Unsung History

Latest Episodes:

The History of US Foreign Disaster Relief Jan 29, 2024

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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: