When yellow fever struck Philadelphia in 1793, a ninth of the city’s population died.  The entire federal government picked up and fled.   A hundred years later, the pendulum had swung sharply in the opposite direction.  Health workers took extreme measures to contain disease — imprisoning the sick, burning entire districts, and vaccinating resistant citizens at gunpoint.  We wondered: why the change?

In this episode, we’ll trace the shifting role of the state in preventing and coping with epidemics.  Where do we draw the line between promoting the public good and protecting individual rights?  How did people understand the causes and experience of disease in their own time?  And why did so many people resist public health measures, so fiercely, for so long?

Please help us shape this show!  Were you transfixed by “Contagion”?  Remember avoiding the swimming pool during polio scares?  Have an opinion on current vaccination requirements?  Share your stories, questions, and ideas below.

In this episode, we’re going to trace the ideal that “Every American should own their own home,” back to its roots, and try to figure out whether or not that dream ever was or ever will be a reality.

Has the recent housing market collapse affected you? Do you remember your family’s first move to the suburbs? Have you ever fallen victim to a neighborly feud? What are your feelings about your childhood home vs. the place you live now? Let us know in the comment section below!

The weekly funding, which has come through since last April, will enable BackStory to realize the full potential of its grounding concept, becoming a regularly scheduled program that takes topics from the headlines and shines light on their history in often-surprising ways. The show’s spirit of inquiry emanates from the hearts and minds of its genial hosts, who happen to be world-renowned authorities–University of Virginia historians Peter Onuf and Brian Balogh, and historian and president of the University of Richmond, Ed Ayers. Casting their minds across three centuries of American history–debating each other, engaging callers, interviewing guests and presenting features–they work with BackStory’s producers to create informative, accessible and entertaining shows.

The signature sound of the program reflects the unscripted brilliance of Onuf, Ayers, and Balogh–with a warmth and rapport that comes from being good friends. Their energy as hosts combined with a sweeping historical expertise in their respective centuries (18th, 19th, and 20th) distinguishes BackStory’s dynamic from all other programs on the air. Of exchanges between Onuf, Ayers, and Balogh, celebrated historian Eric Foner says that the way they handle history “points to contemporary relevance without sacrificing historical nuance and complexity. It brings up to date scholarship out of the ivory tower in way the public can appreciate.” Novelist Nicholson Baker has called the Guys, “three congenial, learned, funny men fly-fishing in the rock-strewn river of American history,” also describing BackStory as “a lovely addition to any radio listener’s life.”

BackStory’s weekly launch date is set for May 11. This will come after months of lab work on various aspects of the program (from show opens, to music, to the treatment of calls), including assessing and practicing possible new features (among these, a weekly news roundup and on-air explorations with segment producers). BackStory reruns and occasional new episodes continue to air widely, answering and whetting the appetites of listeners who have long asked for the show to be weekly. As the staff works to make this happen, they are testing a new production model, retooling and planning for the late spring re-launch. The atmosphere at VFH mixes anticipation with the sense of an exciting new challenge. Their eyes on the prize of national weekly broadcast, BackStory’s producers hope the prediction of one station programming director will prove true: That BackStory does for American history what Carl Sagan did for the cosmos.

For a visitor to BackStory’s home at the VFH in Charlottesville, VA, the staff’s sense of purpose is palpable: a newly-hired associate producer is cutting an interview with one of the first black football players at the University of Alabama; another new AP is on the phone with a librarian in Arizona, inquiring about the history of immigration legislation in the state; a third is in studio where she interviews a Civil Rights era photographer for a show on protests, guided by senior producer Tony Field, formerly of WNYC’s On the Media. Down the hall, BackStory’s creator and executive producer Andrew Wyndham, just off the phone about an upcoming live gig in Milwaukee, consults with the show’s new technical director over a question of sound quality. An hour from now, Onuf, Balogh and Ayers will take calls from listeners, coordinated by Field and other team members. Before day is done, the staff will brainstorm upcoming show themes and explore new segment ideas.

As Field says, “This process is all about process.” Working with Graham Griffith–former executive producer of The Takeaway and senior producer for On Point–Wyndham and Field adopted a development schedule that both reflects the future pace of operations and leaves space for evaluation and critique. As the BackStory staff hews to the plan, they store useful audio and bank evergreen shows in preparation for the launch. Meanwhile, Kerry Donahue, former executive producer at WNYC, is coordinating advisory listening groups composed of public radio program directors from around the country. And former WAMU Program Director Steve Martin of SFM Consulting is initiating BackStory’s weekly marketing campaign, reaching out to stations near and far.

The BackStory team aims to make the weekly show’s name a household word, with a reputation for what one listener has called its “challenging content but laid-back style.” A key to realizing this goal has been the recent arrival of four new supporting staff: Eric Mennel joined BackStory as an associate producer in October 2011 after a six-month stint interning at This American Life, having previously reported and produced as an intern for WUSF in Tampa; associate producer Jess Engebretson, who produced War News Radio while at Swarthmore, came in at the same time, following a year of teaching radio to aspiring young journalists in Liberia and Indonesia under a Watson Fellowship, also doing some freelance reports for PRI’s The World. Anna Pinkert arrived in December, fresh from producing at WBUR’s Radio Boston, following on course work at the Salt Institute and experience developing multi-media for museums; Jamal Millner, an accomplished musician–who has performed with such artists and groups as John Jackson, John D’earth, Taj Mahal, and the Dave Matthews Band–previously mixed and mastered monthly episodes of BackStory under contract, but became the show’s full-time technical director at the beginning of January 2012.

This team works with Field and Wyndham on details of the weekly production process, engaging a roster of show topics as diverse as childbirth, homeownership, college sports, philanthropy, protests, sugar, public health, farming, pets, guns, privacy, free speech, utopias, populism, exceptionalism, and the postal service. With listeners already tuning in across the country and on the web, the aim of the weekly show is to preserve its essential chemistry, inventively telling stories about America’s past–and how it affects our present–in ways that entertain, surprise and inform. Such a program, as a Tampa listener has said, “really satisfies a need” and BackStory does this “with a sense of humor.”

Lawrence Textile Strike of 1912

From Tunisia to Zucotti Park, 2011 was a year of change-making. Time magazine dubbed “the protester” its person-of-the-year, arguing that not since 1848 had citizen-activists overthrown as many entrenched regimes as they did last year. Maybe so, but was “the protester” of 163 years ago really equivalent to today’s activists? Or has protest itself morphed and evolved in the decades since?

In this episode, we’ll explore political protest in its American forms, and ask how the protest tactics we’re familiar with today came into being. From the Tea Party of 1773 to its contemporary namesake, how have protesters marketed their message to the larger world? What strategies have proven the most successful?

What most interests you about the history of protest in America? Post your comments, stories, and questions below. Or just hold up a really big sign outside our offices.

In this episode, the History Guys examine the history of the “holiday season” in America.  Has Christmas grown more or less religious? How has the holiday evolved and changed here? To what extent was Hanukkah a reaction to Christmas, and how have American Jews shaped and reshaped their own wintertime rituals?

Guests include:

• Stephen Nissenbaum, historian and author of The Battle for Christmas
• John Gibson, host of Fox News Radio and author of The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday is Worse than You Thought
• Rabbi Laura Baum, founder of ourjewishcommunity.org
• Tyrone Jones, Santa Claus impersonator at Cheltenham Square Mall

Show Highlights

Listen to individual excerpts from the show, including interviews with historian Stephen Nissenbaum, Rabbi Laura Baum, and Santa impersonator Tyrone Jones.

Web Exclusive

Listen to more of historian Stephen Nissenbaum’s conversation with 18th century guy Peter Onuf. Here, they discuss the history of Christmas in the slave south.

Further Exploration

Click here for a comprehensive list of online resources on the history of Christmas, Hannukah, and Kwanzaa.

Even Further…

• See a listing of the music used in this episode.
• Read the full transcript of “Naughty & Nice.”

Chicago Kent College of Law indoor baseball player, M. Ryan. 1910.

Quick — what’s the first thing that comes to mind when we say “college sports?” Did you think “scandal?” What about “pay-for-play?”

College sports have provided some of the most heated controversies of the year, and so we can’t help but wonder; why do sports even exist at colleges and universities? After all, it seems like most of the problems associated with amateur athletics would disappear if they weren’t taking place at places of “higher learning.”

In this episode, we’re going to look at the origins of college sports, and the ways universities have justified athletics on their campuses throughout history. And that question about paying student athletes? Turns out… it goes back a lot further than you might think.

Let us know what you want to know! Share your stories, questions, and ideas below.

On this episode of BackStory, the History Guys explore the ways Americans have attempted to grapple with the biggest question of them all: “Where did we come from?” Together, they trace the ups and downs in the relationship between science  and religion. Are there times when the two have not been at odds? How did the Founders conceive of “creation,” and why did the idea of extinction pose such a challenge to their worldview? How were Darwin’s ideas received in the U.S., and why did it take six decades before public school systems started challenging the teaching of his theories? What lessons does history offer those interested in charting a peaceful relationship between science and religion in the future?

Guests Include:

• Ronald Numbers – Professor of the History of Science and Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

• Joe Wilkey – Head of the Department of Science at Rhea County High School, Evensville, TN.

Features and Highlights

Listen to an extended interview with Professor of the History of Science and Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Further Reading

Resources galore! The BackStory team has pulled together some outside material to help you navigate the world of origin stories.

Even Further…

• Full Show Transcript

Guests Include:

• Roger Staubach, former quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys
• Anne Blue Wills, Professor of Religion and author of “Pilgrims and Progress: How Magazines Made Thanksgiving” (PDF)
• Joanne Bowen, Curator of Zooarchaeology at Colonial Williamsburg
• James McWilliams, historian and author of A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America

Web Exclusives

So that you might have something to look at while listening to a couple of highlights from our show, we compiled two special audio slide shows. Watch them here.

Further Reading

Want to learn more about the history of Thanksgiving? Check out a list of sources that the History Guys put together to learn more.

Even Further

• Full Show Transcript

Exploring competing myths surrounding Thanksgiving’s origins, the American History Guys will peel back layers of tradition that have created the celebration that we know today. From Pilgrims, to turkey, to football games, to parade floats, the Guys will offer surprising perspectives on the shaping of one our nation’s most beloved holidays. A special guest—who will make a case for Virginia’s claim on Thanksgiving’s roots—will also join the Guys.

Please join us, 7 PM, Monday, November 21, at the Robins Family Forum of the Virginia Historical Society. Admission is free-of-charge. Visit the VHS website for more information.

Salvation Army poster, 1919

As we head towards the holiday season, BackStory takes a look at the origins and effects of American generosity. When did we start giving to people we’ve never even met? And where does the government fit into all this, anyway?

In this episode, the History Guys will explore giving in American history.  From tithing in churches to abolition to robber barons, we’ll look at the origins and unexpected consequences of charity.  Who were the “worthy” and “unworthy” poor, and what’s the story behind those tax deductions? Plus, why were so many early charitable organizations concerned with, of all things, funerals?

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

(Originally produced in 2008.) Most news coverage of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan focuses on troop movements, suicide bombings, and the geopolitical developments at work. Only rarely do we hear the stories of individual men and women fighting there, and hardly ever do we hear what it’s like for those Americans when they return home.

Has it always been thus? How have veterans been treated in the aftermath of America’s previous wars? How much depends on the politics of the war – are vets only as popular as the wars they’ve fought in? These are some of the central questions on the table as we explore veterans’ experiences through three centuries of American life.

Guests Include:

• Frank Earnest, past Commander of the Virginia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans
• Rebecca Jo Plant, historian and author of Mom: The Transformation of Motherhood in Modern America
• Ed Tick, Director of Soldier’s Heart, a nonprofit serving America’s war veterans and their families

Show Highlights

• Conflicting Loyalties
  Sons of Confederate Veterans spokesman Frank Earnest tells 19th Century History Guy Ed Ayers how he reconciles his Confederate heritage with his identity as a veteran of the U.S. Navy. And he explains what the Confederate flag means to him.
• Soldier’s Heart
  Psychologist Edward Tick counsels combat veterans and studies historical accounts of war.  He discusses the ways war was understood in the years before Post Traumatic Stress Disorder existed as a diagnosis.

Further Reading

Want to learn more about the history of War Veterans? Check out a comprehensive list of sources that the History Guys put together to learn more.

Ronald Numbers – Listen to an extended interview with Professor of the History of Science and Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Irwin Moon – Producer Catherine Moore takes a closer look at a media innovator who blended faith and science.

• Thomas Jefferson’s fossil collection
• Paul Semonin’s American Monster: How the Nation’s First Prehistoric Creature Became a Symbol of National Identity

19th Century

• A wealth of resources on Darwin from the Victorian Web, plus his complete works online
• Darwiniana, botanist Asa Gray’s essays on Darwinism
• Andrew Dickson White’s A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom and John William Draper’s History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science, two influential late-19th Century works establishing the “conflict thesis,” which holds that science and religion are inevitably opposed

20th Century and Beyond

• Scopes Trial resources: a PBS documentary, rare photographs, web archive of primary sources
• A Pew Research Center study on  Religious Belief and Public Attitudes and a study of Religion Among Academic Scientists funded by the Templeton Foundation
• The Dalai Lama sees opportunities for collaboration between science and Buddhism
• How the National Academy of Sciences views science, evolution, and creationism
• Watch Rev. Irwin Moon’s films
• Reflections on the founding of the Moody Institute of Science, plus a California man who is reviving Moon’s Sermons from Science

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!

"Houdini and the ghost of Abraham Lincoln," ca. 1920, Library of Congress

Halloween – despite its solemn Celtic roots – has become a safe way for Americans to transgress social norms and toy with the idea of ghosts in a family-friendly fashion. But for some, spirits from another plane have always been a very real part of life on this plane.

On this Halloween special, the History Guys explore Americans’ relationship with ghosts, spirits, and witches throughout our nation’s history. Why were colonists so fearful of New England “witches”? How is it that progressive social reformers found a home in the Spiritualist movement of the 19th century? Why do new media technologies always conjure talk of the undead? Can social upheaval help explain our history with the ineffable?

Guests Include:

• Ann Braude — Director of the Women’s Studies in Religion Program at Harvard Divinity School and author of Radical Spirits: Spritualism and Women’s Rights in Nineteenth-century America
• Cara Seekings — Spirit medium and resident at the Lily Dale Assembly
• Nate DiMeo — listen to more of his stories about the forgotten corners of American history at thememorypalace.us.

Web Exclusives

• Listen to an extended version of Ed’s interview with spirit medium Cara Seekings.
• Call of the Week: Dawn from Charlottesville asks about the history of Halloween mischief

Further Reading

• A list of recommended readings from BackStory staff
• Want to dig deeper into the history of the Supernatural? Check out this list of resources put together by the History Guys to learn more.

• Listing of the music heard in “American Spirit”
• Full transcript of the show

Louis Firetail (Sioux, Crow Creek), wearing tribal clothing, in American history class, Hampton Institute, Hampton, Virginia, ca. 1900 (Library of Congress)

In this live performance at Colonial Williamsburg’s Kimball Theatre, the History Guys take on the history of Indians in Virginia. From Jamestown to Thomas Jefferson to Disney’s Pocahontas, they consider some of the ways Virginian Indians have been imagined by non-Native people, and reflect on how those images have shifted over the centuries. Along the way, they are joined by two special guests, actor Larry Pourier and Colonial Williamsbug’s own Buck Woodard — both of whom contributed to the 2005 film The New World.

Guests Include

• Larry Pourier, native production manager for Colonial Williamsburg
• Buck Woodard, manager at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and adjunct instructor at Virginia Commonwealth University and the College of William and Mary

Further Reading

• More on the Jamestown and Roanoke settlements
• A detailed analysis of Terrence Malick’s The New World

L-R: Buck Woodard, Peter Onuf, Ed Ayers, Brian Balogh, Larry Pourier

]]> http://backstoryradio.org/america-indian-country/feed/ 3 american identity,backstory live show,culture wars,holiday,native americans,racism,thomas jefferson,virginia history In this live performance at Colonial Williamsburg's Kimball Theatre, the History Guys take on the history of Indians in Virginia. In this live performance at Colonial Williamsburg's Kimball Theatre, the History Guys take on the history of Indians in Virginia. From Jamestown to Thomas Jefferson to Disney's Pocahontas, they consider some of the ways Virginian Indians have been imagined by non-Native people, and reflect on how those images have shifted over the centuries. Along the way, they are joined by two special guests, actor Larry Pourier and Colonial Williamsbug's own Buck Woodard -- both of whom contributed to the 2005 film The New World.   Guests Include * Larry Pourier, native production manager for Colonial Williamsburg * Buck Woodard, manager at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and adjunct instructor at Virginia Commonwealth University and the College of William and Mary Further Reading * More on (http://www.bu.edu/historic/hs/james_horn/) the Jamestown and Roanoke settlements * A detailed analysis (http://www.latrobe.edu.au/screeningthepast/25/pocahontas-new-world.html) of Terrence Malick’s The New World BackStory with the American History Guys no 41:13 http://backstoryradio.org/going-postal-a-history-of-the-u-s-mail/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=going-postal-a-history-of-the-u-s-mail http://backstoryradio.org/going-postal-a-history-of-the-u-s-mail/#comments Thu, 29 Sep 2011 17:35:28 +0000 Tony (BackStory Producer) http://backstoryradio.org/?p=3180

Motorcycle Postman, 1912 (Library of Congress)

For more than two centuries, neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night has kept American letter carriers from delivering the mail. But with the USPS facing losses of up to $12 billion this year, it now seems like budget woes might do what the weather couldn’t. (At least on Saturdays.)

In this episode, the History Guys will explore the rise – and fall – of the post office system. Most of us think of the mail primarily as a communications medium, but in the early days of our nation’s history, it served a vitally important political function as well. National politicians used the mail to reach a geographically-scattered electorate, and citizens used it to engage one another on the important issues of the day. If that weren’t enough, we also have the postal system to thank for the nation’s early road network. One scholar has even argued that modern privacy protections were forged by Americans’ use of the mail.

So what would it mean for our country if the mail only came a few days a week — or not at all? When you think about the post office, do you think “pillar of democracy” or just “bloated bureaucracy?” What would you most like to know about the history of the mail? Please help us shape this episode — post your thoughts, stories, and questions below!