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

Brian and Peter talk with law professor Elyn Saks about her own experience with schizophrenia.

First Person (from "States of Mind")

Ed sits down with Hank Thomas, a veteran freedom rider and participant in the march, and hears how that day, and the civil rights struggle, shaped his life.

Being There (from "Fierce Urgency of Now")

Historian David Blight talks with Ed about the continuing impact of the Civil War in shaping the context within which the march took place, and the particular importance of the Emancipation Proclamation in King’s speech, which had been issued 100 years before.

"Let Freedom Ring!" (from "Fierce Urgency of Now")

Brian talks with historian Tom Jackson about the Kennedy administration’s efforts to manage the march, and Peter, Ed, and Brian consider the international implications of the images coming out of the march – raising difficulties in the Cold War battle for ideas, but also playing into a global conversation about decolonization and liberation.

The World Watches (from "Fierce Urgency of Now")

Historian William P. Jones talks with Brian about the origins of the march idea, first floated during a campaign against employment discrimination in the 1940s.

A March for Jobs and Freedom (from "Fierce Urgency of Now")

Ed talks with media scholar Aniko Bodroghkozy about the television news coverage of the march, and how television played into the Civil Rights movement more generally.

The Televised March (from "Fierce Urgency of Now")

The Guys discuss the fateful shot fired on Fort Sumter, and explain why, in its aftermath, Virginia’s identity as a slave state ultimately trumped all the other arguments against secession.

Virginia Humanities

The End Game (That Starts the War) (from "Civil War 150th: I")

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.

BackStory - School Days: A History of Public Education

Virginia Humanities

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