Our American Stories

Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts: The Story Behind Glory

11 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before Glory brought the 54th Massachusetts to modern audiences, Robert Gould Shaw felt the pull of...

How Grief Pulled a Physician Into Addiction and Out Again

11 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Dr. David Berry lost his newborn daughter, the world around him narrowed until grief became the only thi...

“Apple of Your Eye” and the Wonderful Origins of Everyday Expressions

11 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, as part of his ongoing series on the origins of everyday expressions, Andrew Thompson—author of Ha...

Black Bart Uncovered: The True Story of the Old West’s Most Unlikely Outlaw

11 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Ralphie’s fantasy villain in A Christmas Story came from a dime novel that turned a real outl...

The Note a Dad Wrote for His Daughter Who Sees the World Her Own Way

11 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Jeff Katz wrote a birthday note to his daughter Julia, he was marking a moment she would not recognize. ...

How Lorne Michaels and a Band of Unknowns Built Saturday Night Live

10 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Scot Bertram and Christian Schneider have spent years tracing the unlikely beginnings of Saturday Night ...

The Friendship That Changed What No Treatment Could

10 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, back when Lorna Jean was struggling through the darkest stretch of her life, she didn’t expect anyone t...

From Fired High School Dropout to Owning D.C.’s Best Taco Chain!

10 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when immigrant Osiris Hoil lost his construction job during the economic downturn of 2008, it felt like the k...

The Young Commander Who Refused to Give Up the Ship

10 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in September 1813, Oliver Hazard Perry sailed into the Battle of Lake Erie carrying a flag stitched with a pr...

The Night an Iowa Underdog Beat the Boston Celtics

09 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, for a brief moment, Iowa found itself on the map of professional basketball. The Waterloo Hawks arrived with ...

The Shocking Story Behind the Diamond Engagement Ring

09 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Tom Zoellner found himself holding a diamond engagement ring with no wedding ahead of it, he began to wo...

A Listener’s Advice to His Son — Be More Sociable

09 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before Kent Nerburn became known for his reflections on manhood and love, he was a young man circling the edg...

Franklin: The Frontier State That Almost Was

09 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the turbulent years after the Revolution, settlers west of the mountains felt the weight of distance from ...

How Maurice Sendak Redrew Childhood in “Where the Wild Things Are”

09 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Maurice Sendak had a rare ability to look at childhood without sentimentality. He understood its private fear...

The Untold Story of the Indian Wars

08 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, The Indian Wars did not begin with a single event or a single clash. They formed slowly along the edges of a ...

How Three American Candies Became So Loved—and So Hated

08 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, candy corn, black licorice, and circus peanuts have been on American shelves for generations, and whether you...

The Double Agent Who Made D-Day Possible

08 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, the Allied invasion of Normandy depended on more than military force. It required convincing Germany that the...

The Coney Island Sideshow That Rewrote Neonatal Medicine

08 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when crowds wandered through Coney Island in the early twentieth century, they expected oddities, tricks, and...

Everett’s Last Christmas Carol

08 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Jim Johnson has a habit of meeting people who stay with him long after the moment has passed. Everett Mo...

Sunday Mornings with Big Mitch: Ep. 7

07 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, every Sunday, Our American Stories host Lee Habeeb speaks with Mitchel “Big Mitch” Rutledge,...

Inside It’s a Wonderful Life with Actor Jimmy Hawkins

05 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Jimmy Hawkins began acting when television was still defining itself, moving from show to show with the ...

How Pinball Found Its Way Through Bans, Backrooms, and the Arcade Boom

05 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, pinball’s story winds back to a quiet corner of European parlor culture, where small tabletop games off...

How the Opry Gave Country Music a National Voice

05 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the early 1920s, WSM filled its schedule with whatever talent it could gather, and one night a fiddler ste...

How Route 66 Became the World’s Most Famous Highway

05 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, what does it mean when a highway that no longer exists still carries more recognition than the roads that rep...

“In a Nutshell” & “In the Doghouse” and the Wonderful Origins of Everyday Expressions

05 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Andrew Thompson shares another slice of his guide to understanding the baffling mini-mysteries of the English...

The Story of Zebulon Pike: The Namesake of Colorado’s Most Famous Mountain

04 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before travelers drove the Pike’s Peak Highway or stood at the summit that rises more than fourtee...

Stephen Ambrose on Patton’s Fight to Win D-Day

04 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Stephen Ambrose spent his life showing readers that the heart of history lives in the people who shape it. Hi...

The Forgotten Black Lawman Who Inspired the Lone Ranger — Bass Reeves

04 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before Hollywood gave the Lone Ranger his mask and his horse, the Old West was full of riders and lawmen...

“You’re Getting Shot At” — The Story of My First Combat Mission in Afghanistan

04 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when the war in Afghanistan was still unfolding, many Americans only saw brief clips on the news. Peter Braxt...

The Surprising Story Behind The Salvation Army and Its Founders William and Catherine Booth

04 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before the familiar kettles and bell ringers appeared outside stores around Christmastime, The Salvation...

The Real Boss Hogg: The Surprising Life of Sorrell Booke from The Dukes of Hazzard

03 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, viewers knew Boss Hogg as the blustering figure in The Dukes of Hazzard, yet the man behind that role, Sorrel...

How Twin Brothers Helped Create EMTs, Paramedics, and the 911 Emergency Medical System

03 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when you dial 911 in a medical emergency, you are using a system that did not always exist. Identical twins A...

The DiMaggio Brothers: How Joe DiMaggio and Dom DiMaggio Chased the American Dream

03 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, more than three hundred sets of brothers have played Major League Baseball, yet few have left a mark like the...

From Normandy to Justice: How Henry G. Plitt Helped Bring Down Julius Streicher

03 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Henry G. Plitt returned from WWII as a hero to many Americans, and his story carried special meaning for Jewi...

Before Hazzard County: How James Best Became the Man Behind Rosco P. Coltrane

02 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before he became Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane on The Dukes of Hazzard, James Best lived a life filled with hards...

Why My Mom Ate Turnips Every Christmas....Even Though She Hated Them

02 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Lorna Jean sat down for her first Christmas dinner without her father, she tried to hold on to every tra...

From Forests to Living Rooms: The Story Behind the Christmas Tree

02 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, The History Guy explores the history of the Christmas tree, tracing how an evergreen that once carried ancien...

Wild Bill Donovan: The Spymaster Who Built America’s Secret War Machine

02 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, "Wild Bill" Donovan was one of America’s most exciting and secretive generals—the man President F...

A Listener Recounts Spotting Satellites In The Sky With His Father in The Mountains of New Mexico

02 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Richard Muniz remembers a night in the mountains of northern New Mexico when a long delay, an old station, an...

The Forgotten Story of the Laws That Sheltered Women When They Had No Voice

01 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the nineteenth century, a woman’s future could collapse overnight. If a husband died, disappeared, o...

Brett Favre (Pt. 5 of 5): Playing in Green Bay, Rehab, and the Shocking Thing That Happened to Him Twice

01 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, much of what’s known about legendary NFL quarterback Brett Favre has been kept between the goalposts. S...

The Goo Goo Cluster and the City That Made It Famous

01 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before Nashville was known for neon lights and record labels, a small candy company introduced something...

The Night a Child Met the “Real Santa”

01 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Our American Stories listener Roger Latham grew up believing Santa was just a story—until one Chri...

The Superhero: An American Invention

01 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before superheroes saturated movie screens and Halloween aisles, they lived quietly on pulp pages shaped...

Sunday Mornings with Big Mitch: Ep. 6

30 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, every Sunday, Our American Stories host Lee Habeeb speaks with Mitchel "Big Mitch" Rutledge, who ha...

The First Thanksgiving: The Origins of an American Tradition

28 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, the 1621 Thanksgiving has become one of the most recognizable stories in American culture, but many details w...

The Woman Who Convinced Lincoln to Make Thanksgiving a Holiday

28 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before it became the fourth Thursday in November, Thanksgiving was just one of many autumn celebrations scatt...

The Character of Thomas Jefferson: America's 'Everyman'

28 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Thomas Jefferson is America’s “everyman” because he has been embraced at one time or anothe...

Inside the Christmas Store Where Price Tags Disappear

28 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, each December, a small volunteer-run “store” opens for families who could use extra help during t...

The 1983 Toy Riot That Changed Holiday Shopping

27 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when the Cabbage Patch Kids hit store shelves in 1983, parents felt a pull they hadn’t sensed from a to...

When One Iowa Family Welcomed Refugees to the Table

27 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when a group of refugees from Bosnia arrived at her Iowa church, Joy Neal Kidney watched them step carefully ...

Tom Landry: A Story from “America’s Coach”

27 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before he ever wore his trademark hat on the sidelines, Tom Landry was a young man trying to build a future d...

Balloons Over Broadway: The American Visionary Who Created the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloons

27 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Tony Sarg never set out to become the quiet genius behind one of America’s most cherished traditions, y...

A Surprising Friendship Between a Worn-Out Mom and an Aging Cop

27 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Heidi Viars spent her days juggling kids and household chaos, convinced she didn’t have room for much e...

The Time FDR Tried to Change the Date of Thanksgiving

26 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, most Americans grew up thinking Thanksgiving had always fallen on the same Thursday in November. In Lincoln&r...

How My Daughter's Schizophrenia Led Us to Open a Business Run by Special Needs Employees

26 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Donna’s daughter Cassie was diagnosed with chronic paranoid schizophrenia, everyday life became ha...

Was Eisenhower Really Responsible For Our Interstate Highways?

26 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Eisenhower’s name sits on the interstate signs, but Charles Zug wanted to understand whether he truly d...

Operation Torch: The Moment the U.S. and U.K. Learned to Fight Together

26 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the early years of the war, the United States was preparing its soldiers and building an army that was not...

Tom Waits and the Story Behind “I Hope That I Don’t Fall in Love with You”

26 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Tom Waits has a voice and style that feel carved out of another world, yet many people first meet his work th...

Chuck Colson’s Road from Watergate to Redemption

25 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Chuck Colson once operated at the center of Washington power as Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon. W...

My Family Was At the First Thanksgiving

25 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Joy Neal Kidney has always loved Thanksgiving, and it makes perfect sense why. Her family was there at the fi...

A Young Officer Died in Normandy. His Story Found Her.

25 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, for years, Heather McPherson knew only fragments about her great-uncle, a young officer who served with the 2...

100 Bible Verses That Made America: Abigail Adams at Bunker Hill

25 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Abigail Adams was raising her children near Boston when the first major clash of the American Revolution expl...

Inside the Story of Henry Ford and the Machine That Changed the World

25 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Henry Ford did not invent the automobile, but he did something far more lasting. He took a rough idea and tur...

How Acting Legend Eddie Albert Served Our Country in WWII

24 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before audiences knew him from Green Acres, Roman Holiday, or The Heartbreak Kid, Eddie Albert had ...

Why Patton Thought Hesitation in War Was More Immoral Than Force

24 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, by the final year of World War Two, American forces were closing in on Nazi Germany, and General George Patto...

Before Jackie Robinson: The Unlikely Team That Fought Exclusion with Skill and Kindness

24 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before Jackie Robinson changed Major League Baseball, a group of long-haired ballplayers from a religiou...

How Belva Lockwood Broke the Barrier to the Supreme Court Bar

24 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before most American women could vote, Belva Lockwood stepped into a legal world that never intended to make ...

How a Room Full of Divided Delegates Found Unity in a Single Prayer

24 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when the First Continental Congress gathered in Philadelphia, the delegates arrived anxious about what Britai...

Sunday Mornings with Big Mitch: Ep. 5

23 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Every Sunday, Our American Stories host Lee Habeeb speaks with Mitchel "Big Mitch" Rutledge, who ha...

How R.A. Dickey Found Hope Beyond the Mound

21 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, R.A. Dickey’s rise to a Cy Young Award made him the face of the modern knuckleball, but the story that ...

Finding Dixie Lee: A Grandson’s Search for a Lost Family Story

21 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before Jay Moore was known for his local history work, he was a grandson trying to finish something his grand...

A Simple Idea That Helps Widows and Builds Families

21 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, at the center of JT Olson's Both Hands ministry is a straightforward mission: service and charity. Provide a ...

The Great British Burlesque Invasion of 1868

21 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before the Beatles caused a stir, another British act crossed the Atlantic and changed American culture ...

When Old Blue Eyes Stepped Into a Miami Boxing Arena

21 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, as a kid wandering the hallways of Miami’s fight scene, Patti Kingsbaker thought she had seen everythin...

Inside the Kazoo Factory That Keeps America Humming

20 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, from its roots in African musical craftsmanship to its home in the American South, the kazoo instrument has t...

Stephen Ambrose on D Day: Into the Fire at Normandy

20 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in this continuation of Ambrose’s work on June 6, 1944, the battle comes into view through the voices o...

“Black Harry” Hoosier: The Story Behind Indiana’s Namesake

20 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Indiana did not choose its nickname so much as grow into it. The term Hoosier appeared in jokes, travel accou...

How the Coors Family Built a Brewing Legacy Rooted in Faith and Service

20 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, behind every bottle of Coors Light and every iconic pour of Coors Banquet is a family whose identity shaped t...

How a Forgotten Poem Transformed the Statue of Liberty

20 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before the Statue of Liberty became a beacon for newcomers, it was simply a gift from France that strugg...

The Legacy of Plessy v. Ferguson and the Fight to Unravel Jim Crow

19 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1896, the United States Supreme Court delivered one of the most damaging rulings in its history when it up...

The Life of One Of America's Greatest Black Rodeo Clowns

19 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before he became one of the most respected rodeo bullfighters in America, Leon Coffey was a father searching ...

Eighteen Months Under One Roof with the Man Who Taught Me Discipline

19 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Bob McLalan let his recently divorced father crash on his couch, he expected a few days of awkward conve...

How Three Enslaved Men Forced the Union to Confront Slavery at the Start of the Civil War

19 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in May 1861, three enslaved men slipped across the James River to Fort Monroe, seeking protection from U...

Was Alexander Hamilton Secretly Raised Jewish?

19 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before Alexander Hamilton helped shape the Constitution or design America’s financial system, he w...

How a Forgotten Border Dispute in New Mexico Nearly Sparked the Civil War

18 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, most people know the Civil War began at Fort Sumter in 1861. Few remember how close it came to starting a dec...

What a Dying Father Wanted His Kids to Remember

18 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Shiloh Carozza’s father was diagnosed with brain cancer, her family’s days began to split in...

Ronald Reagan at Normandy: The D-Day Speech That Defined a Presidency

18 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in June of 1984, President Ronald Reagan visited the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc to mark the 40th anniversary of ...

When Dementia Took His Memory, Love Still Found a Way

18 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Gina Ramsey moved her father into a memory care home, she thought she was watching him lose everything t...

A Father’s Prayer: When the Tree of Life Synagogue Came Under Attack

18 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, on the morning of October 27, 2018, a quiet neighborhood in Pittsburgh turned into the scene of one of the de...

America’s Strangest Museum: Inside the National Mustard Museum

17 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, after years of arguing cases before the Supreme Court, Barry Levinson took a sharp turn. He left the law behi...

The True Story of the Radium Girls and the Hidden Cost of America’s Industrial Age

17 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, at the dawn of the twentieth century, radium was hailed as a miracle of modern science. Factories across the ...

When Being Late to Thanksgiving Went Terribly Wrong

17 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, everyone has a funny Thanksgiving story, but this one still makes Stephen Rusiniak cringe. He promised his mo...

A House Built By Chewing Gum?

17 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, before chewing gum became part of American life, William Wrigley Jr. was selling soap door to door. He gave a...

How a Memphis Kid Became AutoZone’s Chairman and CEO

17 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, William C. Rhodes started as a kid tagging along with his dad on Saturdays in Memphis. Years later, he was gu...

Sunday Mornings with Big Mitch: Ep. 4

16 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, every Sunday, Our American Stories host Lee Habeeb speaks with Mitchel "Big Mitch" Rutledge, who has spe...

The Lone Ranger: The Origin of America’s Masked Hero

14 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, a fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust, and a hearty “Hi-Yo Silver!” — it's...

Babe Ruth: The Legend Who Changed Baseball Forever

14 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before he helped fill stadiums, George Herman Ruth was a restless boy growing up near the Baltimore wate...

Chef Steve Reed and the Runaway Turkey

14 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, in Carlisle, Iowa, Chef Steve Reed had one job: bring home the Thanksgiving turkey. After years in the k...

Karl Marlantes and the War That Followed Him Home

14 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On this episode of Our American Stories, Karl Marlantes returned from Vietnam carrying memories he couldn’t share and questions he couldn’...