Unsung History

Latest Episodes:

Baseball & the Chinese Educational Mission of the 1870s Oct 28, 2024

In the 1870s, 120 Chinese boys came to New England as part of the Chinese Educational Mission. The boys studied at prep schools and colleges, and while they continued their lessons in Chinese language and culture, they also learned about the culture of their adopted homeland, including the local sports, like baseball. By the mid-1870s, some of the Chinese students had formed a semi-pro baseball team called the Celestials that competed on the regional circuit. With growing anti-Chinese sentiment in the US, though, the Chinese government recalled the students. On their trip home, the Celestials had one last chance to play as a team, when an Oakland, California, team, challenged them to a game. This week I’m joined by Dr. Ben Railton, Professor of American Studies at Fitchburg State University and host of The Celestials’ Last Game: Baseball, Bigotry, and the Battle for America.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” composed by Albert Von Tilzer, and recorded by Edward Meeker in September 1908; the recording is in the public domain and is available via Wikimedia Commons. The episode image is “The baseball players of the Chinese Education Mission,” from 1878, via the Thomas La Fargue Papers, MASC, Washington State University Libraries; the image is in the public domain.

Additional Sources:

“The Burlingame-Seward Treaty, 1868,” Office of the Historian, United States of America Department of State.
“Considering History: Baseball, Chinese Americans, and the Worst and Best of America,” by Ben Railton, The Saturday Evening Post, May 11, 2020.
“Yung Wing, the Chinese Educational Mission, and Transnational Connecticut,” by Ben Railton, Connecticut History, May 1, 2022.
“Yung Wing’s Dream: The Chinese Educational Mission, 1872-1881,” by Barbara Austen, Connecticut History, October 26, 2021.
“My Life in China and America,” by Yung Wing, via Project Gutenberg
CEM Connections.
“Chinese Educational Mission at MIT,” from an 2017 exhibit at MIT's Maihaugen Gallery.
“Journeys 旅途: Boys of the Chinese Educational Mission,” Connecticut Museum of Culture and History.
“Historical Context /历史背景/歷史背景: The Chinese Educational Mission (1872-1881),” Phillips Andover Academy.
“Chinese Educational Mission, 1870s-1880s,” Phillips Exeter Academy.
“The Workingmen’s Party & The Denis Kearney Agitation: Historical Essay,” by Chris Carlsson, FoundSF, 1995.
“140 years ago, San Francisco was set ablaze during the city's deadliest race riots,” by Katie Dowd, SF Gate, July 23, 2017.
“Chinese Exclusion Act (1882),” The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

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Ryan White & the CARE Act of 1990 Oct 21, 2024

Shortly after he was born in 1971, Ryan White was diagnosed with severe hemophilia. Ryan was able to reduce his hospitalizations from the disease through the use of in-home injections of Factor VIII concentrate, something he and other people with hemophilia saw as a lifeline. The downside of this lifeline was that it pooled blood and plasma from thousands of donors, increasing the user’s risk of exposure to diseases like HIV. In 1984, Ryan was diagnosed with AIDS. His fight to be allowed to attend school and live as normal a life as possible made him a household name and helped humanize the HIV/AIDS epidemic for many Americans, culminating in the passage of the Ryan White CARE Act months after Ryan’s death in 1990. Joining me in this episode is Dr. Paul Renfro, Associate Professor of History at Florida State University and author of The Life and Death of Ryan White: AIDS and Inequality in America.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode audio is a clip from “Episode 259: Alyssa Milano,” Two Broads Talking Politics, July 23, 2019, used with permission of the original podcast. The mid-episode music is “The Beat of Nature” by folk_acoustic; the audio is free for use under the Pixabay Content License. The episode image is a photo of Ryan White taken at a fundraising event in the spring of 1989 in INdianapolis, Indiana; it is available via Wikimedia Commons and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

Additional sources:

“Who Was Ryan White?” The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, Health Resources & Services Administration.
“Remembering Ryan White, the teen who fought against the stigma of AIDS,” by Dr. Howard Markel, PBS Health, April 8, 2016.
“Ryan White, Teen Who Contracted AIDS, Shifted Narrative Around the Disease,” By Paul Renfro, Teen Vogue, December 6, 2021.
“Elton John credits Ryan White’s family with saving his life,” by Associated Press, PBS, April 3, 2022.
“S.2240 - Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act of 1990,” 101st Congress (1989-1990), Congress.gov.
“Celebrating 30 Years of the Ryan White CARE Act,” HIV.gov, August 18, 2020.
“U.S. Statistics,” HIV.gov.

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The Sanders Family of Philadelphia Oct 14, 2024

When she was just fifteen years old, in 1830, Sarah Martha Sanders was sold to Richard Walpole Cogdell of Charleston, South Carolina. Within a year she was pregnant with his child, and just after she turned 17, Sarah Martha gave birth to Robert Sanders, the first of nine children she would bear to then 45-year-old Richard Cogdell. Because the legal status of the children followed that of the mother, these nine children were also Richard’s property. None of this was unusual for the time. The unusual turn happened in 1857 when Richard Cogdell, for unknown reasons, purchased a property in Philadelphia and immediately signed it over to his five living children with Sarah Martha, immediately moving there with them for good. Joining me to discuss this story is Dr. Lori Ginzberg, Professor Emeritus of History and Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies at Pennsylvania State University and the author of Tangled Journeys: One Family's Story and the Making of American History.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is “Cordelia Sanders (1841-1879), age 15, Charleston,” P.2014.51.2, Stevens-Cogdell-Sanders-Venning-Chew Collection, Library Company of Philadelphia. The mid-episode music is “Satisfied Blues,” composed and performed by Lemuel Fowler, recorded in New York City on July 19, 1923; the audio is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox.

Additional Sources:

Stevens-Cogdell-Sanders-Venning-Chew Collection, Library Company of Philadelphia.
“Tracing Charleston’s History of Slavery, From a Burial Ground to a DNA Swab,” by Caroline Gutman and Emily Cochrane, The New York Times, April 11, 2024.
“Old Slave Mart,” Charleston, South Carolina, National Park Service.
“The Charleston Slave Badges,” National Museum of African American History & Culture.
“Telling the complicated history of Charleston, South Carolina,” CBS News,” February 24, 2020.
“Abolitionism,” by Richard S. Newman, The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia.
“Philadelphia and the Birth of the Nation’s First Abolitionist Society,” by Fidan Baycora, Historic America, April 14, 2021.
“First American abolition society founded in Philadelphia,” History.com.
“Big Idea 5: The Forten Family: Abolitionists and Reformers,” Museum of the American Revolution.

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Education & Reconstruction in the Washington DC Region Oct 07, 2024

At the dedication for a school for African American students in Manassas, Virginia, in 1894, Frederick Douglass said: “no greater benefit can be bestowed upon a long benighted people, than giving to them, as we are here earnestly this day endeavoring to do, the means of an education.” In the Reconstruction Era, throughout the South, and especially in the Washington, DC, region, formerly enslaved people fought for educational opportunities. Even as other advances of Reconstruction were clawed back by the forces of white supremacy by the late 19th century, much of the educational progress remained, so that Douglass in 1894 could still see “encouraging signs in the moral skies.” I’m joined in this episode by my son Teddy as co-host and by Dr. Kate Masur, the Board of Visitors Professor of History at Northwestern University and author of Freedom Was in Sight: A Graphic History of Reconstruction in the Washington, D.C., Region.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “I Want to Be Ready,” performed by the Fisk Jubilee Singers, and recorded in New York City on December 22, 1920; the audio is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is a photograph from 1864 of the Jacobs Free School, founded by Harriet Jacobs; the photograph was distributed to Northern abolitionists who had helped fund the school and is now in the public domain and available via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional Sources:

“The Blessings of Liberty and Education,” by Frederick Douglass, delivered in Manassas, Virginia, on September 3, 1894, The Frederick Douglass Papers Project.
“How Literacy Became a Powerful Weapon in the Fight to End Slavery,” by Colette Coleman, History.com, Originally posted on June 17, 2020, and updated on July 11, 2023.
“An Act to amend the act concerning slaves, free negroes and mulattoes (April 7, 1831),” Encyclopedia of Virginia.
“Margaret Douglass,” Shaping the Constitution, Resources from the Library of Virginia and the Library of Congress.
“Harriet Jacobs: Working for Freedpeople in Civil War Alexandria,” by Paula Tarnapol Whitacre, Journal of the Civil War Era, July 16, 2019.
“Letter from Teachers of the Freedmen,” by Harriet A. Jacobs and Louisa Jacobs, National Anti-Slavery Standard, April 16, 1864, in Documenting the American South.
“Lost Capitol Hill: The Little Ebenezer Church School,” by Robert Pohl, The Hill is Home, February 9, 2015.
“The Freedmen's Bureau,” National Archives.
“History,” Howard University.
“General Oliver Otis Howard House,” National Park Service.
“Jennie Dean and the Manassas Industrial School,” Manassas Museum.

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A History of Postpartum Depression in the United States Sep 30, 2024

In his bestselling childcare manual American pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock advised new moms:“If you begin to feel at all depressed, go to a movie, or to the beauty parlor, or to get yourself a new hat or dress.” Although puerperal insanity had been a recognized diagnosis at the end of the 19th Century, doctors in the early 20th century dismissed the postpartum onset of psychiatric symptoms as “pure coincidence.” It would take decades of activism by both parent groups and clinicians for the effects of postpartum depression, anxiety, and psychosis to be recognized and studied, with limited federal funding for programming finally being approved in late 2016. Joining me in this episode is Dr. Rachel Louise Moran, Associate Professor of History at the University of North Texas and author of Blue: A History of Postpartum Depression in America.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Alone with the Darkness,” by NaturesEye; the music is available via the Pixabay Content License. The episode image is a photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

Additional Sources:

The International Marcé Society for Perinatal Mental Health
Postpartum Support International
“Postpartum Depression Support Groups in the U.S. & Canada,” Postpartum Progress.
“Perinatal Depression,” National Institute for Mental Health.
“Shedding More Light on Postpartum Depression,” by Rachel Ewing, Penn Medicine News, January 4, 2016.
“New treatment for postpartum depression offers hope, but the stigma attached to the condition still lingers,” by Nicole Lynch and Shannon Pickett, The Conversation, October 19, 2023.
“The Neurobiology of Postpartum Anxiety and Depression,” by Jodi S Pawluski, Joseph S Lonstein, and Alison S Fleming, Trends in Neurosciences, 2017, 40 (2), pp.106-120. ff10.1016/j.tins.2016.11.009ff. Ffhal01452985f.
“Exploring predictors and prevalence of postpartum depression among mothers: Multinational study,” by Amer, S.A., Zaitoun, N.A., Abdelsalam, H.A. et al., BMC Public Health 24, 1308 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-18502-0.
“Federal Legislative History,” Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance (MMHLA).

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Segregation Scholarships Sep 23, 2024

Between 1921 and 1948, every Southern and border state, except Delaware, set up scholarship programs to send Black students out of state for graduate study rather than admit them to historically white public colleges or build graduate programs in the public HBCUs. While the individual Black students often benefited from graduate education at top-tier universities, the segregation scholarships created hardships for those same students and took money that could have been used to build up the public HBCUs. Joining me in this episode is Dr. Crystal R. Sanders, Associate Professor of African American Studies, at Emory University and author of A Forgotten Migration: Black Southerners, Segregation Scholarships, and the Debt Owed to Public HBCUs.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “He’s a College Boy,” composed by Theodore F. Morse, with lyrics by Jack Mahoney, and performed by the American Quartet on September 3, 1910, in Camden, New Jersey; the recording is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is “As University of Oklahoma dean of admissions J.E. Fellows, Thurgood Marshall, ad Amos T. Hall look on, Ada Sipuel again applies for admission to the University of Oklahoma Law School in 1948;” Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Additional Sources:

“Segregation Scholarships,” PBS Chasing the Dream.
“Major Landmarks in the Progress of African Americans in Higher Education,” The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.
“History of HBCUs,” Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
“Reconstruction-Era Politics Shaped Historically Black Colleges and Universities,” by Leigh Soares, Progress: A Blog for American History.
“STATE OF MISSOURI et rel. GAINES v. CANADA et al.,” Legal Information Institute, Cornell University Law School.
“Fisher, Ada Lois Sipuel (1924-1995),” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, Oklahoma State HIstorical Society.
“4 decades of desegregation in American colleges, charted,” by Jeff Guo, The Washington Post, December 17, 2014.

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Doug Williams, Vince Evans & the History of Black Quarterbacks in the NFL Sep 16, 2024

In 1946, the National Football League began the process of reintegration after a “gentleman’s agreement” had stopped teams from hiring Black players for over a decade. Even as the NFL began to re-integrate, though, racist stereotypes kept teams from drafting Black players into so-called “thinking” positions like quarterback. Black players who started at quarterback in college would be drafted into the NFL, only to be converted into running backs or wide receivers. On September 30, 1979, for the first time in NFL history, two Black quarterbacks (Doug WIlliams of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Vince Evans of the Chicago Bear) faced off against each other. In this episode, we look at Williams, Evans, and the history of Black quarterbacks in the NFL. I’m joined in this episode by historian Dr. Louis Moore, Professor of History at Grand Valley State University and author of The Great Black Hope: Doug Williams, Vince Evans, and the Making of the Black Quarterback.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “American Football Game (Drum Corps Percussion Action) Bumper,” by FlorewsMusic, used under the Pond5's Content License Agreement. The episode image is “Washington Redskins quarterback Doug Williams preparing to throw the ball during an offensive play in 1987,” published in 1988 for the Redskins Police football card set; the image is in the public domain and is available via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional Sources:

“NFL founded in Canton on Sept. 17, 1920,” Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“The Reintegration of the NFL,” NFL Football Operations.
“How the media helped overturn the NFL’s unwritten ban on black players,” by Nathan Fenno, Los Angeles Times, January 28, 2017.
“Meet Four Men Who Broke The NFL's Color Line,” NFL Players Association.
“Bucs Edge Bears,” by Dave Brady, The Washington Post, September 30, 1979.
“Doug Williams,” Washington Commanders.
“QB Evans Made History Before Joining Raiders,” by Tom LaMarre, Sports Illustrated, June 23, 2023.
“Why It Took So Long for Two Black Quarterbacks to Face Off in the Super Bowl,” by Robert Silverman, Rolling Stone, February 12, 2023.
“No matter who wins, the first Super Bowl with 2 Black quarterbacks will make history,” by Becky Sullivan, NPR Morning Edition, February 8, 2023.
“Nine Decades After NFL Banned Black Players, Super Bowl LVII Is The First To Feature Two Black Starting Quarterbacks,” National Urban League, February 3, 2023.

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Jewish Patriots in the American Revolution Sep 09, 2024

In the Continental Army, one company of patriots in Charleston, South Carolina, was a majority Jewish, and at least fifteen Jewish soldiers in the Army achieved the rank of officer during the American Revolution, something unheard of in European armies at the time. Though their numbers were small (in proportion with their population in the colonies), Jewish patriots participated in the war, and in the Early Republic they insisted on their full citizenship in the new nation. I’m joined in this episode by Dr. Adam Jortner, the Goodwin Philpott Eminent Professor of Religion in the Department of History at Auburn University and author of A Promised Land: Jewish Patriots, the American Revolution, and the Birth of Religious Freedom.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Jewish Longing,” by Ashot Danielyan from Pixabay, used in accordance with the Pixabay content license. The episode image is a drawing of a colonial American couple with a Hanukkah menorah; the image is believed to be in the public domain, and the source is unknown.

Additional sources:

“Recife,” Dutch Port Cities Project, the Global Asia initiative, New York University.
“From Haven to Home: 350 Years of Jewish Life in America, Timeline 1700s,” Library of Congress.
“Total Jewish Population in the United States (1654 - Present),” Jewish Virtual Library.
“Jews in Early America: From Inquisition to Freedom,” Touro Synagogue Foundation.
“Men of Mordechai: Jewish Americans in the U.S. Armed Forces,” by Jessie Kratz, Pieces of History, National Archives, May 18, 2021.
“One Jew’s Financial Support for the Revolutionary War,” The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
“Francis Salvador, the First Jewish Member of a Legislative Assembly in American History,” by Nathan Dorn, Library of Congress Blog, May 5, 2020.
“Washington’s Letter,” George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom.
“The Bill of Rights: How Did it Happen?” National Archives.
“First Amendment and Religion,” United States Courts.

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Abigail Adams Sep 02, 2024

Abigail Smith Adams, wife to the second U.S. president and mother of the sixth U.S. president, may be best known for exhorting her husband to “remember the ladies” as he worked with his colleagues to form a new government, but that was just one of her many strongly-held political views. Adams, who lacked formed education and whose legal status was subsumed under that of her husband, never stopped arguing for greater educational opportunities and legal rights for women. Because of her prolific correspondence, including more than 1,100 letters between her and John, and because the care with which her descendents preserved her writing, we have an extraordinary view into the inner life of a woman who helped shape the country. Joining me in this episode is presidential historian Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky, the Executive Director of the George Washington Presidential Library and author of Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Yankee Doodle,” performed by the United States Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. The episode is a painting of Abigail Adams around 1766 by Benjamin Blyth; the image is in the public domain and available via Wikimedia Commons

Additional Sources:

“Abigail Adams: A Life,” by Woody Holton, Atria Books, 2010.
“Biography: Abigail Adams,” PBS American Experience.
“Abigail Adams,” UVA Miller Center.
“John and Abigail Adams: A Tradition Begins,” by Betty C. Monkman, White House Historical Association, Spring 2000.
“Coverture: The Word You Probably Don't Know But Should,” by Catherine Allgor, National Women’s HIstory Museum, September 4, 2012.
“More Power to You: Abigail Adams advocated dismantling the 'masculine system' that denied property and legal rights to married women,” by Lindsay Keiter, Colonial Williamsburg, October 2, 2020.
“Abigail Adams to John Adams, 31 March 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives.
“John Adams to Abigail Adams, 14 April 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives.
“Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 25 February 1787,” Founders Online, National Archives.
“John Adams to Abigail Adams, 22 March 1797,” Founders Online, National Archives.
“Will of Abigail Adams, 18 January 1816,” Founders Online, National Archives.

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Hair and the American Presidency Aug 26, 2024

In March 1778, while he was camped at Valley Forge, Commander in Chief George Washington sent a lock of his hair to the daughter of the New Jersey Governor. It wasn’t a romantic gift; rather, Washington was responding to a common request made to celebrities of his time, similar to the autographed photo one might request today. Because hair is so long-lasting, people of the 18th and 19th centuries often collected, wore, and displayed the hair of their loved ones and the notable people they met or were inspired by. Even in the 20th century, when Jackie Kennedy took her last look at JFK’s body before the funeral, she cut a lock of his hair to keep. In this episode I look at the practices around collecting hair and making hair artwork; I’m joined by Ted Pappas, author of Combing Through the White House: Hair and Its Shocking Impact on the Politics, Private Lives, and Legacies of the Presidents.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair,” composed by Stephen Collins Foster, and sung by Lambert Murphy, accompanied by an orchestra conducted by Rosario Bourdon on June 29,1922, in Camden, New Jersey; the recording is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is “Child named Carl who became a soldier; with handwritten note and lock of hair in case,” United States, ca. 1856; the photograph is available via the Library of Congress, and there are no known restrictions on publication.

Additional Sources:

“Hair! At the Library? Yes, and Lots of It,” by Neely Tucker, Library of Congress Blog, August 11, 2022.
“Beethoven may have had lead poisoning,” by Ari Daniel, NPR All Things Considered, May 18, 2024.
“A lock of love,” by Vicky Iglikowski-Broad, UK National Archives, June 1, 2015.
“The Real Rules of Courtship: Dating in the Regency Era,” by Dr. Sally Holloway, PBS Masterpiece.
“George Washington to Kitty Livingston,” George Washington’s Mount Vernon.
“Hair as Historic Artifact,” George Washington’s Mount Vernon.
“These Strands of Lincoln’s Locks Could Sell for Thousands of Dollars. What’s Behind the Fascination With Presidential Hair?” by Olivia Waxman, Time Magazine, August 23, 2018.
“Why Victorians Loved Hair Relics,” By: Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, April 8, 2019.
“Daniel Webster mourning brooch,” Massachusetts HIstorical Society.
“Charles T. Menge's price list of ornamental hair jewelry and device work, nos. 32 and 34 John Street, New York,” Smithsonian Institution Library, 1873.
“The Intricate Craft of Using Human Hair for Jewelry, Art, and Decoration,” by Anika Burgess, Atlas Obscura, January 12, 2018.
“Homegrown Thread: The Art of Human Hairwork in the Gilded Age,” by Marsha Borden, Piecework Magazine, July 26, 2023.
“The Curious Victorian Tradition of Making Art from Human Hair,” by Allison Meier, Artsy, February 13, 2018.
“Hair Wreaths – Sentimental or Spooky?” Maine State Museum.
“A Little Off the Top for History,” by Jerry Guo, The New York TImes, July 13, 2008.

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Margaret Chase Smith Aug 19, 2024

At the Republican National Convention in July 1964, Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith’s name was placed in nomination for the presidency, and she received votes from 27 delegates, the first time a woman was placed in nomination at a major party’s presidential convention in the United States. It was only one of many firsts Smith would achieve in her remarkable decades-long career that included speaking out against McCathyism on the floor of the Senate in 1950 and being the first woman of Congress to break the sound barrier in 1957. Joining this episode to help us learn more about Senator Smith is Dr. Teri Finneman, Associate Professor in the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas and author of Press Portrayals of Women Politicians, 1870s-2000s: From Lunatic Woodhull to Polarizing Palin.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The in-episode audio is from the 1964 Margaret Chase Smith Presidential Campaign Announcement, courtesy Northeast Historic Film Archive, available via C-SPAN. The episode image is “Senator Margaret Chase Smith, ca. 1954,” Records of the U.S. Information Agency, National Archives.

Additional Sources:

“No Place for a Woman: A Life of Senator Margaret Chase Smith,” by Janann Sherman, Rutgers University Press, 1999.
“Biography,” Margaret Chase Smith Library.
“Margaret Chase Smith; Congressional Trailblazer,” by Staff Sgt. Jarred Martinez, Mountain Home Air Force Base, August 26, 2021.
“Women in Military Service; the Role of Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith,” by Senator Susan Collins, June 26, 2023.
“Declaration of Conscience,” delivered by Senator Margaret Chase Smith to the United States Senate on June 1, 1950.
“Margaret Chase Smith: Breaking the Barrier,” by Jessie Kratz, National Archives, October 15, 2020.
“The Moment That Presaged a Maine Senator’s Downfall,” by Rachel Slade, DownEast, May 2020.
“Margaret Chase Smith Is Dead at 97; Maine Republican Made History Twice,” by Richard Severo, The New York Times, May 30, 1995.

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The 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago Aug 12, 2024

Even before Democrats met in Chicago in August to choose their presidential nominee, the year 1968 had been a turbulent, and often violent, time in the United States. In Chicago, the tumult of an open convention inside the International Amphitheatre was matched by the huge anti-war protests downtown. While the Democrats inside the convention hall voted down a peace plank and nominated the incumbent vice president, despite objections, the police on the streets, given free reign by Mayor Richard J. Daley, beat and tear gassed protesters, reporters, and even passers-by. Joining me in this episode to tell the story of the 1968 DNC is Dr. Heather Hendershot, the Cardiss Collins Professor of Communication Studies and Journalism at Northwestern University and author of When the News Broke: Chicago 1968 and the Polarizing of America.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Audio in the episode is “March 31, 1968: Remarks on Decision not to Seek Re-Election,” and from “The 1968 Democratic National Convention” from the National Archives. The episode image is “Young ‘hippie’ standing in front of a row of National Guard soldiers, across the street from the Hilton Hotel at Grant Park, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, August 26, 1968,” photographed by Warren K. Leffler; there are no known restrictions on publication, and the image is available by the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Audio in the episode is “March 31, 1968: Remarks on Decision not to Seek Re-Election,” from the National Archives.

Additional Sources:

“Remembering 1968: LBJ Surprises Nation With Announcement He Won't Seek Re-Election,” by Ron Elving, NPR Weekend Edition Sunday, March 25, 2018.
“The 1968 Republican Convention,” by Sarah Katherine Mergel, We’re History, July 21, 2016.
“Shoot to Kill. . . Shoot to Maim” by Christopher Chandler, Chicago Reader, April 4, 2002
“Politics: Thousand of U.S. Troops Mobilized for Guard Duty at Democratic Convention,” by John Kifner, The New York TImes, August 25, 1968.
“Chicago: Law and Disorder: ‘There were two Americas in Chicago, but there always are.’”
“1968: CBS News' Dan Rather gets roughed up while trying to interview a Georgia delegate [video],” CBS News.
“‘Violence Was Inevitable’: How 7 Key Players Remember the Chaos of 1968’s Democratic National Convention Protests,” by Olivia Waxman, Time Magazine, August 28, 2018.
“Looking back at the 1968 Democratic National Convention,” By Lee Hudson, Politico, April 11, 2023.

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Sigrid Schultz Aug 05, 2024

In 1926, American Sigrid Schultz became one of the first women to head a foreign bureau for a US newspaper when she was named the chief correspondent for the Berlin bureau of the Chicago Tribune. In her 26 years with the Tribune, Schultz, using her command of German and French, her knowledge of German politics and history, and her wide range of contacts, reported on the rise of Nazism and warned American readers to take Hitler seriously. Joining me in this episode to tell the story of Sigrid Schultz and her journalistic career is writer Dr. Pamela Toler, author of The Dragon From Chicago: The Untold Story of an American Reporter in Nazi Germany.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Over There,” composed by George M. Cohan, and performed by the Peerless Quartet, in New York City on June 13, 1917; the audio is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is “Journalist Sigrid Schultz,” a photo taken in 1943 and in the public domain; it is available via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional sources:

“Sigrid Schultz Papers, 1835-1980,” Wisconsin Historical Society.
“Dragon Lady: The Life of Sigrid Schultz,” Westport Museum for History and Culture.
“Dragon Lady,” Chicago Tribune, Originally published September 11, 1988, and updated August 8, 2021.
“Sigrid Schultz is dead; Early Berlin correspondent,” Chicago Tribune, May 17, 1980.
“Sigrid L. Schultz, Reporter Who Covered Rise of Nazism, Is Dead; Tribune's Bureau Chief,” by George Goodman, Jr., The New York Times, May 17, 1980.
“Newly Discovered Photos Reveal Childhood of Groundbreaking Journalist,” by Jay Shefsky, WTTW, January 16, 2020.

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The History of Synchronized Swimming Jul 29, 2024

When the 1934 World’s Fair in Chicago was looking for an aquatic act to complement their new underwater lights, organizers turned to physical educator Katherine Curtis, who put together a wildly popular show called the Modern Mermaids. No one could quite figure out what to call it, trying out water ballet and figure swimming until a radio announcer landed on “synchronized swimming.” Soon synchronized swimming teams were forming and competing, but while the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) quickly embraced the sport, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) resisted, with the president of the IOC sneeringly referring to the sport as aquatic vaudeville. Finally, decades after the origin of synchronized swimming, the IOC voted to include it in the 1984 games in Los Angeles. Joining me in this episode to tell this history is writer and masters synchronized swimmer Vicki Valosik, author of Swimming Pretty: The Untold Story of Women in Water.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Come Take a Swim in My Ocean,” composed by Gus Edwards with Lyrics by Will Cobb; this recording was performed by the Haydn Quartet in New Jersey on June 4, 1909; it is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is “Swimmers,” Harris & Ewing, photographer, 1936; the image is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress.

Additional Sources:

“History of Artistic Swimming,” USA Artistic Swimming.
“The amazing life of Australia’s ‘million-dollar mermaid,’” by Luke Buckmaster, BBC, November 2, 2017.
“The General Slocum Disaster of June 15, 1904,” by Valerie Wingfield, New York Public Library Archives Unit, June 13, 2011.
“Commodore Wilbert E. Longfellow (USA),” International Swimming Hall of Fame
“Water Pageants, Games and Stunts,” by Olive McCormick, A. S. Barnes, incorporated, 1933.
“1933 Modern Mermaids [video]” Property of Chicago Film Archives.
“Rhythmic Swimming: A Source Book of Synchronized Swimming and Water Pageantry,” by Katharine Whitney Curtis, Burgess publishing Company, 1942.
“1952: Avery Brundage, fifth IOC President,” International Olympic Committee.
“No male artistic swimmers at Olympics after U.S. leave May out of squad,” by Lori Ewing, Reuters, June 8, 2024.

Synchro Routines:

"Team Gold Medal [video],” Russian Olympic Committee, Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games
“Duet Gold Medal [video],” Romania, Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games.

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The FTA & Antiwar Protests in 1971 Jul 22, 2024

In 1971, a group of performers calling themselves the Free Theatre Associates (FTA), including Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland, began putting on popular antiwar shows for audiences of active-duty GIs. Over 10 months they performed near military bases all over the United States and in the Pacific Rim. The Pacific Rim tour led to a documentary, which was released briefly in July 1972 and then quickly yanked from theaters. To help us learn about the FTA, I’m joined by theater historian Dr. Lindsay Goss, Assistant Professor in the School Of Theater, Film And Media Arts at Temple University and author of F*ck the Army!: How Soldiers and Civilians Staged the GI Movement to End the Vietnam War.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier,” composed by Al Piantadosi with lyrics by Alfred Bryan; the performance by the Peerless Quartet in New York City on January 6, 1915, is in the public domain and is available via the LIbrary of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is “Jane Fonda and Michael Alaimo in the FTA Show 1971;” the image is available via CC BY-SA 3.0 and can be found on Wikimedia Commons.

Additional Sources:

“The Vietnam War: Reasons for US involvement in Vietnam,” BBC.
“U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War: the Gulf of Tonkin and Escalation, 1964,” Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute, United States Department of State.
“Tonkin Gulf Resolution (1964),” The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
“Vietnam: An unpopular war, but an important legacy,” by Kenneth Dodd, Kessler Air Force Base, January 27, 2016.
“The Vietnam War,” Iowa PBS.
“GI Movement Special Section“ coordinated by Jessie Kindig, Antiwar and Radical History Project, University of Washington.
“How Coffeehouses Fueled the Vietnam Peace Movement,” by David L. Parsons, The New York Times, January 9, 2018.
“FTA! Behind the Scenes on the Anti-war Show Tour in Asia,” by Elaine Elinson, Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
“FTA [video],” directed by Francine Parker, 1972.

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The Incorruptibles & Organized Jewish Crime in New York City in the Early 20th Century Jul 15, 2024

In 1912, a group of wealthy and influential German Jews in uptown New York funded an effort to root out organized crime on the lower East Side, then the most densely populated neighborhood on Earth, home to half a million people, many of them recent Jewish Russian immigrants. As a result, a Jewish investigator and a Jewish lawyer joined the NYPD and pulled together a group of cops who refused to be paid off. The Incorruptibles, as the vice squad came to be known, quickly quashed the criminal element, but as war loomed in Europe, the attention and funds of the uptowners shifted abroad, and the Incorruptibles folded. Crime, of course, remained, and Jewish organized crime in New York only grew as the Prohibition Era dawned.

Joining me in this episode is writer Dan Slater, author of The Incorruptibles: A True Story of Kingpins, Crime Busters, and the Birth of the American Underworld.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Havdole gut Schabes,” performed by Lizzie Einhorn Abramson in 1910; audio is in the public domain and available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is a photo of Arnold Rothstein, taken on November 1, 1919, which appeared in several newspaper stories about the Black Sox scandal; it’s in the public domain and available via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional Sources:

“The Life of a City: Early Films of New York, 1898 to 1906,” Library of Congress.
“The Lower East Side,” Immigration and Relocation in U.S. History, Library of Congress.
“Uncovering the History of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire,” by David von Drehle, Smithsonian Magazine, August 2006.
“‘Ten Thousand Bigamists In New York’: The Criminalization Of Jewish Immigrants Using White Slavery Panics,” by Mia Brett, The Gotham Center for New York City History, October 27, 2020.
“SAY SLAYERS DIDN'T RESEMBLE GUNMEN; Defense Rests After Calling Some of Those Who Saw the Murder of Rosenthal,” The New York Times, November 16, 1912.
“Abraham Shoenfeld Papers,”American Jewish Historical Society.
“An Assassin’s Bullet Took Three Years to Kill NYC Mayor William Jay Gaynor,” by Rose Eveleth, Smithsonian Magazine, September 11, 2013.
“How Arnold ‘the Brain’ Rothstein Modernized the Mob,” by Angela M.H. Schuster, Avenue Magazine, May 22, 2020.
“Ninety Years Later, Arnold Rothstein Murder Still a Mystery,” by Christian Cipollini, The Mob Museum, November 6, 2018.

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Dr. Claudia Hampton & the History of Affirmative Action in California Jul 08, 2024

In 1974, Republican governor Ronald Reagan appointed educator Dr. Claudia Hampton, a Democrat active in her local NAACP, as the first Black woman trustee to the board of California State University. For the next twenty years Hampton would be known as the affirmative action trustee as she advocated for policies and budgets that would help support and diversify the CSU faculty, staff, and students. To discuss Dr. Hampton’s legacy, and the history of affirmative action in California, I’m joined in this episode by Dr. Donna J. Nicol, the Associate Dean of Personnel and Curriculum and professor of history in the College of Liberal Arts at California State University Long Beach and author of Black Woman on Board: Claudia Hampton, the California State University, and the Fight to Save Affirmative Action.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is "Blue Feather," by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com); Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. The episode image is a photograph of Dr. Claudia Hampton at an unidentified graduation ceremony, used on the CSU website.

Additional Sources:

“Claudia H. Hampton; First Woman to Head CSU Trustees,” by Myrna Oliver, Los Angeles Times, August 17, 1994.
“Trustee Emerita Claudia H. Hampton,” California State University.
“Honoring the Voices of Our Ancestors,” California State University.
“Watts Rebellion,” History.com, Originally posted on September 28, 2017, and Updated on June 24, 2020.
“25 Years After the Watts Riots : McCone Commission’s Recommendations Have Gone Unheeded,” by Darrell Dawsey, Los Angeles Times, July 8, 1990.
“Higher Education Guidelines for Executive Order 11246,” Office for Civil Rights (DHEW), October 1972.
“Affirmative Action Reversal: Understanding the History and Implications,” by Jennifer Pierce, University of Minnesota, June 30, 2023.
“Here's what happened when affirmative action ended at California public colleges,” by Emma Bowman, NPR, June 30, 2023.

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Josephine McCarty: Mother, Lobbyist, Spy & Abortionist Jul 01, 2024

Josephine McCarty, née Fagan, aka Mrs. Virginia S. Seymour, dba Emma Burleigh. M.D., was many things: mother, teacher, saleswoman, spy, lobbyist, and abortionist. And in 1872 she was also an accused murderer, after eyewitnesses saw her fire a pistol on a public streetcar in Utica, New York, killing one man and wounding another. Historian R.E. Fulton, author of The Abortionist of Howard Street: Medicine and Crime in Nineteenth-Century New York, joins the podcast this week to discuss how Josephine was both extraordinary and completely ordinary and what her life can tell us about the changing arena of medicine and law and the role of women in both in the late 19th Century United States.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Sad Violin,” by Oleggio Kyrylkoww from Pixabay and is available for use under the Pixabay Content License. The episode image is "Walking dress ; Fichu for afternoon ; Bonnet," 1872; via the New York Public Library Digital Collections; laid on top of a "Lithograph of Albany, New York in 1879," in the public domain and available via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional Sources:

“THE UTICA CAR MURDER.; Coroner's Inquest on the Body of Henry R. Hall--Circumstances of the Killing,” The New York Times, January 21, 1872.
“Mrs. Dr. Emma Burleigh :the mysterious death of Margaret Campbell critically examined, with a review of the testimony, verdict of the jury, comments of the press, etc.,” by T. D. Crochers, Albany, NY, 1872; available via the Harvard Law School Library.
“Medical Education in the 19th Century,” National Museum of Civil War Medicine, December 18, 2023.
"The Entry of Women into Medivine in America: Education and Obstacles 1847-1910,” by Meryl S. Justin, Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
“Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War,” by Karen Abbott, Harper Perennial, 2015.
“Abortion, Race, and Gender in Nineteenth-Century America,” by Nicola Beisel and Tamara Kay, American Sociological Review, 2004, Vol. 69 (August:498–518).
“Abortion was once common practice in America. A small group of doctors changed that,” by Ramtin Arablouei and Rung Abdelfatah, NPR All Things Considered, June 6, 2022.

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The Auburn Prison System & the Case of William Freeman Jun 24, 2024

In 1817, the second state prison in New York opened in Auburn, situated on a fast-flowing river so waterpower could be used to run machinery in the factories that would be housed in the prison. In a new practice of incarceration that would come to be known as the Auburn System, the prisoners labored in silence during the day for the profit of the prison, stayed in solitary confinement every night, and lived under the constant threat of brutal violence from the guards. One prisoner, a man named William Freeman, who was locked up for a crime he swore he didn’t commit, demanded that he be compensated for his labor when he was released, and when no one would listen, he sought payback instead, committing a horrific crime.

Joining me in this episode is historian Dr. Robin Bernstein, the Dillon Professor of American History and Professor of African and African American Studies and of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Harvard University and author of Freeman's Challenge: The Murder That Shook America's Original Prison for Profit.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Bleeding hearted blues,” song and lyrics by Lovie Austin, with vocals by Bessie Smith and piano by Fletcher Henderson, recorded in New York City on June 14, 1923; the recording is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is an illustration of prisoners at Auburn wearing striped outfits and moving in lockstep from Historical Collections of the State of New York: Containing a General, by John Warner Barber, Henry Howe, published in 1845 and available via Google Books.

Additional Sources:

“Geology of the Finger Lakes | Journeys Through the Finger Lakes [video],” PBS.
“The Deserted Village,” by Oliver Goldsmith, 1770, via Poetry Foundation.
“Both Sides of the Wall: Auburn and Its Prison,” The Cayuga Museum of History and Art.
“19th Century Prison Reform Collection,” by Katie Thorsteinson, Cornell University Library.
“People v. William Freeman, 1846,” Historical Society of the New York Courts.
“People v. William Freeman (1847),” Cornell Law School
“The trial of William Freeman for the murder of John G. Van Nest,” reported by Benjamin F. Hall, Derby, Miller & Co., 1848.
“NY's New License Plates Will Still Be Made By Prisoners Earning 65 Cents An Hour,” by Christopher Robbins, Gothamist, August 23, 2019.

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Quilting & the New Deal Jun 17, 2024

As part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), so-called “unskilled” women were put to work in over 10,000 sewing rooms across the country, producing both garments and home goods for people in need. Those home goods included quilts, sometimes quickly-made utilitarian bedcoverings, but also artistic quilts worthy of exhibition. Quilts were featured in other New Deal Projects, too, like the WPA Handicraft Projects, part of the Women’s and Professional Projects Division. Throughout the Great Depression, the programs of the New Deal created a supportive and innovative environment for the art of quiltmaking.

Joining me in this episode is historian, writer, and podcaster Dr. Janneken Smucker, Professor of History at West Chester University and author of A New Deal for Quilts.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “A Mazurka played on harmonica,” performed by Aaron Morgan and recorded as part of a WPA project by Sidney Robertson Cowell on July 17, 1939, in Northern California; the recording is available via the Library of Congress.The episode image is “Grandmother from Oklahoma and her pieced quilt. California, Kern County,” take by Dorothea Lange in February 1936 through the U.S. Farm Security Administration; the photograph is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.

Additional Sources:

“The Works Progress Administration,” PBS American Experience.
“Works Progress Administration (WPA),” History.com, Originally posted July 13, 2017, and updated September 21, 2022.
“Question 22: 1940 Census Provides a Glimpse of the Demographics of the New Deal,” by Ashley Mattingly, Prologue Magazine, National Archives, Summer 2012, Vol. 44, No. 2.
“Women and the New Deal,” Living New Deal.
“Women’s Work Relief in the Great Depression,” by Martha H. Swain, History Now, February 2004
“WPA sewing project kept Hoosier women working through the Great Depression,” by Dawn Mitchell, Indy Star, January 19, 2018.
“‘We Patch Anything’: WPA Sewing Rooms in Fort Worth, Texas,” Living New Deal, May 27, 2013.
“Frugal and Fashionable: Quiltmaking During the Great Depression,” The Quilt Index.
“WPA Milwaukee Handicraft Project,” Milwaukee Public Museum.

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The Federal Theatre Project Jun 10, 2024

Between 1935 and 1939, the Federal Theatre Project, part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), employed over 12,000 actors and put on over 1200 productions in 29 states. Led by Hallie Flanagan, the FTP, using only a small fraction of the total WPA budget, employed theater professionals; entertained audiences, some two-third of whom had never attended theater before the FTP; and helped launch the careers of people like director Orson Welles and playwright Arthur Miller. However, despite its success and small budget, the Federal Theater Project, was controversial, both for its supposed communist affiliations and because of the perception that theater wasn’t worthy of receiving federal tax dollars. After four years, Congress axed the project, immediately putting out of work 8,000 people across the country.

Joining me in this episode to tell us more about the Federal Theatre Project is Dr. Paul Gagliardi, Teaching Associate Professor at Marquette University and author of All Play and No Work: American Work Ideals and the Comic Plays of the Federal Theatre Project.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “The Broadway blues,” composed by Carey Morgan, with lyrics by Arthur Swanstrom; this performance was recorded by vocalist Aileen Stanley and conductor Rosario Bourdon on August 10, 1920, in Camden, New Jersey; the recording is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is a photograph from A Sailor's Ballad, performed at St. James Theatre in the 1930s as part of the Federal Theatre Project; the image is available in the Library of Congress, Music Division, Federal Theatre Project Collection.

Additional Sources:

“Hallie Flanagan Davis,” Vassar Encyclopedia.
“The WPA Federal Theatre Project, 1935-1939,” Library of Congress.
“The Works Progress Administration,” PBS American Experience.
“The Federal Theatre: Revisiting the Dream [video],” The Living New Deal, October 17, 2022.
"Voodoo Macbeth - Trailer and Interview - Orson Welles - 1936 [video],” Shakespeare Network, posted on YouTube on May 2, 2021.
“The Play That Electrified Harlem,” by Wendy Smith; originally published in the January-February 1996 issue of Civilization magazine and reposted on the Library of Congress website.
“Federal Theatre Project,” by Paula Becker, HistoryLink, October 30, 2002.
“The theater project that sparked a congressional probe — and culture war,” by James Shapiro, The Washington Post, May 26, 2024.
“F.D.R.'S WPA FTP; At Moderate Box Office Prices the TheatreGoing Public Is Inexhaustible,” by Brooks Atkinson, The New York TImes, May 28, 1939.

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The Red Summer of 1919 & Black Resistance Jun 03, 2024

In 1919, racial tensions in the US, exacerbated by changes brought about by the first wave of the Great Migration and by the return of Black soldiers who demanded equal citizenship from the country they’d fought for, boiled over into a summer of violence. In Washington, DC, 39 people died after days of fighting between white mobs and Black citizens who stood their ground and fought back. The events of the Red Summer are just one example of the ways that Black Americans have resisted white supremacy. Our guest this episode, Dr. Kellie Carter Jackson, the Michael and Denise ‘68 Associate Professor of Africana Studies and the Chair of the Africana Studies Department at Wellesley College and author of We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance, discusses five remedies by which Black people have responded and continue to respond to white supremacy.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “My way's cloudy,” a traditional negro spiritual, arranged by H.T. Burleigh, and performed by Contralto Marian Anderson and a backing orchestra conducted by Rosario Bourdon, in Camden, New Jersey, on December 10, 1923; the recording is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox.

The episode image is “National Guard during the 1919 Chicago Race Riots,” photograph by Jun Fujita; the photograph has no known copyright and is available via the Chicago History Museum, ICHi-065477.

Additional Sources:

“Close Ranks (1918),” W.E.B. Du Bois, Editorial from The Crisis, Reprinted on BlackPast.
“Returning Soldiers (1919),” W.E.B. Du Bois, Editorial from The Crisis, Reprinted in American Yawp.
“African-American Troops Fought to Fight in World War I,” by Richard Goldenberg, U.S. Department of Defense, February 1, 2018.
“An American and Nothing Else: The Great War and the Battle for National Belonging,” Yale University Library Online Exhibitions.
“Racial Violence and the Red Summer,” National Archives.
“Red Summer of 1919: How Black WWI Vets Fought Back Against Racist Mobs,” by Abigail Higgins, History.com, July 26, 2019.
“The Red Summer of 1919, Explained,” by Ursula Wolfe-Rocco, Teen Vogue, May 31, 2020.
“Hundreds of black deaths during 1919’s Red Summer are being remembered,” PBS NewsHour, July 23, 2019.
“The Red Summer of 1919,” by Julius L Jones, Chicago History Museum, July 26, 2019.
“Red Summer: The Race Riots of 1919,” National WWI Museum and Memorial.
“The deadly race riot ‘aided and abetted’ by The Washington Post a century ago,” by Gillian Brockell, The Washington Post, July 15, 2019.
“One Hundred Years Ago, a Four-Day Race Riot Engulfed Washington, D.C.,”by Patrick Sauer, Smithsonian Magazine, July 17, 2019.
“How a Brutal Race Riot Shaped Modern Chicago,” by Adam Green, The New York Times, August 3, 2019.
“Black Communist in the Freedom Struggle: The Life of Harry Haywood,” by Harry Haywood, Edited by Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, University of Minnesota Press, May 8, 2012.
“Our History,” NAACP.

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The Reconstruction Era & its Aftermath May 27, 2024

As the Civil War was drawing to a close, President Lincoln was preparing for what came after, with plans for reunification of the country, and he began to advocate for limited suffrage for Black Americans. John Wilkes Booth’s bullet cut short those plans, and Southerner Andrew Johnson, who was much more sympathetic to the former Confederacy, succeeded Lincoln. It wasn’t until Congress passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867, over Johnson’s veto, that federal troops enforced a true remaking of the former Confederate states, and for a brief period Black men voted and ran for office in the South in large numbers. In 1877, however, the federal troops withdrew, formally ending the Reconstruction era and leaving Black Americans alone to face a terror campaign of white supremacist violence.

Joining me in this episode is historian Dr. Manisha Sinha, the James L. and Shirley A. Draper Chair in American History at the University of Connecticut and author of The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Brethren Rise!” performed by the Fisk University Jubilee Singers in New York City on February 3, 1916; the song is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is “Black Legislators Elected During Reconstruction,” an 1872 lithograph by Currier and Ives; image is in the public domain and is available via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional Sources:

“Lincoln's Evolving Thoughts On Slavery, And Freedom,” Fresh Air NPR, October 11, 2010.
“Abraham Lincoln and Emancipation,” Library of Congress.
“Hannibal Hamlin (1861–1865),” UVA Miller Center.
“Lincoln’s Successor Problem,” by Julie Witcover, Politico Magazine,” April 13, 2015.
“How did Lincoln end up with a Democrat for a vice president?” by Roger Schlueter, Belleville News Democrat, April 6, 2017.
“Andrew Johnson's Inauguration,” United States Senate.
“A Call for Reconciliation: Lincoln’s Final Speech,” by Nathan Cooper, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, July 29, 2020.
“The President's Last Public Address: April 11, 1865,” The American Presidency Project.
“Andrew Johnson,” The White House.
“Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction,” National Park Service.
“Reconstruction,” History.com, Originally posted October 29, 2009, and updated January 24, 2024.
“14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Civil Rights (1868),” National Archives.
“A Short Overview of the Reconstruction Era and Ulysses S. Grant's Presidency,” National Park Service.
“The Legacy of the Reconstruction Era’s Black Political Leaders,” by Olivia Waxman, Time Magazine, February 7, 2022.
“Disputed Election of 1876: The death knell of the Republican dream,” by Sheila Blackford, UVA Miller Center.
“Reconstruction Didn’t Fail. It Was Overthrown,” by Allen C. Guelzo, Time Magazine, April 30, 2018.

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The Southern Plantation System May 20, 2024

Fictional depictions of Southern plantations often present romanticized visions of genteel country life, but for the people enslaved on plantations the reality was that of a forced labor camp. At the same time the plantation was also their home. And although they had no choice in where or how they lived, enslaved people did work to make their residences home, for instance by sweeping their yards, keeping items like books and ceramics, and even hiding personal objects in the walls or under the floor where they couldn’t be found by enslavers.

Joining me in this episode to help us understand the importance of homemaking by enslaved plantation workers is historian Dr. Whitney Nell Stewart, assistant professor of history at the University of Texas at Dallas, and author of This Is Our Home: Slavery and Struggle on Southern Plantations.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Welcome, Honey, to Your Old Plantation Home,” composed by Albert Gumble with lyrics by Jack Yellen, and performed by the Peerless Quartet in New York on June 19, 1916; the audio is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox Project. The episode image is “Picking cotton on a Georgia plantation, 1858;” the photograph is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress.

Additional sources:

“‘Gone With the Wind’ is also a Confederate monument, but on film instead of stone,” by Nina Silber, The Washington Post, June 12, 2020.
“How Gone With the Wind Took the Nation by Storm By Catering to its Southern Sensibilities,” by Carrie Hagen, Smithsonian Magazine, December 15, 2014.
“Why Confederate Lies Live On,” by Clint Smith, The Atlantic, May 10, 2021.
“The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government,” Jefferson Davis, D. Appleton and Company. 1880.
“The Plantation System,” National Geographic Education.
“Slavery, the Plantation Myth, and Alternative Facts,” by Tyler Parry, Black Perspectives, December 6, 2017.
“The Myth of the Peaceful Plantation,” by Wayne Curtis, The Daily Beast, Originally published on August 4, 2020, and updated on November 30, 2021.
“Plantations could be used to teach about US slavery if stories are told truthfully,” by Amy Potter and Derek H. Alderman, The Conversation, March 15, 2022.
“Inside America’s Auschwitz,” by Jared Keller, Smithsonian Magazine, April 4, 2016.

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Slavery & Incarceration in New Orleans May 13, 2024

Shortly after New Orleans became a US city (via the Louisiana Purchase), the municipal council established one of the country’s first professional salaried police forces and began operation of Police Jail, both efforts aimed at the capture and control of enslaved people who had run away from or otherwise disobeyed their enslavers. The history of New Orleans and Louisiana is an intertwined history of slavery and incarceration, the effects of which can still be felt today.

Joining me in this episode is Dr. John Bardes, Assistant Professor of History at Louisiana State University and author of The Carceral City: Slavery and the Making of Mass Incarceration in New Orleans, 1803-1930.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “The Best Jazz Club In New Orleans,” by PaoloArgento, available for use via the Pixabay Content License. The episode image is “Slave prison (Calabozo), New Orleans,” by photographer A. Genthe, taken between 1920 and 1926; the photograph is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress.

Additional sources:

“Timeline: New Orleans,” PBS American Experience.
“Third Treaty of San Ildefonso,” by Elizabeth Clark Neidenbach, 64 Parishes.
“Louisiana Purchase, 1803,” United States Department of State Office of the Historian.
“‘Confined in the Dungeons’: Orleans Parish Prison and Self-Emancipated People,” Lauren Smith, Kathryn O’Dwyer, Editor, and with initial research contributions by Brett Todd, New Orleans Historical, accessed May 12, 2024.
“Before the Civil War, New Orleans Was the Center of the U.S. Slave Trade,” by Joshua D. Rothman, Smithsonian Magazine, April 19, 2021.
“Lincoln’s 'laboratory': How emancipation spread across South Louisiana during Civil War,” by Andrew Capps, Lafayette Daily Advertiser, June 18, 2021.
“Why slavery as a punishment for crime was just on the ballot in some states,” PBS News Hour, November 18, 2022.
“‘You’re a slave’: Inside Louisiana’s forced prison labor and a failed overhaul attempt,” by Cara McGoogan, Washington Post, Published January 1, 2023, and updated January 3, 2023.
“Louisiana's over-incarceration is part of a deeply rooted pattern,” by Hassan Kanu, Reuters, February 1, 2023.

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The Jazz Maestros of Jim Crow America May 06, 2024

Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie came of age in a deeply segregated country, battling racism to become celebrated musicians, composers, and band leaders whose music lives on. Joining me this week to discuss the lives and careers of these three musical geniuses is writer and journalist Larry Tye, author of The Jazzmen: How Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie Transformed America.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Riverside Blues,” performed by King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band in 1923; the song is in the public domain and available via the Internet Archive. The episode images are: “Count Basie,” taken by James J. Kriegsmann in 1955, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; “Louis Armonstrong,” Herbert Behrens / Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons; and “Duke Ellington,’’ Associated Booking (management), 1964, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional Sources:

“MLK Jr. on Jazz, The Soundtrack of Civil Rights,” by Mark Taylor, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, January 14, 2022.
“Duke Ellington, a Master of Music, Dies at 75,” by John S. Wilson, The New York Times, May 25, 1974.
“Seven facts to learn about Duke Ellington,” by Cristiana Lombardo, PBS American Masters, July 18, 2022.
“Duke Ellington,” Songwriters Hall of Fame.
“Louis Armstrong, Jazz Trumpeter and Singer, Dies,” by Albin Krebs, The New York Times, July 7, 1971.
“Louis Armstrong Biography,” Louis Armstrong House Museum.
“9 Things You May Not Know About Louis Armstrong,” by Evan Andrews, History.com, Originally published August 4, 2016 and updated June 1, 2023.
“Count Basie, 79, Band Leader and Master of Swing, Dead,” by John S. Wilson, The New York TImes, April 27, 1984.
“Count Basie Biography,” Rutgers University.
“William ‘Count’ Basie,” National Endowment for the Arts.

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Negro League Baseball Apr 29, 2024

In its earliest years, the National League was not segregated, and a few teams included Black ballplayers, but in 1887 major and minor league owners adopted a so-called “gentlemen’s agreement” that no new contracts would be given to Black players. In 1920, pitcher and manager Rube Foster founded the first of the Negro Leagues, the Negro National League, to organize professional Black baseball, which was played at a very high level. Other professional Negro leagues followed, and for decades the stars of the game played in the Negro Leagues, until the National League and American League began to slowly accept Black players, starting with Jackie Robinson in 1947.

Joining me in this episode is Dr. Leslie Heaphy, Associate Professor of History at Kent State University at Stark, Vice President of the Society for American Baseball Research, founding editor of Black Ball, and author of The Negro Leagues, 1869-1960.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Boogaboo (Fox Trot),” composed by Jelly Roll Morton and performed by Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers Camden, New Jersey, on June 11, 1928; the music is in the public domain and available via Wikimedia Commons.The episode image is from the fourth Negro League East-West All-Star Game at Comiskey Park in Chicago on August 23, 1936; the photograph is in the public domain and available via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional Sources:

“The History Of Baseball And Civil Rights In America,” National Baseball Hall of Fame.
“Bud Fowler’s Life Blazed A Trail From Cooperstown,” by Isabelle Minasian, National Baseball Hall Of Fame.
“6 Decades Before Jackie Robinson, This Man Broke Baseball’s Color Barrier: Moses Fleetwood Walker played for a Major League Baseball team in the 1880s,” by Farrell Evans, History.com, Originally published April 27, 2022, and updated January 22, 2024.
“The Great Migration (1910-1970),” National Archives.
“The League [video],” Magnolia Pictures.
“A 20th Century Baseball Institution,” by Matt Kelly, MLB.com.
“The Negro League revolutionized baseball – MLB's new rules are part of its legacy,” by Dave Davies, NPR Fresh Air, July 10, 2023.
“The Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball,” National Baseball Hall of Fame.

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Log Cabin Republicans and the Gay Right Apr 22, 2024

In 1977, a California state senator named John Briggs took to the steps of City Hall in San Francisco to announce a ballot initiative that would empower school boards to fire gay teachers based only on their sexual orientation. In response, gay activists around California mobilized, including gay Republicans, who formed among the first gay Republican organizations. In 1990, several of those California groups, together with groups across the country, combined into the Log Cabin Federation, which by 1992 had grown to 6000 members across 26 chapters.

Joining me in this episode to discuss this story and the longer history of Gay Republicans is historian, writer, and podcaster Dr. Neil J. Young, author of Coming Out Republican: A History of the Gay Right.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Funky_30sec” by Grand_Project from Pixabay; the music is free for use under the Pixabay Content License. The episode image is “Arguments at the United States Supreme Court for Same-Sex Marriage on April 28, 2015,” taken by Ted Eytan, CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED.

Additional Sources:

“How 1970s Christian crusader Anita Bryant helped spawn Florida's LGBTQ culture war,” by Jillian Eugenios, NBC News, April 13, 2022.
“Column: How 2.8 million California voters nearly banned gay teachers from public schools,” By Nicholas Goldberg, Los Angeles Times, August 4, 2021.
“How Log Cabin Republicans Keep Out Of The Closet,” by NPR Weekend Edition Saturday, April 20, 2011.
“Kevin McCarthy should meet the Ronald Reagan of 1978,” by John Kenneth White, The Hill, June 3, 2021.
“Our History,” Log Cabin Republicans.
“The bizarre history of Log Cabin’s presidential endorsements,” by Chris Johnson, The Washington Blade, August 21, 2019.
“Melania Trump is set to make a return to her husband's campaign with a rare political appearance,” by Stephany Matat, The Washington Post, April 20, 2024.

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American Posture Panic Apr 15, 2024

For several decades in the 20th Century, American universities, including elite institutions, took nude photos of their students, sometimes as often as twice a year, in order to evaluate their posture. In some cases students had to achieve a minimum posture grade in order to graduate. How did that practice develop, and how did it end? This week we’re discussing Americans’ obsession with posture with Dr. Beth Linker, the Samuel H. Preston Endowed Term Professor in the Department of the History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Debutante Intermezzo,” composed and performed by Howard Kopp in 1916; the audio is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is from “The posture of school children, with its home hygiene and new efficiency methods for school training,” from 1913, by Jessie H. Bancroft; the image is in the public domain and is available via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional sources:

“Correct Posture League.; Will Educate Children and Adults to Stand Up Straight,” The New York Times, April 2, 1914.
"College Slouch" Proved By Orthopedic Tests,” The Harvard Crimson, March 8, 1917.
“The Rise and Fall of American Posture,” by David Yosifon and Peter N. Stearns, The American Historical Review 103, no. 4 (1998): 1057–95.
“The Great Ivy League Nude Posture Photo Scandal,” by Ron Rosenbaum, The New York Times Magazine, January 15, 1995, Section 6, Page 26.
“It’s Not Too Late to Fix Your Posture,” by Thessaly La Force, Vogue Magazine, January 18, 2024.
“Six ways to improve your posture,” by Rebecca Newman, Financial Times, March 26 2024.
“Learn how to correct your posture in only 60 seconds,” by Ron Kaspriske, Golf Digest, February 9, 2024.
“How to promote good posture and avoid becoming hunched over,” by Michele Stanten, The Washington Post, December 11, 2023.

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The History of DARE Apr 08, 2024

In the fall of 1983, the LAPD, under Chief of Police Darryl Gates and in collaboration with the LA Unified School District, launched Project DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), sending 10 police officers into 50 elementary schools to teach kids how to say no to drugs. By the time DARE celebrated its 10-year anniversary, there were DARE officers in all 50 states, teaching 4.5 million students. The program was praised by presidents and supported by major corporate sponsors, but in the 1990s social scientists started to question its effectiveness, eventually leading to a precipitous decline in the numbers of school districts participating in the program.

Joining me in this episode is Dr. Max Felker-Kantor, Associate Professor of History at Ball State University and author of Dare to Say No: Policing and the War on Drugs in Schools.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Back to the 80s”

by Roman Oriekhov from Pixabay; it is available via the Pixabay Content License. The episode image is “Children from Sterling Heights Elementary school recite the pledge of allegiance at the Drugs Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) graduation on Kadena Air Base (AB), Okinawa, Japan,” taken on February 28, 2003; the image is released to the public and is available via the National Archives (NAID: 6642856).

Additional Sources:

“D.A.R.E.’s Story as a Leader in Drug Prevention Education,” D.A.R.E. America.
“DARE Marks a Decade of Growth and Controversy : Youth: Despite critics, anti-drug program expands nationally. But some see declining support in LAPD,” by Jim Newton, Los Angeles Times, September 9, 1993.
“How effective is drug abuse resistance education? A meta-analysis of Project DARE outcome evaluations,” by ST Ennett, NS Tobler, CL Ringwalt, and RL Flewelling, American Journal of Public Health 1994;84(9):1394-1401.
“Just Say No to D.A.R.E.,” by Dennis P. Rosenbaum, Criminology and Public Policy, 6(4), 815-824.
“DARE: The Anti-Drug Program That Never Actually Worked,” by Rosie Cima, Priceonomics.
“Just Say No?” by Scott Lilienfeld and Hal Arkowitz, Scientific American Mind, 15552284, Jan/Feb2014, Vol. 25, Issue 1.
“A brief history of DARE, the anti-drug program Jeff Sessions wants to revive,” by Christopher Ingraham, The Washington Post, July 12, 2017.
“Proclamation 5854 -- National D.A.R.E. Day, 1988,” by Ronald Reagan, September 8, 1988, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.
“Proclamation 8648—National D.A.R.E. Day, 2011,” by Barack Obama, April 11, 2011, The American Presidency Project.

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Alice Roosevelt Longworth Apr 01, 2024

When Theodore Roosevelt became president in 1901, his eldest child, 17-year-old Alice, rose quickly to celebrity status. The public loved hearing about the exploits of the poker-playing, gum-chewing “Princess Alice,” who kept a small green snake in her purse. By the time she died at age 96, Alice, whose Dupont Circle home included an embroidered pillow with the phrase “If you can’t say something good about someone, sit right here by me,” was such an institution in DC politics that she was known as The Other Washington Monument.

Joining me in this episode is Dr. Michael Patrick Cullinane, Professor of U.S. History and the Lowman Walton Chair of Theodore Roosevelt Studies at Dickinson State University in North Dakota, author of several books on Theodore Roosevelt, and host of the The Gilded Age and Progressive Era Podcast.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Alice Blue Gown,” from the musical comedy “Irene,” composed by Harry Tierney with lyrics by Joseph McCarthy; the soloist is Edith Day, and the recording from February 2, 1920, is in the public domain and available via the LIbrary of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is a photograph of Alice Roosevelt with a family parrot, taken around 1904; the photograph is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress.

Additional Sources:

Alice: Alice Roosevelt Longworth, from White House Princess to Washington Power Broker, by Stacy A. Cordery, Penguin Books, 2008.
“'Princess' Alice Roosevelt Longworth,” by Myra MacPherson, The Washington Post, February 21, 1980.
“From a White House Wedding to a Pet Snake, Alice Roosevelt’s Escapades Captivated America,” by Francine Uenuma, Smithsonian Magazine, November 18, 2022.
“Alice Roosevelt Longworth at 90,” by Sally Quinn, The Washington Post, February 12, 1974.
“Alice Roosevelt Longworth: Presidential Daughter and American Celebrity,” by Lina Mann, The White House Historical Association, October 10, 2017.
“A Presidential Daughter You Could Pick On: Alice Roosevelt Longworth was the sassiest offspring ever to occupy the White House,” by Carol Felsenthal, Politico, December 3, 2014.
“The Last Time America Turned Away From the World,” by By John Milton Cooper, The New York Times, November 21, 2019.
“The ‘First Daughter’ in Asia: Alice Roosevelt’s 1905 Trip,” The Association for Asian Studies.

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Eleanor Roosevelt's Visit to the Pacific Theatre during World War II Mar 25, 2024

In August 1943, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt set off in secrecy from San Francisco on a military transport plane, flying across the Pacific Ocean. It wasn’t until she showed up in New Zealand 10 days later that the public learned about her trip, a mission to the frontlines of the Pacific Theater in World War II to serve as "the President's eyes, ears and legs." Eleanor returned to New York five weeks and nearly 26,000 miles later, having seen an estimated 400,000 troops on her trip and producing a detailed report on American Red Cross activities in the Southwest Pacific for Norman Davis, Chairman of the American Red Cross.

Joining me in this episode is journalist Shannon McKenna Schmidt, author of The First Lady of World War II: Eleanor Roosevelt's Daring Journey to the Frontlines and Back.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode audio is from the December 7, 1941, episode of Over Our Coffee Cups, a weekly 15-minute radio show hosted by Eleanor Roosevelt on the NBC Blue network; in 1942, these recordings were donated to the Library of Congress as a gift from the sponsor, the Pan-American Coffee Bureau; the audio clip can be accessed on the C-SPAN website. The episode image is “Eleanor Roosevelt, General Harmon, and Admiral Halsey in New Caledonia,” taken on September 16, 1943; the image is in the public domain and is available via the National Archives, NAID: 195974.

Additional Sources:

“This Is What Eleanor Roosevelt Said to America’s Women on the Day of Pearl Harbor,” by Lily Rothman, Time Magazine, Originally published December 7, 2016, and updated on December 6, 2018.
“ER and the Office of Civilian Defense,” Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project.
“In the South Pacific War Zone (1943),” Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project.
“Eleanor Roosevelt: American Ambassador to the South Pacific,” by Glenn Barnett, Warfare History Network, July 2006.
“A First Lady on the Front Lines,” by Paul M Sparrow, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, August 26, 2016.
“Eleanor Roosevelt and World War II,” National Park Service.
“Eleanor Roosevelt: South Pacific Visit [video],” clip from The Roosevelts by Ken Burns, September 13, 2014.

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Eliza Scidmore Mar 18, 2024

Journalist Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore traveled the world in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, writing books and hundreds of articles about such places as Alaska, Japan, China, India, and helping shape the journal of the National Geographic Society into the photograph-heavy magazine it is today. Scidmore is perhaps best known today for her long-running and eventually successful campaign to bring Japanese cherry trees to Potomac Park in Washington, DC.

Joining me in this episode is writer Diana Parsell, author of Eliza Scidmore: The Trailblazing Journalist Behind Washington's Cherry Trees.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “My Cherry Blossom,” written by Ted Snyder and performed by Lanin’s Orchestra on May 12, 1921, in New York City; audio is in the public domain and is available via the Discography of American Historical Recordings. The episode image is "Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore [signature]," The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library Digital Collections, 1895 - 1910.

Additional Sources:

“Cherry blossoms’ champion, Eliza Scidmore, led a life of adventure,” by Michael E. Ruane, The Washington Post, March 13, 2012.
“Eliza Scidmore,” National Park Service.
“Beyond the Cherry Trees: The Life and Times of Eliza Scidmore,” by Jennifer Pocock, National Geographic,March 27, 2012.
“The Surprisingly Calamitous History of DC’s Cherry Blossoms,” by Hayley Garrison Phillips, Washingtonian, March 18, 2018.
“Cherry Blossoms, Travel Logs, and Colonial Connections: Eliza Scidmore’s Contributions to the Smithsonian,” by Kasey Sease, Smithsonian Institution Archives, August 18, 2020.
“Celebrating Eliza Scidmore: Nat Geo’s First Female Photographer,” by Kern Carter, Writers are Superstars, May 14, 2023.
“The American Woman Who Reported On Japan’s Entry Into World War I,”
By Diana Parsell, Doughboy Foundation, August 8, 2023.
“The woman who shaped National Geographic,” National Geographic, February 22, 2017.
“Photo lot 139, Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore photographs relating to Japan and China,” National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution

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Foreign Missionaries & American Diplomacy in the 19th Century Mar 11, 2024

In 1812, when the United States was still a young nation and its State Department was tiny, American citizens began heading around the world as Christian missionaries. Early in the 19th Century, the US government often saw missionaries as experts on the politics, culture, and language of regions like China and the Sandwich Islands, but as the State Department expanded its own global footprint, it became increasingly concerned about missionary troubles.

Joining me in this episode is Dr. Emily Conroy-Krutz, Associate Professor of History at Michigan State University and author of Missionary Diplomacy: Religion and Nineteenth-Century American Foreign Relations.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Jesus, Love of My Soul,” written by Charles Wesley and performed by Simeon Butler March and Henry Burr on February 25, 1916; the audio is in the public domain and available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is from the Jubilee Story of the China Inland Mission, Marshall Broomhall, Morgan & Scott, London, 1915; it is in the public domain.

Additional Sources:

“Were Christian missionaries ‘foundational’ to the United States?” by Emily Conroy-Krutz, The Washington Post, October 18, 2018.
“Into All the World: the Story of Haystack [video,]” Chaplain Rick Spalding, Williams College, September 25, 2013.
“American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions historical documents,” Global Ministries.
“The life and letters of Samuel Wells Williams, LL.D., missionary, diplomatist, Sinologue,” by Frederick Wells Williams, 1889.
“Missionary Movement - Timeline Movement,” The Association of Religion Data Archives.
“The Foreign Missionary Movement in the 19th and early 20th Centuries,” by Daniel H. Bays, National Humanities center.
“A History of the United States Department of State, 1789-1996,” Released by the Office of the Historian, July 1996.
“About,” United States Department of State.
“In 200-year tradition, most Christian missionaries are American,” by Daniel Lovering, Reuters, February 20, 2012.

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Tammany Hall, FDR & the Murder of Vivian Gordon Mar 04, 2024

In 1931, Judge Samuel Seabury was leading an investigation for Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt into corruption in New York’s magistrate courts when a witness in the investigation named Vivian Gordon was found murdered in the Bronx. Because of the public demand for answers in this high-profile murder case, FDR could no longer keep his uneasy peace with Tammany Hall and expanded the scope of Seabury’s investigation. What Seabury’s team uncovered brought down Mayor Jimmy Walker and began to topple the Tammany Hall stranglehold on New York City politics.

Joining me in this episode is writer Michael Wolraich, author of The Bishop And The Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is by Daniel Carlton on Pixabay and is available for use via the Pixabay Content License. The episode image is “Mid-town Manhattan, looking northeast toward Chrysler Building,” photographed by William Frange, ca. 1931; there are no known restrictions on publication and the image is available via the Library of Congress.

Additional Sources:

“The Politics and Iconography of Tammany in the Early American Republic,” by Keith Muchowski, Journal of the American Revolution, August 19, 2021
“Boss Tweed’s Rise and Downfall | New York: A Documentary Film [video],” PBS.
“The corrupt N.Y. congressman who was sentenced to prison — and escaped,” by George Bass, The Washington post, July 2, 2023.
“The Case For Tammany Hall Being On The Right Side Of History,” NPR Fresh Air, March 5, 2014.
“How an Unlikely Alliance Saved the Democrats 100 Years Ago,” by Terry Golway, Politico Magazine, September 17, 2018.
“Franklin D. Roosevelt: Life Before the Presidency,” by William E. Leuchtenburg, UVA Miller Center.
“Samuel Seabury,” Historical Society of the New York Courts.
“The Insane 1930s Graft Investigation That Took Down New York’s Mayor—and Then Tammany Hall,” by Erin Blakemore, History.com, Originally posted April 17, 2019, and updated April 22, 2019.
“The Dead Woman Who Brought Down the Mayor,” by Rachel Shteir, Smithsonian Magazine, February 25, 2013.
“Jimmy Walker May Have Been NYC's Most Corrupt Mayor, but Damn Was He Fun,” Avenue Magazine, December 2, 2021.
“Jazz Age Mayor and Villager, Jimmy Walker,” by Sarah Bean Apmann, Off the Grid, June 18, 2020.

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The Combahee River Raid of 1863 Feb 26, 2024

Starting in November 1861, the Union Army held the city of Beaufort, South Carolina, using the Sea Islands as a southern base of operations in the Civil War. Harriet Tubman joined the Army there, debriefing freedom seekers who fled enslavement in nearby regions and ran to seek the Union Army’s protection in Beaufort. With the intelligence Tubman gathered, she and Colonel James Montgomery led 150 Black soldiers on a daring raid along the Combahee RIver in June 1863, destroying seven rice plantations in the heart of the Confederate breadbasket, causing $6 million worth of damages and liberating 756 people from enslavement on the rice fields.

Joining me in this episode is Dr. Edda Fields-Black, Associate Professor of HIstory at Carnegie Mellon University and author of COMBEE: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is "Dangerous," by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. The episode image is Mcpherson & Oliver, photographer. “2nd South Carolina Infantry Regiment raid on rice plantation, Combahee, South Carolina,” by Mcpherson and Oliver, published in Harper’s Weekly, July 4, 1863; the image is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress.

Additional Sources:

“Port Royal, Battle of,” by Stephen R. Wise, Encyclopedia of South Carolina, Originally published June 20, 2016, and updated August 22, 2022.
“Nov. 7, 1861: The Port Royal Experiment Initiated,” Zinn Education Project.
“The Port Royal Experiment,” The Lowcountry Digital History Initiative (LDHI).
“Port Royal Experiment: Reconstruction Era in Beaufort, South Carolina with Park Ranger Chris Barr [video],” National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT), August 23, 2022.
“Life on the Sea Islands (Part I),” by Charlotte Forten Grimké, The Atlantic, May 1864.
“Life on the Sea Islands (Part II),” by Charlotte Forten Grimké, The Atlantic, June 1864.
“Harriet Tubman’s Great Raid,” by Paul Donnelly, The New York Times, June 7, 2013.
“After the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman Led a Brazen Civil War Raid,” by Alexis Clark, History.com, Originally published November 1, 2019, and updated August 29, 2023.

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The History of Ice in the United States Feb 19, 2024

Today, Americans consume 400 pounds of ice a year, each. That would have been unfathomable to people in the 18th century, but a number of innovators and ice barons in the 19th and 20th centuries changed the way we think about the slippery substance. Joining me in this episode is writer Dr. Amy Brady, author of Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks–A Cool History of a Hot Commodity.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “All She Gets from the Iceman is Ice,” written by Arthur J. Lamb and Alfred Solman and performed by Ada Jones in 1908; the song is in the public domain and is available via the Internet Archive. The episode image is: “Girls deliver ice. Heavy work that formerly belonged to men only is being done by girls. The ice girls are delivering ice on a route and their work requires brawn as well as the partriotic ambition to help," taken on September 16, 1918; image is in the public domain and is available via the National Archives (NAID: 533758; Local ID: 165-WW-595A(3)).

Additional Sources:

“The Stubborn American Who Brought Ice to the World,” By Reid Mitenbuler, The Atlantic, February 5, 2013.
“Tracing the History of New England’s Ice Trade,” by Devin Hahn and Amy Laskowski, The Brink: Pioneering Research from Boston University, February 4, 2022.
“The Bizarre But True Story of America's Obsession With Ice Cubes,” by Reid Mitenbuler, Epicurious, September 26, 2016.
“The Surprisingly Cool History of Ice, by Linda Rodriguez McRobbie, Mental Floss, February 10, 2016.
“Keeping your (food) cool: From ice harvesting to electric refrigeration,” by Emma Grahn, National Museum of American History, April 29, 2015.
“When Everyone Wanted to Be the Iceman,” by Kelly Robinson, Atlas Obscura, August 23, 2019.
“The History of Human-Made Ice,” by Amy Brady, Discover Magazine, December 2, 2023.
“The Dawn of New York's Ice Age,” by Edward T. O'Donnell, The New York Times, July 21, 2005.
“The History of the Refrigerator,” by Mary Bellis, ThoughtCo, Updated on October 31, 2019.
“A Chilling History: on the science and technology of portable coolers,” by Laura Prewitt, Science History Institute, July 24, 2023.
No chill: A closer look at America’s obsession with ice,” by Haley Chouinard, Business of Home, December 23, 2020.
“Climate-Friendly Cocktail Recipes Go Light on Ice,” by Amy Brady, Scientific American, July 1, 2023.

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The History of Blue Jeans Feb 12, 2024

If you’re like most Americans – or most people on earth – you have a pair of jeans, or maybe five, in your wardrobe. There’s a decent chance you’re wearing jeans right now. These humble pants were invented by a Reno tailor in the 1870s in response to a frustrated customer whose husband kept wearing through his pants too quickly. How, then, did they become a global phenomenon expected to exceed $100 billion in sales by 2025? Joining me to help answer that question is historian, writer, and screenwriter, Dr. Carolyn Purnell, author of Blue Jeans.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Blue Jeans,” composed by Josef Pasternack and performed by the Peerless Quartet in 1921; audio is in the public domain and available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is “Five Idaho farmers, members of Ola self-help sawmill co-op, in the woods standing against a load of logs ready to go down to their mill about three miles away,” photographed by Dorothea Lange in Gem County, Idaho, in October 1939 for the Farm Security Administration; the image is in the public domain and available via the Library of Congress.

Additional Sources:

“The Origin of Blue Jeans,” by Joseph Stromberg, Smithsonian Magazine, September 26, 2011.
“The History of Denim,” Levi Strauss & Co., July 4, 2019.
“Riveted: The History of Jeans [video],” PBS American Experience Season 34, Episode 1, February 7, 2022.
“Durable and enduring, blue jeans turn 150,” by Jessica Green, NPR Weekend Edition Sunday, May 23, 2023.
“Behind 150 years of the world’s most famous denim jeans,” by Gordon Ng, Vogue Singapore, May 3, 2023.
“How Denim Became a Political Symbol of the 1960s,” by Brandon Tensley, Smithsonian Magazine, December 2020.
“Throwback Thursday: Levi’s — Right For School?” Levi Strauss & Co., September 24, 2015.

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The History of Pinball Feb 05, 2024

In January 1942, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia sent New York City police out on an important mission; their objective: to find and destroy tens of thousands of pinball machines. But some of pinball’s most important innovations, including the development of flippers, happened in the decades that it was banned in New York and many other US cities. This week we dig in to the fun – and sometimes surprising – history of pinball.

Joining me in this episode is illustrator and cartoonist Jon Chad, author of Pinball: A Graphic History of the Silver Ball. I’m also joined by a special guest co-host, my son, Teddy.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Caterpillar,” by Gvidon, available for use under the Pixabay content license. The episode image is “Playing the pinball machine at the steelworkers' Serbian Club in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania,” photographed by Jack Delano, 1941, Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives.

Additional Sources:

“The Backstory: The Comte d’Artois, pinball’s original wizard, lived life at full tilt,” by By Brendan Kiley, Pacific NW Magazine, December 1, 2019.
“The Human Side of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette,” by Joe McGasko, biography.com, October 14, 2020.
“Bagatelle patent model patented by Montague Redgrave,” Smithsonian.
“Baffle Ball,” The Internet Pinball Database Presents.
“Bally MFG Company, est. 1932,” by Andrew Clayman, Made in Chicago Museum.
“That Time America Outlawed Pinball,” by Christopher Klein, History.com, Originally published November 15, 2016, and updated October 5, 2023.
“How the Mob Made Pinball Public Enemy #1 in the 1940s,” by Allison McNearney, Daily Beast, November 14, 2021.
“Chicago once waged a 40-year war on pinball,” by Ryan Smith, Chicago Reader, May 5, 2018.
“How One Perfect Shot Saved Pinball From Being Illegal,” by Matt Blitz, Gizmodo, August 16, 2013.
“‘These Things Are Works of Art’: Chicago’s History as the Manufacturing Center for Pinball Machines,” by Meredith Francis, WTTW Chicago, January 26, 2024.
“An Industry Suffers as Few People Play a Mean Pinball Anymore,” Washington Post, July 30, 2000.
“Inside America's Last Great Pinball Factory,” by Peter Rugg, Popular Mechanics, March 27, 2017.
“The Inside Story of Pinball's Renaissance,” by Mike Mahardy, IGN, May 20, 2017.
“A Look At The Unlikely Resurgence Of Pinball In The Mobile Age [video],” NBC News, October 1, 2017.
Pinball Map

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The History of US Foreign Disaster Relief Jan 29, 2024

In 1812, the United States Congress voted to provide $50,000 to assist victims of a horrific earthquake in the far-away country of Venezuela. It would be another nine decades before the US again provided aid for recovery efforts after a foreign rapid-onset natural disaster, but over time it became much more common for the US to help in such emergencies. This disaster relief, provided via a three-pronged response from the State Department, the military, and the voluntary sector, especially represented by the American Red Cross, serves both humanitarian and diplomatic functions for the United States.

Joining me in this episode is Dr. Julia Irwin, the T. Harry Williams Professor of History at Louisiana State University and author of Catastrophic Diplomacy: US Foreign Disaster Assistance in the American Century.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Palloncini sweet and happy piano song,” by Pastichio_Piano_Music, available for use under the Pixabay Content License. The episode image is “Personnel of Commander Carrier Division 15, showing the

prime minister of Ceylon the supplies that the US Navy was delivering to flood victims in his country in early 1958,” Image courtesy of Naval History and Heritage Command.

Additional Sources:

How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States by Daniel Immerwahr, Picador USA, 2020.
“The City of Earthquakes,” by Horace D. Warner, The Atlantic, March 1883.
“Founding and early years of the ICRC (1863-1914),” International Committee of the Red Cross, May 12, 2020.
“A Brief History of the American Red Cross,” American Red Cross.
“American Empire,” American Yawp.
“December 28, 1908: The Tsunami of Messina,” by David Bressan, Scientific American History of Geology, December 28, 2012.
By David Bressan on December 28, 2012
“USAID History,” United States Agency for International Development.
“Where We Work,” United States Agency for International Development.

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LSD, the CIA & the History of Psychedelic Science Jan 22, 2024

In 1938, Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann accidentally developed the potent psychedelic LSD, although it would be several years before Hofmann realized what he’d created. During the Cold War, the CIA launched a top-secret mind control project, code-named MKUltra, experimenting with LSD and other psychedelic substances, drugging military personnel, CIA employees, and civilians, often without their consent or even their knowledge. At the same time, the CIA was funding university research on psychedelics, involving scientists like Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson and counterculture luminaries like Ken Kesey and Allen Ginsberg. Although mid-20th Century scientists had seen therapeutic promise in psychedelics, Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act in 1970, which classified LSD, along with psilocybin, MDMA, and peyote, as Schedule I drugs, defined by the DEA as having “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”

Joining me in this episode is Dr. Benjamin Breen, Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and author of Tripping on Utopia: Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic Science.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is Psychedelic Atmospheric Dream Guitar, by Sonican, available for use via the Pixabay Content License. The episode image is a photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash; free to use under the Unsplash License.

Additional Sources:

“Your employer may be adding another health benefit to its roster: psychedelic drugs,” by Sonya Collins, Fortune, January 19, 2024.
“Psychedelics gave terminal patients relief from their intense anxiety,” by By Meryl Davids Landau, The Washington Post, January 13, 2024.
“People were using psychedelic drugs in Bronze Age Europe, study finds,” by Sheena Goodyear, CBC Radio, April 12, 2023.
“Prehistoric peyote use: alkaloid analysis and radiocarbon dating of archaeological specimens of Lophophora from Texas,” by Hesham R El-Seedi, et al, Journal of ethnopharmacology, 2005, vol. 101,1-3: 238-42.
“'Apparently Useless': The Accidental Discovery of LSD,” by Tom Shroder, The Atlantic, September 9, 2014.
“The Evolutionary Origins of Psychedelics,” by Noah Whiteman, Time Magazine, November 29, 2023.
“A brief history of psychedelic psychiatry,” by Mo Costandi, The Guardian, September 2, 2014.
“Margaret Mead: Human Nature and the Power of Culture,” Library of Congress.
“History of CIA,” Central Intelligence Agency.
“What We Know About the CIA’s Midcentury Mind-Control Project,” by Kat Eschner, Smithsonian Magazine, April 13, 2017.
“The CIA’s Appalling Human Experiments with Mind Control,” by Brianna Nofil, History.com.
American Trip: Set, Setting, and the Psychedelic Experience in the Twentieth Century, by Ido Hartogsohn, 2020.
“What to know about Colorado’s psychedelic law,” by Andrew Kenney, Colorado Public Radio News, June 21, 2023.

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Clotilda: The Last U.S. Slave Ship Jan 15, 2024

In 1860, on the eve of the Civil War, the last slave ship landed in the United States from Africa. The transatlantic slave trade had been illegal in the US since 1808, but Alabama enslaver Timothy Meaher and his friends were so sure they could get away with it that they made a bet and hired Meaher’s neighbor, William Foster, to captain a voyage to Africa. Foster and his crew smuggled 110 terrified kidnapped Africans to Mobile Bay, taking them from a homeland they loved to cruel enslavement in the deep South, and changing their lives forever.

Joining me in this episode is historian Dr. Hannah Durkin, author of The Survivors of the Clotilda: The Lost Stories of the Last Captives of the American Slave Trade.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Slow Thoughtful Sad Piano (This Cold Feeling),” by Ashot Danielyan; the music is available via the Pixabay content license. The episode image is “Abaché and Kazoola ‘Cudjoe’ Lewis,” by Emma Langdon Roche from Historic Sketches of the South, published in 1914 and now in the public domain.

Additional Sources:

“Historical Context: The Constitution and Slavery,”
by Steven Mintz, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
“The Slave Trade Clause,” National Constitution Center.
“Congress votes to ban slave trade: March 2, 1807,” by Andrew Glass, Politico, March 2, 2009.
“The Execution of Nathaniel Gordon,” The New York Times, February 22, 1862.
“Some Economic Aspects of the Domestic Slave Trade, 1830-1860,” by Robert Evans, Southern Economic Journal 27, no. 4 (1961): 329–37.
“The Atlantic Slave Trade Continued Illegally in America Until the Civil War,” by John Harris, History.com, January 28, 2021.
“Historical Timeline,” Clotilda: The Exhibition at Africatown Heritage House, operated by the History Museum of Mobile.
The Clotilda Descendants Association
“The ‘Clotilda,’ the Last Known Slave Ship to Arrive in the U.S., Is Found,” by Allison Keyes, The Smithsonian, May 22, 2019.
“Last survivor of transatlantic slave trade discovered,” by Sean Coughlan, BBC News, March24, 2020.
“Exploring the Clotilda, the last known slave ship in the U.S., brings hope,” by Debbie Elliott and Marisa Peñaloza, NPR Morning Edition, June 15, 2022.
“Descendants of Alabama slave owner say they're ‘figuring out next steps’ to make amends,” by Anderson Cooper, Aliza Chasan, Denise Schrier Cetta, and Katie Brennan, CBS News, November 19, 2023.

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The History of Mormonism Jan 08, 2024

In 1830, amid the Second Great Awakening in the burned-over district of New York State, Joseph Smith, Jr., and Oliver Cowdery ordained each other as the first two elders in what they then called the Church of Christ. Within eight years, the Governor of Missouri issued an executive order that members of the church, by then known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints “must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the state,” driving 10,000 of the faithful to flee to Illinois. This week we discuss the turbulent–and often violent–history of Mormonism and look at the religion’s complicated relationship with the country in which it originated.

Joining me in this episode is Dr. Benjamin E. Park, Associate Professor of History at Sam Houston State University and author of American Zion: A New History of Mormonism.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “O My Father,” Composed by Evan Stephens with lyrics by Eliza R. Snow; performed by Trinity Mixed Quartet on September 18, 1923; the audio is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is "The Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA,” Photo by David Iliff; License: CC BY-SA 3.0.

Additional Sources:

“Timeline: The Early History of the Mormons,”PBS American Experience.
“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Fast Facts,” CNN, December 1, 2022.
“Mormonism: Guide to Materials and Resources,” The Special Collections & Archives department of the Merrill-Cazier Library, Utah State University.
The Joseph Smith Papers
“Doctrine and Covenants 132,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
“The Brink of War: One hundred fifty years ago, the U.S. Army marched into Utah prepared to battle Brigham Young and his Mormon militia,” by David Roberts, Smithsonian Magazine, June 2008.
“How Mormonism Went Mainstream,” by Benjamin E. Park, Time Magazine, September 21, 2023.
“Latter-day Saint membership passed 17 million in 2023, according to a new church statistical report,” by Tad Walch, Deseret News, April 1, 2023.
“The Mormon Poetess Dead,” The New York Times, December 6, 1887.

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The History of College Radio Jan 01, 2024

Almost as soon as there were radio stations, there were college radio stations. In 1948, to popularize FM radio, the FCC introduced class D non commercial education licenses for low-watt college radio stations. By 1967, 326 FM radio signals in the United States operated as “educational radio,” 220 of which were owned and operated by colleges and universities. The type of programming that these stations offered varied widely, from lectures and sporting events, to various kinds of musical shows, but toward the late 1970s, a new genre of college rock appeared on the scene. Record labels took note as college DJs discovered up-and-coming new artists, although they sometimes stopped playing those artists once they made it big.

Joining this week’s episode is historian Dr. Katherine Rye Jewell, a Professor at Fitchburg State University and author of Live from the Underground: A History of College Radio.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “College Days by Charles Hart, et al., 1919, in the public domain and retrieved from the Library of Congress. The episode image is “Don Jackson, a senior, delivering a news broadcast at the Iowa State College radio station,” photographed by Jack Delano at Iowa State College in Ames, Iowa in May 1942; photograph in the public domain and available via the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information.

Additional Sources:

“The Development of Radio,” PBS American Experience.
“Marconi’s First Wireless Transmission,” by Kath Bates, Oxford Open Learning Trust, November 28, 2018.
“Marconi's first radio broadcast made 125 years ago,” by Jonathan Holmes, BBC News, May 13, 2022.
“Radio's First Voice...Canadian!” by Mervyn C. Fry, The Cat's Whisker - Official Voice of the Canadian Vintage Wireless Association Vol. 3, No. 1 - March 1973.
“History of Commercial Radio,” Federal Communications Commission.
“Which college radio station was the first in the United States?,” About College Radio, Radio Survivor, Updated March 14, 2023.
“About WRUC 89.7,” WRUC.union.edu.
“Celebrating 90 Years of Broadcasting at Curry College,” Curry College.
“What Is "College" Rock?” by Shawn Persinger, Premier Guitar, July 15, 2023.
“When college radio went mainstream—and 20 bands that came with it,” by Matthew Everett, Yardbarker, November 7, 2017.
“10 Legendary Bands that Wouldn’t Be Legendary without College Radio,” by Dave Sarkies, College Radio Foundation, September 21, 2020.
“U2 Rock Fordham University: On the Ground at the ‘Secret’ Set,” by Jenn Pelly, Rolling Stone, March 6, 2009.
“All that is left is R.E.M. Steeple – Celebrating the beginning of Athens’ legendary band,” by Joe Vitale, UGA Wire, April 5, 2020.
“‘60 Songs That Explain the ’90s’: R.E.M. and the Leap From College-Rock Gods to Mainstream Icons,” by Rob Harvilla, The Ringer, September 29, 2021.
“REM: The band that defined, then eclipsed college rock,” by Mark Savage, BBC, September 21, 2011.
“History Timeline,” Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
“History,” NPR.
“Left of the dial: College radio days,” by Daniel de Vise, The Washington Post, June 26, 2011.
“Technology and the Soul of College Radio,” by Jennifer Waits, Pop Matters, April 19, 2010.
“The Enduring Relevance of College Radio,” SPIN, November 10, 2020.
“College Radio Maintains Its Mojo,” by Ben Sisario, The New York Times, December 5, 2008.

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Love Actually & the Healing Power of Christmas Films Dec 25, 2023

What makes a Christmas movie a Christmas movie? How do Christmas movies react to – and help us heal from – collective trauma? How can a British Christmas movie feel quintessentially American? We discuss all that and more this week at the 20th Anniversary of Love Actually, with G. Vaughn Joy, a film historian, writer, podcast host, and PhD candidate at University College London.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The first mid-episode musical selection is “The First Noel,” from Christmas Songs and Carols (1912) by Trinity Choir; in the public domain and available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The second mid-episode musical selection is “Jingle Bells,” from Favorite Colleges Songs (1916) by Victor Male Chorus; in the public domain and available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is from a publicity poster for Love Actually.

Films Discussed:

Additional Sources:

“From Fiction to Film: ‘The Greatest Gift’ and ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’” by Elizabeth Brown, Library of Congress Blog, December 21, 2018.
“How World War II shaped ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’” by Rachael Scott, CNN, December 25, 2021.
“What ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ Teaches Us About American History,” by Christopher Wilson, December 16, 2021.
“How A Christmas Story Went from Low-Budget Fluke to an American Tradition,” by Sam Kashner, Vanity Fair, November 30, 2023.
“What’s That Building? The real-life locations from ‘A Christmas Story,’” by Dennis Rodkin, WBEZ Chicago, December 21, 2023.
A Christmas Story House.
“Love Actually,” by Roger Ebert, RogertEbert.com, November 7, 2003.
“FILM REVIEW; Tales of Love, the True and the Not-So-True” by A.O. Scott, The New York Times, November 7, 2003.
“Love Actually Is the Least Romantic Film of All Time,” by Christopher Orr, The Atlantic, December 6, 2013
“25 Surprising Facts About ’Love Actually’ for Its 20th Anniversary,” by Kristy Ruchko, Mental Floss, Posted on November 6, 2018 and Updated on November 13, 2023.
“The Visible Magic of Asking ‘Why?’ A Contemporary History Approach to Klaus (2019),” by Vaughn Joy, Review Roulette, December 24, 2023.

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Mollie Moon Dec 18, 2023

Stories of the Civil Rights Movement don’t often center the fundraisers, often Black women, whose tireless efforts made the movement possible; today we’re featuring one of those women. Mollie Moon, born in 1907, the founder and first chairperson of the National Council of Urban League Guilds, raised millions of dollars for the Civil Rights Movement, using her charm and connections to throw charity galas, like her famed Beaux Arts Ball, where everyone wanted to be seen. Her long service to the movement eventually earned her the President's Volunteer Action Award from President George H. W. Bush in 1989.

Joining this episode to tell us all about Mollie Moon and the funding of the Civil Rights Movement is Dr. Tanisha C. Ford, professor of history in The Graduate Center, at CUNY, and author of Our Secret Society: Mollie Moon and the Glamour, Money, and Power Behind the Civil Rights Movement.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Crazy Blues,” composed by Perry Bradford and performed by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band in 1921; the recording is in the public domain and available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is from the cover of Our Secret Society; Image: Harper Collins.

Additional Sources:

“Socialite Mollie Moon Used Fashion Shows to Fund the Civil Rights Movement,” by Tanisha C. Ford, Harper’s Bazaar, March 8, 2021.
“Mollie Moon, 82, Founding Head Of the Urban League Guild, Dies,” by Peter B. Flint, New York Times, June 26, 1990.
“Mollie Moon: A Real Voice,” by Lev Earle, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester, March 25, 2021.
“Henry Lee Moon (1901-1985),” by Susan Bragg, BlackPast, June 19, 2011.
“Louise Thompson and the Black and White Film,” by Denise Lynn, Black Perspectives, AAIHS, April 15, 2021.
“Harlem Community Art Center,” Mapping the African American Past, Columbia University.
National Urban League Guild.
“Funding a Social Movement: The Ford Foundation and Civil Rights, 1965-1970,” by Rachel Wimpee, Rockefeller Archive Center, November 4, 2020.

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Jewish War Brides of World War II Dec 11, 2023

In the ravages of post-World War II Europe, some Jewish women survivors of the Holocaust found the beginnings of a new life when they met – and married – American (and Canadian and British) men serving with the Allied forces. These women were part of a much larger group of war brides, who came to the United States in such large numbers that they required a change in immigration law, but these Jewish war brides faced additional challenges, from language barriers to the memory of the trauma they’d experienced to finding a community in their new home. Dr. Robin Judd, Associate Professor of History at the Ohio State University and author of Between Two Worlds: Jewish War Brides after the Holocaust, joins this episode to help us explore the story of these women.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Hava Nagila - Orchestra Clarinet,” by JuliusH, available for use via the Pixabay content license. The episode image is “Hanns Ann Alexander wedding 1946,” taken on May 19, 1946, and posted on Flickr by David Lisbona; the image was adapted for use under CC BY 2.0 DEED.

Additional Sources:

“Displaced Persons,” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
“Coming To America: The War Brides Act of 1945,” The National WWII Museum, December 28, 2020.
“Here Came The War Brides 60 Years Ago, a Vast Wave of British Women Followed Their New Loves to a New Land,” by Tamara Jones, The Washington Post, February 12, 2006.
“Band of Sisters,” by Sarah Kewshaw, The New York Times, July 6, 2008.
“America Denied Refugees After the End of World War II—Just As We Are Today,” by David Nasaw, Time Magazine, September 17, 2020.
“Statement by the President Upon Signing the Displaced Persons Act,” Harry S. Truman, June 25, 1948, Truman Library.
“Flory Jagoda: Singer Songwriter, Storyteller, and Composer,” Ladino Music Today as a Tool of Storytelling and Preservation, Curated by Laurel Comiter, Gabriel Mordoch, and Gabriel Duque, University of Michigan Library.

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Merze Tate Dec 04, 2023

Scholar Merze Tate, born in Michigan in 1905, overcame the odds in what she called a “sex and race discriminating world,” to earn graduate degrees from Oxford University and Harvard University on her way to becoming the first Black woman to teach in the History Department at Howard University. During her long career, Tate published 5 books, 34 journal articles and 45 review essays in the fields of diplomatic history and international relations. Her legacy extends beyond her publications, as the fellowships she endowed continue to support students at her alma maters.

Joining me in this episode is historian Dr. Barbara Savage, the Geraldine R. Segal Professor Emerita of American Social Thought and Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Merze Tate: The Global Odyssey of a Black Woman Scholar.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is "Trio for Piano Violin and Viola," by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License. The episode image is “Portrait of Merze Tate;” photograph taken by Judith Sedwick in 1982 and housed in the Black Women Oral History Project Collection at the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America; there are no known copyright restrictions.

Additional sources:

“Merze Tate Collection,” Western Michigan University Archives.
“Who was Dr. Merze Tate?” Western Michigan University.
“Merze Tate: Her Legacy Continues,” Merze Tate Explorers.
“WMU's Merze Tate broke color barriers around the world [video],” WOOD TV8, February 18, 2021.
“Merze Tate,” by Maurice C. Woodard. PS: Political Science & Politics 38, no. 1 (2005): 101–2.
“Vernie Merze Tate (1905-1996),” by Robert Fikes, BlackPast, December 22, 2018.
“Merze Tate,” St. Anne’s College, University of Oxford.
“Diplomatic Historian Merze Tate Dies At 91,” Washington Post, July 8, 1996.
“Merze Tate College,” Western Michigan University.

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Black Civil Rights before the Civil Rights Movement Nov 27, 2023

The beginning of the Civil Rights Movement is often dated to sometime in the middle of the 1950s, but the roots of it stretch back much further. The NAACP, which calls itself “the nation's largest and most widely recognized civil rights organization,” was founded near the beginning of the 20th Century, on February 12, 1909. As today’s guest demonstrates, though, Black Americans were exercising civil rights far earlier than that, in many cases even before the Civil War.

Joining me in this episode is Dr. Dylan C. Penningroth is a professor of law and history and Associate Dean of the Program in Jurisprudence and Social Policy at the University of California–Berkeley and author of Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Hopeful Piano,” by Oleg Kyrylkovv, available via the Pixabay license.

The episode image is “Spectators and witnesses on second day of Superior Court during trial of automobile accident case during court week in Granville County Courthouse, Oxford, North Carolina,” by Marion Post Wolcott, photographed in 1939; the photograph is in the public domain and available via the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives.

Additional Sources:

“8 Key Laws That Advanced Civil Rights,” by Mehrunnisa Wani, History.com, January 26, 2022.
“The Reconstruction Amendments: Official Documents as Social History,” by Eric Foner, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
“(1865) Reconstruction Amendments, 1865-1870,” BlackPast.
“14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Civil Rights (1868),” U.S. National Archives.
“March 27, 1866: Veto Message on Civil Rights Legislation,” Andrew Johnson, UVA Miller Center.
“Andrew Johnson and the veto of the Civil Rights Bill,” National Park Service.
“Grant signs KKK Act into law, April 20, 1871,” by Andrew Glass, Politico, April 20, 2019.
“Looking back at the Ku Klux Klan Act,” by Nicholas Mosvick, National Constitution Center, April 20, 2021.
“Reconstruction and Its Aftermath,” Library of Congress The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship.

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The Long History of the Chicago Portage Nov 20, 2023

When Europeans arrived in the Great Lakes region, they learned from the Indigenous people living there of a route from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, made possible by a portage connecting the Chicago River and the Des Plaines River. That portage, sometimes called Mud Lake, provided both opportunity and challenge to European powers who struggled to use European naval technology in a region better suited to Indigenous birchbark canoes. In the early 19th century, however, the Americans remade the region with major infrastructure projects, finally controlling the portage not with military power but with engineering, and setting the stage for Chicago’s rapid growth as a major metropolis.

Joining me in this episode is Dr. John William Nelson, Assistant Professor of History at Texas Tech University and author of Muddy Ground: Native Peoples, Chicago's Portage, and the Transformation of a Continent.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is "Water Droplets on the River," composed and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons.

The episode image is a photograph of a statue that depicts members of the Kaskaskia, a tribe of the Illinois Confederation, leading French explorers Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette, to the western end of the Chicago Portage in the summer of 1673. The statue was designed by Chicago area artist Ferdinand Rebechini and erected on April 25-26, 1990. The photograph is under the creative commons license CC BY-SA 2.0 and is available via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional sources:

“Chicago Portage National Historic Site,” National Park Service.
“STORY 1: Chicago Portage National Historic Site/Sitio Histórico Nacional de Chicago Portage,” Friends of the Chicago River.
“Portage,” Encyclopedia of Chicago.
“The Chicago Portage,” Carnegie Mellon University Libraries Digital Collection.
“Marquette and Jolliet 1673 Expedition,” by Roberta Estes, Native Heritage Project, December 30, 2012.
“Louis Jolliet & Jacques Marquette [video],” PBS World Explorers.
“Cadillac, Antoine De La Mothe,” Encyclopedia of Detroit.
“Chicago’s Mythical French Fort,” by Winstanley Briggs, Encyclopedia of Chicago.
“Seven Years’ War,” History.com, Originally posted on November 12, 2009 and updated on June 13, 2023.
“Treaty of Paris (1783),” U.S. National Archives.
“The Northwest and the Ordinances, 1783-1858,” Library of Congress.
“The Battle Of The Wabash: The Forgotten Disaster Of The Indian Wars,” by Patrick Feng, The Army Historical Foundation.
“The Battle Of Fallen Timbers, 20 August 1794,” by Matthew Seelinger, The Army Historical Foundation.
“History of Fort Dearborn,” Chicagology.
“How Chicago Transformed From a Midwestern Outpost Town to a Towering City,” by Joshua Salzmann, Smithsonian Magazine, October 12, 2018.
“Chicago: 150 Years of Flooding and Excrement,” by Whet Moser, Chicago Magazine, April 18, 2013.

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The Haudenosaunee Confederacy Nov 13, 2023

Before Europeans landed in North America, five Indigenous nations around what would become New York State came together to form the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. When the Europeans arrived, the French called them the Iroquois Confederacy, and the English called them the League of Five Nations. Those Five Nations were the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas; the Tuscaroras joined the Confederacy in 1722. Some founding father of the United States, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin admired the Haudenosaunee and incorporated their ideas into the U.S. Constitution. Despite that admiration, though, the United States government and the state government of New York did not always treat the Haudenosaunee with respect, and Haudenosaunee leaders had to navigate a difficult terrain in maintaining their sovereignty. Today we’re going to look at the relationship between the Haudenosaunee and the United States through the stories of four individuals: Red Jacket, Ely S. Parker, Harriet Maxwell Converse, and Arthur C. Parker.

Joining me in this episode is Dr. John C. Winters, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Southern Mississippi and author of The Amazing Iroquois and the Invention of the Empire State.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Falling Leaves (Piano),” by Oleksii Holubiev, from Pixabay, used under the Pixabay Content License. The episode image is “Red Jacket (Sagoyewatha),” painted by Thomas Hicks in 1868; the painting is in the public domain and can be found in the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

Additional Sources:

Haudenosaunee Confederacy
“Haudenosaunee Guide For Educators,” National Museum of the American Indian.
“The Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Constitution,” by Jennifer Davis, Library of Congress, September 21, 2023.
“Indian speech, delivered before a gentleman missionary, from Massachusetts, by a chief, commonly called by the white people Red Jacket. His Indian name is Sagu-ua-what-hath, which being interpreted, is Keeper-awake,” Library of Congress, 1805.
“The Graves of Red Jacket,” Western New York Heritage.
“Red Jacket Medal Returned to Seneca Nation [video],” WGRZ-TV, May 17, 2021.
“Ely S. Parker,” Historical Society of the New York Courts.
April 2, 2015
in From the Stacks
“‘We Are All Americans:’ Ely S. Parker at Appomattox Court House,” by Mariam Touba, New York Historical Society, April 2, 2015.
“Engineer Became Highest Ranking Native American in Union Army,” by David Vergun, DOD News, November 2, 2021.
“Building to be Named for Ely S. Parker First Indian Commissioner of the BIA Recognized,” U.S. Department of the Interior, December 15, 2000.
“‘The Great White Mother’: Harriet Maxwell Converse, the Indian Colony of New York City, and the Media, 1885–1903,” by John. C. Winters, The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, 21(4), 279-300.
“Harriet Maxwell Converse,” PBS.org.
“Harriet Maxwell Converse,” Poets.org.
“Research and Collections of Arthur C. Parker,” New York State Museum.
“Arthur C. Parker and the Society of the American Indian, 1911-1916,” by S. Carol Berg, New York History, vol. 81, no. 2, 2000, pp. 237–46.

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Gun Capitalism & Gun Control in the U.S. after World War II Nov 06, 2023

In 1945, the population of the United States was around 140 million people, and those Americans owned an estimated 45 million guns, or about one gun for every three people. By 2023, the population of the United States stood at just over 330 million people, and according to historical data from the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the number of guns produced and imported for the US market since 1899 exceeds 474 million firearms. Even assuming some of those guns have broken or been destroyed or illegally exported, there are easily more guns than people in the United States today. How and why the number of guns rose so precipitously in the US since World War II is our story today.

Joining me to help us learn more about guns in the United States in the second half of the 20th Century is Dr. Andrew C. McKevitt, the John D. Winters Endowed Professor of History at Louisiana Tech University and author of Gun Country: Gun Capitalism, Culture, and Control in Cold War America.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Johnny Get Your Gun,” composed by Monroe H. Rosenfeld and performed by Harry C. Browne, in New York on April 19, 1917; the audio is in the public domain and available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is a Hi-Standard ad from 1957.

Additional sources:

“How Many Guns Are Circulating in the U.S.?” by Jennifer Mascia and Chip Brownlee, The Trace, Originally posted March 6, 2023, and Updated August 28, 2023.
“The Mysterious Meaning of the Second Amendment,” by James C. Phillips and Josh Blackman, The Atlantic, February 28, 2020.
“Timeline of Gun Control in the United States,” by Robert Longley, ThoughtCo, updated on January 08, 2023.
“Do Black People Have Equal Gun Rights?” by Charles C. W. Cooke, The New York Times, October 25, 2014.
“Gun Control Is as Old as the Old West,” by Matt Jancer, Smithsonian Magazine, February 5, 2018.
“The NRA Wasn't Always Against Gun Restrictions,” by Ron Elving, NPR, October 10, 2017.
“How NRA’s true believers converted a marksmanship group into a mighty gun lobby,” by Joel Achenbach, Scott Higham and Sari Horwitz, Washington Post, January 12, 2013.
“Opinion: The reality of gun violence in the US is bleak, but history shows it’s not hopeless,” by Julian Zelizer, CNN, April 1, 2023.
“Firearms and Federal Law: The Gun Control Act of 1968,” by Franklin E. Zimring, The Journal of Legal Studies 4, no. 1 (1975): 133–98.
“Remarks Upon Signing the Gun Control Act of 1968,” by President Lyndon B. Johnson, The American Presidency Project.
“The Inside History of How Guns Are Marketed and Sold in America,” by Olivia B. Waxman, Time Magazine, August 19, 2022.
“The Supreme Court will hear a case that could effectively legalize automatic weapons,” by Ian Millhiser, Vox, November 3, 2023.

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The History of the Nutrition Facts Label Oct 30, 2023

If you go to a grocery store in the United States and pick up a box of cereal, you expect to find a white box on the back of the package with information in Helvetica Black about the food’s macronutrients (things like fat and protein) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals). The Nutrition Facts label is so ubiquitous that you may not even notice it. But how did it get there and why does it look the way it does? The history of that label is our story this week.

Joining me to discuss the history of food labeling in the United States is Dr. Xaq Frohlich, Associate Professor of History of Technology in the Department of History at Auburn University, and author of From Label to Table: Regulating Food in America in the Information Age.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Oh, you candy kid,” composed by John L. Golden, with lyrics by Bob Adams, and performed by Ada Jones in 1909; the audio is in the public domain and available via the Library of Congress’s National Jukebox. The episode image is “FDA Label Man,” an ad produced by the FDA for the nutritional label; the image is in the public domain as a United States government work and is available via the FDA Flickr.

Additional Sources:

“Milestones in U.S. Food and Drug Law,” U.S. Food & Drug Administration.
“Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906: Topics in Chronicling America,” Lobrary of Congress Research Guides.
“The Pure Food and Drug Act,” History, Art & Archives, United States House of Representatives.
“The American Chamber of Horrors [video],” U.S. Food & Drug Administration YouTube Channel, June 29, 2018.
“The Accidental Poison That Founded the Modern FDA,” by Julian G. West, The Atlantic, January 16, 2018.
“F. D. A. Proposes Sweeping Change in Food Labeling,” by Richard D. Lyons, The New York Times, January 18, 1973.
“H.R.3562 - Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990,” Congress.gov.
“How to Understand and Use the Nutrition Facts Label,” U.S. Food & Drug Administration.
“The FDA wants to change what counts as ‘healthy’ food. Big food makers say that's unfair.” by Irina Ivanova, CBS Moneywatch, February 27, 2023.
“FDA to test new package labels that could change how consumers make food choices,” by Madeline Holcombe, CNN Health, June 21, 2023.
“The FDA is attempting to ban partially hydrogenated oils for good. But what in the world are they?” by Joy Saha, Salon.com, August 16, 2023.
“Burkey Belser, designer of ubiquitous nutrition facts label, dies at 76,” by Michael S. Rosenwald, Washington Post, September 25, 2023.

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The History & the Present of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe Oct 23, 2023

During the 19th Century, the Northern Cheyenne people made a number of treaties with the United States government, but the U.S. repeatedly failed to honor its end of the treaties. In November 1876, the U.S. Army, still fuming over their crushing defeat by the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne at the Battle of Little Bighorn, attacked a village of Northern Cheyenne, destroying 200 lodges and driving the survivors, including women and children, into the freezing cold with few supplies. When the weakened survivors surrendered at Fort Robinson the following spring, believing they would be located on a northern reservation, they were instead forced north to Indian Territory in Oklahoma, where they faced miserable conditions. Finally in 1884, the Northern Cheyenne Reservation was established in what is now southeastern Montana.

Joining me in this episode is writer Gerry Robinson, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, and author of The Cheyenne Story: An Interpretation of Courage.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is “Little Coyote (Little Wolf) and Morning Star (Dull Knife), Chiefs of the Northern Cheyennes,” photographed by William Henry Jackson in 1873; the image is in the public domain and is available via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional Sources:

Northern Cheyenne Tribe
Chief Dull Knife College
“Northern Cheyenne Reservation Timeline,” Montana Tribal Histories.
"Beyond "Discovery" Lewis & Clark from an Indigenous Perspective: Journal of American Indian Higher Education," by Richard Littlebear, Tribal College 14(3):11.
“Treaty & Occupation,” Sand Creek Massacre Foundation.
“In 1868, Two Nations Made a Treaty, the U.S. Broke It and Plains Indian Tribes are Still Seeking Justice,” by Kimbra Cutlip, Smithsonian Magazine, November 7, 2018.
“Little Wolf and President Grant,” by Catherine Denial, TeachingHistory.org.
“Battle of the Little Bighorn,” History.com, Originally posted on December 2, 2009, and updated on December 21, 2020.
“Treaty With The Cheyenne Tribe, 1825,” Tribal Treaties Database.
“Treaty Of Fort Laramie With Sioux, Etc., 1851,” Tribal Treaties Database.
“Treaty With The Arapaho And Cheyenne, 1861,” Tribal Treaties Database.
“Treaty With The Northern Cheyenne And Northern Arapaho, 1868,” Tribal Treaties Database.

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The Borinqueneers of the Korean War Oct 16, 2023

In 1950, President Harry Truman ordered US troops to the Korean peninsula to help the South Koreans repel the invading North Korean People’s Army, which was supported by the communist regimes of the Soviet Union and China. One of the regiments shipped overseas to fight was the 65th Infantry Regiment, the Borinqueneers, made up of soldiers from Puerto Rico. In Korea, the Borinqueneers served heroically, despite harsh conditions and racist treatment.

Joining me in this episode to help us learn more about the 65th Infantry Regiment is writer Talia Aikens-Nuñez, author of the young adult book Men of the 65th: The Borinqueneers of the Korean War.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode audio is “La Borinqueña,” performed by the United States Navy Band in 2003; the audio is in the public domain and available via Wikimedia Commons.The episode image is “Members of the 65th Infantry Regiment pose for a photo after a firefight during the Korean War;“ the photo is by the U.S. Army, in the public domain, and available via the Department of Defense.

Additional sources:

“Puerto Rico’s 65th Infantry Fought Bravely in Korea—Then Had to Fight for Redemption,” by Iván Román, History.com, Originally published November 20, 2021, and updated August 17, 2023.
“The Borinqueneers: The Forgotten Heroes of a Forgotten War,” Center for Puerto Rican Studies, CUNY Hunter.
“The 65th Infantry Regiment: A Storied History,” National Museum of the United States Army.
“Congress Honors Puerto Rican Regiment for Heroic Korean War Service,” by Shannon Collins, DOD News, October 7, 2016.
“Bloodied in Battle, Now Getting Their Due,” by David Gonzalez, The New York Times, October 2, 2007.
“65th Infantry Regiment ‘Borinqueneers’ Highlight Hispanic Heritage Month,”by Tim Oberle, Eighth Army Public Affairs, U.S. Army, September 18, 2015.

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The Student Right in the late 1960s Oct 09, 2023

In the late 1960s, as college campuses became hotbeds of liberal protest, conservative college groups, like the Intercollegiate Society of Individualists (ISI), the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), and College Republicans, backed by powerful conservative elders and their deep pockets, fought back, staging counter protests, publishing conservative newspapers, taking over student governments, and suing colleges to remain open.

Joining me in this episode to discuss the campus right in more detail is Dr. Lauren Lassabe Shepherd, author of Resistance from the Right: Conservatives and the Campus Wars in Modern America.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Row Your Boat,” by The Goldwaters, Sing Folk Songs to Make the Liberals Mad, 1964. The episode image is "Ban SDS sign,” Columbia University Student Strike, April 1968, Office of Public Affairs Protest & Activism Photograph Collection, Collection number: UA#109, University Archives, Columbia University, accessed October 9, 2023.

Additional Sources:

“The Attack on Yale,” by McGeorge Bundy, The Atlantic, November 1951.
“Debunking a Longstanding Myth About William F. Buckley,” by Matthew Dallek, POlitico, March 31, 2023.
“About Us,” Young America’s Foundation.
“Young Americans for Freedom,” Civil Rights Digital History Project, University of Georgia.
"Young Americans for Freedom and the Anti-War Movement: Pro-War Encounters with the New Left at the Height of the Vietnam War," by Ethan Swift, Kaplan Senior Essay Prize for Use of Library Special Collections. 2019.
“About Us,” Intercollegiate Studies Institute.
“1968: Columbia in Crisis,” Columbia University Libraries.
“How Columbia’s Student Uprising of 1968 Was Sparked by a Segregated Gym,” by Erin Blakemore, History.com, Originally published April 20, 2018, and updated July 7, 2020.
“‘The Whole World Is Watching’: An Oral History of the 1968 Columbia Uprising,” by Clara Bingham, Vanity Fair, March 26, 2018.
“The Right Uses College Campuses as Its Training Grounds,” by Scott W. Stern, Jacobin, August 2023.
“Critical race theory is just the new buzzword in conservatives’ war on campuses,” by Lauren Lassabe, The Washington Post, July 7, 2021.

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The History of the National Organization for Women (NOW) Oct 02, 2023

At the Third National Conference of Commissions on the Status of Women, a group of women, led by writer Betty Friedan and organizer and attorney Pauli Murray, decided that to make progress they needed to form an independent national civil rights organization for women. Within months, the National Organization for Women had 300 founding members, a slate of officers, and a statement of purpose. By 1974, NOW boasted 40,000 members in over 700 chapters, and today NOW claims hundreds of thousands of members in all 50 states and DC, working toward equal rights for women and girls.

Joining me to discuss the history of NOW is Dr. Katherine Turk, Associate Professor of History and Adjunct Associate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and author of The Women of Now: How Feminists Built an Organization That Transformed America.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode audio are “Light Thought Var. 2” and “Vision of Persistence," by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com);Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.The episode image is: “ERA March from Governor's mansion to the capitol - Tallahassee, Florida,” photographed by Donn Dughi; this work is from the Florida Memory Project hosted at the State Archive of Florida, and is released to the public domain in the United States under the terms of Section 257.35(6), Florida Statutes.

Additional Sources:

“United States President's Commission On The Status Of Women Records,” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
“American Women: Report of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women, 1963,” Department of Labor.
“The Powerful, Complicated Legacy of Betty Friedan’s ‘The Feminine Mystique,’” by Jacob Muñoz, Smithsonian Magazine, February 4, 2021.
“National Organization for Women, ‘Statement of Purpose’ (1966),” The American Yawp Reader.
“National Organization for Women (NOW) founding documents, 1966–1968,” National Organization for Women Records, Schlesinger Library
“National Organization for Women Founder on Group's 50th Anniversary and Finding Success in Anger,” by Olivia B. Waxman, Time Magazine, June 30, 2016.
“Feminist Factions United and Filled the Streets for This Historic March,” by Maggie Doherty, The New York Times, Originally published August 26, 2020, and updated September 3, 2020.
“The Equal Rights Amendment: The Most Popular Never-Ratified Amendment,” by Christine Blackerby, National Archives Education Updates, December 5, 2013.
“How Phyllis Schlafly Derailed the Equal Rights Amendment,” by Lesley Kennedy, History.com, Originally published March 19, 2020, and updated September 29, 2023.
“The 1978 Equal Rights Amendment March,” by Henry Kokkeler, Boundary Stones, WETA, April 12, 2022.
National Organization for Women

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The Murder of Maria Cornell Sep 25, 2023

When farmer John Durfee found the body of a local factory girl hanging from a fence post on his property on the morning of December 21, 1832, he and the rest of the townspeople assumed she had died by suicide. But a cryptic note she had left among her possessions pointed the investigation in a different direction, and the ensuing murder trial captured the public imagination.

Joining me to discuss the murder of Maria Cornell and the shifting cultural milieu of New England in the 1830s is Dr. Bruce Dorsey, Professor of History at Swarthmore College and author of Murder in a Mill Town: Sex, Faith, and the Crime That Captivated a Nation.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Midnight,” by Aleksey Chistilin (Lexin_Music) via Pixabay; available for use under the Pixabay License. The episode image is “A very bad man - Ephraim Kingsbury Avery,” published by Henry Robinson & Company in 1833; the image is in the public domain and is available via the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Additional Sources:

“Sarah Maria Cornell,” The Town & the City: Lowell before and after The Civil War, University of Massachusetts Lowell Library.
“Trial of Rev. Mr. Avery ; a full report of the trial of Ephraim K. Avery, charged with the murder of Sarah Maria Cornell : before the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, at a special term in Newport, held in May, 1833 ; Avery's trial ; Additional medical testimony by Professor Channing on the part of the defendant, and Dr. William Turner, for the government,” reported by Benjamin F. Hallett, 1832, Harvard Library.
“Letters of the law : the trial of E. K. Avery for the murder of Sarah M. Cornell,” by J. Barbour, Law Text Culture, 2, 1995, 118-133.
“Religious Revivals and Revivalism in 1830s New England,” TeachUSHistory.org.
"The Second Great Awakening and the Making of Modern America," by Kerry Irish, Faculty Publications - Department of History and Politics. 78, 2018.
“Religion and Reform,” The American Yawp.
“The Mill Girls of Lowell,” National Park Service.

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The Great New York City Fire of 1776 Sep 18, 2023

Just days after British troops captured New York City from General Washington and his army in September 1776, fire broke out, destroying a fifth of the city. The British blamed rebels who had remained hidden in Manhattan, but Washington, who had been ordered by Congress to leave the city standing on his retreat, never claimed responsibility, though he complained that the blaze hadn’t caused more destruction. So who did start the fire and why?

Joining me this week to discuss the New York fire and the question of who started it is Dr. Benjamin Carp, Professor and Daniel M. Lyons Chair of History at Brooklyn College, and author ofThe Great New York Fire of 1776: A Lost Story of the American Revolution.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The poetry is from selections of “Conflagration: A Poem,” Printed in New York from High Gaine in 1780 and performed by Theodore Weflen-Pollock. The episode image is "Representation du Feu terrible a Nouvelle Yorck," The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library; the image is in the public domain.

Additional Sources:

“Timeline: The American Revolution,” The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
“The American Revolution: A timeline of George Washington's military and political career during the American Revolution, 1774-1783,” George Washington Papers, Library of Congress.
“The Burning of Charlestown: Only Two Spoons Remained for Relief Ellery,” by Massachusetts Historical Society, Charlestown Patriot Bridge, June 17, 2020.
"The Burning of Falmouth, 1775: A Case Study in British Imperial Pacification," by Donald A. Yerxa, Maine History 14, 3 (1975): 119-161. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mainehistoryjournal/vol14/ iss3/3
“New York City’s Forgotten Past,” by Erik Peter Axelson, HistoryNet, December 9, 2019.
“Did George Washington Order Rebels to Burn New York City in 1776?” by Erik Ofgang, Smithsonian Magazine, May 11, 2023.
“From George Washington to Lund Washington, 6 October 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives.

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The History of Drag in New York City Sep 11, 2023

RuPaul’s Drag Race first aired on TV in 2009, but the New York City drag scene that launched RuPaul started over a century earlier. From drag balls to Wigstock, New York has long been considered the capital of drag culture.

Joining me in this episode to discuss New York City’s rich history of drag is writer Elyssa Maxx Goodman, author of Glitter and Concrete: A Cultural History of Drag in New York City.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “The New York Glide,” written by Tim Delaney and performed by Ethel Waters and Albury’s Blue & Jazz Seven in May 1921; the performance is in the public domain. The episode image is Lady Bunny, photographed by Tai Seef during Wigstock 2001, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional Sources:

“How Drag Queens Have Sashayed Their Way Through History,” by Sam Sanders and Josh Axelrod, NPR, June 27, 2019.
“The US has a rich drag history. Here’s why the art form will likely outlast attempts to restrict it,” by Scottie Andrew, CNN, April 29, 2023.
“From police raids to pop culture: The early history of modern drag,” by Emily Martin, National Geographic, June 2, 2023.
“The Evolution of Drag: A History of Self-Expressionism,” by Gaelle Abou Nasr, Arcadia, December 12, 2021.
“InQueery: Trixie Mattel Breaks Down the History of ‘Drag,’” Them, September 20, 2018.
“Julian Eltinge was the most famous drag queen ever. What happened? [video]”, PBS American Masters, February 18, 2021.
“A century ago, this star ‘female impersonator’ made men swoon,” by Randy Dotinga, The Washington Post, June 24, 2023.
“Mob Queens [podcast],” by Jessica Bendinger & Michael Seligman.
“Stonewall Riots,” History.com, Originally posted May 31, 2017, and updated June 23, 2023.
“Marsha Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and the history of Pride Month,” Smithsonian, June 7, 2021.
“Before There Was ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race,’ There Was Wigstock,” by Michael Appeler, Variety, May 6, 2019.
“The Pyramid Club: New York City’s First Drag Landmark,” by Dawson Knick, Village Preservation, July 25, 2019.
“Wigstock Returns From the Dead,” by Jacob Bernstein, The New York Times, August 15, 2018.
“New Heights for a Diva: RuPaul's TV Talk Show,” by Andrea Higbie, The New York Times, October 20, 1996.
“Behind the Rise of RuPaul’s Drag Race,” by Maria Elena Fernandez, Variety, August 22, 2017.
“There Has Never Been a Show Like RuPaul’s Drag Race,” by David Canfield, Vanity Fair, August 27, 2021.
“RuPaul Shares the Origin of His Name and Drag Persona [video],” Late Night with Seth Meyers, February 12, 2020.
“NYPD Commissioner Apologizes For 'Oppressive' 1969 Raid On Stonewall Inn,” by Bobby Allyn and Dani Matias, NPR, June 6, 2019.

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Thomas Smallwood and the Underground Railroad Sep 04, 2023

Over the course of just one year in the early 1840s, Thomas Smallwood, a recently emancipated Black man, with the assistance of the New England educated white abolitionist Charles Torrey, arranged for around 400 enslaved people to escape the Baltimore and DC area for freedom in Canada. While the abolition movement was still debating the best path forward, Smallwood and Torrey put their beliefs into action, establishing the Underground Railroad, and using the press to taunt the slaveowners whose enslaved people they freed.

Joining me in this episode to discuss Thomas Smallwood, Charles Torrey, and the Underground Railroad, is journalist Scott Shane, author of Flee North: A Forgotten Hero and the Fight for Freedom in Slavery's Borderland.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode audio is “Go Down Moses,” performed by the Tuskegee Institute Singers in 1914 and “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” performed by the Fisk University Jubilee Singers in 1909; both songs are in the public domain and available via the Library of Congress’s National Jukebox. The episode image is "Crossing the river on horseback in the night," from 1872, available via the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library; the image is in the public domain.

Additional Resources:

“A Narrative of Thomas Smallwood, (Coloured Man:) Giving an Account of His Birth--The Period He Was Held in Slavery--His Release--and Removal to Canada, etc. Together With an Account of the Underground Railroad. Written by Himself.” by Thomas Smallwood.
“A Black Voice from the ‘other North”” Thomas Smallwood's Canadian Narrative (1851),” by Sandrine Ferré-Rode, Revue française d’études américaines, vol. 137, no. 3, 2013, pp. 23-37.
“Slave Patrols in the President's Neighborhood,” by Penelope Fergison, The White House Historical Association.
“What is the Underground Railroad?” National Park Service.
“Home!, or, The pilgrim's faith revived / written during his incarceration in Baltimore Jail, after his conviction and while awaiting--his sentence [four lines of poetry] ; published for the benefit of his family.” by Charles Torrey, 1845.
“Charles Torrey – The Most Successful, Least Celebrated Abolitionist,” New England HIstory Society.

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Phillis Wheatley Aug 28, 2023

One of the best known poets of Revolutionary New England was an enslaved Black girl named Phillis Wheatley, who was only emancipated after she published a book of 39 of her poems in London. Wheatley, who met with Benjamin Franklin and corresponded with George Washington, was the first person of African descent to publish a book in English. Wheatley achieved literary success and helped drive the abolition movement, but she died young and penniless, and many of her poems were lost to history.

Joining me to discuss Phillis Wheatley is Dr. David Waldstreicher, Distinguished Professor of History at the City University of New York Graduate Center and author of The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet's Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode performance is poetry of Phillis Wheatley, read by Laurice Roberts for this podcast; the poems are in the public domain. The music is “Morning Dew” by Julius H. from Pixabay and is used in accordance with the Pixabay Content License. The episode image is a portrait of Phillis Wheatley, possibly painted by Scipio Moorhead, which was used as the frontispiece for her 1773 book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral; the portrait is available via the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution and is in the public domain.

Additional Sources:

“Phillis Wheatley: The unsung Black poet who shaped the US,” by Robin Catalano, BBC Rediscovering America, February 21, 2023.
“How Phillis Wheatley Was Recovered Through History,” by Elizabeth Winkler, The New Yorker, July 30, 2020.
“The Multiple Truths in the Works of the Enslaved Poet Phillis Wheatley,” by drea brown, Smithsonian Magazine, June 24, 2020.
“The Great American Poet Who Was Named After a Slave Ship,” by Tiya Miles, The Atlantic, April 22, 2023.
“Phillis Wheatley: 1753–1784,” Poetry Foundation.
“Phillis Wheatley: Her Life, Poetry, and Legacy,” by Stephanie Sheridan, National Portrait Gallery Face to Face Blog.
Phillis Wheatley Historical Society
“Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral,” by Phillis Wheatley, available via Project Gutenberg

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Gladys Bentley Aug 21, 2023

One of the biggest stars in Prohibition Age New York was blues singer Gladys Bentley, who caused a stir in Harlem, wearing a top hat and tails, flirting with women in the audience, and singing raunchy lyrics. Despite Bentley’s phenomenal talent, the repeal of Prohibition and the end of the jazz age led to waning interest in the type of bawdy performance for which she was known. Despite attempts to change with the times, Bentley was never again able to reach the level of fame she had once enjoyed.

Joining me in this episode to discuss Gladys Bentley and queer Black women performers in Prohibition Age New York is Dr. Cookie Woolner, Associate Professor of History at the University of Memphis and author of The Famous Lady Lovers: Black Women and Queer Desire before Stonewall.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Them There Eyes,” performed by Gladys Bentley on You Bet Your Life on May 15, 1958. The episode image is a photo of Gladys Bentley on a card distributed by the Harry Walker Agency, with a caption that reads: “America's Greatest Sepia Player -- Brown Bomber of Sophisticated Songs;” the photo is in the Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and is in the public domain.

Additional Sources:

“I am Woman Again,” by Gladys Bentley, Ebony Magazine, August 1952.
“Gladys Bentley: Gender-Bending Performer and Musician [video],” PBS American Masters Unladylike2020, June 2, 2020.
“The Great Blues Singer Gladys Bentley Broke All the Rules,” by Haleema Shah, Smithsonian Magazine, March 14, 2019.
“Overlooked – Gladys Bentley,” by Giovanni Russonello, The New York Times, 2019.
“Honoring Notorious Gladys Bentley,” by Irene Monroe, HuffPost, Posted April 14, 2010 and updated May 25, 2011.
“Blues Singer Gladys Bentley Broke Ground With Marriage to a Woman in 1931,” by Steven J. Niven, The Root, February 11, 2015.
“Gladys Bentley on ‘You Bet Your Life’ [video],” Aired on May 15, 1958; posted on YouTube by Joel Chaidez on December 18, 2009.
“Gladys Bentley (feat. Eddie Lang) How Much Can I Stand? (1928) [video],” Audio recorded on November 2, 1928 and issued as a single by OKeh in 1929; posted on YouTube by randomandrare on April 16, 2010.

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Anna May Wong Aug 14, 2023

As a child in Los Angeles, Wong Liu Tsong knew she wanted to be an actress. Adopting the screen name Anna May Wong and dropping out of school to pursue her passion, Wong landed her first lead role at age 17. Despite Hollywood racism that would limit the types of roles she would receive, Wong’s impressive career spanned over 60 films, in addition to stage and television work, and she was the first Asian American woman to be awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Joining me in this episode is Dr. Yunte Huang, Professor of English at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of Daughter of the Dragon: Anna May Wong’s Rendezvous with American History.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Anna May Wong singing in three languages -Rudy Vallee Radio Show from July 11, 1935,” posted on YouTube by Robert Fells, who attributes the original discs to Jerry Haendiges. The episode image is a press photograph of Anna May Wong, from: Press photographs of Anna May Wong, 1930s, Postcards and Press Photographs of Anna May Wong, circa 1930-1981, MS Thr 2095 Case 1, Folder 4. Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

Additional Sources:

“Anna May Wong, 1905-1961,” by Kerri Lee Alexander, National Women’s History Museum.
“Life Story: Anna May Wong (1905–1961): The First Asian American Movie Star,” Women and the American Story, New York Historical Society.
“Anna May Wong: Trendsetting Movie Star and Fashion Icon / 1905-1961 [video],” UNLADYLIKE2020.
“Actress Anna May Wong Championed Asian American Representation in More than 60 Films,” by Chelsea Cozad, Smithsonian, October 24, 2022.
“Anna May Wong: the legacy of a groundbreaking Asian American star,” by Pamela Hutchinson, The Guardian, October 19, 2022.
“The True Story of Anna May Wong and The Good Earth,” by Yohana Desta, Vanity Fair, May 1, 2020.
“Lucy Liu Speaks Out for More Diversity at Hollywood Walk of Fame,” by Jordan Moreau, Variety, May 1, 2019.
“Anna May Wong Will Be the First Asian American on U.S. Currency,” by Soumya Karlamangla, New York Times, October 18, 2022.

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Anna Rosenberg Aug 07, 2023

When Anna Rosenberg Hoffman died in 1983, the New York Times called her “one of the most influential women in the country's public affairs for a quarter of a century.” A skilled labor mediator and advisor to four U.S. presidents, Rosenberg, a Jewish immigrant from Hungary, stood up to Senator Joe McCarthy and was confirmed by the Senate as Assistant Secretary of Defense in 1950, making her the then-highest ranking woman in the history of the Department of Defense. It was only one of many firsts in her storied career.

Joining me in this episode to help tell the story of Anna Rosenberg is history teacher and writer Christopher C. Gorham, author of The Confidante: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Helped Win WWII and Shape Modern America.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Heartwarming," composed and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is “Portrait of Anna M. Rosenberg, Assistant Secretary of Defense, at her desk in the Pentagon,” taken on February 2, 1951, credit: United States Army; the image is in the Public Domain and is available via the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum.

Additional Sources:

“One of the most important women in American history has been forgotten,” by Christopher C. Gorham, The Washington Post, May 30, 2023.
“Papers of Anna Rosenberg Hoffman, 1870-1983,” Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute.
“MANPOWER: The Buffalo Plan,” Time Magazine, September 27, 1943.
“Senators Confirm Anna M. Rosenberg,” The New York Times, December 22, 1950.
“Lessons of the Anna M. Rosenberg Hearings: Where Congressional Investigations Go Wrong,” by Herrymon Maurer, Commentary, May 1951.
“Anna Rosenberg Hoffman Dead; Consultant And 50's Defense Aide,” by Eric Pace, The New York Times, May 10, 1983.
"Anna M. Rosenberg, an ‘Honorary Man,’" by Anna Kasten Nelson, The Journal of Military History 68, no. 1 (2004): 133-161.
“Anna M. Rosenberg and Women in Defense after World War II,” by Stephanie Hinnershitz, National WWII Museum, March 18, 2022.
“Anna M. Rosenberg, Social Security History.
“Anna Rosenberg,” by Susan L. Tananbaum, The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women.
“Anna M. Rosenberg (1902 - 1983),” Jewish Virtual Library.

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Pullman Porters & the History of the Black Working Class Jul 31, 2023

In the early 20th century, career options for Black workers were limited, and the jobs often came with low pay and poor conditions. Ironically, because they were concentrated in certain jobs, Black workers sometimes monopolized those jobs and had collective power to demand better conditions and higher pay. The Pullman Company, founded in 1862, hired only Black men to serve as porters on Pullman cars, since George M. Pullman thought that formerly enslaved men would know how to be good, invisible servants and that they would work for low wages. In 1925, the Pullman Porters formed their own union, Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, with A. Philip Randolph serving as president. After years of struggle, in 1935, the Pullman Company finally recognized the union, and it was granted a charter by the American Federation of Labor (AFL), making the Brotherhood the first Black union it accepted.

Joining me in this episode to help us learn about the Black working class is historian Dr. Blair L. M. Kelley, the Joel R. Williamson Distinguished Professor of Southern Studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the incoming director of the Center for the Study of the American South and author of Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Pullman Porter Blues,” music and lyrics by Clifford Ulrich and Burton Hamilton; performed by Clarence Williams on September 30, 1921; the recording is in the public domain.The episode image is: “J.W. Mays, Pullman car porter,” photographed by C.M. Bell, 1894; the photograph is in the public domain and available via the Library of Congress.

Additional Sources:

“George Pullman: His Impact on the Railroad Industry, Labor, and American Life in the Nineteenth Century,” by Rosanne Lichatin,” History Resources, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
“The Rise and Fall of the Sleeping Car King,” by Jack Kelly, Smithsonian Magazine, January 11, 2019.
“The Pullman Strike, by Richard Schneirov, Northern Illinois University Digital Library.
“Pullman Porters,” History.com, Originally published February 11, 2019, and updated October 8, 2021.
“The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters,” by Brittany Hutchinson, Chicago History Museum.
“Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (1925-1978),” by Daren Salter, BlackPast, November 24, 2007.
“A. Philip Randolph Was Once “the Most Dangerous Negro in America,” by Peter Dreier, Jacobin, January 31, 2023.

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The History of Black Women & Physical Fitness in the United States Jul 24, 2023

In 1894, Mary P. Evans, wrote in the Woman’s Era, a Black women’s magazine, that exercise: “enables you to keep in the best condition for work with the hands or with the brain… It prepares you to meet disappointment, sorrow, ill treatment, and great suffering as the strong, courageous and splendid woman meets them. It is a great aid to clear, quick, and right thinking.” She wasn’t the only Black woman of the day encouraging Black women and girls to exercise as a way of improving not just themselves but also the whole race. Despite the lack of facilities and obstacles in their way, Black women and girls aspired to physical fitness. In 2010, Michelle Obama, the first Black First Lady of the United States echoed Mary P. Evans, encouraging everyone to pursue physical fitness with the “Let’s Move” campaign.

Joining me in this episode is Dr. Ava Purkiss, assistant professor of women's and gender studies and American culture at the University of Michigan and author of Fit Citizens: A History of Black Women's Exercise from Post-Reconstruction to Postwar America.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is Sunburst Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Nesrality from Pixabay and is used via the Pixabay Content License.The episode image is “Atlanta University, Founder's Day Drill,” from The Harmon Foundation Collection: Kenneth Space Photographs of the Activities of Southern Black Americans and available in the public domain via the National Archives (NAID: 26174852; Local ID: H-HS-2-214).

Additional Sources:

“First Lady Michelle Obama Launches Let's Move: America's Move to Raise a Healthier Generation of Kids,” White House Press Release, February 9, 2010.
“African Americans and the YMCA (Archives and Special Collections),” University of Minnesota LIbraries.
“A Brief History Of Diversity And Inclusion At The Y,” The YMCA of San Diego County, July 27, 2017.
“Our History,” Boston University College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College.
“Olivia A. Davidson (1854-1889),” by Nana Lawson Bush, BlackPast, January 19, 2007.
“Physical Education Pioneer Maryrose Reeves Allen Dies,” The Washington Post, January 17, 1992.
“The 'Hidden Figures' of Physical Education: Black Women Who Paved the Way in PE,” by Tara B. Blackshear and Brian Culp, Momentum magazine, co-authors, February 15, 2022.
“Addressing Racism In The Fitness Industry Requires Understanding Its Roots,” by Rodney J. Morris and Pamela Kufahl, Club Industry, October 6, 2020.
“A healthful legacy: Michelle Obama looks to the future of ‘Let’s Move,’” by Krissah Thompson and Tim Carman, The Washington Post, May 3, 2015.
Tweet by Michele Obama as First Lady, May 19, 2015.

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Enslaved Women who Murdered their Enslavers Jul 17, 2023

In the American colonies and then in the antebellum United States, the legal system reinforced the power and authority of slaveholders by allowing them to physically abuse the people they enslaved while severely punishing enslaved people for even minor offenses. Some enslaved women, who could find no justice in the courts, sought their own justice through lethal resistance, murdering their enslavers.

Joining me now to help us understand the enslaved women who chose lethal resistance, what drove them, and why these stories are important to tell, is Dr. Nikki M. Taylor, Professor of History at Howard University and author of several books, including Brooding over Bloody Revenge: Enslaved Women's Lethal Resistance.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Desire for Freedom” by Lexin_Music from Pixabay and is used via the Pixabay Content License. The image is “Silhouette portrait of slave Bietja,” by Jan Brandes; it is available in the public domain.

Additional Sources:

Surviving Southampton: African American Women and Resistance in Nat Turner's Community, by Vanessa M. Holden, University of Illinois Press, 2021.
Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts, by Rebecca Hall, Simon & Schuster, 2021.
“Poetry of Defiance: How the Enslaved Resisted,” Zinn Education Project Teaching Activity, by Adam Sanchez.
“Slave codes,” National Park Service.
“The American Slave Code in Theory and Practice,” by William Goodell, 1853, Published in Learning for Justice.
“Hidden Voices: Enslaved Women in the Lowcountry and U.S. South,” The Lowcountry Digital History Initiative (LDHI).
"Thrice Condemned: Enslaved Women, Violence, and the Practice of Leniency in Antebellum Virginia Courts," by Tamika Y. Nunley, Journal of Southern History 87, no. 1 (2021): 5-34.

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Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable, the Founder of Chicago Jul 10, 2023

Sometime in the mid-1780s, Jean-Baptiste Pointe DuSable, a Black man from Saint-Domingue, and his Potawatomi wife, Kitihawa, settled with their family on a swampy site near Lake Michigan called Eschecagou, “land of the wild onions.” The homestead and trading post they built on the mouth of the Chicago River, with a comfortably appointed cabin, workshop, bake house, stable, smokehouse, and more, was the first settlement on what would become the city of Chicago. Their importance was long forgotten, but in 2006, the Chicago City Council belatedly voted to amend the Municipal Code of Chicago to add DuSable as the city’s official founder.

Joining me in this episode is Dr. Courtney P. Joseph, Associate Professor of History and African American Studies at Lake Forest College who is writing a book titled DuSable’s Diaspora: Haiti, Blackness, and Belonging in Chicago.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode audio is: “Chicago (that Toddling Town),” written by Fred Fisher and performed by Jazz-Bo’s Carolina Serenaders in 1922; the audio is in the public domain and is available via the Internet Archive.

The episode image is a photograph of the bust of DuSable just north of DuSable Bridge in Chicago; the bust was created by Erik Blome in 2009; the photograph was taken by Matthew Weflen on June 17, 2023, and is used with permission.

Organizations:

Sources:

“Chicago's Authentic Founder: Jean Baptiste Point Dusable Or Haitian Secret Agent In The Old Northwest Outpost 1745-1818,” by Marc Rosier, Trafford Publishing, 2015.
“Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, the First Chicagoan,” by Thomas A. Meehan, Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. 56, No. 3, Emancipation Centennial Issue (Autumn, 1963), pp. 439-453.
“The Father of Chicago: Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable,” by John R. Schmidt, WBEZ Chicago, August 8, 2011.
“'The First White Man in Chicago Was a Negro'?” by Henry Louis Gates Jr., The Root, September 30, 2013.
“Do Chicagoans know DuSable had a Native American wife? We should celebrate her, too,” by Laura Washington, Chicago Sun-Times, June 13, 2021.
“The Black Founder of Chicago: Point du Sable | Black History Explainer [video],” Unique Coloring, 3,027 views Oct 1, 2022.
“The Story of Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable [video],” Field Museum,
“Who Is Jean Baptiste Point du Sable? [video],” 77 Flavors of Chicago, February 6, 2023.

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"What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?" Jul 03, 2023

When Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that all men were endowed with the rights of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” he did not have in mind the rights of the hundreds of human beings he enslaved. But the enslaved population of the United States, and the abolitionists who supported them, like Frederick Douglass and John Brown, adopted the American symbols of revolution and freedom in their own fight for liberty.

Joining me on this episode to discuss the power of symbols like the flag and Independence Day is historian Dr. Matthew Clavin, Professor of History at the University of Houston and author of Symbols of Freedom: Slavery and Resistance Before the Civil War.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode audio is Frederick Douglass’s speech, “What To the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” originally delivered on July 5, 1852, at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York, at a meeting organized by the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society, and performed by Chicago actor Anthony C. Brown. The mid-episode music is “Dramatic Atmosphere with Piano and Violin,” by UNIVERSFIELD from Pixabay.

The episode image is: "Frederick Douglass, the escaped slave, on an English platform, denouncing slaveholders and their religious abettors," 1852, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library.

Additional Sources:

“July Fourth used to be a protest holiday for enslaved Americans,” by Matt Clavin, The Washington Post, July 3, 2023.
“Declaration of Independence: A Transcription,” National Archives.
“These are the 56 people who signed the Declaration of Independence,” by Colman Andrews, USA Today, July 3, 2019.
“Today in History - July 4: Independence Day” Library of Congress.
“Who Wrote the Declaration of Independence?” by Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, July 2, 2016.
“Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 3 July 1776, ‘Had a Declaration…’ [electronic edition],” Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society.
“Practical Considerations Founded on the Scriptures: Relative to the Slave Population of South-Carolina,” by Frederick Dalcho, 1823.
“'What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?': The History of Frederick Douglass' Searing Independence Day Oration,” by Olivia B. Waxman, Time Magazine, Originally published July 3, 2019, Updated June 26, 2020.
“A Nation's Story: ‘What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?’” Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture.
“Frederick Douglass Knew What False Patriotism Was,” by Esau McCaulley, The New York Times, July 3, 2023.
“John Brown’s Passionate ‘Declaration of Liberty,’ Written on a Lengthy Scroll,” by Rebecca Onion, Slate: The Vault, December 2, 2013.
“The Harpers Ferry 'Rising' That Hastened Civil War,” WBEZ Chicago, October 22, 2011.
“John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry,” History.com, Originally published November 13, 2009, Updated October 14, 2020.

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1970 Hijackings by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Jun 26, 2023

In September 1970, commandos from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacked five planes, landing three of them near Zarqua, Jordan, at a remote desert airstrip called Dawson’s Field, which the commandos renamed Revolution Airport. While they held hundreds of passengers and flight crew hostage in the desert, the PFLP issued their demands for release of Palestinian militants who were imprisoned in Europe.

Joining me on this episode to help us understand more is American historian Prof. Martha Hodes, who was a 12-year-old passenger on one of the planes, flying with her 13-year-old sister, Catherine. Dr. Hodes is Professor of History at New York University and the author of My Hijacking: A Personal History of Forgetting and Remembering.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Calm Piano Dramatic” by AleXZavesa and is available for use via Pixabay. The episode image is “Pan Am Boeing 747-121 N736PA,” by Rob Russell, CC BY 2.0.

Additional Sources:

“History of the Question of Palestine,” United Nations.
“Creation of Israel, 1948,” Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State.
“Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP),” BBC, November 18, 2014.
“Skyjackings: What's Being Done And How Passengers React,” by John Brannon Albright, The New York Times, June 21, 1970.
“A Brief History of Airplane Hijackings, From the Cold War to D.B. Cooper,” by Janet Bednarek, The Conversation, Smithsonian Magazine, July 18, 2022.
“Leila Khaled freed after US pressure,” The Guardian, January 1, 2001.
“An Infamous Hijacking, Revisited Through a Child’s Eyes,” by Jennifer Schuessler, The New York Times, June 1, 2023.
“1970 Hijackings,” PBS American Experience.
“Terror in Black September: The First Eyewitness Account of the Infamous 1970 Hijackings,” by David Raab, Palgrave Macmillan, September 4, 2007.

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W. E. B. Du Bois & African American Contributions to World War I Jun 19, 2023

Over 350,000 African American men joined the United States military during World War I, serving valiantly despite discrimination and slander. Historian and civil rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois had hoped that their patriotism would help them gain respect and equality, but after the war it was quickly evident that would not be the case. Du Bois spent the next several decades attempting to tell the full story of Black soldiers in the Great War, but despite a vast archive of materials entrusted to him and his own towering intellect, Du Bois was never able to craft a coherent narrative of their participation.

Joining me in this episode to discuss Du Bois and his relationship with World War I is Dr. Chad L. WIlliams, the Samuel J. and Augusta Spector Professor of History and African and African American Studies at Brandeis University, and the author of The Wounded World: W. E. B. Du Bois and the First World War.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “All Of No Man's Land Is Ours,” written by James Europe and Noble Sissle, with vocals by Noble Sissle; the song was recorded around March 14, 1919 and is in the public domain and available via Wikimedia Commons. The episode image is “The famous 369th arrive in New York City,” photographed by Paul Thompson on February 26, 1919; the image is in the public domain and is available via the National Archives (National Archives Identifier: 26431290; Local Identifier: 165-WW-127A-12).

Additional Sources:

“W.E.B. Du Bois,” NAACP.
"Du Bois, W. E. B.," by Thomas C. Holt, African American National Biography. Ed. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. New York: Oxford UP, 2008.
"W. E. B. Du Bois in Georgia," by Derrick Alridge, New Georgia Encyclopedia, last modified Jul 21, 2020.
“Niagara Movement,” History.com, Originally posted December 2, 2009 and updated February 24, 2021.
“U.S. Entry into World War I, 1917,” Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute, United States Department of State.
“The African Roots of War,” by W. E. B. Du Bois, The Atlantic, May 1915.
“Why Frederick Douglass Wanted Black Men to Fight in the Civil War,” by Farrell Evans, History.com, Originally posted February 8, 2021 and updated November 22, 2022.
“Patriotism Despite Segregation: African-American Participation During World War I,” The Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs.
“African Americans in the Military during World War I,” National Archives.
“The 93rd Division During the Meuse-Argonne Offensive,” Pritzker Military Museum & Library.
“African-American Soldiers in World War I: The 92nd and 93rd Divisions,” EdSiteMent, The National Endowment for the Humanities
“W. E. B. Du Bois, World War I, and the Question of Failure,” by Chad Williams, Black Perspectives, February 19, 2018.

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The Internment of Japanese Americans during World War II & the Role of Attorneys at the Relocation Centers Jun 12, 2023

During World War II, over 120,000 Japanese Americans, most of whom were US citizens, were forcibly removed from their homes in California, Washington, and Oregon, and imprisoned in relocation centers, small towns surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards. The War Relocation Authority, the government agency created by FDR that oversaw the mass relocation and internment, appointed a project attorney for each of the 10 camps. These white attorneys served the conflicted position of both advising the project director and running a legal aid for the Japanese American prisoners.

Joining me in this episode is legal historian Eric L. Muller, the Dan K. Moore Distinguished Professor of Law in Jurisprudence and Ethics at the University of North Carolina School of Law and author of Lawyer, Jailer, Ally, Foe: Complicity and Conscience in America's World War II Concentration Camps.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Longing for Japan,” by srento, licensed for use via Pond5. The episode image is “Lone Pine, Calif. Apr. 1942. Evacuees of Japanese ancestry arriving by train and awaiting buses for Manzanar, a War Relocation Authority center,” by Clem Albers, from April 1, 1942; the photograph is housed in the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-73157), with no known restrictions on publication.

Additional Sources:

“Japanese American Incarceration During World War II,” DocsTeach, Created by the National Archives.
“FDR sets up War Relocation Authority , March 18, 1942,” by Andrew Glass, Politico, March 18, 2018.
“How Japanese American Incarceration Was Entangled With Indigenous Dispossession,” by Hana Maruyama, KCET, August 18, 2022.
“The Injustice of Japanese-American Internment Camps Resonates Strongly to This Day,” by T. A. Frail, Smithsonian Magazine, January 2017.
“She fought the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and won,” by Lori Aratani, The Washington Post, December 18, 2019.
“The dangerous economics of racial resentment during World War II,” by Gwynn Guilford, Quartz, February 13, 2018.
“Before people start invoking Japanese American internment, they should remember what it was like,” by Jeff Guo, The Washington Post, November 18, 2015.
“Bitter Harvest,” by A. V. Krebs, The Washington Post, February 2, 1992.

Related Episodes:

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Racial Conflict in the U.S. Army During the Vietnam War Era Jun 05, 2023

In September 1969, African American journalist Wallace Terry reported on “another war being fought in Vietnam — between black and white Americans.” After the 1948 integration of the military, the U.S. Army had tried to be color blind, seeing not Black or white but just olive drab, but by 1970, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, Gen. Walter T. Kerwin, noted: “In the past year racial discord has surfaced as one of the most serious problems facing Army leadership.” So in the midst of fighting a deeply unpopular overseas war, the military also created the Defense Race Relations Institute (DRRI) and developed mandated race relations training.

Joining me to discuss race relations in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War era is Dr. Beth Bailey, a Foundation Distinguished Professor in the Department of History at the University of Kansas and Author of An Army Afire: How the US Army Confronted Its Racial Crisis in the Vietnam Era.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Old Soul Record” by Musictown from Pixabay and is free to use through the Pixabay license. The episode image is “Photograph of Specialist 4th Class McClanton Miller Kneeling in Dense Brush Waiting for Orders to Move Forward;” picture was taken January 23, 1966 and is available via the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NAID: 17331387; Local ID: 111-CC-33199) with no restrictions on use.

Additional sources:

“Vietnam War Timeline,” History.com, Published September 13, 2017 and Updated March 29, 2023.
“Ho Chi Minh,” PBS American Experience.
“Foreign Relations Of The United States, 1952–1954, Indochina, Volume XIII, Part 1,” Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute, United States Department of State.
“Tonkin Gulf Resolution (1964),” National Archives and Records Administration.
“Vietnam Lotteries,” Selective Service System.
“Resistance to the Vietnam War,” by Jessica McBirney, Common Lit, 2016.
“The Draft,” Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.
“Vietnam War Protests,” History.com, Published February 22, 2010 and Updates November 1, 2022.
“The Forgotten History Of A Prison Uprising In Vietnam,” by Sarah Kramer, NPR All Things Considered, August 29, 2018.
“History,” Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute.
“Black and White in Vietnam,” by Gerald F. Goodwin, The New York Times, July 18, 2017.
“Training for Vietnam, fighting for civil rights: Post an island of relative calm in a turbulent sea,” by Christine Schweickert, U.S. Army, May 14, 2015.
“As we rethink the Vietnam War, we have to grapple with its racial implications,” by Hannah Gurman, The Washington Post, October 6, 2017.
“African-American struggle for equality in Army during Vietnam still instructive,” by David Vergun, U.S. Army, February 25, 2014.
“The military provides a model for how institutions can address racism,” by Margaret B. Montgomery, The Washington Post, June 23, 2020.
“Serving without 'equal opportunity': Vietnam veterans faced racism at home and abroad,” by Erica Thompson, The Columbus Dispatch, Published December 3, 2020 and Updated December 9, 2020.
“War within war,” by James Maycock, The Guardian, September 14, 2001.
“Reflections On The Curse Of Racism In The U.S. Military,” by David Barno and Nora Bensahel, War on the Rocks, June 30, 2020.

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Black Soldiers & their Families in the Civil War May 29, 2023

As soon as the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter, free Black men in the North rushed to enlist, but they were turned away, as President Lincoln worried that arming Black soldiers would lead to secession by the border states. With the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation and the dire need for more recruits to the Union Army, Black soldiers were formally welcomed into the armed forces, eventually comprising 10% of the Union Army. It wasn’t just the Black soldiers who fought and sacrificed for their country, though, it was also their families they left behind as they marched off to war.

Joining me in this episode s Dr. Holly A. Pinheiro, Jr., Assistant Professor of African American History at Furman University and author of The Families’ Civil War: Black Soldiers and the Fight for Racial Justice.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Battle Cry of Freedom,” written in 1862 by American composer George Frederick Root to support Lincoln’s 1862 call for 300,000 volunteers for the Union Army; this version was performed by Harlan and Stanley in 1907 and is in the public domain and available via the Internet Archive. The episode image is “Unidentified African American soldier in Union uniform with wife and two daughters,” photograph created between 1863 and 1865, available via the Library of Congress with no known restrictions on publication.

Additional sources:

“A Call to Remember the 200,000 Black Troops Who Helped Save the Union,” by Christine Hause, The New York Times, February 26, 2022.
“Remembering the Significant Role of the U.S. Colored Troops in America’s History,” Wounded Warrior Project.
“Black Americans in the U.S. Army,” U.S. Army.
“Black Soldiers in the U.S. Military During the Civil War,” National Archives.
“African-American Soldiers During the Civil War,” Library of Congress.
“Historical Context: Black Soldiers in the Civil War,” by Steven Mintz, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
“Black Civil War Soldiers,” History.com, Originally posted April 14, 2010; updated November 22, 2022.
“Appeal, in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of the World, but in Particular, and Very Expressly, to Those of the United States of America,” by David Walker, Boston, Massachusetts, September 28, 1829.
“War Declared: States Secede from the Union!” National Park Service.
“Civil War Begins,” United States Senate.
“Black Women, the Civil War, and United States Colored Troops,” by Holly Pinheiro, Black Perspectives, July 20, 2021.

Related episodes:

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The Oneida Perfectionist Religious Community May 22, 2023

In 1848, a group of religious perfectionists, led by John Humphrey Noyes, established a commune in Oneida, New York, where they lived and worked together. Women in the community had certain freedoms compared to the outside world, in both dress and occupation. What captured the attention of the outside world, though, were the sexual practices of the Oneidans, who believed in complex marriage where every man and every woman in the community were married to each other and where birth control was achieved via male continence.

Joining me to discuss the Oneida community, and its most infamous resident, presidential assassin Charles Guiteau, is New York Times bestselling writer Susan Wels, author of An Assassin in Utopia: The True Story of a Nineteenth-Century Sex Cult and a President's Murder.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode Music is “Walk Together (Acoustic Piano and Guitar Version)” by Olexy from Pixabay. The episode image is “Oneida Community,” photograph taken between 1860 and 1880; image is in the Public Domain and available via the Library of Congress.

Additional sources:

“The First Great Awakening.” by Christine Leigh Heyrman, Divining America, TeacherServe©, National Humanities Center.
“Great Awakening,” History.com, Originally posted March 7, 2018, Updated September 20, 2019.
“Religious Transformation and the Second Great Awakening,” USHistory.org.
“Religion and the Founding of the American Republic: Religion and the New Republic,” Library of Congress.
“The Second Great Awakening,” by Isaiah Dicker, Guided History: History Research Guides by Boston University Students.
“‘My Heart Was So Full of Love That It Overflowed’: Charles Grandison Finney Experiences Conversion,” History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web.
“People & Ideas: Charles Finney,” God in America, PBS.
“The Utopia of Sharing in Oneida, N.Y.”by Beth Quinn Barnard, The New York Times, August 3, 2007.
“The Rich, Sexy History Of Oneida — Commune And Silverware Maker,” WBUR, May 20, 2016.
“Oneida Community (1848-1880): A Utopian Community,” Social Welfare History Project (June 2017), Virginia Commonwealth University.
“Oneida Community Collection,” Syracuse University.
Oneida Mansion House.

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The Diversity Visa Lottery May 15, 2023

In the 1980s undocumented Irish immigrants convinced United States lawmakers to create a program that would provide a path to citizenship for individuals without family connections in the United States. That program eventually became the Diversity Visa Lottery, established as part of the Immigration Act of 1990. Despite the program’s roots in demand from Irish immigrants, the majority of the recipients of diversity visas have been awarded to immigrants from Africa, with more than 480,000 individuals and their families immigrating to the United States from Africa between 1995 and 2022 via the Diversity Visa Program.

Joining me this week for a deep dive into the diversity visa lottery, and its impact on West African countries, is historian Dr. Carly Goodman, Senior Editor at the Washington Posts’s Made by History and author of Dreamland: America’s Immigration Lottery in an Age of Restriction.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music “Melancholic Afrobeat” by artbybigvee from Pixabay and is available in the public domain. The episode image is “Loterie Americaine visa services in French and English in Yaoundé, Cameroon, 2015,” and is used by permission of the photographer, Carly Goodman.

Additional sources:

“Find out if you are eligible for the Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery and how to register,” USA.gov.
“Immigration History Timeline,” Immigration History.
“Fifty Years On, the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act Continues to Reshape the United States,” by Muzaffar Chishti, Faye Hipsman, and Isabel Ball, Migration Policy Institute, October 15, 2015.
“Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 – Civil Rights Movement Era,” The Asian American Education Project.
“European Immigrants in the United States,” by Elijah Alperin and Jeanne Batalova, Migration Policy Institute, August 1, 2018.
“1986: Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986,” Library of Congress.
“Diversity visa lottery, criticized after New York terrorist attack, was invented to help the Irish,” by Michael E. Miller, The Washington Post, November 1, 2017.
“The ‘Diversity’ Green Card Lottery Was Originally for White Immigrants,” by Becky Little, History.com, Originally posted November 2, 2017; Updated March 9, 2019.
“U.S. Lottery will award 20,000 visas in 1989-90,” by Karlyn Barker, The Washington Post, March 2, 1989.
“While Immigration Reform Waits, Lottery Fills the Void,” by Lisa Wormwood, Special to The Christian Science Monitor, April 13, 1989.
“Fact Sheet: Temporary Protected Status (TPS),” National Immigration Forum, updated February 1, 2023.
“Temporary Protected Status,” U.S. Department of Justice.
“Family Reunification Is the Bedrock of U.S. Immigration Policy,” by Philip E. Wolgin, The Center for American Progress, February 12, 2018.
“What is the Diversity Visa Program?” FWD.us, September 14, 2022.

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Women & the Law in Revolutionary America May 08, 2023

Despite a plea from Abigail Adams to her husband to “Remember the Ladies,” women, especially married women, didn’t have many legal rights in the Early Republic. Even so, women used existing legal structures to advocate for themselves and their children, leaning on their dependent status and the obligations of their husbands and the state to provide for them.

I’m joined this week by Dr. Jacqueline Beatty, Assistant Professor of History at York College of Pennsylvania, and author of In Dependence: Women and the Patriarchal State in Revolutionary America.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Chester,” composed by William Billings in 1778, performed by the United States Marine Corps Band in 2014; the recording is in the public domain and is available via Wikimedia Commons. The episode image is: ”A New England kitchen. A hundred years ago,” by H. W. Peirce, ca. 1876, via the Library of Congress.

Additional Sources:

“When Women Lost the Vote,” Museum of the American Revolution.
“Lydia Chapin Taft – New England’s First Woman Voter,” New England Historical Society.
“Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 31 March - 5 April 1776 [electronic edition],”. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive, Massachusetts Historical Society.
“Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 14 April 1776 [electronic edition],” Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive, Massachusetts Historical Society.
“On the Trail of America’s First Women to Vote,” by Jennifer Schuessler, The New York Times; Published Feb. 24, 2020, Updated Aug. 7, 2020.
“Coverture: The Word You Probably Don't Know But Should,” National Women’s History Museum, September 4, 2012.
“Boston: A City Steeped in U.S. History,” History.com; Published March 7, 2019, Updated March 13, 2019.
“Massachusetts Constitution and the Abolition of Slavery,” The Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
“Philadelphia: Colonial City to Modern Metropolis [video],” Penn Museum, July 6, 2018.
“An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery - March 1, 1780,” Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
“Historic Overview,” Explore Charleston.
“How Slavery Built Charleston,” by Brentin Mock, Bloomberg, July 20, 2015.

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Project Confrontation: The Birmingham Campaign of 1963 May 01, 2023

In 1963, on the heels of a failed desegregation campaign in Albany, Georgia, Martin Luther King., Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference decided to take a stand for Civil Rights in “the Most Segregated City in America,” Birmingham, Alabama. In Project Confrontation, the plan was to escalate, and escalate, and escalate. And escalate they did, until even President John F. Kennedy couldn’t look away.

Joining me to help us learn more about the Birmingham campaign is journalist Paul Kix, author of You Have to Be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live: Ten Weeks in Birmingham That Changed America.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “An Inspired Morning” by PianoAmor via Pixabay. The episode image is “Civil rights leaders left to right Fred Shuttlesworth and Martin Luther King, Jr., at a press conference during the Birmingham Campaign,” in Birmingham, Alabama, on May 16, 1963, by photographer M.S. Trikosko, and available via the Library of Congress.

Additional Sources and References:

“Albany Movement,” King Encyclopedia, The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University.
“The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC),” National Archives.
“The Birmingham Campaign,” PBS.
“Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth (1922-2011),” National Park Service.
“Opinion: Harry Belafonte and the Birmingham protests that changed America,” by Paul Kix, Los Angeles Times, April 27, 2023.
"Letter from a Birmingham Jail," by Martin Luther King, Jr., April 16, 1963, Posted on the University of Pennsylvania African Studies Center website.
“The Children’s Crusade: When the Youth of Birmingham Marched for Justice,” by Alexis Clark, History.com, October 14, 2020.
“Televised Address to the Nation on Civil Rights by President John F. Kennedy [video],” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama: The Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution by Diane McWhorter, Simon & Schuster, 2013.
Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63 by Taylor Branch, Simon & Schuster, 1989.
Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963-65 by Taylor Branch, Simon & Schuster, 1999.
At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68 by Taylor Branch, Simon & Schuster, 2007.
Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference by David Garrow, William Morrow & Company, 2004.

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The Plant Revolution and 19th Century American Literature Apr 24, 2023

During the 19th Century, growing international trade and imperialist conquest combined with new technologies to transport and care for flora led to a burgeoning fascination with plant life. American writers, from Emily Dickinson to Frederick Douglass played with plant imagery to make sense of their world and their country and to bolster their political arguments.

Joining me in this episode is Dr. Mary Kuhn, Assistant Professor of English at the University of Virginia, and author of The Garden Politic: Global Plants and Botanical Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century America.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Down by the Salley Gardens,” performed by Celtic Aire, United States Air Force Band; the composition is traditional, and the lyrics are by Willian Butler Yeats; the recording is in the public domain via Wikimedia Commons. The episode image is from Plate VI of Familiar Lectures on Botany, by Almira Phelps, 1838 edition.

Additional Sources and References:

“The Wardian Case: How a Simple Box Moved the Plant Kingdom,” by Luke Keogh, Arnoldia Volume 74, Issue 4, May 17, 2017.
“History of Kew,” Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
“The Great British Tea Heist,” by Sarah Rose, Smithsonian Magazine, March 9, 2010.
“Almira Phelps,” History of American Women.
“‘How Many Stamens Has Your Flower?’ The Botanical Education of Emily Dickinson,” by Anne Garner, New York Academy of Medicine, April 28, 2016.
“Emily Dickinson’s Schooling: Amherst Academy,” Emily Dickinson Museum.
“Gardens at the Stowe Center,” Harriet Beecher Stowe Center.
“Hawthorne in the Garden,” by W.H. Demick, The House of the Seven Gables, July 1, 2020.
“Frederick Douglass On How Slave Owners Used Food As A Weapon Of Control,” by Nina Martyris, NPR, February 10, 2017.
“Cedar Hill: Frederick Douglass's Rustic Sanctuary,” National Park Service.
“Amoral Abolitionism: Frederick Douglass and the Environmental Case against Slavery,” by Cristin Ellis, American Literature 1 June 2014; 86 (2): 275–303.
“‘Buried in Guano’: Race, Labor, and Sustainability,” by Jennifer C. James, American Literary History 24, no. 1 (2012): 115–42.
“The Intelligent Plant,” by Michael Pollan, The New Yorker, December 15, 2013.
Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, 2015.
The Overstory, by Richard Powers, W. W. Norton & Company, 2019.
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate--Discoveries from a Secret World, by Peter Wohlleben, Greystone Books, 2016.

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The 1972 Occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Apr 17, 2023

While voters were casting their ballots in the 1972 presidential election, Native demonstrators had taken over the Bureau of Indian Affairs building in Washington, DC, barricading themselves in with office furniture and preparing to fight with makeshift weapons. The occupation marked the finale of a cross-country caravan, the Trail of Broken Treaties, and the activists were demanding the consideration of their Twenty-Point Position Paper, which called for a restoration of Indigenous rights and recognition of Native American sovereignty.

Joining me to help us understand the 1972 occupation and to discuss the larger story of native presence and activism in DC is Dr. Elizabeth Rule, author of Indigenous DC: Native Peoples and the Nation's Capital and Founder of the Guide to Indigenous Lands Project.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is Hank Adams, in the fall of 1972, addressing the mission of the cross-country trip to Washington, D.C., from the Hank Adams Collection that was donated to the Washington Secretary of State and is included in: “Hank Adams: “An Uncommon Life.”

Additional Sources:

“The Trail of Broken Treaties, 1972,” National Park Service
“The Trail of Broken Treaties: A March on Washington, DC 1972,” William & Mary Libraries.
“Native Americans Take Over Bureau of Indian Affairs: 1972,” by Bob Simpson, The Washington Area Spark, March 26, 2013.
“Trail of Broken Treaties 20-Point Position Paper,” October 1872, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
“When Native American Activists Occupied Alcatraz Island,” by Evan Andrews, History.com, original November 20, 2014; updated September 1, 2018.
“Occupy Wounded Knee: A 71-Day Siege and a Forgotten Civil Rights Movement,” by Emily Chertoff, The Atlantic, October 23, 2012.

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The Southern Strategy Apr 10, 2023

In the decades following the Civil War, African Americans reliably voted for the Republican Party, which had led the efforts to outlaw slavery and enfranchise Black voters; and white southerners reliably voted for the Democratic Party. When Black voters started to vote for Democratic candidates in larger numbers, starting with the 1936 re-election of FDR, whose New Deal policies had helped poor African Americans, Republicans began to turn their sights toward white Southern voters. By the 1964 Presidential election, Republican Barry Goldwater was actively courting those voters, winning five states in the deep South, despite his otherwise poor showing nationwide. Republican Richard Nixon successfully refined the strategy in his 1968 defeat of Democrat Hubert Humphrey. In the following decades, the Republican Party continued to employ the Southern Strategy, eventually leading to a complete realignment of the parties.

Joining me for a deep dive on the Southern Strategy is Dr. Kevin M. Kruse, Professor of History at Princeton University, author of several books on the political and social history of twentieth-century America, and co-editor with fellow Princeton History Dr. Julian E. Zelizer of Myth America: Historians Take on the Biggest Legends and Lies about Our Past.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is a photograph of Richard Nixon campaigning in 1968; it is in the public domain and available via Wikimedia Commons. The mid-episode audio is the "Go, Go Goldwater" radio jingle produced by Erwin Wasey, Ruthrauff and Ryan, Inc. (EWR & R) from the 1964 presidential campaign; it is widely available on YouTube and is sampled here for educational purpose.

Additional Sources:

To Make Men Free: A History of the Republican Party, by Heather Cox Richardson, Basic Books, 2021.
“The Kansas-Nebraska Act,” United States Senate.
“Missouri Compromise (1820),” National Archives.
“Whig Party,” History.com, Originally Published November 6, 2009, Last Updated July 29, 2022.
“Republican Party founded,” History.com, Originally Published February 9, 2010; Last Updated March 18, 2021.
“What we get wrong about the Southern strategy,” by Angie Maxwell, The Washington Post, July 26, 2019.
“Exclusive: Lee Atwater’s Infamous 1981 Interview on the Southern Strategy,” by Rick Perlstein, The Nation, November 13, 2012.
“How the Southern Strategy Made Donald Trump Possible,” by Jeet Heer, The New Republic, February 18, 2016.
“Paul Manafort's role in the Republicans' notorious 'Southern Strategy,'” by Sue Sturgis, Facing South, November 3, 2017.
“Candace Owens wrongly called GOP’s Southern strategy a ‘myth,’” by Colby Itkowitz, The Washington Post, April 9, 2019.

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Harold Washington Apr 03, 2023

In 1983, Harold Washington took on the Chicago machine and won, with the help of a multiracial coalition, becoming the first Black mayor of Chicago. Winning the mayoral election was only the first fight, and 29 of the 50 alderpersons on City Council, led by the “the Eddies,” Aldermen Ed Vrdolyak and Edward M. Burke, opposed Washington’s every move. This week we look at Washington’s rise to the 5th floor of City Hall, who helped him get there, and the struggles he faced once elected.

Joining me to help us learn more about Harold Washington is Dr. Gordon K. Mantler, Executive Director of the University Writing Program and Associate Professor of Writing and of History at the George Washington University and author of The Multiracial Promise: Harold Washington's Chicago and the Democratic Struggle in Reagan's America.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is a photo of Harold Washington, US Federal Government, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional Sources:

“WASHINGTON, Harold,” HIstory, Art, and Archives, United States House of Representatives.
“Mayor Harold Washington Biography,” Chicago Public Library.
“Achieving the Dream: Harold Washington,” WTTW Chicago.
“Who Was Harold Washington? A Look Back at the Legacy of Chicago's First Black Mayor,” NBC5 Chicago, April 15, 2022.
“How Mayor Harold Washington Shaped the City of Chicago,” by Adam Doster, Chicago Magazine, April 29, 2013.
“Punch 9 for Harold Washington [video],” directed by Joe Winston, 2021.
“The Legacy of Chicago Mayor Harold Washington [video],” UChicago Institute of Politics, Streamed live on Apr 27, 2022.
“ILLINOIS SETS UP AT LARGE VOTING; Governor Signs Emergency Bill for House Election,” The New York Times, January 30, 1964, Page 14.
“Hyde Park Stories: Harold Washington Park,” by Patricia L. Morse, Hyde Park Historical Society, February 22, 2023.

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The 1968 White House Fashion Show Mar 27, 2023

On February 29, 1968, Lady Bird Johnson hosted the first–and last–White House Fashion Show. The fashion show, intended both to highlight the fourth largest industry in the United States and to promote domestic tourism, inadvertently became one of the many PR missteps of the Johnson administration, as it occurred in the midst of the Tet Offensive. Just one month later LBJ announced on national television that he would not seek reelection, and today the fashion show is largely forgotten.

Joining me to help us understand how and why Lady Bird Johnson ended up hosting a White House Fashion Show, and why it was never repeated, is fashion history Dr. Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, author of Red, White, and Blue on the Runway: The 1968 White House Fashion Show and the Politics of American Style.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode is “The Stars and Stripes Forever March,” composed by John Philip Sousa and performed by the United States Marine Corps Band; the audio is in the public domain. The episode image is from the 1968 “Discover America” White House Fashion Show, available via the National Archives (NAID: 218517833, Local ID: 306-SSA-68-8218-CC5), and is in the public domain.

Additional Sources:

“Claudia Alta Taylor ‘Lady Bird’ Johnson,” The White House.
“The Environmental First Lady,” Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, The University of Texas at Autin.
“Spotlight: 1968 White House Fashion Show,” by Kaitlyn Crain Enriquez, National Archives - The Unwritten Record, August 10, 2021.
“The White House Fashion Show [video],” White House Historical Association, posted on YouTube on June 14, 2022.
“The 1968 Fashion Show, the History Lesson Melania Missed,” by Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, Politico, March 5, 2018.
“Why the First White House Fashion Show Was Also the Last,” by Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, Slate, October 10, 2014.
“Discover America Scarf,” Frankie Welch’s Americana: Fashion, Scarves, and Politics, UGA Special Collections Library Online Exhibitions.
“TET: Who Won?” by Don Oberdorfer, Smithsonian Magazine, November 2004.

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Madame Restell, "The Wickedest Woman in New York" Mar 20, 2023

In 19th Century New York, everyone knew who to go to to end an unwanted pregnancy: the French-trained, sophisticated Madame Restell, who lived in a posh mansion on 5th Avenue. In reality, Madame Restell was English immigrant Ann Trow Lohman, and she had never even been to France, but she managed to combine medical skill with her carefully crafted public persona to become tremendously wealthy, while providing a much-needed service. As the legal landscape of the United States grew ever more conservative, Madame Restell did her best to evade the authorities, and then Anthony Comstock knocked on her door.

Joining me this week to help us understand more about Madame Restell is historian and writer Jennifer Wright, author of Madame Restell: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Old New York's Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is part of Twelve Pieces for piano, op. 40, No. 9, Valse in F-sharp minor, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, 1878, performed by Kevin McLeod, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. The episode image is “The arrest of abortionist Ann Lohman (a.k.a. Madame Restell) by Anthony Comstock,” from the February 23, 1878, edition of the New York Illustrated Times; scanned from The Wickedest Woman in New York: Madame Restell, the Abortionist by Clifford Browder; available via Wikimedia Commons and in the public domain.

Additional sources:

“Madame Restell: The Abortionist of Fifth Avenue,” by Karen Abbott, Smithsonian Magazine, November 27, 2012.
“Life Story: Ann Trow Lohman, a.k.a. Madame Restell (1812 - 1878),” Women and the American Story, New York Historical Society.
“When 'The Wickedest Woman of New York' Lived on Fifth Avenue,” by Simon Scully, Mental Floss, October 2, 2020.
“Madame Restell’s Other Profession,” By Christopher Gray, The New York Times, October 10, 2013.
“‘Sex and the Constitution’: Anthony Comstock and the reign of the moralists,” by Geoffrey Stone, The Washington Post, March 23, 2017.

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The National Women's Conference of 1977 Mar 13, 2023

In her 2015 book, Gloria Steinem described the National Women’s Conference of 1977 as “the most important event nobody knows about.” The four-day event in Houston, Texas, which brought together 2,000 delegates and another 15,000-20,000 observers was the culmination of a commission appointed first by President Ford and then by President Carter, and was and funded by Congress for $5 million to investigate how federal legislation could best help women. The excited delegates believed that the conference would change history, so what happened, and why do so few people now even remember that it happened.

Joining me to help us learn more about the National Women’s Conference are Dr. Nancy Beck Young, the Moores Professor of History; and Dr. Elizabeth Rodwell, Assistant Professor of Digital Media, who are both on the leadership team for The Sharing Stories from 1977 project through the Center for Public History at the University of Houston.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Retro Disco Old School” by Musictown from Pixabay. The episode image is from the final mile of the Torch Relay on its arrival to Houston on November 18, 1977. From left to right: Bella Abzug, Sylvia Ortiz, Peggy Kokernot, Michele Cearcy, Betty Friedan, Billie Jean King. Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.

Additional sources:

Divided We Stand: The Battle Over Women's Rights and Family Values That Polarized American Politics, by Marjorie J. Spruill, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017.
“Women Unite! Lessons from 1977 for 2017,” by Marjorie Spruill, Process :A Blog for American History, from the Organization of American Historians, The Journal of American History, and The American Historian, January 20, 2017.
“The 1977 Conference on Women’s Rights That Split America in Two,” by Lorraine Boissoneault, Smithsonian Magazine, February 15, 2017.
“Sisters of ‘77 [video],” Directed by Cynthia Salzman Mondell and Allen Mondell, March 1, 2005.
“Spotlight: National Women’s Conference of 1977,” by Chucik, National Archives, November 16, 2017.
“Women on the Move: Texas and the Fight for Women’s Rights,” Texas Archive of the Moving Image.
“National Women's Conference, 1977,” by Debbie Mauldin Cottrell, Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association.
“The 1977 National Women’s Conference in Houston Was Supposed to Change the World. What Went Wrong?” by Dianna Wray, Houstonia Magazine, January 20, 2018.
“Road Warrior: After fifty years, Gloria Steinem is still at the forefront of the feminist cause,” by Jane Kramer, The New Yorker, October 12, 2015.
“What’s left undone 45 years after the National Women’s Conference,” by Errin Haines, The 19th, March 25, 2022.

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Lydia Maria Child Mar 06, 2023

By 1833, Lydia Maria Child was a popular author, having published both fiction and nonfiction, including the wildly successful advice book The Frugal Housewife: Dedicated to those who are not ashamed of Economy. And she had been editing a beloved monthly periodical for children called Juvenile Miscellany for seven years. But her popularity crumbled precipitously when she published An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans, arguing for the immediate emancipation of enslaved people. Child never stopped writing or fighting for the causes she believed in, but she never again reached the literary heights to which she’d seemed poised to ascend.

Joining me to help us learn more about Lydia Maria Child is Dr. Lydia Moland, Professor of Philosophy at Colby College and author of Lydia Maria Child: A Radical American Life.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The poem mid-episode, read by Teddy, is “The New-England Boy's Song about Thanksgiving Day,” written by Lydia Maria Child and originally published in 1844 in Flowers for Children, Volume 2. The image is of Lydia Maria Child, from “Representative Women,” by L. Schamer, produced by Louis Prang Lithography Company, in 1870; the image is available courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution and is in the public domain.

Additional sources:

“Lydia Maria Child,” Poetry Foundation.
“Lydia Maria Child,” David Ruggles Center for History and Education.
“October 20, 1880: Lydia Maria Child Dies,” Mass Moments.
“Lydia Maria Child 1802-1880,” From a talk titled, “Here are some of her accomplishments” by Jane Sciacca, Wayland Historical Society, October 2018.
“Lydia Maria Child,” National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum.
“William Lloyd Garrison,” National Park Service.
“Lydia Maria Child Taught Americans to Make Do With Less,“ by Lydia Moland, Wall Street Journal, November 10, 2022.
“Activists have always been frustrated at allies’ insistence on gradual change,” by Lydia Moland, Washington Post, March 28, 2022.
“Books by Child, Lydia Maria,” Project Gutenberg
“Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself,” by Harriet A. Jacobs; edited by Lydia Maria Child.

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The Eastland Disaster Feb 27, 2023

On the morning of July 24, 1915, employees of the Western Electric Company and their families excitedly boarded the SS Eastland near the Clark Street Bridge in Chicago, eager to set off for a day of fun in Michigan City, Indiana, during their annual company picnic. Tragically, the ship capsized just 19 feet from the wharf in the Chicago River, killing 844 people in one of the worst maritime disasters in United States history.

Joining me on this episode to help us understand more about the tragic Eastland disaster are Ted and Barb Wachholz, who co-founded the Eastland Disaster Historical Society with Barb’s sister, Susan Decker, and their mom, Jean Decker. Barb and Susan’s grandmother, Borghild Amelia Aanstad, who went by Bobbie, was 13 years old, when she, along with her sister Solveig, Mother Mariane, and Uncle Olaf, survived the capsizing of the Eastland.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode audio is “Somewhere a Voice is Calling,” written by Arthur Tate in 1911. This recording is by the Revillon Trio in 1915 and is in the Public Domain. It is available via the Internet Archive. The image is a photograph taken on July 24, 1915 during the rescue operations; it is freely available via the Eastland Disaster Historical Society.

Sources:

Eastland Disaster Historical Society
The Eastland Disaster by Ted Wachholz, Arcadia Publishing (SC), August 17, 2005.
“The Forgotten Disaster of the SS Eastland [video],” Ask a Mortician, September 23, 2022.
“The Eastland Disaster Killed More Passengers Than the Titanic and the Lusitania. Why Has It Been Forgotten?” by Susan Q. Stranahan, October 27, 2014.
“The Eastland Disaster: New look at 100-year-old tragedy [video],” Chicago Tribune, July 16, 2015.
“The Eastland Disaster,” WTTW Chicago.
“1915 – Eastland Disaster,” Chicagology

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The History of Polish Chicago Feb 20, 2023

If you’ve ever lived in Chicago, you’ve probably heard at some point that Chicago has the largest Polish population outside of Warsaw. While that’s an exaggeration it’s certainly the case that the Chicagoland region has a large population of people of Polish descent and that Chicago is important historically to American Polonia. From the earliest Polish immigrants to Chicago in the 1830s through today, Poles have helped shape the culture, politics, religion, and food of Chicago. This week we dive into that history.

Joining me to help us understand more about Polish Chicago is Dr. Dominic A. Pacyga, professor emeritus of history in the Department of Humanities, History, and Social Sciences at Columbia College Chicago and author of several books on Polish immigrants and Chicago, including American Warsaw: The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of Polish Chicago in 2019.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-roll audio is “Mazurka, Op. 24, No. 4, in B Flat Minor,” by Polish composer Frédéric Chopin, performed by Polish pianist and Prime Minister Ignacy Jan Paderewski in in the early 1920s and captured on an Aeolian Company "DUO-ART" reproducing piano; the performance is in the public domain and is available via the Internet Archive. The episode image is the Tadeusz Kościuszko Monument, an outdoor sculpture by artist Kazimierz Chodziński, installed in the median of East Solidarity Drive, near Chicago's Shedd Aquarium; the photograph was taken by Matthew Weflen on Sunday, February 19, 2023, and is used with permission.

Additional Sources:

“Poles,”by Dominic Pacyga, Encyclopedia of Chicago, 2005.
“Can Chicago Brag about the Size of its Polish Population?” by Jesse Dukes, WBEZ Chicago, October 26, 2015.
“Where Have All the Polish Pols Gone?” by Edward McClelland, Chicago Magazine, January 6, 2020.
“How Chicago Became a Distinctly Polish American City,” by Marek Kępa, Culture.PL, April 27, 2020.
“Explore Polish culture in Chicago’s neighborhoods,” Choose Chicago.
“Chicago’s Milwaukee Av. to be renamed Polish Heritage Corridor in honour of city’s Poles,” by Stuart Dowell, The First News, June 20, 2022.
“Chicago, The Polish City,” Interview of Dominic Pacyga by Łukasz Kożuchowski, Polish History.
“Chicago’s Polish Constitution Day Parade is back. This year, it has a new theme,” by Adriana Cardona-Maguidad, WBEZ Chicago, May 3, 2022.

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John H. Johnson & Ebony Magazine Feb 13, 2023

When businessman John H. Johnson died in 2005, Ebony Magazine, the monthly photo-editorial magazine that he launched in 1945, reached an estimated 10 million readers. Under the direction of executive editor Lerone Bennet Jr. for several decades, Ebony helped shape Black culture and perceptions of Black history. Johnson Publishing Company helped shape Chicago history, too, when they opened their Loop location in 1972, at 820 S. Michigan Ave. The now-iconic 11-story, 110,000 square-foot building was the first major downtown building to be designed by an African American architect, John W. Moutoussamy, and the first skyscraper owned by an African American in the Loop.

Joining me this week to help us understand more about Johnson Publishing is Dr. E. James West, a Lecturer at University College London, co-director of the Black Press Research Collective, and author of Ebony Magazine and Lerone Bennett Jr.: Popular Black History in Postwar America, A House for the Struggle: The Black Press and the Built Environment in Chicago, and Our Kind of Historian: The Work and Activism of Lerone Bennett Jr.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-roll audio is from the Sol Taishoff Award ceremony on February 25, 1986, where Don Hewitt, John Johnson and John Quinn were recognized for Excellence in Journalism. The video was aired on C-SPAN and is in the public domain. The episode image is “Ebony magazine, Volume LX, Number 12 honoring the life of John H. Johnson, the founder of Johnson Publishing Company, publisher of Ebony magazine,” from the Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Bunch Family.

Additional Sources:

“Succeeding Against the Odds: The Autobiography of a Great American Businessman,” by John H. Johnson and Lerone Bennett, Jr., Johnson Publishing Company, October 1, 1992.
“John H. Johnson, 87, Founder of Ebony, Dies,” by Douglas Martin, The New York Times, August 9, 2005.
“The Radical Blackness of Ebony Magazine,” by Brent Staples, The New York Times, August 11, 2019.
“Lerone Bennett Jr., Historian of Black America, Dies at 89,” by Neil Genzlinger, The New York Times, February 16, 2018.
“75 Years of Ebony Magazine,” The National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian.
“Under new ownership, 'Ebony' magazine bets on boosting Black business,” by Andrew Craig, NPR Weekend Edition Sunday, October 31, 2021.
“New apartments pay homage to Ebony/Jet building's history,” by Dennis Rodkin, Crain’s Chicago Business, September 9, 2019.

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The History of the Cook County Jail Feb 06, 2023

The first Cook County Jail was a wooden stockade, built in 1833 in Chicago, which was then a town of around 250 people. Today, the Cook County Department of Corrections, which takes up 8 city blocks on the Southwest Side of Chicago, is one of the largest single-site jails in the country and incarcerates nearly 100,000 people a year. The history of the jail’s expansion is a story of urban politics and patronage, battles over criminal justice reform, and the racist underpinnings of mass incarceration.

Joining me to help us learn more about the Cook County Jail is Dr. Melanie Newport, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Connecticut and author of This Is My Jail: Local Politics and the Rise of Mass Incarceration.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-roll audio is “Slow E-Guitar Blues Solo” by JuliusH from Pixabay. The image of the Cook County Department of Corrections is by Stephen Hogan on Flickr and was taken on October 24, 2017; it is used under Creative Commons (CC BY 2.0).

Additional Sources:

“Learning about American History and Politics through American Jails,” by Elaina Hancock, UConn Today, November 15, 2022.
“Jails and Prisons,” by Jess Maghan, Encyclopedia of Chicago.
“Cook County Jail’s History,” Cook County Sheriff’s Office.
“A rare glimpse into a transformative time at Cook County Jail,” by Renata Cherlise, Chicago Reader, December 9, 2016.
“Blues in the Big House [video]”
“When a Psychologist Was in Charge of Jail,” by Melanie Newport, The Marshall Project, May 21, 2015.
“The COVID-19 Struggle In Chicago's Cook County Jail,” Cheryl Corley, NPR, April 13, 2020.
“Cook County to Proceed With End of Cash Bail in Wake of SAFE-T Act Ruling,” NBC5 Chicago, December 29, 2022.

Organizations to support:

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The Green Book Jan 30, 2023

In 1936, Victor Hugo Green published the first edition of what he called The Negro Motorist Green Book, a 16-page listing of businesses in the New York metropolitan area that would welcome African American customers. By its final printing in 1966, the Green Book had gone international, with a 100-page book that included not just friendly businesses throughout the United States but also hotels and resorts that would be safe for African American travelers in Canada, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, and Africa, along with a list of currency exchange rates.

Joining me this week to help us learn more about why African American travelers needed the Green Book and how Victor Green and his family created such an important and long-lasting publication is award-winning television and radio broadcaster and financial educator Alvin Hall, author of the new book, Driving the Green Book: A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The musical interlude and music under the outro is: "Whiskey on the Mississippi," by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 4.0 License. The image is "The Travelers' Green Book: 1961," Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. The New York Public Library Digital Collections.

Additional Sources:

“Navigating The Green Book,” Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library.
“How the Green Book Helped African-American Tourists Navigate a Segregated Nation,” by Jacinda Townsend, Smithsonian Magazine, April 2016.
“The Green Book: The Black Travelers’ Guide to Jim Crow America,” by Evan Andews, History.com, March 13, 2019.
“Traveling While Black: The Green Book’s Black History,” by Brent Staples, The New York Times, January 25, 2019.
“A look inside the Green Book, which guided Black travelers through a segregated and hostile America,” by George Petras and Janet Loehrke, USA Today, February 19, 2021.
“The Movie Green Book Is Named for a Real Guide to Travel in a Segregated World. Its Real History Offers a Key Lesson for Today,” by Arica L. Coleman, Time Magazine, November 17, 2018.
“The Long-Lasting Legacy of the Great Migration,” by Isabel Wilkerson, Smithsonian Magazine, September 2016.
“Sundown Towns,” by Ross Coen, BlackPast, August 23, 2020.
“Sundown Towns,” Tougaloo College.

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American Women Writers in Italy in the 19th Century Jan 23, 2023

The second half of the nineteenth century was a momentous time in Italian history, marked by the unification of the peninsula and the formation of the Kingdom of Italy. Three American women writers had a front-seat view of this history while they lived in Italy: Caroline Crane Marsh, the wife of the United States Minister; journalist Anne Hampton Brewster; and Emily Bliss Gould, founder of a vocational school for Italian children.

Joining me to help us learn more about these American women in Italy in the late 19th Century is Dr. Etta Madden, the Clif & Gail Smart Professor of English at Missouri State University and author of several books, including Engaging Italy: American Women's Utopian Visions and Transnational Networks.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Photo credits: Engraving of Emily Bliss Gould, by A.H. Ritchie, based on a portrait by Lorenzo Suszipj, in A Life Worth Living, by Leonard Woolsey Bacon, 1879, Public Domain; Anne Hampton Brewster, Albumen photograph, ca. 1874, McAllister Collection, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Caroline Crane Marsh, ca 1866, Fratelli Alinari, Florence, Special Collections Library, University of Vermont.

Additional Sources:

“How Italy became a country, in one animated map,” by Zack Beauchamp, Vox, December 1, 2014.
“Issues Relevant to U.S. Foreign Diplomacy: Unification of Italian States,” Office of the Historian, US Department of State.
“The Italian Risorgimento: A timeline,” The Florentine, March 10, 2011.
“About George Perkins Marsh,” The Marsh Collection, Smithsonian.
“Ambasciatrice, Activist, Auntie, Author: Caroline Crane Marsh,” by Etta Madden, New York Public Library, December 19, 2018.
“Traveling with Caroline Crane Marsh,” University of Vermont Special Collections, June 11, 2020.
“Anne Hampton Brewster,” Archival Gossip Collection.
“Anne Hampton Brewster: Nineteenth-Century News from Rome,” by Etta Madden, November 21, 2018.
“Anne Hampton Brewster papers finding aid,” Library Company of Philadelphia.
“Emily Bliss Gould: An American in Italy–A Guest Post,” by Etta Madden, History in the Margins, September 30, 2022.

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The 1968 Student Uprising at Tuskegee Institute Jan 16, 2023

Days after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and after months of increasing tension on campus, the students at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama occupied a building on campus where the Trustees were meeting, demanding a number of reforms, including a role for students in college governance, the end of mandatory ROTC participation, athletic scholarships, African American studies curriculum, and a higher quality of instruction in engineering courses.

Joining me to tell the story of the Tuskegee student uprising is Dr. Brian Jones, Director of New York Public Library’s Center for Educators and Schools and author of The Tuskegee Student Uprising: A History.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Photo credit: The photo used for this episode comes from: http://sammyyoungejr.weebly.com/the-movement.html.

Additional Sources:

“The Overlooked History of a Student Uprising That Helped Institutionalize Black Studies in the U.S.,” by Olivia B. Waxman, Time, October 4, 2022.
“History of Tuskegee University,” Tuskegee University.
“Tuskegee Institute's Founding,” National Park Service.
“Tuskegee Institute--Training Leaders,” African American Odyssey, Library of Congress
“Tuskegee University (1881-),” by Allison O’Connor, Blackpast, October 27, 2009.
“Booker T. Washington,” History.com, October 29, 2009.
“The Tuskegee Student Uprising & Black education in America,” The Black Table, S1 E38.
“Tuskegee Halts All its Classes; Tells Students to Go Home – Acts After Protests,” The New York Times, April 9, 1968.
“The Moral Force of the Black University,” by Brian Jones, The Chronicle of Higher Education, November 3, 2022.
“Jan. 3, 1966: Sammy Younge Jr. Murdered,” Zinn Education Project.
“Nov. 14, 1960: Gomillion v. Lightfoot,” Zinn Education Project.
Sammy L. Younge, Jr.: The First Black College Student To Die In The Black Liberation Movement

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Shirley Chisholm Jan 09, 2023

Throughout her life, Shirley Chisholm fought for coalitional change. She was the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress in 1968, the first Black woman to run for President of the United States in 1972, co-founder of both the Congressional Black Caucus and the National Women’s Political Caucus, both in 1971, and co-founder of the National Congress of Black Women in 1984. Toward the end of her life, Chisholm told an interviewer: “I want history to remember me … as a Black woman who lived in the 20th century and who dared to be herself. I want to be remembered as a catalyst for change in America.”

Joining me in this episode is Dr. Anastasia Curwood, Professor of History and Director of the Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies at the University of Kentucky, and author of Shirley Chisholm: Champion of Black Feminist Power Politics.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is Shirley Chisholm speaking at the Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida, on July 12, 1972. The photographer was Warren K. Leffler, and the photograph is in the public domain and available via the Library of Congress.

The audio clip of Shirley Chisholm speaking is from her presidential campaign announcement on January 25, 1972, in Brooklyn; the audio is courtesy of the New York City Municipal Archive, via C-SPAN. The audio clip of Rep. Barbara Lee is from Two Broads Talking Politics, Episode 433: Barbara Lee, which originally aired on October 9, 2020; the episode was recorded, edited, and produced by Kelly Therese Pollock and is used with express permission.

Additional Sources:

“‘Unbought and Unbossed’: When a Black Woman Ran for the White House,” by Jackson Landers, Smithsonian Magazine, April 25, 2016.
“‘Unbought and Unbossed’: How Shirley Chisholm Helped Paved the Path for Kamala Harris Nearly Five Decades Ago,” by Stuart Emmrich, Vogue, August 20, 2020.
“Politicians reflect on Shirley Chisholm's legacy 50 years after her historic presidential run,” by Anna Lucente Sterling, NY1, February 17, 2022.
“CHISHOLM, Shirley Anita,” House.gov.
“What You May Not Know About TC Alum Shirley Chisholm,” Teacher’s College, Columbia University, Published Wednesday, November 30, 2022.
“Shirley Chisholm, 'Unbossed' Pioneer in Congress, Is Dead at 80,” by James Barron, The New York Times, January 3, 2005.
“Congressional Black Caucus swears in its largest group in history,” by Cheyanne M. Daniels, The Hill, January 3, 2023.
“Democratic women lawmakers who broke through in 2018 now step into leadership roles,” by Grace Panetta and Mel Leonor Barclay, The 19th, January 3, 2023.
“Rep. Lauren Underwood elected to House Democratic leadership position,” by Lynn Sweet, Chicago SunTimes, December 1, 2022.

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The Aerobics Craze of the 1980s Jan 02, 2023

In the late 1960s, Air Force surgeon Dr. Kenneth Cooper was evaluating military fitness plans when he realized that aerobic activities, what we now call cardio, like running and cycling, was the key to overall physical health. His 1968 book Aerobics launched the aerobics revolution that followed, as he inspired women like Jacki Sorensen and Judi Sheppard Missett to combine dance with exercise, creating Dance Aerobics and Jazzercise in the process.

I’m joined on this episode by Dr. Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Associate Professor History at The New School and author of Fit Nation: The Gains and Pains of America's Exercise Obsession.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is: “Jacki Sorensen at an Aerobic Dancing, Inc., event in New York,” photographed by an employee of Aerobic Dancing, Inc., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Additional Sources:

“The Fitness Craze That Changed the Way Women Exercise,” by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, The Atlantic, June 16, 2019.
“History of Aerobic Exercise.”
“Kenneth H. Cooper, MD, MPH,” CooperAerobics.
“The 75-Year-Old Behind Jazzercise Keeps Dancing on Her Own,” by Samantha Leach, Glamour, June 21, 2019.
“Jane Fonda’s 1982 Workout Routine Is Still the Best Exercise Class Out There,” by Patricia Garcia, Vogue, July 7, 2018.
“Jane Fonda’s first workout video released,” History.com.
“History: IDEA Health & Fitness Association.
“Interview with Richard Simmons,” by Eric Spitznagel, Men’s Health, April 25, 2012.

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Stede Bonnet, the Gentleman Pirate Dec 26, 2022

Stede Bonnet lived a life of luxury in Barbados, inheriting from his father an over 400-acre sugarcane plantation, along with 94 slaves. But in late 1716, when he was 29 years old, Bonnet decided to leave behind his plantation, his wife, and his three surviving children, all under the age of 5, to become a pirate, despite having no experience even captaining a ship. As Captain Charles Johnson put it in A General History of the Pyrates: “He had the least Temptation of any Man to follow such a Course of Life, from the Condition of his Circumstances,” blaming it on a “Disorder in his Mind.”

So why did Bonnet leave behind his privileged life, and would he have made the choice again if he knew how it would turn out? Joining me in this episode to help us understand more about Stede Bonnet and his possible motivations is freelance historian Jeremy R. Moss, author of The Life and Tryals of the Gentleman Pirate, Major Stede Bonnet.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode audio is “Oh, Better Far To Live And Die,” from The Pirates Of Penzance, written by Gilbert & Sullivan and performed by the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1959, available via the Internet Archive. The episode image is: “Print engraving of Stede Bonnet in Charles Johnson's A General History of the Pyrates,” Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The HBO Show loosely based on the life of Stede Bonnet that we reference in the episode is Our Flag Means Death, created by David Jenkins and starring Rhys Darby as Stede Bonnet and Taika Wititi as Blackbeard.

Additional Sources:

“The Gentleman Pirate: How Stede Bonnet went from wealthy landowner to villain on the sea,” by Amy Crawford, Smithsonian Magazine, July 31, 2007.
“The Life Of Stede Bonnet, The Gentleman Who Became A Pirate On A Whim,” by Genevieve Carlton, All That’s Interesting, August 9, 2022.
“A Pirate’s Life Was His, Stede Bonnet’s,” North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, September 27, 2016.
“Top-Earning Pirates,” Forbes, September 19, 2008.
“Stede Bonnet and the Golden Age of Piracy: Part One,” by Danielle Herring, Library of Congress, December 8, 2022.
“Stede Bonnet, Gentleman Pirate: how a mid-life crisis created the 'worst pirate of all time',” by Jeremy R. Moss, History Extra, March 3, 2022.
“A General History of the Pyrates: from their first rise and settlement in the island of Providence, to the present time,” by Captain Charles Johnson, 1724.

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Smallpox Inoculation & the American Revolution Dec 19, 2022

In 1775, a smallpox outbreak struck the Continental Northern Army. With many of the soldiers too sick to fight, their attempted capture of Quebec on December 31, 1775, was a devastating failure, the first major defeat of the Revolutionary War for the Americans, and cost General Richard Montgomery his life. Eventually, George Washington, the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, realized that the only way to avoid repeated outbreaks was to order mass inoculation of the amy, a controversial and risky decision that proved successful.

Joining me to help us learn more about smallpox inoculation during the American Revolution is Dr. Andrew M. Wehrman, Associate professor of history at Central Michigan University, and author of The Contagion of Liberty: The Politics of Smallpox in the American Revolution.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is: “The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec, December 31, 1775,” a painting by John Trumbull from 1786; photo credit: Yale University Art Gallery; public domain.

Additional Sources:

“How an Enslaved African Man in Boston Helped Save Generations from Smallpox,” by Erin Blakemore, History.com, February 1, 2019.
“The origins of inoculation,” by Arthur Boylston, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (2012), 105(7), 309–313.
“On This Day in 1721, Dr. Zabdiel Boylston Inoculates his Son Against Smallpox,” Boston.gov, June 26, 2017.
“Smallpox, Inoculation, and the Revolutionary War,” Boston National Historical Park, National Park Service.
“Letter from John Adams to Abigail Smith, 13 April 1764 [electronic edition],” Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society.
“How a public health crisis nearly derailed the American Revolution,” by Andrew Lawler, National Geographic, April 16, 2020.
“Edward Jenner and the history of smallpox and vaccination.” by Stefan Riedel, Proceedings (Baylor University. Medical Center) 2005, 18(1), 21–25.
“History of the Smallpox Vaccine,” The World Health Organization.

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The Sea Islands Hurricane of 1893 Dec 12, 2022

On August 27, 1893, a massive hurricane struck the coast of South Carolina and Georgia, battering the Sea Islands and Lowcountry through the next morning. Around 2,000 people in the thriving African American community perished that night, and many more died in the coming days and weeks as the impacts of the storm continued to be felt. The Red Cross, led by Clara Barton, organized relief efforts in conjunction with the local communities but with little money, as both the state legislature and the US Congress declined appeals to help.

Joining me to help us understand more about this 1893 hurricane and how it affected the course of South Carolina politics is Dr. Caroline Grego, Assistant Professor of History at Queens University of Charlotte, and author of Hurricane Jim Crow: How the Great Sea Island Storm of 1893 Shaped the Lowcountry South.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is: “Black women prepare potatoes for planting, February 1894,” from Clara Barton, The Red Cross, 199; the image is in the public domain.

Additional Sources:

“Remembering the Great Sea Island Storm of 1893: Mermaids, culpability, and the postbellum Lowcountry,” by Caroline Grego, Erstwhile: A History Blog, September 21, 2016.
“1893 Sea Islands Hurricane,” by Michele Nichole Johnson, New Georgia Encyclopedia.
“The Sea Island Hurricane of 1893, 4th deadliest in U.S. history,” Eat Stay Play Beaufort.
“The Great Sea Island Storm of 1893,” By Fran Heyward Bollin, Welcome to Beaufort.
“The Sea Island Hurricane of 1893,” by Betty Joyce Nash, Economic History, Winter 2006.
"Black Autonomy, Red Cross Recovery, and White Backlash after the Great Sea Island Storm of 1893," by Caroline Grego, Journal of Southern History, vol. 85 no. 4, 2019, p. 803-840.
“Sea Islands Hurricane,” Scribner’s Magazine, February 1894.

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The Rise of the Labor Movement & Employer Resistance in the Late 19th Century Dec 05, 2022

After the Civil War, the simultaneous shift in the labor economy of the Southern United States and the second industrial revolution led to a growing interest in labor organizing. Newly formed labor organizations led a combined 23,000 strikes between 1881 and 1900. Employers noticed, and fought back, sometimes literally, employing Pinkerton agents to break strikes, rounding up and imprisoning or deporting union employees, and using various forms of intimidation against workers.

Joining me to help us learn much more about the story of employers and elites resisting labor rights is Dr. Chad. Pearson, a lecturer at the University of North Texas and author of Capital’s Terrorists: Klansmen, Lawmen, and Employers in the Long Nineteenth Century.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode audio is “Labor Day” by Dick Wright & The Wright Trio, in the Public domain and available via the Internet Archive.

The episode image is: “The labor troubles at Homestead, Pa. - Attack of the strikers and their sympathizers on the surrendered Pinkerton men,” drawn by Miss G.A. Davis, from a sketch by C. Upham. Pennsylvania Homestead, 1892, available via the Library of Congress with no known restrictions on publication.

Additional Sources:

“Labor Movement,” History.com.
“The Second Industrial Revolution, 1870-1914,” by Ryan Engelman, U.S. History Scene
“Founding of the National Labor Union and the 1st National Call for a 8-Hour Work Day,” Library of Congress.
“The Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor (1869-1949),” by Michael Barga, Social Welfare History Project.
“The Haymarket Affair,” Illinois Labor History Society.
“Our Labor History Timeline,” AFL-CIO.
“The Battle of Homestead Strike – July, 1892,” The Battle of Homestead Foundation.
“Coeur d'Alene Mining Insurrection: Topics in Chronicling America,” Library of Congress.

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Single Irish Women & Domestic Service in late 19th Century New York City Nov 28, 2022

As many as two million Irish people relocated to North America during the Great Hunger in the mid-19th Century. Even after the famine had ended, Irish families continued to send their teenaged and 20-something children to the United States to earn money to mail back to Ireland. In many immigrant groups, it was single men who immigrated to the US in search of work, but single Irish women, especially young women, came to the US in huge numbers. Between 1851 and 1910 the ratio of men to women arriving in New York from Ireland was roughly equal. Irish women often took jobs in domestic service, drawn by the provided housing, food, and clothing, which allowed them to send the bulk of their earnings back home to Ireland.

Joining me to discuss Irish immigrant women in the late 19th Century is Irish poet Vona Groarke, author of Hereafter: The Telling Life of Ellen O'Hara.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The transitional audio is “My Irish maid,” composed by Max Hoffmann and performed by Billy Murray; Inclusion of the recording in the National Jukebox, courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment.

The episode image is: “New York City, Irish depositors of the Emigrant Savings Bank withdrawing money to send to their suffering relatives in the old country,” Illustration in: Frank Leslie's illustrated newspaper, v. 50, no. 1275 (March 13, 1880), p. 29; courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division; no known restrictions on publication.

Additional Sources:

“Immigration and Relocation in U.S. History: Irish,” Library of Congress.
“The Great Hunger: What was the Irish potato famine? How was Queen Victoria involved, how many people died and when did it happen?” by Neal Baker, The Sun, August 25, 2017.
“The Potato Famine and Irish Immigration to America,” Constitutional Rights Foundation, Winter 2020 (Volume 26, No. 2).
“Immigrant Irishwomen and maternity services in New York and Boston, 1860–1911,” by Ciara Breathnach, Med Hist. 2022 Jan;66(1):3–23.
“‘Bridgets’: Irish Domestic Servants in New York,” by Rikki Schlott-Gibeaux, New York Genealogical & Biographical Society, September 25, 2020.
“The Irish Girl and the American Letter: Irish immigrants in 19th Century America,” by Martin Ford, The Irish Story, November 17, 2018.
“Who’s Your Granny: The Story of Irish Bridget,” by Lori Lander Murphy, Irish Philadelphia, June 26, 2020.
“The Irish-American population is seven times larger than Ireland,” by Sarah Kliff, The Washington Post, March 17, 2013.
“Irish Free State declared,” History.com.

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Keeping Secrets in the 1950s Nov 21, 2022

Americans in the 1950s, yearning to return to normalcy after the Great Depression and World War II, got married, had lots of kids, and used their newly middle-class status to buy cookie-cutter houses in the suburbs. But not everyone conformed to the white middle class American Dream. Black Americans were largely excluded from suburban housing and the benefits of the GI Bill; girls who became pregnant out of wedlock were hidden from sight; children with developmental disabilities were sent to institutions; and gay men hid their homosexual attractions for fear of ostracization, harassment, and even legal consequences. The secrets they kept took a toll on the families who kept them.

Joining me to discuss the secrets of the 1950s is Dr. Margaret K. Nelson, Hepburn Professor Emerita of Sociology at Middlebury College and author of Keeping Family Secrets: Shame and Silence in Memoirs from the 1950s.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The transition audio is “The Great American Dream,” by Vaughn Monroe and His Orchestra, 1950, available in the Public Domain via Archive. Org. The episode image is “1950s family Gloucester Massachusetts USA 5336436883,” via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Additional Sources:

“The Lingering Legacy of America’s First Cookie-Cutter Suburb,” by Winnie Lee, Atlas Obscura, July 10, 2020.
“The White Negro (Superficial Reflections on the Hipster),” by Norman Mailer, Dissent Magazine, Summer 1957.
“1950s: Pop Culture Explodes In A Decade Of Conformity,” Encyclopedia.com.
“These Rebels Fought Conformity in 1950s America—and Are Still Making a Difference Today,” by James R. Gaines, Time Magazine, February 3, 2022.
“How the GI Bill's Promise Was Denied to a Million Black WWII Veterans,” by Erin Blakemore, History.com, June 21, 2019.
“An analysis of out-of-wedlock births in the United States,” by George A. Akerlof and Janet L. Yellen, Brookings, August 1, 1996.
“The curious survival of the US Communist Party,” by Aidan Lewis, BBC News, Mary 1, 2014.
“The Baby in the Suitcase: In 1950s America, unwed pregnancy was a sociological crime,” by Dale M. Brumfield, Lessons from History, December 6, 2019.
“1950s - Explore a Decade in LGBTQ History,” Victory Institute.
“The Rise of the Suburbs,” US History II (American Yawp)

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Gordon Merrick Nov 14, 2022

In 1970, writer Gordon Merrick published The Lord Won’t Mind, advertised as “the first homosexual novel with a happy ending,” his fifth novel but first to focus on a gay romance story. The novel was a hit and stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 16 weeks. Critics dismissed the work as fantastical, but Merrick, who had been a Broadway actor, newspaper reporter, and American spy before turning novelist, was writing what he knew. Despite his commercial success and enduring fan base, Merrick’s contributions have been ignored and forgotten.

Joining me now to help us understand Gordon Merrick and his writing is Dr. Joseph Ortiz, an Associate Professor of English at the University of Texas at El Paso and author of the 2022 book, Gordon Merrick and the Great Gay American Novel.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is the original cover from the 1970 publication of The Lord Won’t Mind.

Additional Sources:

“Gordon Merrick, 71, Reporter and Novelist,” The New York Times, April 23, 1988.
“Gordon Merrick (1916 - 1988),” The Legacy Project.
“The Curious Case of Gordon Merrick,” by Andrew Holleran, The Gay & Lesbian Review.

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Elsie Robinson Nov 07, 2022

As a girl born in 1883 to a family who couldn’t afford to send her to college, Elsie Robinson had limited options. To escape the drudgery of small-town life and then a stifling marriage, Elsie wrote. And wrote. And wrote. When her asthmatic son was home sick from school, she wrote and illustrated stories to entertain him. When she needed to make money to support herself and her son after her divorce, she wrote again. Eventually, her prolific writing caught the attention of the Hearst media empire, and Elsie became the most-read woman writer in America and the highest-paid woman writer in the Hearst organization. But today, few people remember Elsie Robinson or her writing.

Joining me to help us learn more about Elsie Robinson is writer Allison Gilbert, co-author of Listen, World!: How the Intrepid Elsie Robinson Became America's Most-Read Woman.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is “Elsie Robinson, writer and columnist,” from the San Francisco Examiner, available via the Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley, and in the Public Domain.

Additional Sources:

Elsie Robinson
“Elsie Robinson (1883-1956),” by Allison Gilbert, National Women’s HIstory Museum.
“ELSIE ROBINSON, COLUMNIST, DIES; Author of Syndicated 'Listen World' for King Features Succumbs at Age of 73,” The New York Times, September 9, 1956.
“Listen, Benicia: Famed syndicated columnist and city native Elsie Robinson will be focus of Capitol event,” by Nick Sestanovich, Benicia Herald, September 7, 2017.
“Pain,” by Elsie Robinson, Poetry Nook.

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The Politics of Reproductive Rights in 1960s & 1970s New York Oct 31, 2022

Prior to the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, much of the focus of reproductive rights organizing in the US was done in the states, and nowhere was that more effective than in New York, where leftist feminists in groups like Redstockings and more mainstream activists in groups like the National Organization for Women (NOW) together pushed the state legislature to enact the most liberal abortion law in the country by early 1970. The wide range of reproductive rights activism in New York also included the headquarters for both the Clergy Consultation Service, which helped women find safe abortion care, and the Committee to End Sterilization Abuse (CESA), which fought the often deceptive population control inflicted on women of color.

Joining me to help us understand more about the push for reproductive rights in New York in the 1960s and 1970s is Dr. Felicia Kornbluh, a Professor of History and Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at the University of Vermont, and the author of the upcoming book, A Woman's Life Is a Human Life: My Mother, Our Neighbor, and the Journey from Reproductive Rights to Reproductive Justice.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is “Betty Friedan, president of the National Organization for Women, tells reporters in the New York State Assembly lobby of the groups intention to ‘put sex into section I of the New York constitution,’” Albany New York, 1967, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, NYWT&S Collection, [reproduction number, e.g., LC-DIG-ppmsca-83073].

Additional Sources:

“How Clergy Set the Standard for Abortion Care,” by Bridgette Dunlap, The Atlantic, May 29, 2016.
“Clergymen Offer Abortion Advice,” by Edward B. Fiskethe, New York Times, May 22, 1967.
“The 1960s provide a path for securing legal abortion in 2022,” by Felicia Kornbluh, Washington Post, June 25, 2022.
“Harsh, then a haven: A look at New York abortion rights history,” bBy Tim Balk, New York Daily News, May 07, 2022.
“Remembering an Era Before Roe, When New York Had the ‘Most Liberal’ Abortion Law,” by Julia Jacobs, The New York Times, June 19, 2018.
“The First Time Women Shouted Their Abortions,” by Nona Willis Aronowitz, The New York Times, March 23, 2019.
“Karen Stamm collection of Committee for Abortion Rights and Against Sterilization Abuse (CARASA) records,” Sophia Smith Collection, SSC-MS-00811, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts.
“Committee to End Sterilization Abuse (CESA) Statement of Purpose,” 1975.
“Dr. Helen Rodriguez-Trias: A Warrior in the Struggle for Reproductive Rights,” by Kathryn Krase, National Women’s Health Network, January 5, 1996.

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The 1966 Division Street Uprising & the Puerto Rican community in Chicago Oct 24, 2022

In 1966, Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley declared that the first week of June would be known as “Puerto Rican Week,” culminating in the first Puerto Rican Parade, to honor the growing Puerto Rican population in the city. After the parade, while people were still celebrating, police shot a Puerto Rican man in the leg, following a pattern of police violence against the Puerto Rican community, which sparked a three-day uprising in the Humboldt Park neighborhood that changed Puerto Rican history in Chicago.

Joining me to help us understand the Puerto Rican community in Chicago both before and after the Division Street uprising is Dr. Mirelsie Velázquez, an associate professor of education at the University of Oklahoma and author of Puerto Rican Chicago: Schooling the City, 1940-1977.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode audio is “Quiero Vivir en Puerto Rico,” performed by Marta Romero and Anibal Herrero y Su Orquesta, and written by Guillermo Venegas (Hijo). The audio is in the public domain and is available via the Internet Archive.

The episode image is “June 12 1966: Smoke rises from burning squad car as a crowd surrounds it during riots in Humboldt Park,” from the 1960s: Days of Rage website.

Additional Sources:

“It Was a Rebellion: Chicago’s Puerto Rican Community in 1966,” Chicago History Museum, via Google Arts & Culture.
“Chicago's 1966 Division Street Riot,” by Daniel Hautzinger, WTTW, September 2, 2020.
"Recollections: 1966 Division Street Riot," by Mervin Méndez, Diálogo: Vol. 2 (1997): No. 1 , Article 6.
“Puerto Ricans Riots: Chicago 1966,” Center for Puerto Rican Studies, CUNY Hunter.
“Spanish-American War,” History.com
“1917: Jones-Shafroth Act,” Library of Congress.

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Bert Corona Oct 17, 2022

Labor leader and immigrant rights activist Bert Corona viewed Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants in the United States, both with and without documentation, as one people without borders, and he understood that their struggles were connected. While other Mexican American labor leaders were campaigning against undocumented workers, Corona fought to shift the opinions of Mexican Americans toward support for the undocumented and helped create a pro-immigrant consciousness among Latinos in the United States.

Joining me to help us learn more about the life of Bert Corona is Dr. Eladio B. Bobadilla, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Kentucky, whose 2019 dissertation looks at the roots of the Immigrants’ Rights Movement and who has written and taught about Bert Corona.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is “Bert Corona,” source unknown, believed to be available via Creative Commons.

Sources:

“‘One People without Borders’: The Lost Roots of the Immigrants’ Rights Movement, 1954-2006,” by Eladio B. Bobadilla, Duke University PhD Dissertation, 2019.
“From the Archives: Bert Corona; Labor Activist Backed Rights for Undocumented Workers,” by George Ramos, Los Angeles Times, January 17, 2001.
“The Legacy of Bert Corona," by Carlos Oretaga, The Progressive Magazine, August 1, 2001.
“Remembering Immigrant Defender Bert Corona,” by Eladio Bobadilla, The Progressive Magazine, February 7, 2022.

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The Effect of the Mexican Revolution on Mexican Immigration to the U.S. Oct 10, 2022

The Mexican Revolution in the early 20th Century was a pivotal moment in Mexican history, and it was also a pivotal moment in United States history, as huge numbers of Mexicans fled war-torn Mexico and headed to the US border. Many Mexican Americans in the US today are the descendants of refugees fleeing the Revolution.

To understand more about the experience of immigrants who came to the United States during the Mexican Revolution, I’m speaking in this episode with writer Alda P. Dobbs, author of middle grade novels Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna and The Other Side of the River.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is: “Bridge - El Paso to Juarez,” Bain News Service, ca. 1910, Photograph retrieved from the Library of Congress, No known restrictions on publication.

Additional Sources:

“The Mexican Revolution: November 20th, 1910,” EDSITEment, National Endowment for the Humanities, March 19, 2012.
“How the Mexican revolution of 1910 helped shape U.S. border policy,” audio interview of Kelly Lytle Hernández by Tonya Mosley, NPR Fresh Air, July 5, 2022
“Early Twentieth Century Mexican Immigration to the U.S.,” American Social History Productions, Inc
“The History of Mexican Immigration to the U.S. in the Early 20th Century,” interview of Julia Young by Jason Steinhauer, Library of Congress, March 11, 2015.
“The Demographic Impact of the Mexican Revolution in the United States,” B.J. Gratton, M.P. Gutmann, R. McCaa & R. Gutierrez-Montes, Texas Population Research Center Papers, 2000.
“Mexican Immigration to the United States,” by Ramón A. Gutiérrez, Oxford Research Encyclopedias, July 29, 2019.

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Southwest Borderlands in the 19th Century Oct 03, 2022

Through the 19th Century, the US-Mexico border moved repeatedly, and the shifting borderlands were a space of cultural and economic transition that often gave rise to racialized gendered violence.

In this episode I speak with Dr. Bernadine Hernández, Associate Professor of American Literary Studies at the University of New Mexico, an activist with fronteristxs, and author of Border Bodies: Racialized Sexuality, Sexual Capital, and Violence in the Nineteenth-Century Borderlands.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is: “Mexican church at the smelter, El Paso, Texas, United States, ca. 1907,” Detroit Publishing Co. No known restrictions on publication, Accessed via the Library of Congress.

Additional Sources:

“A moving border, and the history of a difficult boundary,” by Ron Dungan, USA Today, The Wall, 2018.
“The Violent History of the U.S.-Mexico Border,” by Becky Little, History.com, March 14, 2019.
“Mexico's Independence Day marks the beginning of a decade-long revolution,” by Heather Brady, National Geographic, September 14, 2018.
“The Republic of Texas - The Texas Revolution” The Treaties of Velasco,” Texas State Libraries and Archives Commission.
“Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848),” National Archives.
“Refusing to Forget: The History of Racial Violence on the Mexico-Texas Border.”
“Rodriguez, Josefa [Chipita] (unknown–1863),” by Marylyn Underwood, Texas State Historical Association.
“Woman by the River: Chipita’s ghost lingers on in San Patricio on 156th anniversary of hanging,” by Paul Gonzales, News of San Patricio, November 15, 2019.

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The Pacific Coast Abortion Ring Sep 26, 2022

In mid-1930s, pregnant women in cities in California, Oregon, and Washington could obtain safe surgical abortions in clean facilities from professionals trained in the latest technique. The only catch? The abortions were illegal.

The syndicate that provided these abortions was the Pacific Coast Abortion Ring, which operated from 1934 to 1936 with clinic locations in Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; and San Diego, Long Beach, Hollywood, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, California. It employed more than thirty people, which included not just doctors but also receptionists, nurses, and steerers who referred women to the Pacific Coast Abortion clinics from doctors’ offices and pharmacies.

Joining me to help tell the story of the Pacific Coast Abortion Ring is Dr. Alicia Gutierrez-Romine, Assistant Professor of History at LaSierra University and author of From Back Alley to the Border: Criminal Abortion in California, 1920-1969, the source for much of this introduction.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is: “Jewel Inez Joseph, mother of Ruth Attaway who died after an abortion, in court, Los Angeles, 1935,” published in the Los Angeles Times, August 22, 1935, and is available via the UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections, under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Additional Sources:

“Abortion and the Law in California: Lessons for Today,” by Alicia Gutierrez-Romine, California History, February 1, 2022; 99 (1): 10–29.
“How California created the nation’s easiest abortion access — and why it’s poised to go further” by Kristen Hwang, Cal Matters, April 21, 2022.
“San Diego’s History as a Haven for Desperate Women” by Randy Dotinga, Voice of San Diego, July 3, 2022.
“‘Criminal Operations’: The First Fifty Years of Abortion Trials in Portland, Oregon,” by Michael Helquist. Oregon Historical Quarterly, 2015; 116 (1), 6–39.

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Mary Ware Dennett & the Birth Control Movement Sep 19, 2022

For birth control advocate Mary Ware Dennett, the personal was political. After a difficult labor and delivery with her third child, a physician told Mary Ware Dennett she should not have any more children, but he told her nothing about how to prevent pregnancy. Dennett’s husband began an affair with a client of his architectural firm, destroying their marriage, and Dennett devoted her work to ensuring that other couples could receive information about birth control. A 1930 federal court case against her, United States v. Dennett, opened the door to widespread distribution of birth control information in the US.

Joining me in this episode is Dr. Lauren MacIvor Thompson, Assistant Professor of History at Kennesaw State University and faculty research fellow at the Georgia State University College of Law’s Center for Law, Health & Society. She is writing a book called Battle for Birth Control: Mary Dennett, Margaret Sanger, and the Rivalry That Shaped a Movement, that will be published by Rutgers University Press.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is a photo of Mary Ware Dennett from the New York Journal-American Collection, Harry Ransom Center, University Of Texas.

Sources:

“The Sex Side of Life: An Explanation for Young People,” by Mary Ware Dennett, 1919. Available via Project Gutenberg.
“Papers of Mary Ware Dennett,” Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute
“The Sex Education Pamphlet That Sparked a Landmark Censorship Case,” by Sharon Spaulding, Smithsonian Magazine, September 30, 2021.
“A Birth-Control Crusader,” by Marjorie Heins, The Atlantic, October 1996.
“Mary Coffin Ware Dennett,” by Lakshmeeramya Malladi,Embryo Project Encyclopedia, June 22, 2016.
“Unsentimental Education: Mary Ware Dennett’s quest to make contraception—and knowledge about sex—available to all,” by Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow, The American Scholar, March 4, 2021.

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Abortion in 18th Century New England Sep 12, 2022

In 1742, in Pomfret, Connecticut, 19-year-old Sarah Grosvenor discovered she was pregnant, the result of a liaison with 27-year-old Amasa Sessions. Instead of marrying Sarah, Amasa provided her with a physician-prescribed abortifacient, what the youth of Pomfret called “taking the trade." When that didn’t work to end the pregnancy, the physician attempted a manual abortion, which led to Sarah’s death. Three years later, the physician was tried for “highhanded Misdemeanour." The surviving trial documentation gives us an unusually detailed look into the reproductive lives of Connecticut youths in the mid-18th Century.

Joining me in this episode to help us learn more about the Sarah Grosvenor case and its historical context is Dr. Cornelia H. Dayton, Professor of History at the University of Connecticut and author of the 1991 article, “Taking the Trade: Abortion and Gender Relations in an Eighteenth-Century New England Village,” in The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 48, no. 1, 1991, pp. 19–49, and co-creator of the Taking the Trade website.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is original artwork created by Matthew Weflen.

Additional Sources:

“Abortion in Colonial America: A Time of Herbal Remedies and Accepted Actions,” by Kimberly Phillips, UConn Today, August 22, 2022.
“The Strange Death of Sarah Grosvenor in 1742,” New England Historical Society.
“The History of Abortifacients,” by Stassa Edwards, Jezebel, November 18, 2014.
“How U.S. abortion laws went from nonexistent to acrimonious,” by Erin Blakemore, National Geographic, May 17, 2022.
“In Connecticut, A Long Battle For Reproductive Freedom,” by Susan Campbell, Hartford Courant, June 5, 2014.

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Agatha Christie Sep 05, 2022

Agatha Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time, whose books have been outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. You can probably name several of her books and recurring characters, but how much do you know about Agatha Christie herself? In our final British History episode, we look at Agatha Christie’s life, in the hospital dispensary, at home with her daughter, abroad on archeological digs, and behind the typewriter.

Joining me in this episode to help us learn more about Agatha Christie is historian Dr. Lucy Worsley, OBE, Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces and BBC presenter and author of the new book, Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman, which will be published in the United States on September 6, 2022.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is Agatha Christie as a young woman, circa 1910. It is in the public domain and available via Wikimedia Commons. The audio interlude is “Mystery Waltz,” written by Raymond Scott and performed by Raymond Scott and His Orchestra in 1953. The audio is in the public domain and available via Archive.org.

Additional Sources:

AgathaChristie.com: The home of Agatha Christie
“A Very British Murder with Lucy Worsley,” BBC Select TV Mini Series, 2013.
“When the World’s Most Famous Mystery Writer Vanished,” by Tina Jordan, The New York Times, June 11, 2019.
“The Essential Agatha Christie,” by Tina Jordan, The New York Times, October 25, 2020.
“Why Agatha Christie is even more awesome than you thought,” by Margaret Sessa-Hawkins, PBS NewsHouse, September 15, 2015.

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Mary Seacole Aug 29, 2022

When the United Kingdom joined forces with Turkey and France to declare war on Russia in March 1854, Jamaican-Scottish nurse Mary Seacole decided her help was needed. When the British War Office declined her repeated offers of help, she headed off to Crimea anyway and set up her British Hotel near Balaklava. The British Hotel, which opened in March 1855, was a combination general store, restaurant, and first aid station, and the British soldiers and officers came to love Mary and call her “Mother Seacole.”

Joining me in this episode to help us learn more about Mary Seacole is historian and writer Helen Rappaport, author of the new book, In Search of Mary Seacole: The Making of a Black Cultural Icon and Humanitarian, which will be released in the United States on September 6, 2022.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is a photograph of Mary Seacole from an unknown source, believed to be dated around 1850; it is in the public domain.

Additional Sources:

“Mary Seacole & Black Victorian History: Remarkable Women in Extraordinary Circumstances,” Helen Rappaport.
Mary Seacole Trust.
“The Crimean War,” by Andrew Lambert, BBC.
“Crimean War,” History.com

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Henrietta Maria Aug 22, 2022

Henrietta Maria, the French Catholic wife of King Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland in the 17th Century, was called a “Popish brat of France” by her British subjects, blamed for the English Civil War, and seen as a mannish and heartless mother. The reality is, of course, much more nuanced. Henrietta Maria fiercely loved Charles and their children and fought to protect them in any way she could during a time of upheaval and violence. In this episode we push past the caricature of Henrietta Maria to see the real, complicated, person she was.

Joining me in this episode is historian and writer Leanda de Lisle, author of the new book, Henrietta Maria: The Warrior Queen Who Divided a Nation, which will be released in the United States on September 6, 2022.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is “Henrietta Maria,” painted by Anthony van Dyck, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional Sources:

“Who was Henrietta Maria of France?” Royal Museums Greenwich
“Henrietta Maria, Queen Of Great Britain (1609-69),” Royal Collection Trust
“Queen Henrietta Maria,” Merton College Oxford
“English Civil Wars,” History.com
“The English Civil Wars: History And Stories,” English Heritage
“British Civil Wars,” National Army Museum

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Anne Bonny & Mary Read, Pirate Queens Aug 15, 2022

During the Golden Age of Pirates, two fierce and ruthless pirates stood apart from the rest, despite their brief careers. The only women in their crew, Anne Bonny and Mary Read were aggressive fighters to the end, refusing to surrender even when their captain called for quarter.

Joining me to discuss Anne Bonny and Mary Read is pirate expert Dr. Rebecca Simon, author of the new book, Pirate Queens: The Lives of Anne Bonny & Mary Read.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode audio is “Pirate Song,” written by Robert Louis Stevenson and Henry F. Gilbert; and performed by Reinald Werrenrath in July 1925; the audio is in the public domain. The episode image is an illustration of Anne Bonny and Mary Read from the 1724 book A General History of the Pyrates; the image is in the Public Domain and available through the Internet Archive.

Additional Sources:

“If There’s a Man Among Ye: The Tale of Pirate Queens Anne Bonny and Mary Read,” by Karen Abbott, Smithsonian Magazine, August 9, 2011.
“How Anne Bonny and Mary Read Changed The Face Of Female Piracy,” by Katie Serena, All That’s Interesting, February 20, 2018; Updated May 24, 2021.
“How Two 18th-Century Lady Pirates Became BFFs on the High Seas,” by Hadley Meares, Atlas Obscura, September 9, 2015.
“The Female Pirates, Anne Bonny & Mary Read,” by Rebecca Simon, May 23, 2022.
“Female pirate lovers whose story was ignored by male historians immortalised with statue,” by Maya Oppenheim, The Independent, November 19, 2020.

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The Women who Programmed the ENIAC Aug 08, 2022

During World War II, the United States Army contracted with a group of engineers at the University of Pennsylvania Moore School of Electrical Engineering to build the ENIAC, the world’s first programmable general-purpose electronic digital computer in order to more quickly calculate numbers for ballistics tables. Once the top-secret device was built, someone needed to figure out how to program the more than 17,000 vacuum tubes, 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors, 6,000 switches, and 1,500 mechanical relays so that the calculations could be run. Six women mathematicians who had been manually calculating the figures, were chosen to develop the programming, which they worked out before they were even allowed to see the machine.

Joining me to help us learn more about the ENIAC six is Kathy Kleiman, a leader in Internet law and policy, founder of the ENIAC Programmers Project, and author of the 2022 book, Proving Ground: The Untold Story of the Six Women Who Programmed the World's First Modern Computer.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is “Photograph of World's First Computer, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator,” National Archives at College Park, ARC Identifier 594262.

Sources:

Proving Ground: The Untold Story of the Six Women Who Programmed the World’s First Modern Computer by Kathy Kleiman
The ENIAC Programmers Project
“Jean Bartik, Software Pioneer, Dies at 86,” by Steve Lohr, The New York Times, April 7, 2011.
“Frances E. Holberton, 84, Early Computer Programmer,” by Steve Lohr, The New York Times, December 17, 2001.
The Computers: The Remarkable Story of the ENIAC Programmers, 2016, Vimeo On-Demand.
“ENIAC Accumulator #2,” Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
“The world’s first general purpose computer turns 75,” by Erica K. Brockmeier, Penn Today, February 11, 2021.
“The Brief History of the ENIAC Computer,” by Steven Levy, Smithsonian Magazine, November 2013.
“ENIAC: First computer makes history,” by Michael Kanellos, ZDNet, February 13, 2006.
“ENIAC Programmers,” Women in Technology Hall of Fame Awards.

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Filipino Nurses in the United States Aug 01, 2022

A February 2021 report by National Nurses United found that while Filipinos make up 4% of RNs in the United States, they accounted for a stunning 26.4% of the registered nurses who had died of COVID-19 and related complications. Why are there so many Filipino nurses in the United States and especially so many of the frontlines of healthcare? To answer that question, we need to look at the history of American colonization of The Philippines, United States immigration policies, and the establishment of the Medicare and Medicaid programs in the US.

Joining me to help us learn more about Filipino nurses is Dr. Catherine Ceniza Choy, Professor of Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies and Comparative Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of the 2003 book, Empire of Care: Nursing and Migration in Filipino American History, and the new book, Asian American Histories of the United States.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is “Baby show arranged by Red Cross nurse, Phillipines [sic] Chapter, P.I. Philippines, 1922,” Courtesy of the Library of Congress, No known restrictions on publication.

Additional Sources:

When the Reporter Asks You Why There Are So Many Filipino Nurses in the U.S.: You want more than the count of their lives lost,” by Catherine Ceniza Choy, The Margins, May 17, 2021.
“Why are there so many Filipino nurses in the U.S.?” by Anne Brice, Berkeley News, May 28, 2019.
“Why are there so many Filipino Nurses in California? After Filling a Nursing Shortage in the 1960s, Immigrant Caregivers Have Changed the Practice and the Politics of Health Care” by Catherine Ceniza Choy, Zocalo, September 20, 2019
“Sins of Omission How Government Failures to Track Covid-19 Data Have Led to More Than 3,200 Health Care Worker Deaths and Jeopardize Public Health,” National Nurses United, Updated March 2021.
“COVID-19 takes heavy toll on Filipino health care workers,” PBS News Weekend, May 9, 2020.
“The History of Medicare,” National Academy of Social Insurance.
“History, Philippines,” by Gregorio C. Borlaza, Britannica.
“Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965,” History, Art, & Archives, United States House of Representatives.

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The Townsend Family Legacy Jul 25, 2022

When Alabama plantation owner Samuel Townsend died in 1856, he willed his vast fortune to his children and his nieces. What seems like an ordinary bequest was anything but, since Townsend’s children and nieces were his enslaved property. Townsend, who knew the will would be challenged in court, left nothing to chance, hiring the best lawyer he could find to ensure that his legatees received both their freedom and the resources they would need to survive in a country that was often hostile to free African Americans.

To learn more about the Townsend Family, I’m joined in this episode by public historian Dr. R. Isabela Morales, the Editor and Project Manager of The Princeton & Slavery Project, and author of Happy Dreams of Liberty: An American Family in Slavery and Freedom.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is “Fugitive African Americans fording the Rappahannock,” photographed by Timothy H. O’Sullivan in August 1862. The image is in the public domain and available via the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division

Additional Sources:

“An enslaved Alabama family and the question of generational wealth in the US,” by Isabela Morales, OUP Blog, June 15, 2022.
“Estate of Samuel Townsend,” The University of Alabama Libraries Special Collections, Septimus D. Cabiness papers.

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The Unusual Codicil in Benjamin Franklin's Will Jul 18, 2022

When Benjamin Franklin died in April 1790, his last will contained an unusual codicil, leaving 1000 pounds sterling each to Philadelphia and Boston, to be used in a very specific way that he hoped would both help tradesmen in the two cities and eventually leave the cities, and their respective states, with fortunes to spend on public works 200 years later. At a moment when it wasn’t clear whether the United States would survive at all, Franklin made a gamble on the American spirit.

To learn more about the fascinating tale of Ben Franklin’s will, I’m joined by Michael Meyer, Professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh, and author of Benjamin Franklin's Last Bet: The Favorite Founder's Divisive Death, Enduring Afterlife, and Blueprint for American Prosperity.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is a painting of Benjamin Franklin, by Joseph-Siffred Duplessis. It is available in the Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Additional Sources:

Library of Congress Benjamin Franklin Papers
Franklin Timeline, The Benjamin Franklin House
Last WIll & Testament of Benjamin Franklin, Living Trust Network
“From Ben Franklin, a Gift That's Worth Two Fights,” by Fox Butterfield, The New York Times, April 21, 1990
“How a 200-Year-Old Gift From Benjamin Franklin Made Boston and Philadelphia a Fortune,” by Jake Rossen, Mental Floss, August 20, 2020

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Dale Evans, Queen of the West Jul 11, 2022

Dale Evans is probably best known as the Queen of the West, the wife and co-star of the King of Cowboys, Roy Rogers. But before she ever met Roy, Dale had a successful career in singing, songwriting, and acting, and she had plans to be an even bigger star in musicals, which to Dale, meant not Westerns.

This week we do a deep dive into the life of Dale Evans and how she became a cowgirl, with historian Dr. Theresa Kaminski, author of the new book, Queen of the West: The Life and Times of Dale Evans.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is a photograph of Dale Evans taken by Harry Warnecke in 1947. It is in the public domain and available via the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

The musical interludes are “Don’t Ever Fall in Love with a Cowboy,” written and performed by Dale Evans in 1949; and “Cowgirl Polka,” written and performed by Dale Evans in 1950. The audio for both is in the public domain and available via the Internet Archive.

Additional Sources:

“Dale Evans (1912–2001),” by Nancy Hendricks, Encyclopedia of Arkansas, February 6, 2018.
“Dale Evans, the Queen of the West, Is Dead at 88,” by James Barron, The New York TImes, February 8, 2001
“Roy Rogers + Dale Evans: A Love Story Made in the West,” by Courtney Fox, Wide Open Country, May 30, 2022
“Dale Evans,” RoyRogers.com
“The story of Roy Rogers, the man behind the ‘King of the Cowboys,’” by Jeff Suess, Cincinnati Enquirer, June 19, 2022
“The Legacy Lives On: Meet Roy Rogers’ Children,” by Kim C, Country Rebel, November 2, 2020

Videos:

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Independence Day Jul 04, 2022

On July 4, Americans will eat 150 million hot dogs, spend $1 billion on beer, and watch 16,000 fireworks displays (and those are just the official ones). But why do we celebrate on July 4, when did it become a national holiday, and did John Adams eat hot dogs?

Joining me for the story of the Declaration of Independence, why July 4th might not be the right date to be celebrating, and who the signers actually were, is historian, podcaster, and DC tour guide, Rebecca Fachner.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The musical interlude is “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” written by John Philip Sousa and performed by the United States Navy Band in 1929. The recording is in the public domain and is housed in the Internet Archive.

The image is a photograph of “The Declaration of Independence: One of two ‘exact’ facsimiles given to James Madison on June 30, 1824, sent by John Quincy Adams as Secretary of State, according to Congressional Resolution. Copperplate engraving printed on vellum, William J. Stone, 1823.” Declaration is in the collection of David M. Rubenstein and is displayed in Chicago, Illinois. The photograph of the Declaration was taken by Kelly Therese Pollock on July 1, 2022.

Sources:

“Declaration of Independence: A Transcription,” National Archives.
“Opinion: Independence Day on July 2? John Adams got it right,” by David Cutler, PBS NewsHour, July 3, 2018.
“Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 3 July 1776,” Massachusetts Historical Society.
“Fourth of July – Independence Day,” History.com, December 16, 2009; Updated June 21, 2022.
“Where Did the Term ‘Gerrymander’ Come From?” by Erick Trickey, Smithsonian Magazine, July 20, 2017.
“Forgotten Founders: Elbridge Gerry, The ‘Brusque Maverick,’” by Nicholas Mosvick, Constitution Daily, August 3, 2020.
“10 Things You Didn't Know About the Fourth of July,” by Jason Serafino, Mental Floss, July 4, 2018; Updated June 28, 2022.
“What's the History of July 4th? Plus, 22 Surprising 4th of July Facts,” by Linsay Lowe, Parade Magazine, July 2, 2022.
“25 Fun 4th of July Trivia Facts to Spark Your Red, White, and Blue Spirit,” by Josiah Soto, The Pioneer Woman, June 17, 2022.

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The 1966 Compton's Cafeteria Riot Jun 27, 2022

On a hot weekend night in August 1966 trans women fought back against police harassment at Compton’s Cafeteria in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco. Although the Compton’s riot didn’t spark a national movement the way Stonewall would three years later, it did have an effect, leading to the creation of support services for transgender people in San Francisco, and a reduction in police brutality against the trans community.

Joining me to discuss the riot, its causes, and its aftermath, is historian Dr. Susan Stryker, co-writer and co-director of the Emmy-winning 2005 documentary, Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria, and author of several books, including Transgender History: The Roots of Today's Revolution.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Image origin is unknown; it is used as the cover image of the documentary, and appears in many related news stories without attribution.

Additional sources:

“At the Crossroads of Turk and Taylor: Resisting carceral power in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District,” by Susan Stryker, Places Journal, October 2021.
“Compton's Cafeteria riot: a historic act of trans resistance, three years before Stonewall,” by Sam Levin, The Guardian, June 21, 2019.
“Ladies In The Streets: Before Stonewall, Transgender Uprising Changed Lives,” by Nicole Pasulka, NPR Code Switch, May 5, 2015.
“Don't Let History Forget About Compton's Cafeteria Riot,” by Neal Broverman, Advocate, August 2, 2018.
“Compton's Cafeteria Riot,” by Andrea Borchert, Los Angeles Public Library, April 16, 2021.
“How lost photos of a defining landmark in LGBTQ history were rediscovered on Facebook,” by Ryan Kost, San Francisco Chronicle, May 25, 2021.

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Two-Spirit People in Native American Cultures Jun 20, 2022

In the summer of 1990, at the third annual Native American/First Nations gay and lesbian conference, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the term Two Spirit was established. An English translation of the Northern Algonquin term niizh manitoag, Two Spirit describes masculine and feminine qualities within a single person. As a pan tribal term, Two Spirit both connected organizers across different Native nations and also helped them re-discover the traditional terminology used in their own cultural history.

Joining me to help us understand more about the Two-Spirit people is Dr. Gregory Smithers, a American history at Virginia Commonwealth University, and author of the new book, Reclaiming Two-Spirits: Sexuality, Spiritual Renewal & Sovereignty in Native America.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Image Credit: “We-Wa, a Zuni berdache, full length portrait,” photographed between circa 1871 and circa 1907 by John K. Hillers, National Archives at College Park, Public domain.

Additional sources:

“What does 'Two-Spirit' mean? What to know about Two-Spirit, indigenous LGBTQ identities,” by David Oliver, USA Today, December 10, 2021.
“8 Things You Should Know About Two Spirit People,” by Tony Enos, Indian Country Today, September 13, 2018.
“Two Spirit and LGBTQ+ Identities: Today and Centuries Ago,” Human Rights Campaign, November 23, 2020.
“The 'two-spirit' people of indigenous North Americans,” by Walter L. Williams, The Guardian, October 11, 2010.

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The Women's House of Detention in Greenwich Village Jun 13, 2022

The 12-story Women’s House of Detention, situated in the heart of Greenwich Village in New York City, from 1932 to 1974, was central to the queer history of The Village. The House of D, as it was known, housed such inmates as Angela Davis, Afeni Shakur, Andrea Dworkin, and Valerie Solanas, and was formative in their thinking and writing. On the night of the Stonewall Riots, the incarcerated women and transmaculine people in the House of D, a few hundred feet away from The Stonewall Inn, joined in, chanting “Gay power!” and lighting their possessions on fire and throwing them out the windows onto the street in solidarity.

Joining me to help us understand more about the Women’s House of Detention and its role in queer history is historian and writer Hugh Ryan, author of the 2022 book, The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Image Credit: “Women’s House of Detention, Jefferson Market Courthouse, View Northwest from West 8th Street, at Sixth and Greenwich Avenues, 1943,” Municipal Archives, Department of Public Works Collection.

Additional Sources:

“Prison Memoirs: The New York Women’s House of Detention,” by Angela Davis,The Village Voice, Originally published October 10, 1974.
“The Women’s House of Detention,” by Sarah Bean Apmann, Village Preservation, January 29, 2018.
“Women’s House of Detention,” 1931-1974, by Joan Nestle, Out History, Historical Musings 2008.
“'The Women's House of Detention' Illuminates a Horrific Prison That 'Helped Define Queerness for America',” by Gabrielle Bruney, Jezebel, May 9, 2022.
“Site of the Women's House of Detention (1932-1974),” by Rebecca Woodham and Clio Admin,” Clio: Your Guide to History. February 26, 2021.
“The Queer History of the Women’s House of Detention,” by Hugh Ryan, The Activist History Review, May 31, 2019.

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The Queer History of the Women's Suffrage Movement Jun 06, 2022

Queer suffragists were central to the women’s suffrage movement in the United States from its earliest days. However, in a movement that placed great importance on public image in service of the goal of achieving the vote, queer suffragists who pushed the boundaries of “respectability” were sometimes ostracized, and others hid their queerness, or had it erased by others.

Joining me to help us learn about queer suffragists is historian Dr. Wendy Rouse, Associate Professor in History at San Jose State University. Dr. Rouse is the author of a new book from New York University Press, Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the Women's Suffrage Movement.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Image Credit: “Carrie Chapman Catt (1859–1947) and Mary Garrett Hay (1857–1928) casting ballots, presumably during the midterm elections, November 5, 1918.” Carrie Chapman Catt Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (128.00.00)

Additional Sources:

“When lesbians led the women’s suffrage movement,” by Anya Jabour, The Conversation, January 24, 2020.
“How Queer Women Powered the Suffrage Movement,” by Maya Salam, The New York Times, August 14, 2020.
“Carrie & Mollie & Anna & Lucy: Queering the Women’s Suffrage Movement,” by Susan War, American Experience, PBS, October 23, 2020.
“The Very Queer History of the Suffrage Movement,” by Wendy Rouse, National Park Service.
“The Queer Suffragists Who Fought for Women’s Right to Vote: New research shows that women’s right to vote, now a century old, was won by a distinctly LGBTQ+ group of activists,” by Sarah D. Collins, Them, August 14, 2020.
“When American Suffragists Tried to ‘Wear the Pants,” by Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, The Atlantic, June 12, 2019.
“The Unconventional Life of Mary Walker, the Only Woman to Have Received the U.S. Medal of Honor: Dress reformer, women’s rights activist, and all-around pioneer,” by Anika Burgess, Atlas Obscura, September 27, 2017.
“Annie Rensselaer Tinker (1884-1924) Of East Setauket And NYC: Philanthropist, Suffragist, WWI Volunteer In Europe,” by Catherine Tinker, Long Island History Journal, 2017.

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Chinese Grocery Stores in the Mississippi Delta May 30, 2022

During Reconstruction, cotton planters in the Mississippi Delta recruited Chinese laborers to work on their plantations, to replace the emancipated slaves who had previously done the hard labor. However, the Chinese workers quickly learned that they couldn’t earn enough money picking cotton to send back to their families, and they turned instead to running small grocery stores, filling a niche in the market of the Deep South. At one point, the city of Greenville, Mississippi, had 40,000 residents and 50 Chinese-owned grocery stores. Although the numbers of Chinese Americans living in the Mississippi Delta region had dwindled now, their legacy remains.

Joining me to help us learn about this history is filmmaker and musician Larissa Lam, director of the 2021 documentary Far East Deep South, which follows her husband’s family as they search for their own lost family history in the Mississippi Delta.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Image Credit: “In the Mississippi Delta. There is an ever-increasing number of Chinese grocerymen and merchants.” Marion Post Wolcott, photographer. Leland, Mississippi, 1939. The photograph is courtesy of the Library of Congress and is in the Public Domain. Audio Credit: “The First Day,” by Larissa Lam, from the 2015 album Love & Discovery, Label: LOG Records/Del Oro Music. Song clip used with permission of the artist.

Additional Sources:

“The Legacy Of The Mississippi Delta Chinese,” Melissa Block and Elissa Nadworny, NPR, March 18, 2017.
“Chinese in Mississippi: An Ethnic People in a Biracial Society,” Charles Reagan Wilson, Mississippi History Now, November 2022.
“Neither Black Nor White in the Mississippi Delta: Two photographers document a community of Chinese-Americans in the birthplace of the blues,” James Estrin, The New York Times, March 13, 2018.
“The Grocery Story of the Mississippi Delta Chinese,” Victoria Bouloubasis, Somewhere South, April 13, 2020.
Mississippi Delta Chinese: Life in Chinese Grocery Stores.
“Op-Ed: How African Americans and Chinese immigrants forged a community in the Delta generations ago,” by Larissa Lam, Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2021.

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Patsy Mink May 23, 2022

In Patsy Mink’s first term in Congress in 1965, she was one of only 11 women serving in the US House of Representatives, and she was the first woman of color to ever serve in Congress. Mink was no stranger to firsts, being the first Japanese-American woman licensed to practice law in Hawaii, after being one of only two women in her graduating class at the University of Chicago Law School. She would later be the first Asian American to run for President.

Mink leaned on her own experiences of sexism and racism in writing and supporting legislation to help women, especially women of color and women in poverty. MInk co-authored and supported the landmark Title IX Amendment of the Higher Education Act, that stated that “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” After Mink’s death in 2002, Title IX was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act.

Joining me to help us learn about Patsy Mink are Dr. Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, Professor of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Irvine, and Patsy Mink’s daughter, Dr. Gwendolyn (Wendy) Mink, former Professor of Politics at the University of California, Santa Cruz and former Professor of Women and Gender Studies at Smith College. Drs. Wu and Mink have co-authored a new book, Fierce and Fearless: Patsy Takemoto Mink, First Woman of Color in Congress.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Image Credit: “1972 campaign poster image from the Patsy Mink for President Committee,” Congressional Portrait File, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-122137) - Patsy T. Mink Papers at the Library of Congress. Image is in the Public Domain. Audio Credit: “The National Commission on the Observance of International Women’s Year 1975 sponsored this conversation with Rep. Martha Griffith (D-Michigan), Rep. Patsy Mink (D-Hawaii) and Wendy Ross of the U.S. Information Service.” November 26, 1974. Video/Audio is in the Public Domain.

Additional Sources:

“MINK, Patsy Takemoto,” United States House of Representatives Archives.
“Patsy T. Mink Papers” at the Library of Congress
“Women who made legal history: Patsy Mink,” University of Chicago Law School, March 31, 2021.
“Rewriting the Rules: Celebrating 50 Years of Title IX,” The William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaii at Manoa.

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The US-Born Japanese Americans (Nisei) who Migrated to Japan May 16, 2022

In the decades before World War II, 50,000 of the US-born children of Japanese immigrants (a quarter of their total population) migrated from the United States to the Japanese Empire. Although these second generation Japanese Americans (called Nisei) were US citizens, they faced prejudice and discrimination in the US and went to Japan in search of a better life.

Joining me to help us learn about the Nisei who returned to Japan, what motivated them, and the challenges they faced both in Japan and back in the US is Dr. Michael Jin, Assistant Professor of Global Asian Studies and History at the University of Illinois Chicago and author of Citizens, Immigrants, and the Stateless: A Japanese American Diaspora in the Pacific.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Image Credit: “Two students pose outisde a building. Phillip Okano attended school in Japan from 1923-1933,” Courtesy of Okano Family Collection, Densho, This work is licensed under a Creative Common Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Audio Credit: “Tanko Bushi (Coal Miners Dance),” performed by Masao Suzuki, 1956. Courtesy of the Internet Archive. Audio is in the Public Domain.

Additional Sources:

“Stranded: Nisei in Japan Before, During, and After World War II,” by Brian Niiya, Densho, July 28, 2016.
“Immigration and Relocation in U.S. History: Japanese,” Library of Congress.
“Righting a Wrong: Japanese Americans and World War II,” Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
“First Japanese immigrant arrives in the U.S.” History.com, March 26, 2021.

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Thai Americans & the Rise of Thai Food in the United States May 09, 2022

There are around 300,000 Thai Americans but almost 5,000 Thai restaurants in the United States. To understand how Thai restaurants became so ubiquitous in the US, we dive into the history of how Thai cuisine arrived in the US before Thai immigrants started to arrive in large numbers, and how Thai Americans capitalized on the popularity of their food to find their niche in the US economy.

I’m joined in this episode by Associate Professor of Asian and Asian American Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Dr. Mark Padoongpatt, author of Flavors of Empire: Food and the Making of Thai America.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Image Credit: “Thai chef Salapirom Phanita, from Pattaya Marriot hotel catering, prepares food in the forward-deployed amphibious dock landing ship USS Tortuga's (LSD 46) galley during a cooking exchange with U.S. Navy chefs as a part of exercise Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) Thailand 2013. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Amanda S. Kitchner/Released).”

Please consider a donation to the Thai Community Development Center.

Additional Sources:

“How Thai food took over America,” by Francis Lam, The Splendid Table, January 10, 2019.
“The Surprising Reason that There Are So Many Thai Restaurants in America,” by Myles Karp, Vice, March 29, 2018.
“Jet Tila on the Evolution of Thai Food in America,” by Gowri Chandra, Food and Wine, April 27, 2018.
“Thai Food, Constructed and Deconstructed,” by Raegen Pietrucha, UNLV News Center, September 19, 2019.
“The Decades-Long Evolution of Thai Cuisine in Los Angeles,” by Jean Trinhm KCET, December 12, 2018.
“Thai Cusine’s Right Time and Place,” by Mimi Sheraton, New York Times, May 20, 1981.
“Pad Thai Diplomacy,” by Savannah Wallace, Medium, August 9, 2020.
“You Call This Thai Food? The Robotic Taster Will Be the Judge,” by Thomas Fuller, New York Times, September 28, 2014.
“The Oddly Autocratic Roots of Pad Thai,” by Alex Mayyasi, Atlas Obscura, November 7, 2019.

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Mary Paik Lee May 02, 2022

Mary Paik Lee (Paik Kuang Sun) was born in the Korean Empire on August 17, 1900, and was baptized by American Presbyterian minister Dr. Samuel Austin Moffett, one of the first American Presbyterian missionaries to come to Korea. In 1905, her family left Korea for Hawaii, fleeing the Japanese occupation of the Korean Peninsula. Late in her life, Mary wrote a memoir, recounting her family’s struggles in Hawaii and then California, where they faced discrimination and poverty, all while striving to make a better life and holding firm to their Presbyterian faith.

I’m joined in this episode by historian Dr. Jane Hong, author of Opening the Gates to Asia: A Transpacific History of How America Repealed Asian Exclusion, who helps contextualize Mary’s story in the larger story of Asian immigration to the United States in the 20th Century.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Image Credit: “Mr. and Mrs. H. M. Lee with their first son, Henry, in Anaheim, 1926,” from family photo albums.

Sources:

Quiet Odyssey: A Pioneer Korean Woman in America, by Mary Paik Lee and Sucheng Chan, with a Forward by David K. Yoo, University of Washington Press, 2019.
“History of Korean Immigration to America, from 1903 to Present,” Boston University School of Theology: Boston Korean Diaspora Project.
“Russo-Japanese War,” History.com, March 23, 2018 (Updated April 9, 2021).

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French Fashion in Gilded Age America Apr 25, 2022

Paris has a long history as the fashion capital of the world. In the late 19th Century, American women, like European women, wanted the latest in French fashion. The wealthiest women traveled to Paris regularly to visit their favorite couturiers, like the House of Worth and Maison Félix, to update their wardrobes. For those women who couldn’t afford to travel, Paris came to them, via international expositions, magazines, and department stores.

I’m joined in this episode by art historian Dr. Elizabeth L. Block, author of Dressing Up: The Women Who Influenced French Fashion, who helps us understand how the American women who were purchasing gowns and dresses helped transform the fashion industry.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Image Credit: “Mrs. William Astor (Caroline Webster Schermerhorn, 1831–1908),” painted by Carolus-Duran, 1890. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image is in the Public Domain. Audio Credit: “Nuit d'Etoiles (Starry Night),” written by Théodore de Banville and Claude Debussy; performed by Julia Culp and Coenraad V. Bos, 1917. Courtesy of the Internet Archive. Audio is in the Public Domain.

Additional Sources:

“Charles Frederick Worth (1825–1895) and the House of Worth,” Metropolitan Museum of Art.
“‘The Gilded Age’ Costumes are Like a Late-19th Century High-Fashion Street Style Editorial,” by Fawnia Soo Hoo, Fashionista, February 7, 2022.
“How America’s Gilded Age Paved The Way For Fashion Today,” by Eilidh Hargreaves, Vogue, January 30, 2022.
“Downtown, Uptown: From The Dry Goods Store To The Palace Of Consumption,” by Keren Ben-Horin, Fashion History Timeline, Fashion Institute of New York, Mary 16, 2018.
“The history of haute couture,” Harper’s Bazaar, January 19, 2017.

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The Cabinet Apr 18, 2022

Today, when Americans think of it at all, they take for granted the institution of The Cabinet, the heads of the executive departments and other advisors who meet with the President around a big mahogany table in the White House. But how did The Cabinet come into being? It’s not established in the Constitution, and the writers of The Constitution were explicitly opposed to creating a private executive advisory body.

I’m joined in this episode by presidential historian Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky, author of The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, who helps us answer the question of how – and why – President George Washington formed the first Cabinet, and why it continued.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Image Credit: “Washington and his cabinet [lithograph],” New York : Published by Currier & Ives, c1876. Via the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Image is in the Public domain.

Additional Sources:

“The President’s Cabinet Was an Invention of America’s First President,” by Karin Wulf, Smithsonian Magazine, April 7, 2020.
“Cabinet Members,” George Washington’s Mount Vernon.
“The Cabinet,” The White House.
“First Cabinet Confirmation,” United States Senate.
“The changing faces of Cabinet diversity, George Washington through Joe Biden,” by Lindsay Chervinsky and Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, FixGov, The Brookings Institution, April 13, 2021.
“The Cabinet of President Washington,” by By James Parton, The Atlantic, January 1873.
“The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription,” America’s Founding Documents, National Archives.

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The Abolition Movement of the 1830s Apr 11, 2022

From the founding of the United States, there were people who opposed slavery, but many who grappled with the concept, including slave owner Thomas Jefferson, envisioned a plan of gradual emancipation for the country. In 1817, after the establishment of the American Colonization Society, free Blacks in Philadelphia and elsewhere began to fight for immediate abolition for all enslaved people in the United States. By the 1830s, they were joined in these efforts by white allies.

Although not as well known as later abolitionists like Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, and Frederick Douglass, the abolitionists of the 1830s played a crucial role in building and popularizing the movement. These abolitionists, including William Lloyd Garrison, David Ruggles, Arthur and Lewis Tappan, the Forten Family, and the Grimké sisters, faced personal violence, destruction of property, financial ruin, and physical maladies as they raised their voices and put their bodies on the line for the cause.

I’m joined in this episode by J.D. Dickey, author of The Republic of Violence: The Tormented Rise of Abolition in Andrew Jackson's America.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Image Credit: “Anti-Slavery Meeting on the [Boston] Common” From Gleason's Pictorial, May 3, 1851. Photomural from woodcut. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.

Additional Sources:

“Jan. 15, 1817: The Vote on Colonization of Free Blacks in West Africa,” The Zinn Education Project.
“Africans in America,” PBS.
“Grimke Sisters,” National Park Service.
“The Abolitionists,” American Experience, PBS, Aired January 8, 2013.
David Ruggles Center for History and Education.
“Friends of Freedom: The Pennsylvania Female Anti-Slavery Society,” Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

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The 1913 Ascent of Denali Apr 04, 2022

In June 1913, a group of four men ascended to the peak of Denali, the first humans known to have reached the highest point in North America. In a time before ultra lightweight and high-tech equipment, Hudson Stuck, Harry Karstens, Robert Tatum, and Walter Harper had to haul heavy loads of food and supplies and books up the mountain with them, battling fire and clearing away earthquake debris along the way. After nearly two months of expedition, they finally stood atop the world.

I’m joined in this episode by Patrick Dean, author of A Window to Heaven: The Daring First Ascent of Denali: America's Wildest Peak.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Photo Credit: “Hudson Stuck and Harry Karstens, 1913.” Photo is in the public domain. Book excerpt: “The Ascent of Denali (Mount Mckinley): A Narrative of the First Complete Ascent of the Highest Peak in North America,” by Hudson Stuck. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1918. The book is in the public domain.

Additional Sources:

“The First Ascent of Denali: Digital Exhibits,” National Park Service.
“Expedition Denali: Making History, Building a Legacy,” by Aparna Rajagopal-Durbin, National Geographic, March 26, 2012.
“What It's Like to Climb Denali, North America's Highest Peak,” by James Barkman, Field Mag, June 11, 2018.
“Mt. McKinley Owes Its Name to an Epic Act of Trolling,” by Yoni Appelbaum, The Atlantic, August 31, 2015.
“The Long History Behind Renaming Mt. McKinley,” by Ben Railton, Talking Points Memo, September 1, 2015.

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Cordelia Dodson Hood Mar 28, 2022

When German troops invaded Austria in 1938, Cordelia Dodson was visiting Vienna, living with her siblings as they studied German, attended the opera, and marched with Austrian students protesting against Hitler. Even with this experience, Cordelia may have settled into academic life in the United States, but when Pearl Harbor was bombed, and the US entered the war, she felt called to serve her country.

In a decades-long career in Europe, Cordelia Dodson Hood combined her linguistic skill, her phenomenal memory, and her ability to connect with people, to gather and analyze intelligence, first about the Germans, and then about the Soviets. Despite the importance of her intelligence work, her story has been largely hidden, overshadowed by the splashier spies of the time.

I’m joined in this episode by Kathleen C. Stone, author of They Called Us Girls: Stories of Female Ambition from Suffrage to Mad Men.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Photo Credit: “Cordelia Hood, undated.” Photograph by Nam de Beaufort, courtesy of Sarah Fisher. Audio credit: “Wiener Blut (Vienna Blood),” written by Johann Srauss, and performed by Erna Sack in July 1949, Public Domain.

Additional Sources:

“Intelligence officer did fieldwork for OSS and CIA: Cordelia Dodson Hood ’36, MA ’41.” Reed Magazine, December 2011.
“Cordelia Dodson Hood,” The Lincoln County News, July 31, 2011.

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The National Women's Football League Mar 21, 2022

In 1967, a Cleveland talent agent named Sid Friedman decided to capitalize on the popularity of football in the rust belt by launching a women’s football league, which he envisioned as entertainment, complete with mini-skirts and tear-away jerseys. The women he recruited had other ideas, and soon they were playing competitive tackle football, not in skirts but in football uniforms.

In 1974, the owners of several teams around the country, some from Friedman’s WPFL and some independent of it, formed to create their own league: the National Women’s Football League, the NWFL, which started with 7 teams and grew within a few years to 14 teams across three divisions. The league faced financial difficulties from the beginning and finally folded in 1989, but the desire of women to play professional football lives on.

I’m joined in this episode by Frankie de la Cretaz and Lyndsey D'Arcangelo, authors of Hail Mary: The Rise and Fall of the National Women's Football League.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Photo Credit: Brenda Cook, Brant Hopkins, and Baby Murf, Houston Herricanes. January 1979, Safety Valve, Published Monthly by Houston Natural Gas Corp., original photo provided by Brenda Cook, Houston Herricanes.

Additional Sources:

“Revolution on the American Gridiron: Gender, Contested Space, and Women’s Football in the 1970s,” by Andrew D. Linden, The International Journal of the History of Sport (2015), 32:18, 2171-2189.
“The Unusual Origins of the Dallas Bluebonnets, the Trailblazing Women’s Football Team: An excerpt from the new book Hail Mary: The Rise and Fall of the National Women's Football League,” D Magazine, November 2, 2021.
“Remembering Toledo’s Troopers: Film to tell story of ’70s female football team,” by Tom Henry, The Blade, June 16, 2013.
“Almost Undefeated: The Forgotten Football Upset of 1976: How the Toledo Troopers, the most dominant female football team of all time, met their match,” by Frankie de la Cretaz, Longreads, February 19, 2019.
“How sexism and homophobia sidelined the National Women's Football League,” by Victoria Whitley-Berry, NPR Morning Edition, November 3, 2021.
“The Forgotten History of Women’s Football,” by Erica Westly, Smithsonian Magazine, February 5, 2016.

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Babe Didrikson Zaharias Mar 14, 2022

Born in 1911, Mildred Ella Didrikson Zaharias, who went by the nickname “Babe,” was a phenomenal, and confident athlete. Babe won Olympic gold in track and field, was an All American player in basketball, pitched in exhibition games in Major League Baseball, and won 17 straight women’s amateur golf tournaments, before turning pro and co-founding the LPGA.In a society that didn’t welcome women like Babe, she nonetheless forged her own path and won the hearts of fans along the way.

I’m joined in this episode by History Professor Dr. Corye Perez Beene, author of the biweekly newsletter Awesome American Sports, who makes the case that Babe was the greatest American athlete who has ever lived.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is: "Babe Didrikson,” National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Object number NPG.97.211. The image is in the public domain.

Sources:

Babe: The Life and Legend of Babe Didrikson Zaharias, by Susan E. Cayleff, Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1996.
This life I've led: my autobiography, by Babe Didrikson Zaharias. New York: Barnes, 1955.
Babe Conquers the World: The Legendary Life of Babe Didrikson Zaharias, by Rich Wallace and Sandra Neil Wallace, New York: Calkins Creek, 2014.
“Remembering A 'Babe' Sports Fans Shouldn't Forget,” All Things Considered, NPR, June 26, 2011.
“The 'greatest all-sport athlete' who helped revolutionize women's golf,” by Ben Morse, CNN, September 8, 2020.
“Babe Zaharias Dies; Athlete Had Cancer,” The New York Times, September 28, 1956

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Yellowstone National Park Mar 07, 2022

One hundred fifty years ago, President Ulysses S. Grant signed an act establishing Yellowstone National Park into law, making it the first national park in the United States, and a cause for celebration in a country still recovering from the devastating Civil War. Not everyone celebrated, though, including Native Americans who had called the land home for thousands of years before white trappers and explorers first experienced the wild majesty of the landscape.

To learn more about the men who championed the creation of the park and the Indigenous resistance to it, I’m joined by historian Dr. Megan Kate Nelson, author of the new book, Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The between-segment song is “The Fellow in Yellowstone Park,” written by Gilbert Fogarty and performed by Kitty Kallen, assisted by Four Chicks and Chuck, in 1949. The song is available in the public domain through the Internet Archive.

The episode image is: “Excelsior Geyser, Yellowstone Park,” Painted by Thomas Moran in 1873. The painting is in the collect of Smithsonian American Art Museum, a gift of Mrs. Armistead Peter III, and is in the public domain.

Additional Sources:

“How Sitting Bull’s Fight for Indigenous Land Rights Shaped the Creation of Yellowstone National Park,” by Megan Kate Nelson, Smithsonian Magazine, March 1, 2022.
“The Big Business Politics Behind the Formation of Yellowstone National Park,” by Megan Kate Nelson, Time Magazine, March 1, 2022.
“History and Culture,” Yellowstone National Park, National Park Service.
“Yellowstone turns 150. Here's a peek into the national park's history,” by Jaclyn Diaz, NPR, March 1, 2022.
“Yellowstone National Park celebrates 150 wild years -- and what a history it's been,” by Forrest Brown, CNN, February 28, 2022.

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Freedpeople in Indian Territory Feb 28, 2022

When the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muskogee (or Creek), and Seminole Nations – known as “The Five Civilized Tribes” by white settlers – were forcibly moved from their lands in the Southeastern United States to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), they brought their possessions with them, including the people of African descent whom they had enslaved.

After the Civil War, these slaves were freed and freedpeople were included in the allocation of Native lands undertaken by the Dawes Commission, making them the one group of former slaves to receive some reparations. However, like freedpeople in the South, their status and rights were often precarious and changed over time, especially with the establishment of Oklahoma statehood in 1907.

To learn more, I’m joined by Dr. Alaina E. Roberts, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh, and author of I've Been Here All the While: Black Freedom on Native Land.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is: “Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, Date Unknown; Oklahoma Historical Society.”

Additional Sources:

“Freedmen History,” Oklahoma Historical Society.
We're not going anywhere': Choctaw Freedmen cite history, ties to Tribal Nation in fight for citizenship, by Allison Herrera, KOSU, September 22, 2021.
“Black Freedmen struggle for recognition as tribal citizens,” by Sean Murphy, AP News, May 1, 2021.
“7 questions about Freedmen answered,” by Brian Oaster, High Country News, October 11, 2021.
“Tribes to Confront Bias Against Descendants of Enslaved People,” by Chris Cameron and Mark Walker, The New York Times, May 28, 2021.

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Alice Dunbar-Nelson Feb 21, 2022

NOTE: Alice Dunbar-Nelson's story includes acts of sexual violence. Listeners may wish to skip past the introduction to avoid this content.

Poet, essayist, and activist Alice Dunbar-Nelson is perhaps best known as the widow of poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, but she is a remarkable figure in her own right.

Born in New Orleans in 1875 to a mother who had only recently been freed from slavery and an unknown father, Alice graduated from Straight University (later Dillard University), became a teacher, and quickly started her own writing career. Throughout her life, Alice continued to teach and to write and to speak out on issues of women’s suffrage and civil rights for African Americans.

To learn more about Alice Dunbar-Nelson, I’m joined by Dr. Tara T. Green, Professor of African American and Women's and Gender Studies at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, and author of the 2022 book, Love, Activism, and the Respectable Life of Alice Dunbar-Nelson.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is: “MSS 0113, Alice Dunbar-Nelson papers, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.”

Additional Sources:

“Feminize Your Canon: Alice Dunbar-Nelson,” by Joanna Scutts, The Paris Review, September 28, 2020.
“An Unsung Legacy: The work and activism of Alice Dunbar-Nelson,” by Grace Miller, Unbound Blog, Smithsonian Libraries and Archives, March 12, 2020.
“I am an American! The Authorship and Activism of Alice Dunbar-Nelson [Virtual Exhibit],” The Rosenbach, Free Library of Philadelphia.
“Alice Dunbar-Nelson Reads [Virtual Exhibit],” The University of Delaware.
Writings of Alice Dunbar-Nelson

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The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion Feb 14, 2022

On February 14, 1945, after crossing the Atlantic Ocean and surviving a run-in with a Nazi U-Boat, the women of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion disembarked the Île-de-France in Glasgow, Scotland.

The task awaiting the only all-Black, all-female battalion overseas during World War II was daunting. There were airplane hangars filled with a backlog of millions of pieces of mail sitting in Birmingham, England, addressed from friends and family to service members stationed across Europe.

Despite segregation and poor working and living conditions, the Six Triple Eight made quick work of the postal backlog, doing their part to lift morale among the American military personnel stationed in Europe.

To learn more about the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, I’m joined now by writer Kaia Alderson, author of Sisters in Arms: A Novel of the Daring Black Women Who Served During World War II.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is “Inspection of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion,” Courtesy of the U.S. Army.

Additional Sources:

“6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion (Women's Army Corps),” Prepared by Kathleen Fargey, AAMH-FPO, U.S. Army, February 14, 2014.
“The Women’s Army Corps: A Commemoration of World War II Service,” by Judith A. Bellafaire, U.S. Army Center for Military History Publication 72-15.
“The 6888 Postal Directory Battalion- Heroes of World War II [video],” Marking History Channel, July 21, 2021.
“The Black Female Battalion That Stood Up to a White Male Army,” by Christina Brown Fisher, The New York Times, June 17, 2020.
“The SixTripleEight: No Mail, Low Morale,” National World War II Museum, February 10, 2021.
“Seventy-Five Years Ago, the Military’s Only All-Black Female Band Battled the War Department and Won,” by Carrie Hagen, Smithsonian Magazine, March 28, 2019.

Related Episodes of Unsung History:

“The Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II,” with Dr Katherine Sharp Landdeck
“Alaska Territorial Guard in World War II,” with Dr. Holly Guise
“Women in the U.S. Military during the Cold War,” with Dr. Tanya Roth

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Julia Chinn Feb 07, 2022

Julia Chinn was born into slavery in Kentucky at the tail end of the 18th Century. Despite laws against interracial marriage, Richard Mentor Johnson, the ninth Vice President of the United States, called Julia Chinn his wife, and he recognized their daughters together as his. Johnson left Julia in charge of his Blue Spring Farm when he was away in DC for months at a time, and Julia ran the household and plantation, managed the business affairs, and worked as both manager and nurse at the Chocktaw Academy boarding school for Native American boys on the property. When the Marquis de Lafayette visited Blue Spring, Julia Chinn organized a magnificent celebration in his honor, a party for 5,000 guests, where her daughters performed on the piano.

Even while trusting Julia with this authority and openly discussing their relationship, Richard never emancipated Julia Chinn; she remained his property until her death.

Joining me to discuss Julia Chinn is Dr. Amrita Chakrabarti Myers, the Ruth N. Halls Associate Professor of History and Gender Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington, and author of an upcoming book on Julia Chinn.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is an artist rendition by Matthew Weflen.

Sources:

“Disorderly Communion: Julia Chinn, Richard Mentor Johnson, and Life in an Interracial, Antebellum, Southern Church,” by Amrita Chakrabarti Myers, The Journal of African American History, Volume 105, Number 2, Spring 2020.
The Erasure and Resurrection of Julia Chinn, U.S. Vice President Richard M. Johnson’s Black Wife,” by Amrita Chakrabarti Myers, Association of Black Women Historians, March 3, 2019.
“He became the nation’s ninth vice president. She was his enslaved wife.” by Ronald G. Shafer, Washington Post, February 7, 2021.
“The Lost Story Of Julia Chinn,” by Leslie Potter, Kentucky Life, February 19, 2020.
“Choctaw Indian Academy,” by Deana Thomas, Explore Kentucky History.

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Who was Carol Lane? Jan 31, 2022

In fall 1947 the Shell Oil Company hired a Women’s Travel Director named Carol Lane, who served in the role until she retired in 1974. Lane’s job was to encourage women to travel, showing them the joys of touring the country by car. Lane herself traveled around the United States and Canada, speaking to women’s clubs and on radio and TV, giving travel tips and packing demonstrations. Eventually, she even awarded women who developed local travel safety programs with the Carol Lane Award.

So who was Carol Lane? To learn the answer to that question, I’m joined on this episode by historian Melissa Dollman, author of the digital dissertation, Changing Lanes: A Reanimation of Shell Oil’s Carol Lane, which was the source I consulted in writing the introduction to this episode.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The image is from the booklet Carol Lane’s Dress-O-Graph, from 1953, which is in the public domain.

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The Amerikadeutscher Volksbund & the Newark Minutemen in the 1930s Jan 24, 2022

The rise of Nazism before World War II wasn’t limited to Germany. The German-Americna Bund (Amerikadeutscher Volksbund) formed in Buffalo, New York, in 1936, to promote a favorable view of Nazi Germany. It quickly grew to 70 local groups around the country, with 20 training camps where kids aged 8-18 practiced military drills and wore Nazi-style uniforms. By 1939, 20,000 people attended the Bund’s Pro American Rally in Madison Square Garden.

When Prohibition ended in 1933, Jewish American gangsters who had been running liquor businesses suddenly had more time on their hands, and they decided to fight back against the Bund. In Newark, New Jersey, Abner “Longie” Zwillman formed a secret organization called the Minutemen to fight the Nazis. The Minutemen, who operated from 1933 to 1941, would break up Bund meetings using their fists, baseball bats, and stink bombs. The Minutemen were based in New Jersey, but Jewish gangsters around the country fought the Bund, including in Chicago, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles.

To help us learn more, I’m joined on this episode by Leslie K. Barry, author of the historic novel, Newark Minutemen: A True 1930s Legend about One Man's Mission to Save a Nation's Soul Without Losing His Own, whose uncle was a Minuteman in Newark in the 1930s.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The image is: “German American Bund parade in New York City on East 86th St.,” World-Telegram photo, New York, 1937, Public Domain. The audio clip is from the German American Bund Rally on February 20, 1939, and is in the Public Domain.

Additional Sources:

“There Were American Nazi Summer Camps Across the US in the 1930s,” by George Dvorsky, Gizmodo, November 19, 2015.
“American Nazis in the 1930s—The German American Bund,” by Alan Taylor, The Atlantic, June 5, 2017.
“When Nazis Took Manhattan,” by Sarah Kate Kramer, NPR: All Things Considered, February 20, 2019.
“American Nazis and Nazi Sympathizers Have Been Around Since the 1930’s,” by Eric Ginsburg, Teen Vogue, November 26, 2018.
“American Nazism and Madison Square Garden,” The National World War II Museum, April 14, 2021.
“Field of Vision - A Night at the Garden [video],” directed by Marshall Curry.

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Mary Ann Shadd Cary Jan 17, 2022

Mary Ann Shadd Cary, born in Delaware in 1823, was a teacher, a writer, an abolitionist, a suffragist, and a lawyer, and is considered to be the first Black woman to publish and edit a newspaper in North America, The Provincial Freeman. When abolitionist Frederick Douglass asked readers of his newspaper in 1848 for suggestions on how to improve life for African Americans, Shadd Cary answered: “We should do more and talk less,” and she spent her life following that motto in both the United States and in Canada, despite the challenges she faced both as an African American and as a woman.

To help us understand more, I’m joined by Dr. Jane Rhodes and Dr. Kristin Moriah. Dr. Rhodes is a Professor of Black Studies at the University of Illinois Chicago and author of Mary Ann Shadd Cary: The Black Press and Protest in the Nineteenth Century. Dr. Moriah is Assistant Professor of African American Literary Studies at Queen's University and a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Black Digital Research (CBDR) at Penn State where her projects include digitizing Mary Ann Shadd Cary's papers.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The image is the only known photograph of Mary Ann Shadd Cary; the photographer is unknown.

Additional Selected Sources:

“Overlooked No More: How Mary Ann Shadd Cary Shook Up the Abolitionist Movement,” by Megan Specia, The New York Times, June 6, 2018.
“Mary Ann Shadd Cary: History,” by Adrienne Shadd, Library and Archives Canada, November 1, 2019.
“Mary Ann Shadd Cary: Lawyer, Educator, Suffragist,” by Jennifer Davis, Library of Congress, February 28, 2019.
Black Women's Organizing Project, Center for Black Digital Research, Penn State
“Mary Ann Shadd Cary: In the Here and Now (Day 1) [video],” Recorded on October 1, 2021.
“Mary Ann Shadd Cary: In the Here and Now (Day 2) [video],” Recorded on October 2, 2021
“Mary Ann Shadd Cary Event Series: The Power of Black Art [video],” Recorded on October 9, 2021.

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The 1934 Toledo Auto-Lite Strike Jan 10, 2022

In February, 1934, in the midst of the Great Depression, a small group of unionized workers at the Electric Auto-Lite company of Toledo, Ohio, went on strike. When management failed to sign a promised contract by the April 1 deadline, more workers went on strike. And this time they had help from the Unemployed League. What started as a small walkout turned into a massive demonstration by 10,000 strikers, and a battle with the Ohio National Guard, and is now regarded as one of the most important strikes in U.S. history.

Joining me on this episode to help us learn more about the Auto-Lite strike is labor historian Dr. Bradley Sommer.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is the front page of The Toledo News-Bee on May 24, 1934.

Selected Sources:

“The More Things Stay the Same: Lessons from 1934,” by Bradley Sommer, Labor and Working-Class History Association, June 17, 2015.
“From Toledo to Standing Rock,” by Bradley Sommer, Jacobin, October 2016.
“Lou Hebert on the Auto-Lite Labor Strike,” C-SPAN, July 22, 2019.
“Auto-Lite Strike,” Toledo Lucas County Public Library.
“Blue-collar origins: Toledo is a city built on the back of labor,” by Jay Skebba, The Toledo Blade, September 2, 2019.

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The Suffrage Road Trip of 1915 Jan 03, 2022

In September 1915, four suffragists set off from the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, California, in a brand-new Overland 6 convertible to make the 3,000-mile drive across the country to deliver a petition for women’s suffrage to President Woodrow Wilson on the opening day of Congress in December. Along the way they faced illness, terrible driving conditions, and opposition to women’s suffrage.

Joining me to help us learn more about the road trip, and especially the unsung Swedish immigrant heroines, driver Maria Kindberg and mechanic Ingeborg Kindstedt, is historian and activist, Anne Gass, author of the 2021 book, We Demand: The Suffrage Road Trip.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is: “Suffrage envoy Sara Bard Field left and her driver, Maria Kindberg center, and machinist Ingeborg Kindstedt right during their cross-country journey to present suffrage petitions to Congress, September-December. United States Washington D.C, 1915,” Public Domain, Located at the Library of Congress. The audio recording clip is: “Fall in Line (Suffrage March),” Written by Zena S. Hawn, and Performed by the Victor Military Band on July 15, 1914, Public Domain, Internet Archive.

Selected Additional Sources:

“Rhode Island’s Two Unheralded Suffragists,” Small State Big History, by Russell DeSimone, January 11, 2020
“Historical Timeline of the National Womans Party,” Library of Congress
“Traveling for Suffrage Part 1: Two women, a cat, a car, and a mission,” by Patri O'Gan, National Museum of American HIstory, March 5, 2014
“Maria Kindberg,” Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame
“Ingeborg Kindstedt,” Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame
“Sara Bard Field (1882-1974),” by Tim Barnes, Oregon Encyclopedia

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Women-Led Slave Revolts Dec 27, 2021

Enslaved Africans in what is now New York State and in the Middle Passage resisted their enslavement, despite the risk of doing so. In the previously accepted history of these slave revolts, the assumption was that men led the resistance, but Dr. Rebecca Hall dug deeper into the records and read against the grain to find the women warriors who fought for their freedom.

Joining me to help us learn more is Dr. Rebecca Hall, a scholar, activist and educator, who writes and speaks on the history of race, gender, law and resistance, and author of the recent highly-acclaimed graphic novel, Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Episode image: “Negro quarters, T.J. Fripp plantation, St. Helena Island (near Beaufort), S.C.” from the Library of Congress.

Selected Additional Sources:

Benton, Ned. “Dating the Start and End of Slavery in New York,”New York Slavery Records Index: Records of Enslaved Persons and Slave Holders in New York from 1525 though the Civil War, John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, “Middle Passage, Transatlantic Slave Trade,” Slavery and Remembrance.
Hall, Rebecca. “Not Killing Me Softly: African American Women, Slave Revolts, And Historical Constructions of Racialized Gender,” Vol. 1, Issue 2 of The Freedom Center Journal, a joint publication of University of Cincinnati College of Law and the National Underground Railroad Center, June, (2010).
National Park Service, “The Middle Passage.”

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The Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II Dec 20, 2021

From September 1942 to December 1944, over 1000 American women served in the war effort as Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), flying 80% of all ferrying missions and delivering 12,652 aircraft of 78 types. They also transported cargo, test flew planes, demoed aircraft that the male pilots were scared to fly, simulated missions, and towed targets for live anti-aircraft artillery practice. The WASP did not fly in combat missions, but their work was dangerous, and 38 were killed in accidents. Even with the enormous contributions they made in World War II, the WASP weren’t recognized as part of the military until decades later when they were finally granted veteran status.

Joining me to help us learn more about the WASP is Katherine Sharp Landdeck, Associate Professor at Texas Woman's University, and author of the definitive book on the Women Airforce Service Pilots, The Women With Silver Wings.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Episode image: “WASP Frances Green, Margaret Kirchner, Ann Waldner and Blanche Osborn leave their B-17, called Pistol Packin' Mama, during ferry training at Lockbourne Army Air Force base in Ohio. They're carrying their parachutes.” from the National Archives and in the public domain.

Selected Additional Sources:

Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), Women in the Army, US Army.
“Female WWII Pilots: The Original Fly Girls,” by Susan Stamberg, NPR, March 9, 2010.
“Remembering the WASPs: Women who were aviation trailblazers,” CBS News, June 1, 2014.
“Flying on the Homefront: Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP),” by Dorothy Cochrane, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, May 20, 2020.
“Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) of WWII: STEM in 30 Live Chat [Video],” Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, September 12, 2020.

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Mabel Ping-Hua Lee Dec 13, 2021

Mabel Ping-Hua Lee was born in China in 1896 but lived most of her life in the United States, where, due to the Chinese Exclusion Act, she had no path to naturalization until the law changed in 1943. Even though it would not benefit her for decades, Mabel Lee worked for women’s suffrage, leading the New York City Suffrage Parade on horseback at the age of only 16. Lee was the first Chinese woman to earn a PhD in Economics in the United States, graduating from Columbia University in 1921 with a dissertation entitled: “The Economic History of China: With Special Reference to Agriculture,” and then spent her life helping the Chinese community in New York City through her work with as director of the First Chinese Baptist Church of New York City.

Joining me to help us learn more about Mabel Lee is Dr. Cathleen Cahill, Associate Professor of History at Pennsylvania State University and author of the 2020 book Recasting the Vote: How Women of Color Transformed the Suffrage Movement.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is “Radiogram; 6/26/1937; Case #12-943; Chinese Exclusion Act case file for Mabel Lee (Ping Hua Lee);” from Chinese Exclusion Act Case Files, ca. 1882 - ca. 1960; Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Record Group 85; National Archives at New York, New York, NY.

Selected Sources:

“Dr. Mabel Ping-Hua Lee,” National Park Service
“The 16-Year-Old Chinese Immigrant Who Helped Lead a 1912 US Suffrage March,” by Michael Lee, History.com, March 19, 2021
“Asian American Legacy: Dr. Mabel Lee,” by Tim Tseng, December 12, 2013.
“Overlooked No More: Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, Suffragist With a Distinction,” by Jia Lynn Yang, The New York Times, September 19, 2020.
“Mabel Ping-Hua Lee ’1916: A Pioneer of the Suffrage Movement,” by Lois Elfman, Barnard Magazine, Fall 2020.

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Loïs Mailou Jones Dec 06, 2021

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1905, artist Loïs Mailou Jones’s career spanned much of the 20th Century as both a painter and a teacher of generations of Black artists at Howard University.

Jones faced racial discrimination in the US throughout much of her long life, and found refuge and inspiration in the Harlem Renaissance Movement and in the expatriate community of Black artists in Paris. Her 1953 marriage to Haitian artist Louis Vergniaud Pierre-Noel, and later research trips to Africa further influenced her work.

Her many important paintings include The Ascent of Ethiopia (1932); Les Fétiches (1938); Self-Portrait (1940); Mob Victim (Meditation) (1944); Jardin du Luxembourg (1948); Jeune Fille Française (1951); Ode to Kinshasa (1972); Ubi Girl from Tai Region (1972); Suriname (1982); and Glyphs (1985).

Joining me to help us learn more about Loïs Mailou Jones is writer Jennifer Higgie, author of the new book, The Mirror and the Palette: Rebellion, Revolution, and Resilience: Five Hundred Years of Women's Self Portraits.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is Loïs Mailou Jones, 1937, from the Loïs Mailou Jones Pierre-Noël Trust.

Other Selected Sources:

“Lois Mailou Jones, 92, Painter and Teacher” by Holland Cotter, New York Times, June 13, 1998.
“Lois Mailou Jones: An Indefatigable Black Woman Artist,” by Betty Perry, The Washington Post, February 23, 1983.
“An Interview with Lois Mailou Jones,” by Charles H. Rowell, Callaloo, Vol. 12 No. 2, p. 357-378.
“Loïs Mailou Jones: Creating A New African-American Image,” by Greg Cook, WBUR, February 27, 2013.
“Interview with Lois Mailou Jones [video],” Good Morning America, February 1, 1996.
“Loïs Mailou Jones and David C. Driskell: Intersecting Legacies [video],” The Phillips Collection, October 28, 2020.
“Remembering The Masters: Lois Mailou Jones [video],” Sankofa Studios, March 16, 2020.

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The Yakama War Nov 29, 2021

n October 1805, the Yakama encountered the Lewis and Clark Expedition near the confluence of the Yakima and Columbia rivers. By fifty years later, so many European and American trappers, traders, and eventually, settlers, had arrived in the area, putting demands on the land and resources, that federal government officials called a council meeting with the local tribal nations to negotiate a treaty by which the native people would move on to reservations in exchange for federal benefits.

The tribal nations, including the Yakama, signed the treaty--reluctantly--in June 1855, but it had to be ratified by the US Senate before it would go into effect. In the meantime, miners and settlers were supposed to stay off of Yakama land.

However, with the discovery of gold, the miners started to trespass, stealing horses and assaulting women in the process. Yakama warriors killed minors in response. Soon, war broke out between the Yakama and the federal government, lasting until 1858. On March 8, 1859, the US Senate finally ratified the 1855 treaty.

Joining me to help us learn more about the Yakama War is Emily Washines, who is an enrolled Yakama Nation tribal member with Cree and Skokomish lineage. Emily is a scholar whose research topics include the Yakama War, Native women, traditional knowledge, resource management, fishing rights, and food sovereignty. She runs the Native Friends Blog and hosts the War Cry Podcast.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is courtesy of Emily Washines.

Suggested Organization for Donations:

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women USA

Selected Sources:

Yakama Nation History, Yakama Nation Website
“This Week Then: Take a Look Back on the Yakama War” by Alan Stein, Seattle Magazine, November 27, 2018
“It Happened Here: Treaty of 1855 took land, created the Yakama Nation” by Donald W. Meyers, Yakima Herald, June 4, 2017
“Yakama War History Project Seeks Descendants Of U.S. Army Combatants” by Tom Banse, NW News Network, August 9, 2017
“Yakama War: Ayat” Native Friends
“Yakama Indian War begins on October 5, 1855” by Paula Becker, History Link, February 26, 2003
The 1858 Yakama War...Fort Simcoe's Story of the 9th U.S. Army Infantry and their Western Prong Attack Campaign, by Steve Charles Plucker, 2016
“The Yakama War [video],” KCTS9, November 12, 2018

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The Wampanoag & the Thanksgiving Myth Nov 22, 2021

In Autumn of 1621, a group of Pilgrims from the Mayflower voyage and Wampanoag men, led by their sachem Massasoit, ate a feast together. The existence of that meal, which held little importance to either the Pilgrims or the Wampanoag, is the basis of the Thanksgiving myth. The myth, re-told in school Thanksgiving pageants and TV shows, is not accurate and is harmful to Native people, especially to the Wampanoag.

In 1970, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts planned a banquet to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims. They asked an Aquinnah Wampanoag man, Frank James, also known as Wamsutta, to speak at the banquet. However, when they learned what he was planning to say, the true history, they forbade his speech. Frank James would not give a speech that they rewrote, and instead he planned the first National Day of Mourning on Cole’s Hill in Plymouth. Fifty one years later the United American Indians of New England still meet at noon on Cole’s Hill on the US Thanksgiving Holiday to remember the genocide of Native people and the theft of Native lands and erasure of Native culture.

Joining me to help us learn more about the Wampanoag and the dangers of the Thanksgiving myth is Kisha James, enrolled Aquinnah Wampanoag, one of the organizers of the National Day of Mourning, and granddaughter of Frank James.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is “Massasoit and His Warriors,” 1857. Photograph in the LIbrary of Congress.

Buy Indigenous:

Suggested Organization for Donations:

Selected Sources:

“Wampanoag History,” Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah)
“The Myths of the Thanksgiving Story and the Lasting Damage They Imbue” by Claire Bugos, Smithsonian Magazine, November 26, 2019
1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving by Catherine Grace
This Land Is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving by David J. Silverman
“Everything You Learned About Thanksgiving Is Wrong By Maya Salam, The New York Times, Nov. 21, 2017
“History of King Philip’s War,” by Rebecca Beatrice Books, History of Massachusetts Blog, May 31, 2017.

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Treaty Rights of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe Nov 15, 2021

Before the arrival of Europeans, the Ojibwe nation occupied much of the Lake Superior region, including what is now Ontario in Canada and Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota in the United States. In 1850, President Zachary Taylor’s administration, in response to demands from European Americans, planned to force the Ojibwe of Wisconsin west of the Mississippi in violation of signed treaties.

They planned to bring the Ojibwe to Minnesota from Wisconsin in late fall so that they would have to stay for the winter, wearing down their resistance to relocation. Nearly 3000 Ojibwe men made the long journey to Sandy Lake, Minnesota, where they waited for weeks for a government agent to arrive and even longer for what turned out to be spoiled food and only a small portion of the payment and goods they were due. The conditions were so poor that 150 men died of disease, starvation, or freezing. On the treacherous return journey to Wisconsin another 200 men died.

In 1852, Chief Buffalo, the principal chief of the Lake Superior Ojibwe, traveled to Washington, DC, by birchbark canoe with three other men, to press President Millard Fillmore to cancel the removal order. They managed to find an audience with Fillmore, who upon hearing about the broken treaty promises and the tragedy at Sandy Lake, agreed to cancel the removal order and work on a new treaty.

The 1854 Treaty of LaPointe allowed the Ojibwe to stay in their traditional territories and created permanent reservations of land for many of the bands, including the Red Cliff. Under the treaties, the tribes reserved certain rights, including rights to hunt, fish, and gather on the lands that they ceded.

In the more than 150 years since the 1854 Treaty of LaPointe, the sovereignty of the Ojibwe people has been threatened time and time again, and it’s taken Ojibwe activism to protect the rights.

Joining me to help us learn more about the Red Cliff Ojibwe, the importance of treaties, and the Native activism needed to defend them is Dr. Katrina Phillips, an enrolled member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, Assistant Professor of Native American History at Macalester College, and author of Staging Indigeneity: Salvage Tourism and the Performance of Native American History.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is Mitaawangaa, or Sandy Beach, on the shores of Frog Bay Tribal National Park. Photo by Katrina Phillips.

Suggested Organization for Donations:

Recommended Kids’ Books:

Indigenous Peoples’ Day by Katrina Phillips
The Disastrous Wrangel Island Expedition by Katrina Phillips
Fry Bread by by Kevin Noble Maillard
We are Grateful by Traci Sorell
Bowwow Powwow by Brenda J. Child
Johnny’s Pheasant by Cheryl Minnema

Selected Sources:

"When Grandma Went to Washington: Ojibwe Activism and the Battle over the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore," by Phillips, Katrina. Native American and Indigenous Studies, vol. 8 no. 2, 2021, p. 29-61. Project MUSE muse.jhu.edu/article/804026.
“Miskwaabekong History,” Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
“Origins and History, Tribal Government,” Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
“Ojibwe Treaty Rights,” Milwaukee Public Museum

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Alaska Territorial Guard in World War II Nov 08, 2021

Prior to World War II, most of the US military deemed the territory of Alaska as militarily unimportant, to the point where the Alaska National Guard units were stationed instead in Washington state in August of 1941. That changed when the Japanese invaded and occupied two Alaskan islands in June of 1942.

The US government responded first by evacuating Unangax̂ villagers and forcibly interning them in Southeast Alaska in facilities without plumbing or electricity for two years where many died of disease.

To protect the Alaskan territory from further invasion, Major Marvin R. “Muktuk” conceived of a plan to defend the Alaskan coast with local citizens. The more than 6,300 members of the Alaska Territorial Guard (ATG) were as young as 12 and as old as 80 and represented 107 Alaskan communities and many different ethnic groups, including Unangax̂ , Inupiaq, Tlingit, and, Yup'ik, among others.

Without the ATG serving as the eyes and ears of the US military in Alaska, the Japanese may well have invaded the mainland of the territory, setting up an ideal location from which to invade the United States.

To help us learn more about the Alaska Territorial Guard I’m joined by Dr. Holly Guise, who is Iñupiaq and an Assistant Professor of History at the University of New Mexico. Her research focuses on gender, Unangax̂ (Aleut) relocation and internment camps, Native activism/resistance, and Indigenous military service during the war.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image shows four Alaska Territorial Guardsmen being sworn in for an assignment in Barrow, Alaska, from the Ernest H. Gruening Papers, Alaska & Polar Regions Collections, Archives, University of Alaska Fairbanks.

We ask that you consider supporting the efforts of Atuxforever, a nonprofit with the goal of raising funds for Attuans to travel back to their home island of Attu for pilgrimages and cultural revitalization.

Sources and Links:

World War II Alaska
“Sens. Murkowski and Begich Gain Victory for Alaska Territorial Guard,” July 23, 2009
“Under threat of invasion 75 years ago, Alaskan natives joined the Army to defend homeland,” by Sean Kimmons, Army News Service, November 16, 2017.
“Searching Alaska for the Alaska Territorial Guard,” State of Alaska Website
“Alaska Territorial Guard,” National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian
Alaska’s Digital Archive

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The Stockbridge-Munsee Community & their Removal History Nov 01, 2021

The Stockbridge-Munsee Community, the People of the Waters that Are Never Still, were forced to move many times after they first encountered Europeans.

In 1609, Dutch trader Henry Hudson sailed up the Mahicannituck, the River that Flows Both Ways, into Mohican land. By 1614 there was a Dutch trading post established on a nearby island to take advantage of the beaver and otter availability. The arrival of the Europeans changed the economic pattern of the Mohicans, and brought both disease and religion into their land.

The Mohican people, part of the Eastern Algonquian family of tribes, originally occupied large areas of land in what is now New England and the Hudson River Valley, including parts of what is now Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, and were neighbors to the Lenape, to whom they are related. Over time, the Mohican people and the Munsees, who were also Lenape, and whose language and lifestyles were similar, affiliated with each other.

After the arrival of the Europeans, the Mohicans were driven out of their land, into what would become Massachusetts and Connecticut, where they were introduced to Christianity and became known as the Stockbridge Moohicans. Then they were driven into New York, then to Indiana, then to Wisconsin and then further into Wisconsin.

By the late 19th century, the Stockbridge-Munsee, like nearly every Native nation within the United States, was assigned to a reservation. Theirs was largely pine forest that was difficult to farm. Reservation land was portioned and allotted to individuals and families. Much of the land was sold to lumber companies or lost when the taxes couldn’t be paid. By the 1920s the Stockbridge Munsee were virtually landless and living in poverty. When Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act in 1934, Native communities were able to obtain funds from the federal government to reorganize their tribal governments and recover some of their land. By the end of 1937, the Stockbridge-Munsee had a new Constitution.

The Stockbridge-Munsee Community is still located on the reservation in Wisconsin, which currently includes a little over 17,000 acres of trust land and around 7,500 acres of non-trust land. Around half of the tribe’s population of 1500 people live on or near the reservation. In 1999, they established a Tribal Historic Preservation office to formalize the work of protecting burial sites and other cultural areas in its Eastern homelands.

I’m joined in this episode by Heather Bruegl, who is enrolled Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and first line descendant Stockbridge Munsee and who is the Director of Education at the Forge Project.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is “Papscanee Island Nature Preserve,” by Andy Arthur, May 12, 2013. (CC BY 2.0)

We ask that you consider supporting the efforts of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community's Historic Preservation program with a donation.

Sources and links:

Brief History, Stockbridge Munsee
Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican History, PBS
Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
“'It's Been Erased': Stockbridge Mohicans Retell, Reclaim Their Story In Berkshires,” by Nancy Eve Cohen, New England Public Media, January 16, 2021
“Mohicans, forced from their ancestral lands, still connect to their heritage here,” The Altamont Enterprise Bethlehem, Thursday, September 27, 2018
“Native American and Indigenous Studies: Stockbridge Munsee Community,” Library Guide, Williams College

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Fashion, Feminism, and the New Woman of the late 19th Century Oct 25, 2021

The late 19th Century ushered in an evolution in women’s fashion from the Victorian “True Woman” whose femininity was displayed in wide skirts and petticoats, the “New Woman” of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was modern and youthful in a shirtwaist and bell-shaped skirt.

Earlier fashion experimentation by feminists in the mid-19th Century had failed to catch on and had interfered with their ability to inspire change as they were labeled radical for their sartorial choices. Feminists in the late 19th Century chose a different path, using the popular fashions of the day to appear respectable as they pushed for rights for women. The mass availability of the shirtwaist also helped to democratize fashion so that working class, immigrant, and African-American women were all able to adopt the costume of the day as they made their demands for better working conditions and increased rights and access.

In this episode I’m joined by Dr. Einav Rabinovitch-Fox, author of the upcoming book, Dressed for Freedom: The Fashionable Politics of American Feminism, as we discuss the uses of fashion by feminists at the turn of the 20th Century.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Episode image is: “Four African American women seated on steps of building at Atlanta University, Georgia.“ Atlanta, Georgia, ca. 1899. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/95507126.

Additional sources and links:

“Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney Calls for 'Equal Rights for Women' with Suffragette-Themed Met Gala Dress” by Virginia Chamlee, People Magazine, September 14, 2021.
“Schools enforce dress codes all the time. So why not masks?” by By Einav Rabinovitch-Fox, The Washington Post, August 30, 2021.
Beyond the Gibson Girl: Reimagining the American New Woman, 1895-1915 by Martha H. Patterson, 2005.
“The Gibson Girl’s America: Drawings by Charles Dana Gibson,” Library of Congress.

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The Original Fight for the Equal Rights Amendment Oct 18, 2021

After the 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, enfranchising (some) women, lots of questions remained. If women could vote, could they serve on juries? Could they hold public office? What about the array of state-laws that still privileged husbands and fathers over wives and daughters in regard to property and earnings rights?

In February 1921, Alice Paul, head of the National Woman’s Party declared: “Now that political freedom has been won, we hope to wipe out sex discrimination in law, so that the legal status of women will be self-respecting.” Their strategy to accomplish this, on the advice of legal scholar Professor Albert Levitt of George Washington University was to push for a new constitutional amendment, which became known as the Equal Rights Amendment.

Between 1923 and 1932, Congress held six hearings on the ERA, but it faced fierce opposition until the mid-1930s. By the mid-1930s, support for the ERA began to increase dramatically, as congressional subcommittees started to report the amendment favorably nearly every year after 1936. In 1940 the Republican Party added the ERA to its party platform. Four years later the Democratic party did the same.

On October 12, 1971, the House of Representatives finally voted on the ERA, introduced by Michigan Democrat Martha Griffiths. The vote passed 354 to 24, with 51 not voting. On March 22, 1972, the Senate also passed the bill, 84-8, with 8 not voting. Then the fight moved to the states. As of October 2021, 38 states have ratified the amendment, the final three states coming long after the original deadline, but the amendment has not been added to the Constitution.

I’m joined in this episode by Dr. Rebecca DeWolf, author of the new book: Gendered Citizenship: The Original Conflict over the Equal Rights Amendment, 1920–1963, who also graciously fact checked the introduction to the episode.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Episode image is: “A group of young members of the National Woman's Party before the Capitol. They are about to invade the offices of the senators and congressmen from their states, to ask them to vote for Equal Rights.“ Washington D.C, ca. 1923. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/mnwp000193/.

Additional Sources and Links:

Equal Rights Amendment, Alice Paul Institute
The Equal Rights Amendment Explained, The Brennan Center for Justice
“Why the Equal Rights Amendment Is Still Not Part of the Constitution: A brief history of the long battle to pass what would now be the 28th Amendment” by Lila Thulin, Smithsonian Magazine
“The Long Road to Equality: What Women Won from the ERA Ratification Effort,” Library of Congress

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Zitkála-Šá Oct 11, 2021

Writer, musician, and political activist Zitkála-Šá, also known as Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, was born on February 22, 1876, on the Yankton Indian Reservation in South Dakota, where she lived until she was eight.

When Zitkála-Šá was eight years old, missionaries came to the reservation to recruit children to go to White's Indiana Manual Labor Institute. Despite her mother’s pleading, Zitkála-Šá begged to go to the school with her older brother. She later wrote that she regretted the decision almost immediately, but after three years in the boarding school she no longer felt at home on the reservation either.

Throughout her life Zitkála-Šá continued to live in two worlds, using her writing and speaking to advocate for the rights of Native Americans. She taught at Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, the most well-known of the off reservation boarding schools, where she came into conflict with the school’s founder and headmaster Colonel Richard Henry Pratt, whose motto was “Kill the Indian, save the man.” She studied violin and wrote articles in Atlantic Monthly and Harper’s Monthly, critical of the boarding schools and the trauma the children experienced. Prof. William F. Hanson of Brigham Young University she wrote an opera, the Sun Dance Opera, based on the sacred Sioux ritual that had been banned by the federal government.

In 1926, Zitkála-Šá and her husband, Captain Raymond Bonnin, who was also Yankton Dakota, co-founded the National Council of American Indians to "help Indians help themselves" in government relations. Many conflicts had to be resolved by Congress and the Bonnins were instrumental in representing tribal interests. Zitkála-Šá was the council’s president, public speaker, and major fundraiser, until her death in 1938.

To help us learn more, I’m joined by Dr. P. Jane Hafen (Taos Pueblo), Professor Emerita of English at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the editor of two books of Zitkála-Šá’s writings: Dreams and Thunder: Stories, Poems, and the Sun Dance Opera and "Help Indians Help Themselves": The Later Writings of Gertrude Simmons-Bonnin (Zitkala-Sa), who graciously assisted in fact checking the introduction to this episode.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is: “Zitkala Sa, Sioux Indian and activist, c. 1898,” by Gertrude Kasebier, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.

Recommended Organization for Donation:

Native American Rights Fund

Additional Sources and Links:

American Indian Stories, Zitkála-Šá
Impressions of an Indian Childhood by Zitkála-Šá
Oklahoma's Poor Rich Indians: An Orgy of Graft and Exploitation of the Five Civilized Tribes, Legalized Robbery by Zitkala-S̈a, Charles H. Fabens, and Matthew K. Sniffen. Office of the Indian Rights Association, 1924.
Red Bird Sings: The Story of Zitkala-Sa, Native American Author, Musician, and Activist by Gina Capaldi (Author) and Q. L. Pearce (Author)
Zitkala-Ša (Red Bird / Gertrude Simmons Bonnin), National Park Service
“Zitkála-Šá: Trailblazing American Indian Composer and Writer” [video], UNLADYLIKE2020: THE CHANGEMAKERS, PBS.

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Women in the U.S. Military during the Cold War Oct 04, 2021

Nearly 350,000 American women served in the US military during World War II. Although the women in the military didn’t engage in combat their presence was vital to the American effort, in clerical work as well as in driving trucks, operating radios and telephones, repairing and flying planes, and of course, in nursing.

Women’s active duty was a temporary wartime measure, but when the war ended, Secretary of Defense James Forrestal, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and General Omar Bradley, among others, argued for the continued presence of women in the military. Rep. Margaret Chase Smith of Maine introduced the Women's Armed Services Integration Act to Congress in January 1948, and President Truman signed the bill into law on June 12, 1948.

From the end of World War II through the Cold War, women in the United States military navigated a space that welcomed and needed their service but put limits on their participation. To help us learn more, I’m joined by Dr. Tanya Roth, author of the new book, Her Cold War: Women in the U.S. Military, 1945–1980.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is: “WAF Officer candidate salutes in front of US flag. Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. November 1952.” The image source is the U.S. Air Force, and it is in the Public Domain.

Additional Sources:

“Pregnant Women to Be Allowed To Stay in the Military Forces,” New York Times, July 8, 1975
“Over 200 Years of Service: The History of Women in the U.S. Military,” uso.org.
“Women in the Army,” U.S. Army.
“Truman and Women’s Rights,” Truman Library Institute.
“Women in the Military Academies: 40 Years Later,” Department of Defense.
“Women in the Vietnam War,” History.com.

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Freedom Suits in Maryland & DC, 1790-1864 Sep 27, 2021

Slavery was legal in Maryland until November 1, 1864, when a new state constitution prohibited the practice of slavery. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation the year before had declared slaves in the Confederate states to be free, but Maryland was in the union and not included in the proclamation. From the late 18th Century until the Civil War, enslaved families in Prince George’s County, Maryland, brought over a thousand legal suits against hundreds of slaveholding families, arguing for their freedom.

In these freedom suits, enslaved individuals sued for their freedom based on issues of breach of contract or unjust detainment. When an enslaved person won a freedom suit the individual would be granted their freedom, and it could sometimes provide the basis for future lawsuits by family members, but the institution of slavery persisted.

In 1791, Edward Queen, an enslaved man at the White Marsh Plantation in Prince George's County, sued Rev. John Ashton, a Jesuit slaveholder, for his freedom in the Maryland General Court. In Edward Queen’s petition he said he was “descended from a freewoman,” his grandmother, Mary Queen, and thus was being illegally held in bondage. In May 1794 the all-white jury decided that Mary Queen was not a slave, and thus Edward Queen should be freed and awarded 1997 pounds of tobacco, at least a third of which went to Queen’s lawyers.

Despite legal maneuvering by slaveholders to make freedom suits more difficult for the enslaved, as many as 50 of Edward Queen’s enslaved relatives won their own freedom suits on the argument that Mary Queen was not a slave, and thus her descendents should not be enslaved.

Joining me to help us learn more about freedom suits is William G. Thomas III, the Angle Chair in the Humanities and Professor of History at the University of Nebraska, and author of A Question of Freedom: The Families Who Challenged Slavery from the Nation’s Founding to the Civil War.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Episode image: "Twenty-eight fugitives escaping from the Eastern Shore of Maryland," Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. The image is in the public domain.

Additional Sources:

O Say Can You See: Early Washington, D.C., Law & Family. William G. Thomas III, Kaci Nash, Laura Weakly, Karin Dalziel, and Jessica Dussault. University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
“Anna: One woman's quest for freedom in early Washington, D.C.,” Animating History, Michael Burton, Kwakiutl Dreher, William G. Thomas III. 2018.
The Georgetown Slavery Archive
“Rev. John Ashton,” Archives of Maryland.
“Missouri’s Dred Scott Case, 1846-1857,” Missouri State Archives.

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Chef Lena Richard Sep 20, 2021

Over a decade before Julia Child’s The French Chef appeared on TV, a Black woman chef hosted her own, very popular cooking show on WDSU-TV in New Orleans. At a time when families were just beginning to own televisions, Chef Lena Richard’s show was so popular that it aired twice a week.

Richard started working as a cook as a teenager for the wealthy Vairin family who employed her mom as a domestic servant. When their cook left, Alice Vairin gave Richard a trial run as cook and was so impressed that she hired her on the spot. Vairin later sent Richard to cooking schools, first locally and then at the prestigious eight-week Fannie Farmer Cooking School in Boston.

In addition to her television show, Richard’s storied career included launching a catering business; stints as head chef at the Bird and Bottle Inn in Garrison, New York, and the Travis House Restaurant and Inn, in Colonial Williamsburg; two of her own restaurants in New Orleans, Lena’s Eatery and Lena Richard’s Gumbo House; a cooking school; a frozen food business; and a best-selling Creole cookbook, New Orleans Cookbook.

Joining me to help us learn more about Chef Lena Richard are two guests: Chef Dee Lavigne of New Orleans, owner of Deelightful Cupcakes and Assistant Production Producer for the Sunday Morning News Food Segment on WWL-TV4; and Dr. Ashley Rose Young, Historian of the American Food History Project at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Episode images Courtesy of Newcomb Archive, Vorhoff Library Special Collections, Tulane University.

Sources:

“Meet Lena Richard, the Celebrity Chef Who Broke Barriers in the Jim Crow South,” by Lily Katzman, Smithsonian Magazine, June 12, 2020
“The Story of Lena Richard,” by Sarah Nerney, Colonial Williamsburg, August 22, 2020.
“Creole Cuisine: Lena Richard,” Google Arts & Culture, based on the exhibit in the Southern Food and Beverage Museum.
“Learning from the best: Lena Richard’s Creole Cookbook,” Rachael Garder-Stephen, Adam Matthew: A SAGE Publishing Company Blog, March 12, 2021.
“America's Unknown Celebrity Chef,” Sidedoor Podcast, June 9, 2020.

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African American AIDS Activism Sep 13, 2021

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the CDC), in 2018, 13% of the US population was Black and African American, but 42% of new HIV diagnoses in the US were from Black and African American people. This discrepancy is not new.

On June 5, 1981, the CDC first published an article in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) titled “Pneumocystis Pneumonia” that suggested that there might be “a cellular-immune dysfunction related to a common exposure that predisposes individuals to opportunistic infections such as pneumocystosis and candidiasis” to explain a number of infections they were seeing among gay men.

This early identification of HIV/AIDS as a disease of white gay men colored the response to the epidemic. As gay men organized AIDS education and support networks they built organizations staffed by white volunteers and situated in gay neighborhoods in major urban centers. Because of racism and segregation many of those gay neighborhoods were largely white, and the education and support campaigns didn’t reach the Black and brown communities that were also affected by the disease.

In response, African American AIDS activists formed their own organizations from the beginning of the crisis. African American AIDS activism was diverse and creative from the early days of the pandemic, and it continues today, but it’s often been missing from popular media and historical writing about AIDS.

In this episode, Kelly briefly tells the background of African American AIDS activism and interviews Dan Royles, Assistant Professor of History at Florida International University and author of To Make the Wounded Whole: The African American Struggle against HIV/AIDS, which was recently named a Finalist in the 2021 Museum of African American History Stone Book Award.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Episode image by Tobe Mokolo on Unsplash.

Sources:

To Make the Wounded Whole: The African American Struggle Against Hiv/AIDS, by Dan Royles, 2020.
“Forty years after first documented AIDS cases, survivors reckon with 'dichotomy of feelings,'” by Alex Berg, NBC News, June 5, 2021.
“Pneumocystis Pneumonia --- Los Angeles,” MMWR, Reported by MS Gottlieb, MD, HM Schanker, MD, PT Fan, MD, A Saxon, MD, JD Weisman, DO, Div of Clinical Immunology-Allergy; Dept of Medicine, UCLA School of Medicine; I Pozalski, MD, Cedars-Mt. Sinai Hospital, Los Angeles; Field services Div, Epidemiology Program Office, CDC. June 5, 1981
“HIV and African American People,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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The Coors Boycott Sep 06, 2021

In the mid-1960s, to protest discriminatory hiring practices, Chicano groups in Colorado called for a boycott of the Coors Brewing Company, launching what would become a decades-long boycott that brought together a coalition of activists that would include not just Chicano and Latino groups, but also African American groups, union organizers, LGBT activists, students, environmentalists and feminists.

These groups had a variety of motivations for their involvement in the boycott and varied success in achieving their goals. Although the formal boycott ended by the late 1980s, some activists continue to boycott Coors beer to today.

In this episode, Kelly briefly tells the story of the Coors boycott and interviews Allyson P. Brantley, Assistant Professor of History & Director of Honors and Interdisciplinary Initiatives at the University of La Verne in Southern California, and author of the 2021 book Brewing a Boycott: How a Grassroots Coalition Fought Coors & Remade American Consumer Activism.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Episode image: 1970s-era “Boycott Coors Beer” broadside. Printed by the Howard Quinn Co.

Sources:

Brewing a Boycott: How a Grassroots Coalition Fought Coors & Remade American Consumer Activism by Allyson P. Brantley.
“The Coors Boycott: When A Beer Can Signaled Your Politics,” by B. Erin Cole & Allyson Brantley, Colorado Public Radio, October 3, 2014,
“‘A Political Fight Over Beer’: The 1977 Coors Beer Boycott, and the Relationship Between Labour–Gay Alliances and LGBT Social Mobility,” by Kieran Blake, Midland Historical Review, January 24, 2020.
“TEAMSTERS PRIDE AT WORK: A LOOK BACK AT THE COORS BOYCOTT,” International Brotherhood of Teamster, June 2, 2017.

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Phrenology & Crime in 19th Century America Aug 30, 2021

In Nineteenth Century America there was a strong reformist push to know and improve the self. One key tactic Americans used to learn more about themselves was phrenological readings. They would pay practical phrenologists, like Orson Squire Fowler and his younger brother, Lorenzo Niles Fowler for readings of their skulls or their children’s skulls.

In Lorenzo Fowler’s reading of Emily Sawyer, he concluded a thirteen-page analysis by saying: “Cultivate as much as you can the organs marked smallest in your Chart + properly guide and exercise the stronger ones + thus produce a harmony of mental and physical action.” By using the phrenological readings of themselves or their children, Nineteenth Century Americans could apply the advice to become the best version of themselves.

Practical phrenologists weren’t interested only in reform of the self, but in larger societal reform as well. For practical phrenologists, prisons were the site of both research and reform; they argued for the elimination of capital punishment and the reform of prisons to include re-education instead of punishment.

Despite the reform impulse of phrenologists, phrenology was also used as a scientific reason to justify racism and gender stereotyping. American phrenologists were sympathetic to liberal causes including the antislavery movement, even while claiming the superiority of the European brain.

By the early 20th century phrenology had been largely discredited in the public, but some of the concepts of phrenology, including propensities and physical localization in the brain of different characteristics have persisted.

In this episode, Kelly briefly tells the story of phrenology in 19th Century America and interviews Courtney Thompson, Assistant Professor of History at Mississippi State University, and author of the February 2021 book, An Organ of Murder: Crime, Violence, and Phrenology in Nineteenth-Century America.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Episode image: “A head marked with images representing the phrenological faculties, with a key below. Coloured wood engraving, ca. 1845, after H. Bushea and O.S. Fowler.” Wellcome Collection. Public Domain.

Sources:

An Organ of Murder: Crime, Violence, and Phrenology in Nineteenth-Century America by Courtney E. Thompson
"Facing a Bumpy History: The much-maligned theory of phrenology gets a tip of the hat from modern neuroscience," by Minna Scherlinder Morse, Smithsonian Magazine, October 1997.
"Mesmerism and Phrenology in Antebellum Charleston: 'Enough of the Marvellous'" by Peter McCandless. The Journal of Southern History, 58(2), 199-230. doi:10.2307/2210860.
The History of Phrenology on the Web by John van Wyhe
Encyclopedia of medical history by Roderick E. McGrew and Margaret P. McGrew, 1985.

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Chesapeake Bay Pirates & the 19th Century Oyster Wars Aug 23, 2021

In Chesapeake Bay in the late 19th century, oyster harvesting was a big business. There were so many oyster harvesters harvesting so many oysters that the legislatures of Maryland and Virginia had to start regulating who could harvest oysters and how they could do so. Creating the regulations was the easy part; enforcing them was much harder. The illegal harvesting of oysters by oyster pirates continued, even after the creation of the Maryland State Oyster Police Force in 1868 and a similar force in Virginia in 1884.

The first of the Oyster Wars was in Virginia in 1882 when Governor William E. Cameron himself joined the expedition to raid the pirates. The first raid was a success, but Cameron quickly learned that pirates wouldn’t stay defeated for long, and the oyster wars continued. By the late 1880s the Oyster Wars turned deadly.

The Oyster Wars remained an important part of Chesapeake Bay history all the way until the “official” end of the Oyster Wars in 1959, although even that may have not truly been the end.

In this episode, Kelly briefly tells the story of the Oyster Wars and (with a little help from her son, Arthur, interviews Jamie Goodall, author of Pirates of the Chesapeake Bay: From the Colonial Era to the Oyster Wars.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Episode image: “The oyster war in Chesapeake Bay,” Drawing by Schell and Hogan. Harper's Weekly, Mar. 1, 1884, p. 136. Library of Congress.

Sources:

Pirates of the Chesapeake Bay: From the Colonial Era to the Oyster Wars by Jamie L. H. Goodall
National Geographic Pirates: Shipwrecks, Conquests & Legacy by Jamie L. H. Goodall
The Oyster Wars of Chesapeake Bay by John R Wennersten
The daily dispatch. (Richmond, VA), 04 March 1883. Library of Congress.
"Oyster Wars," Baltimore Sun, February 10, 2015.
Oyster Question: Scientists, Watermen, and the Maryland Chesapeake Bay Since 1880 by Christine Keiner
"An Evolving Force: Natural Resources Police Celebrates 150th Anniversary," Maryland Department of Natural Resources, March 30, 2018.
“Landscapes of Resistance: A View of the Nineteenth-Century Chesapeake Bay Oyster Fishery” by Bradford Botwick and Debra A. McClane. Historical Archaeology, vol. 39, no. 3, 2005, pp. 94–112.

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Prohibition in the 1850s Aug 16, 2021

Popular depictions of prohibition in the United States usually show the speakeasies, bootleggers, flappers, and bathtub gin of the Roaring Twenties, but earlier attempts at prohibition stretch back far into the 19th century.

In 1851, Maine passed the first statewide prohibition law, and 12 other states quickly followed as temperance societies preached the evils of alcohol. Anti-prohibitionists, especially liquor dealers and hotel owners, decried the “tyranny of the majority” and fought back with their own PR campaigns and legal challenges.

Many of the methods that the anti-prohibitionists used and that were used by other moral minorities of the day (such as those fighting against Sunday Laws and those working toward racial equality) were precursors to the methods used in the Civil Rights Movement in the 20th century.

In this episode, Kelly briefly tells the story of the 1850s Maine Laws and interviews Kyle Volk, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of HIstory at the University of Montana, and author of Moral Minorities and the Making of American Democracy, which discusses these early attempts at prohibition.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Episode image: “The drunkard's children. A sequel to The bottle” by George Cruikshank, 1848, Wellcome Collection.

Sources:

Moral Minorities and the Making of American Democracy by Kyle Volk, 2017
“When Maine went dry,” by Kelly Bouchard, Portland Press Herald, October 2, 2011
The Maine Liquor Law: Its Origin, History, and Results, Including a Life of Hon. Neal Dowby Henry Stephen Clubb, 1856.
“Throwback Thursday: Maine Becomes the First State to Outlaw Alcohol,” by Madline Bilis, Boston Magazine, June 2, 2016
“What if the Fourth of July were dry?” by Kyle Volk, Oxford University Press Blog, July 4, 2014
An inquiry into the effects of ardent spirits upon the human body and mind: with an account of the means of preventing, and of the remedies for curing them by Benjamin Rush, 1784.

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The Nativist Riots of Philadelphia in 1844 Aug 09, 2021

In May of 1844, growing tensions between nativists and Irish Catholic immigrants in Philadelphia erupted into violence in the streets of the Irish Catholic Kensington district, prompted in part by a disagreement over whether the King James Bible should be read in public schools.

A citizen posse called by county sheriff Morton McMichael was unable to quell the violence, and the local state militia, under the command of General George Cadwalader stepped in to help, as homes and churches were destroyed, $150,000 in damages (equivalent to over $4 million today). Fourteen people were killed and as many as 50 were injured.

After two months of uneasy peace, the violence re-ignited, this time in the nativist district of Southwark where a Catholic church had been stockpiling weapons in anticipation of trouble. After a long stand-off, an hours-long battle between the military presence that arrived and the local nativists took over the streets of Southwark, as they fired at each other with guns and cannons. Another 15 people died, with fifty or more injuries.

The riots, which got national attention, had lasting effects in politics and city planning and in the development of the Catholic school system in Philadelphia.

In this episode, Kelly briefly tells the story of the Philadelphia riots and interviews George Mason University History Professor Zachary Schrag, author of The Fires of Philadelphia: Citizen-Soldiers, Nativists, and the 1844 Riots Over the Soul of a Nation.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Episode image: Riot in Philadelphia. July 7th 1844. by H. Bucholzer, ca. 1844. New York: James Baillie, July 23. https://www.loc.gov/item/2003654121/

Sources:

The Fires of Philadelphia: Citizen-Soldiers, Nativists, and the 1844 Riots Over the Soul of a Nation by Zachary M. Schrag
"Nativist Riots of 1844," Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia by Zachary M. Schrag
"The Kensington Riots of 1844" by Melissa Mandell of Historical Society of Pennsylvania
"Chaos in the Streets: The Philadelphia Riots of 1844," Villanova University
A full and complete account of the late awful riots in Philadelphia (1844) by John Perry

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Elizabeth Packard Aug 02, 2021

Elizabeth Packard was born in Massachusetts in 1816 into a comfortable home where her parents were able to provide for her education. She taught briefly at a girls’ school before at age 23 agreeing at her parents’ urging to marry 37-year-old Calvinist minister Theophilus Packard. Over the next 20 years Elizabeth was a devoted mother and housewife who grew the family’s vegetables and sewed clothes for their six children.

To the outside world, it appeared to be a contented marriage, until Elizabeth started to publicly express her religious beliefs, which were at odds with her husband’s. Theophilus questioned her sanity and threatened to have her committed if she continued. Elizabeth continued, and Theophilus kept his promise, taking advantage of the law, which allowed a husband to have his wife committed, without either public hearing or her consent.

After three years in the Illinois State Asylum and Hospital for the Insane in Jacksonville, Illinois, Elizabeth was deemed incurable and released. Then, after getting the jury trial she’d been requesting for three years, Elizabeth was finally able to share her story with the world, and she began her remarkable career as a writer and social reformer.

In this episode, Kelly briefly tells the story of Elizabeth Packard’s life and interviews New York Times bestselling author Kate Moore, who has recently published a wonderfully detailed narrative account of Elizabeth Packard’s life, titled: The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Episode image: from Elizabeth Packard's 1866 book, Marital Power Exemplified in Mrs. Packard’s Trial.

Sources:

The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear by Kate Moore
"Declared Insane for Speaking Up: The Dark American History of Silencing Women Through Psychiatry," by Kate Moore. Time Magazine, June 22, 2021.
"Marital Power Exemplified in Mrs. Packard's Trial, and Self-Defence from the Charge of Insanity" by Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard
"Elizabeth Packard: Nineteenth-Century Crusader for the Rights of Mental Patients," by Myra Samuels Himelhoch and Arthur H. Shaffer, Journal of American Studies, Vol. 13, No. 3 (Dec., 1979), pp. 343-375.
"Badass Elizabeth Series," Packed with Packards Blog.

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Mary Mallon (The Sad & Complicated Story of "Typhoid Mary") Jul 26, 2021

Mary Mallon, known to history as Typhoid Mary, immigrated from Northern Ireland to New York City at age 15, around 1883. She found work as a cook, a well paying job for an immigrant woman and worked for number of different families in the early 20th Century.

In March 1907, civil engineer George Soper burst into the kitchen of the home where she was cooking and told her that she was spreading typhoid via her cooking. He demanded samples of her feces, urine, and blood to test. Mallon, who believed she was in perfect health, chased him away with a carving fork.

Mallon spent most of the rest of her life in quarantine, on North Brother Island, forced to give regular stool and urine samples. She was briefly released, but knowing no other skills, cooked again and was forced back into quarantine.

Although Mallon was the first person in the US identified as a healthy carrier of typhoid, by the time of her second quarantine in 1915, many healthy carriers had been identified, more than 400 in New York alone. None of the other healthy carriers was forcibly confined, even the other cooks or those who caused more cases and more deaths than Mallon did.

In this episode, Kelly briefly tells the history of Mary Mallon’s quarantines, and interviews Kari Nixon, an assistant professor of English at Whitworth University, who teaches medical humanities and Victorian literature. Dr. Nixon is author of the 2021 book Quarantine Life from Cholera to Covid-19: What Pandemics Teach Us about Parenting, Work, Life, and Communities from the 1700s to Today.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Episode image from The New York American (June 20, 1909 issue).

Sources:

Quarantine Life from Cholera to Covid-19: What Pandemics Teach Us about Parenting, Work, Life, and Communities from the 1700s to Today, by Kari Nixon, 2021.
Typhoid Mary: Captive to the Public's Health, by Judith Walzer Leavitt, 1997.
Contagious: Cultures, Carriers, and the Outbreak Narrative, by Priscilla Wald, 2008.
"The Work of a Chronic Typhoid Germ Distributor," by George Soper, JAMA. 1907; XLVIII(24):2019–2022.
"The sad and tragic life of Typhoid Mary," by J. Brooks, CMAJ. 1996;154(6):915-916.
"The Most Dangerous Woman in America," NOVA.

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The El Centro Hunger Strike of 1985 Jul 19, 2021

In 1945, United States immigration officials opened the El Centro Immigration Detention Camp in El Centro, California, to be an administrative holding center for unauthorized Mexican migrants, many of whom had been working on local farms and ranches. From the beginning, migrants were often detained for long periods of time while they served as the unpaid labor force of the center.

Conditions were poor in the facility in the decades that followed, and in 1985 the incarcerated migrants (by this time a multinational group) decided to strike. On May 27, 1985, fifteen detained men stormed the mess hall, inspiring somewhere between 175-300 more men to join them. The group refused to work, to go inside, or to eat until their grievances were met. Their complaints included inhumane conditions in the 120-degree heat of the Imperial Valley, poor food quality, inadequate medical treatment, lack of entertainment, physical abuse, psychological intimidation, solitary confinement, and threats of violence.

In this episode, Kelly briefly tells the history of the El Centro facility and the 1985 Hunger Strike, and interviews Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Jessica Ordaz, author of The Shadow of El Centro: A History of Migrant Incarceration and Solidarity.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Episode image by Ralph (Ravi) Kayden on Unsplash.

Sources:

The Shadow of El Centro: A History of Migrant Incarceration and Solidarity by Jessica Ordaz. University of North Carolina Press, 2021.
"ICE immigration center in El Centro closes," by Tatiana Sanchez. The Desert Sun, October 1, 2014.
"Aliens Staging Hunger Strike at Detention Camp," By Judith Cummings, Special To the New York Times, June 4, 1985.

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Black Teachers & The Civil Rights Movement in South Carolina Jul 12, 2021

On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court decided unanimously in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas that that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional. Although the process was slow and contentious, the SCOTUS decisions in Brown and Brown II required that desegregation must occur "with all deliberate speed" to provide Black students with the equal protection under the law required by the 14th Amendment.

Black teachers had no protections or guarantees under the Brown ruling. As Southern states tried to destroy the NAACP using legislatures and courts, they targeted teachers with the belief that, as Candace Cunningham writes, “to dispense with Black teachers was to weaken the NAACP. To dispose of Black teachers was to destabilize the civil rights movement.” In March 1956, the South Carolina general assembly passed a series of anti-NAACP statutes, including the anti-NAACP oath, which made it illegal for local, county, or state government employees to be NAACP members.

In May 1956, in Elloree, South Carolina, 21 Black teachers refused to distance themselves from the NAACP, and the white school officials did not rehire them for the following year. The Elloree teachers, with NAACP lawyers, took their case to court in Bryan v. Austin in September 1956.

In this episode, Kelly tells the story of what happened with Black teachers in Elloree, South Carolina, in aftermath of Brown v. Board, and interviews Assistant Professor of History at Florida Atlantic University, Candace Cunningham.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Episode image: Civil rights march on Washington, D.C. Warren K. Leffler. 1963. https://www.loc.gov/item/2003654393/

Sources:

“Hell Is Popping Here in South Carolina”: Orangeburg County Black Teachers and Their Community in the Immediate Post-Brown Era," by Candace Cunningham, History of Education Quarterly, February 3, 2021.
"A Hidden History of Integration and the Shortage of Teachers of Color," by Cindy Long, NEA Today, March 11, 2020
"School Desegregation and Black Teacher Employment," Working Paper by Owen Thompson, National Bureau of Economic Research, June 2019.
"65 Years After ‘Brown v. Board,’ Where Are All the Black Educators?" by Madeline Will, EdWeek, May 14, 2019.

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Homosexuality and the Left Before 1960 Jul 05, 2021

Political activism of queer people in the United States started long before the Stonewall riots in 1969. One surprising place that queer people found a home for their activism was in the Communist Party. The Communist Party of the United States was established in 1919, and from the 1920s to the 1940s the Party was influential in American politics, at the forefront of labor organizing and opposition to racism. It was the first political party in the US to be racially integrated. Some queer folks embraced the radical politics of the Party and found it to be a place where they could agitate for radical sexual politics as well.

One of the first national gay rights organizations in the United States, The Mattachine Society, was founded in 1950 by prominent Communist Harry Hay and a group of friends in Los Angeles. However, in the early 1950s as Joseph McCarthy and others publicly linked homosexuality and Communism as threats to the 'American way of life,' homosexuals began to distance themselves from the Left to gain acceptance, and the previous links between homosexuals and the Communist Party were lost or suppressed. In 1953 Harry Hay was ousted from the Mattachine Society in part because of his Communist affiliation, which by then was considered a liability.

In this episode, Kelly tells the history of homosexuality and the Communist Party in America in the early 20th Century and interviews Associate Professor of American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston Aaron Lecklider, author of Love’s Next Meeting: The Forgotten History of Homosexuality and the Left in American Culture.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Episode image: Members of Marine Cooks and Stewards Union. Courtesy Black Heritage Society of Washington State. Public domain.

Sources:

Love's Next Meeting: The Forgotten History of Homosexuality and the Left in American Culture, by Aaron Lecklider, 2021
"Despite Everything, Queer Leftists Survived," by Scott W. Stern, Jacobin Magazine, June 2021.
"Milestones in the American Gay Rights Movement," PBS
"Communist Party USA History and Geography," Mapping American Social Movements Project, University of Washington
"Homophiles': The LGBTQ rights movement began long before Stonewall," by Ben Kesslen, NBC News, June 10, 2019

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Sophonisba Breckinridge Jun 28, 2021

Sophonisba “Nisba” Preston Breckinridge, born April 1, 1866, was a woman of firsts. Breckinridge was the first woman admitted to the Kentucky bar to practice law in 1895; the first woman to earn a PhD in Political Science at the University of Chicago in 1901; the first woman to earn a JD at the University of Chicago Law School in 1904; the first woman professor granted a named professorship at the University of Chicago in 1929; and the first woman to serve as U.S. representative to a high-level international conference in 1933.

Along the way, Breckinridge co-founded the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Social Service Administration (now the The Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice), was instrumental in the creation and promotion of The Social Security Act of 1935 and The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, and published extensively in the fields of family, public welfare, and children.

Kelly briefly tells Breckinridge’s story and interviews Anya Jabour, Regents Professor of History at the University of Montana, and author of Sophonisba Breckinridge: Championing Women's Activism in Modern America.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Episode image: By Bain News Service - Library of Congress, http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.07524. Public Domain.

Sources:

Sophonisba Breckinridge: Championing Women's Activism in Modern America by Anya Jabour, University of Illinois Press, 2019
"Sophonisba Breckinridge," The Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
"Reclaiming Sophonisba," University of Chicago Law School, by Becky Beaupre Gillespie, January 6, 2020
"‘Forgotten Feminist’ Sophonisba Breckinridge was a Woman of Many Firsts" by Meredith Francis, WTTW, October 7, 2020
"When lesbians led the women’s suffrage movement," The Conversation, by Anya Jabour, January 24, 2020

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Susie King Taylor Jun 21, 2021

usie King Taylor was born into slavery in Georgia in 1848. With the help of family members, she was educated and escaped, joining the Union army at the age of 14, to serve ostensibly as a laundress, but in reality as a nurse, teacher, and even musket preparer. In 1902, Taylor published Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33d United States Colored Troops, an autobiography that covers not just her experiences during the Civil War, but also her childhood and her later years. Taylor includes in the work her powerful analysis of race relations at the beginning of 20th Century.

Kelly briefly tells Taylor’s remarkable story and interviews Ben Railton, Professor of American literature and American Studies at Fitchburg State University, and author of Of Thee I Sing: The Contested History of American Patriotism.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Episode image: Susie King Taylor, Published by the subject, 1902 [from a photograph taken earlier]. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Public Domain.

Sources:

Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33d United States Colored Troops by Susie King Taylor
"Susie King Taylor: An African American Nurse and Teacher in the Civil," Library of Congress
The Susie King Taylor Women's Institute and Ecology Center

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The Jackson State Shootings in May 1970 Jun 14, 2021

Just after midnight on May 15, 1970, officers opened fire on a group of unarmed students milling in front of a dorm on the campus of Jackson State College in Jackson, Mississippi, killing two and wounding twelve. Although the shootings took place just a week and a half after the shootings at Kent State University, the Jackson State shootings never got the attention of those at Kent State, and when they did they were often described as a second Kent State, erasing the context of white supremacy and state-based violence that inform what happened in Jackson.

Kelly tells the tragic story of the Jackson State shootings and interviews Nancy Bristow, Professor of History at the University of Puget Sound, and author of Steeped in the Blood of Racism: Black Power, Law and Order, and the 1970 Shootings at Jackson State College to find out more.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Episode image: Alexander Hall, viewed from across Lynch Street, National Archives. Public Domain.

Sources:

Steeped in the Blood of Racism: Black Power, Law and Order, and the 1970 Shootings at Jackson State College by Nancy K. Bristow
"The Report of the President's Commission on Campus Unrest." Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402, 1970.
“Program about the Jackson State Killings, Jackson, Mississippi,” WYSO, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC.
"50 Years After the Jackson State Killings, America's Crisis of Racial Injustice Continues—and Shows the Danger of Forgetting," Time Magazine, by Nancy K. Bristow, May 14, 2020
"The Jackson State shootings are often overlooked. But Rich Caster still remembers." The Washington Post, by Kevin B. Blackstone, May 14, 2020.
"GIBBS/GREEN 51st COMMEMORATION 2021," Jackson State University, May 15, 2021. [Facebook Video]

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Knitting Brigades of World War I Jun 07, 2021

Between America’s entry into World War I and the end of the war less than two years later, Americans knit 23 million articles of clothing and bandages for soldiers overseas, directed by the American Red Cross. How was this knitting organized? Who did the knitting? And why don’t more people know about this impressive feat? Kelly digs into the story of World War I knitting efforts and interviews Holly Korda, author of The Knitting Brigades of World War I: Volunteers for Victory in America and Abroad to find out more.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. Episode Image: Women knit at the Red Cross Knitting Booth while waiting for their trains at New York’s Grand Central Station, 1918. NATIONAL ARCHIVES/ 20802094.

Sources:

The Knitting Brigades of World War I by Holly Korda.
"The Wool Brigades of World War I, When Knitting was a Patriotic Duty," Atlas Obscura.
"Knitting for Victory — World War I," History Link.
"Showing support for the Great War with knitting needles," Smithsonian.
"'Knit Your Bit': The American Red Cross Knitting Program," Center for Knit and Crochet.
"Wilson's Sheep," The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum.
"Knitted Articles for the American Red Cross," The Delineator, V.91 1917. [Knitting Patterns]

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Introducing Unsung History Jun 03, 2021

A podcast about the people and events in American history you may not know much about. Yet. With host Kelly Therese Pollock.

In each episode of Unsung History I’ll start us out with a short narrative answering the Who, What, When, and Where to introduce you to the topic, and then I’ll talk to someone who can help us learn the Why and How: a historian or other academic, a journalist or researcher, or someone who was there when history as history unfolded. Launching June 7, 2021.

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