Shows / This Day (An America 250 History Show)
This Day (An America 250 History Show)
To mark our 250th birthday, “This Day” presents "50 Weeks That Shaped America," a series of deep dives into the stories that brought us to this moment.
"This Day" takes you beyond the head-spinning headlines of today and into the unexpected historical moments that have shaped American politics and culture. Hosted by Jody Avirgan (538), and historians Nicole Hemmer (Vanderbilt), and Kellie Carter Jackson (Wellesley), each episode explores a moment from that day in U.S. political history to…
Episodes
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The Night Of The Johnstown Flood (1889)
It’s May 31st. This day in 1889, a wall of water rushing down the Conemaugh River wiped out the mountain town of Johnstown, PA. It was one of the worst…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The Randolph Freedpeople (1846)
It’s May 29th. This day in 1846, 13 years after being granted their freedom, a group of formerly-enslaved Virginians arrive in Ohio to settle on land that…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Obama Apologizes, Sort Of, For Hiroshima (2016)
It’s May 26th. This day in 2016, President Obama offered remarks at a memorial ceremony in Hiroshima, Japan. Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss Obama’s speech…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Nellie Taft's Stroke (1909)
It’s May 23rd. This day in 1909, Helen “Nellie” Taft, wife of President William Howard Taft, suffered a stroke that caused her to retreat from the White House…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The Potato Beetle Wars (1950)
It’s May 22nd. This day in 1950, East German farmers begin to report that the Colorado Potato Beetle has invaded their crops, causing devastation and fueling…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Tennessee Finally Teaches Evolution (1967)
It’s May 19th. This day in 1967, the Tennessee state legislature finally repealed the Butler Act, the law that had been on the books since the 1920s banning…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Tuskegee Study Apology (1997)
It’s May 16th. This day in 1997, President Clinton offered a formal apology for the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male, which took place in…
- This Day (An America 250 History Show)
Family Jewels Pt 4: Meddling In The Press (1975) w/ Rick Perlstein
We wrap up our four-part series on the 1975/76 Church Committee hearings with a look at the contentious, cozy, and murky relationship between intelligence…
- This Day (An America 250 History Show)
Family Jewels Pt 3: Meddling In Your Mind (1975)
Our miniseries on the 1975/76 Church Committee findings on CIA and FBI operations continues. This episode, we re-visit our conversation about the MKULTRA…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Family Jewels Pt 2: Meddling At Home (1975) w/ Rick Perlstein
Our miniseries on the 1975/76 Church Committee findings on CIA and FBI operations continues. This episode, we look at what Americans learned with regards to…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Family Jewels Pt 1: Meddling Abroad (1975) w/ Rick Perlstein
We’ve got a new miniseries for you, looking back at the 1975 Church Committee hearings and report, which disclosed a wide array of shady behavior by the NSA…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Our Bodies, Ourselves (1969)
It’s May 5th, 1969. In Boston, a group of women are meeting to share information about women’s health, which would eventually lead to writing a 193-page…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Haymarket and the Roots of May Day (1886)
It’s May 4th. This day in 1886, a deadly riot between police and protesters broke out in Haymarket Square in Chicago. Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss how the…
- This Day (An America 250 History Show)
The She She She Camps (1934)
It’s May 1st. This day in 1934, Eleanor Roosevelt is holding a series of meetings at the White House to plan out a number of camps for women that would give…
- This Day (An America 250 History Show)
The Monkey Mayor of Hartlepool (2002) w/ Tim Harford
It’s April 28th. This day in 2002, the northeastern English town of Hartlepool is gearing up for a mayoral election, where they would end up voting in… the…
- This Day (An America 250 History Show)
Henrietta Wood Sues For Reparations (1878)
It’s April 26th. This day in 1878, a verdict is delivered in a suit brought by the formerly-enslaved woman Henrietta Wood. She sued her former enslaver Zebulon…
- This Day (An America 250 History Show)
The Moton Walkout and the "Lost Generation" (1951)
It’s April 24th. This day in 1951, Black students at Robert Moton High School in Farmville, Virginia have walked out of school, staging a strike over poor…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)They're Trying To Wash Us Away (1927) w/ Wright Thompson
It’s April 21st. This day in 1927, the Mississippi River is in beginning to breach levies and overflows the banks throughout the MS delta. Jody, Niki, and…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The Mystery of 420's Origins (1986?) w/ Ellen Scanlon
It’s April 20th. 4-20 is a de facto holiday in weed culture, with murky origins and an interesting future as a day of activism and policy conversation. Jody…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Japanese Balloon Bombs Over U.S. Skies (1945)
It’s April 17th. This day in 1945, a balloon bomb exploded over Omaha, Nebraska. This was one of thousands of Japanese devices that were sent out over the…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Eugene Debs: Lock Him Up (1919)
It’s April 14th. This day in 1919, Socialist leader Eugene V Debs is sent to prison for violating the Espionage Act in his opposition to WWI. It wasn’t the…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Eleanor Roosevelt's Tuskegee Plane Ride (1941)
It’s April 12th. This day in 1941, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt took an airplane ride in a small plane piloted by Charles “Chief” Anderson, a Black pilot and…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Gloria Richardson, Connector (1964)
It’s April 10th. This day in 1964, activist Gloria Richardson is forging deep ties with other civil rights leaders, particularly Malcolm X. Jody, Niki, and…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The Forgotten Massacre at Dartmoor Prison (1815) w/ Nick Guyatt
It’s April 7th. This day in 1815, a chaotic attack at Dartmoor prison in England killled and injured dozens of American prisoners. Jody, Niki, and Kellie are…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Nixon's Weird-Ass White House Uniforms (1970) w/ Avery Trufelman
It’s April 4th. This day in 1970, Richard Nixon’s great White House uniform experiment is coming to an end. Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Avery…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The Roots of Intersectionality (1979)
It’s April 3rd. This day in 1979, community organizations in Boston such as the Combahee River Collective are raising the alarm about a string of murders…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Our 300th Episode, and Something New
It’s March 31st. Turns out, it’s our 300th episode, and the second anniversary of the show! What better way to celebrate than by rolling out the new Radiotopia…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Washington Asserts His Privilege (1796) w/ Lindsay M. Chervinsky
It’s March 28th. This day in 1796, President Washington cited executive privilege in refusing a request for documents from Congress. This started a long and…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Brando and Littlefeather Refuse The Oscar (1973) w/ Amy Nicholson
It’s March 27th. On Oscar Sunday in 1973, Marlon Brando refused to attend the ceremony and accept is Best Actor award for The Godfather. Instead, Native…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Gerry + Mander (1812) w/ Harry Enten
It’s March 24th. This day in 1812, a political cartoon appeared in a Boston newspaper lampooning a newly proposed election district. The district was the work…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Monopoly's Secret History (1903)
It’s March 22nd. This day in 1903, a woman by the name of Lizzie Maggie filed for a patent for a new boardgame she’d invented — “The Landlord’s Game.” Jody…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)US Boycotts Russian Games (1980)
It’s March 20th. This day in 1980, President Jimmy Carter is about to issue a decree that U.S. Sign up for our newsletter! Find out more at thisdaypod.com And…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The Cornerstone of the Confederacy (1861)
It’s March 16th. In 1861, Alexander Stephens, Vice President of the Confederate States of America, delivered a speech that came to be known as the “cornerstone…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Latasha Harlins and the LA Riots (1991)
It’s March 15th. On March 16th, 1991, a young girl, Latasha Harlins, was killed by a shopkeeper in South Central Los Angeles. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The US Hunts Pancho Villa (1916)
It’s March 13th. This day in 1916, some 6,000 US troops are getting ready to enter Mexico to track down rebel leader Pancho Villa. Jody, Niki, and Kellie…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)A Raisin In The Sun (1959)
It’s March 10th. This day in 1959, “A Raisin In The Sun” debuted on Broadway. It was the first Broadway show written by an African-American woman, and marked…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)We Are The World (1985)
It’s March 8th. This day in 1985, a song was released featuring virtually every major American music star, to raise money and awareness about the famine in…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The War on Pinball (1948) w/ Harry Siegel
It’s March 6th. This day in 1948, New York City’s war on pinball was raging, with police smashing machines Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Harry Siegel of…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The Woman Behind The New Deal (1933) w/ Jenny Kaplan
It’s March 3rd. This day in 1933, Frances Perkins is appointed Secretary of Labor, the first woman to hold a cabinet position. Jody, Niki, and Kellie are…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Mixing at Mardi Gras (1992) w/ Oliver Thomas
It’s March 1st, the first day of Mardi Gras in New Orleans. This day in 1992, a city ordinance mandating that all Mardi Gras krewes be integrated in order to…
- This Day (An America 250 History Show)
Lincoln At Cooper Union, The Speech That Changed Everything (1860)
It’s February 27th. This day in 1860, Abraham Lincoln gave a speech at the Cooper Union in New York City. Before the speech, he was relatively unknown and not…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Our Favorite "Making Trouble" Stories
All this week, shows across the Radiotopia network are doing special episodes around the theme of “making trouble.” It’s being done to celebrate the Radiotopia…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Birth of The Peace Symbol (1958) w/ Ian Chillag
It’s the Radiotopia fundraiser! We couldn’t make this show without your support. Become a member now at radiotopia.fm It’s February 22nd. This day in 1958, in…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The Long Telegram (1946)
It’s February 20th. This day in 1946, diplomat George Kennan, stationed in Moscow, sent a 5,000 word telegram to the State Department outlining his assessment…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Black History Month Week: Baldwin v Buckley (1965) w/ Nick Buccola
This week, we’re doing a number of episodes around the history of… Black History Month. In 1965, two of America’s leading intellectuals debated the question of…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Black History Month Week: Capital B w/ Jelani Cobb
This week, we’re doing a number of episodes around the history of… Black History Month. Over the course of this country’s history, the terms we use to describe…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Black History Month Week: Where BHM Came From (1924)
This week, we’re doing a number of episodes around the history of… Black History Month. Today, February 13th — the roots of the celebration in 1924, when…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The Anarchist Soup Plot (1916)
It’s February 10th. This day in 1916, at an event attended by much of Chicago’s political and religious elite, an anarchist cook poisoned a batch of soup in an…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)"Birth Of A Nation" (1915) w/ Tyler Parry
It’s February 8th. This day in 1915, at Clune’s Auditorium in Los Angeles, “The Birth of a Nation” premiered. Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Tyler Parry…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The Smoking Section (1987) w/ Sarah Milov
It’s February 6th. This day in 1987, federal regulations go into effect limiting where federal workers can smoke cigarettes. Smoking rooms, smoking couches…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The SPAM Strike (1986) w/ Julia Longoria
It’s February 3rd. This day, 1986, the town of Austin, Minnesota is being torn apart by an ongoing strike at the Hormel meat-packing plant. Jody, Niki, and…
- This Day (An America 250 History Show)
McDonald's Comes to Moscow (1990)
It’s February 1st. This day in 1990, the very first McDonald’s opened in Moscow, after 14 years of negotiations and a moment where the USSR was softening its…
- This Day (An America 250 History Show)
Here Come the AKAs (1908)
It’s January 30th. This day in 1913, the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority was formally incorporated, five years after its founding in 1908 at Howard University…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Early Prohibition and The Rise of Weird Liquor Laws (1838)
IT’s January 27th. This day in 1838, some 80 years before national prohibition, the country’s first liquor restriction was passed. Jody, NIki, and Kellie…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The U.S. Almost Nukes Itself (1961)
It’s December 25th. In 1961, on the night of January 23rd, a bomber carrying two massive nuclear weapons broke up in the sky over eastern North Carolina. The…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Carter Pardons Draft Dodgers (1977)
It’s January 23rd. This day in 1977, on his first day in office, President Jimmy Carter pardoned Americans who had evaded service in the Vietnam War. Jody…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Lurleen Wallace, Proxy Governor (1967)
It’s January 20th. This day in 1967, Lurleen Wallace took office as the Govenor of Alabama, only the third female governor in the United States history. She…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Silver Shenanigans (1980) w/ Bijan Stephen
It’s January 18th. This day in 1980, a group of Texas oil billionaires were in the middle of a scheme to drive up the worldwide price of silver. This would…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The Great Boston Molasses Flood (1919) w/ Cara Giaimo
It’s January 16th. This day in 1919, the North End neighborhood of Boston is digging out from under 2.3 million gallons of molasses, which flooded city streets…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The Hawaii (False) Missile Alert (2018)
It’s January 13th. This day in 2018, at 8:07am, residents of Hawaii received a disturbing alert on their phones: BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII…