Ask a Slave

JOANNE: OK, so now we’re going to turn from the history of satire to satire about history. A web series called Ask a Slave caught our eye. It debuted in 2013 and it quickly went viral. And it’s produced by these two.

JORDAN BLACK: Hey, I’m Jordan Black and I directed Ask a Slave.

AZIE DUNGEY: Hi, I’m Azie Dungey and I wrote and starred in Ask a Slave.

JOANNE: Dungy plays a character named Lizzie Mae. She’s based on a real enslaved woman Dungey played when she worked as a living history actor at George Washington’s Mount Vernon.

FEMALE SPEAKER: Good day to you, lords and ladies. I’m Lizzie Mae, personal housemaid to President and Lady Washington.

JOANNE: In the series, she appears in period costume on a set made to resemble a real room at Mount Vernon. People acting as contemporary visitors to the estate ask Lizzie Mae questions.

MALE SPEAKER: These are actual questions that Dungey fielded from real visitors while working at Mount Vernon. Here’s a sampling.

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FEMALE SPEAKER: If you’re a slave, why do you have clothes?

MALE SPEAKER: Why are you a slave? Is it through an internship? Are there other internships that you can apply for?

FEMALE SPEAKER: What does George Washington think of Abraham Lincoln freeing all of his slaves?

MALE SPEAKER: I know slavery was bad and all, but aren’t you glad we made you black people Christian so you can go to heaven now?

FEMALE SPEAKER: Who invented slavery?

AZIE DUNGEY: And I took all the most outrageous, disturbing, offensive, enlightening questions and tried to build a show around it.

ED: We asked Dungey and Black to tell us how the reading of history shaped the show.

JORDAN BLACK: We’re using the past to satirize the present. So the lessons to be learned and, you know, the comedic commenting that we’re doing is for the way that people think today, in my opinion, how some people think today.

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JORDAN BLACK: People don’t know anything about slavery. Like, you have a conversation with people, they know nothing about slavery. They just flat out don’t. Most people don’t know anything other than slaves worked for free, and then we had the Civil War and they fought, and then they got freed.

AZIE DUNGEY: Yeah, and I think, I think in the end it’s also a matter of equality because if we can’t even– we can’t even give equal representation to our past, then I question whether we’ve really come to a place where we understand racial equality in our present.

JORDAN BLACK: Right.

AZIE DUNGEY: This history, our history is just as important and as profound and as fundamental to the origins of this country as white history.

MALE SPEAKER: How did you get to be housemaid for such a distinguished founding father? Did you see the advertisement in the newspaper?

FEMALE SPEAKER: Did I read the advertisement in the newspaper? Why, yes. It said, wanted, one housemaid, no pay, preferably mulatto.

JORDAN BLACK: There’s so many moments. I’ll say my favorite– I think a good one for me was our second episode with the abolitionists.

FEMALE SPEAKER: But today we have a special guest, Mr. Tobias Leah.

JORDAN BLACK: And you think like, oh, good. He’s an abolitionist. So he’s on our side.

MALE SPEAKER: I detest the institution of slavery.

JORDAN BLACK: And then you learn, like, he wants to send all the blacks back to Africa. He doesn’t want slavery, but he also doesn’t want black people to live in America or anywhere near him.

MALE SPEAKER: Well I am from New Hampshire where we do not have slaves. In fact, we do not have any Negroes whatsoever in New Hampshire.

FEMALE SPEAKER: Well, Virginia must have been quite a shock.

MALE SPEAKER: So many Negroes. More than I ever thought that were actually on the planet. You seem to be all here.

JORDAN BLACK: He’s not comfortable around black people at all. He just wants them gone. And why I think it correlates to modern times is for me is that, like, there’s a certain liberal white person who only views blacks as people who need help. And then when they are confronted with a black person or a black movement that’s saying we actually don’t want your help, they’re offended. And that for me is saying you don’t see us as equal then.

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JORDAN BLACK: And black people don’t like to talk about this either, just so you Know

AZIE DUNGEY: No.

JORDAN BLACK: There’s a lot of embarrassment about slavery and about Jim Crow. So they’d rather just not talk about it at all. So sometimes it’s like, why do we always have to talk about slavery? Why do I have to talk about racism? Why can’t we talk– and it’s just like, well, until we talk about it openly, we can’t really solve anything.

And I think what’s good about doing something like Ask a Slave is that it’s easier for people to– you know, it’s like taking a little sugar with your medicine. I think it’s easier for people to swallow it if they’re kind of laughing at the same time.

AZIE DUNGEY: Exactly. I got a really nice email from a woman who teaches eighth grade. And she was saying that she uses it in her classroom because she noticed that whenever she got to the subject of slavery, she saw everyone’s face just sort of wash out and disconnect. And these were black and Latino students, for the most part. And she realized that when she showed my show, she noticed that they felt more engaged. They could have discussions about it, and they had a totally different relationship to the history after seeing my show. And I think part of that is the laughter. But I think the other part of that is the fact that the point of view is more empowering for them. It’s like that in and of itself is enough, and then the historians can come and fill in the rest.

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MALE SPEAKER: Azie Dungey created Ask a Slave and writes for The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix. Jordan Black directed the Ask a Slave series. He’s also an actor and creator of the improv comedy troupe The Black Version.

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That’s going to do it for today. But you can keep the conversation going online. Let us know what you thought of the episode, or ask us your questions about American history. You’ll find us at BackStoryradio dot org. Or send an email to BackStory at Virginia dot edu. We’re also on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter at BackStory radio. And if you like the show, feel free to review it in Apple podcasts. Whatever you do, don’t be a stranger.

This episode of BackStory was produced by Andrew Parsons, Brigid McCarthy, Nina Earnest, Emily Gadek, and Ramona Martinez. Jamal Millner is our technical director, Diana Williams is our digital editor, and Joey Thompson is our researcher. Our theme song was written by Nick Thorburn. Other music and our show came from Podington Bear, Ketsa, and Jahzzar. And thanks to the Johns Hopkins University Studio in Baltimore.

FEMALE SPEAKER: BackStory is produced at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. We’re a proud member of the Panoply Podcast Network. Major support is provided by an anonymous donor, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the provost’s office at the University of Virginia, the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, and the Arthur Vining Davis foundations.

Brian Balogh is professor of history at the University of Virginia, and the Dorothy Compton professor at the Miller Center of Public Affairs. Ed Ayers is professor of the humanities and President Emeritus at the University of Richmond. Joanne Freeman is professor of history and American studies at Yale University. Nathan Connolly is the Herbert Baxter Adams associate professor of history at the Johns Hopkins University. BackStory was created by Andrew Wyndham for the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.

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