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American South
African American Studies February 2, 2023

Almost Dead

Slavery and Social Rebirth in the Black Urban Atlantic, 1680-1807

Michael Lawrence Dickinson

Hosted by Adam McNeil
Beginning in the late seventeenth century and concluding with the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade, Almost Dead: Slavery and Social Rebirth in the Black Urban Atlantic, 1680-1807 (U Georgia …

American South

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Interviews with scholars of the American South about their new books.

African American Studies January 31, 2023

Dismal Freedom

A History of the Maroons of the Great Dismal Swamp

J. Brent Morris

Hosted by Adam McNeil
The massive and foreboding Great Dismal Swamp sprawls over 2,000 square miles and spills over parts of Virginia and North Carolina. From the early seventeenth century, the nearly impassable Dismal …
African American Studies January 19, 2023

Consent in the Presence of Force

Sexual Violence and Black Women's Survival in Antebellum New Orleans

Emily A. Owens

Hosted by Katrina Anderson
In histories of enslavement and in Black women's history, coercion looms large in any discussion of sex and sexuality. At a time when sexual violence against Black women was virtually …
Peoples & Things January 16, 2023

The History of the Black Urban Working-Class in the United States

A Conversation with Joe William Trotter, Jr.

Joe William Trotter, Jr.

Hosted by Lee Vinsel
Joe William Trotter, Jr., Giant Eagle University Professor of History and Founder and Director of the Center for Africanamerican Urban Studies and the Economy (CAUSE) at Carnegie Mellon University, talks …
Peoples & Things January 10, 2023

Poverty, Race, and Rural Sanitation

A Discussion with Catherine Coleman Flowers

Catherine Coleman Flowers

Hosted by Lee Vinsel
Catherine Coleman Flowers, activist, author, founder of the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice, and MacArthur “genius prize” winner, talks about her book Waste: One Woman’s Fight Against America’s …
African American Studies January 8, 2023

To Address You as My Friend

African Americans' Letters to Abraham Lincoln

Jonathan W. White

Hosted by Omari Averette-Phillips
Many African Americans of the Civil War era felt a personal connection to Abraham Lincoln. For the first time in their lives, an occupant of the White House seemed concerned …
African American Studies January 1, 2023

Proving Pregnancy

Gender, Law, and Medical Knowledge in Nineteenth-Century America

Felicity M. Turner

Hosted by Katrina Anderson
Examining infanticide cases in the United States from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth centuries, Felicity M. Turner's Proving Pregnancy: Gender, Law, and Medical Knowledge in Nineteenth-Century America (UNC …
Intellectual History December 28, 2022

Freedom's Dominion

A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power

Jefferson Cowie

Hosted by Keith Krueger
"History recalls Wallace’s inaugural address as a set piece in the larger drama of defending Southern segregation, which it was. But the speech was about something even more profound, more …
The Vault December 28, 2022

"Gone with the Wind" Revisited

A Lecture by Molly Haskell

Molly Haskell

Hosted by New York Institute for the Humanities
In this week’s episode from the Institute’s Vault, Molly Haskell talks about her 2009 book, Frankly, My Dear: "Gone with the Wind" Revisited, published by Yale University Press. Haskell grew …
American Studies December 25, 2022

The Jeffersonians

Presidents Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe, 1801-1825

Kevin R. C. Gutzman

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Kevin R. C. Gutzman's The Jeffersonians: The Visionary Presidencies of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe (St. Martin's Press, 2022) marks the first chronicle of the only consecutive trio of two-term presidencies …
American South December 23, 2022

The End of Public Execution

Race, Religion, and Punishment in the American South

Michael Ayers Trotti

Hosted by Lane Davis
Michael Ayers Trotti's The End of Public Execution: Race, Religion and Punishment in the American South (The University of North Carolina Press, 2022) documents the complex religious and cultural textures of …
American Studies December 23, 2022

The Democratic Collapse

How Gender Politics Broke a Party and a Nation, 1856-1861

Lauren N. Haumesser

Hosted by Jackson Reinhardt
Lauren N. Haumesser's The Democratic Collapse: How Gender Politics Broke a Party and a Nation, 1856-1861 (UNC Press, 2022) offers a fresh examination of antebellum politics comprehensively examines the ways that …
Biography December 18, 2022

Bertha Maxwell-Roddey

A Modern-Day Race Woman and the Power of Black Leadership

Sonya Y. Ramsey

Hosted by Deidre Tyler
Bertha Maxwell-Roddey: A Modern-Day Race Woman and the Power of Black Leadership (UP of Florida, 2022) examines a life of remarkable achievements and leadership in the desegregated South. Sonya Ramsey …
Native American Studies December 14, 2022

The Great Power of Small Nations

Indigenous Diplomacy in the Gulf South

Elizabeth N. Ellis

Hosted by John Cable
The Great Power of Small Nations: Indigenous Diplomacy in the Gulf South (U Pennsylvania Press, 2022) tackles questions of Native power past and present and provides a fresh examination of …
General History December 14, 2022

Walk Through Fire

The Train Disaster That Changed America

Yasmine Ali

Hosted by Nathan Moore
The first book to examine the rarely-acknowledged Waverly Train Disaster of 1978 - the catastrophic accident that changed America forever and led to the formation of FEMA. Coinciding with the …
Irish Studies December 14, 2022

Irish American Civil War Songs

Identity, Loyalty, and Nationhood

Catherine V. Bateson

Hosted by Aidan Beatty
Dr Catherine Bateson is Associate Lecturer of American History at the University of Kent. She researches and writes about the role of song in the American Civil War, the sentiments …
Music December 8, 2022

An American Singing Heritage

Songs from the British-Irish-American Oral Tradition as Recorded in the Early Twentieth Century

Norm Cohen, Carson Cohen, and Anne Dhu McLucas

Hosted by Kristen Turner
The Music of the United States of America Series of musical editions is a monumental undertaking funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities with financial and organizational support from …
Catholic Studies December 7, 2022

Teaching in Black and White

The Sisters of St. Joseph in the American South

Barbara E. Mattick

Hosted by Allison Isidore
Teaching in Black and White: The Sisters of St. Joseph in the American South (Catholic University of America Press, 2022) discusses the work of the Sisters of St. Joseph of …
American South December 7, 2022

The Life of Elreta Melton Alexander

Activism within the Courts

Virginia L. Summey

Hosted by Brandon Jett
Virginia L. Summey's book The Life of Elreta Melton Alexander: Activism within the Courts (U Georgia Press, 2022) explores the life and contributions of groundbreaking attorney, Elreta Melton Alexander Ralston (1919–98) …
American West December 2, 2022

West Side Rising

How San Antonio's 1921 Flood Devastated a City and Sparked a Latino Environmental Justice Movement

Char Miller

Hosted by Stephen Hausmann
On September 9, 1921, a tropical storm raged above San Antonio, Texas. The rain that night flooded the city's many waterways, distributing unequal destruction throughout its many neighborhoods. For the whiter …