“My men never retire. They go forward, or they die!”
This is the story of the 15th New York, a.k.a, the 369th, or the Harlem Hellfighters.
James “Big Jim” Europe is one of the most talented musicians in the world. His ragtime and early jazz sounds electrify New York City. That’s exactly why Colonel William “Big Bill” Hayward, who’s just been named commande ... Show More
Apr 13
203: The Holocaust: Killing Squads, Ghettos, & Gas Chambers
“The procedure is a pretty barbaric one and not to be described here more definitively. Not much will remain of the Jews.” —Joseph Goebbels This is the story of how the Holocaust becomes industrialized. In January 1942, Nazi leaders discuss what will become the “Final Solution”: ... Show More
1h 8m
Mar 30
202: Holocaust Prologue with US Holocaust Memorial Museum Director, Sara J. Bloomfield
After turning our attention back to Europe in the last few episodes, it’s time to finally examine the Holocaust. Back in episode 185, we covered a broad history of antisemitism in Europe and the violent results of the first few years of Hitler’s reign in Germany, going all the wa ... Show More
48m 21s
Mar 16
201: A Soft Underbelly: The Allied Invasion of Sicily & the Fall of Il Duce
"My dear Duce, it’s no longer any good… At this moment you are the most hated man in Italy.” This is the story of Operations Underworld, Mincemeat, and Husky. On the heels of the decisive Allied victory in Africa, leaders decide to take the fight north. But Hitler and Mussolini s ... Show More
58m 53s
Aug 2021
Kevin McGruder, "Philip Payton: The Father of Black Harlem" (Columbia UP, 2021)
What was Harlem before its Renaissance, and how did it come to be? In Philip Payton: The Father of Black Harlem (Columbia University Press, 2021), historian Kevin McGruder, Associate Professor at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, explores the life of the remarkable Philip ... Show More
1h 1m
Jul 2023
347: The American Revolution (Part 1)
“America, late the strength, now the foe to Britain, dismembered, torn, I fear forever lost to England, whence she sprung.”
The American Revolution came about due to growing tensions between the American colonies and Great Britain, primarily over issues of taxation and representa ... Show More
58m 5s
Dec 2021
What Does Black Ambition Sound Like?
James Reese Europe was already famous when he enlisted to fight in World War I. But the band he took to the frontlines — as part of the famous 369th Infantry Regiment, also known as the Harlem Hellfighters — thurst him, and Black American music, onto the global stage. Moran sits ... Show More
50m 55s
Feb 2022
E61: The League of Revolutionary Black Workers, part 1
Double podcast episode about the League of Revolutionary Black Workers in Detroit in the late 60s/early 70s, in conversation with Herb Boyd, author of Black Detroit and former member of the group, and Dan Georgakas, author of Detroit I Do Mind Dying.
This podcast is only possible ... Show More
46 m
Feb 2017
David Curtis Skaggs, “William Henry Harrison and the Conquest of the Ohio Country: Frontier Fighting in the War of 1812” (JHU Press, 2014)
Though best remembered today for his brief tenure as the ninth president of the United States, William Henry Harrison’s most significant contribution to American history was his service as a general in the War of 1812. In William Henry Harrison and the Conquest of the Ohio Countr ... Show More
57m 31s
Mar 2022
E62: League of Revolutionary Black Workers, part 2
Second of a double podcast episode about the League of Revolutionary Black Workers in Detroit in the late 60s/early 70s, in conversation with Herb Boyd, author of Black Detroit and former member of the group, and Dan Georgakas, author of Detroit I Do Mind Dying.
This podcast is o ... Show More
54m 9s
Jan 2024
The Ghost Army of World War 2
In the summer of 1944, a handpicked group of young GIs—including such future luminaries such as Bill Blass, Ellsworth Kelly, Arthur Singer, Victor Dowd, Art Kane, and Jack Masey—landed in France to conduct a secret mission. From Normandy to the Rhine, the 1,100 men of the 23rd He ... Show More
41m 39s