Unsung History

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 of The 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices