Health Humanities Lab

Humanities Research Center

Fellow Podcast

Photo of Health Humanities Lab Student Fellows. Victoria Vidal (front left), Olivia Washington (front and center), Arya Hanjagi (front far right.) Photo taken in April 2025.
Photo of Health Humanities Lab Student Fellows. Victoria Vidal (front left), Olivia Washington (front and center), Arya Hanjagi (front far right.) Photo taken in April 2025.

Unearthed: Student Perspectives on the EMSWP

In this episode, Health Humanities Lab undergraduate fellows Olivia Washington, Arya Hanjagi, and Victoria Vidal introduce the East Marshall Street Well (EMSW) Project, outline the purpose and goals of the podcast, and recount a few of their experiences as part of the EMSW Oral History and Memorialization Project from September 2024-2025.

Photo of two of the narrators, Olivia Washington (left) and former Health Humanities fellow Michael Verner (right) editing the recorded audio from the episode.
Photo of two of the narrators, Olivia Washington (left) and Michael Verner (right) editing the recorded audio from the episode.

Giles, Moses Johnson, and the Unnamed Woman

In this episode, former EMSW Oral History and Memorialization Project postdoctoral fellow Daniel Sunshine, PhD; Olivia Washington; and Michael Verner discuss three parallel stories that relate to the history of the East Marshall Street Well and its connections beyond Richmond.

Photo of 1994 Kontos Building construction on VCU's medical campus, reflecting the episode’s topic to introduce the discovery and history of the East Marshall Street Well.
Photo of 1994 Kontos Building construction.

Background about the East Marshall Street Well

In this episode, Health Humanities Lab undergraduate fellows Arya Hanjagi and Abeer Haroun do a deep dive into the centuries-long history of the East Marshall Street Well (EMSW), the Medical College of Virginia, and the medical exploitation at the heart of the EMSW Project.