logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2023
39m 10s

The Origins of the KKK and its First Dea...

History Unplugged
About this episode
The Ku Klux Klan was arguably America’s first organized terrorist movement. It was a paramilitary unit that arose in the South during the early years of Reconstruction. At its peak in the early 1870s, the Klan boasted many tens of thousands of... 
Up next
Jan 15
Before the Cold War, Russia and America Were the Closest of Distant Friends
Nearly a century of Cold War tensions between the United States and Russia hide the incredibly close friendship that the two nations enjoyed before this period. From America’s colonial founding in the 1600s to the eve of World War One, the two distant nations relied on each other ... Show More
46m 31s
Jan 13
The Horrifying Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the Titanic of the Great Lakes
One of the worst nautical disasters in recent American history is the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. On November 10, 1975, the “storm of the century” threw 100 mile-per-hour winds and 50-foot waves on Lake Superior. The ship found itself at the worst possible place, at the ... Show More
48m 16s
Jan 8
Inside the Deadly German U-Boats That Brought Britain to Its Knees (But Were Deadlier for Their Own Crews)
Over the course of World War II, Germany’s submariners sank over three thousand Allied ships, nearly three-quarters of Allied shipping losses in all theaters of the war. Winston Churchill famously declared the only thing that truly frightened him during World War II was the U-boa ... Show More
41m 19s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2024
The Rise and Fall of the Ku Klux Klan
<p>With a sinister hierarchy of "grand wizards" and "dragons," hooded Klansmen concealed their identities as they unleashed a reign of terror on Black Americans and other minorities across America for almost a century.</p><br><p>Dan is joined by Professor Kristofer Allerfeldt fro ... Show More
37m 59s
May 2023
Reconstruction Era | From the Ashes of War | 1
<p>In the spring of 1865, the United States celebrated the end of four years of Civil War. As American soldiers laid down their weapons, four million formerly enslaved Black people in the South grappled with the daunting task of building new lives as free citizens in a nation sti ... Show More
43m 7s
May 2019
President Ulysses S Grant
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the impact of Grant's presidency on Americans in the years after the Civil War in which he, with Lincoln, had led the Union Army to victory. His predecessor, Andrew Johnson, was prepared to let the Southern States decide for themselves which rights ... Show More
55m 12s
Feb 2022
Reconstructed, Ep 1: Birth of a Black Nation
<p>One question has plagued our nation since its founding: will Black people in America ever experience full citizenship?  </p><p>In searching for an answer, Into America is collaborating with the Smithsonian’s <a href="https://nmaahc.si.edu/" target="_blank">National Museum of A ... Show More
54m 42s
Feb 2021
General Robert E Lee: US Civil War rebel
The US Civil War of 1861-65 left 700,000 troops dead. The Southern Confederate states rebelled against the Union of the North because the Confederates wanted to protect the right to own slaves. The hero of the rebel cause, General Robert E Lee, was charged with treason and had hi ... Show More
12m 28s
Oct 2018
Civil Rights - New World A’Comin | 1
<p>President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, freeing the slaves in much of the South. But the road to freedom—true freedom—would take generations longer for most black Americans.</p><p>In this new six-part series, we investigate their stru ... Show More
38m 5s
May 2022
Reconstruction I: Secession on Trial
May 10, 1865. Jefferson Davis is awakened by gunshots. The president of the defeated and disbanded Confederate States of America is on the run, and today, federal troops finally catch him. His arrest puts the face of the Confederacy behind bars. But it also creates a problem for ... Show More
39m 24s
Nov 2019
The Black Congressmen of Reconstruction: Death of Representation
During the 1870s, more than a dozen African American men, many of whom had been born into slavery, were elected to the U.S. Congress. These political pioneers symbolized the sky high hopes of millions of former slaves during the years right after the Civil War. It was a period th ... Show More
44m 31s
Feb 2024
Origins of the Civil War
<p>The war between the Union and the Confederacy is a major turning point in the history of the United States. But why did it happen?</p><br><p>From slavery and states' rights, to economic, legislative, moral, and political issues, in this episode, Don and Professor Adam Smith ex ... Show More
34m 54s
Mar 2020
61: The Louisiana Native Guard, the 54th Massachusetts & On: Black Soldiers in the Civil War
“It is hard to believe that Southern soldiers—and Texans at that—have been whipped by a mongrel crew of white and black Yankees … there must be some mistake.” This is the story of Black Soldiers in the Civil War. Black patriots are ready to fight from day one. The Lincoln Adminis ... Show More
1 h