On this episode of Our American Stories Chris Graham of the American Civil War Museum in Richmond Virginia tells the story of a seemingly ordinary cloth that has an amazing story behind it Support the show https www ouramericanstories com donate See omnystudio com listener for privacy information [... more]

In Texas where I grew up there were festive parades and picnics in Black communities every June It wasn rsquo t until I was a teenager that I learned the heartbreaking significance of Juneteenth a word combining ldquo June rdquo and ldquo nineteenth rdquo celebrations Juneteenth commemorates the day in when enslaved people in Texas learned that President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation giving them their freedom mdash two-and-a-half years earlier Enslaved people in Texas kept living in slavery because they didn rsquo t know they had been freed It's possible to be free and yet live as [... more]

On this episode of Our American Stories the recently enslaved people on the last law-defying slave ship to arrive in America would build their own town and give many freed black Americans a gift beyond measure the memories and ways of life of freedom Support the show https www ouramericanstories com donate See omnystudio com listener for privacy information [... more]

On this episode of Our American Stories Emma McCormick tells us how she was told she'd be working remotely in so she decided to live on a sailboat in Florida Regular contributor Jon Elfner and Dr Kate Masur author of Until Justice Be Done tell the story behind Abraham Lincoln that begins with three runaway enslaved people P J Hill rancher and co-author of The Not So Wild Wild West Property Rights on the Frontier explains the misunderstanding behind the American West Support the show https www ouramericanstories com donate Time Codes - When Her Work Went Remote So She [... more]

On this episode of Our American Stories Iowa listener Joy Neal Kidney shares her father's story Our regular contributors Jon Elfner and Dr Kate Masur author of Until Justice Be Done tell the rest of the story that begins with three runaway enslaved people Tyson Timbs tells us how he found out that old habits do indeed die hard when he was arrested and convicted for selling drugs to undercover cops Support the show https www ouramericanstories com donate Time Codes - Reconciling Dad the Farmer and Dad the Veteran Pilot - How The Civil War Openly Became about Slavery [... more]

Ancient Rome had its own version of ldquo the gospel rdquo mdash the good news According to the poet Virgil Zeus king of the gods had decreed for the Romans a kingdom without end or boundaries The gods had chosen Augustus as divine son and savior of the world by ushering in a golden age of peace and prosperity This however wasn rsquo t everyone rsquo s idea of good news For many it was an unwelcome reality enforced by the heavy hand of the emperor rsquo s army and executioners The glory of the empire was built on the [... more]

While riding in the Chihuahuan Desert in the late s Jim White spotted a strange cloud of smoke spiraling skyward Suspecting a wildfire the young cowboy rode toward the source only to learn that the ldquo smoke rdquo was a vast swarm of bats spilling from a hole in the ground White had come across New Mexico s Carlsbad Caverns an immense and spectacular system of caves As Moses was tending sheep in a Middle Eastern desert he too saw an odd sight that grabbed his attention mdash a flaming bush that didn rsquo t burn up Exodus When God [... more]