Episode 1: Falling Down the Rabbit Hole

A narrative podcast reported by Eric Roper and produced by Melissa Townsend

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Reporter Eric Roper moves into his 113-year-old house and finds an irresistible piece of history that sends him down a rabbit hole like no other. It takes him back in time to the Civil War and across the Midwest to uncover the mysterious origins of two of the former owners of his home – Harry and Clementine Robinson.

Ghost of a Chance

Episode 2: Nice Little House

Episode 3: “It Was Ugly”

Episode 4: Why Did He Do It?

Episode 5: The Corner

Episode 6: The Dividing Line

Scroll down to view a guide to this episode, which includes photos, newspaper clippings, public documents and more about the people you hear in the episode.

New episodes are released on Mondays.

Scroll down to view a guide to this episode, which includes photos, newspaper clippings, public documents and more about the people you hear in the episode.

New episodes are released on Mondays.

Episode 1 Guide

LEILA NAVIDI / The Minnesota Star Tribune

The house in South Minneapolis

Reporter Eric Roper moved into this home in 2020, a century after Harry and Clementine Robinson lived there.

Mapping Prejudice

The "Displaced" map

Soon after moving in, Eric stumbled across this map mentioning his house. It was part of a Mapping Prejudice project charting a small wave of Black families who lived in southwest Minneapolis in the early 20th century. Mapping Prejudice is an organization based out of the University of Minnesota Libraries that researches housing discrimination.

National Advocate via Minnesota Historical Society

Clementine Robinson, 1920

This photo of Clementine Robinson appeared in a Black newspaper in Minneapolis.

National Advocate via Minnesota Historical Society

Mitchell Commercial via Indiana University

Harry Robinson, 1900

Harry Robinson's photograph appeared on the front page of his hometown newspaper in Mitchell, Indiana, the year he graduated from high school.

Mitchell Commercial via Indiana University

Minnesota Historical Society

Raymond Cannon

Raymond Cannon was born in Minnesota in the 1890s. He worked as a pharmacist and later as an attorney. He was very active in civil rights causes in Minneapolis.

Minnesota Historical Society

Family photo via Associated Press

Marvel Cooke

Marvel Cooke was a well-known American journalist who was born in Minnesota. Her family faced discrimination while trying to move into Minneapolis' Prospect Park neighborhood in the early 1900s. Audio of Marvel Cooke was provided by the Washington Press Club Foundation.

Family photo via Associated Press

Eric Roper / The Minnesota Star Tribune

Shady Grove Cemetery, Missouri

This cemetery is the only remaining vestige of Clementine's hometown, known as Shady Grove and Mecca, north of Kansas City. Death certificates indicate that Clementine's parents are buried here, but there are no markers for them. The town was flooded in the 1970s to create what is now Smithville Lake.

Eric Roper / The Minnesota Star Tribune

Gwen Green and her brother Clyde May's ancestors are buried at Shady Grove Cemetery. In this photograph from August 2023, they are standing beside the gravestone of their great-grandparents. Their great-grandfather Sherman May was a contemporary of Clementine's in Mecca.

Tane Danger

Tracing Clementine's family roots

Gwen Green reviewed historical artifacts with reporter Eric Roper at the Clinton County Historical Society in Plattsburg, Missouri, in August 2023.

Missouri State Archives

"I will to be free"

Missouri slaveowner Thomas Estes wrote in his 1851 will that he wished to free his slave, Clementine's grandfather Washington Estes, in 1854. Clementine's mother, Laura, was born around the time that her father was emancipated.

Eric Roper / The Minnesota Star Tribune

Mitchell, Indiana

Harry grew up in the small railroad town of Mitchell, Indiana. Harry's parents moved here from Kentucky after the Civil War. It was the first place north of Louisville where a Black person could get off the train and feel welcome, according to Jeff Routh, who works at the Lawrence County Museum of History.

Mitchell Tribune via Lawrence County Historical and Genealogical Society

Harry's father was a "stand-out character in the community"

This 1930s recollection about past residents of Mitchell described Harry's father, Washington Robinson, as "industrious, good natured, and honest."

Indianapolis Recorder

Harry's mother was a church worker

Harry's mother, Susan Robinson, was "a widely known church worker," according to her 1935 obituary in the Indianapolis Recorder. She was "prominently active in religious affairs all during her life." This undated photograph of her appeared in the Recorder on the 10th anniversary of her death.

Indianapolis Recorder

Indianapolis Journal via Library of Congress

Tragedy strikes the Robinson family

This newspaper clip explains the tragic circumstances of Washington Robinson's death on Feb. 4, 1890, from ingesting rat poison. The entire family was poisoned after arsenic sifted from a shelf onto their dinner. Harry was nearly 9 years old when this occurred.

Indianapolis Journal via Library of Congress

Mitchell Commercial via Lawrence County Historical and Genealogical Society

Harry excels at Mitchell High School

The Mitchell newspapers frequently mentioned Harry's achievements at the integrated Mitchell High School. He gave speeches on Otto Von Bismarck and "American Hero-worship." At one debate, he defended the argument that "Abraham Lincoln has done more for his country than George Washington." He ultimately took the top honors in the class, which entitled him to a law school scholarship.

Mitchell Commercial via Lawrence County Historical and Genealogical Society

Mitchell Commercial via Indiana University

"On account of his color"

This notice appeared atop the front page of the Mitchell newspaper after Harry graduated from high school in 1900. His scholarship to a Nashville law school had been revoked because he was Black. The short-lived law school was later exposed for swindling students.

The Barbers, Hairdressers and Manicurers' Manual by A.B. Moler.

Moler School of Dermatology

This 1905 textbook from the Moler School of Dermatology in Chicago shows some of the techniques that Clementine would have learned there.

Family photo

Bob Harris

Bob Harris of Plattsburg, Missouri, was a community historian of Clementine's hometown, where his ancestors lived. He died in May 2024.

Family photo

Other voices in this episode

Sherita Mosely Mitchell, a parishioner of St. Peter's African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Chris Phillips, a history professor at the University of Cincinnati and author of the book "The Rivers Ran Backward," about border states and the Civil War.

Jeff Routh, a historian with the Lawrence County Museum of History in Bedford, Indiana.

Brandon Jones, the executive director of the Minnesota Association for Children's Mental Health in St. Paul.

Marla Jones, a historian with the Lawrence County Museum of History in Bedford, Indiana.

Resmaa Menakem, a therapist and author based in Minneapolis, whose 2017 book "My Grandmother's Hands" was a New York Times bestseller.

Tiffany Gill, a history professor at Rutgers University who wrote the book "Beauty Shop Politics: African American Women's Activism in the Beauty Industry."

Credits

Reporter

Eric Roper

Writer and Producer

Melissa Townsend

Executive Producer

Jenni Pinkley

Editor

MaryJo Webster

Fact Checking

Eric Roper

MaryJo Webster

Sound Design

Marcel Malekebu

Legal Review

Randy Lebedoff

Contributing editors

Maria Reeve

Suki Dardarian

Catherine Preus

Research assistance

Mapping Prejudice at the University of Minnesota Libraries

Promotion

Casey Darnell

Amanda Anderson

Matt Gillmer

Art and design

Anna Boone

Brock Kaplan

Mike Rice

Carla Fabian

Tricia Peterson

Lauren Munro

Product Development

Jon Opacich

Sia Xiao

Paulie Hendrickson

Dan Eichholz

Sydney Lewis

Brian Ganas

Special thanks to

Kyndell Harkness, Zoë Jackson, Laura McCallum, James Shiffer, Nancy Yang, MaKayla Hart, Laura Yuen, Tane Danger, and members of the community who served as advisers

Episode 1: Falling Down the Rabbit Hole

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Ghost of a Chance

Scroll down to view a guide to this episode, which includes photos, newspaper clippings, public documents and more about the people you hear in the episode.

New episodes are released on Mondays.

Scroll down to view a guide to this episode, which includes photos, newspaper clippings, public documents and more about the people you hear in the episode.

New episodes are released on Mondays.

Episode 1 Guide

The house in South Minneapolis

The "Displaced" map

Clementine Robinson, 1920

Harry Robinson, 1900

Raymond Cannon

Marvel Cooke

Shady Grove Cemetery, Missouri

Tracing Clementine's family roots

"I will to be free"

Mitchell, Indiana

Harry's father was a "stand-out character in the community"

Harry's mother was a church worker

Tragedy strikes the Robinson family

Harry excels at Mitchell High School

"On account of his color"

Moler School of Dermatology

Bob Harris

Other voices in this episode

Credits

Reporter

Writer and Producer

Executive Producer

Editor

Fact Checking

Sound Design

Legal Review

Contributing editors

Research assistance

Promotion

Art and design

Product Development

Special thanks to

about the writer

Eric Roper