Stuff You Missed in History Class

The conclusion of our three-parter on the life of Jim Thorpe covers his time as a professional athlete, and his life after the end of his athletic career – including two pieces of his story that have tragically continued long after his death. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode is our 2016 live show from the Dallas Museum of Art about the Olympics. Pierre de Coubertin is described as the father of the modern Olympic Games, which took a few years to really take off. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy and Holly talk about football, Jim Thorpe, and the morality of trick plays in sports in previous decades. They also discuss the complexities of amateur status in sports and other areas. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After the 1908-09 football season at Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Thorpe seemed to be headed for a career in baseball. But the offer to return to school and possibly qualify the Olympics altered that path. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jim Thorpe was an incredible all-around athlete, famous around the world. In part one, we’ll talk about his life before and during his time at Carlisle, including some context about Carlisle and similar boarding schools. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This 2018 classics covers Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte, who was the first Native American woman to earn a medical degree. She lived at a time when a lot of change was happening in the United States as a whole, and among Native Americans and the Omaha tribe she was part of specifically Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy and Holly talk about the three people who are linked together in the story of the surgical treatment for cyanotic babies, including stories that didn't make it into this week's episodes. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1944, Thomas developed a surgical treatment for babies with cyanotic heart conditions. Thomas was a Black man working at an institution whose only other black employees did janitorial work, and he had not attended medical school – or even college. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Helen’s story is tied to Vivien Thomas and Alfred Blalock in the surgical treatment of blue baby syndrome. She was the one who suggested that Alfred Blalock try to find a surgical approach to congenital heart conditions like tetralogy of Fallot. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This 2016 episode covers Icelandic history. A fishing territory dispute between Iceland and the U.K. started off with a cordial tone, but escalated into a serious conflict. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy and Holly talk about the sexism that held back Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin,the desire to see her lecture notes, and stories from their education. Talk then turns to Maria Anna Mozart and the gaps in the record that lead to different interpretations of the Mozart family dynamics. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Maria Anna Mozart is often left out of brief accounts of her brother’s life. But his sister was sharing the bench with him and was also considered an impressive and accomplished musician. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin was an astronomer who made a lot of firsts. She grew up in a society that didn’t really prioritize education for girls, and she was determined and creative about getting around that. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode from 2015 covers the Night Witches, an all-female bombing regiment in the Soviet Air Force. Flying biplanes meant for dusting crops and training new recruits, they dropped 23,000 tons of bombs on German forces in WWII. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy and Holly discuss the wealth of unearthed stories that came up this time around, as well as their favorite finds from this batch. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Part two of our autumnal unearthing report includes shipwrecks, exhumations, repatriations, and quite a bit about Vikings, and a bit of potpourri. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's once again time to take a look at things that have been literally and figuratively unearthed over the last few months. In part one of this Autumn 2020 edition, we'll talk about books and letters, edibles and potables, animals, and some other stuff. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Happy Halloween! To celebrate, we're revisiting a 2014 episode. Candy and Halloween go hand-in-hand, but when did candy become the standard for trick-or-treating, and who invented the holiday's most famous sweet treats like candy corn? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holly and Tracy talk about their experience with tarot cards and readings, and about the bad rap black dogs get. Happy Halloween to all of our listeners who celebrate it! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As we inch closer to Halloween, we're talking about three of the MANY supernatural canines and hellhounds that have lengthy histories in our collective storytelling. Two are similar and from England, and one is a fun figure from southern Louisiana. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How did a card game gain a reputation for being connected to mysticism? Tarot's history takes a significant turn in the 18th century, but much of that shift in perception is based on one author's suppositions and theories. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're revisiting a 2011 episode today. In 1908, a fire leveled the Indiana home of Belle Gunness. Four bodies were found in the cellar, and it seemed possible that Gunnes might have escaped. When about a dozen more bodies were found, Gunness was revealed as a serial killer. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holly and Tracy talk about the work and life of Bram Stoker, including a brief talk about his mother. And then talk turns to Tracy's new interview with Kate Landdeck, and the glamour of Jackie Cochran. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Katherine Sharp Landdeck joins the show for a second time, to talk with Tracy about Kate’s new book – but mostly about Jacqueline Cochran – who was an incredible pilot, and one of the driving forces behind the Women Airforce Service Pilots. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dracula is an iconic character, and the man who created him has become almost as much of a source of fascination for many as his famous vampire.. But even Bram Stoker's own life story - at least as he told it - may have some fictional elements. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this 2011 episode, prior hosts Sarah and Deblina cover Pope Stephen VI having his deceased predecessor Formosus exhumed and put on trial in 897. The corpse was found guilty, but this desecration disgusted Romans and made them rebel. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy and Holly share stories of their own moments of poor judgement, and the Tracy discusses her interview with Alvin Hall and Janée Woods Weber, creators of the podcast Driving the Green Book. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tracy talked to Alvin Hall and Janée Woods Weber, host and producer of the podcast Driving the Green Book. Alvin and Janée share their thoughts on the show, the Green Book, and the road trip they took to make the show. You can find the Driving the Green Book podcast here: https://us.macmillan.com/podcasts/podcast/driving-the-green-book/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Demon Core was a sphere of plutonium-gallium alloy that the U.S. made for use in an atomic bomb during World War II. After the war, researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory had two separate, fatal criticality accidents while working with it. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're revisiting a 2010 episode from previous hosts. Most people are familiar with Jack the Ripper, but Victorian England was also plagued by an odd character named Spring-heeled Jack. Were reports of this bounding scoundrel a symptom of mass hysteria, or something factual? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holly and Tracy talk about Madame Blavatsky's shocking level of cigarette smoking and the surprising amount of Mother Shipton material Tracy was able to find. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mother Shipton may or may not have been a real person. She's described as living in 16th-century England, and was everything from an oracle to a witch to the daughter of the devil, depending on which of the many sources you’re reading. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Blavatsky is an iconic figure. She was the founder of the theosophical movement, and lived a life of adventure that’s hard to believe. The impact of her work is undeniable whether you believe her to have been a genuine mystic or a total fraud. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This 2017 episode covers the story of how, 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 as fact, but some people today classify as this tale as folklore. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this casual Friday chat, Tracy and Holly talk about the genius of Tanaka Hisashige, and Tracy's frustrations at finding the more problematic aspects of Nina Otero-Warren's story. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nina Otero-Warren was from a prominent New Mexico family, and worked in education, politics, and the suffrage movement, focusing largely on Spanish speakers. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tanaka Hisashige was an inventor, a craftsman and an artisan, and he lived during a time that Japan went through enormous cultural, scientific and technological changes. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode is from 2017. Whitman is often touted as the best and most important poet in U.S. history, but he also worked as a teacher and a journalist. And his poetry career didn't start out particularly well. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holly and Tracy talk about the business dealings of Hollywood in context with the moral scandals that were playing out in the press at the time, as well as the way films are distributed today versus in Adolph Zukor's time. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Once Adolph Zukor combined his production company, Famous Players-Lasky, with Paramount’s distribution company, he had consolidate two aspects of the industry under one business. His next step was obvious: gain control of exhibition of films as well. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The development of the Hollywood studio industry features a number of people who drove it forward. Today, we're talking about Adolph Zukor and William Hodkinson, and how their work led to the founding of Paramount. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this 2011 episode, prior hosts Sarah and Deblina talk about privateer Alexander Selkirk, who became a buccaneer in 1695. In 1704, after a fight with his captain, Selkirk was put ashore on an uninhabited island about 400 miles west of Valparaiso. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holly and Tracy delve into the unverifiable parts of James Forten's life and the problematic idea of respectability. Tracy also talks about her geographical connection to the Lawson family murders which took place in 1929 and how that informed her knowledge about it as a teenager. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

These are episodes that we’d love to do as a full-length episode, and we’ve gotten listener quests for most of them. But there’s a book that’s so central to the subject that the book is really the place to go. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As a child and young man, James was part of the British colonies that rebelled against rule from the throne. As an adult, he made his fortune in sail making, and turned his influence to the causes of abolition and civil rights. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this 2015 episode, prior hosts Sarah and Deblina covered a poet's romance. Robert Browning's early work wasn't as well-received as Elizabeth Barrett's poetry. Yet Barrett mentioned his work in one of her poems, and they started a correspondence that blossomed into love. However, Elizabeth's father remained an obstacle. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holly and Tracy discuss the story of Croesus and how disabilities are represented in the writing of Herodotus. The topic then turns to the Igbo women's practice called sitting on a man, and how the Western world often misunderstands other cultures. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Women’s War was a response to British colonialism in Nigeria. British authorities described the group as a “hostile mob” because they didn’t recognize that the so-called mob was largely a long-established method for Igbo women to hold men accountable. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The story of the ridiculously wealthy Croesus, which was fictionalized in a number of ways, becomes a cautionary tale about pride and hubris, and what really has value in life. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This 2018 episode is running in honor of Labor Day in the U.S. 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. Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis, Tennessee, where he was assassinated on April 4 of that year. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.