John Hodgson was interviewed on NPR’s WAMU radio station on his new book, Richard Potter: America’s First Black Celebrity. The interview is available for free from WAMU and includes excerpts from the Potter book.
Mr. Hodgson will present on his book in Keene (4/23), Concord(5/5), and Hopinton, NH (6/24). More details..
The meeting at the Magic Barn on March 24 was a great success. Thanks to Vincent Golden, curator of newspapers at the American Antiquarian Society, for his lecture on the less obvious magic items among their holdings. The attending members are pictured below at The Magic Barn in Ashland, MA.
John Hodgson, author of the newly published book, Richard Potter, America’s First Black Celebrity, will perform a first presentation and book signing on Sunday, March 4, 2018 at the Temple Israel Social Hall in Portsmouth NH.
As a special feature of the book signing, Robert Olson will perform the magic of Richard Potter.
Apart from a handful of exotic–and almost completely unreliable–tales surrounding his life, Richard Potter is almost unknown today. Two hundred years ago, however, he was the most popular entertainer in America–the first showman, in fact, to win truly nationwide fame. Working as a magician and ventriloquist, he personified for an entire generation what a popular performer was and made an invaluable contribution to establishing popular entertainment as a major part of American life. His story is all the more remarkable in that Richard Potter was also a black man.