Episode
Early American Family Limitation: Contraception and Abortion
Sarah and Elizabeth discuss methods of family limitation in Early America. Just in case you need some tips.
Winter
Great Lakes Storms: The Great White Hurricane of 1913
During the hey-day of Great Lakes shipping, when ships crossed these huge lakes loaded down with cargo, a fall storm could be – and often was – deadly. You might be familiar with one particular fall shipwreck, the 1977 sinking of the freighter, The Edmund Fitzgerald, or Big Fitz during a Read more…
War, Conflict & Violence
George McGovern and the Elusive Christian Left
While today, press coverage treats Christianity’s alignment with political conservatism as a foregone conclusion, there is a larger milieu of liberal and progressive activism within Christian social justice. Join Averill and special guest Mark Lempke, PhD, for this special episode exploring George McGovern and the elusive Christian Left. We invite Read more…
Sex
Puritan Sex: The Surprising History of Puritans and Sexual Practices
We have an image of puritans as cold, severe, hyper-strict and religious people, and while that’s not entirely false, it’s also not entirely true. From the very beginning, early Americans were thinking about sex. The courts were burdened with hundreds of cases in which people broke the laws regarding sexual morality, Read more…
Sex
Selling Sex: 19th Century New York City Prostitution and Brothels
In 19th century New York City, sex was for sale and it wasn’t hard to find it. Commodified sex was everywhere and available for any price. The years between roughly 1850 to about 1910 were the years that commercialized sex and vice in New York City were the most visible, the most prolific, and Read more…
War, Conflict & Violence
The Vietnam War, Protest, and Liberal Academia: The Buffalo Nine
Sarah and Averill discuss the court case at the center of some of the most intense protests the University at Buffalo as even seen, all in the midst of the anti-war movement in the 1960s: The Buffalo Nine.
Episode
The Founding of Aids Project of the Ozarks: HIV and AIDS in the Ozark Mountains
How did communities like Springfield, the “buckle” of the Bible Belt, deal with the AIDS crisis?
Episode
NAFTA, Maquiladoras, and Mexican Immigration in the late 20th Century
Why NAFTA is important. Also, where jeans come from. Elizabeth and Averill talk Maquiladoras, NAFTA, and manufacturing in Mexico and the US.
Episode
Mexican Immigration in the 20th century: Revolution, Welfare, and Braceros
The Bracero Program began in 1942, and was an agreement between the United States and Mexico, which started the legalization and control of Mexican migrant workers along America’s southern border area. The US was recovering from the social and economic damages caused by the Great Depression, while also sending many Read more…
Episode
We Belong Here: Manifest Destiny, Immigration, and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
When we think of immigration we tend to think of people crossing over nation-state borders, from one country to another. These borders seem somehow solid in our collective mind, yet they normally only exist within treaties, maps, and in perceived ideas of community. But in many ways, borders are arbitrary Read more…