June 11, 2025 • 36 mins
A murder in Georgetown brought together many people. Some were famous. Others deserved to be. Now, Mary's paintings hang in the Smithsonian. Dovey was a civil rights pioneer who became a minister too. Their paths never crossed in the District, but now, their legacies are forever intertwined.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Two days after her death, Mary was buried in Washington,
d c. It would have been her forty fourth birthday.
A bishop led the service and remembered his friend Mary
with fondness. He spoke of her quote honesty, her friendship,
and her rare sensitivity, that beauty which walked with her
(00:25):
and which flowed from her into each of our lives.
He then led the service in prayer. He even asked
for prayers for Mary's killer, that poor demented soul who
made this happen? Did the bishop believe this was the
act of one man? His voice filled the cavernous, arched
(00:46):
roof of the chapel of the National Cathedral. He tried
to explain the inexplicable.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
We cannot know why such a terrible, ugly, irrational thing
should have happened. The answer must lie somewhere in the
sin and sickness of the whole world, somewhere perhaps in
a pattern invisible to anybody else except God himself.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
It would be a stretch to say the bishop was
implying Mary's death was due to her powerful connections. He
might not have known about her affair few did back then,
and yet his words a pattern invisible somehow, some way.
You have to wonder if attendees were whispering or wondering,
(01:34):
was there something larger at play, bigger than any one man.
Mary's ex husband, Chord, sat at the front of the church.
The stoic cia man broke his composure. He openly sobbed.
But Chord wasn't alone in his sadness and confusion. There
was no rationale for Mary's death. In those early days,
(02:02):
Stuvey had only read the newspaper accounts of a murder
on the Towpath, But upon learning that the funeral took
place at the Washington National Cathedral, Dovey knew this woman
was important, a woman of privilege. At that point, Dovey
still didn't know she would be the one to defend
the black man accused of killing Mary, that she would
(02:24):
soon be at the center of this death, shrouded in mystery,
and that she would ultimately acquit the accused murderer, whoever
the killer was. They were never held accountable, and the
hard truth is we'll probably never know for sure who
killed Mary Pinchot Meyer. What we can do is remember
(02:46):
her and her artistic legacy as she deserves. But what
if that same legacy is being actively erased from luminary film,
Nation Entertainment and Neon Humm media. This is murder on
the towpath. I'm solid at O'Brien today. The National Cathedral
(03:16):
typically holds services every Sunday. Just over ten miles away.
There's another church in the district leading its congregation in
weekly prayer, Alan Chapel Church.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Alan Chapel isn't up the progressive church that believes in
a variety of music, Gospel, hymn's, anthem and people clap
their hands.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
That's Velma Spate. She's been coming to Alan Chapel for
more than fifty years. She's now the superintendent of the
church school. When Velma joined Alan Chapel, she immediately noticed
one of the ministers. In fact, you couldn't miss her.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
She was very profound. When she said something, you knew
that she spoke with authority and that she knew what
she was talking about. She wasn't a person who was
very loud and had to holler a scream, but she
was able to get a point across that made you think,
(04:23):
and it was right on time with whatever you were
experiencing or whatever was going on in the world. She
gave you comfort, she gave you hope, and dove it
was here doing that when I came.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
That's right. Dovey was Velma's minister.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
And I just think its natural that she would go
into the ministry, just very natural.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
That's Patricia Bradford. She's another member of Alan Chappel. Dovey
entered the ministry at age forty seven. Two years later
she had worked her way up to become an elder.
The church had long been an institution, you see. Alan
Chappell is part of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. A
former slave named Richard Allen founded it. He bought his
(05:09):
freedom in the late eighteenth century and created what became
the first national black church. Dovey was proud of these facts.
In nineteen sixty one, African Methodist Episcopal churches decided to
do something unheard of, ordain female ministers. Dovey rejoiced and
immediately signed up to be one. She always loved the church,
(05:32):
but now women could be on equal footing with men
in the pulpit, including herself. Here's Dovey's daughter, Charlene Pritchett Stephenson.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
Sometimes when the Lord tries to get your attention, and
you kind of have an idea, but you keep running
and you keep doing other things. But at some point
he gets your ear and you know it Sam, And
so she accepted the call.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Look, it was classic Dovey. Just because something hadn't been
done before didn't mean she wouldn't do it.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Why wouldn't she help to make the am Church become
a church that welcomed women into the pulpit. It's just
a natural thing for her to do, given her life.
It was revolutionary.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
She wore soft pastel colors to church on Sunday, always
took the time to iron her clothing.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
And she was a petite little lading, so she was
a little shorter than a podium. I don't know how
she was able to peer over the.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Top, but she did.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
She had this strong, raspy voice, and she always talked
with a lot of emotion, even if she were just
talking to you.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
And whether it was the fourth floor of the District
Courthouse or Sunday services, Dovey knew how to command an audience.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
I loved to appreciate my father was a going to
appreciate that he lived.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
He died in nineteen nineteen, and my joy is in
some way he has heard me preaching.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
I can just see her standing there and looking at
the congregation and really looking at us, not looking over
our heads, but making eye contact and encouraging us, and
reminding us that we were children and that we had
a father who cared for us and would never forsake us.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
During the trial, it was said dove was very maternal
toward Ray. Now speaking at the podium, it was like
she had an entire congregation of her children, and they
treated her with the respect you'd give a family elder too.
In the prime of her legal career, Dovey offered parishioner's
counsel and gave sermons at the pulpit. I have to
(07:53):
wonder how being a religious leader informed her legal career.
How she must have spoken and looked at the j
with such veracity, such passion that verged on the spiritual.
But while her legal work had an impact that was
so impressive, so meaningful, her congregation barely knew about any
(08:14):
of it. Here's Patricia again.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
She never bragged about what she did, or who she was,
or the shoulders the people she brushed up against. In
a normal day, she never would have come back and said, oh,
today I saw so and so. I never heard her
ever make herself seem bigger than life, and she really was.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Velma seems to agree.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
She was not. When I say, a very out in
your face kind of person, I mean she was very
soft spoken and not one of the kind of people
who is always has to be seen or always has
a lot to say about something.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Religion was part of the fabric of Dovey's childhood. Hearing
hymns and praising the Lord without all encompassing joy brought
Dovey back to Charlotte. She was once again that little
girl at ame Zion watching her grandpa, Reverend Clyde Graham,
lead the congregation in prayer.
Speaker 5 (09:20):
It was that bond that family had that they prayed together.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
That's Charlene again. They believed in.
Speaker 5 (09:29):
The scriptures and what they were taught from the Sunday
School and from church.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Religion was Dovey's sanctuary. By the time she became a minister,
Dovey had been practicing law for over a decade. She
was tired. She saw first hand how hard it was
to turn the tides of prejudice toward justice. How maybe
there were limitations to the law that some pain needed
(09:57):
solace and resolution not in the court, but in the
church pews and at church, Dovey didn't have to worry
about presenting herself in white spaces. She didn't have to
think about people underestimating her. She could just be be
comforted by her people be comforted by God. In nineteen
(10:20):
ninety two, Alan Chappell changed Uvey's life in another significant way.
Charlene Pritchett Stephenson walked into services one Sunday when Dovey
was giving a sermon.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
I was so inspired by her message, and she talked
of faith and hope, and she mentioned her grandmother, Rachel,
and I too was raised by my grandmother. And she
also mentioned that she was from Charlotte, North Carolina. Well, Charlotte,
North Carolina is fifty two miles from my home.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
At the end of mass, Charlene went up to Dobby.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
I whispered to her that I was from wastebur and
she smiled.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
It was a fleeting moment of connection. The two women
could have stayed strangers. But as Charlene left church that day,
she saw Dobbie standing curbside.
Speaker 5 (11:08):
That was strange to me for an elderly person to
be waiting for a taxi. I'm from the South. That
was just unheard of to me. So I said, I'll
take you home, and she said, no, just take me
to Pennsylvania Avenue and I can get a cab. And
I said, no, ma'am, I'll take you home. So I
took her home, and so she invited me to dinner.
Her sister had cooked, and so we sat down and
(11:32):
we were talking a little bit about Charlotte getting to
know one another, and it was just something, it was
just I can't put my hand on I just know
it was something that the Lord ordained. We shared so much,
and so he gave me Nana and the rel She
was looking for a daughter. She didn't have any children,
so it was a perfect match. It was a perfect match,
(11:55):
and I thank God for that.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Charlene's mother had passed away earlier. She hadn't realized it
until then, but she had been looking for a mother figure,
and Dovey had always wanted a family. She never remarried.
After she and William Browntree divorced at nearly eighty years old,
Dovey found a way to have children of her own.
(12:21):
Charlene moved in, cared for Dobby, tended to her needs.
In her retirement years, she encouraged Charlene to get her
master's degree, which she did, and for a time Dovey
lived not only with Charlene, but with Charlene's son, James.
Now that she had the time, Dovey and her grandson
(12:41):
James would take sprawling walks together.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
Once they were out in the backyard and James was playing,
he had a little basketball goal out there. Well, she
was on her walker shooting basketball with my son, and
that was my first thought was, oh my goodness. But
they were having so much much fun. So those memories
I am so grateful for.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Dovey and James told each other stories. He'd tell her
stories about summer camp. She'd tell him about Grandma Rachel,
about her broken feet and her resilience, about Spelman and
Miss Neptune about passing it on. As dove entered the
(13:26):
final years of her life, she moved back to North
Carolina to be closer to other relatives. She developed Alzheimer's
and in twenty eighteen, at one hundred and four years old,
Dovey passed away. Family and friends honored her with a
homegoing ceremony in Charlotte, An attorney who went to Dobby's
(13:48):
church attended the funeral. Her name's Laruby.
Speaker 6 (13:51):
May you know the service. It was small and again
recognizing that when you've lived over a century, you have
very few contemporary that are still living. You know, it
wasn't necessarily a large funeral, but it was a very
full funeral, meaning it was full of love and full
of people who were appreciative of her greatness and her
(14:14):
impact on their lives. And I decided to speak on
how powerful her voice was, how amazing her voice was
as a lawyer, as a minister, as a pioneer, as
you know, all the things she did in life.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
The New York Times published Dubby's obituary. You should definitely
check it out if you haven't yet.
Speaker 7 (14:38):
Miss Rowntree's victory in the Crumb case was not her
first noteworthy accomplishment, and it was by no means her last.
Born to a family of slender means in Jim Crow South,
miss Rowntree, or Reverend Dove Johnson Rountree, as she was
long formally known, was instrumental in winning a speed of
advances for blacks and women in mid century America, blazing
(15:00):
trails in the military the legal profession and the ministry.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
It's satisfying to see Dovey getting her due in the
paper of record, but reading it, I also felt a
bit sad. I kept asking myself, how did I not
know about this woman? The paper says it outright.
Speaker 7 (15:19):
Yet for all of her perseverance and all of her prowess,
Miss Rountree remained, by temperament, choice, and political circumstance, comparatively unknown.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
We tell the story of Rosa Parks, we post the
RBG memes online. Why didn't I know Dovey's name when
she was alive? Here's what Congregant Patricia Bradford had to say.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
For most of history, women have been left out in
that history, and especially black women. So Dovey Johnson Rountree
comes along and she decides the blair role in all
parts of American history.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
The gatekeepers of history have traditionally been white men. They've
decided who deserves to be remembered, which is a shame.
You quickly realize how many other trailblazers are out there
who we don't know about. It's almost as if this
is the final hurdle for Dovey. She worked so hard
(16:27):
in her life to push against prejudices of the time.
Maybe that last step is to ensure that she's remembered.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
Our eighth grade social studies classes, especially DC history classes,
should be talking about Dovey. Rowntree law classes should be
looking at some of her cases. She just did so
much in her time here.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Even when you go closer to Dovey's community memory of
the groundbreaking lawyer, her seminal case defending Ray Crump, they're
still barely known among the Alan Chapel congregants. Part of
that is because of Dubby's age. She was one hundred
and four when she passed away. There just aren't that
many congregants around to remember her. But some of the
(17:20):
reasoning is much darker.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
They don't talk about the case, mostly because people don't know,
and because so many devastating things are happening right now
in Southeast DC. Frankly, so many people would kind of
shrug and say, oh, well, that's what happens if you're
(17:44):
poor and you can't afford a lawyer, that's what happens.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
That's what happens. Patricia speaks with the kind of resignation
Black folks know all too well, why dwell on a
case from nineteen sixty five, when there's so much to
worry about in twenty twenty, when police brutality and white
supremacy are front page news as we speak. But if
you take the time to head to Washington, DC and
(18:13):
walk up the steps of the entrance of the church,
step inside, Dovey Johnson Roundtree is hard to miss. One
of our producers met up with Velma Spate at Alan Chapel,
where she attends services as often as she can. Velma
wore a longsleeved beige sweater and small gold hoops. It
(18:37):
looked like she matched the lobby. The floor is an
eggshell colored marble. Gold sculptures and frames adorn the space,
and plants sit on risers, looking like altars onto themselves.
It's bright, open and modern, maybe even a little sparse,
like the first floor of a doctor's office. But as
(18:57):
soon as you walk into the space, three portraits immediately
catch your attention.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
When you come in the front door of our church,
w Rowntree is on the left hand side with a picture.
Our founder is on the right hand side, next to
the entrance to the church.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
That founder being Richard Allen, the former slave.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
And our pastor is in the center is sort of
set up as a trinity, like the Father's Son and
the Holy Spirit, and to have a woman as part
of that trinity is quite an amazing feat and quite
an encouragement to our young people.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
The church staff even keeps a bouquet under her portrait
on a gold table.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
We try to keep some flowers in front of her,
just to make it look beautiful and to remember her.
It looks like carnations and baby breath and some other
decorative greenery in the vase.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
In the photo, Dovey's wearing a collared button down blouse
with stripes.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
This is a younger picture of Dobby. Looks like maybe
she might been late twenties, early thirties.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
She looks self possessed and determined as ever as if
the camera flashed while Grandma Rachel told the story about
her feet one more time. Next to Dove's portrait, there's
a plaque.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
So Velma, could you please read the plaque for us?
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Okay, let me get a little closer with the eyesight.
Here it says missus w May Johnson, Roundtree April to seventeen,
nineteen fourteen May the twenty first, twenty and eighteen ordained
a Emmy, reverend, commissioned Army officer, attorney at law, champion
(20:57):
for human rights, civil rights, just and spiritual deliverance. Reverend W.
Johnson Rowntree believed she was born for such a time
as this, and asked a call on her life to
become a strong woman of God, a preacher woman, an
instrument for a change in both the military and the church,
(21:21):
and a crusader for justice in the communities and court
rooms of this great American democracy.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
The plaque is long. No surprise there when Dubby has
so many accomplishments Spelman Howard, World War Two of US
segregation case Brown versus Board, and then in the seventh paragraph.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
As a practicing attorney, Roundtree handled many cases, but one
that garnered major headlines was her defense of mister Ray Crump,
a Washington d C. Day laborer who was falsely accused
of the nineteen sixty four murder of a George Town socialite,
an ex wife of a CIA officer. Through tireless efforts
(22:05):
I turning round Tree was able to win his acquittal
and become one of the city's most well known criminal
defense attorneys. So what do you make of what you
just read on the plaque, it highlights the major things
that she did, but we can never ever know all
the things. But if we remember the things that we
(22:28):
have outline here, then it encourages us in our younger
generation to make the most of what they have.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
When I read the plaque, in some ways it surprised
me that the murder of Mary Pinchot Meyer was on it.
I mean, a plaque only has so much space, and
while we know the importance of this trial next to
Duve's other numerous accolades, it could have gotten lost or overlooked.
(23:00):
It shows there are so many unanswered questions still tied
to this case, and once you hear it, it sticks
with you. Maybe it's the glitz and intrigue of Mary
Meyer's socialite life in DC and her connections to JFK
Or as Velma seems to think, maybe it's Doubby Rowntree,
(23:20):
her commitment to social justice and her undeniable legal smarts
that helped her win Ray his freedom.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
I think it was important because it set the tongue
as this black woman being an astute and a capable
kriminal defense attorney. It set the tongue for her becoming
a major defense attorney in Washington, d C. And being
(23:50):
a woman at that so Velma.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
When people are coming through the vestibulle, you know they're
seeing these other plaques. Do you get questions about her?
Speaker 3 (24:00):
The people come to our church, they always stop and
look at who the pictures are, and some of them
may not have even heard about her until now, and
it makes them want to find out who she is
and why, how she accomplished all the many feats that
are written on this black and people want to know more,
(24:21):
and we refer them to her.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Book, That's Mighty Justice, the memoir doubIe wrote with author
Katie McCabe.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
We tell them, I guess we'd probably need to put
a copy out here, but I'm afraid if we did,
it wouldn't stay.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
One of the people who wanted to learn more about
Dobbie was Laruby May. She was the lawyer who attended
Dove's homegoing. She actually served on the DC City Council.
When she read Dubbie's memoir, it changed her life.
Speaker 6 (24:54):
When you find out about Debbie Rowntree, you're like, oh
my god, like wow, like what a person, what a human?
Speaker 1 (25:01):
What a lawyer?
Speaker 6 (25:02):
What a thinker? And it was just like, who this
amazing woman right, like you know, sat in this church
where I'm sitting, and you know, worked in this community
where I am, and it was just, you know, I
just got I got lost, like I got lost in
in this world of wanting to know more.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
L Ruby reveres Dubby. She named a senior center after her.
She's even named her conference room after Dubby. Every person
who walks in learns about her role model.
Speaker 6 (25:30):
There's just so many different ways where as a black woman,
she showed that.
Speaker 8 (25:36):
Again our ability to lead.
Speaker 6 (25:40):
Is as significant as great as any other gender or
any other race of people to do those same things.
I think, no matter if you're in ministry, if you're
in business, if you're in law, if you're just in
Serviceve provides a foundation that any little black girl anywhere
(26:02):
doing anything right, if they were to learn about her
or to understand her story, that she would lay a
foundation for them that allows for them to grow into
being who God has made them to be, and as
a part of that allows them to contribute to their families,
to their communities, and to the greater world.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Dovey wrote her story, but her name is still relatively unknown.
More people may have heard Mary Meyer's name. Her murder
made headlines after all, and yet because her life was
cut short, she and her legacy are less understood. Mary's
story is still being discovered, especially when it comes to
(26:47):
her art.
Speaker 9 (26:48):
Mary Meyer was an ambitious artist. She showed her work.
She showed her work at the Washington Gallery of Modern Art,
she showed her work at Jefferson Place Gallery. She was
at a show that traveled to Latin America.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
That's Helene Posner again. She and Sue Scott are the
art curators we spoke to earlier in the season, and
they think Mary's paintings deserve more recognition.
Speaker 9 (27:10):
There are certain artists who are anointed or a part
of this canon or the part of art history. We're
trying to expand that canon and look at figures who
may not have been thought of her considered before, been
sidelined for any number of reasons, who are really worthy
of reevaluation. And we think Mary Meyer is one of
those artists.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Not only do they want to evaluate Mary's work, but
they believe in it enough that they want to mount
and exhibit of her pieces.
Speaker 9 (27:36):
What we're doing right now is talking to colleagues and contexts.
We have in Washington, in New York and trying to
chase down leads to see if we can find some work.
We don't think we have to have an enormous number
of work to do a show. It could be a
very small, focused exhibition, but it would give us a chance.
You know, if there were five or six or ten paintings,
(27:59):
we give us as to look at the work, right
about it, evaluated, contextualize it.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
The problem is there's no work to exhibit. Back in
episode five, we talked about Mary's painting Half Light. That's
the one that's currently at the Smithsonian being restored. Half
Light is the sole painting of Mary Pincho Meyers available
for public viewing. So what's odd is, even though it's
(28:27):
estimated Mary painted dozens of works in her lifetime, there
are none to see. But even stranger nobody knows where
they are.
Speaker 8 (28:38):
Who does have it the paintings.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
In recent months, Sue and Helene have been on the
hunt to find her artwork.
Speaker 9 (28:47):
So I would say we've hit some dead ends. The
works are not in museum collections, they're in private collections.
We have to find private collectors who are willing to
share that information with us, and so far we have
not succeeded, but will persist.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Not everyone who has a painting is willing to admit
they do.
Speaker 10 (29:10):
And in some cases we've been told by other people
that they are in certain collections, and when we go
to those people, they say they don't have them, or
they eventually don't get back to us, and then we'll
go back to the original person. Let's say, I know
I saw it in their house, so you know that
was years ago that they saw.
Speaker 8 (29:28):
In their house. But it's like it's this sort of
search for truth, like who does have it? Who doesn't
have them? If they have it and they don't want
to share.
Speaker 10 (29:37):
It, why, So it's you know, it's just this whole
thing of shrouded in mystery.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Mary's inner circle has long been protective of her, saying
very little in the press, but it's confounding that her
art hasn't made its way into galleries.
Speaker 9 (29:56):
It's we're just puzzled that the work has not become
more accessib visible.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
The questions around Mary's art just adds to the cone
of silence surrounding the rest of her life and death.
So many pieces still just don't add up. It's maddening,
but it's also why this story remains fascinating. How were
the bullets that killed Mary so precise? What the heck
(30:23):
did the CIA really want with Mary's diary? And why
is Mary's family so reluctant to talk about the case
and her art to this day. Maybe it's because Mary's
living relatives and friends are still traumatized by her untimely passing,
or protective of how she's perceived her legacy is intertwined
(30:46):
with conspiracies and an affair with one of the most
beloved presidents of the United States. But even still, this
feels different. This is an opportunity to secure her artistic legacy,
one that seemed to be on the verge of greatness
when she was murdered, A chance to celebrate her vision,
(31:07):
her creativity, her brilliant mind, and not as her friends
and family may want to avoid, dwell on her untimely
and painful death. So what's stopping her collectors from sharing
this vital part of Mary's life.
Speaker 9 (31:22):
We think people are protective of her, but our feeling
is she was a working artist, She was a practicing artist,
and she would want her work to be shared and seen.
You can't look at someone's life through their untimely death.
Mary Meyer didn't know she was going to suffer an
untimely death. She was an active, practicing artist. If the
story takes fifty years to tell, it takes fifty years
(31:44):
to tell.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Helene wants Mary's art to have the second chapter that
Mary herself was denied. She wants to know more about
Mary Meyer's work and to tell the world about it
more than a half century after her death.
Speaker 9 (31:59):
Once we see the work, we will be able to
look at it, critique it, exhibit it, right about it.
Bring her into the bigger dialogue, bring her into the
artistic mainstream where she belongs.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
We talk a lot about how Dovey saved Ray Crump
on July thirtieth, nineteen sixty five. But I think there's
another person Dovey helped that day. Mary Here's Alexis Co.
Speaker 11 (32:27):
When Rountree won that day, she didn't just get Crump acquitted, She,
in theory, did a service to Mary Meyer because Crump's
acquittal should have motivated police to keep looking, to show
the government that they couldn't bury this. And so it's
(32:50):
really interesting to think about their relationship as well.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
As I've told the story of these two women I've
often wondered what it would have been like if Dovey
and Mary had met. What would Dovey have thought of
Mary's art? Would Mary have wanted to discuss civil rights
with Dovey being a veteran herself. Would Dovey agree with
Mary's pacifist views. Here are two women who could not
(33:16):
have been more different in so many ways, their backgrounds,
their privilege, the way society viewed them. And yet they
were similar too. They were both independent, opinionated, fearless. Finally,
and most importantly, there's this. Both women at their cores
(33:36):
remained true to themselves. Each one tried to become someone
in a world that had no interest in women standing out.
Mary Pinchot Meyer died decades ago on that fateful day
in nineteen sixty four. Dovey Johnson Rowntree died in twenty eighteen.
That doesn't mean their stories have to perish with them.
(34:00):
Maybe their memories can live on, and that's what's up
to us. I'll never forget how the black elevator attendant
helped Dovey win her case defending Ray Crump, and Mary
I'll always remember how she remained a fervent pacifist willing
to leave her marriage for it, and she made powerful
leaders understand this passion too. Now you know Dove's story
(34:25):
and you know Mary's story. If you pass them on
in a way, they live on. But if we don't
tell their stories, their deaths are final. I never met
Dove or Mary, but through this podcast, I've had the
honor of helping keep their memories alive. I felt a
sense of urgency in telling their stories. They're too important
(34:47):
to forget. They should be remembered for their accomplishments and failures,
their complexity, and their resolve. Like mis Neptune told Dovey,
and like Dove told you, Charlene.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
Pass it on.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
From Luminary Murder on the Towpath is a production of
Film Nation Entertainment in association with Neon Humm Media. Our
executive producers are me Solidad O'Brien, Alyssa Martino, Milan Papelka,
and Jonathan Hirsch. Lead producer is Shara Morris. Associate producers
are Natalie Rinn and Lucy Licht. Senior editor is Catherine
(35:31):
Saint Louis. Music and composition by Andrew Eapen, Sound design
and mixing by Scott Sommerville fact checking by Laura Buller.
Special thanks to Alison Cohen, Sarah Vacchiano, Rose Arse, Kate Michigan,
Tanner Robbins, Adriana Gallo, Dan Revive, and Mikayla Celella
Two days after her death, Mary was buried in Washington,
d c. It would have been her forty fourth birthday.
A bishop led the service and remembered his friend Mary
with fondness. He spoke of her quote honesty, her friendship,
and her rare sensitivity, that beauty which walked with her
(00:25):
and which flowed from her into each of our lives.
He then led the service in prayer. He even asked
for prayers for Mary's killer, that poor demented soul who
made this happen? Did the bishop believe this was the
act of one man? His voice filled the cavernous, arched
(00:46):
roof of the chapel of the National Cathedral. He tried
to explain the inexplicable.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
We cannot know why such a terrible, ugly, irrational thing
should have happened. The answer must lie somewhere in the
sin and sickness of the whole world, somewhere perhaps in
a pattern invisible to anybody else except God himself.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
It would be a stretch to say the bishop was
implying Mary's death was due to her powerful connections. He
might not have known about her affair few did back then,
and yet his words a pattern invisible somehow, some way.
You have to wonder if attendees were whispering or wondering,
(01:34):
was there something larger at play, bigger than any one man.
Mary's ex husband, Chord, sat at the front of the church.
The stoic cia man broke his composure. He openly sobbed.
But Chord wasn't alone in his sadness and confusion. There
was no rationale for Mary's death. In those early days,
(02:02):
Stuvey had only read the newspaper accounts of a murder
on the Towpath, But upon learning that the funeral took
place at the Washington National Cathedral, Dovey knew this woman
was important, a woman of privilege. At that point, Dovey
still didn't know she would be the one to defend
the black man accused of killing Mary, that she would
(02:24):
soon be at the center of this death, shrouded in mystery,
and that she would ultimately acquit the accused murderer, whoever
the killer was. They were never held accountable, and the
hard truth is we'll probably never know for sure who
killed Mary Pinchot Meyer. What we can do is remember
(02:46):
her and her artistic legacy as she deserves. But what
if that same legacy is being actively erased from luminary film,
Nation Entertainment and Neon Humm media. This is murder on
the towpath. I'm solid at O'Brien today. The National Cathedral
(03:16):
typically holds services every Sunday. Just over ten miles away.
There's another church in the district leading its congregation in
weekly prayer, Alan Chapel Church.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Alan Chapel isn't up the progressive church that believes in
a variety of music, Gospel, hymn's, anthem and people clap
their hands.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
That's Velma Spate. She's been coming to Alan Chapel for
more than fifty years. She's now the superintendent of the
church school. When Velma joined Alan Chapel, she immediately noticed
one of the ministers. In fact, you couldn't miss her.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
She was very profound. When she said something, you knew
that she spoke with authority and that she knew what
she was talking about. She wasn't a person who was
very loud and had to holler a scream, but she
was able to get a point across that made you think,
(04:23):
and it was right on time with whatever you were
experiencing or whatever was going on in the world. She
gave you comfort, she gave you hope, and dove it
was here doing that when I came.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
That's right. Dovey was Velma's minister.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
And I just think its natural that she would go
into the ministry, just very natural.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
That's Patricia Bradford. She's another member of Alan Chappel. Dovey
entered the ministry at age forty seven. Two years later
she had worked her way up to become an elder.
The church had long been an institution, you see. Alan
Chappell is part of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. A
former slave named Richard Allen founded it. He bought his
(05:09):
freedom in the late eighteenth century and created what became
the first national black church. Dovey was proud of these facts.
In nineteen sixty one, African Methodist Episcopal churches decided to
do something unheard of, ordain female ministers. Dovey rejoiced and
immediately signed up to be one. She always loved the church,
(05:32):
but now women could be on equal footing with men
in the pulpit, including herself. Here's Dovey's daughter, Charlene Pritchett Stephenson.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
Sometimes when the Lord tries to get your attention, and
you kind of have an idea, but you keep running
and you keep doing other things. But at some point
he gets your ear and you know it Sam, And
so she accepted the call.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Look, it was classic Dovey. Just because something hadn't been
done before didn't mean she wouldn't do it.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Why wouldn't she help to make the am Church become
a church that welcomed women into the pulpit. It's just
a natural thing for her to do, given her life.
It was revolutionary.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
She wore soft pastel colors to church on Sunday, always
took the time to iron her clothing.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
And she was a petite little lading, so she was
a little shorter than a podium. I don't know how
she was able to peer over the.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Top, but she did.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
She had this strong, raspy voice, and she always talked
with a lot of emotion, even if she were just
talking to you.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
And whether it was the fourth floor of the District
Courthouse or Sunday services, Dovey knew how to command an audience.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
I loved to appreciate my father was a going to
appreciate that he lived.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
He died in nineteen nineteen, and my joy is in
some way he has heard me preaching.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
I can just see her standing there and looking at
the congregation and really looking at us, not looking over
our heads, but making eye contact and encouraging us, and
reminding us that we were children and that we had
a father who cared for us and would never forsake us.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
During the trial, it was said dove was very maternal
toward Ray. Now speaking at the podium, it was like
she had an entire congregation of her children, and they
treated her with the respect you'd give a family elder too.
In the prime of her legal career, Dovey offered parishioner's
counsel and gave sermons at the pulpit. I have to
(07:53):
wonder how being a religious leader informed her legal career.
How she must have spoken and looked at the j
with such veracity, such passion that verged on the spiritual.
But while her legal work had an impact that was
so impressive, so meaningful, her congregation barely knew about any
(08:14):
of it. Here's Patricia again.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
She never bragged about what she did, or who she was,
or the shoulders the people she brushed up against. In
a normal day, she never would have come back and said, oh,
today I saw so and so. I never heard her
ever make herself seem bigger than life, and she really was.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Velma seems to agree.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
She was not. When I say, a very out in
your face kind of person, I mean she was very
soft spoken and not one of the kind of people
who is always has to be seen or always has
a lot to say about something.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Religion was part of the fabric of Dovey's childhood. Hearing
hymns and praising the Lord without all encompassing joy brought
Dovey back to Charlotte. She was once again that little
girl at ame Zion watching her grandpa, Reverend Clyde Graham,
lead the congregation in prayer.
Speaker 5 (09:20):
It was that bond that family had that they prayed together.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
That's Charlene again. They believed in.
Speaker 5 (09:29):
The scriptures and what they were taught from the Sunday
School and from church.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Religion was Dovey's sanctuary. By the time she became a minister,
Dovey had been practicing law for over a decade. She
was tired. She saw first hand how hard it was
to turn the tides of prejudice toward justice. How maybe
there were limitations to the law that some pain needed
(09:57):
solace and resolution not in the court, but in the
church pews and at church, Dovey didn't have to worry
about presenting herself in white spaces. She didn't have to
think about people underestimating her. She could just be be
comforted by her people be comforted by God. In nineteen
(10:20):
ninety two, Alan Chappell changed Uvey's life in another significant way.
Charlene Pritchett Stephenson walked into services one Sunday when Dovey
was giving a sermon.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
I was so inspired by her message, and she talked
of faith and hope, and she mentioned her grandmother, Rachel,
and I too was raised by my grandmother. And she
also mentioned that she was from Charlotte, North Carolina. Well, Charlotte,
North Carolina is fifty two miles from my home.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
At the end of mass, Charlene went up to Dobby.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
I whispered to her that I was from wastebur and
she smiled.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
It was a fleeting moment of connection. The two women
could have stayed strangers. But as Charlene left church that day,
she saw Dobbie standing curbside.
Speaker 5 (11:08):
That was strange to me for an elderly person to
be waiting for a taxi. I'm from the South. That
was just unheard of to me. So I said, I'll
take you home, and she said, no, just take me
to Pennsylvania Avenue and I can get a cab. And
I said, no, ma'am, I'll take you home. So I
took her home, and so she invited me to dinner.
Her sister had cooked, and so we sat down and
(11:32):
we were talking a little bit about Charlotte getting to
know one another, and it was just something, it was
just I can't put my hand on I just know
it was something that the Lord ordained. We shared so much,
and so he gave me Nana and the rel She
was looking for a daughter. She didn't have any children,
so it was a perfect match. It was a perfect match,
(11:55):
and I thank God for that.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Charlene's mother had passed away earlier. She hadn't realized it
until then, but she had been looking for a mother figure,
and Dovey had always wanted a family. She never remarried.
After she and William Browntree divorced at nearly eighty years old,
Dovey found a way to have children of her own.
(12:21):
Charlene moved in, cared for Dobby, tended to her needs.
In her retirement years, she encouraged Charlene to get her
master's degree, which she did, and for a time Dovey
lived not only with Charlene, but with Charlene's son, James.
Now that she had the time, Dovey and her grandson
(12:41):
James would take sprawling walks together.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
Once they were out in the backyard and James was playing,
he had a little basketball goal out there. Well, she
was on her walker shooting basketball with my son, and
that was my first thought was, oh my goodness. But
they were having so much much fun. So those memories
I am so grateful for.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Dovey and James told each other stories. He'd tell her
stories about summer camp. She'd tell him about Grandma Rachel,
about her broken feet and her resilience, about Spelman and
Miss Neptune about passing it on. As dove entered the
(13:26):
final years of her life, she moved back to North
Carolina to be closer to other relatives. She developed Alzheimer's
and in twenty eighteen, at one hundred and four years old,
Dovey passed away. Family and friends honored her with a
homegoing ceremony in Charlotte, An attorney who went to Dobby's
(13:48):
church attended the funeral. Her name's Laruby.
Speaker 6 (13:51):
May you know the service. It was small and again
recognizing that when you've lived over a century, you have
very few contemporary that are still living. You know, it
wasn't necessarily a large funeral, but it was a very
full funeral, meaning it was full of love and full
of people who were appreciative of her greatness and her
(14:14):
impact on their lives. And I decided to speak on
how powerful her voice was, how amazing her voice was
as a lawyer, as a minister, as a pioneer, as
you know, all the things she did in life.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
The New York Times published Dubby's obituary. You should definitely
check it out if you haven't yet.
Speaker 7 (14:38):
Miss Rowntree's victory in the Crumb case was not her
first noteworthy accomplishment, and it was by no means her last.
Born to a family of slender means in Jim Crow South,
miss Rowntree, or Reverend Dove Johnson Rountree, as she was
long formally known, was instrumental in winning a speed of
advances for blacks and women in mid century America, blazing
(15:00):
trails in the military the legal profession and the ministry.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
It's satisfying to see Dovey getting her due in the
paper of record, but reading it, I also felt a
bit sad. I kept asking myself, how did I not
know about this woman? The paper says it outright.
Speaker 7 (15:19):
Yet for all of her perseverance and all of her prowess,
Miss Rountree remained, by temperament, choice, and political circumstance, comparatively unknown.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
We tell the story of Rosa Parks, we post the
RBG memes online. Why didn't I know Dovey's name when
she was alive? Here's what Congregant Patricia Bradford had to say.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
For most of history, women have been left out in
that history, and especially black women. So Dovey Johnson Rountree
comes along and she decides the blair role in all
parts of American history.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
The gatekeepers of history have traditionally been white men. They've
decided who deserves to be remembered, which is a shame.
You quickly realize how many other trailblazers are out there
who we don't know about. It's almost as if this
is the final hurdle for Dovey. She worked so hard
(16:27):
in her life to push against prejudices of the time.
Maybe that last step is to ensure that she's remembered.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
Our eighth grade social studies classes, especially DC history classes,
should be talking about Dovey. Rowntree law classes should be
looking at some of her cases. She just did so
much in her time here.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Even when you go closer to Dovey's community memory of
the groundbreaking lawyer, her seminal case defending Ray Crump, they're
still barely known among the Alan Chapel congregants. Part of
that is because of Dubby's age. She was one hundred
and four when she passed away. There just aren't that
many congregants around to remember her. But some of the
(17:20):
reasoning is much darker.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
They don't talk about the case, mostly because people don't know,
and because so many devastating things are happening right now
in Southeast DC. Frankly, so many people would kind of
shrug and say, oh, well, that's what happens if you're
(17:44):
poor and you can't afford a lawyer, that's what happens.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
That's what happens. Patricia speaks with the kind of resignation
Black folks know all too well, why dwell on a
case from nineteen sixty five, when there's so much to
worry about in twenty twenty, when police brutality and white
supremacy are front page news as we speak. But if
you take the time to head to Washington, DC and
(18:13):
walk up the steps of the entrance of the church,
step inside, Dovey Johnson Roundtree is hard to miss. One
of our producers met up with Velma Spate at Alan Chapel,
where she attends services as often as she can. Velma
wore a longsleeved beige sweater and small gold hoops. It
(18:37):
looked like she matched the lobby. The floor is an
eggshell colored marble. Gold sculptures and frames adorn the space,
and plants sit on risers, looking like altars onto themselves.
It's bright, open and modern, maybe even a little sparse,
like the first floor of a doctor's office. But as
(18:57):
soon as you walk into the space, three portraits immediately
catch your attention.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
When you come in the front door of our church,
w Rowntree is on the left hand side with a picture.
Our founder is on the right hand side, next to
the entrance to the church.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
That founder being Richard Allen, the former slave.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
And our pastor is in the center is sort of
set up as a trinity, like the Father's Son and
the Holy Spirit, and to have a woman as part
of that trinity is quite an amazing feat and quite
an encouragement to our young people.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
The church staff even keeps a bouquet under her portrait
on a gold table.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
We try to keep some flowers in front of her,
just to make it look beautiful and to remember her.
It looks like carnations and baby breath and some other
decorative greenery in the vase.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
In the photo, Dovey's wearing a collared button down blouse
with stripes.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
This is a younger picture of Dobby. Looks like maybe
she might been late twenties, early thirties.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
She looks self possessed and determined as ever as if
the camera flashed while Grandma Rachel told the story about
her feet one more time. Next to Dove's portrait, there's
a plaque.
Speaker 4 (20:30):
So Velma, could you please read the plaque for us?
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Okay, let me get a little closer with the eyesight.
Here it says missus w May Johnson, Roundtree April to seventeen,
nineteen fourteen May the twenty first, twenty and eighteen ordained
a Emmy, reverend, commissioned Army officer, attorney at law, champion
(20:57):
for human rights, civil rights, just and spiritual deliverance. Reverend W.
Johnson Rowntree believed she was born for such a time
as this, and asked a call on her life to
become a strong woman of God, a preacher woman, an
instrument for a change in both the military and the church,
(21:21):
and a crusader for justice in the communities and court
rooms of this great American democracy.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
The plaque is long. No surprise there when Dubby has
so many accomplishments Spelman Howard, World War Two of US
segregation case Brown versus Board, and then in the seventh paragraph.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
As a practicing attorney, Roundtree handled many cases, but one
that garnered major headlines was her defense of mister Ray Crump,
a Washington d C. Day laborer who was falsely accused
of the nineteen sixty four murder of a George Town socialite,
an ex wife of a CIA officer. Through tireless efforts
(22:05):
I turning round Tree was able to win his acquittal
and become one of the city's most well known criminal
defense attorneys. So what do you make of what you
just read on the plaque, it highlights the major things
that she did, but we can never ever know all
the things. But if we remember the things that we
(22:28):
have outline here, then it encourages us in our younger
generation to make the most of what they have.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
When I read the plaque, in some ways it surprised
me that the murder of Mary Pinchot Meyer was on it.
I mean, a plaque only has so much space, and
while we know the importance of this trial next to
Duve's other numerous accolades, it could have gotten lost or overlooked.
(23:00):
It shows there are so many unanswered questions still tied
to this case, and once you hear it, it sticks
with you. Maybe it's the glitz and intrigue of Mary
Meyer's socialite life in DC and her connections to JFK
Or as Velma seems to think, maybe it's Doubby Rowntree,
(23:20):
her commitment to social justice and her undeniable legal smarts
that helped her win Ray his freedom.
Speaker 3 (23:29):
I think it was important because it set the tongue
as this black woman being an astute and a capable
kriminal defense attorney. It set the tongue for her becoming
a major defense attorney in Washington, d C. And being
(23:50):
a woman at that so Velma.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
When people are coming through the vestibulle, you know they're
seeing these other plaques. Do you get questions about her?
Speaker 3 (24:00):
The people come to our church, they always stop and
look at who the pictures are, and some of them
may not have even heard about her until now, and
it makes them want to find out who she is
and why, how she accomplished all the many feats that
are written on this black and people want to know more,
(24:21):
and we refer them to her.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Book, That's Mighty Justice, the memoir doubIe wrote with author
Katie McCabe.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
We tell them, I guess we'd probably need to put
a copy out here, but I'm afraid if we did,
it wouldn't stay.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
One of the people who wanted to learn more about
Dobbie was Laruby May. She was the lawyer who attended
Dove's homegoing. She actually served on the DC City Council.
When she read Dubbie's memoir, it changed her life.
Speaker 6 (24:54):
When you find out about Debbie Rowntree, you're like, oh
my god, like wow, like what a person, what a human?
Speaker 1 (25:01):
What a lawyer?
Speaker 6 (25:02):
What a thinker? And it was just like, who this
amazing woman right, like you know, sat in this church
where I'm sitting, and you know, worked in this community
where I am, and it was just, you know, I
just got I got lost, like I got lost in
in this world of wanting to know more.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
L Ruby reveres Dubby. She named a senior center after her.
She's even named her conference room after Dubby. Every person
who walks in learns about her role model.
Speaker 6 (25:30):
There's just so many different ways where as a black woman,
she showed that.
Speaker 8 (25:36):
Again our ability to lead.
Speaker 6 (25:40):
Is as significant as great as any other gender or
any other race of people to do those same things.
I think, no matter if you're in ministry, if you're
in business, if you're in law, if you're just in
Serviceve provides a foundation that any little black girl anywhere
(26:02):
doing anything right, if they were to learn about her
or to understand her story, that she would lay a
foundation for them that allows for them to grow into
being who God has made them to be, and as
a part of that allows them to contribute to their families,
to their communities, and to the greater world.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Dovey wrote her story, but her name is still relatively unknown.
More people may have heard Mary Meyer's name. Her murder
made headlines after all, and yet because her life was
cut short, she and her legacy are less understood. Mary's
story is still being discovered, especially when it comes to
(26:47):
her art.
Speaker 9 (26:48):
Mary Meyer was an ambitious artist. She showed her work.
She showed her work at the Washington Gallery of Modern Art,
she showed her work at Jefferson Place Gallery. She was
at a show that traveled to Latin America.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
That's Helene Posner again. She and Sue Scott are the
art curators we spoke to earlier in the season, and
they think Mary's paintings deserve more recognition.
Speaker 9 (27:10):
There are certain artists who are anointed or a part
of this canon or the part of art history. We're
trying to expand that canon and look at figures who
may not have been thought of her considered before, been
sidelined for any number of reasons, who are really worthy
of reevaluation. And we think Mary Meyer is one of
those artists.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Not only do they want to evaluate Mary's work, but
they believe in it enough that they want to mount
and exhibit of her pieces.
Speaker 9 (27:36):
What we're doing right now is talking to colleagues and contexts.
We have in Washington, in New York and trying to
chase down leads to see if we can find some work.
We don't think we have to have an enormous number
of work to do a show. It could be a
very small, focused exhibition, but it would give us a chance.
You know, if there were five or six or ten paintings,
(27:59):
we give us as to look at the work, right
about it, evaluated, contextualize it.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
The problem is there's no work to exhibit. Back in
episode five, we talked about Mary's painting Half Light. That's
the one that's currently at the Smithsonian being restored. Half
Light is the sole painting of Mary Pincho Meyers available
for public viewing. So what's odd is, even though it's
(28:27):
estimated Mary painted dozens of works in her lifetime, there
are none to see. But even stranger nobody knows where
they are.
Speaker 8 (28:38):
Who does have it the paintings.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
In recent months, Sue and Helene have been on the
hunt to find her artwork.
Speaker 9 (28:47):
So I would say we've hit some dead ends. The
works are not in museum collections, they're in private collections.
We have to find private collectors who are willing to
share that information with us, and so far we have
not succeeded, but will persist.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Not everyone who has a painting is willing to admit
they do.
Speaker 10 (29:10):
And in some cases we've been told by other people
that they are in certain collections, and when we go
to those people, they say they don't have them, or
they eventually don't get back to us, and then we'll
go back to the original person. Let's say, I know
I saw it in their house, so you know that
was years ago that they saw.
Speaker 8 (29:28):
In their house. But it's like it's this sort of
search for truth, like who does have it? Who doesn't
have them? If they have it and they don't want
to share.
Speaker 10 (29:37):
It, why, So it's you know, it's just this whole
thing of shrouded in mystery.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Mary's inner circle has long been protective of her, saying
very little in the press, but it's confounding that her
art hasn't made its way into galleries.
Speaker 9 (29:56):
It's we're just puzzled that the work has not become
more accessib visible.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
The questions around Mary's art just adds to the cone
of silence surrounding the rest of her life and death.
So many pieces still just don't add up. It's maddening,
but it's also why this story remains fascinating. How were
the bullets that killed Mary so precise? What the heck
(30:23):
did the CIA really want with Mary's diary? And why
is Mary's family so reluctant to talk about the case
and her art to this day. Maybe it's because Mary's
living relatives and friends are still traumatized by her untimely passing,
or protective of how she's perceived her legacy is intertwined
(30:46):
with conspiracies and an affair with one of the most
beloved presidents of the United States. But even still, this
feels different. This is an opportunity to secure her artistic legacy,
one that seemed to be on the verge of greatness
when she was murdered, A chance to celebrate her vision,
(31:07):
her creativity, her brilliant mind, and not as her friends
and family may want to avoid, dwell on her untimely
and painful death. So what's stopping her collectors from sharing
this vital part of Mary's life.
Speaker 9 (31:22):
We think people are protective of her, but our feeling
is she was a working artist, She was a practicing artist,
and she would want her work to be shared and seen.
You can't look at someone's life through their untimely death.
Mary Meyer didn't know she was going to suffer an
untimely death. She was an active, practicing artist. If the
story takes fifty years to tell, it takes fifty years
(31:44):
to tell.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Helene wants Mary's art to have the second chapter that
Mary herself was denied. She wants to know more about
Mary Meyer's work and to tell the world about it
more than a half century after her death.
Speaker 9 (31:59):
Once we see the work, we will be able to
look at it, critique it, exhibit it, right about it.
Bring her into the bigger dialogue, bring her into the
artistic mainstream where she belongs.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
We talk a lot about how Dovey saved Ray Crump
on July thirtieth, nineteen sixty five. But I think there's
another person Dovey helped that day. Mary Here's Alexis Co.
Speaker 11 (32:27):
When Rountree won that day, she didn't just get Crump acquitted, She,
in theory, did a service to Mary Meyer because Crump's
acquittal should have motivated police to keep looking, to show
the government that they couldn't bury this. And so it's
(32:50):
really interesting to think about their relationship as well.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
As I've told the story of these two women I've
often wondered what it would have been like if Dovey
and Mary had met. What would Dovey have thought of
Mary's art? Would Mary have wanted to discuss civil rights
with Dovey being a veteran herself. Would Dovey agree with
Mary's pacifist views. Here are two women who could not
(33:16):
have been more different in so many ways, their backgrounds,
their privilege, the way society viewed them. And yet they
were similar too. They were both independent, opinionated, fearless. Finally,
and most importantly, there's this. Both women at their cores
(33:36):
remained true to themselves. Each one tried to become someone
in a world that had no interest in women standing out.
Mary Pinchot Meyer died decades ago on that fateful day
in nineteen sixty four. Dovey Johnson Rowntree died in twenty eighteen.
That doesn't mean their stories have to perish with them.
(34:00):
Maybe their memories can live on, and that's what's up
to us. I'll never forget how the black elevator attendant
helped Dovey win her case defending Ray Crump, and Mary
I'll always remember how she remained a fervent pacifist willing
to leave her marriage for it, and she made powerful
leaders understand this passion too. Now you know Dove's story
(34:25):
and you know Mary's story. If you pass them on
in a way, they live on. But if we don't
tell their stories, their deaths are final. I never met
Dove or Mary, but through this podcast, I've had the
honor of helping keep their memories alive. I felt a
sense of urgency in telling their stories. They're too important
(34:47):
to forget. They should be remembered for their accomplishments and failures,
their complexity, and their resolve. Like mis Neptune told Dovey,
and like Dove told you, Charlene.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
Pass it on.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
From Luminary Murder on the Towpath is a production of
Film Nation Entertainment in association with Neon Humm Media. Our
executive producers are me Solidad O'Brien, Alyssa Martino, Milan Papelka,
and Jonathan Hirsch. Lead producer is Shara Morris. Associate producers
are Natalie Rinn and Lucy Licht. Senior editor is Catherine
(35:31):
Saint Louis. Music and composition by Andrew Eapen, Sound design
and mixing by Scott Sommerville fact checking by Laura Buller.
Special thanks to Alison Cohen, Sarah Vacchiano, Rose Arse, Kate Michigan,
Tanner Robbins, Adriana Gallo, Dan Revive, and Mikayla Celella
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