Singer, songwriter, and teacher Mike Errico (Music, Lyrics, and Life: A Field Guide for the Advancing Songwriter) shares his experiences and practical lessons from years of writing, performing, teaching, and mentoring. In conversation with singer/songwriter Ramona Martinez.

2022 Va. Festival of the Book—Music, Lyrics, and Life: A Songwriting Workshop with Mike Errico

Authors Ralph Eubanks (A Place Like Mississippi), Jocelyn Nicole Johnson (My Monticello), and Imani Perry (South to America) take center stage at this Festival headliner event to discuss the storied fact and fiction of the American South. The famed storytellers of Mississippi, short stories of the near future in central Virginia, and an historian’s travelogue of the southern states together provide a multigenre exploration of the region and what it means to belong to this place. Moderated by Justin G. Reid.

2022 Va. Festival of the Book—Southern Landscapes: Real and Imagined

In 1983, the Commission on Excellence in Education published A Nation at Risk, comparing low educational standards to a kind of warfare against youth. But hand-wringing over our school system is an American perennial, going all the way back to the Founding. In this episode, the American History Guys explore the origins of public education, and ask whether we set ourselves up for disappointment by expecting so much from our schools.

BackStory - School Days: A History of Public Education

This is a country awash in monuments. They adorn traffic circles, street corners and, of course, the National Mall. In this special Memorial Day episode of BackStory, the American History Guys explore the idea of national remembrance. What or whom have Americans chosen to memorialize? And what do these choices say about us?

Virginia Foundation for the Humanities

BackStory - Monumental Disagreements: Memorials in America

200 years ago, the United States was engulfed in a war that had seen Washington, D.C. attacked and burned, and the nation's independence seriously threatened. Today, few people remember who we were even fighting in that conflict - the War of 1812 - much less what we were fighting for. But despite its forgotten status, the War of 1812 was hugely influential in shaping the nation we live in today.

And so in this episode, we go beyond the trivia, and explore some of the war's deeper legacies. We look at why the war loomed so large in novels & poems of the post-war years, how the war re-defined government policies towards Native Americans, and why the war nearly led to a civil war within the U.S. Through it all, we set out to answer the most fundamental questions about the War of 1812: what did we win, what did we lose, and why should we care?

The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities

BackStory - The War of 1812: Which One Was That? [rebroadcast]

This month marks the 150th anniversary of the 13th amendment’s passage through Congress. That was the amendment that did away with slavery once and for all. But on January 1, 1863, two years before, President Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation. It declared that all slaves in the rebellious states “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” Today, Lincoln is remembered as “The Great Emancipator,” but the story of emancipation is complex and contradictory. And the question of how we choose to commemorate this anniversary can be touchy. On this episode, we set out to understand the way Americans thought about emancipation in 1862, and reflect on its shifting meanings since then. Along the way, we make stops at the Emancipation Memorial in Washington D.C., the Civil War centennial commemorations in the height of the Civil Rights Era, and the former capital of the Confederacy today. And we hear the voices of former slaves themselves, remembering their first experiences of freedom.

BackStory - Henceforth Free: The Emancipation Proclamation

This time on BackStory, we look at women in the workforce, from 19th century domestic workers, to the Rosies of World War II, to the labs of Silicon Valley — where programming a computer was once very much a woman’s job. Find out how sexual harassment claims came into being, and why “protective” labor laws regarding women often amounted to discriminatory exclusion from certain jobs.

BackStory - Women at Work: A History

In the early days of our nation, July Fourth wasn’t an official holiday at all. In fact, it wasn’t until 1938 that it became a paid day-off. So how did the Fourth become the holiest day on our secular calendar? This episode offers some answers. With perspective from guests and taking questions from listeners, Peter, Ed, and Brian explore the origins of July Fourth. They highlight the holiday’s radical roots, look at how the Declaration’s meaning has changed over time, and consider how the descendants of slaves embraced the Declaration’s message of liberty and equality.

BackStory - Independence Daze: A History of July Fourth

Historian David Blight narrates a reenactment of Frederick Douglass’ 1852 speech, “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro,” in which Douglass highlights the hypocrisy of celebrating liberty in a nation that allows slavery.

Brian, Peter, and Ed discuss how slavery and its end changed the meaning of the Declaration and the holiday, as demonstrated by Frederick Douglass' July 4th oration.

What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? (from "Independence Daze")

America has a long and colorful history of confidence men and counterfeiters.  On this episode of BackStory, we go back to the time when fake money and fly-by-night banks dominated the economy, and uncover the origins of the lie detector test, known as “the truth compelling machine.” We’ll also try to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.

Sweet Little Lies (from "Bridge for Sale")

Historian Brenda Stevenson talks with Ed about the extraordinary struggles black families endured to reunite, after slavery had wrenched them apart.

No Mountain High Enough (from "1865")

Historian Douglas Baynton tells Ed Ayers why immigrants with disabilities were denied access to the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Foreign Bodies (from "Body Politics")

Reporter Chelsea Davis has the story of how San Francisco’s thriving Chinatown emerged from the ashes of the 1906 Earthquake and the fires that followed, despite efforts to suppress it.

Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight (from "Where There's Smoke")

Historian Thomas Kidd shares the story of Mercy Wheeler, who rose and walked after being bedridden for 20 years, and explains the controversy over her miraculous recovery.

You Gotta Have Faith (from "Born Again")

Betty Soskin tells reporter Eli Wirtschafter about her own experience in the World War II era workforce — and why popular remembrances of women working for the war effort don’t capture the whole story.

Rosie-Colored Glasses (from "Women at Work")

Foreign policy expert Jim Blight explains to Brian why the Cuban Missile Crisis wasn’t just a 13-day-long affair, but rather an 18-month-long affair.

Time Sensitive (from "Small Island, Big Shadow")

A caller asks the Guys whether corruption is always a part of machine politics.

Movers and Shakedowns (from "Little Caesars")

Host Ed Ayers interviews historian Sarah Deutsch about women reformers in 19th century Boston, who had a major influence on how American cities were run — even though they couldn’t vote.

Hey Ladies (from "Little Caesars")

The Guys talk about the nature of local power in the 18th and 19th century.

Power Brokers (from "Little Caesars")

American Civil War Museum historian John Coski walks Ed Ayers through the evolution of the Confederate flag’s design—from the original “Stars and Bars” to the “rebel flag” we know today, and its long, twisty path to becoming a pop culture icon.

Flags of Our Forefathers (from "Contested Landscape")

Ed, Nathan and Brian talk about what to do with Confederate statues, and how we should think about them.

Should They Stay or Go? (from "Contested Landscape")

Historian Francisco Balderrama and Christine Valenciana tell us about Mexican Repatriation, an episode of mass deportation during the Great Depression.

The Deported (from "Border Patrols")

Historian Nancy Bristow tells Brian about one of the biggest worries about sending young Americans off to war: whether they would be having sex — and how that preoccupation helped end the Progressive movement.

Like a Virgin (from "The War to End All Wars")

Perry James, grandson of World War I veteran Sergeant Perry Lloyd, tells Nathan about his mission to get his grandfather a Purple Heart, what it means to finally realize it and the importance of remembering the service of African-American soldiers in World War I.

A Purple Heart, 100 Years Later (from "The War to End All Wars")

Cassandra Newby-Alexander, a professor of history at Norfolk State University and project director for the 1619 Conference Series, tells Joanne about the complicated history behind the arrival of the first Africans and colonial Virginia.

History First, First History (from "1619")

When a man named Ernesto Miranda confessed to a rape and kidnapping on March 13, 1963, his trial went all the way to the Supreme Court becoming one of the most well-known cases of the 20th century: “Miranda v Arizona.” Nathan and Joanne look at the interrogation that led to the Supreme Court decision and ask how the Miranda warning transformed from technical bit of police procedure to pop-culture lexicon.

A Step Too Far or Not Far Enough? (from "You Have the Right to Remain Silent")

On the Bench (from "You Have the Right to Remain Silent")

A Police Matter (from "You Have the Right to Remain Silent")

Around three quarters of a million people applied to be American Citizens in 2017. But what does citizenship actually mean? The way Americans have defined citizenship has changed over time and many have found their citizenship challenged, undermined, resisted and even revoked. On this episode of BackStory, Brian, Nathan and Joanne discover the path to citizenship has never been easy.

This episode and related resources are funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

In the Shadow of Chinese Exclusion (from "To Be a Citizen?")

Historian Kate Masur explains how wartime Washington, D.C. became a testing ground for Radical Republicans’ plans to create a new American republic, which would guarantee legal equality for black citizens — and how African-American residents of the district successfully pushed for new legal rights that seemed impossible before the war.

Virginia Humanities

Laboratory of Freedom

Ed discusses a letter written by the free black citizens of Nashville as the Civil War drew to a close in Tennessee, and they wondered what their future would hold as Tennessee rejoined the Union.

"No Relief This Side of the Grave."

This month, the US Women’s Soccer Team won the Women’s World Cup for the fourth time since the tournament was established in 1991. But alongside the celebrations were calls for female players to be paid the same as their male counterparts. So, on this episode of BackStory, we’re revisiting past segments that explore the issue of sports and equality throughout American history.

Black Power Salute (from "Making the Team")

In recent years, the White House’s relationship with the Kremlin has dominated the headlines in America —  from Syria to Ukraine. According to CNN, Vladimir Putin denounced last night’s U.S. airstrike against Syria (a response to a Syrian chemical weapons attack earlier this week) as “aggression against a sovereign state in violation of the norms of international law.” In addition, an FBI probe into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russians in the 2016 election has turned into a full-blown political scandal.  It can be tempting to view these events through the familiar lens of the Cold War, but in this episode, Joanne, Ed and Brian probe the deeper history of our relationship with Russia — and discover moments of comity as well as conflict.

A Win for Women (from "Seeing Red")

Tsars and Stars (from "Seeing Red")

An "Exceptional" Phrase (from "Seeing Red")

The election of Donald Trump set off a seemingly continuous wave of protests across the country. This is just the latest surge of resistance. Past protests have included varied groups – from the Tea Party to Occupy Wall Street. On this episode of BackStory, Ed, Nathan and Brian look at the central role that political protests have played throughout American history.

Virginia Humanities

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