CURRENTLY READING
Passing Strange by Martha A. Sandweiss
Monday, May 26 through Friday, June 20, 2025
Read by Melvin Hinton
Clarence King was a late 19th-century celebrity, a brilliant scientist and explorer once described by Secretary of State John Hay as “the best and brightest of his generation.” But King hid a secret from his Gilded Age cohorts and prominent family in Newport: for thirteen years he lived a double life – the first as the prominent white geologist and writer Clarence King, and a second as the black Pullman porter and steelworker named James Todd. The fair, blue-eyed son of a wealthy China trader passed across the color line, revealing his secret to his black common-law wife, Ada Copeland, only on his deathbed. Noted historian Martha A. Sandweiss tells the dramatic, distinctively American tale of a family built along the fault lines of celebrity, class, and race- a story that spans the long century from Civil War to civil rights.
LISTENER ADVISORY: This book contains language which listeners may find offensive.
THEME: “From the Black Belt” by William Grant Still performed by the Westchester Symphony Orchestra, Siegried Landau conductor
(Penguin Books; ISBN 10: 014311686X / ISBN 13 978-0143116868)
Readings are archived for one week following the broadcast day of the last chapter due to publisher 
copyright restrictions.
Latest Episodes
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Passing Strange 19 of 20 – Ada’s Day in Court
Ada’s court case against Clarence King’s lifelong friends and confidantes finally lands in court. The defense demeans Ada’s character and her race. Ada learns the identity of her true benefactor.
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Passing Strange 18 of 20 – The Racial Legacy of Clarence King
Ada and King’s (Todd’s) children grow up. His two daughters both marry white men and pass as white. His two surviving sons enlist in the service as “colored” men. In […]
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Passing Strange 17 of 20 – The Debts of Clarence King
Clarence King’s mother and friends discover that he died deeply in debt. His friends sell his art collection in an attempt to pay for his mother’s care and some of […]
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Passing Strange 16 of 20 – The Confession
Realizing he is dying and checked into the hospital as Clarence King, King (Todd) writes to his wife, finally telling her his true identity. He does not, however, do anything […]
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Passing Strange 15 of 20 – King Falls Ill
Following the birth of their fifth child, King learns while out West that there is a spot of tuberculosis on his lung. As race riots erupt in New York, King […]
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Coming Next
All The Beauty In The World by Patrick Bringley
monday, june 23 through friday, july 04, 2025
Read by pete bissen
Caught up in his glamorous fledgling career at The New Yorker, Patrick Bringley never thought that he’d become a guard at an art museum. Then his older brother was diagnosed with fatal cancer and he found himself needing to escape the mundane clamor of daily life. So he quit The New Yorker and sought solace in the most beautiful place he knew — The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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