John Bibb is credited with cultivating Bibb lettuce. But his family’s legacy, good and bad, is all tied to having enslaved people build their familial wealth.   

Research: 
Seek Museum. https://www.seekmuseum.org/
O’Neal, Lonnae. “The bitter harvest of Richard Bibb: A descendant of slavery confronts her inheritance.” Andscape. October 14, 2019. https://andscape.com/features/the-bitter-harvest-of-richard-bibb-a-descendant-of-slavery-confronts-her-inheritance/
“Bibb Contributed to Logan’s Black History.” March 1, 1979. https://www.newspapers.com/image/554440735/?terms=John%20B.%20Bibb&match=1
Sanders, “John M. Bibb,” ExploreKYHistory, accessed June 23, 2022, https://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/show/47.
“Bibb Town.” The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Kentucky. Oct. 10, 1897. https://www.newspapers.com/image/32971252/?terms=John%20B.%20Bibb&match=1
“The African-American Mosaic – Colonozation.” Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam002.html
Metzmeier, Kurt X., Constructing Freedom: A Letter by George M. Bibb Concerning the Will of the Rev. Richard Bibb, Sr. (2016). 9 Unbound: A Review of Legal History and Rare Books 133 (2016), University of Louisville School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper Series No. 2017-5, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2919345
“Townhouse of Maj. Richard Bibb.” The Historical Marker Database. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=123348
Goff, John S. “THE LAST LEAF: GEORGE MORTIMER BIBB.” The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, vol. 59, no. 4, 1961, pp. 331–42. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23374698. 
Morrow, Michael. “Bibb Slaves Sent to Liberia in Africa in 1832.” The Logan Journal. November 2009. http://theloganjournal.com/Stories.aspx?Article=guests10
Goff, John S. “THE LAST LEAF: GEORGE MORTIMER BIBB.” The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, vol. 59, no. 4, 1961, pp. 331–42. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23374698
Swietek, Wes. “Unique bonds: Descendants of slaves and the man who freed them gather for reunion.” Bowling Green Daily News. August 3, 2019. https://www.bgdailynews.com/news/unique-bonds-descendants-of-slaves-and-the-man-who-freed-them-gather-for-reunion/article_140eccb6-4f51-59dd-b1df-7f2892c0e02a.html

John Bibb is credited with cultivating Bibb lettuce. But his family’s legacy, good and bad, is all tied to having enslaved people build their familial wealth.   
Research: 
<ul>
<li>Seek Museum. https://www.seekmuseum.org/</li>
<li>O’Neal, Lonnae. “The bitter harvest of Richard Bibb: A descendant of slavery confronts her inheritance.” Andscape. October 14, 2019. https://andscape.com/features/the-bitter-harvest-of-richard-bibb-a-descendant-of-slavery-confronts-her-inheritance/</li>
<li>“Bibb Contributed to Logan’s Black History.” March 1, 1979. https://www.newspapers.com/image/554440735/?terms=John%20B.%20Bibb&amp;match=1</li>
<li>Sanders, “John M. Bibb,” ExploreKYHistory, accessed June 23, 2022, https://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/show/47.</li>
<li>“Bibb Town.” The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Kentucky. Oct. 10, 1897. https://www.newspapers.com/image/32971252/?terms=John%20B.%20Bibb&amp;match=1</li>
<li>“The African-American Mosaic – Colonozation.” Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam002.html</li>
<li>Metzmeier, Kurt X., Constructing Freedom: A Letter by George M. Bibb Concerning the Will of the Rev. Richard Bibb, Sr. (2016). 9 Unbound: A Review of Legal History and Rare Books 133 (2016), University of Louisville School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper Series No. 2017-5, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2919345</li>
<li>“Townhouse of Maj. Richard Bibb.” The Historical Marker Database. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=123348</li>
<li>Goff, John S. “THE LAST LEAF: GEORGE MORTIMER BIBB.” The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, vol. 59, no. 4, 1961, pp. 331–42. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23374698. </li>
<li>Morrow, Michael. “Bibb Slaves Sent to Liberia in Africa in 1832.” The Logan Journal. November 2009. http://theloganjournal.com/Stories.aspx?Article=guests10</li>
<li>Goff, John S. “THE LAST LEAF: GEORGE MORTIMER BIBB.” The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, vol. 59, no. 4, 1961, pp. 331–42. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23374698</li>
<li>Swietek, Wes. “Unique bonds: Descendants of slaves and the man who freed them gather for reunion.” Bowling Green Daily News. August 3, 2019. https://www.bgdailynews.com/news/unique-bonds-descendants-of-slaves-and-the-man-who-freed-them-gather-for-reunion/article_140eccb6-4f51-59dd-b1df-7f2892c0e02a.html</li>
</ul>

Join Holly and Tracy as they bring you the greatest and strangest Stuff You Missed In History Class in this podcast by iHeartRadio.

Stuff You Missed in History Class

John Bibb is credited with cultivating Bibb lettuce. But his family’s legacy, good and bad, is all tied to having enslaved people build their familial wealth.

Lettuce, Slavery, and the Bibb Legacy

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/3b02d342-8188-484a-a140-aec9005f8866/transcript

This 2019 episode marked 100 years since a wave of racist violence in the U.S. that became known as Red Summer. In many ways, Red Summer was a response to (but NOT caused by) two earlier events: the Great Migration and the return of black soldiers who had fought in World War I.

This 2019 episode marked 100 years since a wave of racist violence in the U.S. that became known as Red Summer. In many ways, Red Summer was a response to (but NOT caused by) two earlier events: the Great Migration and the return of black soldiers who had fought in World War I.

SYMHC Classics: Red Summer 1919

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/4c1c6b70-8c61-434f-b5ae-b43c017676c4/transcript

Holly and Tracy commiserate about sending greeting cards. Tracy talks about how she shifted away from an episode exclusively about Frances Thompson.

Holly and Tracy commiserate about sending greeting cards. Tracy talks about how she shifted away from an episode exclusively about Frances Thompson.

Behind the Scenes Minis: Greetings and Context

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/0730cbe0-425a-47e7-aa8e-b43c0174a000/transcript

The Memphis Massacre was a truly horrific wave of destruction and violence, including sexual violence, against the Black community of Memphis just a year after the end of the U.S. Civil War.

Research:
“Memphis Daily Appeal Interviews Frances Thompson (1876),” SHEC: Resources for Teachers, accessed April 9, 2026, https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/3717.
“The Outrage Mill.” The North Missouri Register. 9/14/1876.
“The Reports of the Committees of the House of Representatives Made during the First Session Thirty-ninth Congress, 1865-’66.” Washington: Government Printing Office. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/SERIALSET-01274_00_00-002-0101-0000/context
Blank, Christopher. “Do The Words 'Race Riot' Belong On A Historic Marker In Memphis?” Code Switch. NPR. 5/2/2016. https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2016/05/02/476450908/in-memphis-a-divide-over-how-to-remember-a-massacre-150-years-later
Britannica Editors. "Memphis massacre of 1866". Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 Feb. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/event/Memphis-Race-Riot. Accessed 8 April 2026.
Carriere, Marius. “An Irresponsible Press: Memphis Newspapers and the 1866 Riot.” Tennessee Historical Quarterly , Spring 2001, Vol. 60, No. 1. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42628498
Davis, Justin A. “How a disabled Black trans woman left her mark on 19th-century Memphis.” The Emancipator. 6/13/2024. https://theemancipator.org/2024/06/13/topics/histories/how-a-disabled-black-trans-woman-left-her-mark-on-19th-century-memphis/
Donald, Bernice Bouie. “When the Rule of Law Breaks Down: Implications of the 1866 Memphis Massacre for the Passage of the Fourteenth Amendment.” Boston Law Review. Vol. 98. 2018.
Equal Justice Institute. “On this day - Apr 30, 1866: White Police and Mobs Terrorize and Kill Black Residents in Memphis.” https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/apr/30
Harper’s Weekly. “The Memphis Riots.” 5/26/1866.
Johnson, Charles F. and T.W. Gilbreth. “The Freedmen’s Bureau Report on the Memphis Race Riots of 1866.” 5/22/1866. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-freedmens-bureau-report-on-the-memphis-race-riots-of-1866/
Kimberley, Lewis. “’If you kill him, you have got to kill me first’: examining individual and collective loyalties during the Memphis Massacre (1866).” American Nineteenth Century History. Vol. 25, 2024. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14664658.2024.2316465
O’Donovan, Susan and Beverly Bond. “ ‘A History They Can Use’: The Memphis Massacre and Reconstruction’s Public History Terrain.” The Journal of the Civil War Era. 8/15/2016. https://www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2016/08/history-can-use-memphis-massacre-reconstructions-public-history-terrain/
Stryker, Susan. “To Appear As We Please.” Aperture, Winter 2017, No. 229, Future Gender. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44898154
Walker, Barrington. “'This is the White Man's Day': The Irish, White Racial Identity, and the 1866 Memphis Riots.” Left History. Vol. 5, No. 2, 1997. https://doi.org/10.25071/1913-9632.5336

The Memphis Massacre was a truly horrific wave of destruction and violence, including sexual violence, against the Black community of Memphis just a year after the end of the U.S. Civil War.
Research:
<ul>
<li>&ldquo;Memphis Daily Appeal Interviews Frances Thompson (1876),&rdquo; SHEC: Resources for Teachers, accessed April 9, 2026, https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/3717.</li>
<li>&ldquo;The Outrage Mill.&rdquo; The North Missouri Register. 9/14/1876.</li>
<li>&ldquo;The Reports of the Committees of the House of Representatives Made during the First Session Thirty-ninth Congress, 1865-&rsquo;66.&rdquo; Washington: Government Printing Office. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/SERIALSET-01274_00_00-002-0101-0000/context</li>
<li>Blank, Christopher. &ldquo;Do The Words 'Race Riot' Belong On A Historic Marker In Memphis?&rdquo; Code Switch. NPR. 5/2/2016. https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2016/05/02/476450908/in-memphis-a-divide-over-how-to-remember-a-massacre-150-years-later</li>
<li>Britannica Editors. "Memphis massacre of 1866". Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 Feb. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/event/Memphis-Race-Riot. Accessed 8 April 2026.</li>
<li>Carriere, Marius. &ldquo;An Irresponsible Press: Memphis Newspapers and the 1866 Riot.&rdquo; Tennessee Historical Quarterly , Spring 2001, Vol. 60, No. 1. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42628498</li>
<li>Davis, Justin A. &ldquo;How a disabled Black trans woman left her mark on 19th-century Memphis.&rdquo; The Emancipator. 6/13/2024. https://theemancipator.org/2024/06/13/topics/histories/how-a-disabled-black-trans-woman-left-her-mark-on-19th-century-memphis/</li>
<li>Donald, Bernice Bouie. &ldquo;When the Rule of Law Breaks Down: Implications of the 1866 Memphis Massacre for the Passage of the Fourteenth Amendment.&rdquo; Boston Law Review. Vol. 98. 2018.</li>
<li>Equal Justice Institute. &ldquo;On this day - Apr 30, 1866: White Police and Mobs Terrorize and Kill Black Residents in Memphis.&rdquo; https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/apr/30</li>
<li>Harper&rsquo;s Weekly. &ldquo;The Memphis Riots.&rdquo; 5/26/1866.</li>
<li>Johnson, Charles F. and T.W. Gilbreth. &ldquo;The Freedmen&rsquo;s Bureau Report on the Memphis Race Riots of 1866.&rdquo; 5/22/1866. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-freedmens-bureau-report-on-the-memphis-race-riots-of-1866/</li>
<li>Kimberley, Lewis. &ldquo;&rsquo;If you kill him, you have got to kill me first&rsquo;: examining individual and collective loyalties during the Memphis Massacre (1866).&rdquo; American Nineteenth Century History. Vol. 25, 2024. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14664658.2024.2316465</li>
<li>O&rsquo;Donovan, Susan and Beverly Bond. &ldquo; &lsquo;A History They Can Use&rsquo;: The Memphis Massacre and Reconstruction&rsquo;s Public History Terrain.&rdquo; The Journal of the Civil War Era. 8/15/2016. https://www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2016/08/history-can-use-memphis-massacre-reconstructions-public-history-terrain/</li>
<li>Stryker, Susan. &ldquo;To Appear As We Please.&rdquo; Aperture, Winter 2017, No. 229, Future Gender. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44898154</li>
<li>Walker, Barrington. &ldquo;'This is the White Man's Day': The Irish, White Racial Identity, and the 1866 Memphis Riots.&rdquo; Left History. Vol. 5, No. 2, 1997. https://doi.org/10.25071/1913-9632.5336</li>
</ul>

The Memphis Massacre was a truly horrific wave of destruction and violence, including sexual violence, against the Black community of Memphis just a year after the end of the U.S. Civil War.

The Memphis Massacre

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/2583c7b8-5e76-4e36-bed6-b439005be35b/transcript

Lettuce, Slavery, and the Bibb Legacy

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