in the gossip columns over and over a cad and it's been some name she so successfully created your distant to and she has by all reports and i think you'll certainly feel this when you finish the book is a well, well-respected queen. but i sally will tell us about, she's also been able to preserve a very good sense of humor and have that sally describes. so here i sally to tell us about it. [applause] >> thank you very much, our prayer. i was so tickled to see you here tonight because i so enjoyed

even introduced by you. you're so thoughtful in your introduction. thank you very, very much. several years ago when the queen was that one of her yearly garden parties at buckingham palace can make our way through a crowd of nearly 9000 people in greeting a selection of gas commission is asking standard questions asked have you come far? when one woman will daughter and said, what do you do? , several days later at a friends birthday party party commits the queen described the exchange to confess, i had no idea what to say. it was the first time in all the years of needy people that anybody had ever asked me that question. my job in writing "elizabeth the queen" was not to tell what she does, but what she's really like take the reader as close as possible to elicit the human

being, the wife, the mother and the friend as well as the highly respected leader. today i'm going to talk first about what it was like to write about queen elizabeth and second, i'd like to share with you some of the many surprising discoveries that i made about the queen because she is the best known women in the world. people feel as if they know her. but the real woman is very different from the woman in velvet and her men. this is my sixth biography. all of them about larger-than-life characters that barbara mentioned here but there is no one like the queen and she lives in her very own remarkable world. while other heads of state have come and gone, elizabeth is the longest-serving leader in the world, spanning the 20th of 21st century is, she is the 40th monarch and the thousand

year history of the british monarchy. reigning over the united kingdom of england, wales, scotland and northern ireland along with 15 realms and 14 overseas territories. she is the second monarch to celebrate a diamond jubilee marking 60 years on the throne come which is a milestone she would reach on february 6th. the only other great, great grandmother queen victoria's celebration was 115 years ago in 1897 when she was 78 years old. if elizabeth suis soon turn 86 is still on the current september 2015, she will surpass victoria's reign of nearly 64 years. between the two of them, the tory and elizabeth have been on the throne for 124 of the last

174 years and has symbolized britain far longer than that for a man who are kings between their veins. elizabeth is always surrounded by people. they've been queen makes her a solitary and singular figure. it is crucial for her to keep the delicate talents at all times. if she seems to mysterious and distant she loses her upon the subject. today she seems too much like everyone else, she loses her mystique. she doesn't carry a passport. she doesn't have a drivers license. although one of her cousins told me that she tries like a bat out of unearths her country estate. she cannot vote. she can't appear as a witness in can change your face in anglican toronto. and because of her hereditary position, everyone around her,

putting her closest friends and family battling curtsy when they greet her and let me say goodbye to her. although she was trained by strict nannies who prevented her from being spoiled, she was also trained from childhood to expect. a friend of mine told me at the time and then princess elizabeth came to visit his family castle in scotland and he playfully threw her onto a sofa. his father, the total nearly took him by the arm, punched him in the stomach that don't you ever do that to royalty. the princess didn't mind my friend told me, but that was the structure in which she was brought up. so how is a biographer, particularly an american when the queen has had a policy for the past 60 years of not granting interviews?

actually, it really wasn't too different from the way i've approached by other book, which was to turn to those who knew her best for insights into our nation. i am a lot time anglophile and i visited britain frequently over the past three decades and is made a lot of, some of whom helped me when i was supporting a book on princess diana in the late 1990s. when i started researching the queen's life, i went back to a group of key sources who agreed to help me again and to introduce me to more people who knew the royal family. they also served as an advocate in getting cooperation from buckingham palace. my book on diana has been fair to the royal family and particularly to child's said the senior staff at the palace greets the queen and gave me the green light. as a result, i had access to her

inner circle of close friends and advisers. while the queen has disciplined yourself to keep her views and emotions under wraps and public, those close to her shared with me some of her fascinating opinion and feelings. what worried him most about prince charles on his marriage to diana was falling apart, for example. what would happen if she became physically or mentally incapacitated. and even some politically sensitive opinions including one hot button issue that she discussed with an american ambassador. her friends explained that the secrets of her serenity encourage incised or sometimes an unusually perceptive ways. monte corroborates, the worse whisperer who was one of the most unlikely friends told me when the queen gave him good advice, she showed an incredible

ability to read intention just like a's status. with the assistance of the palace, i was also able to watch the queen and prince philip for many different adding at the carter parade at once to pass a law preventing honors at buckingham palace and obligatory annual card parties at the palace. for that, i received a personalized invitation on white board embossed with gold on the queen's crown announcing that those were chamberlain has been commanded by majesty. everybody got that. watching the queen able to make a line along a line of people i was trapped by her pace, were chamberlain who is senior official at buckingham palace later told me that she move slowly to observe everything

going on and take as much and as she can. i also marveled at her mastery of brief but focused conversations and her sturdy stance, a technique she wants to explain to the ways of one of her foreign secretaries by lifting her evening gown above her ankles and saying one plants once deep apparently this. always keep in parallel. make sure your weight is evenly distributed and that's all there is to it. as i observed the queen of her as a course of the year, i accumulated impressions that helped me understand how she carries out her role and help her say she carries out her job with great discipline and concentration in every situation. she is not just a figurehead and she has an impressive range of

duty. every day except christmas and easter, she spends several hours for has government talks to the barber just described. they are delivered. they are red leather boxes that can only be opened by four keys. she reads them in the morning and at night and even a weekends. whenever close friends told me about the time during one of the queen's visit when she was death down all morning. must you, man? her friends asked. the queen replied if i miss once i might never catch up again. mary films was the youngest daughter of the queen's first prime minister, winston churchill told me when elizabeth was a young 25-year-old queen, her father had been in christ by harry attentiveness, and that she always paid attention to whatever she was doing. it's hard to imagine the amount of information that the queen

has accumulated over six decades and she has used this in exercising her right to be consulted, to encourage and to warn when she meets with government officials as well as senior military officers, clergymen, diplomats and judges who come to her for confidential private audiences. as she once said, the fact that there's nobody else there gives them a feeling they can say what they like. the most important encounters that these encounters have been too weekly audiences at 12 prime ministers. consider patricia terry from churchill who was born and i made him century and served in the army of her great, great-grandmother queen victoria to david cameron, her current prime minister who was born three years after her youngest child, prince edward. she actually glimpsed the

first -- for the first time her future 12 prime in stir when he appeared at age 80 in a school production of toad of toad hall with edward. probably her most fascinating relationship was with margaret hatcher and in the course of our reporting a team some great sites into how that relationship or in some of which contradict the common view. the queen does not have executive power, but she does have unique and fluent. in her role as head of state, she represents the government officially at home and abroad, but also serves as head of nation, which means she connects with people to reward their achievements and remain in touch with their concerns. two decades past the normal retirement age. she still does something like 400 engagements a year. traveling around the two cities as well as tiny hamlets.

charles paul, has served as private secretary to both john major and margaret thatcher told me that the queen knows every inch of this country in a way no one else does. she spends so much time meeting people that she has an understanding of what other people's lives are like. she understands that the normal human condition is. she has also spent an extraordinary amount of time honoring citizens and members of the military for exemplary service. in 60 years, she has conferred more than 400,000 honors and awards and given them in person over 600 times. people need pats on the back sometimes she has said. it's a very dingy world otherwise. traveling with the queen was particularly viable, especially overseas royal tour i took to bermuda and trinidad.

she was 82 years old at the time and her program called for long days of meeting and greeting. her stamina was impressive, matched only by 88-year-old prince philip beard whenever they go off on a trip together like that, but were chamberlain always accompanies to the airport and philip turns around and waves that are meant as, mind the shop. i got a real sense of how much and think philip and elizabeth are paired with an expert choreography is sort of like fred astaire and ginger rogers, i also saw assets that contradicted. he also watches the queen intently to see whether she needs any assistance. i once saw him bring a little child over to greet her. he often spots people in the crowd who can't see very well that will lock them out to give them a better vantage point.

when the queen needs a boost, he felt that there with a humorous aside such as don't be so sad passage. on the last night and trinidad i witnessed the coast range when we heard about several people that the queen is that perspire, even in the hottest temperatures. the british high commissioner is hosting a garden party in the hilltop home in such a steamy evening that everyone, including me was dripping from the heat. but after an hour of lively conversation with some 65 gas, the queen walked past me very close by and there is absolutely no moisture on her face. whatever covens who traveled in the tropics with their explain to me in her own commendable way that the queen scanned does not run water. and while it may look good, it

does make her comfortable. i saw further evidence of this a year later on a july day at ground zero in manhattan when the temperature hit 103 degrees. one of the women the queen spoke tuesday to me afterwards, we were all pouring sweat, but she didn't have a bead on her. that must be what it's like to be arroyo. during these trips, i was able to see the buckingham palace machinery on the road. to get to other senior officials and to get a feel for the atmosphere around the queen of the way her household has changed in the early days when it was run entirely by aristocratic grand. as i stood in the hotel her master of the household point towards a half-dozen footmen, one of whom was a woman, all dressed in navy blue suit. see samples of air he said. he has a masters degree in paleontology.

it was a far cry from the stereotype. getting to know all the places important to the queen furthered eats me understand the paired at her stables in berkshire, one of her horse traders took me up on the gallup, which are the rolling hills where she goes to spend hours in the early morning mass, wearing her head scarf, her tweed jacket and her wellington boots as she watches her resources work out. at holyrood house, her n. eat and burrow, former senior officials gave her premature. i spent the night in the tower at the castle of may, which is the queen mother's house in northern scotland, where the queen used to visit every year. i hate the hills and walked along the river at the estate in the highland. her estate and more folk were

she retreats for nearly six weeks every winter. i spent a day getting it to where with her staff manager on her headstone and groom. i also spent today with the museum to eat and burrow. i was lucky enough to attend several dinners in the ballroom and the picture callie at buckingham palace. i was not a test of the queen, but i was invited by prince charles who is hosting the annual gathering of his prince of wales foundation. but sitting at a table decorated with george the third soldier killed candelabra and sculpted centerpiece is, i could immerse myself in the experience of being served by footmen and royal liveries and rooms for the queen entertains heads of state. my favorite moments were at windsor, which the queen considers her real home.

i spent time with two of the queen's alter the first cousins, who has known her longer than anybody else. both lived near the castle in modest homes the queen gave to them. every sunday after church, the queen brought the job lawyer to visit one of the cousins, margaret rose who greets her with a courtesy and hands her a chin into the night and they sit down and chat about friends and family. as i sat on my grades sagging sofa in her living room, where her dog stories were scattered all around on the floor, i could imagine the queen sitting in the very same spot with their hat on her head, but completely relaxed. at public events, i watched the queen at a distance, always a smiling icon moving through the crowd, careful not to engage too

much. so is especially helpful to have three social encounters that private gatherings and each time i caught the animated gestures, sparkling blue eyes and the flashing smiles familiar to her friend, but rare in public. i may first meeting during a garden party at the british ambassador's residence here in washington, i watched the queen had a spirited conversation with my husband about the kentucky derby and i remembered what the british artists have told me after painting her portrait. her private site took me completely by surprise he said. she talks like an italian. she waves her hands about. two years later after working on the queen's biography for a year, i met her again at a reception at st. james' palace. this time in honor of the pilgrims come a group that promotes anglo-american fellowship. when i mentioned to her that my

daughter is getting married in london, she has to know when is wedding. the fourth of july i replied. that's a little dangerous. [laughter] once again, i saw the smile and a twinkle. the third time was a month before the wedding of prince william and kate middleton. again we met at st. james palace at a party given by one of the queen's cousin. i knew the queen would be there, but i didn't expect her to stay 90 minutes. and she was in high spirits. the atmosphere was much more informal than the pilgrims reception, probably because so many of her friend and family members were there. she was pickier way happily on her own without her attendants for her. what struck me was he or she in her own palace. but she was merely another

guest, which is a measure to me of her humility. when i greeted harry told her it recently been to the home of one of her american friends in florida. i've never been to how she said. so i told her about it is particularly how much had been designed for the grandchildren. yet she said and they had the money, don't they? clearly she didn't miss a trick. the first question people ask me about the queen is what was most surprising? what was the most surprising thing i learned about her, which is very difficult to answer because so much was unexpected. one surprise was that humility i just mentioned. part of her site that is seldom seen, behind her regal and dignified and match the queen is also aspired, shrewd, tolerant, cozy, sensitive, lively, funny,

compassionate, spontaneous, kingly observant and even earthly. i will give you a few of the many examples of these traits that i found. how about cozy? when the american artists was at windsor capital to paint a portrait, the queen invited him to launch in her private dining room. there were no butlers around to serve the meal. not only did the queen insists on serving him from the buffet, she also insisted on clearing the table. she's stacked the plates he said, which is what we were taught never to do when we were growing up. another time, she was entertaining a larger group and told the man next to her, i need to explain about the napkins i should, tivo. she says, they are doing all wrong. they have the starch side down

at the napkins will slide off their knees. do it like this with the young starch under lab mnu tuck it under the bottom. what about spontaneous? while driving a scottish cleric on a tour of her adult moral estate, she suddenly shouted, hooray as they pass one of her gamekeepers working on the hills but the young women. the queen explained his wife had left him than she was absolutely delighted that was the new girlfriend. sensitive? when margaret thatcher had her 80th birthday party in 2005, she had become frail and her mind did become impaired by strokes. a queen approached, the former prime minister extended her hand and the queen held it as margaret thatcher could do terror. but what was surprising is the queen continued to hold her hand

and then tenderly guided her through the crowd of 660 gas, which was a remarkable site for the british were unaccustomed to seeing the queen so physically demonstrative. compassionate? with ira terrorists killed board that come to the queen's cousin of those favorite uncle with several other members of his family, the queen cared for the 14-year-old grandson, timothy nashville, who had been severely injured in the attack. when he arrived at elmore late one evening with his sister, the queen was there to greet them and serve in soup and sandwiches, took them to their friends and even started to unpack them until she was prevailed upon to go to bed. timothy later taught about her unstoppable mothering. he told her the queen had been caring and sensitive and

intuitive than she did manage to get him talking about systematic experience in a way no one else has been able to do. funny? british act desperate malice scales got rave reviews for playing the queen and alan bennett's play, a question of attribution and when she was introduced to the queen, she bowed and the queen said, i expect you think i should be doing that to you. [laughter] earthy? probably the least expected trade would he think of the prim and proper queen. a matching her stockings tag on a host of fellow moral and her macintosh treasures, crawling on her stomach through the undergrowth with her nose up against the booths in front of her. or visiting her yearling that they seem to be suffering from respiratory problems. she blew her nose, showed her trainer was in a handkerchief and said, it's too dusty in here. there's nowhere.

needless to say, he promptly installed it better ventilation system. and finally, something surprising because i think the images so sweet. when the queen and prince philip on a trip to california in 1983, reagan stampeded chief of staff asked the queen's private secretary why she was taking so long to prepare for the evening, the queen named her tiara time he said. the private secretary explained that she has a little kid of tools she uses to decorate certain diamond tears by hooking pearls or at world are sapphires are rubies on them, depending what she's wearing. her former crown schuler confirmed to me that this pastime is something she enjoys a great deal. while such private glimpses may surprise many people, all is that its is queen has always

been reassuring inconsistent and at will. her wide conduct and unifying force are more value today than ever. long admired and respected, she is now beloved. when she celebrated her golden jubilee 10 years ago, people realize she was about stability, continuity, humor with them for going wrong. her former senior adviser charles answered told me. suddenly they got the point of the queen who'd been doing her job for 50 years. now that she's reached her 60 year milestone, she is bigger than politics over celebrity or fascism, yet she also earned to move with the times, making sure the monarchy is respond to without being trendy. her ability to adapt to a changing world is all the more

impressive when you consider that she grew up really am an accordion atmosphere. she is the sheep anchor in the middle for people to hate onto and times of turbulence. her lifelong friend and former top adviser david airily told me. she lives by the values we all wish to have, which has made her life story inspiring to me to write about and i hope that readers are equally inspired. thank you. [applause] >> okay, we've got to migrate here in the middle. could you come to the mic. it's you. no, they can't hear you. just turn around. >> you have to go to the microphone.

>> okay. >> right here. >> was her relationship with diane and the divorce and that situation? the situation with diana and charles? >> i was one of the most difficult periods of her reign i would say. she was hoping that her son, charles would marry happily and in the beginning they all thought diana was ideal. they seem to be a bug or at least they talked themselves into thinking they were enough, but they were in fact very badly smashed. she was very welcoming to diana in the beginning. i think everybody underestimated how sensitive and emotionally turbulent she was a difficult it

would be for her to adapt to robles. for one of princess diana's close friend said that the queen always kept an open door for her. the problem was the queen can be a bit formidable and diana was very young and she was somewhat intimidated by her and so she didn't take that opportunity to go and spend time with her and get to know her better. she assumed people would take her to bring her along, which didn't really have been. a lot of the problems that happened between charles and diana were quite invisible to both the queen and prince philip that it really wasn't until the book written by andrew morton at diana secretly collaborated with that was published in 1992, which was 11 years after they were married.

it was highly critical of charles. it was very damaging to charles and very tough on the rest of the royal family. the queen not completely understandable use this as an act of betrayal and disloyalty and was compounded by the fact that what she asked about at diana did not tell the truth. so at that point, it became clear was going to be difficult for them to continue with their marriage, so they separated not long after that. and men were -- >> the reason they she chose her grandson and not her son to succeed her. >> she hasn't done that. charles is definitely in line to succeed her. yes, that's the way it works. there have been public opinion polls that have indicated a lot of people would prefer to see the beautiful young couple

succeed her, but charles is the one. >> thank you. >> i think someone is that tonight. >> perhaps i'll read about in the book, but i wonder if the queen has ever commented to her circle of friends publicly about the speech section of her father. has she talked about it? >> to this extent, she's so admired and for his duty and his absolute determination to overcome it. it must've been very difficult for her to see. she once said the quality that affected with his steadfastness. and she learned a lot to

watching him and overcome what was an almost crippling disability. and yet go on to be an incredibly admirable king, particularly during world war ii. that is when she saw her parents in a new light because that's what they were very brave. they should have gone elsewhere but they came into london every day. the girls were living on the castle, which is well fortified and the king and queen and then queen elizabeth came and spent many nights there. they put their lives on the line by going into london. buckingham palace was hit nine times by bombs, one of which almost killed the two of them. so she developed great admiration for both of them in the duty and encouraged. >> it was sort of a less than an apathy that most of the royals took. >> one of our first projects i secretary actually noted that after they had taken the whole

family when she was with elizabeth and they've taken a trip to south africa and he said something to that effect, that he noticed an ability to connect to people and the kind of empathy and sense of compassion he said was bearing the royal family. she has seen the king speech by the way. she didn't initially she was relocked to see it because she was nervous about seeing her parent portrayed, but her cousin, margaret with whom she has shared and and every sunday he told me she didn't see it after it had won the award. told her the reaction, which was, and they at cnn. she liked it. she thought it was fine. but she didn't see queen. >> thank you. >> she made a pact with tony

blair as far as i can tell she's holed up her out in any way. [inaudible] >> no, no, that she was told about it. >> i think one of the things that people talk about being criticized a bit about, not lacking compassion about, one of the things is the continuing gravitation between her and the royal family and the two can duchess of one third. chavez time that they should be invited to family greetings and they were always excluded. there is a comment about the time. >> there is each romantic moment when humbert the eighth her father became king he had not been prepared for it and he wept to is that there is trained as a naval officer. he did learn to be an admirable king. and acting they -- well i think

they were tough on them. i think one of the difficulties was the possibility that the duke and duchess of windsor could have lived though it is sad that would have been an ax came someplace else during the war. after is in paris i was struck that the queen did reach out to him. there was a rapprochement. it was her instigation he had to come and witness did and he was included and not. and when she was making a statement in 1972, his art is

diagnosed with cancer. and so she went and visited him. and it was a tender visit they had together. his doctors said she had tears in their eyes. only weeks later she died and she was very kind to the duchess of windsor. you know, she was heavily sedated and kind of out of it during that period of time. , but clarissa even it was the widow said that she looked over at one point and saw the queen and hunter hand on the duchess of windsor's arm and was treated her with nanny like tenderness. one of her qualities as tenderness and capacity she exercised another numbers were quite that way.

>> thank you. >> here comes somebody. >> i was a passerby, but i prefer not to inquire. as you inquire a little bit just on the wraparound. >> i have that in the hope. i have an eyewitness account from the queens videographer who was recording the whole thing and told me what happened. it was not as big a deal as it was made out to be. what happened is that you can imagine there's quite a disparity in height between the queen and michelle obama and they were standing at this reception for a 20 liters and first of all they were comparing their shoes and then they turn to two ladies in waiting standing right over there they started to sort of demonstrate

how tall she was and how short she was. and they quite naturally, kind of as very demonstrating this, they put their arms around each other. and it's long been said you shouldn't touch the queen, although there have been many people who have over the years and she's become much more relaxed about it. i mean, michelle assertively intimidated road tour on the shoulder. but nobody took offense except the british tabloid press decided to make a big deal about it. i talked to people at buckingham palace and she's untrendy set of owners a good rootedness in the spirit of how everybody fell. so nobody took offense, much less the queen. >> okay. anything else? now? >> thank you very much for

coming. [applause] >> for more information, visit the author's website, sally bedell smith.com. >> next from beaumont, texas, jeff forret talks about some poor whites and slaves in 18 to. >> about his people tend to think that the segregated south is a timeless phenomenon rather than the result of historical circumstances. unlike with my book, i look before that period of time, before the jim crow segregated south was institutionalized, to take a look at relationships

between blacks and whites of a particular economic, whether it's poor race. and if you look at that period of time before the civil war, blacks and whites were not segregated. it could not have been otherwise. slaves were a captive workforce. you have to have racial interaction between black and white. but the larger misconception about race relations in the south. there's always been segregation when in fact there is not. a lot of the earlier scholarship on slaves and poor whites maintained that their relationships were most notable for their racial hostility. there could be animosity between two distinct group. and while that is true, it's

also only part of the source that if you look at court records from slave narratives, you can find another hole range of relationships as well, that slaves and poor wife inherited a shared subculture of drinking and gambling and underground trade, alyssa sex. that's another part of the story people came with. slaves could either grow and sell to them or steal from their master insulted that. slaves most frequently treated for alcohol, which of course they could not legally purchased. the any number of articles might be treaters between slaves and poor whites and traders for

instance, that pretty much anything. there is a small suggestion that slaves and poor white could sympathize with one another. there are poor whites, for instance you do help slaves run away and escape from bondage. but at the same time, a lot of the trade that takes between none is motivated by the mutual benefits that accrue to each group. they did not have to sympathize with one another to engage in a business relationship. they did not have to feel sympathy towards one another to engage in a relationship. that might be the case for a small handful, but not necessarily. >> did this relationship change after the slaves were freed? >> certainly, things definitely do change because now, slaves have been liberated. they are now free people and

that in another south is a challenge to the way things have always been. and they become much more. this is why suddenly relationships between freed man and poor white women suddenly become problematic in the post-civil war south. prior to the civil war, those chips that have been and often times communities would tolerate them. not always poor white women who would levy charges against the slaves, but there was no predetermined outcome of this case went to trial. in one particular case, one of the favorite ones that i have

heard, there was a woman by the name of rachel: who lived in amherst in district south carolina. and this was in the 1850s. she was walking through the woods. she was walking potatoes and she was accosted by a slaves man by the name of lewis and continue to parade her. rachel allman did everything right. she reported her rape immediately. you could tell she was disheveled. her dress was stained by the tomatoes and it seemed like ge, may be lewis will wind up being executed for this crime. at the actual trail was really all about rachel and whether or not she is a poor white women

merited that kind of justice, the trial became a big investigation of her care there as a white woman. as her character suggests that she could have after the cost of all of these witnesses at the trial, rachel allman does not compress very well. it turns out we learn her entire history as she slept with four or five white men. we learn she had been seen holding hands with the blood boys and she was maybe 20 years old at this time. but her work routines, the labor she did was so poor she worked for a free black man. this is a very unusual kind of thing, the thing we don't normally think of.

at night she stayed at his house. her mother kept a disorderly house, where they entertained travelers. rachel took his laundry and there'd be like men coming to pick up their socks in the middle of the night. all of this suggested to them that rachel was essentially a. whether or not she actually sold favors for money, we don't know. but the public opinion was indeed she was. so lewis was found not guilty of this attempted rape. i focused research focused on north carolina and virginia. and what i find there was pretty consistent of differences in the degree of contact. a lot of it has to do with the demographics of the region.

if you are looking at say the low country south carolina, that is a majority black population, fewer poor whites. so naturally somewhat less contact fair. at the opposite end of the spectrum if you are looking at the mountainous regions of western north carolina for eastern tennessee, relatively few slaves in those regions. plenty of poor whites. so really, i am finding that as evidence that these kinds of relationships and that the meeting point between in the piedmont region of north carolina on the up country south carolina, this is where i found the best of them and of interaction. i look primarily at court records. unfortunately the deal with poor ways, that is about the best set

of records you can come up with because the vast majority are literate. they are not leaving diaries, journals and five account books. they fire them the higher labor. so that becomes my primary source along with petitions to governors, slave narratives, it's easier to learn about slaves than it is poor whites. because you do have the wpa slave narrative project from the 1930s, were government workers went out very specifically to recover the stories of former slaves and you have the abolitionist movement publishing the autobiography of slaves.

so slaves we know more about actually been poor ways. i went through every single volume of the wpa slave marriages. it's about three shallow folds of the library and look for every mention of anyone that the slaves were referred to as po white. they recorded those narratives in a dialect. whatever they were called about the poor whites themselves. they gave me a blueprint for the chop jerry's a row. >> were they named after. it's a complicated mix there are

also slaves who respond that there was a really sad for my family that lives down the road from nine. and there was some recognition for somebody they are. i think comes up in the slave narrative though is how the slaves were placing themselves in a broader scheme of humanity. the slaves were very shrewd observers of their world and they were very much aware that all white people were not created equal. that yes, there are very wealthy people out there, but there are also way people who didn't measure up. and you do find, especially when you get into stakeholder songs

info tales. you can recognize their understanding the day thought themselves at least as good, if not better than this poor white category. i thought about this conflict for the first time in 1997. i was working on my masters thesis and i ran across one very interesting displays run away at it's an adequate burke county north carolina, which at the time was a center of a very early attempt to mine gold. they were gold in north carolina. and in this one particular slave runaway had a phone in one of the local charlotte area newspapers, they were looking for a slave that they had --

that the masters suspect that had run away with a low white man might the name of john underwood and the master who placed this ad believed that john underwood and his runaway slave were working the gold mines of luxemburg county together in secret at night. and the ad says we find out that john underwood is a shoemaker, which would not have been a very prestigious occupation. we also find out and in the words of the added so, that john underwood within the group hitchins. as a young grad student at the time, i was very much taken by the content of this ad. i realized that there wasn't really anything else they are

better just this this kind of cooperation between our runaway slave and a poor white man. and that was what i decided to do to write this book. >> outshooting people talk about that relationship so much? >> the textbook industry is a tricky one. because there is so much to cover that you really have to go with words of major flow of the narrative runs. the kinds of cases that we're finding here are not in a really exceptional, but they are also complicated. and textbooks often times head towards the lowest common denominator. and that is really how we wind up losing a lot of our history. >> interviews from beaumont,