Lisa's History Room

Susan Owensby, the Sound Kitchen, interviewing the author, Lisa Waller Rogers, at Les Closerie des Lilas, Paris.

Susan Owensby, of the Sound Kitchen, for Radio France International, interviewed Lisa Waller Rogers in Paris, about her new book, When People Were Things: Harriet Beecher Stowe, Abraham Lincoln, and the Emancipation Proclamation.

Hear the interview here.

Susan Owensby’s radio listeners come from far and wide and she enjoys a rich fan base. Here is a letter she received from one grateful listener:

Kudos to you, Susan for your thought-provoking and wonderful interview with Lisa Rogers, author of When People Were Things in the Sound Kitchen’s latest edition :”A special interview today”. I learned many things about the extent that human beings can go to degrade and bring pain to fellow beings. Thank you for your great effort.

The United States may be the only Super Power but it has a dark history or racial intolerance which  till date is unfortunately very much alive in the present disposition of the White House. The United States may be the only Super Power but it has a dark history.  Its ancestors have done unthinkable crimes against humanity which no other country in modern history has perhaps  ever done. These  perpetrators were the colonizers from Europe, mainly Englishmen.   They  enslaved, tortured and    dehumanized people only because of their black skin. It is a  well-known fact and a matter of deep shame that even 13 former US  Presidents owned and profiteered in the lucrative slave business,  chief of whom was Thomas Jefferson who is alleged to have more than 600 slaves. Isn’t it a shame to have named the nation’s capital after George Washington, another prominent architect of  shaming the  unfortunate  black people.   I think it’s a  mockery when America acts as the international watchdog for human rights abuse when its own record is rotten.

I have read Uncle Tom’s Cabin in my school days and later in my adult days. It brought tears to my eyes in learning about the pain and sufferings of the slaves. It’s a matter honour that both the anti-slavery books have been written by enlightened ladies. Now that you have aroused my interest in Rogers’ book I would like to read it when I get hold of one. Thank you for your introduction of the book in the Facebook page.  I would be delighted if the following message is conveyed to your girl friend Lisa Rogers.

“Dear Lisa Rogers, kudos to you for your thought-provoking book “When People Were Things”. Your interview with Susan Owensby was outstanding. It was a great endeavour on your part to teach us to differentiate good from the evil. I liked the proverb “The power of the pen”. More so when that pen is held by a kind-hearted and enlightened lady. The pain and sufferings inflected on people just because of the colour of their skin speaks a lot about the shameful history of the United States which you have successfully highlighted. I would like to read your book when I get hold of one. When People Were Things is very much an analogy to Uncle Tom’s Cabin in its powerful portrayal of the message on anti-slavery and human cruelty”.

With kind regards,
Jayanta Chakrabarty
New Delhi, India

Buy the book at many online sites:

ebook $5.99, paperback and hardback version on Amazon.

Barnes & Noble

Booksellers and librarians can find books through Ingram Distributors, books are fully returnable and available at their regular discounts.

Supplementary Study Guide ready end of November 2025, for schools and book clubs.

To contact the author, email lisawallerrogers@barrelcactuspress314.onmicrosoft.com

Early reviews are in next post. Thank you, Lisa