Episode 420
Deep Dive: Stono Resistance, Tolstoy’s Moral Map, and the Curious 'Clowder' of Cats - September 9, 2025
Hosts Daniel Fletcher and Samuel Green examine a 1739 gathering near the Stono River as an early act of organized resistance, celebrate birthdays of Leo Tolstoy, Otis Redding, and Colonel Sanders with a focus on Tolstoy’s ethical arc, and share a whimsica
September 10, 20259m 41s
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Show Notes
In this Deep Dive episode, our hosts discuss the historical, literary, and curious natural-history moments tied to a single day.
- 📜 On this day in 1739 — about twenty Black Carolinians met near the Stono River, roughly twenty miles southwest of Charleston — a concentrated moment of organized resistance that reveals how geography, rivers, and proximity to urban centers shaped early acts of planning and defiance.
- 🎂 Today’s birthdays: Leo Tolstoy (1828), Otis Redding (1941), and Colonel Sanders (1890). The hosts linger on Tolstoy’s moral architecture — his novels as expansive examinations of individual choices rippling through society, and his later-life turn toward simplicity and social reform.
- 💡 Fact of the day: A group of cats is called a "clowder" — a charming, evocative term that reframes how we imagine cat social dynamics and naming conventions in natural history.
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Topics
DeepDiveStonoRiverStonoRebellionContext1739EnslavedResistanceDanielFletcherSamuelGreenLeoTolstoyTolstoyEthicsOtisReddingColonelSandersclowderanimalTerminologyhistoricalGeographyliteraryEthics