It’s July 25th. This day (July 24th in fact) in 2009, President Obama extended an invitation to Henry Louis Gates, Jr and Sgt James Crowley to discuss an incident in which Crowley arrested Gates on his own doorstep. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the incident that sparked this attempt at reconciliation, and how Obama’s handling of the moment was a turning point for many white Americans in how they viewed his presidency. Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory Th...
Jul 25, 2021•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s July 22nd. This day in 1975, Congress voted to restore citizenship to Robert E. Lee, more than a hundred years after his death. Jody, NIki, and Kellie are joined by author John Reeves to talk about why this vote took place, how it tied into a false theory about a missing citizenship oath, and what the myth of Lee says about how the Confederacy has been restored in the public imagination. John Reeve’s book is “The Lost Indictment of Robert E. Lee: The Forgotten Case against an American Icon”...
Jul 22, 2021•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s July 20th. This day in 1984, the Miss America pageant issued an ultimatum to Vanessa Williams, the first Black Miss America, to relinquish her title, over the impending publication of nude photographs. Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss the moral panic over the photographs, how a photographer misled Williams, and the intersection of race, sexuality, and pornography. Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member...
Jul 20, 2021•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s July 18h. This day in 2013, the city of Detroit declared bankruptcy. Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss how a city that was once the country’s fourth-largest ran out of money, and the way the path to recovery pitted civic interests against each other. Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. If y...
Jul 18, 2021•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s July 14h. This day in 1870, Congress authorized a yearly pension of $3000 for Mary Todd Lincoln. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why it took years for the pension to be rewarded, and the many competing narratives about Mary Lincoln and money. Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. If you wan...
Jul 15, 2021•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s July 13th. This day in 1861, a treaty is signed between the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes and the Confederate States of America. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss why some Native American tribes aligned with the Confederacy, how this complicates the story of the Civil War, and more. Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts...
Jul 13, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s July 11th. This day in 1940, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt has a conversation with a supreme court justice to explore whether it would be legal for him to run for a third term. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the rationale for seeking another four years — and another four years after that — plus how the convention of two-term presidencies eventually became established law. Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory This Day In Esoteric Political History i...
Jul 11, 2021•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s July 8th. This day (July 7th actually) in 1947, two ranchers stumbled across a downed flying object in the middle of the Nevada desert. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the discovery of the “mysterious” object (it was a weather balloon) and why it tapped into a rising tide of conspiracies about UFOs and alien visits. Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps fost...
Jul 08, 2021•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s July 6th. This day in 1992, the body of Marsha P Johnson was found floating in the Hudson River off of New York City. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the death and life of Johnson, who for decades had been a central part of the drag scene in New York City and a key activist for gay rights, AIDS awareness, and more. Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Your support helps foste...
Jul 06, 2021•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s July 4th. This day in 1854, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison burned a copy of the constitution at a rally in Boston, calling it a “covenant with death and an agreement with Hell.” Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss Garrison’s act, and how it folded into a fierce debate about whether the constitution is a pro- or anti-slavery document, or somewhere in between. Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of ...
Jul 04, 2021•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s July 1st. This day 1971, North Carolina voted to ratify the 26th amendment, which lowered the national voting age from 21 to 18. Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss the long fight to lower the voting age, and how it was often tied to an argument about the age at which Americans were sent to war. Plus: should the age be 17 or 16 or even lower? Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. ...
Jul 01, 2021•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the scenes. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. Donate today at https://on.prx.org/3wl9pWn It’s June 29th. This day (actually, June 30th) in 2008, Hillary Clinton raised over $6 million online in one day, part of a growing trend of fundraising events known as “moneybombs.” Jody, NIki, and Kelli...
Jun 29, 2021•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the scenes. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. Donate today at https://on.prx.org/3wl9pWn It’s June 27th. This day in 1844, Mormon leader Joseph Smith was killed by a mob that stormed a jail in Carthage, Illinois. Earlier that spring, Smith had announced his candidacy for president. Jody, NIki...
Jun 27, 2021•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the scenes. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. Donate today at https://on.prx.org/3wl9pWn It’s June 24th. This day in 2009, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is exposed for having an affair with a woman in Argentina. Jody, NIki, and Kellie discuss how the scandal unfolded, and how Sanford’s...
Jun 24, 2021•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the scenes. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. Donate today at https://on.prx.org/3wl9pWn It’s June 22nd. This day in 1990, South African leader Nelson Mandela visited Boston, Massachusetts, as part of a worldwide “thank you” tour after being released from prison. Jody, NIki, and Kellie discus...
Jun 22, 2021•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the scenes. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. Donate today at https://on.prx.org/3wl9pWn It’s June 20th. This day in 1986, news of the death of basketball star Len Bias is starting to spread around the country. Bias died of a cocaine overdose just days after being drafted by the Boston Celtic...
Jun 20, 2021•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the scenes. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. Donate today at https://on.prx.org/3wl9pWn It’s June 17th. This day in 1991, authorities in Louisville, KY dug up the body of former president Zachary Taylor, who had died in 1850. They were trying to put to rest a rumor that Taylor had been poiso...
Jun 17, 2021•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the scenes. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. Donate today at https://on.prx.org/3wl9pWn It’s June 15th. This day in 1970, Russian television reporter Valentin Zorin aired an episode of his series “Masters Without Masks.” For decades, Zorin was the primary source by which Russians understood ...
Jun 15, 2021•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the scenes. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. Donate today at https://on.prx.org/3wl9pWn It’s June 13th. This day (actually June 14th) in 2017, a shooter opened fire on a GOP practice for the annual congressional charity baseball game. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the incident, carried out ...
Jun 13, 2021•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the scenes. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. Donate today at https://on.prx.org/3wl9pWn It’s June 10th. This day in 1845, at the funeral of Andrew Jackson, his parrot “Poll” had to be removed from the room for excessive swearing. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss Poll’s uncouth behavior, what k...
Jun 10, 2021•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the scenes. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. Donate today at https://on.prx.org/3wl9pWn It’s June 8th. This day in 1866, a series of raids by Irish-Americans is taking place, starting in Vermont and headed across the border to attack British outposts in southern Canada. Jody, Niki, and Kelli...
Jun 08, 2021•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast Want to see the “Big List of Ideas” document we use to plan the show? Become a Radiotopia member today, let us know, and we’ll give you a glimpse behind the scenes. Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. Donate today at https://on.prx.org/3wl9pWn It’s June 6th. This day in 1994 (June 4th, in fact) disgraced former National Security Council advisor Oliver North wins the GOP primary for the Virginia Senate race. He would go on to lose in an extremel...
Jun 06, 2021•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s the Radiotopia Spring Fundraiser! Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. Donate today at https://on.prx.org/3wl9pWn It’s June 3rd. This day in 1943 marked the start of the “Zoot Suit Riots,” a series of skirmishes and attacks in Los Angeles targeting Mexican-Americans, who were often identified by their flashy ensembles. Jody, Niki and Kellie are joined by Emily Spivack of “Worn Stories” to discuss the causes of the riots, how the zoot suit b...
Jun 03, 2021•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s the Radiotopia Spring Fundraiser! Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. Donate today at https://on.prx.org/3wl9pWn It’s June 1st. This day in 1863, Harriet Tubman led Union soldiers on a nighttime to free some 700 enslaved people in South Carolina. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the Combahee River Raid, where it fits into Harriet Tubman’s long and varied life, and whether Tubman’s legacy has become flattened and distorted....
Jun 01, 2021•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s the Radiotopia Spring Fundraiser! Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories. Donate today at https://on.prx.org/3wl9pWn It’s May 30th. This day in 1921 was the day before a white mob descended on the Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma, burning hundreds of buildings to the ground in what was known as “Black Wall Street.” Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Cord Jefferson, writer for the HBO series “Watchmen,” which opens during the massacr...
May 30, 2021•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s May 27th. This day in 1939, authorities in Cuba turned away the SS St. Louis, a ship full of Jewish refugees escaping Nazi persecution in Germany. The U.S. and Canada would also turn the ship away, which had to eventually return to Europe. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the voyage of the St. Louis, and how it helps us understand the way the U.S. has treated refugees throughout history. It’s the Radiotopia Spring Fundraiser! Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and aw...
May 27, 2021•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s May 25th. This day in 1978, a suspicious package mailed to a university in Chicago blows up. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the start of what would be a 15-year campaign by Ted Kaczynski to mail packages to universities, airlines, and other people he saw as causing the advance of modernity and the destruction of the environment. Kaczynski would eventually be captured and be known as “The Unabomber.” Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory This Day In Esoter...
May 25, 2021•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s May 23rd. This day in 1944, Texas Democrats hold two competing conventions ahead of the fall’s election, with the party split over FDR’s policies and larger civil rights issues. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the roots of the split, and the way in which internal fractures within a party can plant the seeds for political re-alignment. Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. If y...
May 23, 2021•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s May 20th. This day in 1901, Connecticut passed the first ever speed limit law for automobiles in the United States. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the chaos of the city streets, the rise of automobile regulation, and how anxieties over speed help define us. Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod...
May 20, 2021•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s May 18th. This day in 1992, Vice President Dan Quayle gave a speech about the erosion of “family values” in America, and towards the end criticized the TV show Murphy Brown, in which the main character had recently become a single mother. Jody, Niki, and Kellie discuss the ensuing controversy, and how it mirrors the culture wars of today. Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX....
May 18, 2021•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
