Stuff You Missed In History Class

Bonsai’s origins go all the way back to ancient China, long before Japan became infatuated with the art form. Over time, the western world also became fascinated with bonsai, though there has been plenty of cultural confusion about it along the way. This episode is sponsored by Mazda. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The second of our 2016 episodes on Robert Smalls. After his daring and impressive escape from slavery, Smalls was considered to be contraband, which was a term used for formerly enslaved people who joined the Union. But this was the beginning of an impressive career as a free man. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holly and Tracy share stories about touring, and the long period of time Tracy has been planning to work on the falsehood of Irish slavery. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This whole idea of Irish slaves distorts some things that really did happen. So today we’re going to talk about that history, and how it’s being twisted and misused today.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Since the podcast isn't going on tour this year due to the pandemic, we thought it would be fun to have an episode that's something we normally do as part of a live show -- listener questions. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This 2016 episode covers Robert Smalls, who was born into slavery in Beaufort, South Carolina in 1839. He escaped from enslavement during the U.S. Civil War, in a particularly dramatic fashion. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy and Holly talk about Tracy's chat with Dr. Rachel Lance, and the legacy of Thomas Dorsey. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For a long time, Dorsey lived a sort of double life creatively. When he combined the two forms of existing music he played, he created something new, and changed religious music forever.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy talks with biomedical engineer Dr. Rachel Lance about the cause of the H.L. Hunley disaster and the book that Dr. Lance wrote about the disaster and her research into the case. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This 2017 episode covers the story of the H.L. Hunley, which really begins with the Union blockade of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holly and Tracy discuss the nuances of what becomes historically significant in our troubled times, and then the continued relevance of James Baldwin's work. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

James Baldwin was a brilliant essayist, one of the chroniclers of the Civil Rights Movement, and a powerful voice against racism. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holly chats with Sheffield Hale and Michael Rose of the Atlanta History Center about pandemic from the point of view of a living history institution, and also how the AHC, like many history centers, is documenting Covid-19. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This 2015 episode covers a black U.S. Army WWI unit that became one of the most decorated of the war. When these soldiers returned home, they were greeted as heroes, but were still targets of segregation, discrimination and oppression. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy and Holly talk about the unique identity of the Public Universal Friend, as well as whether Wat Tyler's story inspired modern storytellers. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There were many transitional events between the the Black Death and the Renaissance; it wasn't a case of a one leading right to the other. One of those transition events was Wat Tyler’s Rebellion, also known as the Uprising of 1381 or the Great Rising. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Public Universal Friend described themself as a genderless spirit sent by God to inhabit the resurrected body of a woman named Jemima Wilkinson.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This 2018 episode connects to a lot of others in our archive. Ida B. Wells-Barnett fought against lynching for decades, at a time when it wasn't common at all for a woman, especially a woman of color, to become such a prominent journalist and a speaker. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holly and Tracy talk about the evolution of Monterey's Cannery Row and the history behind the fictional podcast Tumanbay. Their discussion then turns to current events, the death of George Floyd and the protests around the nation. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

First, a brief discussion of current events. Then, in a conversation recorded in mid-May, Holly speaks with the creator of the historical fiction podcast Tumanbay about the ways that researching the Mamluk culture shaped the show. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.