Stuff You Missed in History Class

SYMHC Classics: Growing Up Brontë

12 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

This classic revisits the Brontë sisters. They're considered some of the best writers of the 19th century but their past may surprise you. Join Sarah...

Henry Every, Successful Pyrate

09 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Every carried out what’s been described as the most profitable and brutal pirate raid in history. It became a massive international incident, and Br...

Lotte Reiniger's Shadow Animation

07 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Lotte was interested in silhouettes and paper cutting from the time she was a child. And she developed that interest into animation, and created the f...

SYMHC Classics: Jimmy Winkfield, Derby Pioneer

05 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Today's episode revisits the story of Jimmy Winkfield, who won the Kentucky Derby twice. When this podcast was published originally, he was the last A...

The Bisbee Deportation

02 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The 1917 Bisbee Deportation has elements of a labor strike, a wartime hysteria, a vigilante mob, and a mass propaganda effort, all rolled into one. It...

Mohenjo Daro

30 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Mohenjo Daro is in the Indus river valley in present-day southern Pakistan. This ancient city has a unique identity in that we don’t know a lot abou...

SYMHC Classics: Ambrose Bierce

28 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Ambrose Bierce was a soldier, a journalist, an editor, a satirist and a philosopher. He was a complicated man with an unwavering moral code and a life...

Wendell Scott: Black NASCAR Driver in the Jim Crow Era, Pt. 2

25 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Scott eventually managed to break into NASCAR racing, becoming the first black driver to do so. His career was a constant struggle, as he paid his own...

Wendell Scott: Black NASCAR Driver in the Jim Crow Era, Pt. 1

23 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Wendell Scott was a black driver from the early days of NASCAR. After driving a taxi, working as a mechanic, and hauling moonshine, he started racing ...

SYMHC Classics: The Trial of Leo Frank

21 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

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The First Celebrity Chef: Marie-Antoine Carême

18 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Today, there is an entire industry around celebrity chefs. But the first celebrity chef in the western world's history was born in late 18th-century F...

The Ancient City of Ephesus and the Temple of Artemis

16 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The city of Ephesus fell under many different rulers throughout its history, as wars and shifting politics changed Asia Minor. For centuries, it endur...

SYMHC Classics: Here, Kitty Kitty, the Domestication of the Cat

14 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Today, we're going back to  an episode about kitties in history! The human culture shift to an agricultural lifestyle started the domestication of an...

Elbridge Gerry’s Monstrous Salamander

11 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Elbridge Gerry signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. Gerrymandering is the drawing of political districts to ...

The Life and Magic of Henry 'Box' Brown

09 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Brown was born into slavery and escaped in an astonishing way. His story of gaining his freedom was so sensational that he basically spent the rest of...

SYMHC Classics: Nellie Bly & Stunt Journalism

07 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Today we're revisiting an episode from Sarah and Katie. Born in 1864, Nellie Bly wasn't your average journalist. She feigned insanity to gain entry in...

Cajamarca and the End of the Inka Empire

05 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The Battle of Cajamarca, also known as the Massacre of Cajamarca, ultimately led to the end of the Inka Empire. But it might have gone much differentl...

The East India Company's Theft of China’s Tea Secrets

02 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Great Britain's relationship with tea is part of its cultural identity. But before the mid-1800s, China was the only source of tea, which was a proble...

SYMHC Classics: April Calahan on France's Fashionable Resistance

31 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Today we're revisiting a talk with fashion historian April Calahan about the surprising ways that women of France protested German occupation during W...

The Highland Clearances

28 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The Highland Clearances were a long, complicated, messy series of evictions in the Highlands and western Islands of Scotland, when tenant farmers were...

Andrew Carnegie

26 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Carnegie was a child of poverty who became one of the richest men on Earth. But his life, while largely charmed, had a massive scar of bad judgment on...

SYMHC Classics: Marian Anderson

24 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Today's show returns to Marian Anderson. An acclaimed contralto, Marian Anderson was barred from singing in Constitution Hall because of her race. The...

Ignaz Semmelweis and the War on Handwashing

21 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Ignaz Semmelweis made a connection between hand hygiene and the prevention of childbed fever in the 19th century. He wasn’t taken seriously then, bu...

Constance Markievicz

19 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Born Constance Georgine Gore-Booth to a wealthy Protestant family, Constance Markievicz made a somewhat surprising transition to become a leader in th...

SYMHC Classics: The Easter Rising of 1916

17 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Today's show revisits one of the most pivotal events in modern Irish history. It was a precursor to a number of other events that have happened since ...

The Daring Imposter Cassie Chadwick

14 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Cassie Chadwick (born Elizabeth Bigley) committed fraud at a level that would be almost impossible to pull off in today’s world of instant communica...

The Minuscule Science of Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek

12 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Leeuwenhoek wasn’t REALLY a scientist -- he had no formal training. But he made dozens of scientific discoveries. He’s credited with discovering m...

SYMHC Classics: The Luddites

10 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

This classic revisits the Luddite uprising -- protests in northern England, in which workers smashed machines in mills and factories. This wasn't the ...

Giorgio Vasari

07 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Vasari was an artist and architect in 16th-century Italy. But what really made him famous was his writing. He penned biographies of famous artists, bu...

Phillis Wheatley

05 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Perceptions and interpretations of Phillis Wheatley's life and work have shifted since the 18th century. This episode examines Wheatley's published wr...

SYMHC Classics: The Red Ghost of Arizona and the U.S. Camel Corps

03 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

We're revisiting the story of a a mysterious beast that trampled a woman in Arizona in 1883. First described as a demon, the creature turned out to be...

Sadako Sasaki’s 1000 Cranes, Part 2

28 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The show's 1000th episode continues the story of Sadako Sasaki, who died of A-bomb sickness after the bombing of Hiroshima. This second part of her st...

Sadako Sasaki’s 1000 Cranes, Part 1

26 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

At the end of World War II, the United States used atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A young girl named Sadako Sasaki eventually developed A-bom...

SYMHC Classics: Who was the real Lone Ranger?

24 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Today we're revisiting an episode from previous hosts Sarah and Deblina. The Lone Ranger has traditionally been portrayed by white actors, but many be...

The Last Carolina Parakeet and Other Endlings

21 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

On February 21, 1918, the last known Carolina parakeet died at the Cincinnati Zoo. We examine the stories of this endling and two others to see how ab...

Hawaii's Legend of the Menehune

19 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The story of the Menehune is one that's been handed down through oral history for generations. But can the roots of this mythological group of people ...

SYMHC Classics: Villisca Ax Murders

17 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

This episode revisits the Villisca murders. In 1912, a small Iowa town was the scene of a chilling and brutal crime. Eight people were murdered in the...

Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas

14 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Gertrude Stein is an icon in the world of modernist literature. Alice B. Toklas is often described as her partner and assistant, but she was also publ...

Pauline Sabin

12 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

The battle over Prohibition is often framed as a battle of the sexes, with women serving as the “moral” voice of sobriety. But a woman named Pauli...

SYMHC Classics: Abelard and Heloise

10 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

This episode revisits the story of poet, philosopher and theologian Abelard, and his student Heloise. This is a tragic love story, complete with lover...

The Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike

07 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Memphis sanitation workers stayed off the job starting January 12, 1968 in a strike that lasted for nine weeks. This was the strike that brought Dr. M...

Aspasia and Pericles

05 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

This is often held up as one of history’s great love stories – Plutarch wrote that Pericles kissed Aspasia every single day. And that’s very swe...

SYMHC Classics: Double Agent James Armistead and the American Revolution

03 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Today's classics revisits an episode from previous hosts Sarah and Deblina about James Armistead. He was a slave in Virginia, but got his master's app...

Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton

31 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Mary-Russel Ferrell Colton was a painter, author and educator. But she's most famous for co-founding of the Museum of Northern Arizona and related pro...

Anne Lister

29 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

At a time when many women sought husbands to ensure financial stability, Anne Lister was looking for a wife. She was also writing thousands of pages o...

SYMHC Classics: Who was Emanuel Swedenborg?

27 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Today we're visiting an episode from past hosts Katie and Sarah. When the philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg sought mechanical explanations for nature, he...

The Donation of Constantine

24 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In the 8th century, a document was written that had a lasting impact on the course of medieval Europe. The Donation of Constantine granted a large amo...

Rufus Wilmot Griswold

22 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Griswold is most commonly known as Edgar Allan Poe's rival, and for creating negative characterizations of Poe that have endured more than a century. ...

SYMHC Classics: How Lord Byron Worked

20 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s classic podcast comes to us from previous hosts Katie and Sarah. Coming up on January 22, 2018 is the 230th birthday of George Gordon, Lord ...

The Wilmington Coup of 1898, Part 2

17 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In 1898, a mob of armed white men enacted a violent plan against Wilmington, North Carolina’s black community. It was the only known successful coup...

The Wilmington Coup of 1898, Part 1

15 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Resistance to post-Civil War reconstruction efforts, hotly contested elections, political corruption, and open racism all led to a climate of unrest a...

SYMHC Classics: The Phoenician Alphabet

13 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

This classic episode revisits the Phoenicians, great ship-builders, sailors and textile experts. But they're most known for developing the alphabet th...

Author Interview: Kathryn Lougheed on Tuberculosis

10 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Tuberculosis is often thought of as a disease of the past, but it remains a problem in many parts of the world. Microbiologist and author Kathryn Loug...

Mary Breckinridge and the Frontier Nursing Service

08 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

We have talked before on the show about pioneers who advanced the medical field specifically as it relates to infants, and today’s subject is defini...

SYMHC Classics: The Explosive Career of Antoine Lavoisier

06 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Today we're revisiting the life of Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, who was a chemist, biologist, geologist, physiologist, and economist. But at the end of ...

Unearthed! in 2017, Part 2

03 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In part two of our annual recap, we walk through what's been literally and figuratively unearthed in 2017, including things institutions found in thei...

Unearthed! in 2017, Part 1

01 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

In our annual recap, we walk through what's been literally and figuratively unearthed in 2017, including anticlimactic headlines, shipwrecks, medical ...

SYMHC Classics: Sophie Blanchard and Balloonomania

30 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Today's classic episode revisits Sophie Blanchard, a timid girl who grew into a trailblazer, and became famous in the early 1800s as the first woman t...

Unearthed!: The USS Indianapolis

27 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Today, the U.S.S. Indianapolis is most known for its crew’s horrifying wait for rescue after being torpedoed following a secret mission at the end o...

NORAD Tracking Santa: A Cold War History

25 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The story that circulates about how NORAD started tracking Santa is pretty heart-warming, but doesn’t completely hold up. So there’s some myth-bus...

SYMHC Classics: The Christmas Truce

23 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

For Christmas, we're revisiting an episode from previous hosts Sarah and Deblina. During the first Christmas of World War I, British and German soldie...

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, Part 2

20 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The exploits of the Special Operations Executive are the stuff of legend. This episode continues to look at a few of the group's missions, and what be...

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, Part 1

18 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

After the Germans invaded France in 1940, an idea sprouted in the highest levels of Great Britain's leadership. From that idea, the Special Operations...

SYMHC Classics: Deaf President Now

16 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

A revisit to an episode on fairly recent history: In 1988, the appointment of a hearing president at Gallaudet University sparked a protest that chang...

The Historical Roots of Holiday Treats

13 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Tasty treats associated with winter holidays - candy canes, wassail and gingerbread - have some slightly hazy origins, because the evidence of their h...

Three Astonishing Belles

11 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

This episode features three unique women, all of whom are notable in their own way. The two things they have in common: They each have a surprising as...

SYMHC Classics: Rabbit-proof Fence

09 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

We're revisiting an episode about settlers bringing animals and plants to Australia, including rabbits. The rabbit population exploded, and rabbit-con...

Skellig Michael

06 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

This small island off the west coast of Ireland recently became a film star, but Skellig Michael has a rich history all its own. An ancient monastery,...

Six Impossible Episodes by Request

04 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

This installation of Six Impossible Episodes is a bit of a hodge podge, with several oft-requested topics. Included are Olive Yang, the Silent Parade ...

SYMHC Classics: The Halifax Explosion

02 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Today, we're revisiting an episode from previous hosts Sarah and Deblina. The Halifax Explosion was one of history's worst man-made, non-nuclear explo...

The Lumière Brothers, Part 2

29 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Despite the huge impact the Lumières made with their multi-function motion picture camera, they didn't stay in the movie business. Louis went back to...

The Lumière Brothers, Part 1

27 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The Lumières are often associated with early film technology, but that wasn't the only area where they innovated. This first of two parts covers thei...

SYMHC Classics: Sei Shonagon and the Heian Court

25 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Today we're revisiting a bit of Japanese history. Thanks to the pillow book of lady-in-waiting Sei Shonagon, we have a first-person account of court l...

The Aberfan Disaster

22 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In 1966, a mining disaster in Aberfan, Wales, killed 144 people. It was a completely preventable tragedy, but none of the victims were in the mine its...

The War Between Great Britain and the Zulu Kingdom

20 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Great Britain’s efforts to control southern Africa eventually led to war with the Zulu Kingdom. A brutal series of engagements claimed the lives of ...

SYMHC Classics: Edward Jenner, Father of Vaccines

18 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

We're revisiting a classic episode, all about early strides in treating smallpox, which has been around longer than recorded history. Edward Jenner ma...

Fort Shaw Indian School: Basketball Champions (pt. 2)

15 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In 1904, the Fort Shaw Indian School women’s basketball team spent four months at the St. Louis World’s Fair. The team performed mandolin recitals...

Basketball Comes to Fort Shaw Indian School (pt. 1)

13 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The Fort Shaw Indian School was part of a boarding school system designed to make Native American students conform to white culture. In a surprising t...

SYMHC Classics: Frances Glessner Lee and Tiny Forensics

11 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Today's show revisits the story of a Chicago heiress who helped develop forensic investigation standards still in use today. Her most notable contribu...

Suffragists’ Night of Terror at the Occoquan Workhouse

08 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In November 1917, guards at the Occoquan Workhouse assaulted and terrorized 33 women from the National Woman’s Party. They were serving sentences fo...

The Murder of William Desmond Taylor

06 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Even in its youth, Hollywood's rapidly growing film industry had a reputation for debauchery. When a high-profile director was murdered, it added to t...

SYMHC Classics: The White Rose and Nazi Germany

04 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

This week, we're revisiting an episode from previous hosts! During World War II, the Nazi party did not tolerate dissent, but some Germans did attempt...

3 Reformation Women: Katharina, Marguerite & Jeanne

01 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Katharina von Bora, Marguerite d’Angoulême and Jeanne d’Albret all left their mark on the Reformation, but all in different ways. Each of them ha...

Carl Tanzler's Corpse Bride

30 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Carl Tanzler loved a woman, and his love for her continued long after her death. But whether she loved him back is a matter of dispute. Just the same,...

SYMHC Classics: New England Vampire Panic

28 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Today, in honor of Halloween weekend, we're revisiting an episode about vampirism. Starting in the late 1700s and, small rural communities in New Engl...

Edward Gorey

25 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Based just on his art, you might imagine Edward Gorey as a dour Englishman, with the peak of his career sometime in the 1920s or '30s, whose childhood...

Esther Cox and the Great Amherst Mystery

23 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

After a traumatic event, strange things began happening around Esther Cox. In the 1870s, Amherst, Nova Scotia was abuzz with theories as to whether th...

SYMHC Classics: A Conspiracy Starring Aaron Burr

21 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

We're revisiting an episode from previous hosts! After Aaron Burr slew Alexander Hamilton in the duel of 1804, his legislative career was over. In Mar...

The Mysterious Disappearance of Theodosia Burr Alston

18 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Aaron Burr's daughter was incredibly smart and very well educated. She also vanished without a trace as an adult, and her ultimate fate is still a mat...

SYMHC Live at NYCC: Rodolphe Töpffer and the First Comic Book

16 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Before there were superheroes, a Swiss teacher drew entertaining doodles for friends. As he developed his sketches into stories told with multiple cap...

SYMHC Classics: Building Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, Pt. 2

14 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

We're revisiting the second installment in the story of the Haunted Mansion. This one goes from concept to fully-realized theme park attraction and co...

The Green Children of Woolpit

11 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In the 12th century, two children, green in color, appeared in Suffolk, England. The green children were written about in the 12th and 13th centuries ...

SYMHC Live at SLCC: Lon Chaney, Man of a Thousand Faces

09 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Not only was he a star as an actor, he was famed for his use of makeup. He was passionate about completely transforming himself for each role, and was...

SYMHC Classics: Building Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, Pt. 1

07 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

This classic episode dives into one of the most iconic Disney park attractions -- the Haunted Mansion. Its development process that was anything but s...

U.S.S. Akron

04 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The loss of the U.S.S. Akron was the biggest single tragedy in aviation history at the time that it happened. But unless you’re an aviation or U.S. ...

The Mystery of the Devil’s Footprints

02 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In February 1855, mysterious prints that looked like hoof marks appeared all over the English seaside county of Devon. But figuring out who or what ma...

SYMHC Classics: The Life of Johnny Appleseed

30 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The image of Johnny Appleseed walking around in rags, barefooted with a bindle, planting apple trees and moving on is actually pretty accurate. Join H...

Hernandez v. Texas

27 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Hernandez v. Texas addressed civil rights for Mexican Americans, was the first case to be argued before the Supreme Court by Mexican American attorney...

The Crash at Crush and Other Train Wreck Spectacles

25 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

For a brief window from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, people in the United States were watching train wrecks for fun. These staged spectacles wou...

SYMHC Classics: Dr. Livingstone, I Presume

23 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

We're revisiting the story of Dr. Livingstone as told by previous hosts! In this episode, Deblina and Sarah recount the adventures of Livingstone and ...