season ONE

EPISODE #03 - oakland sunshine

In this episode we learn how the PPIE’s “Jewel City” was named by a young African American girl named Virginia Stephens.  This story is brought to light by the work of journalist and historian Delilah Beasley, who was writing at the time of the PPIE. We were inspired to tell this story demonstrating the power of naming as it highlights Beasley’s larger efforts to insert Black history into early California narratives. Anecdotally, We begin with the naming of California, a story that Beasley connects to a larger history of Black Californians.

 “Oakland Sunshine” was the name of one of the newspapers Delilah Beasley wrote for during the time of the PPIE - the other being the Oakland Tribune. No question: she was extraordinary. Not only was Beasley a female African American writing during a time with deeply ingrained racism and gender inequality, but she took it upon herself to write a history of African Americans in the state of California. In 1919 she self-published The Negro Trailblazers of California, an amazing text beginning with the story of California’s naming and ending in the early 20th century.

This episode provides context for our next story, which will focus on the film Birth of a Nation by D.W. Griffith.  In the Bay Area, Delilah Beasley rallied against the film in her work as a journalist, leading demonstrations against the film. We wanted to show that as Black Californians organized a symbolic parade for the PPIE, the film also screened in California and the PPIE throughout the year. We found this tension fascinating to our historical imagination, and decided to use the soundtrack from music composed for Birth of a Nation to give an impression of the era.

CREDITS:

PRODUCER/editor

TONY GANNON

PRODUCtion support

KIP REINSMITH & johanna hoffman

INTERVIEW WITH 

professor lynn hudson

SUPPORT AND THANKS

MANY THANKS TO THE FOLKS AT THE CALIFORNIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY:

ANTHEA HARTIG

KATHY YOUNG

ADAM HIRSCHFELDER

+ JAN BERCKEFELDT, MAYBECK FOUNDATION

 

EXTRA SPECIAL THANKS TO:

PATTY PFORTE
 

Additional Thanks:

Dana Gerber-Marie and The Audio Signal

Ashleyanne Krigbaum and KALW

Nancy Mullane

 

MUSIC CREDITS

orange feels pink

'birth of a nation' score

ADDITIONAL LINKS

CALIFORNIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY'S CURRENT EXHIBIT ON PPIE

 

EPISODE #02 - Gender armageddon

In this episode* of Subframe, we explore gender roles at the Panama Pacific International Exposition (PPIE) and specifically the shifting role of women around the time of the fair in 1915. We interview Sarah J. Moore, author of Empire on Display: San Francisco's Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915 who talks us through the iconic and gendered imagery of the fair. She delves into how technology was central in shaping perceptions of gender.

We also speak with Abigail Markwyn, author of Empress San Francisco: The Pacific Rim, the Great West, and California at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, and hear about the ways in which the women involved in PPIE used their limited powers to create actual movement and change for women & women's rights vis a vis the Women’s Board, as well as the fair’s YWCA. Markwyn explains the implications that the women’s suffrage movement had on people of different racial backgrounds.

Kip Reinsmith hosts this episode and shares his unique perspective on gender as a transman in modern day America.

*If you haven't listened to Episode 0 or Episode 1 of Subframe, we recommend you go back and start from the beginning to set the mood and to learn a little bit more about the Panama Pacific International Exposition before diving into this episode.

 

episode #01 - Jewel city REBUS

One hundred years ago in 1915, the Panama Pacific International Exposition (PPIE) opened its gates in San Francisco. Less than 10 years after the devastating earthquake of 1906, one of the 20th century’s greatest natural disasters, PPIE put San Francisco back on the map as a thriving international city. PPIE also marked the beginning of a new era in global expansion, specifically symbolized by the opening of the Panama Canal, the product of such enormous feats of engineering that it was named by the American Society of Civil Engineers as "one of the seven wonders of the modern world."

Subframe #01 Jewel City Rebus explores what the fair symbolized for San Francisco and for the United States as a whole. We speak with Laura Ackley, architectural historian and author of San Francisco’s Jewel City: The Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915, who tells what it was like to stroll through the same front gates that allowed passage for more than 18 million visitors from 24 countries around the world. We also hear from Walter Hood, Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, about PPIE's optimism and architectural visions, as well as how the ghosts of PPIE still shape the San Francisco of today.

 

credits:

PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/EDITOR

TONY GANNON

PRODUCER

JOHANNA HOFFMAN

PRODUCER 

KIP REINSMITH

 

INTERVIEWs WITH 

LAURA ACKLEY + WALTER HOOD

MUSIC BY

CHROME CANYON

SUPPORT AND THANKS

many thanks to the folks at the california historical society:

anthea hartig

KATHY YOUNG

ADAM HIRSCHFELDER

+ jan berckefeldt, maybeck foundation

 

extra special thanks to:

patty pforte

 

additional links

CAlifornia historical society's current exhibit on PPIE

Walter Hood in conversation with Bill Moggridge at Cooper Hewitt

footage of ppie's opening day on february 20th, 1915

LAURA ACKLEY'S BOOK ABOUT PPIE, 'SAN FRANCISCO'S JEWEL CITY'

episode zero - WELCOME TO SUBFRAME

Welcome to our inaugural episode of Subframe! As video editors-turned-radio nerds, we became interested in the space that happens between the 24 frames/second that is typical in video formats. Audio allows us the opportunity split time even further, to delve inside of a frame and explore deeper - to find a subframe. Follow along as we explore what a subframe is and how we're using them as lenses to shape our view of the world. 

Credits:

Producer/Editor/sound design

Tony Gannon

Producers

johanna Hoffman + Kip reinsmith