American History Tellers
439 episodes - English - Latest episode: 16 days ago - ★★★★★ - 17.3K ratingsThe Cold War, Prohibition, the Gold Rush, the Space Race. Every part of your life - the words you speak, the ideas you share - can be traced to our history, but how well do you really know the stories that made America? We'll take you to the events, the times and the people that shaped our nation. And we'll show you how our history affected them, their families and affects you today. Hosted by Lindsay Graham (not the Senator). From Wondery, the network behind American Scandal, Tides of History, American Innovations and more.
You can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
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Episodes
Encore: Supreme Court Landmarks | A Recount in Florida | 6
August 23, 2023 07:01 - 42 minutes - 38.6 MBThe morning of Nov. 8, 2000, Americans woke up to an undecided election. Pollsters had predicted a close race between Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush, but no one knew just how narrow the margins would be. It all hinged on Florida, where 25 electoral votes were up for grabs. Over the next 36 days, armies of lawyers waged a bitter fight to determine how to count the votes in Florida. It was a battle that would eventually find its way to the Supreme Court. In...
Encore: Supreme Court Landmarks | The Warren Court | 5
August 16, 2023 07:01 - 40 minutes - 37.1 MBBefore the 1950s, the Supreme Court was best known as an institution that adhered to the status quo. It often sought to protect the rights of property owners and businessmen, shying away from cases that took direct aim at controversial social or political issues. But when a popular former California governor became Chief Justice in 1953, all that changed. Earl Warren’s court would take on some of the hottest issues of the times, ruling on cases where individual rights would take pr...
Encore: Supreme Court Landmarks | Loaded Weapon | 4
August 09, 2023 07:01 - 40 minutes - 37.1 MBThrough most of 1941, as fighting raged across Europe, the United States held back from entering the war. That all changed in December, when Japanese fighter planes bombed Pearl Harbor and the nation found itself mobilizing for World War II. Suddenly, the frenzy to fight enemies abroad turned to suspicion against those at home. President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, giving the military the power to detain and permanently jail over 110,000 Japanese Americans living on the ...
Encore: Supreme Court Landmarks | Separate and Unequal | 3
August 02, 2023 07:01 - 35 minutes - 32.9 MBAfter the Civil War, America began to rebuild a shattered nation. For the first time, the country could create a society without slavery, and a nation where Black people could forge their own path as independent citizens. But by the 1890s, the laws and policies that promised new rights for Black citizens in the South were under assault. In Louisiana, white politicians attempted to turn back the clock on racial progress by passing the Separate Cars Act and reinstating segregation. ...
Encore: Supreme Court Landmarks | The Cherokee Cases | 2
July 26, 2023 07:01 - 40 minutes - 37.3 MBIn the early 1800s, the United States was growing rapidly, seeking land and resources for its expanding population. But the growth threatened Native American communities throughout the East. In the southern Appalachia region, the Cherokee Nation held millions of acres of prime farmland and forests, managed by a centuries-old tradition and a thriving government. But the state of Georgia, and a relentless President Andrew Jackson, set their sights on seizing the land. When the Georgi...
Encore: Supreme Court Landmarks | The Predicament of John Marshall | 1
July 19, 2023 07:01 - 36 minutes - 33 MBAfter the War of Independence, the new American government created the Supreme Court to be the final word on disputes that the states couldn’t settle. But at first, the Court was anything but Supreme. For nearly a decade, Congress and the President held the real power. In practice the Supreme Court was weak, ineffectual and disorganized – a post so unappealing that many men turned down nominations to serve on its bench. All that would change with the appointment of Chief Justice J...
Reconstruction Era | Counter Narratives | 7
July 12, 2023 07:01 - 39 minutes - 36.5 MBAfter Federal troops withdrew from the South in 1877, Reconstruction officially came to an end, and the battle to control the narrative began. For the next century, white Southerners espoused the Lost Cause mythology, shifting the blame for the failure of Reconstruction onto Northern interlopers and Black citizens supposedly “unready” for freedom. Today, Lindsay is joined by University of Colorado Professor Ashleigh Lawrence-Sanders to discuss the legacy of Reconstruction, and how B...
Reconstruction Era | The Great Betrayal | 6
July 05, 2023 07:01 - 44 minutes - 40.4 MBIn 1876, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel Tilden vied for the presidency. But when Election Day was over, no clear winner emerged. Amid reports of voter fraud, intimidation and violence, both parties claimed victory in South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida, the only three Southern states where Republicans still held the reins of local government. It was the most bitterly disputed election in American history. As the stalemate dragged on, the nation faced a Consti...
Reconstruction Era | The Panic | 5
June 28, 2023 07:01 - 41 minutes - 38.2 MBOn Easter Sunday, 1873, an armed white mob battled a Black militia over control of a courthouse in a rural Louisiana parish. In the end, as many as 150 Black citizens were massacred. It was one the deadliest incidents of racial violence during the Reconstruction era. As anti-Black violence ravaged the South, President Ulysses S. Grant entered his second term. Soon, the North’s commitment to defending Southern Black political rights faltered when disaster struck Wall Street, trigger...
Reconstruction Era | The Bloody Chasm | 4
June 21, 2023 07:01 - 41 minutes - 38 MBIn 1870, the ratification of the 15th Amendment enshrined Black men’s right to vote in the Constitution. Senator Hiram Revels became the first Black man to serve in Congress. Across the South, Black men were elected to office in unprecedented numbers. But soon, the Ku Klux Klan moved to undermine Black political rights with a violent campaign of fear and intimidation. Black militias formed, and took up arms to defend their communities from Klan terrorism. But in Washington, a split...
Reconstruction Era | Impeachment | 3
June 14, 2023 07:01 - 42 minutes - 38.5 MBIn the spring of 1867, over President Andrew Johnson’s veto, the Republican-controlled Congress passed the Reconstruction Acts, putting the U.S. Army in control of the South and giving Black Southerners expanded political rights. For the first time they organized and attended political rallies, registered to vote, and even helped draft new state constitutions across the South. Back in Washington, D.C., the conflict between Johnson and Congressional Republicans reached a boiling poin...
Reconstruction Era | The Radical Revolution | 2
June 07, 2023 07:01 - 41 minutes - 38.3 MBIn December 1865, the first postwar Congress convened in Washington, D.C. With Black Southerners still facing rampant violence and discrimination, the Republican majority blocked the former Confederate states from rejoining the Union. Determined to protect Black rights and curb the power of ex-Confederates, Radical Republican leaders Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner vowed to seize control of Reconstruction. But President Andrew Johnson wielded his veto power to fight back. While...
Reconstruction Era | From the Ashes of War | 1
May 31, 2023 07:01 - 42 minutes - 39.4 MBIn 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 still deeply divided over race. With the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the challenges of healing the nation unexpectedly fell to his successor: President Andrew Johnson. Soon, Johnson’s policies toward former...
United Farm Workers | The Fall | 3
May 24, 2023 07:01 - 43 minutes - 39.5 MBBy the early 1970s the United Farm Workers had won a series of successes in California and were attempting to extend their reach into other states. But soon, conservative politicians began to push back and the losses started mounting. Cesar Chavez began criticizing and alienating friends and fellow union leaders as he struggled to maintain control of the movement he had worked so hard to build. Soon he would find that his dream to empower farm workers was unraveling. Listen ad free...
United Farm Workers | The Grape Strike | 2
May 17, 2023 07:01 - 41 minutes - 38.3 MBIn 1964, the United States finally ended the controversial Bracero Program, which had flooded American farms with millions of low-paid guest workers from Mexico who competed for jobs with resident laborers. Soon after, the two largest farm worker unions in California united and launched a daring strike against the state’s wealthiest grape growers. Under the charismatic leadership of Cesar Chavez, the United Farm Workers of America coalesced into a powerful movement that drew nationa...
United Farm Workers | Birth of a Movement | 1
May 10, 2023 07:01 - 41 minutes - 37.7 MBIn the 1940s and ‘50s, farm laborers in California, many of them Mexican and Filipino, faced low wages and brutal working conditions. Their demands for change were often met with harsh tactics from the powerful growers. Soon, a plainspoken but magnetic labor organizer named Cesar Chavez stepped forward to rally workers in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Chavez and his allies joined forces to call an unprecedented strike, giving birth to the United Farm Workers of America. Listen a...
Boston Molasses Disaster | The Legend and the Legacy | 2
May 03, 2023 07:01 - 37 minutes - 34.5 MBThe 1919 Molasses Flood was a terrifying and telling moment in the history of Boston’s North End. It was also a snapshot of a developing city in the wake of the first World War. Jake Sconyers explored the events for HUB History, a podcast that revisits stories from Boston’s past. Today, he joins Lindsay to discuss the working class Italian immigrant neighborhood where the disaster happened, how the disaster impacted the community, and the mythology of the Great Molasses Flood today....
Boston Molasses Disaster | A Deadly Deluge | 1
April 26, 2023 07:01 - 41 minutes - 37.7 MBOn January 15, 1919 a giant storage tank holding more than two million gallons of molasses collapsed, sending a deadly wave crashing into the streets of Boston’s busy North End. The flood was over in minutes, but it left death and destruction in its wake. Victims and their families demanded justice, initiating a long, and contentious court case that raised questions about a possible anarchist bombing, faulty building plans, and a rush for profit in the World War I economy. Listen ...
Hawai'i's Journey to Statehood | Lost Kingdom | 5
April 19, 2023 07:01 - 40 minutes - 36.8 MBAfter she was deposed by powerful American business interests, Hawai’i’s Queen Liliʻuokalani lived out the rest of her days advocating for her people. Julia Flynn Siler, author of Lost Kingdom: Hawaii's Last Queen, the Sugar Kings, and America's First Imperial Adventure, joins Lindsay to discuss the rise and fall of Hawaii’s only queen, and her legacy. Listen ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery A...
Hawai'i's Journey to Statehood | Day of Infamy | 4
April 12, 2023 07:01 - 41 minutes - 38.1 MBOn December 7, 1941, Hawai’i was hit by one of the most unexpected military assaults in modern warfare. More than 300 Japanese fighter planes and dive bombers attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, killing 2,400 people and plunging the United States into World War II. After the assault, many of Hawai’i’s nearly 160,000 residents of Japanese descent were viewed with suspicion and fear. But eventually thousands of Japanese-American men enlisted in the Army and went on to fight ...
Hawaiʻi's Journey to Statehood | Waves of Change | 3
April 05, 2023 07:01 - 36 minutes - 33.5 MBAfter Hawai’i became a U.S. Territory in 1900, tourism to the islands exploded. Luxury steamships brought tourists eager to buy fashionable Hawaiian shirts, try their hand at surfing, and stay at fancy hotels that began to dot the beach at Waikiki. The U.S. military expanded its presence, too – bringing thousands of sailors and soldiers to the islands. But as tourism transformed the economy, Native Hawaiians became further marginalized. Then a sensational murder case exposed the dar...
Hawaiʻi's Journey to Statehood | The Pineapple King | 2
March 29, 2023 07:01 - 38 minutes - 35.5 MBIn the early 1900s, an enterprising young American named James Dole introduced pineapples to a windy plateau in Central Oahu. He’d been warned that the crop was perishable and unprofitable and that his venture was sure to fail. But within a decade, his plantation – and the immigrant workers brought in to farm it – reshaped the landscape and economy of the Hawaiian Islands. Dole’s savvy marketing helped build the mystique that made Hawai’i a tourist destination. But his reign as Hawa...
Hawaiʻi's Journey to Statehood | The Last Queen | 1
March 22, 2023 07:01 - 41 minutes - 38.2 MBIn 1893 the independent island kingdom of Hawaiʻi flourished under the leadership of its monarch, Queen Lili’uokalani. But as the leaders of Hawaiʻi’s lucrative sugar industry gained power, the Queen struggled to maintain control. Soon, the so-called sugar barons, with the backing of American politicians, began plotting to overthrow the Queen. The contested and controversial removal of Hawaiʻi’s last reigning monarch would pave the way for the kingdom to be annexed as a U.S. territ...
Insurrection of Aaron Burr | Fears of a Young Republic | 5
March 15, 2023 07:01 - 38 minutes - 34.9 MBWas Aaron Burr raising an army to invade Mexico? Plotting to break apart the Union? Overthrow the government? Or was his trial for treason – the greatest legal spectacle in our young nation’s history – all much ado about nothing? Kalamazoo College History Professor James E. Lewis, Jr., wrote The Burr Conspiracy: Uncovering the Story of an Early American Crisis. He joins host Lindsay Graham to discuss the mysteries that still surround the Burr conspiracy, and what his highly partisan...
Insurrection of Aaron Burr | Treason on Trial | 4
March 08, 2023 08:01 - 40 minutes - 37.5 MBIn the summer of 1807, Richmond, Virginia hosted the most sensational trial in the young nation’s history. At stake was the life of Aaron Burr, who stood accused of plotting an armed insurrection against the United States. The battle over Burr’s guilt or innocence pitted President Thomas Jefferson, who wanted to see his former vice president convicted of treason, against Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall, who was committed to the idea that any American citizen, even an all...
Insurrection of Aaron Burr | The Severance of the Union | 3
March 01, 2023 08:01 - 40 minutes - 37.4 MBIn August 1806, Aaron Burr began the final preparations for his mysterious expedition to the western frontier. As he traveled, rumors that he was plotting a dangerous conspiracy followed in his wake. Newspapers reported that Burr was planning to invade Mexico and start a secessionist rebellion in New Orleans. As evidence mounted, a dogged federal prosecutor resolved to bring Burr into court. But the biggest threat to Burr’s vision of power and glory would soon come from someone he ...
Insurrection of Aaron Burr | Gathering Forces | 2
February 22, 2023 08:01 - 41 minutes - 38 MBIn the summer of 1804, Vice President Aaron Burr was wanted for the murder of Alexander Hamilton. The fatal duel made him a political pariah and the target of widespread public outcry. But as Burr’s Vice Presidency came to an end, he refused to slink into the shadows. Vowing to rise again, he decided to seek his fortunes in the West. Soon, he would journey to the newly acquired Louisiana Territory, recruiting allies and seeking to fulfill his dreams of rebellion and conquest. List...
Insurrection of Aaron Burr | An Affair of Honor | 1
February 15, 2023 08:01 - 38 minutes - 35.7 MBIn July 1804, Aaron Burr faced political rival Alexander Hamilton on the cliffs of Weehawken, New Jersey, in a legendary duel that would change Burr’s life forever. As a young man, Burr had distinguished himself as a patriot, lawyer and politician. But as his political star rose, he made many enemies. He challenged Thomas Jefferson, in the tumultuous Election of 1800, but his greatest rival was Jefferson’s Treasury Secretary, Hamilton. After he shot and killed Hamilton, Burr’s ca...
California Gold Rush | Gold Mountains | 5
February 08, 2023 08:00 - 37 minutes - 34.3 MBNews of the 1848 discovery of gold in California spread quickly, and thousands of Chinese migrants flocked to California to seek a better life in the place they called "Gold Mountain." But the reality awaiting them was a far cry from streets paved with gold. Despite facing racism and incredible hardship, many ultimately found opportunities to prosper in the Golden State. On today’s show, author and historian Lisa See joins host Lindsay Graham to discuss the Chinese experience of the...
California Gold Rush | Digging Deeper | 4
February 01, 2023 08:01 - 34 minutes - 31.9 MBIn the early 1850s, as people continued to flood West, California’s booming cities experienced rapid growth, but also turmoil. Fires regularly swept through hastily erected towns, and battles broke out between lawless miners and new, civic-minded residents who wanted to clean up the burgeoning cities. Meanwhile, women arriving in male-dominated gold country found rare opportunities to thrive in business. And as gold became harder to find, individual prospectors were increasingly squ...
California Gold Rush | Battlelines | 3
January 25, 2023 08:01 - 40 minutes - 36.9 MBFor white settlers, the Gold Rush offered a chance for fortune, but for California’s Native inhabitants, the sudden hunger for gold spelled disaster. As the numbers of miners grew, they forced Native people off their ancestral lands, often starving or slaughtering them in the process. As California became a state, informal policies that discriminated against indigenous Californians became law. Soon, the state would deploy militias to violently put down Indian resistance. Listen ad ...
California Gold Rush | The Forty Niners | 2
January 18, 2023 08:01 - 37 minutes - 34.6 MBIn early 1849, thousands of gold-hungry Americans began pouring into California from the eastern United States. But most of the so-called 49ers were wildly unprepared for the perilous journey west. Once they reached California, they found unexpected obstacles and fierce competition in the gold mines. For many, their dreamed-of riches rarely materialized. And even for those who did hit paydirt, their newfound wealth came with unforeseen challenges. Listen ad free with Wondery+. Join...
California Gold Rush | The First Strike | 1
January 11, 2023 08:01 - 36 minutes - 33.7 MBAfter the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in 1848, hundreds of thousands of prospectors poured into California, hoping to strike it rich. In the early days, rather than coming from within the U.S., most miners arrived from places like China, Hawaii, Chile, and Australia. But when President James K. Polk confirmed that newspaper reports of vast gold fields were true, it would kick the Gold Rush into high gear, transforming America and establishing California as a place for grand...
Presidential Assassinations | Interview | 5
January 04, 2023 08:01 - 41 minutes - 37.6 MBThe job of guarding the President’s life belongs to the men and women of the United States Secret Service. There have been many highs and lows in the agency’s more than 150-year history – most poignantly the assassination of JFK in 1963. On today’s show Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter Carol Leonnig joins host Lindsay Graham to discuss the agency’s response to assassination attempts over the years, and her book Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service. List...
Presidential Assassinations | Ricochet | 4
December 28, 2022 08:01 - 38 minutes - 35.4 MBIn 1981, a gunman fired six shots at Ronald Reagan after the president gave a speech at a Washington D.C. hotel. Over the next several hours, split-second decisions made by Secret Service agents and D.C. hospital staff would determine whether Reagan would live or die. Amidst Cold War tensions, as Reagan lay unconscious in an operating room, questions would emerge over the presidential line of succession and who was actually running the government. Listen ad free with Wondery+. Join...
Presidential Assassinations | Three Shots in Dallas | 3
December 21, 2022 08:01 - 38 minutes - 35.6 MBOn November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was shot and killed while riding in his presidential limo through downtown Dallas. His violent and public death became one of the most traumatic moments in the nation’s history — and one of the most controversial, as Americans debated the mystery around his killer, Lee Harvey Oswald. The tragedy also thrust Vice President Lyndon Johnson into the White House, where he battled Kennedy’s brother Bobby for control of JFK’s legacy, and passed landmar...
Presidential Assassinations | Anarchist at the Exposition | 2
December 14, 2022 08:01 - 36 minutes - 33.5 MBIn September 1901, President William McKinley visited the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York to deliver a speech celebrating American achievements at home and abroad. But waiting in the crowd in Buffalo was an embittered Polish-American laborer seeking to prove his commitment to the anarchist cause. Leon Czolgosz fired two bullets, striking the 25th president and sparking a rush to save McKinley’s life. With the president’s life hanging in the balance, McKinley’s ambitious...
Presidential Assassinations | Murder for Spoils | 1
December 07, 2022 08:01 - 41 minutes - 37.9 MBOn April 14th, 1865, John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. Lincoln died hours later, shocking the war-torn nation and becoming the first President to be assassinated in office. But he would not be the last. Sixteen years later, no action had been taken to protect the commander-in-chief. When James Garfield became president in March 1881, a disturbed and delusional former lawyer demanded a position in the new administration. Furious o...
Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 | The Great Debate | 4
November 30, 2022 08:01 - 37 minutes - 34.3 MBThe yellow fever epidemic of 1793 posed one of the greatest threats to the young United States. Doctors and scientists couldn’t agree on the cause or the treatment. They split into factions and debated their theories publicly. On today’s show, Thomas Apel, historian and author of Feverish Bodies, Enlightened Minds: Science and the Yellow Fever Controversy in the Early American Republic, joins host Lindsay Graham to discuss how science, religion and politics were intertwined in the c...
Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 | Friends We Have Lost | 3
November 23, 2022 08:01 - 38 minutes - 35.5 MBIn 1793, Philadelphia served as the nation’s temporary capital, and the yellow fever epidemic crippled the federal government. After fleeing the capital, President George Washington struggled to make decisions and govern the young nation. Meanwhile, Philadelphia was running out of space to bury the dead. With the epidemic growing in strength, crime soared and jobless tenants were evicted from their homes. But soon, relief would come from an unexpected source. Listen ad free with Wo...
Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 | Fears & Falsehoods | 2
November 16, 2022 08:01 - 42 minutes - 38.9 MBIn September 1793, yellow fever continued to ravage Philadelphia. As the death toll mounted, Dr. Benjamin Rush raced to find a cure. Rush used an aggressive and controversial treatment to battle the grisly disease, sparking a political backlash. Soon Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton and President George Washington were forced to flee the disease, leaving government on the verge of collapse. But the Mayor of Philadelphia, and ordinary citizens, stepped in to try to save their ci...
Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 | Outbreak | 1
November 09, 2022 08:01 - 37 minutes - 34.5 MBIn the hot and humid summer of 1793, a deadly epidemic struck Philadelphia, then the capital of the United States. Thousands suffered high fevers, yellow skin, and bloody vomit. Many died within days. At first, the cause of the illnesses was a mystery. Then the city’s leading physician, Dr. Benjamin Rush, identified it as yellow fever, one of the era’s deadliest diseases. Panic soon spread through Philadelphia. Schools, stores, and churches shut their doors, as the epidemic began t...
The Age of Pirates | Women of the High Seas | 4
November 02, 2022 07:01 - 36 minutes - 33.3 MBDuring the Golden Age of Piracy, two female pirates became infamous despite their short careers. Anne Bonny and Mary Read went down as some of the fiercest pirates in popular mythology.. Dr. Rebecca Simon is a historian of early modern piracy and lover of all things pirates. Her latest book is called Pirate Queens: The Lives of Anne Bonny and Mary Read. She joins host Lindsay Graham to separate fact from fiction about these women of the high seas and other pirate legends. Listen ad...
The Age of Pirates | Blackbeard and the Flying Gang | 3
October 26, 2022 07:01 - 36 minutes - 33.7 MBIn 1717, the pirate known as Blackbeard launched an attack along the Atlantic seaboard, disrupting international trade and striking terror into sea captains and colonial governors. Working with his sidekick, the “Gentleman Pirate” Stede Bonnet, Blackbeard blockaded the busy port of Charles Town and took city residents hostage. Soon, he would find himself in a pitched battle against a secret military force sent by the governor of Virginia – and in a race for his life. Listen ad free...
The Age of Pirates | Captain Kid's Adventure | 2
October 19, 2022 07:01 - 37 minutes - 34.2 MBAs England waged war against France in 1689, Scottish sailor William Kidd led a deadly mutiny aboard a French privateer in the Caribbean. It was his first act in becoming one of the most feared sea captains of his generation. After Kidd retired from piracy and settled down in New York, the English Crown hired him to hunt down other pirates and secure its lucrative trade routes. But Kidd would soon betray his contract with the Crown, and become the most wanted outlaw on the North Ame...
The Age of Pirates | A Gold Chain Or A Wooden Leg | 1
October 12, 2022 07:01 - 35 minutes - 32.8 MBAt the end of the 17th century, pirates stalked the coast of North America and the waters of the Caribbean, attacking merchant vessels from every nation. But they were more than just armed robbers of the high seas. They were also crucial figures in the growth of England’s American colonies, supplying them with vital goods that were often unavailable otherwise. One of these early pirates, Captain Thomas Tew, hailed from the bustling port city of Newport, Rhode Island. Soon he would...
Encore: The Walker Affair | The Last Filibuster | 3
October 05, 2022 07:01 - 37 minutes - 34.2 MBWhen he escaped Nicaragua in 1857, American William Walker was a failed despot responsible for the death of thousands of people and the destabilization of Central America. But he returned to New Orleans with fanfare, greeted by cheering crowds and parades. Soon Walker vowed to return to Central America to take back control of his empire. But his final, daring invasion would end in disaster. This series was originally released as a Wondery+ exclusive. Listen ad free with Wondery+....
Encore: The Walker Affair | Nicaragua's Yankee President | 2
September 28, 2022 07:01 - 42 minutes - 38.6 MBIn 1855, William Walker faced a criminal trial in the United States for his illegal, and unsuccessful, invasion of Mexico. But he emerged from court fully acquitted, and to some, a national hero. Emboldened by his popularity, Walker set his sights on a new prize: Nicaragua, which had become a critical transit route between east and west. This series was originally released as a Wondery+ exclusive. Listen ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, an...
Encore: The Walker Affair | The Gray-Eyed Man of Destiny | 1
September 21, 2022 07:01 - 40 minutes - 37 MBIn the mid-1800s, the United States was full of adventurers and entrepreneurs looking to take advantage of the country’s ever-expanding boundaries. One of them was a young lawyer and newspaper editor from Tennessee named William Walker. Hoping to establish his own republic, like Texas, Walker became a “filibuster” – a mercenary who attempts to colonize foreign lands without government authorization. He set his sights on a remote corner of Mexico, on the Baja Peninsula. But Walker’s ...
Civil War | Finding Freedom | 8
September 14, 2022 07:01 - 36 minutes - 33.5 MBDuring the Civil War, Black people in America took the opportunity to free themselves and to serve the Union cause. At great personal risk, tens of thousands of refugees -- men, women and children -- fled Southern slave owners for Union lines. They enlisted in the Union Army and served as cooks, laundresses, nurses and even spies. On today’s show, Wayne State University history professor Kidada Williams joins host Lindsay Graham for a conversation about the Black experience during t...