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)Nat Turner's Community (1831) w/ Vanessa Holden
It’s August 22nd. This day in 1831, Nathaniel “Nat” Turner is leading a rebellion in Southampton, Virginia — what would become perhaps the most famous slave…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Banneker's Sneaky Letter (1791)
It’s August 19th. This day in 1791, Benjamin Banneker sent an advance copy of his almanac to Thomas Jefferson. Along with the almanac, he included a letter…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Leo Frank and the KKK's Resurgence (1915)
It’s August 17th. This day in 1915, a Jewish man by the name of Leo Frank was kidnapped from jail and hanged by a mob in Marietta, Georgia. Jody, Niki, and…
- This Day (An America 250 History Show)
The Flag, Elvis, Aliens (1977) w/ Josh Levin
It’s August 15th. This episode, we discuss three notable events from this day in 1977: a young woman’s protest over the pledge of allegiance; a scramble for…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Lizzie Borden, Axe Murderer, Maybe (1892)
It’s August 12th. This day in 1892, Lizzie Borden is arrested for the murder of her father and step-mother, accused of hacking them to death with an axe in a…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)"Macaca" (2006) w/ Peter Hamby
It’s August 10th. This day in 2006, Virginia Senator George Allen is caught on tape referring to S.R. Sidarth, a young man filming his event, as “macaca.” This…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)East Africa Bombings (1998) w/ Karen Greenberg
It’s August 8th. This day in 1998, two massive truck bombs detonated outside American embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. They were the…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Reagan Fires Air Traffic Controllers (1981)
It’s August 5th. This day in 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired more than 11,000 air traffic controllers, who had gone on strike over failed negotiations for…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Garvey's Great Gathering (1920)
It’s August 3rd. This day in 1920, the Universal Negro Improvement Association is holding a massive convention and rally in New York City, pushing a…
- This Day (An America 250 History Show)
The Black Tom Explosion (1916)
It’s August 1st. This day in 1916 (July 30th, in fact) a massive explosion rocked New York Harbor, shattering windows in Times Square and causing tremors as…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The U.S. Rewrites the Haitian Constitution (1915) w/ Jelani Cobb
It’s July 29th. This day in 1915, U.S. troops arrived in Haiti as the country’s political leadership is thrown into chaos by assassinations and violence. The…
- This Day (An America 250 History Show)
Kerner and the "Long Hot Summer" (1967) w/ Jelani Cobb
It’s July 27th. This day in 1967, LBJ convened the “Kerner Commission” to look into the roots of violence and unrest in America, largely in Black and brown…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The Beer Summit (2009)
It’s July 25th. This day (July 24th in fact) in 2009, President Obama extended an invitation to Henry Louis Gates, Jr and Sgt James Crowley to discuss an…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The Lost Robert E. Lee Oath Theory (1975) w/ John Reeves
It’s July 22nd. This day in 1975, Congress voted to restore citizenship to Robert E. Lee, more than a hundred years after his death. Jody, NIki, and Kellie are…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Vanessa Williams Loses Her Crown (1984)
It’s July 20th. This day in 1984, the Miss America pageant issued an ultimatum to Vanessa Williams, the first Black Miss America, to relinquish her title, over…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Detroit Goes Bankrupt (2013)
It’s July 18h. This day in 2013, the city of Detroit declared bankruptcy. Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss how a city that was once the country’s fourth-largest…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Mary Lincoln's Money (1870)
It’s July 14h. This day in 1870, Congress authorized a yearly pension of $3000 for Mary Todd Lincoln. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why it took years for the…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)A Native-Confederate Alliance (1861)
It’s July 13th. This day in 1861, a treaty is signed between the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes and the Confederate States of America. Jody, Niki, and Kellie…
- This Day (An America 250 History Show)
FDR Wants More (1940)
It’s July 11th. This day in 1940, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt has a conversation with a supreme court justice to explore whether it would be legal for…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The Roswell Crash (1947)
It’s July 8th. This day (July 7th actually) in 1947, two ranchers stumbled across a downed flying object in the middle of the Nevada desert. Jody, Niki, and…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The Death of Marsha P Johnson (1992)
It’s July 6th. This day in 1992, the body of Marsha P Johnson was found floating in the Hudson River off of New York City. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the…
- This Day (An America 250 History Show)
Garrison's 4th of July Defiance (1854)
It’s July 4th. This day in 1854, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison burned a copy of the constitution at a rally in Boston, calling it a “covenant with death…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Old Enough To Fight, Old Enough To Vote (1971)
It’s July 1st. This day 1971, North Carolina voted to ratify the 26th amendment, which lowered the national voting age from 21 to 18. Jody, NIki, and Kellie…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Moneybomb! (2008)
Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the…
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Joseph Smith's Assassination (1844) w/ Spencer W McBride
Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Sanford Hikes the Appalachian Trail (2009)
Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Mandela in Boston (1990)
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The Len Bias Law (1986) w/ Adam McKay
Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)A Rumor, An Exhumation (1991)
Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Borat Before Borat (1970) w/ Jill Lepore
Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Congressional Baseball Shooting (2017)
Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The Case of the Cussing Parrot (1845)
Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Those Pesky Fenians (1866)
Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Ollie! (1994)
Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Zoot Suit Riots (1943) w/ Emily Spivak
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- This Day (An America 250 History Show)
Harriet The Spy (1863)
It’s the Radiotopia Spring Fundraiser! Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. Donate today at…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The Day Before The Tulsa Massacre (1921) w/ Cord Jefferson
It’s the Radiotopia Spring Fundraiser! Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. Donate today at…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Voyage of the Damned (1939)
It’s May 27th. This day in 1939, authorities in Cuba turned away the SS St. Louis, a ship full of Jewish refugees escaping Nazi persecution in Germany. The…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The Unabomber Gets His Start (1978)
It’s May 25th. This day in 1978, a suspicious package mailed to a university in Chicago blows up. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the start of what would be a…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)A Texas Dem Split (1944)
It’s May 23rd. This day in 1944, Texas Democrats hold two competing conventions ahead of the fall’s election, with the party split over FDR’s policies and…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Slow Your Roll (1901)
It’s May 20th. This day in 1901, Connecticut passed the first ever speed limit law for automobiles in the United States. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Dan Quayle vs Murphy Brown (1992)
It’s May 18th. This day in 1992, Vice President Dan Quayle gave a speech about the erosion of “family values” in America, and towards the end criticized the TV…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The First Radio Debate (1948)
It’s May 16th. This day in 1948, New York Governor Thomas E Dewey and former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen were preparing for the first nationally…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The MOVE Bombing (1985) w/ Gene Demby
It’s May 13th. This day in 1985, the Philadelphia police department ended a standoff with the MOVE group by dropping two firebombs from a helicopter on a…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Dust, Everywhere (1934)
It’s May 11th. This day in 1934, a massive dust storm swept across the Great Plains, lifting up millions of tons of topsoil and spreading it as far as 300…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Sitting Bull in Canada (1877)
It’s May 9th. This day in 1877, Lakota leader Sitting Bull leads a large group into Canada to seek refuge from the U.S. Army, which had been pursuing him after…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Kennedy's Pulitzer Controversies (1957)
It’s May 6th. This day in 1957, Senator John F Kennedy of Massachusetts was awarded the Pulitzer prize for his book “Profiles in Courage.” Jody, Niki, and…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)SEAL Team Six (2011) w/ Dan Taberski
It’s May 4th. This day (May 2nd, in fact) in 2011, a group of Navy SEALs raided a compound in Pakistan and killed Osama bin Laden. Jody, Niki, and Kellie are…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)MISSION ACCOMPLISHED (2003) w/ Noreen Malone
It’s May 2nd. This day in 2003 (actually, May 1st) President George W. Bush gave a speech about the Iraq War on the USS Abraham Lincoln in front of a large…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The First HBCU* (1854)
It’s April 29th. This day in 1854, the Ashmun Institute in Pennsylvania is chartered, the first (depending on how you count) university devoted to…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Hinckley's Insanity (1982)
It’s April 27th. This day in 1982, John Hinckley went on trial for the attempted assassination of President Reagan. Hinckley’s lawyers would mount a successful…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Our Library (1800) w/ Kerri Greenidge
It’s April 25th. This day in 1800, President John Adams approved the appropriation of $5000 for the initial collection of the Library of Congress. Jody, Niki…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Boom Town (1889) w/ Sam Anderson
It’s April 22nd. This day in 1889, tens of thousands of people gathered in the middle of “unassigned territory” to wait for the signal at high noon — at which…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The Franklin Cent (1787)
It’s April 20th. This day in 1787, Congress authorized the production of the country’s first coin. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the “Fugio cent,” designed —…
- This Day (An America 250 History Show)
John Freeman's Freedom (1809)
It’s April 18th. This day in 1809, a man by the name of John Freeman writes a letter to Thomas Jefferson, asking that Jefferson transfer his indentured…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Oprah's Beef (1996)
It’s April 15th. On this day in 1996, Oprah Winfrey hosted a segment on her show about “Mad Cow Disease” and proclaimed that she would no longer eat beef. That…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)The CIA LSD Experiments (1953)
It’s April 13th. This day in 1953, the CIA started the secretive MK Ultra program, which experimented on unwitting subjects to determine the effects of LSD and…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Pets are People (1866)
It’s April 11th. This day in 1866, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is founded. Jody, Niki, Kellie and special guest Anne Helen…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)Go Ahead, Make Me Mayor (1986)
It’s April 8th. This day in 1986, Clint Eastwood is elected mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, a wealthy town of 4,000 in California. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss…
This Day (An America 250 History Show)NYC Revolt (1712)
It’s April 6th. This day in 1712, a group of enslaved people start a fire in New York City aimed at sparking a larger rebellion. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss…