The city of New Orleans, circa 1885 (Courtesy of the Library of Congress)

In April of 1927, the Mississippi River began to flood states from Illinois to Louisiana. After months of unprecedented rain, the flood waters poured from the river’s banks at a rate of twenty eight Olympic swimming pools each second. Hundreds of people died. Hundreds of thousands were displaced. America was reshaped, both demographically and politically.

The Mississippi River is central to the American economy and imagination. And for centuries, it has served as a battlefield for America’s most complicated social and economic struggles. On this episode of BackStory, we’re going to look at the role the river has played in the American story – how access to its waters both united and divided a country, and how efforts to tame it have consistently come up just a little bit short.

Help Us Out: We want to hear about the role the Mississippi has played in your own history. Was reading Huck Finn a pivotal moment in your young life? Did you or your family grow up in a delta town? Or perhaps you’ve experienced the flood waters yourself. Let us know, below.

Woman in Hysteria
(Wikimedia Commons)

Later this month, the American Psychological Association will release the 5th version of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, or DSM. Some predict that new disorders within its pages will reclassify millions of previously “normal” people as having a disorder of some sort. These reclassifications will have serious consequences for medical coverage, drug treatments and society itself. Is this a good thing?

On this episode, we will explore the ways the diagnostic line between mental health and madness has moved over time. What has and hasn’t counted as crazy — and why? We will examine how the “woman’s disease,” hysteria, switched genders before disappearing altogether. We will visit a woman whose sleepwalking mysteriously could not be cured by bloodletting. And we will take the quiz that finally answers the question: Do I have the mental disorder that leads to fascism?

Help us make the show! Do you have a question about the history of madness? Do you know someone who has been saved or harmed by a certain treatment? Is there something that we should be looking into? Leave a question or comment below, leave us a voicemail (434-260-1053), or email us at <backstory@virginia.edu>.

Joe “Toots” Shultz, Phillies pitching prospect (1913, c/o Library of Congress)

This past fall we received nearly 100 pitches for show topics – some of which made it on the air! Episodes about illicit drugs and voting were pitched by listeners, and lots of individual stories had their origins in your brains as well. So help us keep up the process! Propose a topic below and explain why you think it would make a compelling subject for us to tackle.

If you’ve never listened to BackStory, spend some time in our archive of past shows to get a sense of what we’re all about. You can also read what others have pitched in the past here and here. Basically, we’re looking for topics we can trace over the entire course of American history, rather than single chapters from that history. In other words…

The history of the Civil Rights Movement = Bad

The history of “outsiders” = Good

The history of the car = Bad

The history of environmental destruction = Good

To suggest a topic, either join the discussion below OR send an email detailing your thoughts to backstory@virginia.edu. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

Loading sugar cane in Hawaii, 1917 (Library of Congress)

From the triangle trade to labor struggles in Hawaii to the rise of high-fructose corn syrup, sweetness in America has always been politically charged. Why has sugar been so intimately linked to power over the centuries? How has our national sweet tooth shaped our political and economic priorities?

In this episode, the History Guys will explore sweetness in American history.  The Sugar Act of 1764 helped feed colonial resentment of Great Britain, paving the way for protests and, ultimately, the American Revolution. A century and a half later, US tariff walls gave Puerto Rican sugar a ready market – but pushed the territory toward a one-crop economy that later collapsed.

Through the 19th century, sugar was intimately linked to slavery; free blacks in the 1830s boycotted slave-produced sugar in a stand against the “peculiar institution.” A century later, the sugar beet industry revolutionized the rural Midwest, bringing with it questions about the role of foreign migrant workers and urban factory workers. So where does sugar fit into labor history in the US? How has this tasty cash crop affected our environment and our economy? And what does it tell us about globalization before the 20th century?

Please help us shape this episode — post your ideas, stories, and questions below!

Part 1: THE ROAD TO CIVIL WAR

"The Hercules of Union Slaying the Great Dragon of Secession," 1861 (Library of Congress)

As America launches its multi-year commemoration of the Civil War, it’s easy to overlook the fact that back in the spring of 1861, disunion was anything but inevitable. This episode traces the dramatic six months leading up to the outbreak of war, and explores the complex layers of logic and emotion that Americans experienced as they looked into a very uncertain future. Listen here.

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Part 2: WHY THEY FOUGHT

Two Soldiers from 23rd NY Infantry, c. 1861-1865 (Library of Congress)

Slavery, in a word, was what brought on the Civil War. But in the spring of 1861, most Southerners didn’t own slaves and only a tiny minority of Northerners were abolitionists. So how are we to understand the willingness of soldiers on both sides to take up arms against each other? Listen here.

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Part 3: QUESTIONS REMAIN

Ruins of Richmond and Petersburg RR Depot, 1865 (Lib. of Congress)

In this episode, the History Guys open up the phone lines and take listener questions about all aspects of the Civil War.  Listen here.

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Hungry for more? Subscribe here to BackStory’s special “Civil War 150th” podcast feed, which includes Civil War-related excerpts from our entire program archive.

If you’ve never listened to BackStory, spend some time in our archive of past shows to get a sense of what we’re all about. Or, you can read what others have pitched in the past here, here, here, and here. To find out how we use your input, check out this post. Basically, we’re looking for topics we can trace over the entire course of American history, rather than single episodes or chapters from history. So….

The Civil Rights Era = Bad Topic
The History of Activism = Good Topic
The Gold Rush = Bad Topic
Boom & Bust in American History = Good Topic

To suggest a topic, either “Join the Discussion” below OR send an email to backstory@virginia.edu.

In a special podcast produced in collaboration with the History Channel in 2010, the History Guys trace the history of women in the workplace. From the farms of colonial America to the factories of World War II, how have war, boom & bust, and education shaped the changing role of women in the American economy?

Part 1:

Part 2:

And check out some of the other interesting stories and resources that helped to shape the show:

General and Modern History

• Harvard Business School’s “Women, Enterprise, & Society” collection.
• The Economist hosts a debate on the proposition, “This house believes that women in the developed world have never had it so good.”
• Pew Research Center on the economics of marriage and breadwinners, “New Economics of Marriage: The Rise of Wives.”
• Time Magazine on the changing “State of the American Woman.”
• The Economist with an overview of the state of women in the workplace, “Female Power.”
• New York Times on women and work, “In a First, Women Surpass Men on U.S. Payrolls.”

20th Century

• “Rosie the Riveter” by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb, performed by The Four Vagabonds in the early ’40s.
• Library of Congress webcast presentation about Norman Rockwell’s “Rosie the Riveter” and the “We Can Do It!” posters.  Historian Sheridan Harvey does a great job tracing the historical and artistic roots of these icons.
• Library of Congress archive of WWII Rosie photographs.

19th Century

• Harvard’s “Women Working” collection of original diaries, letters, pamphlets, and photographs.
• Excerpts from the “Handbook to Lowell” for girls working at the famous Lowell mills in the mid 1800′s.
• Harvard Library’s scanned copies of “The Lowell Offering,” a paper produced and written by the women working in Lowell.

18th Century

• Colonial Williamsburg on women and education in 18th century Virginia.

BackStory invites you to propose a topic for our fall season below and let us know why you think it would make for a compelling hour of radio. Which concerns facing Americans today could use historical unpacking by the History Guys? (Or, thinking ahead, what do you predict will be on everyone’s minds when autumn rolls around?) What are the most important questions surrounding your proposed topic?

If you’ve never listened to BackStory, spend some time in our archive of past shows to get a sense of what we’re all about. Or, you can read what others have pitched in the past here and here. To find out how we use your input, check out this post. Basically, we’re looking for topics we can trace over the entire course of American history, rather than single episodes or chapters from history. So….

The Civil Rights Era = Bad Topic
The History of Activism = Good Topic
The Gold Rush = Bad Topic
Boom & Bust in American History = Good Topic

To suggest a topic, either “Join the Discussion” below OR send an email to backstory@virginia.edu.

If you’ve never listened to BackStory, spend some time in our archive of past shows to get a sense of what we’re all about. Or, you can read what others have pitched in the past here and here. Basically, we’re looking for topics we can trace over the entire course of American history, rather than single episodes or chapters from history. So….

The Civil Rights Era = Bad Topic
The History of Activism = Good Topic
The Gold Rush = Bad Topic
Boom & Bust in American History = Good Topic

To suggest a topic, either “Join the Discussion” below OR send an email to backstory@virginia.edu.

Many thanks to all you responsible citizens of BackStory who voted for your favorite show idea! Behind the scenes, teams of archaic statisticians and historical engineers have been carefully tabulating the results. So what ARE the results, you ask? Three awesome new shows! (Well, make that two awesome new shows and one radical show-to-be…) Be sure and check out The More Things Change: Presidential Transitions and From Whales To Wind: A History of Energy in our archive. And help us out by weighing in on The Extraordinary Ordinary: Populism in America, a future show that grew out of your Anti-Intellectualism idea below.

Voting has closed for now, but you can still make suggestions for future shows at our Pitch A Show page. Fire away!

***

You spoke and we listened!  Based on feedback from you the BackStory listening audience, we’ve compiled the following list of possible show topics for the next season of BackStory.  Vote once (and only once) for your favorite topic.  Whichever topic comes out on top will be worked into the next season. Vote Now!

[page_polls]

From Whales to Wind: Fueling America
Fourthtower wrote “I’d love to see something in the history of energy. Edison and Rockefeller versus Tesla, coal and steam power, the building of the great dams for water, etc…that might educate on how we got where we are now, what other paths we could have taken and why we didn’t.”

Man’s Best Friend: Americans and Their Animals
Lauren wrote “The relationship of Americans and animals (people claim today that the emotional investment in pets, acted out in economics, is unlike anything previously).”

Ping Pong Relations: China & the U.S.
Rebecca wrote “How about something on relationship between China and US and shifting views of China. . . RR, exclusion, open door, missionaries, Pearl Buck, WWII and the good Asians, cold war, Nixon, adoption of Chinese children by US families, human rights questions, global warming, Olympics, etc.”

Read My Lips: Presidential Expectations vs. Presidential Realities
Matt wrote: “How about this for a topical show: How do presidencies past relate to the promises made on the campaign trail?”

Location, Location, Location!: Boom & Bust of American Cities
Meredith wrote: “I would be interested in a program on the topic “birth of a city, or location, location, location” — although the topic of Gold Rush is bad for your purposes, the Gold Rush fostered the birth of cities like San Francisco. Natural resources in different parts of the country as well as financial and human resources along with circumstances spawned tremendously fast growth in certain areas. Why?  Financial institutions and ports also could be examined as to how certain communities thrive and some don’t.”

Ordinary Guys: (Anti-)Intellectualism in American History
Jon wrote: “When did it become so uncool to be smart in America? When did being supremely educated become a red flag of “elitism” rather than, oh, I don’t know, something that might make you aptly qualified to lead?  Has this always been the case?”