Slavery & Science
The following audio clip is excerpted from the BackStory episode “Black & White: The Idea of Racial Purity.” You can listen to the entire episode here. Historian Daryl Scott discusses rise of scientific racism and how race has evolved–and not evolved–in the 19th and 20th centuries.[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Excerpted from: Black [...]
Beth Bailey Extended Interview
The following audio clip is an extended interview of a version originally aired on the BackStory episode “Love Me Did: A History of Courtship.” You can listen to the entire episode here. SPECIAL WEB EXTRA: Beth Bailey tells Brian about three generations of courtship in her own family… and why there are only two entries [...]
19th Century Personal Ads
The following audio clip is excerpted from the BackStory episode “Love Me Did: A History of Courtship.” You can listen to the entire episode here. Pam Epstein, a PhD candidate in history at Rutgers University and author of the blog Advertising for Love, shares some of her favorite 19th century personal ads with BackStory’s 19th [...]
“Love Me Did”: Music Listing
This is a list of the music used in the BackStory episode “Love Me Did: A History of Courtship,” broadcast in January/February of 2010.
"School Days" Transcript
Transcript of “School Days: A History of Public Education,” originally aired in September of 2009.
School Days: A History of Public Education
The statistics look grim, but is America’s educational system any worse off than it’s ever been? Why have schools been the sites of so many social movements?
Black & White: The Idea of Racial Purity
On this episode of BackStory, the History Guys look for the roots of America’s obsession with race, and ask why the line between black and white has remained so bold despite centuries of racial mixing. Were the categories of “black” and “white” already in place when Africans first came to America, and if not, when [...]
"Aliens" in America
In a country populated by immigrants, why are Americans so wary of newcomers? What’s the difference between the nativism of the early Republic and and the anti-immigrant sentiment on talk radio today? How do we draw the line between “us” and “them?” Historian Mae Ngai explains that the door slammed shut in the the 1920s. [...]
Traffic: How We Get From Here to There
America’s story is one of migration and expansion. In this hour, we explore the history of America’s highways and byways. We hear from Gridlock Sam, who fights traffic for a living, and Peter Norton, who takes us back to the dawn of the motor age. Then we travel through America’s canalways with batteau reenactors and [...]
