March 12, 1888. There’s been a blizzard in New York. Wind, ice, and snow have brought the city to a halt. Stagecoaches are stuck, elevated trains are frozen. By the time the storm is over, 400 New Yorkers will die. The public outrage is severe, and many blame New York City’s faulty transportation network for the deaths. Suddenly, a solution that had been ign ... Show More
Nov 2
How Biddy Mason Found Her Freedom in Los Angeles
November 8, 1864. Election Day. Abraham Lincoln watches from a White House window, convinced he might lose. Three thousand miles away in Los Angeles, a Confederate hotbed in a so-called free state, Biddy Mason has more riding on the result than almost anyone in the country.Sixtee ... Show More
31m 35s
Oct 30
Salem’s First Witch Trial
Happy Halloween! Today, we're bringing back a particularly spooky episode from the archives...June 10, 1692. Bridget Bishop is loaded into a two-wheeled cart and brought from her Salem jail cell to a pasture on a hill, where a rope is hanging from freshly-installed gallows. A cro ... Show More
28m 48s
Oct 26
1066: The Brother Who Broke England (w/ Greg Jenner)
October 28, 1065. The king’s council meets in Oxford and throws a man out of England. His name is Tostig Godwinson, and the north of England already hates him. His own brother Harold, the most powerful earl in the realm and the likely next king, refuses to save him.Tostig does no ... Show More
29m 22s
Mar 2021
The Sunday Read: 'The Case for the Subway'
<p>Long before it became an archaic and filthy symbol of everything wrong with America’s broken cities, the New York subway was a marvel.</p><p>In recent years, it has been falling apart.</p><p>Today on The Sunday Read, a look at why failing to fix it would be a collective and hi ... Show More
1 h
Jul 2024
The Orphan Train: That Time the US Auctioned Children Via Rail
New York was a pretty terrible place in the late 1800s. The population was riddled with disease, crime, and terror -- things were especially bad for the virtual army of street urchins. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max learn how one man created an innovative (and imperfect) s ... Show More
43m 5s
Apr 2023
I Went to New York City and Lost My Mind (oh also, i'm moving to SoHo)
Bailey just got back from the most draining, exhausting and frustrating trip she has ever taken... Let me set the scene for you, 36 students and 4 teachers roaming the streets of NYC, blistered feet, endless complaining, no common sense, NO BREAKS, NO REST. Join Bailey as she sha ... Show More
56m 11s
Jan 2018
SYSK Selects: The Wind Cries Typhoid Mary
<p>In the 19th century, typhoid was considered a disease of the lower classes. When an outbreak occurred in wealthy Oyster Bay, New York, a mystery was afoot. Tune in to learn how this event began an ongoing debate over public safety versus civil rights.</p><p> </p> Learn more ab ... Show More
36m 24s
Feb 2022
Introducing: Love Thy Neighbor
Thirty years ago, in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights, a car accident set off four days of unrest. Two people died. Dozens were injured. Hundreds were arrested. In this Pineapple Street Studios series, journalist Collier Meyerson explores what came to be known as the “C ... Show More
3m 22s
Dec 2019
The Orphan Train: Death of an American Experiment
Between 1854 and 1929, 250,000 orphans - at peril in the dangerous, overcrowded streets of New York - were placed on trains and sent west to live with new families. A desperate solution to a desperate problem, some of the stories turned out well and some far from well. The bond b ... Show More
43m 46s