JELL-O Girls: a Feminist History

In 1899, Allie Rowbottom's great-great-great-uncle bought the patent to Jell-O from its inventor for $450. Though the generations that followed enjoyed immense privilege they were also haunted by suicides, cancer, alcoholism, and mysterious ailments. Before Allie's mother died in 2015, she began to send Allie boxes of her research and notes, in the hope that her daughter might write what she could not. JELL-O GIRLS is the liberation of that story. In JELL-O Girls: A Family History, Rowbottom considers the roots of trauma not only in her own family but in the American psyche as well, ultimately weaving a story that is deeply personal, as well as deeply connected to the collective female experience.

This segment is guest hosted by DW Gibson.