Episode list

The Philippine-American War marked the emergence of America as a global power. But what has been the legacy of the war in the country in which it was fought? How did the war set the stage for Philippine independence, and pave the way for generations of Filipino immigration to the U.S.? Lindsay speaks with Dr. Vicente Rafael, a historian whose work focuses on the colonial and post-colonial Philippines and the country's relationship with the United States. They'll discuss the history of the Philippines before, during and after the war, the roles education and language have played in U.S. imperialism, and how the war is remembered - or forgotten - in the Philippines today.

Henry McCarty was born in an Irish slum in New York City in 1859. By the time he died from a lawman's bullet twenty-one years later in New Mexico, he was notorious throughout the world under a different name: Billy the Kid. Born to a single, loving mother, young Henry was smart, charming and polite. But he soon faced tragic, devastating setbacks that sent him on a path from robbery to murder. Orphaned at 15, Henry was forced to survive on the western frontier, an unforgiving place where life was cheap. And he would soon become one of the most infamous outlaws in American history.

In 1877, Billy the Kid was saved from a life of crime by a wealthy Englishman named John Tunstall, who saw potential in the teenage outlaw. Soon, however, Billy was drawn into a vicious war between Tunstall and a rival cattle baron, one that would force him to return to his gunslinging ways. When Tunstall himself was murdered in the escalating Lincoln County War, Billy swore he would get revenge. The violence that followed was shocking even by the standards of the Wild West. The Kid would become a major player in the bloodshed, made infamous by newspapers throughout the country. Ultimately, it would force him to once again flee from the law - and set him on a path towards a showdown with his arch enemy, the ruthless Jimmy Dolan.

With the bloody Lincoln County War finally over, Billy the Kid tried to make a truce with his arch enemy, Jimmy Dolan. But his plan backfired, and he wound up forced to go on the run, implicated in a murder Dolan committed. Billy's charm and quick wits kept him just outside the reach of law. But he would soon meet his match. A former bartender turned lawman, Pat Garrett, vowed to capture and kill the Kid at any cost. Garrett's epic pursuit of Billy the Kid took him through the hills and villages of New Mexico, until their final deadly clash, which would turn the Kid into a legend.

Billy the Kid has become one of the most iconic figures of the American West. But many details of his life remain unknown or heavily debated among scholars and historians, from his childhood prior to his arrival in New Mexico, to the circumstances surrounding his death. Lindsay speaks with Chris Wimmer, creator and host of Legends of the Old West, a podcast about the outlaws, gunslingers and lawmen who shaped the American frontier. Chris and Lindsay dive deep into the Billy the Kid story, both as portrayed in Hollywood and in the history books, to try to separate truth from fiction and reveal the young man behind the myth.

In the 1870s, a gang from Chicago hatched one of the most audacious criminal plots in American history. They planned to steal the body of Abraham Lincoln from his tomb in Springfield, Illinois, then hold the president's corpse for ransom. The brazen plot began in an unlikely place - the murky world of fake money. In the mid-1800s, counterfeiting was so rampant in the United States that it threatened the financial stability of the entire nation. One especially notorious counterfeiting gang was run by Big Jim Kennally - and when Big Jim's most talented engraver was arrested, it drove his gang to take the leap from counterfeiting to grave-robbing.

By 1876, criminal boss Big Jim Kennally was ready to put his Lincoln body-snatching plan into motion. But his gang of thieves needed one more member before they could attempt the heist. Soon, they found their new recruit: a former horse thief from Wisconsin named Lewis Swegles. But what the gang didn't know was that Swegles was a "roper" - an undercover informant, employed by Secret Service agent Patrick Tyrrell to bring down Kennally's counterfeiting ring. When Swegles revealed the Lincoln plot to Tyrrell, the agent knew he had to act fast. First, however, he had to convince his bosses at the Secret Service that the far-fetched plot was real.

By 1876, criminal boss Big Jim Kennally was ready to put his Lincoln body-snatching plan into motion. But his gang of thieves needed one more member before they could attempt the heist. Soon, they found their new recruit: a former horse thief from Wisconsin named Lewis Swegles. But what the gang didn't know was that Swegles was a "roper" - an undercover informant, employed by Secret Service agent Patrick Tyrrell to bring down Kennally's counterfeiting ring. When Swegles revealed the Lincoln plot to Tyrrell, the agent knew he had to act fast. First, however, he had to convince his bosses at the Secret Service that the far-fetched plot was real.

On July 19th, 1848, 300 female and male delegates gathered in a church in Seneca Falls, New York for America's first women's rights convention. After two days, 100 of the attendees signed the Declaration of Sentiments, a radical manifesto affirming the equality of men and women. It was the start of the women's rights revolution. Over the next two decades, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony built a movement to push for women's suffrage. They worked side by side with abolitionists, certain their causes were intertwined. But in the years after the Civil War, racial tensions broke apart the decades-old alliance between those fighting for the end of slavery and those fighting for women's voting rights.

On Election Day 1872, Susan B. Anthony walked into a polling place in Rochester, New York and boldly cast her ballot. Her action was an escalation in women's fight for the vote. Days later, she was arrested for voting illegally. It was all part of a daring new strategy for suffrage called the "New Departure." At first, the strategy found a charismatic champion in a new women's rights advocate, Victoria Woodhull. But Woodhull's penchant for controversy would soon jeopardize the entire suffrage cause.

As the 20th century dawned, a new generation of women rose to take control of the suffrage cause. These young activists were going to college, delaying marriage, and pursuing careers. Their political savvy helped the movement win victories at the state level in the West. But new leaders like Carrie Chapman Catt also shunned Black activists. Facing discrimination within their own movement, Black suffrage leaders like Ida B. Wells forged their own path, fighting racism and sexism on their own terms.

In March 1913, thousands of suffrage activists converged on Washington, D.C. for a new form of protest. They were going to march down Pennsylvania Avenue to demand an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote. Their leader, Alice Paul, was a young rising star in the movement. Her dramatic protests outside the White House would grab headlines across America. But they would also spark fierce and sometimes violent resistance.

As America entered World War I, the suffrage movement split into a two-pronged attack. Alice Paul and her National Woman's Party took their protests to the White House gates. Meanwhile, Carrie Chapman Catt and her group, the National American Woman Suffrage Association, lobbied to prove the loyalty and patriotism of American women, hoping they would be rewarded with the ballot. Together, these two groups would finally succeed in pushing a new amendment through Congress, granting women the right to vote. But before it could become law, it would have to be ratified by the states - leading to a dramatic showdown in the final state the suffragists needed, Tennessee.

For Alice Paul and other leading white suffragists, image was important. They published their own newspapers and staged dramatic public protests to gain press attention and shape public opinion. But all too often, white suffrage activists refused to make room for Black allies in their idealized image of a woman voter. Lindsay speaks with Dr. Allison Lange, a historian who focuses on the intersection of gender and power, and how visual imagery shaped the battle for women's suffrage. They'll discuss the way images were used both for and against suffrage, and how there are echoes of the suffragist's strategies in the way female politicians present themselves today.

In 1803, Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark began a westward journey that would transform America. Their mission was to head up the Missouri River and find a route through the uncharted west to the Pacific Ocean. The journey was full of risk. But no danger loomed larger in their minds than the Sioux - the powerful Native American confederacy of the plains. And it wouldn't be long before the two crossed paths.

In the spring of 1805, Lewis and Clark resumed their journey up the Missouri River in search of the Pacific. But to reach the ocean, they would have to cross the towering Rocky Mountains. It was a forbidding task, and one they couldn't achieve alone. They would need the help of their young interpreter, Sacagawea, and her tribe, the Shoshone. But first, they had to locate the elusive Shoshone - and with winter fast approaching, time was running out.

After 18 months and over two thousand miles, Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery had reached the Pacific Ocean. Now, they would have to find their way back. And in a last-ditch bid for glory, they would split up the Corps into smaller groups, hoping to map more river routes and make contact with more Native American tribes. But the plan would backfire, putting the entire expedition at risk, even as the end of their journey was finally within reach.

The Lewis and Clark expedition changed the course of American history. But after its bold, charismatic leader, Meriwether Lewis, ended his life in an apparent suicide, the expedition was largely forgotten. Not until the 20th century would the exploits of Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery recapture the imaginations of historians and the general public. Lindsay speaks with Clay S. Jenkinson, an author, historian, and host of acclaimed public radio show and podcast The Thomas Jefferson Hour. They'll discuss Jefferson's motives for ordering the expedition, its impact on Native American societies, the mysterious circumstances surrounding Lewis's death, and the legacy of Lewis and Clark today.

In the winter and spring of 1927, record-setting rain fell across the central United States. The Mississippi River swelled to capacity, and by April, the water breached major levees. It was the start of the most catastrophic river flood in American history. When the flood threatened the town of Greenville in the Mississippi Delta, white plantation owners pulled tens of thousands of Black workers from the cotton fields and sent them to the river. An army of hundreds of men worked day and night, piling sandbags to battle the raging waters. But soon, despite their efforts, the Great Mississippi Flood would unleash destruction on the Delta.

Early in the morning on April 22nd, 1927, flood waters from a break in the Mound Landing levee entered the town of Greenville, Mississippi. Within hours, the town was submerged in 10 feet of water. Thousands of residents fought to reach higher ground, desperately clinging to tree tops and floating houses. The flood inundated 27,000 square miles in seven states. Soon, President Calvin Coolidge appointed Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover to manage relief efforts for the Red Cross. But Hoover's decision to decentralize relief would have unintended consequences - especially in towns like Greenville, where thousands of Black sharecroppers were virtual prisoners, detained in brutally policed refugee camps.

Herbert Hoover's management of the flood relief garnered widespread praise and put him in position to secure the Republican nomination for President. But the African-American press told a different story, one of rampant racial abuse in Red Cross camps throughout the flood zone. In Greenville, Mississippi, the exploitation of Black workers was especially persistent. In the summer, tensions rose to new heights, and soon, a fatal shooting would tear the battered town apart.

In 1927, a slow-moving catastrophe like the Great Mississippi Flood was perfect material for a relatively new medium: radio. Over the airwaves, the flood became the first natural disaster that Americans could follow almost in real time, day by day, as the rising river waters swept away one town after another. Lindsay talks with Susan Scott Parrish, author of The Flood Year 1927: A Cultural History, about the ways Americans far from the Mississippi River experienced the disaster in newspapers, on the radio, and in popular culture. They'll also discuss how entertainers of the time rallied the public to raise funds for recovery, while federal relief efforts only enforced existing socioeconomic and racial divides in the South.

In 1814, British troops burned down the White House. That fire would be extinguished, and the Executive Mansion would be rebuilt. But another fire smoldered on - a fire that would eventually consume the United States. This is Antebellum America: the decades leading up to the Civil War. This was America's adolescence. The young nation was growing at tremendous speed, forcing its leaders to address fundamental questions about their country's identity and values. Could the individual states put aside their differences to remain united? And could this new country live up to its lofty ideals, especially when it came to issues like slavery or the treatment of Native Americans? One leader shaped this era more than any other: America's reluctant seventh president, Andrew Jackson.

In the summer of 1817, President James Monroe toured the country in an effort to unify the ever-growing United States. His optimistic presidency ushered in what became known as "The Era of Good Feelings." But in reality, it was barely an era at all. The facade of political unity had already begun to crack by 1819, when Monroe faced his first serious political crisis: the Missouri Controversy, which brought the issue of slavery into the national spotlight.

On Andrew Jackson's inauguration day, citizens mobbed the White House, breaking furniture and fine china. It was a sign of troubles to come. Elected as a populist president, Jackson was dogged by chaos and controversy.

During his military career, Andrew Jackson won several ruthless victories over indigenous people. After becoming president in 1829, he waged political war against them, too.

In 1845, newly inaugurated President James Polk made America's westward expansion a centerpiece of his administration. Before long, the phrase "Manifest Destiny" was used to describe this growing sense of inevitability the United States would extend its territory across the entire North American continent. There was just one problem: Mexico was standing in the way.

On March 21st, 1967, prisoner number 3845 was released back into the general population. He was a 32-year-old career criminal named Charles Manson.

In the summer of 1969, Charles Manson's predictions of a coming race war called Helter Skelter still had not come to pass. Manson's followers, the Family, were getting impatient - and Manson was growing desperate to keep them under his control. Finally, he decided to jump-start Helter Skelter himself, orchestrating a series of brutal murders that would baffle authories and shock the nation.

In July 1970, on the first day of his murder trial, Charles Manson arrived in the courtroom was a bloody red "X" freshly carved into his forehead. The press ate it up. It was just the first of many sensational moments in a trial that would dominate headlines for the next nine months, and cement Manson's legacy as one of the most chilling cult leaders in American history.

Over the first decades of the 19th century, Americans fought over whether slavery should be allowed to expand into newly settled western territories. The debate grew so fierce that it led to a bloody attack right on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Many believed that the fight over slavery had made the bonds of union more brittle than ever. Then, in 1860, Abraham Lincoln won the presidency with a promise to keep slavery out of the West. Lincoln's victory was the tipping point. One by one, Southern states took steps to sever their ties to the Union, and America hurtled down the path to Civil War.

On April 19th, 1861, an angry mob of Confederate sympathizers in Baltimore tried to stop a regiment of Union soldiers rushing to protect the capitol. Soon, four soldiers and 12 locals lay dead, and dozens more were wounded. It was the first blood spilled in what would become the Civil War. Soon, Union and Confederate soldiers marched into their first major battle. Both sides were confident of a quick, decisive victory. But the bloodiest war in U.S. history was just beginning.

The Civil War began as an effort to hold the country together. Few Northern soldiers marched into battle to end slavery. But tens of thousands of enslaved men, women, and children took matters into their own hands, using the chaos of the war to free themselves from bondage. Their action forced a gradual shift in Union war policy. After a bloody, hard-fought victory over Confederate forces at Antietam, Abraham Lincoln decided the time had come for what was once unthinkable: a proclamation that would end slavery for good.

As the Civil War raged on, families on the homefront faced increasingly heavy tolls, enduring crippling economic turmoil, food shortages and explosive class tensions. Meanwhile, Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis waged their own battles with congressmen and governors over war policies. And in 1863 politics clashed with realities on the ground when hundreds of starving women rioted in Richmond, the Confederate capitol, and the Union draft sparked deadly riots in New York City.

In the summer of 1863, General Robert E. Lee made a daring bid for victory. He marched his army north to invade Pennsylvania. For three sweltering days, two massive armies locked in combat in the Battle of Gettysburg, the defining clash of the Civil War-and the conflict's bloodiest. In the West, General Ulysses S. Grant emerges as the North's most capable military leader as he drives his forces in the Siege of Vicksburg to turn the tide of the war.

In 1864, Ulysses S. Grant took charge of the entire Union Army and laid out his ambitious plans to finally win the war. Grant pursued Lee in Virginia in a campaign unrivaled in the history of the war for its brutal, savage fighting. In the Election of 1864, Abraham Lincoln battled Democratic General George McClellan for the presidency. And that fall, General William Tecumseh Sherman launched his infamous March to the Sea, determined to spread misery through the Georgia countryside.

In early 1865, after four long years of bloodshed, the Confederacy was on the brink of defeat. General William Tecumseh Sherman marched his army through South Carolina, where Union soldiers sought vengeance against the secessionist state that started the war. After nine grueling months of siege warfare in Virginia, General Ulysses S. Grant prepared to strike a final blow against Robert E. Lee's starving, ragged army. Soon, the two commanders would meet at a house in Appomattox, Virginia to finally bring the war to a close.

During 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 the Civil War. Professor Williams is host of the podcast Seizing Freedom, which tells stories of Black Americans' quest for liberty, equality and joy.

In 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 ragtag band of soldiers-for-hire quickly ran afoul of the Mexican authorities.

In 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.

When 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.

At 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 cruise halfway around the world to the Red Sea, lured by stories of riches beyond his wildest dreams.

As 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 American coast.

In 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.

During 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.

In 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 to threaten the stability of the young nation.

In 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 city from ruin.

In 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.