During the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, millions of desperate Americans abandoned their homes, farms and businesses. It was one …
Histories
Exploring the past to tell the history of now.
The Almost Astronaut (Revisited)
In an attempt to beat the Soviet Union in the space race, the Kennedy administration enlisted Air Force captain Ed Dwight to enter the astronaut training program as its first Black trainee.
The End of Smallpox
Rahima Banu holds a remarkable place in history, as the last known person in the world to be infected with smallpox. This week on the RadioDiaries podcast, the story behind a global effort to eradicate the deadly virus.
Meet Miss Subways
Beauty pageants promote the fantasy of the ideal woman. But for 35 years, the Miss Subways contest in New York City celebrated the everyday working girl.
The Gospel Ranger
Outside the Appalachian mountains, his name was barely known. But Claude Ely influenced some of the pioneers of rock & roll.
Mandela’s Election: 30 Years Later
Mandela was a lawyer, freedom fighter, leader of the African National Congress, and finally, president.
Working, Then and Now
We present a special, one hour episode of our series The Working Tapes of Studs Terkel.
My Iron Lung (Revisited)
Paul Alexander, one of two people in the United States relying on an iron lung, died recently at 78 years …
The Drum Also Waltzes
At the age of 16, he played with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. He went on to make landmark recordings with …
The Man on the President’s Limo
Today marks 60 years since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. There are many photos from that day in …
The Unmarked Graveyard: Stories from Hart Island
A weekly series untangling the mysteries of Hart Island, America’s largest public cemetery.
The Longest Game
In the spring of 1981, the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings met for a minor league game …
The Girls of the Leesburg Stockade
In July 1963, a group of young Black girls were arrested while protesting in Americus, Georgia. They were jailed at a stockade for more than 45 days, their families had no idea where they were. This is that story.
The Ski Troops of WWII
The men of the 10th Mountain Division led a series of daring assaults against the Nazis in the mountains of Italy. After returning home, many of these soldiers helped to create the modern ski industry.
The Rise and Fall of Black Swan Records
The story of the first major black-owned record label and the mystery behind the man who created it.
A Museum of Sound
Thanks to the Music Modernization Act, tens of thousands of recordings made before 1923 will enter the public domain for the very first time on January 1, 2022.
Last Witness: The Kerner Commission
Former Senator Oklahoma Fred Harris is the last surviving member of the Kerner Commission, a group appointed by President Lyndon Johnson to investigate the root causes of the violence and civil unrest that swept the nation in the late ’60s.
America Vs. America
On March 1, 1954, four young Puerto Rican New Yorkers launched on attack on the U.S. Capitol.
How to Lose an Election: A History
In every U.S. presidential election since 1896, the losing candidate has given a concession speech.
The Forgotten Story of Clinton Melton
Emmett Till’s murder is considered the spark that ignited a burgeoning Civil Rights movement. But there was another brazen murder of a Black man that happened just three months later, in a neighboring town in the Delta.
Soul Sister: The Limits of Empathy
A story about the limits of empathy. A collaboration with NPR’s Code Switch.
March of the Bonus Army
In 1932, 20,000 WWI veterans set up a tent city in Washington. They called themselves the Bonus Army.
Busman’s Holiday
The story of William Cimillo, a New York City bus driver who snapped one day in 1947, left his regular route in the Bronx, and drove his municipal bus down to Florida.
Claudette Colvin: “History Had Me Glued To The Seat”
You know the story of Rosa Parks. But have you heard of Claudette Colvin?
The View From the 79th Floor
On the Radio Diaries Podcast, we tell the story of the plane that crashed into the Empire State Building.
The Dropped Wrench
Sometimes we make mistakes. They just don’t always happen in a nuclear missile silo. This story was produced in collaboration with This American Life.
Prisoners Of War
During the war in Vietnam, there was a notorious American prison on the outskirts of Saigon…a prison for American soldiers.
The Working Tapes
In the early 1970’s, author Studs Terkel went around the country with a reel-to-reel tape recorder interviewing people about their jobs.
Remembering Olivia Hooker
Olivia Hooker was one of the last surviving witnesses to the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921.
When Nazis Took Manhattan
On February 20, 1939, 20,000 American Nazis rallied at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The event was billed as a “Pro-American” rally, but it championed Hitler and fascism.
A Guitar, A Cello, and The Day That Changed Music
November 23, 1936, was a very good day for recorded music.
Ballad for Americans
How a ten minute operatic folk cantata managed to unite Democrats, Republicans and Communists.
Last Witness: Mission to Hiroshima
Russell Gackenbach is the only surviving member of the crew that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. This is his story.
Last Witness: The General Slocum
In 1904, a steamship on its way to a church picnic sank in the East River. More than 1,000 people, many of them women and children, died in the disaster.
Willie McGee and the Traveling Electric Chair
Bridgette McGee is unearthing everything she can about her grandfather’s life – and his death.
A Movement, a Massacre, and Mexico’s 50 Year Search for the Truth
The secret behind the 1968 massacre of students in Tlatelolco.
The Two Lives of Asa Carter
Asa Carter and Forrest Carter couldn’t have been more different. But they shared a secret.
The Chamizal: A Town Between Borders
When the U.S. and Mexico chose the Rio Grande as an international border, they didn’t expect the river to move.
Working Then and Now
In the early 1970s, radio host and oral historian Studs Terkel recorded more than 130 interviews for his bestselling oral history “Working.”
Burma ’88
25 years ago, university students in Burma sparked a countrywide uprising. They called for a nationwide strike on 8/8/88, a date they chose for its numerological power.
Mexico ’68: A Movement, A Massacre, and the 40-Year Search for the Truth
The Massacre of Tlatelolco has become a defining moment in Mexican history, but for forty years the truth of that day has remained hidden.
The Square Deal
George F. Johnson was the owner of the Endicott Johnson Corp. — at one time the country’s leading shoe manufacturer — and one of the nation’s leading welfare capitalists known for his labor policy, the “Square Deal.”
Strange Fruit: Voices of a Lynching
“Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck, for the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, for the sun to rot, for a tree to drop. Here is a strange and bitter crop.” -Abel Meeropol
Soweto 1976
On June 16th, 1976, in South Africa, a group of school children in the black township of Soweto held a protest and changed the course of a nation.
The Pygmy in the Zoo
On September 8th, 1906, New York’s Bronx Zoo unveiled a new exhibit that would attract thousands of visitors. Inside a cage, in the monkey house, was a man.
West Side Story: Michael Farmer and the Murder that Shocked New York
More than fifty years ago, Puerto Rican and black gang members in New York City fatally stabbed Michael Farmer, a white teenager.
Identical Strangers
Paula Bernstein and Elyse Schein were both born in New York City and adopted as infants. When they were 35-years-old, they met, and found they were “identical strangers.”
Victoria Woodhull: The First Woman to Run for President
In the 19th century, Victoria Woodhull was many things: a clairvoyant, a businesswoman, an advocate for women’s rights and sexual freedom, and a presidential candidate.
William Jennings Bryan: The Speech That Changed Politics
William Jenning Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” speech is known today as one of the most important oratorical performances in American history.
Adlai Stevenson: A Candidate in the Age of Television
The 1952 presidential campaign pitted the popular General Dwight D. Eisenhower against the intensely private Adlai Stevenson. It was an election fought on a new battleground: television.
Margaret Chase Smith: Cold War Warrior in Pearls
In 1964, Margaret Chase Smith became the first woman from a major party to run for President.
Shirley Chisholm: The Politics of Principle
In 1972, Shirley Chisholm launched a spirited campaign for the Democratic nomination. She was the first woman and first African American to run.
Gracie Allen: The Joke That Became a Campaign
In 1940 the United States was just emerging from the shadow of the Great Depression and war loomed in Europe. Into these serious times stepped Gracie Allen.
The “Veep”
Alben Barkley served in Congress for close to 40 years and was Harry Truman’s vice president. But he never made it to the pinnacle of power.
When Ground Zero was Radio Row
For more than four decades, the area around Cortlandt Street in lower Manhattan was the largest collection of radio and electronics stores in the world. Then in 1966 the stores were bulldozed to make way for the new World Trade Center.
The WASPs: Women Pilots of WWII
In the early 1940s, the government launched an experimental program to train women pilots. They were known as the WASPs, the Women Airforce Service Pilots.
The 10th Mountain
The men of the 10th Mountain Division led a series of daring assaults against the Nazis in the mountains of Italy. After returning home, many of these soldiers helped to create the modern ski industry.
Lady Writes the Blues
You may not know her name, but Rose Marie McCoy was one of the most prolific songwriters of the 1950s and 1960s.
The Starting Five
The NBA, now a multi-billion dollar entertainment industry, looked very different a half century ago.
Civil War Widows
Seven decades ago, Daisy Anderson and Alberta Martin were brand new brides. And their husbands served on opposite sides of the Civil War.
