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Our American Stories tells stories that aren’t being told. Positive stories about generosity and courage, resilience and redemption, faith and love. Stories about the past and present. And stories about ordinary Americans who do extraordinary things each and every day. Stories from our listeners about their lives. And their history. In that pursuit, we hope we’ll be a place where listeners can refresh their spirit, and be inspired by our stories.
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On this episode of Our American Stories, Our American Stories listener from Iowa, Roger Rench, shares memories from his time playing various competitive sports throughout his life that are sure to put a smile on your face. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1851, Olive Oatman was thirteen years old and traveling west with her Mormon family during the era of westward expansion. Along the way, her family was attacked, and Olive and her younger sister were taken captive.For years, Olive lived among Native American tribes of the Southwest, including time with the Mojave, where she received a traditional chin tattoo that would later make her instantly recognizable. When she eventually returned to white society, she carried with her a story that unsettled the tidy narratives of the American frontier.Bob Boze Bell of True West magazine shares the life of Olive Oatman, a figure caught between cultures during one of the most turbulent periods in American history. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1965, California Senator George Murphy started a sweet tradition, literally. He began stocking his desk on the Senate floor with candy to share with his colleagues. That desk, now known as the “Senate Candy Desk,” remains a Capitol Hill tradition to this day. Jesse Edwards shares the history, mystery, and origins behind one of the Senate’s most interesting traditions. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, since its release in 1983, Francis Ford Coppola’s film adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders has drawn generations of viewers back to Tulsa, Oklahoma. The story of Ponyboy, Johnny, and the Greasers has become part of American coming-of-age culture, and the modest house where much of the film was shot still stands in the city where it was made.Now, in what is surely one of the most interesting pop culture intersections of all time, hip-hop artist Danny Boy O’Connor from the rap group House of Pain, best known for their iconic 1992 anthem “Jump Around,” purchased the Tulsa, Oklahoma home where much of The Outsiders film was shot. Here to tell the story is Danny Boy O’Connor himself. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, the 1984 NBA Draft brought Michael Jordan to Chicago and led Nike into a gamble that would define its future. Nike committed to a signature shoe built around a rookie and released a design that drew immediate scrutiny from league officials. But the fines that followed became part of the story rather than the end of it.As Jordan’s career began to climb, so did the visibility of the Air Jordan line. Nicholas Smith, the author of Kicks, revisits the early days of the Nike and Michael Jordan partnership and the circumstances that led to one of the most recognizable brands in sports. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, from the days of Hulk Hogan to modern WWE, wrestlers travel constantly, train relentlessly, and perform feats that demand strength, timing, and endurance. The spectacle may be designed for drama, but the toll on the body is no joke. Riley Evans, sportswriter and CEO of RealPodcasting.com, shares the real story and cost behind professional wrestling. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, as a young woman, Harmony Dust Grillo found herself pulled into the commercial sex industry, a world that promised independence but delivered something far more complicated. One friendship, however, changed everything. Here’s Harmony with the story. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, in the 1970s, spotting Elvis Presley on tour meant crowds, security, and long odds. For one twelve-year-old girl from Colorado, it meant something else entirely: an eight-hour car chase fueled by determination and the hope of catching a glimpse of the King of Rock and Roll. Our American Stories listener Patty shares her story. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, on March 5, 1770, tensions in colonial Boston erupted when British soldiers fired into a crowd, killing five men in what would soon be known as the Boston Massacre. The event became one of the most significant moments in the timeline of early American history. Then John Adams made a decision that stunned many of his fellow colonists.Though he believed British policy toward the colonies was unjust, Adams agreed to defend the soldiers in court. He understood that if the American cause stood for liberty and justice, it could not abandon those principles when they were inconvenient. Our own Greg Hengler shares the story. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, listener and regular contributor Joy Neal Kidney, from Des Moines, Iowa, shares the story of her uncle, Donald Wilson, a man she knew simply as “Uncle Don,” the quiet fisherman from Washington State who sent home pictures of himself holding salmon.But behind those snapshots was a story few would have guessed. Donald Wilson grew up in small-town Iowa and joined the Navy during the Great Depression. Serving aboard the USS Yorktown throughout its life, including during the pivotal Battle of Midway. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, The Klondike Gold Rush reshaped the Yukon and Alaskan frontiers almost overnight, drawing prospectors from around the world into one of the most unforgiving landscapes in North America. Among them was Belinda Mulrooney, a businesswoman who understood that the real opportunity of a gold rush often lies beyond the mines.Rather than search for gold herself, Mulrooney built the infrastructure that made the rush possible. She supplied miners, constructed hotels, and moved quickly in a volatile economy where fortunes appeared and vanished with startling speed. Her success brought international attention, and for a time she stood as the richest woman in the Klondike. Here to tell her story is historian Roger McGrath, author of Gunfighters, Highwaymen, and Vigilantes: Violence on the Frontier. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, when Tracy Grant’s husband became terminally ill, their lives shifted from planning for the future to paying close attention to the present. Over the next seven months, Tracy became her husband’s caregiver in every sense of the word. She managed medications and appointments, but she also found herself rediscovering the core of their marriage.Tracy joins us to reflect on those final months and why the season that looked like a loss from the outside became, for her, a profound and life-altering gift. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, there is a moment when you realize the toys are still in the room, but they are no longer being played with. Our regular contributor, Stephen Rusiniak, remembers the years when his daughter’s world revolved around stuffed animals, bedtime stories, and the small rituals of early childhood. He also remembers the first time he saw her step away from all of it, when she got rid of her Easy-Bake Oven. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, in the summer of 1787, delegates gathered in Philadelphia to draft what would become the Constitution of the United States. The Articles of Confederation had proven too weak, and the young nation faced a basic question: How should power be divided in a republic made up of very different states?The answer became known as the Great Compromise: a House based on population and a Senate with equal votes for every state. In our 10th episode of our ongoing Story of Us—The Story of America series, Dr. Bill McClay, author of Land of Hope, shares the story of how the Constitution was designed with our most partisan attributes in mind. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, on November 9, 1991, fifteen-year-old Hayden Perkins was driving home through the Mississippi Delta when a strong gust of wind pushed his SUV off the highway. The vehicle rolled, and he was thrown through the windshield, eventually leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.He returned to school in a wheelchair and, in time, returned to the question every teenager faces: what comes next? Prior to his accident, dentistry was never on his mind. But, years later, it became his main profession. Hayden joins us to share that harrowing story of that afternoon and how that path led him to his practice in Oxford, Mississippi, today. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, in parts of Burma, civilians live between armed groups with little protection. The Free Burma Rangers move into those areas to treat the wounded and help families escape.Founded by former Green Beret Dave Eubank, the group blends military training with humanitarian work. Their missions include medical rescue, documentation of human rights violations, and direct support for displaced communities. Dave joins us to tell his story. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, Phillis Wheatley was brought from Africa to Boston as a child and enslaved. Within a few years, she was reading classical literature and writing poetry that would be published in 1773 in Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral.Leslie Johnson of The American Village revisits Phillis Wheatley’s life, her poetry on slavery and faith, and the uneasy place she held in a nation demanding liberty while denying hers. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, when the Soviets took control of Lithuania at the end of World War II, Audrey Gruss’s parents fled. After time in a displaced persons camp in Germany, they came to the United States, sponsored by relatives in Newark, New Jersey.Her mother, Hope, later developed severe depression at a time when mental illness was rarely discussed and poorly treated. Following her mother's death, she decided to establish a depression research foundation to help those like her mother receive the kind of care she never received. Audrey joins us to discuss her parents' courageous escape and how she honors her mother through her work every day. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, before interchangeable parts became standard in factories, they were an idea in need of proof. And Eli Whitney saw opportunity in that idea.Seeking federal backing, he promoted the concept that muskets could be assembled from uniform, standardized pieces. That claim pointed toward the future of American manufacturing. Here to tell the story is Ashley Hlebinsky. Ashley is the former co-host of Discovery Channel’s Master of Arms, the former curator in charge of the Cody Firearms Museum, and president of The Gun Code, LLC. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On this episode of Our American Stories, despite the church's refusal to annul a previous marriage, this couple spent days together for decades, all the while upholding their traditional values. And despite never exchanging vows, even death couldn't part them. Tom Ryan, an Our American Stories listener, shares the story. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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McCullough is ignorant: Hitler didn't call his followers "Nazis" (He called them "SOCIALISTS" by the very word). He is ignorant of discoveries by Historian Dr. Rex Curry: Hitler's flag symbol represented "S means SOCIALIST" (& Hitler didn't call it a swastika); Hitler's socialist salute came from the USA socialist Francis Bellamy. Soviet socialism joined German socialism to start WW2 into Poland & onward. Stop misgendering Hitler. Don't repeat modern socialist lies.
saw something about this podcast via a video on my Facebook and thought it looked intriguing
Nice storu
Amazing Ms Lamar
this is the first hit for conservative alt. to /morning edition/ is there such a show? mix of daily news weather and human interest, well produced, and with different ideología?
I love to hear the stories they are uplifting and informative thanks for all the work you guys do
I can't get these episodes to open.